Later that night,I was sitting at the marble vanity in my suite while Jinky brushed my hair to wrap it up in a bun for the night. I didn’t want to mention anything about what I’d heard earlier in the garden and get anyone in trouble, so instead I asked casually, “Jinky, what do you know about the king’s death?”
At that, Jinky nearly dropped the heavy gold hairbrush she was holding. “I know nothing, Your Highness,” she said, hand still shaking.
I turned in the chair and faced her, putting my hand over Jinky’s. “It’s okay,” I assured her. “I’ve heard things... and I’m just wondering if you have, too.”
Jinky stood very still and looked at the ground. “I’m sorry—I know nothing.”
“I know they say he died of a heart attack, but I don’t think that’s the truth?” I pushed. I hadn’t wanted to feed information to Jinky, hoping she would say that herself, but this was the only way I was going to get her to feel safe confiding whatever she knew.
Jinky looked at me then. “No, it isn’t,” she said.
“What do you know?” I asked her, perhaps a bit too excitedly.
Jinky pulled her hand away, fearful again. “I misspoke,” she said, shaking her head. “I was confused.”
“Trust me,” I pleaded. “I’m not trying to trick you into saying something that will get you into trouble—I really want to know. He was my father.”
After a few beats of silence, Jinky sighed and nodded. “All right. All I know is that there are many who say the king did not die peacefully, though none can say for sure. Very few were allowed to see the king’s body. Those who did have been tight-lipped.” She stopped speaking but seemed to have more still to say. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again. “If I betray a confidence...”
“I swear to you,” I promised, grabbing her hands again. “I will never tell a soul.”
Jinky looked around as if someone might be listening. She lowered her voice. “Many fear there was a conspiracy, that dark magic was used. Some say one of the other great houses was involved. But from which court, none can agree. I’ve heard that Don Elias knows there might have been foul play but is trying to keep things quiet tomaintain order. And the palace maid who was tasked with cleaning the scene—she said there was evidence. Of something nefarious.”
“What evidence? What was it?”
“I don’t know,” Jinky said. “The maid was let go from the Court of Sirena’s service. Though I must tell you, there are rumors that she was done away with.”
I absorbed this information and pressed further. “I heard that when he died, he was writing a note of some kind?”
Jinky looked me straight in the eye. “I heard the same.”
That made my heart skip. “Would you do something for me, Jinky?”
“Anything, Your Highness.”
“Would you try to find this note—if there is one? And tell any of the other maids to look as well.”
Jinky looked dubious, but she said, “I will do my best.”
9
“Class!” Professor Borromeowas frustrated. She never raised her voice like that. “It would behoove you all to pay attention, particularly in light of recent events. Perhaps you believe the past doesn’t matter, when in fact, history is where we find the future.”
It wasn’t our fault. All the commotion outside made it really hard to hear, let alone concentrate. There was a crew of nunos, small little mountain elves, installing posts all along the drive, and our room, which happened to be facing the front of the building, had a clear view of the scene down below. Apparently,everyroad in Biringan City—the main capital of Biringan—would be lined with lights and flowers for an entire month following the ceremony, not just the main ones. The plans kept growing. So now, instead of a week of feasting and celebrating, the coronation would also include endless parades and parties and “general revelry,” as Elias put it. He said the people would need the release after so much worry. Also, until I arrived, the weather had been terrible, and now that it was sunny again, people wanted to celebrate.
I was set to become queen in three weeks and three days. And still no magic to be found.
Little did people know their big party was actually going to be more like a funeral.
No offense to Professor Borromeo, but ancient history was hardly my main concern right now. I was worried about my mother. Elias’s patianaks had found her in a local hospital after almost a week of searching. She was injured but stable. I wanted to go to her immediately, but Elias said I had to wait. He had sent encantos to keep watch over her while she recovered. But for her safety, there would be no communication between us in the meantime. Elias hoped he could bring her back in time for my coronation. Still, I worried.
I tried to focus on the lecture. Professor Borromeo had picked up steam. “As you all learned in your earliest lessons, once upon a time, there was no separation between encantos—magickind—and humankind. For thousands of years, we lived together in the same world with a shared purpose: to be stewards of the universe.
“Until the humans decided they wanted to elevate themselves over all other creatures. To subjugate nature. Harness the bounty of the land for their own gain. But the encantos protested, trying, vainly, to convince them that none could own or control the moon and stars, the sand and seas. Cooperation was the only way. If nature was out of balance, nothing good would come of it. Encantos are one with nature; our kings and queens kept the balance, ensuring that the seasons cycled as they should, that the planets remained aligned.
“Thus, the wars began,” she continued. “Humans attacked first; they went after any who stood in their way, and encantos fought back, only adding to the death and destruction. As the fighting dragged on, the diwata in charge of the circle of life was distracted, and as predicted, nature began to spin out of control. There werehurricanes, floods, famine. Eventually, magickind fled to the farthest parts of the world to escape the disasters and avoid doing any more harm, lest everything cease to exist entirely. In Biringan, the entrance to the city was closed off, leaving humans outside of it. Over time, Biringan grew to become four distinct kingdoms.
“Meanwhile, in the human realm, diwatas and those of higher power are remembered as gods, and encantos as mythical creatures, although these days most humans don’t believe we exist at all. We’ve been trying to repair the damage from those wars ever since.”
