Chapter 10

They spent the next few days trying every staircase in the palace after dark, to no avail. Every staircase led where it was supposed to lead. How, then, did Drystan and I end up on another floor? Am I really going insane? Or is there really something awry in the palace? Everyone she encountered seemed normal enough. No one seemed suspicious or did anything unusual. It had been five days since her mother's passing, and there was going to be a huge feast. Everyone would leave in the morning, and she couldn't wait for an empty castle. Then, she could move about as she pleased without having the risk of someone spotting her and spreading rumors that she, too, was going insane. The only royal she hoped to speak with was the woman she met earlier in the week. Perhaps whatever she had to say would be of importance to their cause.

In the meantime, she would check in with Ser Parzival to see if he had heard anything or talked to those on her mother's list. She made her way through the main floor of the castle, past the throne room she refused to sit in for the time being, and onto Ser Parzival's office. When she got there, a line of people walked out of the room, followed by Ser Parzival.

"Princess Aymeri!" He smiled widely.

"Good morning, Ser Parzival. What is all that about?"

"I spoke with the servants on your mother's list." He shook his head in a sad manner. "They have been working together to poison your mother's food."

Her body grew cold as dread ran through her. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to hear, but it certainly wasn't that. "And these people?"

"Highly vetted by me and the Royal Guard. They will keep you safe, Aymeri. You have our word."

"And those other people?"

"Taken care of." A wicked smile turned up at the corner of his mouth. She didn't even want him to elaborate, fearing what he was going to say. Though, if they met the same fate as her mother, she would not have been angry with him for it.

"And about that floor, Aymeri. You haven't been back there, have you?"

The look in his eye was dark and threatening, and it made her stomach churn with fear and anxiousness. She shook her head, sorry about lying to him but not sorry that she wanted to know what was going on in her own castle. "What is it that killed my sister? What's on that floor, Ser Parzival?"

"Nothing for you to worry about." He walked away from her.

Before he got too far, she called out. "I will soon be queen, Ser Parzival. It's your duty to tell me the secrets of this place so I can carry out my duties the way mother did. Whatever it is, I can handle it."

He turned his head slightly. "We are working on cleaning it out for you, princess. It is such a nasty bug, one sure to bring destruction to anything that touches it. It is locked away until we can figure out how to deal with it. We wouldn't want anything to happen to our precious princess, would we?"

"What kind of bug?"

He turned fully around now, his face weathered and ancient- looking. "The kind that will bite you and infect you with poison."

"And you have it locked upstairs? What if it gets out?"

He chuckled, the rumble in his throat low. "Believe me. It hasn't escaped for twenty-three years, Princess. What makes you think it will escape now? I promise, it can't hurt you. I'm here to protect you. We all are. What happened to your sister will not happen to you if you listen and just stay away from that floor. Your mother would haunt me if I ever let anything happen to you, too."

That made sense. Even when she was up there, she could hear it buzzing and calling out to her. If it was able to escape, it would have. But was going back to the floor worth it now that she knew what was there? Heeding her royal advisor's warning was probably the right thing to do, but it didn't stop her from wondering about how she even ended up on that floor to begin with.

"Are there any other secrets I should know about, Ser Parzival?"

"Which castle doesn't have secrets, Princess? I'm sure there is a lot that your mother has kept from you and didn't have time to tell you, which is such a shame, because the secrets of this castle alone could build an army that would be too disciplined to ever leave. But there will be time for that. Once the grieving time is over for the kingdom, we will move forward with you learning your duties."

A fortnight . Five days already passed, what was nine more?