My heart was racing as the shadows converged around me. I gabbed Luminaria’s Edge and held on tightly to the sheathed sword that glowed a golden light.
Free us! The shadows shouted. Their soundless voices made my head pound. I felt dizzy and unstable. I thought I would go mad, but then the door to my room opened wide and a figure with a bright candle entered my space. The candle was brighter than any candle should be and I recognized the figure as that of Prince James.
“Enough!” He commanded and the shadows grew silent. “Are you okay?” He asked gently sitting down next to me on my bed. He still held the candle and the glow of it soothed me.
“No,” I said weakly.
“I know this all can be a lot…” he started.
“Tell me about Lady Lena,” I interrupted.
His eyes grew wide and sadness discended on his handsome features. He bowed his head and even the candle that he still held dimmed.
“I knew you were going to ask about my mother some day, but this still seems like a surprise somehow,” he said quietly. “What do you want to know?”
“Where is she burried?” I asked with eagerness permiating my every word.
“You…you have an opportunity to ask any question you want right now about her, and you chose that one?” He said in a shocked tone. “Why?”
“My dream,” I began. “Except, I don’t think it was a dream. I saw her in the field of poppies. She wanted me to find her,” I volunteered.
“This is too strange even for me,” said the prince. “She is in the family cemetary at the edge of the grounds.”
“Will you take me there?” I asked. “As soon as its light ?” I added.
“I suppose,” he said. I detected a note of hesitation. “What is it that you are hoping to see?”
“I am not sure,” I said.
“Well, I guess we can both go and see what we can find tomorrow,” said James and got up to leave.
“Wait,” I protested. “Stay here.” I was afraid to be alone. I was afraid of the shadows that converged on me only minutes ago.
“A young unchaperoned lady alone with the Crown Prince? What will they say?” Said James playfully.
“I just don’t want to be alone with the shadows,” I said and saw James’ smile vanish.
“I know what you mean,” he said and propped himself up on my bed.
***
Morning came too soon. James spent the night in my room with his candle and Luminaria’s Edge glowing brightly agains the wispers of the shadows. I slept soundly knowing that I was not alone. I was woken up my Mila who entered the room and dropped the washing tray she was carrying on the floor when she saw Prince James asleep in my bed. The sound startled both of us awake.
“It’s not what you think!” I protested seeing the shocked look on Mila’s face, my own face glowing bright red.
“I…I can come back later,” she stammered.
“No,” said James comandingly. “I am leaving. Get Lady Ashley ready for horseback riding.”
With this James left the room.
Mila worked quickly. She helped me wash and dress, and braided my hair. She was oddly quiet through her tasks even when I attempted to start a conversation with her.
“Nothing happened,” I said finally. “He was there only because I asked him to stay and he was a perfect gentleman.”
“It’s not my place to judge, Miss,” said Mila awkwardly. “But does this mean that the prince and you are an item?” she asked and I could see her eyes shine with curiocity.
“No,” I said definitively. “And don’t you dare talk about this with anyone else,” I added.
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“Oh, I won’t,” she said. “But you also need to be careful. If Lady Thorne finds out about this, you’ll likely get whipped… or worse.”
***
James waited for me at the stables. Both of our hourses were suddled and ready to go. He rode his black stalion as usual, but had a different horse ready for me. She was a white mare that seemed to glow in the winter sunlight.
“Her name is Selena,” he said while stroking the mare’s long silver mane. “I thought she suited you better than that old chestnut mare you were riding before.”
“She looks like she is fit for royalty,” I said reaching out to the horse and gently stroking her head.
“She was my mother’s,” he said and without another word mounted his horse and started to move towards the forest path.
Riding Selena was like floating on a cloud. The mare seemed to instinctively know what I wanted her to do and obayed with ease. She was also not shy of James’ black stalion, Nox, and trotted confidently beside him.
We rode for some time through the snowy woods. The morning air was cold, but refreshing. It felt nice to be outside and away from the castle haunted by the shadows. I felt like the fog of fear and uncertainty was starting to clear from my mind.
Soon we came to an ivy-covered iron gate that enclosed the royal family cemetary. James dismounted Nox and opened the gate. Beyond lay an open space with marble headstones and statues crowding on the ground.
“This is the outer circle of the cemetary,” said James. “The people burried here were trusted servants and minor royalty. The kings and queens are in the inner mosaleum.”
With this we left our hourses outside of the gate and continued through the cemetary on foot. I tried to read some headstones as we passed by them. I wondered what kind of lives these people had and what was life like in this castle when they were alive. Was it cursed then? Did the shadows wisper to them as well?
We didn’t have to walk long before we stopped in front of a large marble building with a golden gate. I followed James inside. It was dark here and the only light sources were intermittent oil lamps that were fasened to the walls. There were no shadow here like in the castle. It was so quiet that the silence made me feel uncomfortable.
“Tell me about these people?” I wispered to James trying to ease my discomfort.
“They are the kings and queens that came before my father,” he said simply. “I won’t bore you with history lessons,” he added and continued to walk deeper into the masoleum. I could tell that he felt uncomfrtable being here. He was pencive and brooding as if he wanted nothing more than to run from this place.
“Here it is,” he said after some time stopping in front of the statue of a beautiful young woman. The sculptor took care in carving out every inch of the statue’s gown and features with intricate precision. Her form-fitting gown fell greacefully around her feet and her hair was gathred up into a braid. She looked sad but peaceful.
James turned away from the statue as if not wanting to look at it any longer, but I continued examining the tomb. There was nothing out of the ordinary here. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting, but it all felt a little anticlimactic. This all just seemed to be very ordinary.
“I don’t understand,” I said mostly to myself. “There is nothing here.”
“What were you hoping for?” Asked James in a surly tone.
“I don’t know, but in my dream she asked me to find her,” I said touching the tomb delicately for any indication of secred doors, passages, or traps.
“Well, she was never good at giving people straight answers or keeping promisses, so I guess that hasn’t changed,” said James and started walking towards the entrance.
Not wanting to be left alone, I followed. As we were walking past the statues in the mausoleum I noted that James’ father was not amongst them. I remembered what Mila said about the king and that James didn’t know if his father was dead or alive. I thought about my own father and how I sat with him every night for a month until his last breath. I missed him. Tears ran down my face, but I quickly wiped them away, James didn’t need to see me cry in this moment.
***
The day felt like it was a complete waste of time. After we got back from the cemetary, James isolated himself in his room. He didn’t even come down for dinner. I felt guilty, like I forced him to go through all of this for nothing.
I was getting ready for bed. Mila helped me dress into my night clothes and was in the process of unbraiding my hair when Lady Thorne walked confidently into my chambers.
“Leave us,” she commanded to Mila. My mouth went dry. I wanted Mila to stay. I felt so utterly small in Lady Thorne’s presence as Mila exited the room.
“So…,” she said walking up to me slowly. Her eyes were fixed on me and contained no indication of warmth or friendship. “You and the prince went poking after Lady Lena.” This was not a question. “What exactly did you hope to find?”
“I don't know…,” I started, but she interrupted.
“Others have been looking for Lena in the past, it did not end well for them,” said Lady Thorne. Was this a threat? She stood only a foot away from me. Even though the room was bathed in candlelight, the shadows were restless. They whispered all around me with many voices all at once.
“What happened to them?” I mustered myself enough to ask with a shaky voice.
“Other things prowl in this castle, girl,” said Lady Thorne. “Sometimes it’s best to let things be as they are. Wear your pretty dresses and be a playmate for the prince, enjoy your time in this castle. Don't poke your nose into other people’s business!” Thorne fixed me with a penetrating stare and after a moment exited the room.
I could feel my heart beating in my throat. My legs felt like jello. I couldn't think of what to do or what to say. The steward terrified me to my very core. There was something otherworldly about her.
In my dreams that night the skeletal form of a large elk stalked the hallways of the castle. It brayed loudly and mornfully as if searching for someone. The sounds of its mournful cries echoed through the castle and almost sounded like it was calling out “Lena!”