Darkness and Beauty (The Fated Series, #1)

Epilogue - Lance - The Queen

Anxiously waiting in the clearing for everyone else to arrive before we walk down the new escape route Fey and I mapped out, isn't how I thought this part would go. It took two cycles for us to find and deem it safe, but the time was well worth it.
After spotting her frantic warning back in the ballroom, I shifted on my feet and Queen Claritia then quickly claimed to have need of checking on her newborns. We took the tunnel behind the dais, the same one we went through on my first day here at the castle. Six guards followed and we all entered the old escape route tunnel where Lena and two servants were already waiting. They each carried a change of clothes for everyone. Claritia and Kat quickly changed out of their gowns and into those of the servants while the other two servants with Lena took their clothes. Once the switch was made, the two girls now disguised as Kat and the Queen, they and the guards continued down the tunnel heading west down the old escape route. I waited until their footsteps faded into silence before pushing the small notch in the stone wall, and opening the hidden door.
I guided us through the route of tunnels until we came upon the circular clearing. Siscilla, the twins, Blaise, a woman who I earlier marked as Darius's cousin, and Derek Herringer - which I thought was peculiar until Blaise explained my sister's slight change of plan - were all already waiting for us. Derek's presence has little effect, but it's still an odd change. Even for my sister.
It's been ten tense minutes of us standing in the clearing, Siscilla holding Allerick in one arm and Aurelia in the other. She's keeping their pulses steady, making sure they don't start wailing and giving away our location. My whole body is restless and the adrenaline faintly coursing through my veins, readying myself to act in a moment's notice at the first sign of danger, isn't making it any easier. Blaise and I can handle an attack while the others flee, my only fear is that them going down the tunnels blindly will cause them to get lost and trapped in the underground maze. I gave instructions to Siscilla, but I know how adrenaline mixed with fear can cause you to forget certain things.
Footsteps sound, coming down the same pathway we earlier came down. I move between everyone and the tunnel, Blaise's figure coming into my peripheral. We both bounce on our toes, blades at the ready, but they instantly lower when Julyan's face shines in the torchlight.
"Oh thank the Gods," Blaise says, releasing a long sigh.
He ignores her - ignores both of us - and walks to the wall where the supplies are waiting. The King and Aillard follow, Aillard moving to help Julyan, the King to where Claritia and Siscilla stand.
"Uh, hello?" Blaise waves her arms in the air. "It's nice to see you all alive and well too."
I keep my feet angled one way to make sure I'm still in a position to fight anyone who might've followed them. The King takes Aurelia from Siscilla's arms and places her in Claritia's, then puts his hand on both of the women's backs, and pushes them towards the escape tunnel that Julyan and Aillard now both walk for, all but one bag of supplies carried between the two of them.
"We can't leave yet," Kat protests to their backs. "Clare-"
"Is buying us time," Aillard yells over his shoulder. "Now move."
Thea and Derek move to follow, but Kat and Blaise stay where they are.
"What about Darius?" Claritia asks as they reached the tunnel entrance.
"They're meeting us at Layara-"
Aillard's words cut off as I step from the shadows in the wall, blocking their path into the tunnel. "Where is my sister, Julyan?"
He doesn't answer, as he has no need since I didn't give him an order to in hopes he'll answer without hesitation. Instead, he looks at Aillard behind him. It took that one look for my stomach to drop. Fauna always has something up her sleeve, and I dreaded the day when she'd pull anything larger than one of her blades out.
"Go to the safe house, I'll meet you there." I make for the same tunnel we came down, but the King's hand on my arm stops me.
"No." His voice is sharp, final.
I challenge his empty gaze with a daring one of my own. "She's my sister-"
"Who's responsible for the life of my son and a life light in which I trust her to keep lit. If she says they'll be there, then they'll be there. She made a promise to protect me and my family. You of all people should understand the strength of those words."
"It is because I know the strength of those words that I am going to help!" I pull my arm from his grip but he only puts his on my chest.
"I cannot allow that. As your King-"
"All due respect, King Neven, you're the last person I will ever take orders from."
"Then take it from your Queen." Aillard puts his body between me and the tunnel, the King lowering his hand now that a larger body is in front of me. Claritia looks like she would rather order me to go help than stay, and for a single moment, I think I've won.
"Not Queen Claritia." He stands up to his full height, looking a foot taller than me despite us being close in height. One wrong breath in the wrong direction and he's on the ground with a red line across his neck. Just one. Wrong. Breath-
"As a pureblood son of Thralia, you are blood bound to follow the orders – without question – given to you by the Mater Natura, Heir to the Spirits of the Living, daughter to the late Queen Dawn Fira Emaline Veyron, rightful heir to Thralia, Queen Fauna Clarice Veyron Rheasydia."
I gawk at him - with more reasons than one to do so. He spoke in a heavy accent I don't recognize, and his expression is hard and cold, pulling authority he has no right to give. He looks me in the eyes, not backing down at the sudden fury rising through me at the fact that he just gave everyone in this room Fauna's entire identity. A truth that could land my sister in a grave like it did our-
I quickly take in everyone's reaction, trying to find a single hint that they also knew her name, but none do. Kat looks like she's sick, Blaise, Julyan, and Reynald look at him as if he's given them the world, Siscilla's eyes are moving too quickly, likely putting a dozen puzzle pieces together, Thea and Derek are entirely too confused to follow, Claritia looks like she's going to cry, and Neven is the only one who merely blinks at the name.
The titles in front of my sister's name I could care less about, but...
"Pureblood son?" It comes out like a scared whisper more than a demand. An answer in itself. "Only my mother was Thralian, my father was Vandarian," I explain.
His head shakes slowly. "No." He speaks in a gentler tone, making me want to punch him for thinking I need the comfort. "Your mother is as you remember, but your father..."
"Oh, Gods," Kat breathes.
"Son-" I look at Neven, trying to piece together whatever it is everyone else seems to be understanding "-haven't you ever wondered why you inherited neither your mother nor your...step-father's eyes?"
Step-father-
"Your father wasn't Aldred, Arthur."
My mind reels back to when Sibella was telling us about our parents. Six months - she said - Six months that my mother lived her life with my father - step - Aldred, and then I was born. Six...
"Aldred's not my father."
"No," Aillard whispers, though I barely hear him through the roaring in my head. "You are sired from King Kerrigan Ezra Demir Veyron. You're a pureblood Thralian Prince - or as we say in Thralia, Principe. Before you ask, you have no claim to the throne seeing as you're no elemental. You'll never wear the crown, even if both elementals die, just as Sibella does now, unless rightfully given it."
Not that I want the crown. I never wanted any of this. Not the name, not the father whom I've never known and only know by words from another's mouth. I never asked for my eyes to be his, and I wish that they weren't. Aldred is my father. He's the one who raised me, who taught me how to fight and defend and protect myself and my sister. He's the one whose death felt like being stabbed in the heart - whose death still feels like it's going to swallow me whole. He's the only father I've known, and he always will be and mean more to me than some blood relative. It's his traits and his name that I put at the end of my name.
I can't breathe. I need to think. I need to - to - to find a way out of this.
"If I'm a Prince - a Principe-" I practically spit the word "-then you're blood bound to adhere to my orders as well."
Aillard hesitates, once again looking at me like he wants to throttle me. Well, at least something about this shit is normal, and normal grounds me when it seems to be slipping through my fingers. "Yes," he answers slowly. "But no order you could give me could overrule the order in which Mea Regina has already given. And before you attempt to find a loophole," he says before I can refuse. "Let me assure you that she was quite thorough and detailed in the instructions she left me with."
Of course she was thorough, she's my Godsdamned sister and my father's child. Thoroughness runs through her veins like oxygen in water.
I may be a pureblood, but that means nothing to me in the sense that I've never embraced nor learned the culture of Thralia. To me, it's just another piece of rock with people on it. I belong here, where my parent's blood was spilled, where their legacy and mine lay. My sister may be Queen of Thralia, but this isn't Thralia, and seeing as I haven't heard her orders given, then I wouldn't be committing treason - or whatever the crime is for dismissing an order given to me, by her.
As if reading my mind, Aillard goes tense again. "As Mea Regina requested-"
I break into a sprint, my Sinister blades already out and ready to fight whoever gets in my way. This is my sister's life we're talking about. I made a promise to my father, and I'll slit my own throat before I break it.
I run past Kat, ignoring her pleas. Blaise looks like she's debating stopping me, but before I can disarm her and keep going, she moves aside and I find out why she did. Julyan stands at the narrow tunnel entrance, a torch in his outstretched hand to stop me. I skitter to a stop, knowing better than to risk a third-degree burn to get through him - though I am debating it.
He flinches when my feet slide on the floor as if waiting for my body to hit his. "Move out of my way, Julyan."
"I can't."
"Move out of my way. That's an order."
"I'm sorry." He looks down, and I follow his gaze to where one of the seams on the bag he has in his other hand has come undone, black powder spilling out of it. It's near empty. I follow the path of the spill and find that he lined the entirety of the clearing with it. He must've done it while I was distracted with the truth of my blood. No doubt another one of Fauna's ideas. She's the only one who would've told them to plummet the load of information on me to distract me well enough to not track one of their movement.
I spin around but I'm too slow, and he drops the flame onto the ground. The room lights up with blazing heat. Every tunnel entrance is in flames. All, except one. The one that will lead us directly to the elephant grass fields behind the Northern wall, and then to the cabin safe house that my parents built in the middle of the Dearg Forest. A forest people avoid due to the monstrous creatures that live within it. Everyone who walks in never walks out. That is unless you know the forest's secret.
"We already lined all the tunnels in the same powder," Julyan says in a tight voice behind me. They likely lined the one to the ballroom on their way down too if they're smart. "They're all burning, and we'll burn the path behind us as we escape."
I look at Aillard, finding a matching bag of black powder at his hip.
"As promised to the Queen-" he takes a step towards me, his eyes weary but clear "-I, Dominus Aillard Balendin Petros Ulysses of Maregan, a pureblood Lord of Thralia, recite the orders given to me by Queen Fauna herself, to be given to you, Coronam Princeps Lance Arthur Veyron Rheasydia of Thralia."
I can't breathe again.
The inside of my wrist begins to burn, and I find a weird symbol made of complicated intricate triangles darkening my skin. It glows, burning hotter and hotter with every word he speaks, my chest filling with what I can only describe as...complete compliance. It's like I suddenly don't want to go against him or the others. Like I don't want to save her.
"You will lead those with you safely to Layara, ignoring and dismissing every thought to turn back and try to save the Queen until you've seen to it that everyone, but she, is safe and accounted for at the safe house. When you come into contact with King Darius Zandro Rosendal of Thralia, first and foremost the rightful Crown Prince of Vandaria, and his twelve-man guard, The Bhaltayr, you will speak nothing of her true name to them. That act, alone, is hers to do, should the Gods see it fit for her to do so. If they do not, and her throne is laid empty, only then will the mark vanish, and your order receded. For three days until the sun sets thrice, you will ensure that everyone stays within the forest grounds by any means necessary. Then - and only then - will you be free to do as you wish. If she is still unaccounted for and you have reason to search for her, as you undoubtedly will, the conditions to this search are as stated: You will only allow Darius and the twelve men who stand at his side to join you, leaving the others to stay at Layara. In the time you spend in search, you will continue to train Darius and the Bhaltayr so that they are better prepared for what you may face.
"Lastly, as Queen of Thralia, she grants you every power her crown holds, save that of the elements unwillingly given, and that to overrule the order and oath in which I have recited to you word for word. Aside from those two options, you are free to grant, deny, and partake in any decision being proposed and or made concerning the well-being, and future, of Thralia and its people. Let it be known that the Queen has gone willingly into her future and that she does not regret her past, though it was required, and now leaves her kingdom and name in the hands of the Fate.
"With these words, I end those spoken to me by Queen Fauna Clarice Veyron Rheasydia, and henceforth bound your life to that of the oath now inked into your skin. Should you betray that oath, your life will lay forfeit, and thus end the bloodline of late Queen Dawn Fira Emaline Veyron, and late King Kerrigan Ezra Demir Veyron. Should this happen, the Queen's throne will be rightfully and fully given to Katarina Riona Devika Benoldi, without hesitation and question. This is the true spoken order and...and spoken Will of the Mater Natura, Heir to the Spirits of the Living, daughter to the late Queen Dawn Fira Emaline Veyron, rightful heir to Thralia, Queen Fauna Clarice Veyron Rheasydia."
*****
The room is quiet, save for the sound of the crackling fire keeping me from my sister. The pain of the blazing mark on my arm is fading, but the symbol now sits on my skin in dark ink. A reminder, and a connection. Either I do as she says, or I die for disobeying, leaving Kat to take the throne. I live to search and find her, or I die and watch as everything goes to hell. There's no choice, as everyone here is witness to her words, they know that too, though they still look to me awaiting my answer.
I should've grabbed her and ran, and by not doing so, I now must break my promise - the only promise I'll have broken - and instead leave her behind. I have to leave her to suffer beneath the hands of a man who only knows cruelty, while I flee to safety like a coward.
I look at Neven who's eyes are distant and mournful. To Claritia and Siscilla who clutch to the babies in their arms as if they're the last thing they have of this world. I look to Julyan and Blaise with their heads bowed, realizing that they knew all about what my sister intended, and kept it from me. Kat, who's cheeks are stained with running tears and hands that shake uncontrollably, finding that the one friend she's come to hold close to her heart, has not only saved her and lead her to safety, but has given her the only thing in the world she has to offer someone. Her crown. She may be saving us all, but she's taking a part of all of us with her, leaving nothing behind but the feeling of what she could give. Life, and love.
I look back at the tunnel that would take me back to her. Flames encompass it, climbing to the walls and the ceiling. I can't control fire, and if I know my sister at all then I know she sent him out another way. Somewhere where he wouldn't be able to get back to her either, and he would've fought - I know that now. I know that he would've drained both his power and himself to stay beside her.
Blight pulls out a white cloth from her pocket, along with a vial of clear liquid. Her eyes glisten as she tries to explain, but I already know the answer. Reynald isn't here, and neither is Darius. She got us all out and ensured we couldn't go back for her. She planned it all and planned for every outcome and potential decision we could make. She made sure we would all be here when Aillard recited it all. Her name, her truth, her decision, and all her secrets. She got us all out.
With one last look to the tunnel, I turn around and do the one thing I swore I'd never do. I leave my sister behind.
"Damn you, Fauna."