“This way.” She smiled, beckoning me further inside.
We descended a set of stairs until we reached another doorway. A mysterious golden light spilled from the room ahead and onto the black tiled floor. As we entered, my mouth fell open. The room itself wasn’t anything spectacular – just a small, normal-looking space with black bookshelves covering the walls from floor to ceiling. The wonder came from the books themselves. They were all so brightly illuminated in colours I’dnever seen before, and anything but normal. Some of them shivered where they rested, and a few even sang quiet songs from their shelves. It was as though they were alive and buzzing with the excitement of finally seeing some readers.
“Is this magic?” I gasped, trying to take in every inch of the small room.
“Of course,” Seraphina said casually. “But that’s not why I brought you here.” She moved over to a shelf and lifted a huge purple book that appeared to chuckle as she grabbed it. “This is the book that details all of the faery nobility.” She lugged the book over to a table and with a heavy thud, dropped it onto the wood. “You’ll find, in here, that the Faery King and Queen have a son who’s only a few years older than you, and he’s unmarried.” Something flickered across her sharp features as she leafed through the pages, the book still giggling quietly to itself.
“I can’t make an alliance with a faery, let alone marry one.” My nose wrinkled at the thought. “Faeries and humans just don’t mix.” I shook my head frantically.
“You believe too many of the lies you’ve been told,” Seraphina sighed, continuing to turn the book’s giggling pages. “Your parents maintained good relations with the faery court. Where do you think your mages got their magic from?”
Mages? While I’d never met one, I’d been told by my teachers that they existed in Corlixir prior to the Great Blaze. They were ordinary humans who had the not-so-ordinary ability to cast magic. But just thinking that a Corlixin had anything to do with the faeries made my head spin. This was all made up. It had to be.
“All mages are descendants of the fae,” Seraphina explained. “Mostly human, with just a trace of faery blood running through their veins. For a time, Corlixir served almost like a bridge between the dark kingdoms and the human realm. Faeries wandered the streets of your kingdom as freely as we humansdid.” She paused as she ran her fingers down one of the pages.
“How do you know this to be true?” I asked, my eyebrows knitting together. In the golden light of the room, I could see Seraphina clearly. Even with her hood still up, I knew for certain she must’ve been no older than eighteen. Her blonde hair hung in ringlets around her youthful face. The Great Blaze would’ve been when she was just a baby.
“We’re so alike,” Seraphina said, meeting my stare. “I lost my parents when I was just a baby, too. But the family who took me in – they never hid the truth. Despite what King Ikelos wants everyone to believe, the faeries are not villainous fiends waiting in the woods to trap innocent children. They have their own culture, just like us, and I know they would be willing to help your cause. If Corlixir could be rebuilt, perhaps so too could the bridge between our worlds.”
She spoke with such light in her voice, such hope. But I couldn’t believe her. I didn’t want to. Faeries were evil demonic creatures. I still vividly remembered the lesson from less than a year ago when they showed us a portrait of a captured faery and all but a couple of the braver students screamed. One girl had to take the rest of the day off, sick from her fright. I could still see the portrait clearly in my mind: a horrible, gnarled, blue-skinned wraith of a thing.
And then, why did she mention King Ikelos? Drothmore has been a firm ally of my kingdom since before my parents were born. What did he have to do with any of this?
“This is all wrong,” I breathed, stepping back.
“Princess Naria, please you must—” The hooded woman looked as if she wanted to say more, but then something stopped her. In the distance, I could hear a faint shouting. We both turned to the doorway.
“Naria!” The shout echoed again. It was a girl’s voice, and getting closer.
Gently, Seraphina pushed me towards the stairs. “You should leave now,” she said, guiding me out of the room. “Forget about our conversation and marry Prince Lukas if you so desire. But if you ever change your mind and want to take a leap of faith for the good of your kingdom, and the realm, you know where to look.” She waved her hand at the hidden library behind us.
I nodded, my teeth catching on my lower lip.
Before long, as if nothing had ever happened, I was back in the palace library with the hidden doorway clicking shut behind me. The blue-hooded healer hurried off just as Raena rounded a corner, but she wasn’t alone. A young man, slightly timid-looking and dressed in a servant’s tunic, stood beside her.
“Where have you been? We searched all over the library for you. Your dress is filthy!” Raena gasped, rushing to slap some of the dust off my skirts.
“I was right here,” I told her, silently begging they didn’t notice my lie. “There’s so many interesting books here. I must’ve not heard you looking.” The nervous smile stuck to my face as I pivoted towards the young man. “Who is this?”
With each word, his voice quivered. “Princess Naria?”
I nodded.
“My name is Ryan. I’ve been sent by Prince Lukas to fetch you. He wishes to speak with you immediately.”
It was a struggle not to groan. But since the boy in front of me was clearly so terrified, I tried my best to answer in a way that would not frighten him more. “Thank you for coming all this way to find me, Sir Ryan, but please tell His Highness that I am quite busy right now and I do not wish to be disturbed.”
At my response, the servant’s face paled.
“Naria…” Raena hissed with a forced smile. She drew closer then tugged my ear to her lips, warning me in a low whisper. “I know you do not wish to marry him, but it is not proper to ignore the Crown Prince’s orders.”
“P-please Your Highness,” the servant stuttered, looking close to fainting. “I’m sure it won’t take long. I believe he only wishes to walk with you in the grounds.”
Raena stared up at me with a pleading expression. She didn’t say it, but I knew she meant for me to go – not just for my sake, but for the sake of this poor servant.
“Fine,” I grumbled as Ryan looked as though he might burst with happiness. “Please take me to him.”
CHAPTER 8
