THE PRINCE BENEATH THE BLACK CROWN

Chapter 12: The Room Without Mirrors

My mother's voice disappeared, and the northern corridor went silent again. I stood frozen in front of the open door, unable to move, Riven's fingers still wrapped around my wrist.

"Don't go inside," he said.

"You heard her."

"Yes."

"That was my mother's voice."

"I know."

My heart pounded. "How?"

His jaw tightened. "Because I heard it eighteen years ago."

I stared at him. "You were here?"

"Yes."

"When did my mother disappear?"

"Yes."

I pulled my wrist free. "You keep saying that, that you were here, that you knew my mother, that you know things about me." I pointed at the open doorway, "And yet you refuse to tell me anything."

"Because some truths are dangerous."

"Then let me decide whether I'm willing to hear them."

He looked at me for a long moment, then stepped in front of the doorway. "No."

"No?"

"You're not going inside."

"You can't order me around."

"I can when your life is at risk."

"I'm already in danger!"

His expression softened. "I know."

"Then stop treating me like a child."

"I don't."

"You do."

He sighed. "Seren, there is something about that room you don't understand."

"What?"

"It doesn't show people what they want to see."

I frowned. "Then what does it show?"

"What they fear."

A chill moved through me. "And you?"

"I won't enter it."

"Why?"

"Because I already know what I'd see."

I studied his face. "You're afraid."

"Yes." The simple admission surprised me Riven D'Arcy, the Prince of Ruin, afraid of a room.

"What happened the last time you entered?"

He looked into the darkness. "I lost someone."

"Who?"

"My mother."

My breath caught. "Queen Mirelle?"

He shook his head. "No."

I understood. "My mother."

He nodded.

I swallowed. "What did you see?"

"Myself."

I frowned. "I don't understand."

"You will."

Before I could ask anything else, the door slammed shut, the whole corridor shaking, I jumped, and Riven pulled me behind him. A strange black line appeared beneath the door, slowly forming words.

SHE REMEMBERS.

"What does that mean?"

His face had gone pale. "I don't know."

"You're lying again."

"No." He stepped closer to the door. "Whatever is inside wants you to believe it knows your mother."

"Maybe it does."

"Maybe."

The writing vanished, and the door opened again, no voice this time, no movement, just darkness. Riven looked at me. "Come."

"You said not to enter."

"I changed my mind."

"Why?"

"Because if we leave it open, someone else might enter first."

We stepped inside. The room was enormous, and unlike the rest of the palace there were no candles yet I could see everything perfectly. The walls were covered in paintings, dozens of them, women, men, children, all wearing the same black symbol. The Black Crown.

I walked toward one woman standing beside a throne, her face almost exactly like mine. My heart skipped. "Who is she?"

Riven stood behind me. "The first queen."

"She looks like me."

"She does."

"How?"

"I don't know."

I looked at another portrait, and another face like mine looked back. Then another. And another. It was impossible. "These women…"

"Were queens."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

I turned to him. "And they all look like me."

He didn't answer.

"Why?"

His eyes moved to the far wall, one empty space, a missing portrait. "What happened to that one?"

"I don't know."

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Pretending you don't know."

"I really don't."

I stepped toward the empty frame. Scratches ringed if someone had deliberately removed the painting. I touched the wall, and pain shot through my fingers. I gasped, and Riven rushed to me.

"What happened?"

"My hand." I looked down. The black symbol had returned, glowing beneath my skin, and the wall began to shake.

"Move," he said, pulling me back.

The stones shifted, revealing a hidden compartment, and inside it a small wooden box. "What is that?"

His expression changed. "Don't touch it."

"Why?"

"Because I know that box."

"How?"

"It belonged to your mother."

My breath caught. "You're sure?"

"Yes."

I reached for it, and he caught my hand. "Wait."

"Why?"

"Because if your mother hid it here, she had a reason."

"Maybe she wanted me to find it."

"Maybe."

I pulled free and opened the box. Inside was a single silver necklace, the pendant shaped like a crown, and beneath it a folded piece of paper. My hands were shaking as I opened it. Four words.

The mirrors will remember.

I frowned. "What does that mean?"

He looked around the walls. "There are no mirrors."

Suddenly I understood. "That's why my room has none."

His expression shifted. "Yes."

"Who removed them?"

"I did."

"You?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

He didn't answer.

"Riven."

His voice went quiet. "Because when you look into a mirror, something else looks back."

My blood turned cold. "What?"

He looked at the necklace in my hand. "Your mother discovered it before she disappeared."

I swallowed. "And what did she see?"

He hesitated. "Your face."

"My face?"

"In the mirror."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It wasn't your reflection."

The room went colder. "It was you," he said.

I stared at him. "I'm standing here."

"I know."

"Then what did she see?"

"A version of you."

My fingers tightened around the necklace. "What was different?"

His eyes met mine. "Your eyes."

A shiver ran down my spine. "What about them?"

"They were black."

The room fell silent. Then a soft sound came from behind me and I turned. A mirror. I hadn't noticed it before, tall and covered in black cloth. Riven's face changed.

"No."

The cloth slid to the floor, and I saw myself. But my reflection wasn't moving with me she stood completely still, her eyes black.

My heart stopped. Riven stepped in front of me. "Don't look at it."

The reflection smiled, then raised one hand. Mine rose to meet it on instinct, and Riven grabbed my wrist. "Seren!"

The reflection whispered. "Finally."

I couldn't breathe,Riven pulled me back from the glass, but she kept smiling, and then spoke in my mother's voice.

"Your daughter has finally come home."

The mirror shattered, I screamed, and Riven wrapped his arms around me as glass rained across the floor.When the last piece settled, everything went silent.

I looked down, Among the broken shards was one small piece, and inside it was my mother's face. She was crying, her lips moved, and though I couldn't hear her, I knew what she said.

Run from Riven.

I stared at it. Riven noticed my expression. "What did you see?"

I closed my fingers around the glass. "Nothing."

His eyes narrowed. "Seren."

I made myself look at him. "Nothing."

But for the first time since entering the Black Palace, I wondered whether Riven's warning had been meant to protect me from the palace or to keep me from discovering the truth about him.