Mabel’s chair clattered loudly against the stone floor as she sucked in a startled gasp. “Elle! I mean... Crystal! Where in the realms did you hear that?” She leaned in close as she spoke in a panicked whisper.
I felt my pulse elevate further at her shocking response. “I-I don’t know exactly where. I just...” My throat closed up as more fear raced through my system.What had I done?
Mabel clasped her hand onto mine and gripped it tightly. “Listen closely, Elle. There’s a lot of things I’m not permitted to speak of.” Her whispers drifted in volume as she glanced nervously around the empty room. “That name has meaning, which is why you should never speak it in front of the king. I want you to be safe, Elle, so please promise me you’ll never speak of this to His Majesty.”
Her grip on my hand tightened and I stared at her fretfully through the sightless veil. “I won’t, I promise.” My hand went clammy under her touch, and she released her grip with a soft pat atop my hand.
“Thank you, Elle.” She sighed. “I don’t wish to keep secrets from you, but I won’t risk your safety.”
My body tensed again.Risk my safety? Over a name?More questions poured through my mind, but only one rolled off my tongue for some reason. “Mabel, are there other mages living in the tower? Like me?”
I regretted asking the moment it left my lips, because Mabel went silent again. The quiet was excruciating, and it felt endless until she finally relieved me of the torture. “Elle, I don’t know where you’ve been getting these questions from, but as someone who loves you like my own daughter, I strongly advise you to stop asking them.” Her words were firm but loving. She never directly answered my question, but somehow, her words answered it anyway.
There were other people here... There must be. Why else would she be afraid to tell me?
I gave Mabel an obedient nod and returned my attention to my plate. I didn’t ask any further questions, but Mabel still seemed uncomfortable throughout the meal. As she gathered the tray to leave and refilled my teacup, she stopped just short of the door and squeaked her heels back around to face me. “There’s a letter for you under your teacup. I don’t know who it’s from or what you’re getting involved with, but I just want to tell you to be careful, little Elle. It’s a dangerous world out there, even more so within our own walls.”
I opened my mouth to ask her for more information, but the door clicked closed behind her almost as soon as her last words touched my ears. I tore off the blindfold once I was certain she had left, and slid the teacup and plate to the side. Beneath the porcelain saucer was a small letter with a wax seal imprinted across the top. It possessed only a simple rectangle with embellishments along the corners, and I instantly recognized it from a vision. Over two years ago, I had foreseen the king receiving a letter from Miron while he was performing an undisclosed mission in Isalla. The seal on that letter matched this one perfectly.
So, it was from the prince...
I broke open the seal with stiff fingers, and carefully pulled the note from the cream envelope. The handwriting was the same as the note that had first found its way into my room, but the overall penmanship was far more regal.
Crystal,
I apologize for my unorthodox attempt at a first letter. I didn’t realize I would be speaking to someone of such high talents and hope that my actions yesterday didn’t offend you. Your servant was kind enough to delivery my message for me, but has been kept in the dark about my identity, so please don’t fret. I am writing to you in the hopes that I can sway you to grace me with your remarkable powers.
Ashbourne is in a delicate state at the moment, and I am in desperate need of any knowledge that could aid our kingdom in this trying time. If you care to, you can write me back by simply placing any responses underneath your teacup. Sweet Mabel will handle the rest. I look forward to speaking with you further.
Your Prince.
My stomach actually felt sick from the over-use of sweet words and flowered compliments. I rolled my eyes in repulsion as I stuffed the letter safely beneath my mattress. I fell back onto my bed and kicked against the sheets in frustration. Did Miron really think a complimentary letter would be enough to make me share my vision? I knew he was cunning, but this type of manipulation was ridiculous.
I may have been lonely at times, but I wasn’t going to fall for the first line of flattery I received. My body sank into the thick mattress as I stared up at the shadowed ceiling as my conversation with Mabel replayed in my head.
Where there really other mages living up here? What did they do? Did the king rescue them as well?
It seemed so strange that the king would have kept them a secret for so long, especially considering we were all hidden for the same reason. Was their magic uncontrollable, too? So many questions pounded through my mind that a painful pressure built up in my skull. I rolled around on the bed and pressed my face into the fluffy pillow as one final question penetrated my blaring thoughts.
Is my name really Estelle?
As much as I hated to admit it, I needed to see that prudish prince again. His mere presence may put me in danger, but I couldn’t carry on without ever resolving these burning questions. He had to know something...
Conan strode into my study without so much as a proper knock. I glanced at his entrance from the corner of my eye, but didn’t bother to address his presence any further. I was too enraptured in the sprawl of documents and books scattered across my desk.
That girl in the tower... She just had to be the missing princess.
Everything she said lined up with our kingdom’s history perfectly. She only looked a few years younger than me, and the princess would have been twenty-one by now. She also claimed that her parents were killed in Sybettal, and that Father had rescued her as an infant. That was the most obvious lie. Father would never be compassionate enough to rescue a common peasant. He had claimed that Princess Estelle’s life was ‘over’ the moment he laid eyes on her, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she died...
Anger riled up in me as I pieced Father’s clever lie together. He used to lie like that to Mother, too. Did she even know about his tool in the tower?
Tool...The word swept over my brain like an invading truth, acknowledging the denial I had been trying to ignore.It looks like I’m not the only one Father sees as a tool to his success.How humorous, the Sybettian princess and I already had something in common. Perhaps that was why I felt sympathetic toward her situation, despite not being the one in a cage.
I thought back to the dreary tower as Conan cozied up in an armchair against my bookshelves.What other lies has Father told her?The only other known rumor about Princess Estelle was that she had extraordinary hair. Crystal was an undeniable match to that description, which only led me to believe that her silver locks caused Father to ‘rescue’ her in the first place.
What if his trip to Sybettal was more than just a takeover, but also a hunt?
I glazed my eyes over the documents one final time, hoping that something new would jump out at me. There had been so many other rooms in that tower. It was clear he had hidden at least one mage up there, but was that where the rest were, too? It didn’t seem possible that thousands of migrated citizens could be condensed into a handful of hidden chambers.So where were they? And what else was in that tower? How many other ‘tools’ did the king keep at his disposal...?