Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 120974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Suddenly I have a flash of memory—the very first vision that the Door of Uncertainty showed me. It was my brother serving as the Cup Bearer, first to our father and then to our mother.
I see it so vividly, it’s almost like I’m back in the vision—the dining hall…the mellow gleam of the golden chalice filled with wine…my brother wiping the rim of the Cup with a crimson cloth, both before and after he gave it to our parents to drink from…
Realization hits me like a falling flagstone.
“Oh, my Goddess!” I gasp and scramble off the bed. “You were the reason they got sick!”
My brother’s face turns even darker.
“Shut your mouth!” he demands, but I notice that he doesn’t contradict me.
“You did it!” I exclaim, staring at him. “You killed our father and tried to kill our mother! You let everyone believe it was a wasting sickness, but it was poison—you poisoned them!”
“Shut up!” he insists, but again he doesn’t try to protest his innocence. “It was time for me to rule,” he adds. “They were in the way!”
“In the way?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing!
I turn to the Head Healer.
“He poisoned them both—our mother and father! He put the poison on the towel he used to wipe the Cup of Sovereignty when he was the Cup Bearer!”
But to my shock, the Head Healer doesn’t look at all surprised. He simply frowns at me and shakes his head.
“Princess, I do believe you’re going mad,” he remarks. “It’s so unfortunate, but not really surprising, considering the way you went off with that beast your brother had chained in the dungeon.”
“I’m not mad—he just admitted it!” I exclaim, pointing at my brother.
Kellis smirks at me.
“And who do you suppose gave me the poison, little sister?” he asks.
I stare back and forth, between them. My head is reeling, and my knees feel weak—as though my bones have all been replaced by water.
“You…you both…how could you?” I get out at last.
My brother shrugs, as though patricide and attempted matricide are no big deal.
“I told you—they were in the way.”
“You slimy, horrible—” I begin.
But just then, Sir Horace knocks and enters the room with several guards right behind him. He bids them wait at the threshold and closes the door, for privacy, I guess.
“Excuse me, Your Majesties,” he says to me and Kellis. “I wanted to check on the Princess—she’s only just returned.”
“I came back to heal my mother, the Queen, only to find that my brother has been trying to kill her!” I snap at Sir Horace.
“What?” His gray-blue eyes go wide with surprise and confusion. “What’s that you say, Princess?”
“Pay my sister no attention,” my brother says quickly. “I fear she came back from her journey quite mad.”
“I’m not mad!” I say hotly. “I just found out you killed our father and you’ve been trying to kill our mother too! You gave them the wasting sickness—along with the help of the Head Healer!”
Sir Horace’s eyes grow even wider, and he looks at my brother and me, as though he’s not sure which of us to believe.
My brother shakes his head sadly.
“Ah, so sad. She thinks she journeyed across the Poison Desert and all the way through Thornmere Forest to meet with the Sorceress who lives there.”
He speaks as though he’s talking about a very imaginative child—one who must be babied and condescended to.
“I did travel to Thornmere—on Dragon back!” I say—perhaps unwisely. But I’m so angry now, I scarcely know what I’m saying. “I used this ring to make a bargain with Valen—the beast, I mean—to fly me over the desert and back again so I could bring our mother the Healing Draught.”
I hold up my hand and point to the silver ring I still wear on my forefinger.
“Ah, so that’s where that went. You little thief!”
My brother grabs my wrist and twists the silver ring off. He tries to slip it on his own finger…but it’s suddenly grown quite small—too small to fit any of his meaty fingers. So instead, he puts it into his pocket.
“A stolen bit of jewelry doesn’t prove your point, little sister,” he says to me.
I’m horrified at losing the ring, but I’m still determined to be heard.
“I brought my mother a Healing Draught,” I insist. “Just look at her if you don’t believe me.”
I point to my mother, who is still sleeping peacefully—her cheeks glowing a healthy pink and her hair shiny and thick again.
Sir Horace frowns.
“Her Majesty does appear to be getting better. Praise the Goddess!” he adds with sincerity.
“Ah yes, she is—because of a healing elixir I brewed for her only an hour ago,” the Head Healer says calmly. “I am afraid the Princess is confused,” he adds. “Poor girl—lost and wandering in the wilderness with that beast. I fear what he may have done to her,” he says and looks me up and down meaningfully. “Or perhaps what she allowed him to do. We all know that women are naturally weak of character.”