Those gathered bow or curtsy respectfully, even if she is not their sovereign. Queen Lilianna steps forward and speaks. “From this day until my last day, I am no longer the Queen Regent of Renovia.”
There is an audible gasp, including from Cal. Regime change. Did the Aphrasians take control of the kingdom even though he killed the duke?
“I choose to step aside and pass the crown to my daughter, heir to the crown and only child of King Esban the Second of House Dellafiore. She will henceforth be joined in marriage to King Hansen the Third of House Opel. Our two kingdoms will no longer be rivals, but allies, one joint kingdom, vast and prosperous.”
The crowd applauds.
Princess Lilac? Why this? Why now?
The queen sweeps the room with her serene glance. “Your Majesty, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen. This marriage is our thanks to the Kingdom of Montrice for uncovering a terrible conspiracy against my kingdom, and for keeping my daughter safe.”
Cal is stunned. The queen is thanking Montrice for keeping the princess safe? And marrying her off to the enemy?
The grand doors open again. Queen Lilianna’s daughter steps into the great hall, veiled and wearing a dazzling lavender gown with a long train. She walks toward the dais as her mother did, and those around her bow. Like her mother, she also keeps her chin up, determined, exuding confidence she may or may not actually be feeling.
But where is Shadow? Cal strains to search the crowd, but finds her nowhere. And then a thought dawns on him, and he wonders why he did not see it before. Why did he not question it all sooner—the Argonian emeralds, her perfect manners and knowledge of court life? He had buried his suspicions because he did not want them to be true. There was an assassination plot against Princess Lilac, and he had been tasked to keep her safe. And he did. He cannot bear to look at the princess. He knows. He knows.
For when the princess reaches the queen, Queen Lilianna takes her by the shoulders and turns her to face the crowd. “I present Princess Lilac, soon to be Queen Lilac of Renovia-Montrice.” She steps in front of the princess and pinches the edges of the veil between her fingers, then lifts it, draping it behind her head. Finally, Queen Lilianna steps away, revealing her daughter to the crowd.
Cal’s heart stops, even if he already knew in his heart what he is now seeing before him.
It is Shadow. Shadow is Queen Lilianna’s daughter, Princess Lilac. Shadow is heir to the Renovian throne.
And she is betrothed to King Hansen.
EXCERPT FROM THE SCROLL OF DELLAFIORE, 2.4:
A Comprehensive History of Avantine
The Story of Esban and Lilianna
IN RENOVIA IT IS SAID that a young warrior queen and an Otherworldly mage fell in love and founded the Dellafiore dynasty, each eldest child inheriting the mage’s magical blood. [Scroll of Omin, 1.2] It is said that Omin appears to his kin at times of need.
The Dellafiores ruled peacefully for generations. Until one day when the ruling Dellafiore king was assassinated by his jealous cousin. Phras stole the throne by force, surrounding himself with a mighty army, cementing his position by sending his minions out into the kingdom to collect and destroy all written magical works, making it illegal for commoners to practice magic. His loyal followers, the Aphrasians, were rewarded with Baer Abbey. They hoarded the sacred texts of magical knowledge and the history of Avantine in a document known as the Deian Scrolls, becoming gatekeepers of religious and political power.
Thereby the Dellafiores vanished. During this time the Hearthstone Guild is formed in order to resist the Aphrasians. Their primary function is to protect the Dellafiores and retain as much of the Old Ways as possible. As such they train as warriors as well as lower mages, both for their own protection and for the inevitable clash with the Aphrasians, which has been foreseen through the Seeing Stones by one of their seers.
Again, generations pass as the Guild develops into a notorious society of underground assassins and spies.
One day the Tyrant King’s descendant, Prince Esban, soon-to-be crowned king in the wake of his brother’s untimely death, travels to the neighboring Kingdom of Montrice—Renovia’s perpetual rival—for a royal ball.
It is there that Prince Esban is introduced to a young noblewoman named Lady Lilianna. Much to the chagrin of the other eligible nobles, after only one dance, he falls madly in love with her. But Lady Lilianna is meant to marry the Crown Prince of Montrice, in a marriage ordained by the king himself.
Instead Lady Lilianna elopes with Prince Esban. Soon they are crowned King and Queen of Renovia.
However, the queen has a secret. Her birth name is Lilianna Dellafiore, and she is a direct descendant of the mage Omin and Queen Alphonia, a bloodline hidden from the Tyrant King for centuries upon centuries.
Lilianna tells Esban the truth of her lineage the night he proposes. The past has no bearing on the present, he tells her. And in any case he intends to keep her birthright a secret, to keep her safe.
Only Deia Herself knows whether Lilianna was as taken with Esban as he with her. Chroniclers of Later Times will doubtless debate this point—did the sole Dellafiore survivor truly love the dashing young prince, or was the match orchestrated by the Guild to restore the bloodline to its rightful place on the throne of Renovia?
But secrets don’t remain secrets for long, and the Aphrasians, suspicious of Lilianna from the very start, soon discover exactly who, and what, she is. A Dellafiore back on the Renovian throne is the utmost threat to their very existence.
When Esban announces the impending arrival of their first child, the Aphrasian monks take it upon themselves to eliminate the usurper and her progeny. An assassination on the queen is attempted, but fails, and the perpetrator is caught by the queen’s personal bodyguard, a Guild assassin named Cordyn Holt.
The guilty man is revealed to be an Aphrasian. In response, a furious King Esban orders the scrolls returned to the royal family. The Aphrasians resist, for none relinquish power without strife. They commit high treason, taking up arms against their king. All pretense of being his loyal servants is gone; they have long grown accustomed to power in their own right.
And so the king decides to bring his army to Baer Abbey, to finish the Aphrasian order once and for all. The king’s army emerges victorious, if weakened. King Esban is killed, leaving his widow and newborn baby.
With her father’s death, Princess Lilac becomes Queen of Renovia.
The Deian Scrolls are never found.
But a Dellafiore once again sits on the Renovian throne.
— III —
ASSASSIN & QUEEN
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Shadow
THE ENGAGEMENT RECEPTION, HELD IN the grand marble ballroom, is everything a bride could possibly dream of: hundreds of friends and well-wishers, inside a gorgeous castle decorated with the fullest, most vivid blooms to be found for miles around, excellent food prepared by royal chefs, free-flowing champagne, a beautiful dress. And the future groom? A powerful young king.