♔𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒫𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓈 𝒮𝑒𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓉♔

~3~

"What are you doing here?" I ask, spotting Elliot stretched across my bed. I came here for some privacy.

"Well, you ran off at dinner," He says.

I flop down next to him on the bed, kicking my shoes into the corner. "I think Great-Grandpa Maceyn fucked us all." I rarely cursed, but this felt appropriate.

"So Dad finally told you?"

"He told you first!?" I shoot up.

"Nah, I found a secret library on the third floor." He says, casually.

"Secret library? No one tells me anything!" I say, burying my face in a pillow.

"I'm assuming you want me to show you?" He says after a moment.

"Obviously!"

I throw my shoes back on, red velvet heels, and follow Elliot out of my bedroom door.

"And how exactly did you find this secret library?" I ask.

"I was seven, we were playing hide and seek."

"Who knows about it?" I ask as the two of us turn a corner.

"Dad and that guard, the blonde one who interrupted dinner. She was standing outside a couple days ago. I asked what she was doing but she wouldn't answer. When I checked back a minute later she was gone. She's pretty mysterious."

And smart, I think, remembering her speech in father's office. Ember, focus. I tell myself.

"Uh, y-yeah." I stutter.

"Here we are!" He says, as we stop before a large portrait of Queen Alice, our grandmother. We never met her, she died before I was born.

"Queen Alice?"

He looks around the empty hallway, we were alone. "Watch and learn, sis." He fumbles around with the frame, pressing a hidden button on the side. The portrait swings open, revealing a four-foot by four-foot opening. "After you" he says, winking.

I step through the secret door, careful not to trip over the two foot barrier below. I squint, my eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. The room is a decent size, a little smaller than my bedroom. The walls are lined floor to ceiling with bookshelves full of books, scrolls, and packets full of information.

"Who built this place?" I ask, Elliot closing the hidden door behind us. "I think it was Grandpa, he had to cover up his dad's actions somehow."

I reach for the nearest book, one with a maroon cover titled Flowerfield.

"Flowerfield." I say aloud.

"Kingdom; fell hundreds of years ago; up north." He says, like a walking dictionary.

"Why have we never learned about it?" I ask.

"It must've seemed unimportant in Grandpa Gregory's eyes." He shrugs. "Everything here's really old. I organized everything. This wall's about old Kingdoms" He point's to the shelves I grabbed the maroon book from. "That one's about some tribes here before us," He points to the back wall. "And that last wall is mostly fiction, most of it only referencing the old world."

"How come you never told me?" I ask, kind of hurt that he kept this from me for so long.

"Honestly," He starts, slumping into an old armchair in the corner. "You're going to be queen one day, Em. Knowing about this made me feel important, special."

"Elliot," I start. I had no idea he felt this. "You are specia-"

"Emmy, you don't need to give me a speech. You're the important one,"

"But Elliot,"

"It's okay Emmy, you were born to be queen, it's just the truth. I hope this helps you, I know you'll do the right thing."

And just like that, he walks back outside, leaving me alone in the castle's best kept secret. He was right, though. I had to do something.