Kingdom of the Nine: The Princes (II)

Chapter 10

Celestrian Palace

The room is cloaked in shadow and grandeur, a place where whispers and secrets seem to linger in the air long after they're spoken. Tall, narrow windows line one wall, their thick velvet drapes pulled back just enough to allow narrow beams of light to pierce the room. The light slants across the polished marble floor, casting faint, intricate patterns from the stained glass at the top of each window.

In the center stands a large, oval table of dark mahogany, its surface gleaming, almost as if it's never seen the touch of a careless hand. Around it are high-backed chairs carved with delicate flourishes of vines and mythical beasts, each one a throne in its own right. Gold filigree outlines their edges, catching the dim light and glinting like faint embers in the gloom. Red velvet cushions line each chair, a touch of opulence that barely softens their imposing appearance.

The walls are adorned with tapestries depicting ancient battles and legendary creatures, their colors faded but the tales they tell unmistakable. At one end of the room, a large fireplace looms, its mantle carved with the Celestrian crest—a phoenix rising, its wings spread wide over a crescent moon. Though unlit, faint embers still glow within, casting a weak, flickering warmth that doesn't reach far into the chill of the room.

Bookshelves line the far wall, filled with tomes whose spines are worn from years of use. Scrolls and ancient maps are tucked in between, some rolled and bound with intricate ribbons, others frayed at the edges. A faint scent of parchment and candle wax lingers in the air, mingling with the faint metallic tang of the city beyond the palace walls.

I sit alone at the table, my reflection caught in the polished surface, my form shadowed in the room's quiet darkness. It feels like a place untouched by the present, a room preserved for dealings and decisions that shape kingdoms, a place meant for power and privilege where secrets are spoken and sealed away.

Domnik enters the room and sits next to me as the Empress follows him in close behind. She wanted to speak to him alone at first. I'm sure just to settle whatever squanders they had in the past. She isn't happy but I can tell she's at least willing to have a conversation with me.

"So, Domnik tells me Udis has taken your sister?" She sits at the chair across the table from Domnik and I.

"Yes, but we didn't know at first that it was him. He attacked my home, Pinecrest, about a week ago."

"Pinecrest?" She pauses. "Pinecrest was attacked four weeks ago."

"Four... that doesn't... that doesn't make any sense." I turn to Domnik. He shrugs.

"It may be possible all of your journeying back and forth between here and Malice has impacted the way time was perceived by you two. Either way, go on."

Maybe, but by that much? "Um... well he took Alyse that day and dragged her into a portal. Later he came to me and told me it was Muthos who took her. But Muthos was trying to recruit Domnik so we decided to go to Galagon first and see why that might have been. Galagon wasn't happy with us asking so many questions so we had to fight him. And then Muthos tried to kill us and we narrowly escaped, but he told us Udis had her in Amerei. So finally we went to Ogre to find a way into Amerei and he gave us your name."

She stares blankly at me as if I just rambled on too much. She squints now trying to process everything and then shakes her head.

"Okay, well. He's right, I do know a way into Amerei. Udis has been sending his best to this Kingdom for weeks now as an attempt to take over the kingdoms of man. The ones I single handedly united under this banner fifteen years ago." She points to the crest. "He wants control, and he believes that just because he sits on the Madium Throne, that I will give it to him. But no Daem deserves to sit on that throne." She stares at Domnik. "So if I show you a way in, he will not be going with you."