The monk said Seraphine had been dead for nine years.
Gareth had held her hand less than an hour ago.
"No."
He stared at the silver pendant lying in his palm.
Two wings.
A green stone.
On the reverse, scratched by his younger hand:
G + S.
The same pendant Ysara had produced in the forest.
The same pendant she claimed Seraphine had given her three days earlier.
Gareth looked at Ysara.
"Explain."
"I can't."
"Try."
"I saw her."
"Where?"
"Saint Orlan's."
"The monastery has been abandoned for nine years."
"I know what I saw."
"Did you touch her?"
Ysara hesitated.
Gareth noticed.
"Did you?"
"No."
"Did anyone else see her?"
"No."
"Then you saw an illusion."
Ysara's silver eye narrowed.
"My silver eye was made specifically to see through Shade illusions."
"Then perhaps it wasn't a Shade."
That silenced everyone.
Toby looked at the monk.
"When did Seraphine die?"
The monk swallowed.
"According to the grave marker, nine years ago."
"How?"
"I don't know."
"Who buried her?"
"The monastery death ledger may say."
"Where is it?"
The monk's expression became uneasy.
"Missing."
Cael laughed bitterly.
"Of course it is."
Toby ignored him.
"Was there really a skeleton?"
"Yes."
"A woman's?"
"So the workers believed."
Gareth asked the question nobody wanted answered.
"How did you identify it as Seraphine?"
"The grave."
"Only the grave?"
"And this."
The monk removed another object.
A ring.
The Vale crest.
Gareth stared.
There had been another identical ring in the hidden archive.
Two rings.
One supposedly belonging to Seraphine.
One now buried with her skeleton.
"That's impossible," Gareth whispered.
Cael took the ring.
"Unless someone wanted a body identified as hers."
Edric approached.
"That happened once already."
Everyone turned.
"The queen," he continued. "We believed Elara's body proved she was dead."
Veyron's expression tightened.
"Elara was dead."
"Yes. But someone later used her face."
Toby understood.
"So maybe the skeleton is real, but it isn't Seraphine."
Gareth looked toward the southern tower.
Toward the chambers below.
Toward the black door.
"Then who was the woman we saw?"
No one answered.
---
King Aldren was moved to the royal infirmary.
High Keep was damaged but standing.
The surviving council members emerged from hiding.
Soldiers began clearing bodies.
Servants opened windows that had remained shuttered throughout the night.
And rumors spread faster than any command could control.
The Crown Prince had returned.
The dead king was alive.
The Regent was gone.
A dragon had roared beneath High Keep.
Three men had been seen bearing the Sovereign Crest.
Nobody agreed on what any of it meant.
By midday, hundreds of citizens had gathered outside the gates.
Some demanded Edric's coronation.
Others called for Aldren.
A few shouted Toby's name.
That was the most dangerous part.
Toby stood behind a narrow window.
"How do they know about me?"
Gareth joined him.
"Soldiers talk."
"About the mark?"
"Yes."
"About Cael?"
"Some."
Cael sat on the windowsill opposite them.
"They're calling me the Black Prince."
Toby looked at him.
"You like that."
"A little."
Gareth sighed.
"I have two sons and both are irritating."
Cael smiled.
"You're adapting."
For a moment, Gareth almost felt normal.
Then Toby asked:
"Is our mother dead?"
The room changed.
Gareth looked toward the pendant.
"I don't know."
Toby nodded.
"Then we find out."
Gareth stared at him.
"You're ten."
"And?"
"And children don't investigate graves."
Cael raised a hand.
"I support the child."
"Nobody asked."
"I am also your child."
"Unfortunately."
Toby smiled.
Then Gareth became serious.
"We investigate."
"When?"
"Tonight."
Cael frowned.
"Why wait?"
"Because if someone went to the trouble of burying a false Seraphine, they'll be watching to see who discovers it."
Toby understood.
"So we pretend we believe she's dead."
"Exactly."
A knock sounded.
Mira entered.
"Gareth."
"What?"
"King Aldren is awake."
---
Aldren looked twenty years older without the Shade sustaining his body.
Edric sat beside him.
The king's breathing was weak.
Gareth entered with the twins.
Aldren smiled.
"Tobias."
Then Cael.
"Cael."
Cael remained near the door.
"You know us?"
"I knew of you."
Toby approached.
"Before the massacre?"
"Before you were born."
Gareth frowned.
"How?"
Aldren looked at him.
"Seraphine came to me when she discovered she was pregnant."
Gareth's face hardened.
"And told you I was the father?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she wanted protection."
"From Elara?"
"From everyone."
Aldren coughed.
"She knew Morvus—or whoever we believed Morvus to be—was searching for the reunited Vaelor bloodline."
Cael stepped closer.
"Did you know there would be twins?"
"No."
Aldren looked toward him.
"That surprised everyone."
"Especially the people trying to murder us."
Aldren smiled sadly.
"Yes."
Toby removed the Vale ring.
"Do you recognize this?"
The king stared.
"Seraphine's."
"We found it in her grave."
Aldren's face changed.
"What grave?"
"Saint Orlan's."
"No."
The response was immediate.
Gareth leaned forward.
"You know something."
Aldren struggled to sit.
"Seraphine could not have been buried at Saint Orlan's."
"Why?"
"Because I ordered the monastery destroyed."
Silence.
"When?"
"Nine years ago."
The monk had said it had been abandoned for nine years.
"Why destroy it?" Gareth asked.
Aldren looked ashamed.
"Because of what was beneath it."
Cael's expression sharpened.
"Another gate?"
"No."
Aldren looked at the twins.
"A laboratory."
Nobody spoke.
"What kind?" Toby asked.
Aldren closed his eyes.
"The kind that should never have existed."
---
Nine years earlier.
Aldren had still been trapped beneath High Keep, but the Shade controlling his body could access his memories.
The real king had witnessed everything through his own eyes.
"Malachar continued Morvus's experiments," Aldren explained.
"What experiments?" Gareth asked.
"Blood."
Toby touched his arm.
"Vaelor blood?"
"Yes."
Cael went very still.
Aldren noticed.
"He needed to understand why the Twin Flame had returned."
"He experimented on children," Cael said.
Aldren did not deny it.
"Some."
Cael's scars suddenly seemed heavier.
"Was I there?"
Aldren's silence answered.
Cael stepped backward.
Toby reached for him.
Cael pulled away.
"Don't."
Aldren whispered, "I'm sorry."
"Stop saying that."
"Cael—"
"You kings are always sorry after someone else pays."
Edric flinched.
Cael noticed but did not apologize.
"What did they do?"
Aldren looked toward Gareth.
"You should take Toby outside."
Toby immediately said, "No."
"Tobias—"
"I want to know."
Gareth studied him.
Then nodded.
Aldren continued.
"They tried to reproduce the Sovereign Crest."
Toby frowned.
"On other children?"
"Yes."
"Did it work?"
Aldren hesitated.
"Once."
Cael's face changed.
"What?"
"One child survived."
The room became silent.
Gareth felt dread before the king finished.
"Who?"
"I never knew his name."
"Boy or girl?"
"Girl."
Toby asked, "Where is she?"
Aldren looked toward the Vale ring.
"She escaped the night Saint Orlan's burned."
Gareth's thoughts raced.
A girl carrying an artificial Sovereign Crest.
Nine years ago.
"How old would she be now?"
"Seventeen."
Everyone turned toward the doorway.
Mira stood there.
Seventeen.
Her face had gone completely pale.
Toby whispered:
"Mira?"
She backed away.
"I don't know what he's talking about."
Cael stared at her.
"Mira."
"I don't."
"Show us your arms."
Her eyes filled with fear.
"No."
Toby stepped toward her.
"You told me everything."
"No."
"Show me."
"Toby, please."
Gareth's instincts screamed.
"Mira."
She turned to run.
Cael reached the door first.
He blocked it.
"Move."
"No."
"Cael."
"Show him."
Mira's breathing became ragged.
Toby approached slowly.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because if you know, she'll know."
Silence.
"Who?" Toby asked.
Mira began crying.
"Your mother."
Gareth froze.
"What does Seraphine have to do with you?"
Mira looked at him.
Everything she had been hiding finally broke.
"She raised me."
No one moved.
Gareth's voice dropped.
"Where?"
"Saint Orlan's."
"But the monastery was abandoned."
"Above ground."
Aldren closed his eyes.
"The laboratory."
Mira nodded.
Toby looked devastated.
"You knew my mother?"
"Yes."
"How long?"
"My whole life."
"And you never told me?"
"She ordered me not to."
Cael laughed without humor.
"Apparently spying on us is a family tradition."
Mira turned toward him.
"She saved me from the laboratory."
"Then where is she?"
Mira said nothing.
Gareth stepped forward.
"Where is Seraphine?"
Mira slowly rolled up her left sleeve.
No mark.
Then her right.
Nothing.
Cael frowned.
"The crest?"
Mira whispered, "It isn't on my arms."
She pulled the collar of her dress aside.
Over her heart was a faint golden symbol.
Not the Sovereign Crest.
Something similar.
But incomplete.
A dragon with one wing missing.
Toby stared.
"What is that?"
Aldren whispered:
"The failed mark."
Mira looked at him.
"No."
The symbol began glowing.
Everyone stepped backward.
Mira's eyes filled with tears.
"They called it that."
Golden light spread across her chest.
"But Seraphine said they were wrong."
Toby approached.
"What did she call it?"
Mira looked directly at him.
"The Fourth Flame."
Silence.
Cael frowned.
"There are only two."
"That's what Malachar believed."
Mira's voice trembled.
"That's why Seraphine hid me."
Gareth stared.
"What are you supposed to do?"
Mira reached inside her dress and removed a tiny key.
Not silver.
Black.
The moment Aldren saw it, terror crossed his face.
"No."
Mira looked toward him.
"What?"
"Where did you get that?"
"Seraphine."
"When?"
Mira hesitated.
"Yesterday."
Gareth's heart stopped.
"Yesterday?"
"Before I came to High Keep."
Toby stared.
"You saw her yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Saint Orlan's."
Gareth grabbed the pendant.
"The monk says she's been dead nine years."
Mira shook her head.
"Then the monk is lying."
Everyone turned.
The monk who had delivered the grave evidence was no longer in the room.
Gareth ran into the corridor.
Empty.
"Guards!"
No answer.
He reached the stairwell.
One soldier lay unconscious.
Another was missing.
Gareth returned.
"The monk is gone."
Mira's face drained.
"He wasn't a monk."
"No."
Toby looked at her.
"Where did Seraphine tell you to go after finding us?"
Mira slowly unfolded a small piece of paper hidden inside the black key's cord.
"I wasn't supposed to read this unless Azrath was freed."
Cael stared.
"He was."
Mira opened the message.
Her hands began shaking.
"What does it say?" Toby asked.
She read aloud.
"Mira, if my sons break the pact, do not let them return to Saint Orlan's."
Silence.
"Why?" Gareth asked.
Mira continued.
"Because the grave will be opened."
Her voice faltered.
"And when it is..."
She stopped.
Toby took the letter.
The final sentence was written in Seraphine's hand.
He read it aloud.
"The woman buried under my name will wake."
Far away, beyond High Keep, a bell began ringing.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third time.
The monk who had brought them the pendant rode alone through the forest toward Saint Orlan's.
Behind him, deep beneath the ruined monastery, workers stood around an opened stone grave.
The skeleton inside was gone.
In its place sat a young woman.
Alive.
Naked except for burial cloth.
Her skin was pale as bone.
And over her heart burned a complete black Sovereign Crest.
She opened her eyes.
They were gold.
"Where are Tobias and Cael?"
One terrified worker whispered:
"Who are you?"
The woman smiled.
"My name is Seraphine."
Then she looked down at hands that had been dead for nine years.
"But I am not their mother."