with “distinguished guest.”
Soon enough we were standing in the middle of the ornate room, beneath a chandelier dripping with diamonds.
I glanced at the stained-glass windows depicting battles and the kings that came before my father, and at the people moving silently around the room dressed in all their finery.
The floor was polished marble, sparkling with flecks of diamonds worked into the gold and ivory swirls. Wall sconces were evenly spaced around the room, hanging with the same diamond netting that adorned the chandeliers. Chairs plated with pure gold and upholstered with white fur provided rows of spectator seating. The royal guard surrounded the room, dressed in their white and gold finery, gilded spears in their right hands, lethal swords resting on their hips.
I looked up as my uncle staggered from the throne that had once belonged to my father. It had mesmerized me as a child and even now stole my breath. A great ruby protruded from the center of the high back. Diamonds spread out in either direction and down the arms.
The ruby matched the smaller version set in the crown I carried.
Both gems were said to have been pulled from deep inside this mountain. They were to remind everyone that gazed upon them of the bloodshed before our peace. They were rumored to have been the only colored gemstone within any of the Diamond Mountains. The pagans believed that the rubies held mystical powers that would keep the Nine Kingdoms united as long as both gemstones remained in the same place. The religion of the Light taught that they had been placed there by the Light Itself.
I looked at my uncle, who stared at me with horror. I had always found him intimidating. He was excessively tall and thick across the chest. His features were not as refined as my father’s had been, and he did not carry the same presence.
He was not a kind man.
I had once heard him publicly berate a servant for not polishing his boots to his liking. My uncle threatened to have him thrown in the dungeon the next time Tyrn woke up to boots looking like “pig piss.”
Now, as he looked at me as if I were the devil incarnate, I felt my skin crawl.
“You’re dead,” he declared. He jolted unevenly down the steps to the main floor. “I buried you myself. You are dead.”
I could not find my voice. I had not expected him to know who I was. And I had truly not expected to have to defend my being alive.
Since I could not speak, Taelon spoke for me, “Your Majesty, I know this comes as quite the shock. Believe me, I was as surprised as you, but if you would list—”
“You are dead!” Tyrn yelled in my face. “How can this be? How can you be here?” He glanced around wildly, seemingly searching for someone in particular. “What sorcery is this? Who is responsible for this apparition?”
“Sir,” Taelon tried harder. “If you would listen, I could explain—”
Tyrn stepped up to Taelon, “You brought this creature here! You summoned her from the abyss of Denamon to take the throne from me! I will have your head, boy! I will mount it on a stick outside the wall so that every kingdom will see that I am the one who sits on the Seat of Power!”
Frantic, I reached for my uncle’s elbow and shouted, “Uncle Tyrn!” He stilled, his words dying in his throat. I tried again, “Uncle Tyrn, if you would only listen, we could explain to you—”
“Uncle Tyrn?” he asked, his eyebrows rising. “Did you say Uncle Tyrn?”
“I did,” I confessed breathlessly. “You are my uncle. And I can assure you I am quite alive.”
The violent energy raging through him died to chilling confusion. I was no less afraid now than when he’d been about to lay his hands on Taelon. “Who are you, then, that you should call me uncle?”
“Tessana. I am your sister’s daughter, Tessana Hadlyn Allisand, oldest daughter to the hundredth king of Elysia.”
His raspy whisper seemed to be dragged from his throat. “It cannot be.”
My voice broke with desperation. “It is I. On the day my parents were murdered a monk rescued me from the palace. I have been living in secret for these last eight years.”
“Where?” he demanded.
I swallowed, feeling as though I’d said too much. “Heprin. I’ve been living in a monastery in Heprin.”
His harsh laugh was unexpected. “In a monastery? Well of course you have! No one would ever think to look