Darkness and Beauty (The Fated Series, #1)

Chapter 9 - Lance - Fixing Everything

"Be honest," The Queen says as we walk through the castle halls. "How likely is your sister to harm my son?"

"Well, I suppose it depends on how troublesome the Prince is."

"Perhaps you should check on them tonight then." I watch her chew on her bottom lip, her eyes skittering back and forth on the ground with worry. "Or in a few hours."

I smirk below my mask as we continue down the dark back entrance. From my mental map, we'll likely end up in the Queen's Garden once we reach the end. The Library and Canary Wing are somewhere on our left, the Glass Tower and Eagle Wing on our right, and the King and Queen's Quarters are straight ahead past the Queen's Garden.

I've been scanning the walls and floor for any sign of abnormality since we left the Throne Room. In a place like this, I have no doubt that there's some kind of secret passage that leads to an escape tunnel just in case the royals need to be rushed out of the castle. I'm beginning to think that perhaps I missed it when I spot a small engraving on the wall.

If I hadn't been looking closely I probably would've missed the sigil. I'm not very educated on the subject of mystical symbols, but my best guess is that it's the protection sigil. A quick glance, and I take note of how the portion of the wall looks to be slightly pressed deeper than the rest of the wall.

I'll come back to it later whenever I manage to part with the Queen safely.

We walk through the door at the end of the hall and I help the Queen down the three steps and onto the narrow dirt path. Twelve guards are waiting along it, all sizing me up the second the door opens.

One: I'm flattered.

Two: we're going to need to talk about where they stand when the Queen isn't with them. The first thing someone is going to look for is where they are. If you find the personal guard, you find the royals, and that's the last thing we want. It's like looking at a group of people dressed in black and asking someone to point out their best friend who's wearing yellow. That or screaming from the castle walls that the King is in his chambers, the Queen in the garden, and the Prince in his own tower. Bad idea.

The entirety of the walk to the Queen's vast chambers, I feel every guard's eye watching me. I'm tempted to stick a sign on my back that says Kick Me just to see who'd do it. I wouldn't kill them, of course, just turn around right before they do so to scare the shit out of them.

There are four rooms in the Queen's chambers. One bedroom – large bed, trunk, settee, chair, fireplace, two windows on the North wall, two nightstands, and a small desk. A bathroom – a tub that looks more like a pool, no windows, one entry in from the bedroom. Her foyer has three beige settees, three narrow floor-to-ceiling windows on the north wall, a small table, and a painting.

Then there's the spacious sitting room – two settees, four chairs, a long table set for six, a fireplace, one window on the North wall, and a grand piano.

I haven't seen a piano in nine months. Haven't played a single note for over a year.

Mother used to play the piano. She had long fingers that moved as quickly as spider legs over the black and white keys. She never learned to read sheet music, but she could hear someone play the song a few times, watch their hands move through the songs, and then play it as if she learned it ages ago.

She'd sing me to sleep some nights, but I wouldn't close my eyes until she started playing again in the room next to mine. The notes would slip through the purposely made thin walls – that way they could hear if anyone came into my room at night – and pull me into sleep's arms.

Fauna and I didn't carry our mother's gift of memorizing so quickly. It took us a month or so to get a short song down, or half of a long one. Though I wasn't as connected to our mother as Fauna, I always set aside anything to simply watch and listen to her play.