“Your son is very handsome,” the King of Darluna said.
“The Princess Test is going well?” King Noam said.
Alaric nodded. He sat by his father and sipped wine from a crystal chalice.
“I’m glad you’re having a true Princess Test,” the King of Gaveron said. “It will help legitimize your rule.”
Alaric nearly spit wine out of his nose. He managed to swallow the mouthful, but it left him coughing too much to respond.
He had known the other kings felt this way, but they had never discussed it openly. Alaric turned to his father for an explanation.
“It is nothing,” King Noam said. “We have been discussing our family’s lineage in the council meetings. The fact that we are the youngest ruling family in Myora.”
“Young doesn’t cover it. There are peasants in Kell with more claim to a throne in their lineage,” the King of Kell said.
He stroked his bright red beard.
After his conversation with Fiora, Alaric hadn’t thought it was possible to dislike Kell more. The king proved him wrong. Alaric sat taller and wished Bastien had given him a crown to wear for the day.
“The people accept our rule. Aeonia is flourishing.”
“Oh, no one questions your prosperity,” the King of Gaveron said. “But Aeonia would flourish even more with a true noble on the throne. I find the trend of romances between nobility and citizens disturbing.”
Alaric inhaled and glanced at his father. King Noam gritted his teeth, but he seemed willing to let the slight on his marriage to a goat herder pass.
After hours of conversations with the princesses, Alaric was not in such a generous mood.
“I find having a citizen on the throne helps us keep the citizens in mind,” he said.
He glared at the King of Gaveron. The king returned his gaze.
“And I find ancient bloodlines and centuries of ruling experience to be invaluable.”
“No one made that claim while we were at war. Only now that we prosper do you question our lineage.”
“I question nothing. I am only observing that noble families have a right to rule. I am sure you are very aware of that as you consider the princesses.”
“Gentlemen, please,” the King of Darluna said. “All of us have daughters and nieces in the Princess Test. No one refused to participate. Clearly we do not hold the royal family of Aeonia’s questionable origins against them.”
“Questionable origins?”
Alaric slammed his chalice on the table. Wine sloshed onto the tablecloth. The King of Darluna put his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender.
“You must admit your family came to power under difficult circumstances. Forgive me if I have offended you, Prince Alaric. I meant no disrespect.”
Alaric glanced around the table in dismay. If the kings were willing to discuss the matter so casually, it was worse than he thought.
“Please, let us not discuss business over lunch,” King Noam said. “We will have plenty of time for debate later. If Your Majesties approve, our court musicians will provide us with entertainment while we eat.”
The kings nodded. Alaric fell silent and ate little. The lute player’s plaintive tune did nothing to help his mood. He glared into his soup until lunch ended.
“A word, Alaric,” his father said as the kings left the dining room.
Alaric followed him into his study. King Noam shut the door.
“Are you trying to start a war?” the king demanded.
“I’m sorry, father. I’ve never had my legitimacy as a ruler questioned in my presence.”
The king’s face fell.
“The King of Gaveron has spoken of little else since he arrived. He hints that he will make sure a noble is seated on Aeonia’s throne before he leaves.”
“Father, I won’t allow them to bully us! They’re just jealous that Aeonia is united again. That you united us. We’re thriving, and they can’t stand it.”
“There may be something to that. It certainly seems that the older families would like more control here. Some whisper that we should be annexed into Gaveron so Aeonia can be ruled by a true noble family.”
“We’ve ruled for a century! They had over a hundred years to raise such claims! They did nothing!”
“Alaric, they aren’t wrong about our family’s rise to power. Blood was spilled.”
“Blood is always spilled in a war! We have ruled in peace since then.”
“People remember violence more than peace. The Council of Kings accepted us because there were no members of the original royal family left. Have you ever wondered why?”
Alaric’s face fell.
“They died in battle. That’s what the scrolls in the archive say.”
“I’ve read the scrolls, Alaric. But I have a hard time believing every single member of such a large family was killed in battle. What about those away on diplomatic missions? What about the children?”
“Father, what are you implying?”
King Noam shrugged.
“History written by the victors is often skewed. My guess is that assassins were hired to hunt down the remaining members of the royal family. It is the only way to explain such a complete disappearance.”
Alaric stared at his father.
“You really believe that?”
“Some version of it, yes. Certainly the other countries think the same.”
“Even if that were true, you and I had nothing to do with that. We are good rulers. Aeonia is at peace thanks to you.”
“Yes. Thanks to my marriage to your mother, Aeonia was united once again.”
Alaric sighed. King Noam smiled.
“How is the Princess Test going? Have you picked one yet? Found a true princess?”
“I’ve only had one conversation with each of them.”
Except for the gate princess. He couldn’t admit that though. It might get her disqualified. He considered mentioning her climb up the tower, but decided against it. His father had enough worries.
King Noam sighed.
“More may depend on this than I originally thought. As much as I hate to admit it, adding a true princess to our lineage would silence many of their protests. Choose wisely, son.”
“Those kings are despicable. How dare they insult Marta?”
King Noam shook his head.
“It isn’t the first time. Many of them objected to sharing a table with a former goat herder. Prejudices run deep in the old families.”
Alaric clasped his father’s shoulder.
“I won’t let you down, father. I will make a good match.”
King Noam smiled sadly.
“I hoped this would be unnecessary. I thought I could negotiate my way to better relations. But you were right all along. You showed rare insight in requesting this Princess Test. I’m proud of you.”
Alaric nodded. Winning his father’s approval usually made him feel proud. Now he felt more trapped than ever.
“I think it would be best not to delay the results of the test,” Alaric said. “The more time the kings have, the more trouble they can cause. I’ll announce my choice on the third evening as soon as the test ends.”
“Are you sure? You are allowed a few days after the test to consider your choice.”
“Yes, I’m sure. I won’t give them extra time to undermine us.”
“It is a good idea, but I’m sorry it’s necessary. I’ll tell the kings of your decision tomorrow.”
Alaric smiled, but he didn’t feel happy. He left his father and walked towards his room.
He had underestimated how difficult it would be to identify the princesses. They dressed alike. They moved in unison. Most of the conversations had been similar.
Picking a girl out of the crowd would be difficult even if you knew her. The different hair colors helped a little, but everyone’s hair was styled exactly the same.
He ran through the king’s faces in his mind. Would their daughters resemble them? The royal famil
y of Kell had the same bright red hair. Others might share hair color or other traits. That could be helpful. It was difficult to keep the princesses straight without knowing their names. He would search for identifying characteristics at the next test.
Servants scurried out of his way as he walked. He knew he looked fierce. He couldn’t help it. Yes, his family had come to power under questionable circumstances. They had not originally been nobility. But his country was at peace now. Aeonia thrived. How dare the kings question them after a century of silence?
He reached his room and slammed the door. Twenty girls. Eight princesses. Did they share their father’s views? Did they despise him for his origins?
Alaric had known he wouldn’t be able to marry for love, but he hadn’t considered the possibility that his new wife would hate him. That she would consider him an impostor. The latest in a line of pretenders with blood on their hands.
Alaric pulled the parchments from his desk and studied the portraits. Was Brigitta the princess who asked if he liked horses? Or was that Colette? They looked similar in the sketches.
Alaric spread the parchments over the desk and studied them side by side. Something was wrong.
Where was the gate princess? He would recognize her even in a poorly drawn pencil sketch. Alaric flipped through the parchments one by one. He pulled the larger pile out of his desk and studied it as well.
She wasn’t there. She was not one of the princesses who had agreed to attend the Princess Test. Twenty princesses agreed to come. He had twenty parchments from his spies.
But twenty-one princesses arrived. How had Marta been expecting her? Had she simply sent her acceptance late?
She traveled alone. She arrived with none of the finery of a princess except for her ring.
Her magic ring.
Alaric shuddered.
Whoever she was, she was up to something. Climbing towers. Working magic. She was here for more than the Princess Test
He shoved the parchments into his desk and pulled a cloak over his ridiculous clothes and hair. He needed to do some research.
16
She should go back to the fitting room. Lina knew that. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She hadn’t found any gems, but maybe she could find some answers.
She wrapped the curtain around her shoulders. Lina hoped it looked enough like a cloak to keep people from getting suspicious. She couldn’t afford to draw attention to herself by running around town in her undergarments.
Lina climbed down the tower. She found a tree that stretched across the moat and climbed through the branches until she was clear of the castle.
She jogged to the archives. Royal histories. She hoped she could find the information she needed in those scrolls.
She took a smock from Simon and slipped it over the curtain cloak. Now she looked just like everyone else. Simon didn’t recognize her. She had been covered in dust last time, so that was fair.
The archives were busier in the afternoon. Lina walked towards the shelves with the most people around them. To be fair to Alaric, most of them were women.
“Is this the royal history section?” Lina asked.
The women giggled.
“Yes, of course! Are you checking your genealogy?”
Lina blinked.
“My what?”
“To see if you qualify for the Princess Test!”
One of the women clutched her hands over her heart.
“I’d give anything to be up there. They’re so lucky to have a chance at Prince Alaric!”
The other girls swooned. Lina watched them in confusion.
“You don’t think he’s vicious?”
The women gasped in unison.
“Vicious? What gave you that idea?”
Lina swallowed.
“I-”
“He’s a darling. And so responsible. I needed help with trade negotiations for my cashmere weaving business last year, and he handled it himself. Some merchants from Gaveron tried to charge me extra import duties. Prince Alaric changed the terms of a trade agreement to prevent it.”
“My brother’s in his army unit. He said he’s the best commander he’s ever had.”
Other women added their defenses. Whatever the princesses thought of Prince Alaric, the Aeonian citizens clearly adored him. Lina held up her hands in surrender.
“Actually, you’re right. I am here to see if I qualify for the Princess Test. A girl can dream, right?”
“I knew it! What years do you want to check?”
Lina bit her lip. She hoped she wouldn’t incriminate herself by naming a specific year.
“Maybe 1215 or so?”
The women gasped.
“You realize that’s the old royal family, right? Before King Thaddeus?”
Lina nodded. Her heart beat faster, but she kept her expression calm.
“Well, you’re certainly ambitious! If you proved you were descended from them, you might find yourself queen without marrying a prince.”
One of the women offered Lina a scroll. She unrolled it and glanced at the dates. Yes, that looked about right.
“Aren’t there any members left? What happened to them?”
The woman put her hands on her hips.
“Who can say? Most of the cowards disappeared at the first sign of trouble. The rest were none too prepared to fight.”
“And you don’t mind being ruled by invaders?”
“Invaders? What scrolls have you been reading? Alaric’s family is from Aeonia. They defended the people from the king.”
Lina took the scroll to a quiet corner of the archive. She unrolled it until she found names she recognized. There. King Dacian had ruled during her time. Lina checked the dates. Dacian had died ten years after she went to sleep. His son Thaddeus took the throne at sixteen.
The genealogy ended with Thaddeus. Someone had drawn a thick black line across the parchment.
Lina stared at the line. It seemed so final. Like the whole family had ceased to exist. Was it because of the war?
Lina traced the branches of the family tree back. Her family would be in a remote corner of Dacian’s line. There. She found her grandparents and traced their names on the parchment. At last, she had some kind of record. Proof that her family had existed.
She traced the line to her parents. More proof. She and Luca should be right next to them.
Lina frowned. An ink blot covered the place where she and Luca should have been listed. She held the parchment up to the light, but she couldn’t read anything through the blot.
They had erased her. She examined the rest of the parchment for ink blots. There weren’t any. Scribes were too careful to spill ink by accident. Even if it had happened, they would have rewritten the parchment. Or written her name beside the blot.
Someone had removed her and Luca from history with a single drop of ink.
Lina returned to the line. She wasn’t the only one who had been blotted out. If there were future generations of the royal family, they had never been recorded. Did the line show death? Or did it simply mean that the royal line had ended because they lost the war?
She rolled the scroll up. She needed to get back to the castle before they missed her. How long did it take to sew a sleeve back on?
She sighed. All her searches had led to nothing. No enchanted gems. No answers about the past.
She would have to rely on the Council for help.
“I knew you’d enjoy the royal histories.”
Lina jumped. A hooded figure stood in front of her.
Prince Alaric.
Lina’s heart beat faster. What was he doing here?
“Did you find some interesting gossip?” he asked.
Lina scowled at him. She was not in the mood for banter. She and her entire family had been erased from history, and his family was responsible.
“What can you tell me about this?”
She opened the scroll and pointed to the thick black line that marked the end of the roy
al family.
Her family.
Alaric ran his hands through his hair, ruining his perfect ringlets. Lina shoved the scroll closer to his face.
“What happened here?”
She tried to keep her tone light, but it sounded like an accusation. Alaric answered her steadily.
“The royal family disappeared. My family has ruled ever since.”
“An entire family disappeared? You expect me to believe that?”
“That is what the records say. Some died in battle. We know King Thaddeus did. The rest disappeared.”
“Disappeared. The whole family just disappeared.”
“I wasn’t there. I don’t know any more than you.”
Now he sounded angry. Lina rolled the scroll shut. She hadn’t been there either, but she could have been. This would have happened in her lifetime if she hadn’t been asleep.
In Luca’s lifetime, if he hadn’t been erased from history by an inkblot.
Had her brother been killed in battle?
Would she have been able to protect him if she had been awake?
Guilt washed over Lina. She had thought she was protecting Aeonia. That her country would be safe while she slept.
That hadn’t been the case.
She gripped the scroll too hard and crushed it. Prince Alaric pulled it from her hand and smoothed the crumpled edges.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Looking up royal gossip. Isn’t that what princesses do?”
“Not at the archives. At the Princess Test.”
Lina opened and closed her mouth a few times. Of course he was suspicious of her behavior. She was doing a terrible job impersonating a princess.
She had to get away. Lina couldn’t be exposed as a fraud now. She had to speak to the Council.
Lina leaned closer as if to tell the prince a secret. He bent over so he could hear. She grabbed his hood and pulled it away from his face. His blond hair gleamed in the sunlight.
“Prince Alaric!” she said.
Her voice echoed through the quiet building. Across the room, the group of women snapped their heads up.
“What are you-”
Alaric didn’t have a chance to finish. He didn’t have a chance, period. The group of women ran towards him calling his name. They surrounded him, speaking all at once and so loudly that Simon left his desk to tell them to hush.
Princess of Shadows: The Princess and the Pea Retold (Fairy Tale Adventures Book 1) Page 9
