The other Circle members left with quiet conversation, save for Finlay, who stomped out with all the grace of an elephant. He had a meeting with the Malovian Revolution about integrating their ranks into our army. Mixing the two sides, who’d previously fought against each other, wasn’t going well.
“Ozzie and Jasper are going to be thrilled. They can come out of hiding,” Emma said with a bright smile.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be that simple,” Delmare said reluctantly. “The law will change, but that doesn’t mean the country will.”
“Why?” Emma leaned back. “It’s the law, so they’ll be safe now.”
Delmare bit her lip. “I hope so.”
There was a slamming sound as a door flew open. Arthur bustled into the room, his red hair stuck up on one side of his head and his glasses askew. He was carrying a stack of books. Papers fluttered everywhere as he ran.
“I think I’ve done it,” Arthur said victoriously, and he dropped the books on the table.
“Done what?” Stefan asked. Arthur began flipping pages in a hurry.
“I think I know where the Seelie stone is,” Arthur said. “Or at least, who had it last.”
“What did you find?” I leaned over the books. Arthur stopped at a page which had an old medieval drawing of a woman that looked very familiar.
“I’ve been examining several ancient texts, and in all of them, they say that a stone of great Seelie worth was at theZamek Marzenia, the Castle of Dreams,” Arthur began.
“That’s where the Willow Maiden is. It was the site of the first palace of the monarchy, before it was destroyed in the Seelie and Unseelie conflict when the fae first immigrated to Earth from Edinmyre,” Emma said.
“Exactly. These books are records of that conflict, and are hundreds of years old. They’ve been languishing in the royal library for ages, and no one thought to check them,” Arthur said. “The ancient texts say that thestone of the Seelieremained guarded at the Castle of Dreams during the war— and that it was protected by Jadwiga Waldemar.”
“Jadwiga Waldemar is the Willow Maiden. She swore to keep Unseelie magic bound within the valley after the Unseelie fae cursed Malovia, but when a shifter attempted to steal her away from the valley, she died and became the willow, to keep the curse bound to the area so it didn’t ruin the fae,” I said.
“The Willow Maiden must have some sort of connection to the Seelie stone,” Emma marveled. “We portaled through that tree on our first trip to Edinmyre, when we obtained the dragon stone. It’s more than a powerful plant. It has a connection to the Crystals.”
“Do you think the stone could be inside the tree?” Stefan asked, glancing at Arthur.
Arthur adjusted his glasses. “I thought we could summon Jadwiga’s spirit from within the Willow Maiden, and ask her ourselves.”
“Can we do that?” Delmare asked.
Arthur ruffled through the books again. “There is a way, and I think with Emma’s magic, we can do it. We should go there tonight.”
“I agree,” I said. “Once everyone is asleep, we’ll make our exit. No need for everyone in the kingdom to know what we’re doing.”
“How are we supposed to sneak out? We’re the king and queen. Everyone will notice us leaving,” Emma said.
I gave a smirk. “You’re about to find out.”
When midnight fell,I locked the door to our royal suite. We’d changed our attire and dressed in normal street clothes, so if anyone saw us from afar, they wouldn’t recognize us straight away. Remaining concealed was of the utmost priority, and I didn’t trust anyone but my friends to help us with the Crystals of Harmony.
Emma crossed her arms and said, “All right, impress me. How do you expect to get out of this room without alerting the guards?”
“Most rooms in the palace have a secret entrance,” I told her. I moved toward the bookcase in the parlor room, then pulled a book on the shelf. The book wasn’t quite a book at all, but a hidden lever. As I did so, the bookcase swiveled in place— revealing a secret passage.
Emma’s mouth dropped, and I said, “You’ll want to cast a light. It’s dark in there.”
She ignited a blue orb in her palm, and I led her into the passage. Once we stepped through, the bookcase spun closed behind us, and I walked onward. Emma’s light showed the way as we roamed down a twisting hallway of plain stone walls.
“I used these tunnels often to leave the palace when I was working as the Phantom,” I told Emma. “They’re a secret, built to keep the royal family safe if the palace is ever attacked and we need to evacuate. Not even the servants know about them.”
“Do these tunnels go everywhere?” Emma asked.
“All around the palace. You can get anywhere in the building by using them. It’s in our benefit to keep these secret passageways, secret.”
