“We thought we found nothing,” I clarify. “After listening to local stories, we found the coordinates to be off. The diamonds weren’t in the mountains at all. They were buried deep, near the edge of Shadow Pass.”
“Tell me you didn’t enter those lands?” my mother asks with a mix of horror and intrigue.
Shadow Pass leads to the Untouchable, a land no one has ever explored.
“No, the diamonds were near it, but we didn’t actually enter it.”
“And what about…?” Suddenly my father’s courtier appears at his side, interrupting Gran.
After a few whispers my father gets up from the table, and we all stand with him.
“Marcel and Deean, accompany your mother and grandmother to hear the people’s concerns. Iann, follow me.”
All eyes drift to me, but no one interjects and we each do as we’re told, with the others heading out of the room, and me going in the opposite direction after my father.
The tail ends of his coat flap back as he flies through the halls. Paintings smear across my periphery, trying to keep pace with him, and if the speed is alarming, his lack of speech turns a tighter knot in my stomach.
Coming to his study, he barges in and crosses the room in a few strides. He keeps moving, but I stop.
Stacks of books line the floors and maps inked with scribbles are sprawled out on the walls. There is an old musty smell and I spot dishes that look to be untouched for days. He pulls on a book snuggled into a shelf. The movement sets off a series of clicks and we watch as the shelf retracts from the wall and forms a strip of darkness.
It’s similar to hidden doors all around the palace, but never have any of us entered my father’s hidden rooms.
“Don’t stall, boy, keep up.” he warns before descending spiral steps. Not daring him to repeat himself, I follow.
At the end of the staircase we come to a room that is already lit by a fire, and standing at the other end is a man who leans forward, exerting weight on to a cane. Wrinkles pinch his face ashe offers us a smile, a smile so trustworthy it could make anyone confess their darkest secret.
“Iann, meet Rolley Mackall. He is an explorer like yourself.”
Rolley bows. “Your Royal Highness. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
My father sits in a black cushioned chair and gestures to two empty seats on the other side of the desk. “Tell me, my son, what do you know of the Ivian Flower?”
Taking my seat, we stare at each other for a good minute and when he doesn’t offer clarification, I find an answer for him. “Umm…you mean the mythical flower that’s a part of a fable you and Ma told us as children?” My father’s face grows with excitement and I am clueless as to why. “That’s it. It’s a fable. A delusional quest people have gone on, only to return with crushed dreams or worse, not to return at all.”
My father pulls out three glasses from his desk, followed by a bottle of apple bourbon. The apples are grown in the orchards that surround the castle and are known as Saden’s sweetest. A crisp tang hits my nose before my father slides the glass across the desk. Alcohol has never been something I acquired a taste for, but there is something about apple bourbon that I enjoy. A refreshing, yet burning sensation, prickles the inside of my mouth, but that doesn’t stop me from taking another swig.
“As I was saying—” My father gets out half a thought before downing his glass. “What if I said it was all true? What if a flower like that truly existed? I know you well, my son. There had to have been a time when you thought it was more than just a fable.”
He isn’t wrong. Beyond my nursery years, there have been several times in life when stories have troubled my desires to set out on the dangerous expedition. But the thing with legends is they are all stories that come from people with no proof. Theones with potential proof are dead and unable to leave stories behind.
My gaze goes to Rolley, who hasn’t taken a sip of his drink and still carries some of the weight on his cane. “I assume you know something about this?”
Rolley smiles. “I believe my great-grandfather may have discovered it. My great-grandfather looks no older than His Majesty, but was born nearly one hundred and fifty-seven years ago. He outlived my grandfather, my father, and I reckon he will outlive me. He has stayed hidden most of his life to keep speculations low. There isn’t a soul outside my immediate family that knew of this secret. Well, so I thought.”
“Why isn’t he here to tell us himself?” I pry. “That might make your case stronger.”
Rolley nods. “It would. Unfortunately for us all, he was taken. The only thing the captors left behind was this.” He tosses what looks like a black fur ball onto the table. My father doesn’t seem the least bit surprised, so I assume this is something he has already seen. I touch the item, immediately recognizing it as fox fur, the tail no doubt. “I was setting out to look for him when His Majesty’s men arrived. Turns out the news of the flower and my great-grandfather’s connection with it isn’t as much a secret as I’d hoped.”
My father’s chair slides back and he rises to his feet, causing Rolley and me to stand with him, Rolley taking a little longer than everyone.
“Thank you, Mr. Mackall. I would like to speak to my son alone now.” Rolley bows and takes his leave, but my father stops him one last time. “The plans we discussed earlier are still in motion. Departure is in three weeks.
Rolley nods and makes his way up the steps. My father and I sit in silence until we know the door is shut.
“Do you honestly believe him?” I ask my father, who pours himself another drink.
“Do you not?” His lips curl into something wicked, but once the glass hits his mouth, it vanishes. “Can you imagine the power Saden would gain if we had access to something like that?”
