Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Beneath the Crown

Garrick Thorne had spent eleven years hiding the truth about Rowan, but the moment Tomas saw his old friend's face, he knew the secret was worse than death.

"Tell me he's lying."

Tomas stood in the underground chamber of Saint Orin's Abbey, his weathered hands trembling.

On the wall before him, the watery vision of Rowan flickered beneath the ancient symbols of the First Tide. The missing sailor was alive, chained in a flooded prison somewhere beneath the northern sea.

And he had just spoken words that threatened to overturn everything Tomas believed.

The Sea King was never murdered.

Garrick lowered his eyes.

"Tomas—"

"Tell me!"

Lysa stood beside Mara, her face pale.

"My husband is alive," she whispered. "All these years, you knew he was alive?"

Garrick looked at her, then away.

"I knew he survived the shipwreck."

Lysa staggered backward.

"You knew?"

"I was told he was being held."

"By whom?"

Garrick said nothing.

Tomas crossed the chamber in three furious strides and seized his coat.

"Eleven years of friendship," he said through clenched teeth. "You watched my daughter mourn her husband. You watched Mara grow up without a father. You watched us suffer."

Garrick did not resist.

"I tried to keep them alive."

"By letting them believe a lie?"

"By keeping the Crown from finding them!"

The words echoed through the chamber.

Sister Maelin stepped forward.

"Enough. This argument serves the people who imprisoned Rowan."

But Lysa would not be silenced.

"Where is he?"

Garrick closed his eyes.

"Below the royal palace."

"Then take me there."

"You cannot simply enter the Deep Kingdom."

"He's my husband!"

Her voice broke.

"He's Mara's father."

A strange silence followed.

Seraphine, who had been examining the ancient manuscript, slowly lifted her head.

"That," she said quietly, "is the part we have not established."

Lysa stared at her.

"What?"

Seraphine looked toward the fading vision.

"Rowan may have raised Mara as his daughter. He may even have helped bring her to the surface. But that does not tell us whose blood she carries."

Mara looked between the adults.

"Does it matter?"

No one answered.

The little girl lowered her gaze.

Tomas released Garrick and knelt beside her.

"No, sweetheart. Not to me."

Mara touched his cheek.

"Even if I came from the sea?"

"Even then."

"And if Nerissa is my sister?"

"Then we'll find a way to help her too."

Mara nodded, but something in her expression suggested she was no longer certain any adult could keep such a promise.

Behind them, the vision of Rowan began dissolving.

Before it vanished completely, he raised his chained hands.

A symbol had been burned into his wrist.

Seven waves surrounding a broken crown.

Maelin inhaled sharply.

"The mark of the King's Witness."

Garrick went rigid.

Tomas turned.

"What does that mean?"

Maelin stared at the disappearing image.

"It means Rowan was present when the Sea King supposedly died."

The water shimmered.

Rowan's voice emerged one final time.

"Find the seventh witness."

Then the wall went dark.

Far beneath Blackwater Bay, Lord Cassian Veyr knelt before a throne that had remained empty for eleven years.

The underwater chamber was illuminated by enormous pearls suspended above its black marble floor. Beyond the tall windows, strange creatures moved through a kingdom of coral towers and ruined palaces.

The Hollow Regent stood beside the throne.

Without his bone mask, his face was no less disturbing.

His skin resembled pale stone stretched over an unnaturally narrow skull. One golden eye remained intact; the other was hidden beneath a strip of black metal.

"You failed to recover the girl," the Regent said.

Cassian kept his head lowered.

"The Sea Queen interfered."

"And the fisherman escaped."

"Yes."

"And Garrick Thorne?"

"Also escaped."

The Regent walked slowly around him.

"Three failures."

Cassian's fingers tightened against the marble.

"I have another opportunity."

"Explain."

"Saint Orin's Abbey."

The Regent stopped.

Cassian continued.

"The last Tidebound sanctuary. Garrick knows its location. If he's still alive, he'll take them there."

"An interesting assumption."

"I know how he thinks."

The Regent leaned closer.

"Do you?"

Cassian hesitated.

The creature smiled.

"You and Garrick were brothers once, were you not?"

"Not by blood."

"No. By oath."

Cassian remembered two young officers standing beneath the banners of the Royal Inquisition, promising to protect the kingdom against threats from the deep.

Before the executions.

Before the missing children.

Before Garrick had turned his sword against their commander.

"He betrayed the Crown," Cassian said.

The Regent's golden eye narrowed.

"Perhaps. But he did not betray the same master you did."

Cassian looked up.

"What does that mean?"

The Regent extended one clawed hand.

A small black pearl appeared in his palm.

Within its surface, Cassian saw a memory.

A younger Garrick kneeling before the Sea Queen.

Beside him stood Master Varrick.

Between them lay a silver cradle.

Cassian stared.

"That was never in the Inquisition records."

"Records are written by whoever survives."

The Regent closed his fist.

The vision vanished.

"Bring Garrick to me alive."

"And the child?"

"Bring her as well."

Cassian hesitated.

"You previously ordered her heart."

The Regent smiled.

"I've learned something that changes its value."

Before Cassian could ask what, the chamber doors opened.

Nerissa entered wearing the Crown of the First Tide.

Her expression was calm.

Too calm.

The Regent straightened.

"Have you rested, little princess?"

"Yes."

"Good. Your sister will soon be brought to us."

Nerissa glanced at Cassian.

"Alive?"

The Regent paused.

"Of course."

She looked directly into his golden eye.

"Promise me."

For a moment, the creature appeared amused.

Then he knelt.

"I promise."

Nerissa smiled faintly.

But beneath her crown, the imprisoned voice whispered:

He made the same promise to your mother.

At Saint Orin's Abbey, Sister Maelin opened a hidden compartment beneath the library floor.

Inside lay a long wooden case sealed with seven silver clasps.

Seraphine recognized the emblem immediately.

"The Witness Archive."

Maelin nodded.

"The final testimony concerning the Sea King's death."

Tomas stepped closer.

"Then open it."

"I cannot."

"Why?"

"Only someone marked by the First Tide can release the seals."

All eyes turned toward Mara.

Lysa immediately pulled her back.

"No."

Maelin regarded her quietly.

"I understand your fear."

"No, you don't. Everyone who discovers what Mara can do immediately asks her to do something dangerous."

Seraphine lowered her eyes.

Lysa continued.

"The Queen wanted to sacrifice one of her daughters. Varrick poisoned my child. Cassian wants to imprison her. And now you want her to open another mysterious box?"

Maelin said nothing.

Tomas looked at the case.

Its black wood resembled the chest the Sea Queen had delivered to his boat.

Too closely.

"Where did this come from?" he asked.

"Elara brought it here before her death."

The mention of his wife silenced him.

Maelin continued.

"She told us it would become important when the twins reached their seventh year."

Tomas felt anger rising again.

"She knew all this was going to happen?"

"She feared it might."

"Then why didn't she tell me?"

Maelin looked at him with sadness.

"Because you had already refused to leave Blackwater Bay."

The words wounded him.

He remembered their final argument.

Elara pleading.

Him shouting that he would not abandon the boat his father had built.

He had believed she was afraid of imaginary dangers.

Now he wondered whether his stubbornness had cost her life.

Mara slipped free of Lysa's arms.

"I can open it."

"No," Lysa said immediately.

Mara looked at her.

"Mother, Rowan might be inside the records."

Lysa froze.

"And if we find him, maybe he'll know how to help Nerissa."

Tomas knelt beside the child.

"You don't have to prove anything to anyone."

"I know."

"Are you afraid?"

Mara nodded.

"Very."

"Then why?"

She looked toward the wooden case.

"Because everybody keeps telling me what I am. I want to know who I am."

Tomas felt something tighten in his chest.

He turned toward Lysa.

She was crying.

After a long moment, she nodded reluctantly.

Mara approached the case.

She placed one small hand against the first silver clasp.

It opened.

Then the second.

The third.

By the time she reached the seventh, the abbey bells had begun ringing.

The case opened.

Inside lay six silver tablets and an empty space where a seventh should have been.

Maelin stared.

"No."

Seraphine counted them again.

"Someone removed the final testimony."

Garrick stood near the doorway.

His face was expressionless.

Tomas noticed.

"You know who took it."

Garrick did not answer.

"Garrick."

The wounded harbor master finally spoke.

"I did."

The confession left the chamber silent.

Seraphine drew her dagger.

"You stole the seventh testimony?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Eleven years ago."

Maelin looked devastated.

"You swore to Elara that the archive would remain untouched."

"I know."

"Then why?"

Garrick looked toward Mara.

"Because the seventh witness was still alive."

Tomas stepped forward.

"Who?"

Garrick reached beneath his bloodstained coat.

He withdrew a narrow cylinder wrapped in oilcloth.

Inside was a silver tablet.

The seventh testimony.

For eleven years, he had carried it close to his body.

Seraphine approached cautiously.

"Read it."

Garrick shook his head.

"You won't believe what it says."

"Try us," Tomas replied.

Garrick placed the tablet on the table.

Its surface glowed as Mara approached.

Ancient symbols rearranged themselves into words.

Maelin read aloud.

"On the Night of the Severed Crown, the sovereign descended into the Chamber of Returning. His body was surrendered, but his name was preserved."

She stopped.

Seraphine leaned closer.

"Continue."

"The Queen declared his death. The court mourned. The kingdom accepted the murder as truth."

Tomas frowned.

"His body was surrendered to what?"

Maelin read the next line.

"To the one who would wear his face until the appointed hour."

The room grew cold.

Garrick closed his eyes.

"I warned you."

Seraphine stared at the tablet.

"The Hollow Regent."

Maelin shook her head.

"No. The Regent was imprisoned afterward."

Tomas remembered the black claw.

The stolen voices.

The golden eye.

A terrible thought formed.

"What if the creature in the chest wasn't pretending to be the king?"

Nobody answered.

He continued.

"What if the king's body really was taken?"

Maelin slowly lowered the tablet.

"Then the murdered king and the imprisoned creature may be connected more deeply than we understood."

Garrick looked toward the darkness beyond the library.

"That's why the seventh testimony was hidden. Because the final witness saw what entered the king's body."

Seraphine turned.

"Who was the witness?"

Garrick swallowed.

"Rowan."

Lysa stepped forward.

"My husband?"

"Yes."

"But Rowan wasn't even born when the old wars began."

"Not as Rowan Vale."

Tomas stared.

Garrick's voice became almost inaudible.

"His original name was Prince Aurelian."

Maelin gasped.

"The King's younger brother."

Garrick nodded.

"He lived among mortals under a borrowed name. Elara helped conceal him."

Tomas struggled to comprehend it.

"Then my son-in-law was a prince?"

"Yes."

"And you knew?"

"Yes."

Tomas laughed bitterly.

"Of course you did."

Lysa placed a hand over her mouth.

For years, she had believed Rowan was an ordinary sailor with a talent for navigating dangerous waters.

Now even their marriage seemed surrounded by secrets.

"Did he love me?" she whispered.

Garrick looked at her.

For the first time, he answered without hesitation.

"Yes."

"Or was that part of the plan?"

"He loved you enough to disobey the Queen."

Lysa closed her eyes.

The answer offered little comfort.

That night, Seraphine found Garrick alone in the abbey courtyard.

He sat beside an ancient stone well, pressing a clean cloth against his wound.

"You should be resting," she said.

Garrick looked up.

"I didn't expect kindness."

"This isn't kindness."

She remained standing.

"I want to know about Edrin."

Garrick's expression darkened.

"Your brother."

"Yes."

He lowered his gaze.

"I gave Varrick his name."

"I know that."

"Varrick promised he would be questioned and released."

"And you believed him?"

"I wanted to."

Seraphine sat across from him.

"Tell me how he died."

Garrick was silent for a long time.

Then he said, "He didn't."

Seraphine stared.

"What?"

"At least, not when I last saw him."

"You told me he was executed."

"I told you Varrick's men took him."

Her breathing quickened.

"Where is he?"

Garrick looked toward the dark sea.

"Below the palace."

Seraphine grabbed his arm.

"With Rowan?"

"Possibly."

"Why?"

"Because Edrin discovered the Queen's physician was experimenting on royal blood."

Seraphine felt the world shift beneath her.

"What experiments?"

Garrick hesitated.

Then he revealed the secret he had buried beneath eleven years of guilt.

"Varrick wasn't merely suppressing Mara's powers."

"Then what was he doing?"

"Measuring them."

"Why?"

"Because he needed to know whether the twins' gifts could be transferred."

Seraphine went still.

"Transferred to whom?"

Garrick looked toward the abbey's illuminated windows.

"To someone who wasn't born with them."

A cold realization crept across her face.

"The Hollow Regent?"

Garrick shook his head.

"No."

"Then who?"

He looked directly at her.

"Lord Cassian Veyr."

Deep beneath the royal palace, Cassian stood alone before a mirror of polished obsidian.

His reflection looked back at him.

Then moved without him.

Cassian froze.

The reflected figure smiled.

"You're late."

Cassian stepped backward.

"Who are you?"

The reflection raised one hand.

Its fingers had become long black claws.

"You know."

Cassian's throat tightened.

"The Regent?"

"Not exactly."

The reflected figure leaned closer.

"Do you remember your father?"

Cassian's face hardened.

"He's dead."

"Is he?"

The reflection changed.

An older man appeared, wearing the ceremonial armor of the Royal Inquisition.

Cassian recognized him immediately.

Lord Alaric Veyr.

His father.

Executed twenty years earlier for treason against the Crown.

Cassian staggered.

"Impossible."

The older man smiled.

"Your mother told you I died."

"I watched your execution."

"You watched a body die."

Cassian gripped the edge of the mirror.

"What do you want?"

His father's reflection became solemn.

"To stop the Regent before he opens the Drowned Realm."

Cassian laughed bitterly.

"You expect me to believe you're trying to save the kingdom?"

"No."

"Then why should I listen?"

The reflection leaned closer.

"Because the Regent has never intended to give you the twins' power."

Cassian went still.

"He promised—"

"He promised you a throne."

"Yes."

"And told you the girls would be sacrificed."

Cassian said nothing.

His father continued.

"But he did not tell you what happens when both heirs die."

Cassian's hands began trembling.

"What happens?"

"The boundary breaks permanently."

"And the Regent?"

"He becomes the first sovereign of the Drowned Realm."

Cassian stared.

"Then what happens to me?"

The reflection smiled sadly.

"You become his doorway."

Before Cassian could answer, the mirror darkened.

A single sentence appeared across its surface.

The first betrayal was not the Queen's.

Cassian stumbled backward.

Then the words changed.

Find Elara.

Back at Saint Orin's Abbey, Tomas woke to the sound of someone crying.

He rose from the narrow bed Maelin had prepared for him.

The corridor outside was empty.

The crying came from the chapel.

He followed it.

Mara stood before a stained-glass window, wearing her nightdress.

Her eyes glowed faintly.

Tomas approached slowly.

"Sweetheart?"

She turned.

"Grandfather."

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Because Nerissa is afraid."

Tomas knelt beside her.

"Can you hear her?"

Mara nodded.

"She's trying not to cry."

"Where is she?"

"Under the sea."

"Can you speak to her?"

"Sometimes."

Tomas looked toward the window.

Moonlight fell across the painted image of two identical girls holding hands.

"Then tell her we're trying to help."

Mara closed her eyes.

For several moments, she remained still.

Then her expression changed.

"She says someone is listening."

"Who?"

"The man with the golden eye."

Tomas felt his stomach tighten.

"The Regent?"

Mara nodded.

Then she whispered, "She's hiding something from him."

"What?"

Mara opened her eyes.

"She found a door."

"What door?"

"The one under the palace."

Tomas felt a familiar chill.

Mara's voice grew quieter.

"And she says there's someone behind it who knows my real name."

"Your real name?"

She nodded.

"Not Mara."

Tomas stared.

"What did she say it was?"

Mara opened her mouth.

But before she could answer, a terrible scream echoed through the abbey.

A woman's scream.

Seraphine.

Tomas seized the iron poker and ran.

He found Seraphine in the underground library.

The silver tablets lay scattered across the floor.

The seventh testimony was missing.

Garrick stood beside the open archive, his dagger drawn.

Across from him, Sister Maelin held a bloodstained silver blade.

Seraphine lay on the floor between them, clutching her shoulder.

Tomas stopped.

"What happened?"

Maelin turned.

"Get away from him."

Garrick shook his head.

"Tomas, don't listen."

Seraphine struggled to speak.

"Someone... stole the tablet."

Tomas looked at Garrick.

"You had it."

"I placed it in the archive."

Maelin raised her blade.

"And then he tried to take it again."

"That's a lie!"

Tomas moved toward Seraphine.

She caught his sleeve.

"Not Garrick."

Maelin froze.

"What?"

Seraphine pointed weakly toward the abbess.

"She attacked me."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Tomas slowly turned.

Maelin's face had changed.

The gentle warmth was gone.

In its place stood cold determination.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Garrick stepped forward.

"Maelin, don't."

She raised the silver blade.

"You don't understand what I've spent eleven years protecting."

Tomas gripped his poker.

"Then explain it."

Maelin's eyes filled with tears.

"The seventh witness was never Rowan."

Garrick froze.

"What?"

"He was made to believe he had seen the truth."

Tomas stared.

"By whom?"

Maelin looked toward the chapel above.

"By the woman whose memory you have trusted more than your own."

Tomas felt the blood drain from his face.

"Elara?"

Maelin nodded.

"She did not merely hide the twins."

Her voice broke.

"She created the lie that made everyone believe there were only two."

Nobody moved.

Tomas struggled to understand.

"What are you saying?"

Maelin lowered the blade.

"On the night of the royal birth, three children entered the Chamber of Returning."

Seraphine stared at her.

"Three?"

"Two were daughters of the Sea Queen."

"And the third?"

Maelin looked at Garrick.

"A child who was never supposed to survive the exchange."

Tomas remembered the vision.

The silver cradle.

The child in Garrick's arms.

The altered royal records.

Mara's mysterious arrival on the shore.

And Rowan's warning that the girl they knew might not be the sister Nerissa remembered.

"Who was the third child?" he whispered.

Maelin hesitated.

Then answered.

"Elara's granddaughter."

Tomas staggered backward.

"But Mara—"

"The child you raised is not necessarily the princess the Regent seeks."

A cold silence filled the library.

Then Maelin spoke the final words.

"The real Mara Vale died seven years ago."

From the chapel above came a child's voice.

Clear.

Calm.

And entirely unfamiliar.

"No, Sister Maelin."

Everyone looked toward the staircase.

Mara stood in the doorway.

Her small face was expressionless.

Her eyes had turned completely silver.

"The real Mara Vale is standing right here."

She raised one hand.

Every silver tablet in the chamber shattered.

Then she looked at Tomas and smiled.

"But Grandfather, there's something you should know."

The abbey bells began ringing without pause.

Mara's shadow stretched across the floor.

And within it appeared the unmistakable outline of a third child.

"I was never one of the twins."