Chapter 5 - The Queen’s ConfessionThe note named an abandoned monastery in the eastern hills.
King Rowan refused to let Lily go.
Lily refused to stay.
Eventually they compromised in the way powerful families often did.
Lily went.
Half the royal guard followed at a distance.
Inside the monastery, Queen Celeste waited beside a dead fireplace.
She looked nothing like the woman who had attended the Moonlight Ball.
No crown.
No jewels.
No attendants.
Only a frightened woman.
Lily entered.
“Where is my mother?”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Lily nearly turned around.
“Then this was pointless.”
“Wait.”
Celeste removed a bundle of papers.
“I know where she was taken.”
Lily stopped.
“After the fire, Varen moved Seraphina to Saint Orien.”
“That’s a prison.”
“It was once also used for political prisoners.”
“Why keep her alive?”
“Because he needed her signature.”
Varen wanted Seraphina to renounce her claim and sign documents transferring emergency authority over several royal accounts.
She refused.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
Celeste flinched.
“Because I spent eighteen years being too afraid to find out.”
Lily looked at her with disgust.
“You were supposed to be queen.”
“I was supposed to be brave.”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“I was neither.”
She confessed.
Before the fire, Varen had used her family’s debts to control her.
Celeste passed information.
Schedules.
Private meetings.
Nothing she believed would lead to murder.
When she realized what Varen intended, she tried to warn Rowan.
Varen threatened to expose her.
Then threatened infant Evelyne.
“I chose my daughter.”
Lily’s eyes hardened.
“And Marian chose me.”
Celeste began crying.
“Yes.”
“That’s the difference.”
Celeste did not argue.
She handed Lily a key.
“This opens a deposit vault in Saint Orien.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know. Varen visited it every year until three years ago.”
Three years.
Around the time Marian had first begun trying to locate Gideon.
Lily’s mind raced.
“Why are you telling me now?”
“Because Evelyne came to me last night.”
Lily’s expression changed.
Celeste continued.
“She asked me whether being queen was worth teaching my daughter to become cruel.”
That sounded like Evelyne.
“She told me she would testify against me if necessary.”
Celeste smiled through tears.
“For the first time, I was proud of her.”
Hoofbeats sounded outside.
Celeste went pale.
“Too soon.”
The monastery doors burst open.
But it was not Varen.
King Rowan entered.
He looked at his wife.
For a long moment no one spoke.
Celeste whispered:
“Rowan.”
He held up the documents Lily and Gideon had recovered.
“You knew my sister survived the fire.”
“I knew she was taken.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Yes.”
“Every year, on the anniversary of her death, you stood beside me.”
Celeste cried.
“Yes.”
The king looked devastated.
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
Rowan turned away.
He did not shout.
That was worse.
“You will return to the palace under guard.”
Celeste nodded.
Before soldiers took her, she looked at Lily.
“Go to Saint Orien.”
Lily said nothing.
Celeste added:
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“The woman they buried as Seraphina…”
Lily’s heart stopped.
“…was not your mother.”
King Rowan turned sharply.
“Who was she?”
“A servant who died in the fire.”
Rowan looked sick.
Celeste whispered:
“Your sister was still alive when you became king.”
That night, royal riders left for Saint Orien.
May you like
And hidden in the mountains, Chancellor Varen received word.
The girl he had tried to erase was now following the trail directly back to him.
Related Stories
