My advisors—whichI’dinherited from Father’s reign—had encouraged me to take Father’s chambers and the rest of his wing for myself.
I’d quickly declined.
Father had been the onlyfaeI’dever known to use that wing of Gatlyn Castle, and Icouldn’tstomach the thought of erasing him like that. Not just erasing him, but also building on top of it for myself…
The thought made me sick.
Another bout of random turns, and a few minutes more of listening to my boots sound against the stone beneath me, andI’dfinally arrived.
At a dead end.
Well, it would look that way to anybody else, anyways.
I reached out a hand and pushed one stone out of place in the wall, then shoved against it with my full bodyweight. And with that, the hidden opening Ihadn’tused in what felt like ages slowly swung open.
Shutting it behind me, the other side of the hinged wall lookedfairly ordinary.This wing housed multiple pieces that my grandmother had painted.I’dnever met her personally, but sometimes I liked to imagine I could catch glimpses of her in the paintingsshe’dleft behind.
They were all brightly colored, even the ones in snowy scenery—there’dbe a patch of flowers, or a house, or an animal of sorts that drew the eye.It seemed as thoughshe knew how to focus mostly on the positive elements.
How foolish, I couldn’t help but think.
I was stalling, I realized with a start.
Sighing lightly, I turned away from the wall of paintings and headed a few doors down on the opposite wall. There were seventeen doors in the hallway that made up the ruler’s wing, but there was only one I was looking for right now.
Every door in this wing was identical. They were a deep, rich brown wood so dark it was almost black, having been harvestedfrom the surrounding area, and made up each door, with silver accents and handles.
Steeling myself, I reached into my pocket, feeling for the right key. Once found, I slipped it into the lock below the handle and turned, unlocking the door with a soft shifting sound. I gripped the silver handle andpusheddown.The doorsqueaked as it openedin on itself, echoing down the silent hallway and reminding me of how long it had likely been since anybody had been in thisparticular room—besides myself, that was.
Mother’s private study.
It was a fairly small space—likely the smallest in the entire corridor—but Mother had made the most of it.Floor-to-ceilingshelveslinednearly everywall, overflowing with books and nicknacks of all sorts. It was as thoughshe’dcrammed her entire life into this one room.
And it had been left almost entirely untouched.
Except by me.
I imagined if Aviva had ever dared to venture into Father’s part of the castle,she’dhave become emotional to know that so much of our mother still existed inside the same building we occupied.Yet my twin did her best to stay out of our father’s way at all times, overpowering her curious nature.Besides,we’dboth been told all of Mother’s things had been given away or donated aftershe’dpassedall those years ago.
The discolored rug on the floor was covered in layers upon layers of dust—just as everything else was—and had only been disrupted by my coming and going before the recent battle in Wittuck Woods. I rounded the desk towards the back of the room and blewthe majority ofthe dustoff ofthe chair before taking a seat. Drumming my fingers against the top of the wooden desk before me, I found myself becoming lost in my thoughts.
A couple of weeks before the latest battle, when I had just learned that it was going to happen so soon, I approachedFather.I’d argued that if we went forward with his plans to spring an attack, the South very well may hurt Aviva as retaliation against us.They were said to be barbaric, after all—there was no telling whatthey’ddo to her.
Sending her away was supposed to have been an act of peace—one that Father hadinitiated—and yet therehe’dbeen, trying to ruin it all.
I hadn’t care much about the battle itself, only what it would’ve meant for my sister.
When Ihadn’tlet it go, Father snapped. He had been under a lot of stress due to planning the details of what was originally supposed to be a surprise attack, and Ilikely shouldn’thave pushed, but with what I thought was Aviva’s life on the line, Icouldn’tlet it go.
Then, Father had made a bargain with me.
He’d take me to see hisfavorite prisonerif I cooperated.
I couldn’t agree to a deal I didn’t know all of the specifics about, so at first I had declined.
That was, until Father told me who he was speaking of.
Who was stillalive.
