The Opal Crown (5 page)

Footsteps sound outside the door. Has Ruby come to find me? Hurriedly, I snatch a cup of cold scarlet tea, swish it around my mouth, and take a few steadying breaths. I cross the room and open the door. Stefan is on the other side.

“I’ve been searching all over for you,” he says, looking as though he’s in no better of a mood than when I last saw him.

“I’ve been playing hide-and-seek with Ruby,” I say lightly. “That does actually require hiding.” I smile at him, a smile that usually earns me one in return. Yet now Stefan just glares back at me. A chill slides down my back, and I can’t help but asking, “Have you spoken to Leandra?”

“No, why? Is she all right?”

“Yes, yes, she’s fine. She just seemed . . . tired, I guess, from all the festivities, and a bit out of sorts. I thought perhaps she should have an early night.” As I say the words, I hate myself for it.

Stefan nods. “I will see that she is looked after. May I come in?”

I step aside so he can enter. Stefan pours wine into two crystal goblets. He hands me one and settles himself in an armchair, while I continue standing. “I had thought you were coming here to steal a moment alone to grieve for your father.”

“Grieve?”

“Yes.” Stefan sips from his goblet. “He is dead, after all, and you have not shown the slightest bit of grief. No tears. No mourning at all. Why is that?”

“I mourn Fennrick, just as surely as any Galandrian,” I say, and immediately realize how inadequate that sounds.

“Yet Fennrick was not just your king. He was your father.”

“He was also the man who forced me to wear the mask. As a father, I barely knew him.”

“So you say. Yet you spent a lifetime living as his daughter.”

“People grieve in different ways, Stefan. Not everyone wears their heart on their sleeve.” After my conversation with Leandra, my nerves are in no mood to continue putting up with his foul temper. “I’m growing tired, and think I’d like to retire for the evening. If you could tell Ruby and your mother—”

“I had the most interesting message from your brother Andrei,” he says, as though I haven’t spoken. “Accompanied by the most interesting messenger. Do you want to hear it?”

Stefan’s eyes are watchful, and all at once, I feel like I’m on a stage. “What is it?” I arrange my features into innocent concern, and imagine myself stuffing the panic rising in my chest into a small box. But something in his eyes tells me I’m right to worry.

“Your brother sent word that shortly before King Fennrick’s death he became aware of a plot to send a look-alike to Kyrenica—to
me
—instead of Princess Wilhamina Andewyn herself.”

The air is sucked from my lungs. He knows.

“Stefan, I—”

“Not a word,” he says, a dangerous edge to his voice. “Not one more lying word from that poisonous tongue of yours.” He stands and advances toward me, and for the first time ever, I feel afraid of him. I step backward and the mantel of the fireplace digs into my shoulder blade. I can smell the stink from my own vomit.

“Is the message true?”

My mind is racing ahead, calculating. Stefan said
look-alike
—not
twin
. “It’s true that the king discussed sending someone—”

“And was that someone you? Tell me truly, are you or are you not Wilhamina Andewyn?” His face is a mixture of fury and agony.

As much as I want to find the golden words to smooth this over, it’s impossible. All he has to do to determine if I’m truly Wilha is question me extensively. A test Leandra has already proven I will fail.

“I’m not her. I’m not Wilhamina,” I say, and the pallid horror that spreads across his face is almost too much to bear. “But I swear I’m royal. I’m not just a look-alike. I’m Wilha’s—”

“I don’t care who you are!” He hurls his goblet and crystal shatters against the stone wall. “You have done nothing but lie from the very moment you arrived!”

“Stefan, I can explain—”

“Explain? I was falling in love with you,” he says, and his voice breaks. “I would have married you and spent my life trying to win your love in return. How can you be so charming? How can you have won our hearts so completely—not just mine, but Ruby’s and my mother’s as well—and be so wretchedly evil?”

If I ever doubted I love him, I know now that I do. Because the hatred burning in his eyes sears my heart, and I just want to make it stop.

“Stefan, I’m sorry. I do love—”

“Don’t say it!” He advances another step toward me. “Not now. Don’t add another lie to your long list of offenses!”

“I swear I never meant to hurt you. Please. Please hear me out.”

“There’s nothing to hear.” He turns and calls, “Guards!”

The door opens and soldiers rush into the room.

“What’s going on?”

“King Andrei has left your fate in my hands,” Stefan says. “Although, he did say that if I sent you back to Galandria he would see to your immediate execution.”

The room sways and I have to fight to stay standing. “Where will your guards take me?”

“To a cell until I can decide what I should do with you.” He squares his shoulders and holds out his hand. “I’ll be needing the bracelet back.”

Our gazes lock. I run my hand over the thick rope of pearls and the ruby set in the center. It was the present from Stefan during our betrothal ceremony. On that day we meant nothing to each other. Now, as I slip it from my wrist and hold it out to him, it feels like I’m losing everything.

“I’ll also need you to remove the mask.” He stretches out his hand again.

Slowly I untie it, and Stefan flinches when he sees
my face.

“Please listen.” I hand him the mask and get down on my knees, preparing to beg for mercy. “I’m—”

The door bursts open. Ruby comes bounding into the room and throws her arms around my neck. “I’ve found you, Wilha! And you’re not wearing your mask, how lovely!” Her bottom lip puffs out when she pulls away. “But you cheated! I already looked in here. You’re not supposed to change hiding spots.”

“I know.” I hug her tightly, understanding this may be the last chance I ever have to speak to her. “I
have
cheated, more than you will ever know, and I’m—”

“Ruby—get away from her,” Stefan says.

Ruby looks over, now noticing the guards. Her arms tighten around me. “What’s happened? Is it Father?”

“Father is fine,” Stefan says. “Now do what I say and step away from her.”

Ruby’s eyes fill with tears as she looks at me questioningly.

“Stefan doesn’t mean to be cross with you. It’s me he’s—”

“Don’t speak to my sister! Don’t speak to any member of my family, ever again! Ruby—get over here. Now!”

“Ruby,” I say, noting the wild look in Stefan’s eyes, “I think it’s best if we just do what he says.” I detach her arms from around my neck and push her away.

“But I don’t understand.” Ruby reluctantly joins her brother.

“I’m sure Stefan will explain it to you.” I pause. “Although, whatever explanation he offers you will only be half the truth, since he never asked for one himself.”

Stefan looks at me for a moment. “Take her away,” he says quietly.

As the guards force me to my feet, all I see are the hard eyes of a man who no longer wishes to know me.

Chapter 6

Elara

I
’m taken to a small room with stone walls, a cot in the corner, a wooden stool, a chamber pot, and nothing else. After the guards leave and lock the door behind them, I set about pushing at the stones, hoping to find an opal. But after several hours of searching, I have to concede it’s hopeless.

I sink onto the bed. The only sound in the cell is the muffled gulping of my own quiet sobs. It feels as though something unlocks in my heart and the girl I once was—the girl who cried and craved another’s love—rises up, screaming and calling me a fool.

I had love. All these months, I had someone who loved me—someone who I loved in return. But I was too blind to see it. Too ignorant to understand that love isn’t something that
just happens
to you one day. It sneaks up on you in the dailiness of life, until you can no longer imagine that same life without the person you love.

I wish I could erase the pain I saw in Stefan’s eyes. I wish he would have let me explain. But mostly, I wish I had just told him the truth months ago. I wish I had valued him more than I valued my own safety. But I did not. Whether I’m sentenced to execution, or shown mercy, I’ve lost him. All he’ll ever believe is that I was a traitor, bent on deceiving him.

At this thought, my sobs turn to full-blown shrieks, until many hours later, when I finally fall asleep.

8

I
n the morning, the door opens and a guard appears with a plate of bread and cheese. I sit up and rub my swollen eyes. The guard motions to someone standing just outside the door, and my heart begins pounding—hoping that Stefan has come to hear me out.

Instead, Lord Royce strides into the room.

“What are you doing here?” I say, then answer my own question. “You’re the messenger Andrei sent, aren’t you?”

Lord Royce ignores me and turns to the guard; the distinct clink of coins changing hands echoes through the cell.

“Ten minutes,” says the guard as he exits the room.

Lord Royce settles himself on the wooden stool. He’s
wearing his emerald robe identifying him as a member of
Galandria’s Guardian Council. “Are you being treated
well here?”

“Better than I ever was in the Opal Palace, but that’s not saying much. You and your friends never knew anything about hospitality.”

“Lord Murcendor and Lord Quinlan were never my friends.”

As we look at each other, I’m determined not to beg for his help, not to ask him about Stefan, though everything within me clamors to do so.

“I imagine these are not the circumstances under which you wished to see me again,” he says finally. “Just before he died, your father told Andrei of your existence. He told him, too, how both you and your sister were sent to Korynth. Your brother was quite outraged, and shortly after being proclaimed king, dispatched me to collect the both of you.”

“Collect me?”
I say. “Is this how the Andewyns will always treat me? As a possession, to be used or disposed of at will?”

“Your brother is a king now. This means he can treat you—or anyone else in his kingdom—however he pleases.”

“But how did he—how did
you
—know that I’m Elara and not Wilha?”

“I didn’t
know
; I merely suspected. I suggested to the crown prince that the easiest way to tell if the girl living in his castle was Wilhamina Andewyn was to question her.”

“How is he?” I ask, unable to help myself. “How is Stefan?”

“Heartbroken and outraged. You should be thankful he hasn’t paid you a visit.”

“Thankful? You do realize your actions may have just ruined whatever peace existed between Kyrenica and Galandria. Ezebo could easily declare war over something like this, couldn’t he?”

“He could, but he will not. Your brother is bending over backward to appear a diplomatic ruler, sincerely sickened by the deceptions of his father. He has offered to let the Strassburgs keep as many of Wilha’s masks as they should like, and has invited Ezebo to be his special guest in Allegria for a series of upcoming events celebrating his coronation. However, he has ordered me to bring you back to the Opal Palace.”

“But Stefan told me Andrei had left my fate in his hands?”

“Yes, that is what I told Stefan. Now I’m telling
you
that Andrei has absolutely no intention of leaving you with the Strassburgs. You shall be returning to Allegria with me.”

“And how do you propose to do that? Do you think Stefan will just allow you to take me back?”

“I will not be asking the crown prince or King Ezebo for permission, as I am sure it is just a matter of time before they see the folly of allowing you to return to Galandria.” He shifts in his seat. “Your absence from public life will inevitably be noticed. The official word the Strassburgs will circulate is that you have fallen ill and are being kept in quarantine to avoid spreading contamination. But privately, you should know that the dowager queen is calling for your immediate execution. She is not a big fan of yours, is she?”

A loud rap sounds at the door. “Five minutes!”

“How do you expect to get me out of here?” I say, flicking my gaze from the door and back to Lord Royce.

“I have many friends in Kyrenica. It takes less money than you might imagine bribing a guard to leave a door unlocked in the middle of the night. I will be leaving Korynth tomorrow—or so the Strassburgs will think. The day after that, one of my men will come for you. And it is here that I can offer you a deal, as I assume you will not want to face your brother.”

“A deal?” I laugh mirthlessly. “Every time the palace has offered me a deal, it’s always been for their own good—unless you’re planning to just let me walk away, never to be found again?”

“Of course not. You will accompany me back to Allegria, but I will see that you do not reach the Opal Palace. Instead, I will provide you with lodgings in the city.”