Chapter 3 - The Queen Who Should Have Been Dead
The woman standing beyond the sealed doorway had Queen Elara's face, Queen Elara's voice, and Queen Elara's memories.
But the moment she asked which child carried the king's heart, Edrin tried to kill her.
"GET DOWN!"
The old captain lunged forward, his rusted dagger aimed directly at the woman's chest.
Toby barely had time to react.
The woman raised one finger.
Edrin stopped in midair.
His boots hung several inches above the floor. His dagger trembled in his hand, suspended by an invisible force.
Then the woman closed her fist.
The blade shattered.
Edrin flew backward, striking the chamber wall with a sickening crack.
"EDRIN!" Toby shouted.
The old man collapsed beneath the portrait of Queen Elara.
Mira rushed toward him, but the woman spoke again.
"Leave him."
Something in her voice made the blue flames along the walls bend toward her.
Mira stopped.
Not because she obeyed.
Because she was terrified.
Toby stepped in front of his friend and raised the Sunforged Blade.
"Don't hurt them!"
The woman studied him.
Then she smiled.
"You have his eyes."
Toby's grip tightened.
"Whose?"
"Your father's."
The words struck harder than Edrin's fall.
For a moment, Toby forgot about the sealed doors, the strange magic, and the woman who might be an impostor.
"My father?"
Her smile became almost tender.
"He was stubborn too. Always pointing his sword at things he didn't understand."
"Where is he?"
The woman looked toward the golden blade.
"That depends on what you believe death means."
Toby felt his stomach tighten.
He hated answers like that.
Adults had always used them when they wanted to hide something.
"Are you my mother?"
The woman's expression changed.
A faint sadness crossed her face.
"I carried you beneath my heart for nine months. I held you when you first cried. I sang to you when thunder frightened you."
Toby stopped breathing.
Thunder.
He remembered thunder.
A dark room.
Warm blankets.
A woman's voice singing:
When the stars forget their names,
And the moon abandons the sky,
Follow the dragon's golden flame,
For royal blood shall never die.
Toby's lips parted.
"You sang that."
The woman nodded.
"Every night."
His eyes burned.
He wanted to run to her.
He wanted to throw the sword aside and bury his face in her arms.
But then he remembered Edrin's warning.
He remembered the woman's golden eyes.
And he remembered the question she had asked.
Which one of you carries the king's heart?
"Then tell me something," Toby whispered.
"Anything."
"Why did you leave me?"
The woman's smile disappeared.
For the first time, she seemed uncertain.
"I didn't."
"Everyone said you abandoned me."
"They lied."
"Edrin said you were murdered."
"He saw what he was meant to see."
Toby shook his head.
"Then why didn't you come for me?"
The woman took a step forward.
A thin golden chain suddenly appeared around her ankle.
It extended backward into the darkness, disappearing beneath the stone floor.
She stopped.
Her face twisted with pain.
"Because I could not leave."
Toby stared at the chain.
It was covered in tiny runes.
The same runes engraved upon the Sunforged Blade.
Mira noticed them too.
"Toby," she whispered, "look at her hands."
The woman wore silver rings on every finger.
Each ring was connected to a nearly invisible thread of golden light.
The threads stretched into the walls.
She was not simply standing inside the chamber.
She was bound to it.
"Who imprisoned you?" Toby asked.
The woman's eyes shifted toward Edrin.
"Ask the man who claims he buried me."
Edrin coughed.
A dark stain spread across his gray robe.
Mira knelt beside him.
"He's hurt."
Toby lowered his sword slightly.
"Can you help him?"
The woman looked at the old captain without sympathy.
"He has lived longer than his courage deserves."
"Please," Toby said.
Something in his voice changed her expression.
For several seconds, she simply watched him.
Then she raised her hand.
A soft golden light surrounded Edrin's chest.
The old man gasped.
His breathing steadied.
Mira touched his shoulder.
"Edrin?"
His single visible eye opened.
He saw the woman.
And immediately tried to crawl away.
"No," he whispered. "Not again."
The woman tilted her head.
"Still afraid of me?"
Edrin stared at Toby.
"Boy, listen carefully. She remembers your mother because she took those memories from her."
The woman went very still.
Toby looked between them.
"What?"
Edrin struggled to sit upright.
"Ten years ago, Queen Elara discovered an ancient power hidden beneath the cathedral. A creature that could wear the faces of the dead and speak with their voices."
The woman laughed softly.
"Is that what you told yourself?"
"She was imprisoned beneath the mountain long before the First Dynasty!"
Toby felt a chill.
Edrin pointed toward the woman's silver rings.
"Those are binding seals. The queen came here to strengthen them. But something went wrong."
"What went wrong?" Toby demanded.
Edrin swallowed.
"The creature escaped into her body."
Silence filled the chamber.
The woman closed her eyes.
For a moment, she looked exhausted.
Then she spoke.
"That is one version."
Edrin's face hardened.
"It is the truth."
"The truth?" she repeated. "Did you tell him who ordered the queen's death?"
"Commander Vane."
"And who opened the gates for his soldiers?"
Edrin stopped breathing.
Toby noticed.
The old captain's expression changed in a way the boy had never seen before.
Not fear.
Shame.
The woman smiled sadly.
"Go on, Edrin. Tell my son why the assassins reached the royal nursery."
Mira looked at him.
"Edrin?"
The old man's hands trembled.
"I had orders."
"From whom?" Toby asked.
Edrin stared at the floor.
"From the king."
The woman whispered, "There it is."
Toby stepped backward.
"My father ordered them inside?"
Edrin shook his head desperately.
"No! You don't understand. The king believed there was a traitor among the royal household. He ordered me to admit a trusted company of guards."
"Vane's guards?"
Edrin said nothing.
Toby felt something inside him crack.
The old captain had claimed to protect his mother.
Yet he had opened the gates to the men who killed her.
"Why didn't you stop them?"
"I tried."
"After they got inside?"
Edrin could not answer.
Toby turned away.
He suddenly understood why the old man's chains had been left hanging from his wrists.
Perhaps he had not been an innocent prisoner.
Perhaps someone had been punishing him.
Or perhaps he was punishing himself.
A heavy impact shook the sealed chamber doors.
Commander Vane's voice echoed from the other side.
"Toby! Open the door!"
Mira recoiled.
The woman looked toward the entrance.
"How predictable."
Another impact followed.
Stone dust fell from the ceiling.
Vane shouted again.
"By authority of the Crown, open this chamber!"
The woman's expression turned cold.
"Authority of the Crown," she repeated. "How amusing, considering whose blood purchased that crown."
Toby looked at her.
"What does he want?"
"The same thing he has wanted for ten years."
"The sword?"
"No."
Her golden eyes fixed upon his chest.
"The heart."
Toby instinctively touched his tunic.
"My heart?"
The woman shook her head.
"Not yours necessarily."
She turned toward Mira.
The girl went rigid.
"The King's Heart is an ancient inheritance. It does not pass to the eldest child, nor always to a son. It chooses its bearer."
Mira frowned.
"What does it do?"
The woman's smile vanished.
"It commands the First Crown's living guardians."
Toby glanced toward the ceiling.
"Dragons?"
"Not only dragons."
A distant rumble passed beneath the floor.
Something enormous shifted far below them.
Toby remembered Vaelthar's warning.
Something beneath the kingdom had awakened.
The woman continued.
"The old kings did not rule because they wore golden crowns. They ruled because their blood maintained an oath between mankind and creatures older than the mountains."
"What creatures?" Mira asked.
"Guardians. Some gave their loyalty willingly. Others were bound by force."
Toby looked at the golden chains around her ankle.
"Like you?"
The woman's eyes narrowed.
"Perhaps."
Another blow struck the door.
A crack spread across its surface.
Mira hurried toward Toby.
"We have to get out."
The woman raised one hand.
A section of the chamber wall shimmered.
Behind it, a narrow passage appeared.
"That path leads to the old royal crypts. Follow it, and you can escape before Vane reaches you."
Toby hesitated.
"What about you?"
"I cannot leave while the seals remain."
"Then I'll break them."
Edrin shouted.
"NO!"
The woman said nothing.
Toby looked at the silver rings.
"Can the sword break them?"
"Yes," she whispered.
Edrin struggled to his feet.
"If you free her, everyone above us could die!"
Toby turned toward him.
"You said that was my mother."
"I said she wears your mother's face!"
The woman raised her chin.
"And you admitted betraying the woman whose life you swore to protect."
Edrin fell silent.
Toby stared at both of them.
He wanted someone to be telling the truth.
Just one person.
But every answer seemed to reveal another lie.
Mira stepped beside him.
"We don't have to decide right now."
The woman looked disappointed.
"You always were a careful child, Seraphine."
Mira stiffened.
"Don't call me that."
"Why? It is your name."
"My name is Mira."
"The name they gave you to keep you hidden."
Mira's lips trembled.
Toby reached for her hand.
This time, she did not pull away.
The woman watched them.
Then something unexpected happened.
A single tear slipped down her cheek.
"I prayed that you would find each other."
For an instant, she looked painfully human.
Toby almost lowered the sword.
Almost.
Then the chamber door exploded inward.
Iron fragments flew across the floor.
Commander Vane emerged through the smoke with six armored knights.
His cheek still bore the wound Toby had given him.
Behind them walked Bishop Aldren.
The bishop's face looked older than before.
Vane raised a black iron crossbow.
Its bolt glowed with violet fire.
"Step away from the woman."
Toby moved in front of Mira.
"Leave us alone!"
Vane looked past him.
His eyes settled on the woman in white.
For the first time, the commander's confidence disappeared.
"Your Majesty," he whispered.
The woman smiled.
"Hello, Vane."
He swallowed.
"You were supposed to be dead."
"So many people keep telling me."
Vane raised the crossbow higher.
"You should have remained buried."
Toby stared at him.
"You knew her?"
Vane ignored the question.
Bishop Aldren stepped forward.
"Commander, the children must not be harmed."
"The children are the reason we're here."
"That was not our agreement."
Vane turned his head.
"Agreements change."
He aimed the crossbow directly at Mira.
Toby's blood turned cold.
"Don't!"
Vane smiled.
"Drop the sword."
Toby hesitated.
The violet bolt pulsed with strange light.
He had seen ordinary crossbow bolts shatter against Vaelthar's scales.
But this weapon was different.
Its tip was carved from black crystal.
The woman in white suddenly looked frightened.
"Dragonbone."
Vane's smile widened.
"At least you recognize it."
Edrin whispered, "That bolt can kill anyone carrying royal blood."
Toby looked at Mira.
Her fingers were ice-cold.
"Put the sword down," she whispered.
"No."
"Toby—"
"I won't let him hurt you."
Vane pulled back the crossbow's trigger.
"Last chance."
Toby lowered the Sunforged Blade.
The golden runes dimmed.
Vane watched carefully.
"On the floor."
Toby slowly bent his knees.
He placed the sword against the stone.
The moment his fingers left the hilt, the mark on his wrist burned.
Pain shot through his arm.
He gasped.
Above them, something roared.
Vaelthar.
The dragon's voice exploded inside Toby's mind.
DO NOT RELEASE THE BLADE!
Too late.
A golden chain erupted from the floor.
It wrapped around Toby's wrist.
Another seized his ankle.
He screamed as the chains dragged him toward the woman.
Mira lunged forward.
"Toby!"
Vane fired.
The violet bolt streaked through the chamber.
Mira threw herself in front of Toby.
The bolt struck her shoulder.
She cried out and collapsed.
For one terrible second, Toby could only stare.
Blood spread across her dress.
Her copper pendant fell against the floor.
Then the silver star engraved upon it began to glow.
The entire chamber shook.
The woman in white screamed.
Not in fear.
In recognition.
"SERAPHINE!"
Mira arched backward.
Golden light erupted from her chest.
The dragonbone bolt dissolved into black dust.
Vane staggered backward.
"No..."
The bishop dropped to his knees.
Edrin covered his face.
Toby crawled toward Mira, ignoring the chains cutting into his skin.
"Mira!"
Her eyes opened.
They were no longer brown.
They were brilliant silver.
When she spoke, her voice was layered with another voice, older and colder.
"Who has dared spill the blood of the First Crown?"
The golden chains around Toby shattered.
Every portrait in the chamber burst into flame.
And the woman in white fell to her knees.
"My queen," she whispered.
Toby froze.
The woman claiming to be Queen Elara was bowing before Mira.
Then Mira slowly turned toward him.
Her silver eyes filled with terrible recognition.
"Toby," she said, her voice trembling beneath the ancient power, "you must run."
He shook his head.
"I'm not leaving you!"
She grabbed his wrist.
For one heartbeat, her familiar brown eyes returned.
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Please. Before I remember what they made me do."
Toby stared at her.
"What are you talking about?"
Mira began to sob.
And through her tears, she whispered the words that made the entire chamber fall silent.
"I remember the night your mother died. Toby... I was the one who opened her door."