THE PRINCE BENEATH THE BLACK CROWN

Chapter 19:The Prince's Forbidden Room

I couldn't move, my mother's voice was still inside my head, I have been waiting for you, I had spent years believing my mother was dead. Now something beneath the palace had spoken with her voice. And I had answered.

Riven was the first to move. He grabbed my hand. "We're leaving."

"Wait."

"No."

"Riven…"

"Seren, now." His voice was different not commanding. Afraid.

Queen Mirelle hurried behind us as we rushed through the passage, nobody speaking, not until we reached the northern corridor. Riven stopped. "Mother."

"What?"

"Why did you say the thing beneath the castle was starting?"

She hesitated. "Because it has happened before."

"When?"

"Eighteen years ago."

My heart tightened. "The night my mother disappeared."

She nodded. "Yes."

"What happened that night?"

She looked at Riven, then at me. "Your mother went beneath the castle."

"Why?"

"She believed something was calling her."

I remembered the voice. Seren. "Did she hear it too?"

"Yes."

"What happened after she went down there?"

Sadness filled her eyes. "She never came back."

"But the man said she didn't die."

"He may have been telling the truth."

My heart jumped. "You don't know?"

"No."

"Then why did everyone tell me she was dead?"

"Because it was safer for you to believe it."

I shook my head. "I'm done with that answer."

"Seren."

"No." I stepped away from him. "I need the truth."

"You will get it."

"When?"

He hesitated, and I noticed. "When you decide I'm ready?"

His silence answered for him, I turned away and then I saw it. A narrow black door at the end of the corridor, no handle, only a silver symbol carved into its surface. The same one on my palm.

I walked toward it. Riven followed immediately. "Don't."

"What is this?"

"My private wing."

"Your private wing?"

"Yes."

"You said no one enters."

"No one does."

"Then why is this door here?"

He didn't answer. I touched the symbol, and the door opened. His expression changed. "Seren." I stepped inside, and he followed, reluctant.

The room was unlike anything else in the palace dark, not for lack of candles but because the walls themselves seemed to swallow the light. Books filled the shelves, ancient weapons hung above the fireplace, and at the center of the room stood a massive black mirror.

I stopped. "No."

Riven closed the door behind us. "Stay away from it."

I turned. "You knew this was here."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you shouldn't be here."

"Then why did the door open for me?"

He had no answer. I walked toward the mirror, and he caught my arm.

"Seren."

"Let go."

"No."

"You're hiding something."

"Yes." The honesty surprised me. "What?"

"This room." He looked at the mirror. "It's where I keep everything I can't destroy."

I glanced around. "Like what?"

"Memories."

My eyes moved to the shelves dozens of small boxes, each marked with a date. I picked one up.

18 YEARS AGO.

My heart stopped. Riven took it from me immediately. "Don't."

"Why?"

"Because that night changed everything."

"Was my mother here?"

"Yes."

"Show me."

"No."

"Riven."

"No."

I stepped closer. "You keep telling me I need to trust you."

"I never said that."

"You did."

"I told you not to trust anyone."

"Exactly." I pointed at the box. "And you're included."

His jaw tightened. "Seren…"

"Open it."

He looked at me for a long moment, then opened it slowly. Inside was a small silver pendant. My breath caught I knew it. It was the necklace my mother wore in every portrait.

I reached for it, and this time he didn't stop me. I held it carefully. "Where did you get this?"

"Your mother gave it to me."

"When?"

"The night she disappeared."

"Why?"

"She told me to protect you."

My heart began pounding. "She knew I would come here?"

"No."

"Then why would she say that?"

"Because she knew the crown would eventually find you."

I looked at the black mirror. "What's behind it?"

He went still. "Nothing."

"That's another lie."

He sighed. "You don't know when to stop."

"No."

I walked toward the mirror, and he stepped in front of me. "You cannot look into that."

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't show reflections."

I remembered the room without mirrors. "What does it show?"

"Truth."

My stomach tightened. "And you're afraid of the truth?"

"I'm afraid of what it will show you."

"Move."

"No."

"Riven."

He didn't move, so I stepped around him. The mirror came alive instead of my reflection, I saw a room, very old, and my mother standing inside it. Younger. Alive. Holding a baby. Me.

My breath caught. Riven appeared in the vision too, much younger, maybe twelve. My mother knelt in front of him and placed her hand on his cheek. She said something I couldn't hear.

The vision shifted. King Aldric entered, younger too, carrying the Black Crown. My mother stepped between him and Riven immediately. Then the scene changed again a flash of red, my mother screaming, Riven falling. Then a black shadow rose up behind her.

I stepped closer. "What is that?"

Riven grabbed my shoulder. "Don't watch."

But I couldn't look away. The shadow reached for my mother, and she turned and looked directly at me. Not at the younger version of me. At me. Her lips moved, and this time I heard her.

"Don't let him wear the crown."

The vision shattered. I stumbled back, and Riven caught me.

"Who?" I looked at him. "Who shouldn't wear the crown?"

He didn't answer.

"Riven."

His face had gone pale. "You heard her."

"Yes."

"What did she mean?"

"I don't know."

"Stop lying!"

"I don't know!" His voice echoed through the room, and silence followed. I had never heard him raise his voice at me before. He looked shaken.

Then the black mirror changed again. This time it showed Riven alone beneath the throne, the Black Crown resting on his head, his eyes completely black. Behind him me. Not standing. Lying on the floor, covered in blood.

I gasped. He turned toward the mirror, his expression turning to horror. "No." He grabbed my hand. "We're leaving."

The mirror whispered. Too late.

The room filled suddenly with cold air, and the door slammed shut. Riven drew his sword. "Stay behind me."

Something scratched against the other side of the door. Once. Twice. Three times. I stepped closer to him. "What is that?"

"I don't know."

The scratching stopped. Silence. Then a woman's voice came through the door, soft and familiar.

"Riven."

He froze. I knew that voice. My mother's.

"Open the door."

His face went completely white. "No."

"Riven…" She sounded frightened. "Please."

He took one step toward the door. I grabbed his arm. "Don't."

"But that's her."

"No."

"How do you know?"

I stared at the door. "Because my mother wouldn't ask you to open that door."

The voice went silent. Then it laughed. Not my mother. Something else.

The door began shaking violently, and Riven pulled me behind him. The mark on my palm burned, and the same symbol appeared on the door. Then the lock broke, and the door slowly swung open.

There was no one outside, only darkness. And on the floor, another blood-sealed letter.

I picked it up, my hands trembling as I opened it. One sentence.

If you want to find your mother, stop trusting the prince.

I looked at Riven, he stared at the letter, and neither of us spoke. Then he whispered, "Someone knew we would find this."

And suddenly I understood, the letter wasn't meant for Riven.

It was meant for me.