We parked in front of the path. A guard stepped up and opened the door. Elias exited first, then helped me out.
I stood outside the carriage and took in the castle I would now call home. I had been there before, but I was too young to remember. My mother had made sure I grew up knowing who my father was, what my birthright entailed, but this was so far from our reality of cramped one-bedroom apartments and hand-me-down furniture that I found it hard to believe I was truly from here.
And as I looked at the serious faces of the rows of armed guards surrounding me, I reminded myself that while it appeared to be a dream on the surface, it concealed a nightmare underneath. A throne without a ruler and a plot to kill the heir.
6
We stepped insidethe palace. The round entrance hall had a sky-high ceiling that came to a steep point. A diamond chandelier hung overhead, suspended from a long gold chain. All the walls and the floor were made of quartz, vaguely translucent and almost glittery, but there were also blooming vines that seemed to grow straight out of where the floor and walls met. White sampaguita flowers climbed the walls on all sides. Then I noticed an interior doorway—at least two stories tall, arched, with double doors and huge curvy handles, like twisted branches. The handles had perfect sticklike trunks, with puffy round green tops and tiny white and pale-pink flowers.
“Welcome to the Palace of the Sirena Court, Your Highness.” A butler in a barong Tagalog—a sheer formal shirt made from the linen of pineapple husks—appeared by my side. He barely came up to my elbow. “My name is Ayo.” He was one of the dwendes, mischievous sprites. He held his hand out to show me the way.
I looked to Elias, unsure whether I should trust this stranger. He nodded his approval.
Still unable to find words, I followed Ayo through the big doors. They opened like magic in front of us, revealing another foyer witha wide curving staircase. It went straight, then split to the right and left. We headed up. Elias and some guards marched dutifully behind us, along with a few maids in matching gray uniforms. Like the door handles, the banister was made from varnished tree branches. It seemed to be one continuous piece of wood.
We went to the right. At the top of the stairs there was a gorgeous landing, the same quartz floor. “Your rooms are this way,” Ayo told me.
We went through another amazing door, and another, until we reached a deeper interior of the palace. A sitting room with large chairs made of woven rattan, with high, curved backs, preceded yet another room, this one with a large desk and a gold chair with a white seat.
“This is your office, where you will receive your correspondences, conduct official business—that sort of thing,” Ayo told me.
My heart skipped a beat. I had no idea how to do any of that. I hardly knew how to manage myself. Mere hours ago, I couldn’t even pay attention to an economics lesson. Let alone manage a kingdom. I felt like an impostor.
I wished my mother was here with me and that I had been able to see my father before his death. But I pushed down my fear and sadness. No matter how intimidated I was, I had to honor both my parents by taking the throne and living up to the position. And to my ancestors. All the encantos in my family tree. The last diwata of the Paulanan Mountains had been my great-great-great-grandmother. There had not been a female heir, a mountain spirit, in the family until my birth. I had to take up the mantle of my legacy. Later there would be time to grieve my father and the separation from my mother.
“On to your private chambers,” Ayo said as he kept on walking, past some more sitting spaces set up around the area and tall bay windows with seats built in, and through yet another door. That one led to another high-ceilinged chamber that not only accommodated a massive canopy bed but also multiple wardrobes, a dressing table, and a walk-in closet that could easily have been another bedroom—in fact, it was bigger than mine at home. There was a gleaming, airy bathroom attached, with another separate space just for the ornate marble claw-foot tub, as well as a private lanai with tall French doors opening onto a golden-railed balcony. It was larger than our entire apartment back home.
Even better, it was all in my favorite color: shades of purple, from lilac to deep, rich plums, coupled with lots of white—the floors, a crescent sofa, the furniture—and gold accents. Handles, doorknobs, a huge gold-and-crystal chandelier.
After a brief walk-through of the rooms, we returned to the bedchamber. A timid young girl who looked not much older than me stood near the door to the walk-in closet. Her hands were clasped in front of her white-and-silver gown. She looked down at the ground.
“This is Jinky, your lady-in-waiting,” Ayo told me. “Her family has worked in the Sirena Palace for centuries.”
Jinky curtsied. She was pretty, with long black hair and a gentle smile. Her skin was a pale moss green, which marked her as a mountain spirit. She seemed nice, so that was a relief, at least. “Hi,” I said to her. “My name’s MJ.”
That caused a flurry of uncomfortable throat-clearing around the room. Jinky looked up, as if she was alarmed, and Ayo rushed forward and started making excuses for my apparent gaffe. “Ahem.Yes.” He cleared his throat again. “May I present Her Highness, princess of the Court of Sirena, diwata of Paulanan, one true heir to King Vivencio of Biringan,” he announced.
After that everyone seemed more at ease. I guess I’d been too casual with Jinky. Not sure how I was going to keep up with all this protocol.
“It is good to see you returned to us,” he said. “We were worried the insurgents...”
“They came close,” I said. Just thinking about it brought back the fear, as if a winged enemy would appear from the shadows.
“You have no fear of that here, Princess,” Ayo assured me. “They cannot breach the magic that protects you in this palace.” To Jinky, he said, “Our soon-to-be queen is as yet unfamiliar with court etiquette.” Then he turned to me. “However, all will be remedied. You have been apprised of your start date with the Biringan Academy of Noble Arts?”
Even as the one true heir, I couldn’t escape school, it seemed. “Afraid not,” I said.
He took out a tiny leather pocket book and flipped a couple pages. “Ah, then allow me to deliver the wonderful news!” he said, as if I’d won the lottery or something. “Your coronation training will commence immediately. You are set to begin bright and early tomorrow morning.”
Tomorrow morning?“But I just got here. I don’t get to, like, settle in first?” I had just escaped from an insurgent faction of winged assassins, lost all contact with my mother, and said goodbye to the only world I had lived in for almost all of my life.
“Afraid not, Your Highness. We want our leaders to be wise, learned people. And if I may be quite honest, you are a few yearsbehind in your formal training. There’s no time to spare. The coronation is scheduled for your eighteenth birthday.”
I balked. “That’s in a month.”
“Technically speaking, less than a month,” he said. “Therefore, as I said, no time to lose.”
“I can’t be ready in a month,” I insisted. Panic rose in my throat.
