Chapter 19

"What are you ladies doing?"

Aymeri's heart palpitated in her chest as heat crept into her skin at the sound of King Drystan's voice. She didn't expect him to be back so soon. He had left the day before, and for him to come back right away was unexpected. She figured he'd have stayed in Bréīn for at least a week or so to get everything sorted.After all, he had to appoint people to keep watch over the kingdom and he needed to assemble the twenty assassins she had asked for. How could all of that have taken a day?

"Hush!" Jorlyn snapped.

"But, I just—"

Jorlyn pulled her dagger out and pointed it at him. "I will gut you if you ruin this opportunity for us."

Aymeri's eyes widened for a moment, then she stifled laughter. She looked over at Drystan, who cut her a look of askance to which she simply shrugged. Is this what it's like to have a sibling? An emptiness washed over her. Will I ever know true happiness again? The kind that comes naturally, not the kind I have to force?

It was past sundown and Jorlyn seemed to be sure someone was going to go up that staircase. She had the whole plan figured out. They were to wait until the person entered the floor, and hopefully the intended room. Then, they would follow them and hopefully figure out whatever it was they were doing up there.

"Shh, someone's coming." Jorlyn grabbed tight on the dagger secured on her waist belt, and Aymeri slipped hers out from the brace attached to her stocking. Jorlyn touched her ear to signal them to listen, then mouthed the words: the wall.

Aymeri listened intently to the sound of stone grafting on stone, then footsteps ascending a set of stairs.

"Let's go," Jorlyn whispered, then motioned for them to follow after her.

Aymeri followed close behind as she ran out of the guest staircase and through the opening in the adjacent wall. Drystan barely made it before it closed.

It must only stay open for so long , Aymeri thought.

Jorlyn was just about to climb the staircase, but Aymeri stopped her and pointed to herself, then slowly mouthed, I'll. Go. Stay. Here .

Neither Jorlyn nor Drystan liked the idea. It was evident on their faces, but Aymeri needed to do this alone. She was queen, and she couldn't put their lives in danger. If anyone was going to interrupt whatever the person was doing up here, it should be her.

Her heart beat furiously in her chest making her breaths short and uneven. She had never been this afraid of anything before, but knowing that this floor was sealed off to protect her was enough to know that either the person visiting this floor was dangerous or she had overthought the whole ordeal and should have left well enough alone.

As sweat dripped from her forehead, she gripped her dagger tightly, holding onto it for dear life. She prayed silently that she wouldn't need it.

Staying close to the wall, she made sure to keep to the shadows and keep her breathing even, but something gripped her and she froze in place as she neared one of the doors. Heat crept through her body and humming filled her ears with urgency. All at once, a fireball appeared in her hand. She lifted her hand in defense, ready to throw the fireball at whoever was behind her. As she whirled around, the flame illuminated Jorlyn's slender features, and she sighed in annoyance. Didn't she tell them she could handle it? She remembered how she had put out the fire before, and immediately thought of her happy place.

"What are you doing? You could've killed me!" Jorlyn hissed.

Shaking her head apologetically, Aymeri opened the door and noticed the room door at the end of the hallway was wide open. She continued on, her grip still tight on the dagger. As she neared the room, she heard a man mumbling under his breath. Looking inside, she noticed a round, silver plate in his hand, and was that a young woman? What the— Aymeri wasted no time closing the distance between herself and the stranger. Holding the cold blade to his throat, she bit out the words, "Who is she, and why are you here?"

The man dropped the plate and the girl pulled the covers over her head. Aymeri pressed the blade to his throat and asked him again.

The man held his hands up. "I was told to come to this room and give her food. But I don't know anything else, I swear. Please let me go."

Does he think I am stupid? He was sneaking around my castle, seemingly holding a woman hostage, and he wants me to let him go?

"Who gave you the order?" Aymeri's voice was unwavering, but the anger could not be mistaken for anything else.

"I-I do not know. A note slipped under my door." The man's hands trembled as he continued to hold them up. "Please, Queen Aymeri, tha-that's a-all I know."

She pressed the blade into his blanched skin again. "Where is the note?" Beating around the bush was not going to make her give up, it was going to make her kill the man right where he quivered if he didn't speak up.

"I…threw," he took a deep, ragged breath, "it…in…" he grunted, swallowing hard, "the fire."

"Lies!" Aymeri hissed, her blade nicking his skin, drawing a sliver of blood.

The man gasped in pain. "I…I swear, Q-Q-Queen…Aymeri. Th—that's a-all…I…I know. Truly."

"Who's the girl?" Aymeri demanded.

Tears flowed down the man's face. "I…"

"Don't know. Right." Aymeri doubted his innocence. It didn't make sense for him to go to all these great lengths to sneak around, use magick, and bring food to someone all for someone else he didn't know.

"You're going to rot in the castle's prison for this. You have one last chance to tell me who gave you the orders."

"I'm telling you, I do not know, Queen Aymeri. Please! Let me go. You will never see my face in Treoles ever again."

"Aymeri what's—" Jorlyn cut herself short, and Aymeri pushed the man to her. "Do whatever you want with him, but get him out of my sight!"

Jorlyn pulled rope from under her long cloak and bound his hands with it. "I will personally take him to the castle prison after we rescue this girl."

Her head was peeking out from under a ratty bedspread. Her deep blue eyes were watery and fearful. Her hair, thin as straw, stuck to her tear-streaked face and her body visibly trembled.

"What is your name?" Aymeri asked, sitting on the bed next to her. The girl shook her head and covered her face. Aymeri smiled warmly and gently touched the blanket. "I see you're scared and the three of us really want to help you."

The girl vigorously shook her head.

"I know. If I were lying where you are, I wouldn't believe me, either. I mean you no harm." She reached out to brush the girl's dampened hair from her face but she retreated back under the covers.

Frustration rolled through Aymeri followed by suspicion. Does Ser Parzival know about this? Is this why she wasn't allowed up here? Is this girl somehow responsible for my sister's death?

Jorlyn crossed the room and crouched at the girl's bedside. "We won't tell anyone you've talked to use. We are friends . I am Jorlyn and this is Aymeri."

The girl's eyes widened as she cast her gaze to Aymeri, and she immediately shot out of the bed, trying to run. Chains, bound to her feet and bolted to the wall, prevented her from doing so. Her nightgown was long and torn at the bottom, her skin pale and tight around her bones as if she had never seen sunlight and didn't get enough food. Aymeri didn't even want to think about what she did for a bathroom and there was no particular stench coming from the room or the girl, she thanked the eleven for small miracles.

The rest of her thoughts barreled into each other. Questions, curses, more questions. Eventually, her mind became a buzzing battlefield. Clearly, the girl was afraid of her or she wouldn't have bolted out of her bed upon hearing the name.

"Aymeri, do you know her?"

There was a vague familiarity after seeing the girl's face, but she couldn't place it. "She does remind me of someone…" But who?

Jorlyn's voice was frantic as she spoke. "She has to know you, or else she wouldn't be afraid of you."

Aymeri racked her brain as hard as she could. She walked over to the girl and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I mean you no harm. Look, I am giving my weapon to Jorlyn." She handed off the dagger. "Can you look at me, please, so you know I am earnest?"

The girl's hesitation was evident in the way she backed herself against the wall and clung onto it, her back toward Aymeri now.

"Please," the queen begged. "Look, I'll stay over here, near the bed. Enough space between us."

She slowly turned, her hair draping over her face as she cowered. Aymeri brushed the stray strands of hair out of the girl's face, then immediately backed away. Tears and horror filled her immediately as she clutched at the fabric of the dress against her chest. Her breathing labored as she backed into the bed behind her and plopped into it. She felt as if she'd seen a ghost. The girl was a complete doppelganger of her late mother, Queen Ismana. She had seen countless paintings of her mother as a young girl. Several hung around the palace, especially on the wall nearest the royal staircase. In the west wing, there was an entire display of family history. She'd know her mother's face anywhere. It could only mean one thing…

Tears streamed out of her face like streams flowing over rocks. She could barely breathe as she looked at the girl in wonderment, confusion… betrayal .

"Aymeri, what is it?" Jorlyn rushed to her side and wrapped her arms around her friend.

"K—K—Kumud?" Aymeri asked, though she didn't need an answer to confirm her suspicions.

She walked, ghost-like, to the girl across the room and brushed her hands over her face, over her shoulders, over her thin, malnourished body, her hands shaking all the while. "Kumud," she breathed, and hugged the girl.

Aymeri felt her sister's body grow rigid at her touch, her arms remaining at her side. Tears pooled in her eyes as she realized her sister might have never had such affection. After all, she didn't know exactly how long she had been up here. Was it since before my birth? After Mother's death? Had she been concealed elsewhere? Had my mother known?

All of those questions filled her mind as she held her sister close, not wanting to let go in fear that it might be a dream. But would it really be fear if it was a dream? Wouldn't she be relieved to wake up and find her sister had really died, instead of suffering as a living corpse holed up in a hell such as that?

Kumud shoving her away, doing everything to wriggle out of her touch, pulled her out of her emotions. As she let her go, for fear the girl would lash out harder, she spoke again. "Do you know who I am?"

The girl's hands flailed violently in the air. "What are you doing?" The girl continued to flail her hands, her eyes widening and narrowing, grunts coming out of her throat. "Jorlyn, what is she doing?"

"I… think she is speaking in sign language." Jorlyn's surprised tone made Aymeri arch a brow.

"Sign language?" Aymeri had never heard of sign language before. She had heard of other languages than those that other kingdoms spoke, but she never heard of a language with only gestures. Sure, people talked with their hands, but she never saw it in such a form. "What do you mean?

Jorlyn nodded, seemingly understanding that Aymeri really had no knowledge of the language. "For people who are deaf or mute, sign language is a form of communication. We learned similar gestures as part of our assassin training, it makes it easier to communicate when we're on missions since we are not to be seen nor heard."

"Can you translate?"

"I… can try, I suppose." Jorlyn turned toward the girl. "Can you do those gestures again?"

The girl nodded and bore her eyes into Jorlyn with such intensity thatAymeri was sure she was going to burn her eyes out of her skull.

"Evil queen," Jorlyn stated. "She's saying your mother is an evil queen."

At first, Aymeri was taken aback. It didn't make sense to her. Why would she think our mother is evil? Unless…

Was their mother really capable of doing this?

"No, Kumud. No, no, no! You've got it wrong." Aymeri's head snapped toward Jorlyn. "Tell her she has it wrong. Our mother thought she was dead!"

"Do you need me to translate?" Jorlyn asked, her gaze fixed on Kumud, who shook her head, then signed again.

"She is saying you're lying. She knew she was alive."

Aymeri's stomach collapsed, and her heart fell with it. She was sure her lungs would give out next. She would never . Her mother was everything to her. She was her entire reason for living. She looked her sister square in her eyes and knew she would run away if she wasn't chained to the bed. Her sister's eyes flared with an anger she had never seen before. No one had ever stared at her in anger, let alone fear. Yet, the sister she'd been longing for her whole life was staring at her in anger, fear and even contempt. She could tell she hated her.

"Someone has lied to you, Kumud. Mother wouldn't have done this. She talked about you all the time. How much she missed you. Mother mourned you. She thought you were dead." She begged her sister to believe her. She needed her to.

The girl signed again and Jorlyn took a little longer to translate, needing the girl to repeat herself several times due to a few words being wrong.

"I don't think she likes your translations… " Aymeri sincerely pointed out.

"I know," Jorlyn sighed. "Bear with me, please?" she pleaded. "Your signs are different from what I am used to." The girl nodded once and signed again. Jorlyn thought before she said another word. "If she truly was our mother, she wouldn't have done this to me! Look at me. I am in chains, and I don't eat unless they give me food. Look at you. Loved, fed, clothed. The new queen. The queen I should have been."

Jorlyn's eyes were red and brimmed with tears as she translated Kumud's flying words.

Aymeri clutched her hand to her chest again as familiar pangs of guilt and hurt curdled there. Sitting on the bed, she buried her face in her hands. She couldn't believe her mother would do something like that. She wanted to believe it was a mistake, but she couldn't. Her mother even admitted to the atrocities and injustices she committed. This was what she meant. Kumud was the same her from the letter.

How could Mother do something like this? Under no circumstances would Aymeri lock up her own child. Their mother even held memorials in her honor! How did she live with herself?

After a prolonged bout of tears and heaving, she looked at the girl again. "Why did she do this to you? Why did she lie and say you were dead when you have been locked up here?"

Her sister moved her hands in frantic motions again, her eyes wide and angry, bitter tears falling mercilessly from them. "You don't care." Jorlyn sobbed, unable to continue. "I'm sorry, Aymeri. I'm so sorry."

Kumud turned her gaze to Jorlyn whose words were poisonous when she spoke. "Your sister has spent night and day trying to sift through all the secrets your mother left behind. This is not the kind of response she is entitled to. What was done to you was not her fault. I will not continue to translate if you continue to say such vile things to her when you know nothing of who she is. I will translate all your anger about Queen Ismana. But I will not tolerate a word against Aymeri!"

The girl signed again, and Jorlyn agreed to translate. She spoke quickly to keep up with Kumud's pace. "I am glad the old queen is dead. She deserved the poison she drank."

Poison? I never said…

"You?" Aymeri asked. "You killed Mother?"

The girl's hands moved in slow, precise movements, a wicked smile spreading across her face. "I killed the one responsible for my imprisonment."

The confirmation was cold and bitter, and a third wave of tears took over Aymeri as she closed the distance between her and the frail woman that stood before her. "But she was your mother."

A smile cracked the girl's lips and she shook her head, then signed.

"She says: silly girl, the queen is your mother."

Aymeri shook her head. Is Kumud not aware of who she is? "She is our mother."

The girl shook her head.

"That monster could have never been a mother," Jorlyn translated. "You may have gotten love from her, but all I got was this."

Kumud gestured to the room around her, and for the first time since arriving in it, Aymeri realized how vacant it was. Except for the bed and a dresser, there was nothing else. No extra pillows or blankets. No mirror. No windows.

While she committed the most vile of crimes, Aymeri fully understood why she had done it. If she had been imprisoned for countless years with no human contact other than food and drink, she would have been compelled to murder her mother, too.

They couldn't just stand there talking. They had to get her sister out of there and to safety. "We have to get out of here," Aymeri demanded in a low whisper as she hastily closed the door.

"The only way out is the way we came up," Jorlyn stated. "And if we do that, we don't know who might see us."

The girl shook her head and pointed to a bookcase. Of course. There's another secret staircase, Aymeri thought, unsure why the girl was helping them after she had just revealed she killed their mother. Did she know the harsh punishment for treason, or did she hope to make amends with her sister? Either way, getting out of there and finding out the truth was a priority. She would deal with everything else later.

"I'll move the bookcase. Can you break the chain?" Jorlyn asked.

"I can try to open it," Aymeri responded. "But only enough so we can keep an eye on her." She turned to Drystan, apologetic that he had been a mere bystander in their conversation. "Drystan, grab him and get him in the prison as soon as Jorlyn has that door open. The two of us will handle her." Nodding, he did as was told. As soon as Jorlyn moved the bookcase away from the wall, he grabbed the guy and pulled him down the stairs behind him.

Aymeri took a pin out of her hair, hoping to pick the lock with it. As soon as she placed the skinny metal pieces into the lock, a shock jolted through her body, sending her backwards and into the bed.

"What was that?"

Aymeri watched as Jorlyn frantically looked up and down the chain. Her sister began to move her hands and Jorlyn shook her head in frustration. "Oh no," she whispered. "This cannot be happening. No, no, no."

"What?" Aymeri demanded. "What is it! What is she saying!"

Jorlyn pointed to the shackles. "These are magickal shackles. They are meant to bind a person's power. Your sister was locked up because she cannot contain her magick. If we release her, only the gods know what will happen."

"We don't have a choice!" Aymeri cried, her heart shattering. "If we don't save her, someone will kill her."

"Does it really matter? She killed your mother!"

"That may be, but she is still my sister, and she had to endure the most absolute horrors up here. We have to help her so we can understand what happened!"

She didn't have a choice but to summon her own magick in hopes it would work against the chains. Aymeri stared down at her hands, anger surging through her. Anger at her inability to do anything. Anger at the cruelty her sister suffered for gods knew how long. Anger at the person responsible for all of this. The anger burned into a raging inferno within and there was a fire in her veins and without even realizing it, there was a ball of fire floating above her palms. Something clicked in her mind, Maybe they didn't have to touch it after all.

"Aymeri, what are you doing?" Jorlyn asked as she knelt by the chain.

"Freeing my sister!" Aymeri raged and pushed the fireball against the chain. It sparked and hissed and pushed back against her as the magicks clashed. Yet Aymeri didn't relent. She pushed and pushed and pushed and the chain turned white-hot.

She could feel the strain on the fire, could feel it weakening as it spewed from her hands. No! she shouted. You will free my sister! Do you hear me Arthios! You are the god of the Underworld, of war, of fire! If this power comes from you, you will listen to me! Free. My. Sister.

With the last declaration raging in her mind at the god of the Underworld, the flames lapped from her fingers and wrapped themselves around the chain. The smell of burning metal filled their nostrils as the sound of crackling filled the air.

"Is that coming from you?" Jorlyn asked.

Aymeri listened intently to the magick coursing through her. Within her body was a soft hum. Not a single crackle.

Simultaneously, they looked over to Kumud, whose hands were cracked, blue and yellow light arcing through them. A smile spread across the girl's cracked lips as color filled her face. No longer was she frail and pale. Instead, her cheeks were as colorful as blossoms.

"Let's go!" Aymeri shouted. "We don't have much time."

She grabbed Kumud by the wrist and together, the three of them descended the stairs, immediately pushing the joining door open with all her might. A breath of relief left her and heartache immediately replaced it when she realized they were in her mother's personal chamber.

Guilt, shame, sadness, and anger filled her immediately. How many times have I been in her mother's room with Kumud right above us as I laughed with our mother, played games with her, and cried in her lap? How many times had Kumud listened in on our conversations, hoping she could be part of them? How many times could Mother sneak out of bed in the middle of the night just to visit Kumud while I lay asleep and she didn't?

Her heart crumbled in her chest and her stomach folded into itself several times over. How much did her sister suffer, and why? Tears gathered in her eyes and threatened to fall, but she wouldn't allow them to. She had to be strong for her sister.

"How long have you been there?" Aymeri turned to Jorlyn to see how she was signing, her hands trying to mimic the curves and movements Jorlyn's hands were doing. When she couldn't keep up, she folded her hands in her lap.

The girl shrugged, then her hands began to form words only Jorlyn seemed to understand. Jorlyn immediately translated. "I don't know. I never met you. How old are you?"

"Twenty-three," Aymeri responded.

Kumud's eyebrows knitted together, and her hands formed gestures, then curved at her stomach. "The evil queen was fat when I was put there," Jorlyn translated.

For as long as Aymeri knew her, her mother had been skinny as a nail. She couldn't think of a time when she had been heavy. Maybe we aeren't sisters after all?

"Your mother must've been pregnant when they locked her away."

Something clicked in Aymeri's mind, then. Her mother had told her that her older sister died before she was born. Died . Aymeri sneered. What a lie that had been! What else was her mother hiding? And more importantly, why did her mother have so many secrets? What would have been lost by keeping Kumud with them? Why did her mother think that putting her up there, away from everyone, was the solution?

"I am so sorry our mother was so cruel to you, Kumud. You didn't deserve this. Didn't she ever visit?"

The girl nodded, then formed more words with her hands. Jorlyn translated: "Mother used to read stories to me every night when I was first up there. I kept asking the men why she wouldn't come from years after. Now I know why."

Tears streamed down the girl's face, her magick crackling around her.

"Men? What men?"

Her sister shook her head and signed.

"I don't remember," Jorlyn translated for her.

"How did you poison her if you were locked up?"

"There was this one woman who was kind enough to take the shackles off. She told me she was going to help me. She got the poison for me to give to one of the men. When he visited me, I told him I had something special to give the evil queen. I told him about the kind woman and how she had picked out this special tea. He gave it to her on my behalf. That's how I found out about the secret passage."

Everything made sense now. Whoever took the tea from Kumud must have noticed her mother's door was unlocked after she had drunk the poison and died. Not wanting to raise suspicion, they must have locked the door thinking she always did. Except, she never did and only she and Aymeri were aware of that.

"Who was the man?" There were so many male workers in the castle, especially the one who had come to feed her earlier. Hopefully her sister was able to narrow it down.

"I don't know his name. An old man. Tall, slender."

She described more than a dozen men in the castle. It would take forever to figure out who it was.

"I am sorry they lied to you," she whispered, her eyes locked on her sister. "I'm sorry you were up there so long and no one knew. I wish I would've known." Aymeri's lips quivered but she wanted to be strong for her sister. She didn't want to crumble in fear Kumud would crumble, too, in knowing the truth. "Everyone told me you were dead. If I had known…" None of it would've happened. She would have demanded her sister's release. Would've acknowledged her sister's claim to the throne.

There were so many lies. So many secrets. Suddenly, the holy, god-like picture Aymeri held of her mother faded away. Her saintly image was tainted now.

Her sister's hands held a cold warmth as they wiped away her tears and instantly she knew the girl would have never done this if she hadn't been driven to such anger. Anyone would go to such lengths to bring themselves to justice.

Her mother's secrets would stay buried with her. No one other than the four of them needed to know the truth.

"I will find out who else did this to you and why," she swore. And they will pay for it in death. All of them .