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Parents? It couldn’t be. Unless she meant her mother was still missing. Leah decided to get more information. “No news of my mother?”
“Oh.” The woman put a hand over her heart. “Princess. I thought someone had told—”
“What happened?” Leah swallowed.
“She… perished. Fell from the high tower.”
Leah had a lump in her throat now. This was it. She was alone, the only person who could save her kingdom. Her mother… There were so many words Leah wanted to have with her. Many of them angry, but also sweet, loving words, and now she’d need to swallow them forever. At least she’d seen her father one last time, but her mother…
“I…” Leah looked down. “It’s life, right? Never eternal or unchanged.”
“I’m really sorry, princess. No, it’s your majesty.”
Leah was holding back tears, but this was not the moment to be sad, to get dragged by her emotions. She had come here for a solution, not to become a mushy mess incapable of action.
“Falina.” She looked straight at the woman. “My father—and mother—appreciated your service very much. I’ll continue to do so, but I need a favor now.” How could she say it? “I…” She was going to mention a surprise, but that would be too callous. “I know you heard I wanted everything thrown away, but that was me, trying to prove to my husband and my people that I could move on, that I wasn’t hurt by my father’s death.”
“Oh, miss. Nobody would expect you to.”
“I know. But I wanted to prove it, right? I came here… to take a last look at this place. My husband doesn’t know. Nobody knows. Can you keep it a secret?”
The woman frowned, which was unexpected. “The Ironhold generals say the fae might be pretending to be us, that we must inform—”
“Falina, it’s me. I know your name. If I were a fae, I wouldn’t be able to lie, so if I’m saying I’m princess Leah, I’m princess Leah. Or rather, I’m a sea serpent. A castle mouse. I can lie. I’m human, not fae.”
The chambermaid raised an eyebrow, thoughtful. Why did she have to be so obedient?
Leah insisted, “Just give me ten minutes alone. Please. I need to mourn.”
The woman nodded. “Yes, of course. But the men are coming to take it all away. They’ll be here any second now.”
This was so wrong. Who had given Ironhold the right to defile her father’s lifetime of work and research? And why would they do that? What was their motivation to get rid of his magic study?
Unless… Unless they were not really going to destroy it, but take it to their kingdom. But what was the point? They already controlled Frostlake, and if they wanted to find anything, it would be much easier to do it here, with everything still organized. Well, Leah definitely didn’t understand Ironhold and this was not the time to try to do it. What mattered was that maybe not everything would be lost, maybe she could eventually recover her father’s work. For now, all she needed was to find what she was looking for.
Leah gave the woman a reassuring smile. “No problem. I’ll be quick.”
The servant still eyed her with suspicion, but walked out nonetheless. Hopefully she wasn’t going to return with guards to test if Leah was some shape-shifting fae. Lying should be proof enough. Regardless, it was better to be fast.
How was she going to find anything in this mess? There were two objects she needed, meant to scare away clinging spirits. One was a small bell, the other, a necklace. She was not sure if any of that was going to work, but she had to try.
Her heart was still tight looking at that office, knowing that these usurpers were destroying it. How much more would they destroy before she could stop them? Stop them—that was a wishful thought. Leah had been barely scraping by. For now, all she could do was get rid of the creepy voice in her head—if her idea worked.
The bell had been on one of the shelves, now empty. Leah opened the burlap bags quickly, trying to find other objects that were from those same shelves, until she found a compass. That had to be it. Indeed the small, copper bell was at the bottom.
She took it and rang it. No sound—which was how it should be. It wasn’t for human, living ears.
The other thing she needed was the necklace with dried krystal leaves. It would be better to have some and burn them, but she wasn’t going to look in the garden now, and didn’t know where they grew elsewhere in Aluria or wherever she was going, so the necklace should have to do for now.
Leah was moving to another bag, when a shrill sound made her tremble. It was inside her head, loud and disturbing.
And then, that voice came back. “Trying to get rid of me?”
Oh, yes, that was exactly what she was doing. Leah rang the bell again. And again. Meanwhile, she searched for the necklace, even if an odd sound still echoed in her mind, making her dizzy.
On top of another bag, she found the necklace, and put it on. Immediately the sound stopped, and there was no more voice saying anything. Yes!
Was it too early to return to Fel? It was the only direction that made sense. Before she thought a second more, the doors burst open.
