THE PRINCE BENEATH THE BLACK CROWN

Chapter 17:The Secret Passage

You're next.

Vespera's silent warning followed me long after she vanished, I couldn't stop thinking about it not because she'd threatened me, but because she'd looked frightened when she said it. Vespera wasn't afraid of much. At least, that was what I'd believed. Now I wasn't sure of anything.

Riven stood beside me, one hand pressed to his wounded shoulder, blood soaked through his shirt.

"You need to sit down," I said.

"I'll survive."

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's true."

"You don't know that."

His eyes met mine. "Neither do you."

I hated how calmly he said it. Before I could answer, Queen Mirelle stepped forward. "Riven, you need to see the physician."

"No."

"Your wound is poisoned."

"I know."

"Then why are you refusing treatment?"

"Because I don't trust the physician."

She went silent. I looked between them. "Why?"

Riven didn't answer. The queen did. "Because the physician disappeared an hour ago."

I froze. "What?"

"He was found unconscious in his chambers."

My stomach dropped. "So someone inside the palace is helping the assassins."

He nodded. "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

I looked around the corridor guards everywhere, servants being questioned, doors locking one by one. The palace that had seemed grand and beautiful when I arrived now felt like a cage. "I need to get out."

"No."

"I don't want to stay here."

"You can't leave."

"Why?"

"Because whoever is hunting you knows where you are."

"Then I'll go somewhere they don't expect."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

He stared at me. "Exactly."

I crossed my arms. "You don't get to decide everything for me."

"I know."

"Then stop trying."

He looked like he wanted to argue, but instead said quietly, "Fine."

I blinked. "Fine?"

"You want a choice?"

"Yes."

"Then stay alive long enough to make one."

Before I could respond, a guard rushed toward us. "Your Highness!"

"What?"

"We found something."

He led us down the corridor, and I followed, until we stopped outside the northern wing. The black door was still there, the one that had opened the night before, the one connected to my mother. The guard pointed at the wall beside it.

"There."

A section of stone had been disturbed, scratches around its edges and someone had recently moved it. Riven's expression darkened. "Everyone out."

The guards hesitated. "Your Highness…."

"Out."

They obeyed. Queen Mirelle stayed, and he looked at her. "You too."

"Riven."

"Please."

Something passed between them, and then she left. I waited until her footsteps faded. "What is behind the wall?"

He touched the stone. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I've never opened it."

"You're a prince."

"That doesn't mean I know every secret in this palace."

He pressed his palm against it. Nothing happened. I stepped forward. "Move."

"Seren…."

"Move."

He stepped aside, and I touched the stone. The black mark rose on my palm, and the wall began to tremble. His eyes widened.

"Don't move."

"I wasn't planning to."

A low rumble rolled through the corridor, and the stones shifted, revealing a narrow doorway. Cold air rushed over us. I stared into the darkness. "A secret passage."

"You opened it."

"I noticed."

He pulled a torch from the wall and lit it. "Stay behind me." We stepped inside. The passage was narrow, ancient symbols covering the walls, some like the mark on my palm, others like the crown itself. I ran my fingers over one.

"Riven."

"What?"

"These symbols are everywhere."

"I know."

"Do you know what they mean?"

"No."

I stopped walking. "You're lying."

He turned. "I genuinely don't know." I looked at him, and for once, I believed him.

We kept going, the passage descending beneath the palace, growing colder the farther we went. Then I heard something. A whisper.

"Seren."

I stopped. Riven looked back. "What?"

"Someone called me."

His expression changed. "Where?"

I pointed ahead. He raised the torch. Nothing. Then the voice came again.

"Seren…"

This time he heard it too, his grip tightening on his sword. "Stay close."

We went on, and the passage opened into a large underground chamber. At its center stood a stone table with an old book on it, a silver dagger beside it, and beneath the dagger, a piece of parchment. I stepped toward it, and Riven caught my arm.

"Wait."

"What?"

"Look at the floor."

I lowered my eyes. Footprints. Fresh ones someone had been here recently. "Who?"

"I don't know."

We followed them behind the stone table, where they stopped. I looked around. "There's nowhere to go."

He studied the wall. "There is." He pressed a section of stone, and a hidden door opened onto another passage. I stared at him.

"How many secret passages does this palace have?"

"Apparently more than I knew."

The second passage was even older, deep scratches marking the walls almost as if something had tried to claw its way through. "What happened here?" I whispered.

He didn't answer. Then I saw a name carved into the wall.

ELARA VALORA.

My heart stopped. I stepped closer. "That's my mother."

He came beside me, his face changing. "She was here."

I touched the carving. Beneath her name, three more words.

SHE CHOSE YOU.

My breathing went shallow. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know."

"You're telling the truth?"

"Yes."

Then something moved behind us. We turned. Nothing there but the air had changed, a strange smell filling the corridor. Blood. Fresh blood.

Riven stepped forward. "Stay behind me." We followed the smell into another chamber, and there, sitting against the wall, was a man's clothes torn, blood covering his chest. I gasped.

"Is he alive?"

Riven crouched beside him. The man's eyes opened, moved from Riven to me, and filled with fear.

"No…"

Riven leaned closer. "Who are you?"

The man coughed. "You brought her."

Riven stiffened. "Who?"

He pointed at me. "The bloodline…" His eyes widened. "She survived."

My heart pounded. "What bloodline?"

He tried to speak, then grabbed Riven's coat. "Don't let the king find her."

"Why?"

His grip weakened. "Because he already knows…"

"Know what?"

He looked at me, and his final words came as barely a whisper. "Your mother didn't die."

I stopped breathing. Riven froze. "What did you say?"

His eyes closed. I grabbed his hand. "Wake up." Nothing. "Riven!"

He checked the man's pulse. "He's dead."

I stumbled back. My mother. Alive? That was impossible. I had watched her coffin lowered into the ground. My father had told me she died. Everyone had. Then why had this dying stranger said she survived?

I turned to Riven. "Did you know?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Then why did he tell us not to let the king find me?"

He didn't answer. I looked toward the dark passage, and then footsteps echoed behind us slowly, deliberately. Someone was coming.

Riven extinguished the torch. Darkness swallowed us, and he pulled me against the wall. "Don't make a sound."

The footsteps grew closer. One step. Then another. I held my breath. A shadow appeared at the entrance, someone stepping into the chamber. I couldn't see their faces. But I recognized the voice.

Queen Mirelle.

"Riven?"

He stiffened.

"I know you're down here."

Silence. Then she said something that turned my blood to ice.

"Bring Seren to me."

Riven's hand tightened around mine. And for the first time, I understood the queen knew exactly where we were.