Chapter 3 - THE PRINCE WHO KEPT A LIST OF THE DEAD
Kael led Elara beneath the palace through a passage built between two ancient stone walls.
The air smelled of wet earth and old iron.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Elara’s heart was beating so hard she could barely hear her footsteps.
Finally, she pulled away.
“Stop.”
Kael turned.
“We need to keep moving.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“I’ve been beaten, hunted, and told I’m somehow descended from a dead king. You said your mother ordered you to murder me.”
Kael lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Then tell me why.”
He hesitated.
Elara stepped closer.
“Please.”
The Prince studied her face, then opened a concealed door.
Behind it was a small chamber filled with maps, sealed letters, and stacks of handwritten records.
A single candle burned upon a desk.
Kael lit two more.
“Three years ago, I discovered that my mother maintained a secret list.”
He pulled a leather-bound ledger from beneath the desk.
Elara watched as he opened it.
Each page contained a name, a birth date, and a royal order.
Some entries were marked detained.
Others were marked executed.
Elara recognized one name.
Mira Solen.
A young laundress who had worked beside her.
Mira disappeared two winters earlier after guards discovered a strange mark on her shoulder.
The palace steward claimed she had stolen jewelry and fled.
Elara touched the page.
“Mira was my friend.”
Kael said nothing.
Beside Mira’s name was a red seal.
TERMINATED BY ROYAL DECREE.
Elara felt as though the room had lost its air.
“No.”
She remembered Mira laughing as they washed linens beside the river.
Mira had promised to teach her how to dance when they saved enough money to visit the spring festival.
“She didn’t steal anything.”
Kael’s voice was quiet.
“I know.”
Elara turned toward him.
“You knew she was dead?”
“I discovered the list afterward.”
“And you did nothing?”
The accusation struck him.
Kael stepped backward.
“I tried.”
He opened another drawer.
Inside were letters addressed to provincial governors, military captains, and temple officials.
Every one had been returned unopened.
“My mother controls the courts. The guard commanders. The priesthood.”
He looked toward the ledger.
“Every time I challenged her, someone else disappeared.”
Elara clenched her fists.
“So you hid here making lists?”
Kael looked wounded.
Then he nodded.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
He continued.
“I was afraid. And while I was afraid, people died.”
For the first time, Elara saw something other than royalty when she looked at him.
She saw a young man carrying the weight of things he had failed to prevent.
Kael reached for another book.
“Then I discovered something about the people on the list.”
He opened a page containing drawings of golden symbols.
“The Queen wasn’t hunting every descendant of Aurion. Only those whose blood could awaken the ancient seals.”
Elara stared at her wrist.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
A voice answered from the doorway.
“Because the throne is built upon a prison.”
Elara spun.
An elderly man stood in the entrance.
Long white hair.
Weathered face.
A wooden staff carved with silver runes.
Master Theron.
The royal historian.
Elara’s oldest friend within the palace.
“Master Theron?”
The scholar stepped inside.
His expression was grim.
“Forgive me, child.”
Elara felt fear return.
“For what?”
Theron looked toward the golden mark.
“For knowing who you were long before you did.”
Kael froze.
“You knew?”
Theron nodded.
“Eighteen years ago, I carried a newborn through these tunnels while the palace burned.”
Elara felt her knees weaken.
Theron approached slowly.
“That child was you.”
He opened his cloak.
Inside was a tiny white ribbon stained with old blood.
A royal emblem had been embroidered along its edge.
Seven golden flames.
Elara recognized the pattern from her wrist.
Her voice broke.
“Who gave you that?”
Theron’s eyes filled with tears.
“Your mother.”
For several seconds, Elara couldn’t speak.
She had spent eighteen years imagining the woman who abandoned her.
A cruel woman.
A frightened woman.
Perhaps a woman who never wanted her.
But Theron continued.
“Princess Lyanna did not abandon you, Elara.”
He carefully unfolded the ribbon.
“She begged me to save your life.”
May you like
Then he said something that made Kael step backward.
“And she is still alive.”
Related Stories
