Chapter 2 - The Woman Behind the Silver Mask

# Chapter 2 - The Woman Behind the Silver Mask

The woman standing before Toby had the same golden birthmark as the dead king.

But it was her next words that made Sir Garrick Voss reach for his sword.

"Your father did not die in the palace fire, Tobias."

The chamber fell silent.

Toby stared at her, struggling to understand what he had heard.

Only moments earlier, a magical recording had shown King Aldric speaking as though death were inevitable. Master Edrin had spent eleven years telling Toby that his parents were gone.

Now a stranger wearing a silver mask was claiming otherwise.

"You're lying," Toby whispered.

The woman flinched.

"I wish I were."

Garrick stepped between them.

"Enough, Seraphine."

Toby looked from one adult to the other.

"Seraphine?"

The woman closed her eyes.

"Lady Seraphine Valcrest. Younger sister of Queen Claudia."

Garrick's sword slid halfway from its sheath.

"Lady Seraphine died eleven years ago."

"That's what my sister wanted everyone to believe."

"Then explain why you are standing here."

Seraphine looked at the sword.

"Because the bells rang."

Neither adult spoke for several seconds.

Toby tightened his grip around the Sunforged Arc.

"Where is my father?"

Seraphine's expression changed.

Not quite fear.

Something worse.

Guilt.

"I don't know where he is now."

"You said he was alive!"

"I said he didn't die in the fire."

"That's not the same thing!"

His voice cracked.

For a moment, he was no longer the boy who had faced thirty armed knights. He was simply an eleven-year-old child who had spent his life wondering why nobody had wanted him.

Seraphine took a step forward.

Toby retreated.

"Don't."

She stopped immediately.

Garrick watched them both with increasing suspicion.

"How did you enter the eastern passage?" he demanded.

Seraphine glanced at the fireplace.

"The royal family built these passages long before Claudia took the throne."

"That doesn't explain how you knew I would come here."

"No," she admitted. "It doesn't."

A distant door slammed somewhere below.

All three turned toward the sound.

Seraphine pulled her mask back over her face.

"We have very little time."

Garrick blocked her path.

"Then start telling the truth."

She studied him.

"You still wear his sword."

Garrick's expression hardened.

"Do not speak of King Aldric."

"You promised him you would protect the child."

The commander went completely still.

Toby looked up.

"What promise?"

Garrick said nothing.

Seraphine continued quietly.

"Eleven years ago, on the night the palace burned, King Aldric entrusted his infant son to someone he believed would die before betraying him."

She looked directly at Garrick.

"That man was you."

Toby's stomach tightened.

He remembered the knights surrounding him in the courtyard.

Their swords.

Their threats.

And Garrick standing beside the queen while she ordered his execution.

"You knew?" Toby asked.

Garrick's face drained of color.

"I suspected."

"You knew who I was?"

"Not until the bow awakened."

"But you knew there was a baby."

The commander's silence was answer enough.

Toby stepped backward.

"You left me."

"Toby—"

"You left me in the streets!"

"I believed you were dead!"

"Then why didn't you look?"

Garrick opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

Seraphine watched the exchange with an expression of profound sadness.

Toby's hands began to shake.

Master Edrin had always told him that courage meant doing what was right even when fear made it difficult.

But nobody had ever explained what to do when the people who should have protected you were the ones who abandoned you.

He lowered the bow.

"Get out."

Garrick blinked.

"Your Highness—"

"Don't call me that."

A heavy silence settled over the chamber.

Then Seraphine spoke.

"If we stay here, Claudia will have all three of us killed."

Toby looked at her.

"Why should I believe anything you say?"

"Because I can show you something Edrin died protecting."

She reached beneath her cloak.

Garrick immediately raised his sword.

"Slowly."

Seraphine withdrew a small black velvet pouch.

Inside was a silver locket shaped like a seven-pointed star.

Toby's breath caught.

He recognized it.

Master Edrin had kept a drawing of that exact locket hidden beneath the floorboards of their sanctuary.

Whenever Toby asked about it, the old man changed the subject.

"Where did you get that?"

Seraphine held it out.

"It belonged to your mother."

Toby did not take it.

"Who was she?"

Seraphine's fingers tightened around the chain.

"Her name was Elara."

The name stirred something deep inside him.

A woman's voice.

A lullaby.

White roses beneath a nursery window.

"Elara," he repeated.

Seraphine nodded.

"She was Queen Elara Solaryn. The last queen of the Old Dynasty."

"Was?"

Seraphine hesitated.

Garrick noticed.

"You said Aldric survived the fire," he said. "What happened to Elara?"

"She disappeared three days before the palace burned."

Garrick stared at her.

"Impossible. I saw her at the royal banquet that night."

Seraphine slowly turned toward him.

"Did you?"

"She sat beside the king."

"Did she speak?"

Garrick frowned.

"Of course."

"To you?"

He did not answer.

Seraphine lowered her voice.

"Did you see her face beneath the ceremonial veil?"

The commander's expression changed.

Toby watched him struggle with the memory.

The royal banquet.

A silent queen.

A veil covering her face.

Garrick whispered, "No."

Seraphine looked toward the narrow window.

"Then you saw what Claudia wanted you to see."

Three floors below, Queen Claudia stood before a mirror while her chambermaid fastened a necklace around her throat.

The necklace contained a dark red gemstone that seemed to absorb the candlelight.

Claudia had worn it every day for eleven years.

Tonight, however, the stone was warm.

Uncomfortably warm.

"Your Majesty?" the maid asked.

Claudia did not respond.

A faint crack had appeared across the gemstone's surface.

She touched it with trembling fingers.

"Leave me."

The maid curtsied and hurried away.

As soon as the door closed, Claudia removed the necklace and placed it on a black marble table.

"Show yourself."

The candles flickered.

A shadow gathered inside the mirror.

It slowly assumed the shape of a tall man wearing a crown made of twisted iron.

His face remained hidden.

"You have failed," the figure said.

Claudia lowered her head.

"The boy awakened the Sunforged Arc."

"I know."

"The royal bloodline was supposed to be extinguished."

"Apparently, your sister was more resourceful than you believed."

Claudia's eyes narrowed.

"Seraphine is dead."

The figure laughed softly.

"Then why has the eastern passage been opened?"

Claudia turned toward the door.

For the first time that day, genuine terror crossed her face.

"No."

"The boy is not alone, Claudia."

She gripped the edge of the table.

"I can still contain this."

"You have until midnight."

"And if I fail?"

The shadow leaned closer.

The mirror darkened around him.

"Then the bargain you made eleven years ago will be collected in full."

The candles went out.

Claudia stood alone in the darkness.

For several moments, she did not move.

Then she reached beneath the table and pulled a small golden key from a hidden compartment.

She approached a locked cabinet.

Inside lay a child's white blanket, a bloodstained royal signet ring, and a folded letter sealed with black wax.

Claudia opened the letter.

Only four words were written inside.

The mother still lives.

She stared at them.

Then she whispered a name.

"Elara."

Back in the eastern tower, Garrick was examining the silver locket.

Its surface contained seven tiny indentations arranged around a central sun.

"These are the seven royal seals," he murmured.

Seraphine nodded.

"Each seal corresponds to an ancient sanctuary."

"The six lights from the courtyard," Toby said suddenly.

Both adults turned toward him.

"What lights?" Garrick asked.

"When I fired the arrow, it split into seven pieces. Six flew away. One came back to me."

Seraphine went pale.

"Then the awakening has already begun."

"What awakening?"

She looked at Garrick.

"The seals are responding to the heir."

Garrick's jaw tightened.

"Those sanctuaries were destroyed generations ago."

"Not destroyed," Seraphine replied. "Hidden."

Toby stared at the locket.

"Master Edrin knew about them?"

"He guarded the first sanctuary."

"Then why did the queen's soldiers burn it?"

Seraphine did not answer immediately.

"Because someone told Claudia that the sanctuary was sheltering the last surviving royal heir."

Toby felt cold.

"Who told her?"

Seraphine looked away.

"I don't know."

Garrick's eyes narrowed.

"You're hiding something."

"Everyone in this room is hiding something, Commander."

The accusation hung between them.

Toby looked down at the golden bow.

The weapon had stopped glowing.

Yet its carved dragon eyes seemed almost alive.

"Can we find my mother?" he asked.

Seraphine's expression softened.

"Perhaps."

"Then that's what I want."

"Tobias, the kingdom—"

"I don't care about the kingdom!"

His sudden shout startled them.

"I don't want a throne. I don't want knights. I don't want people kneeling to me!"

Tears gathered in his eyes.

"I just want someone who remembers me."

Seraphine looked as though he had struck her.

For a long moment, she said nothing.

Then she knelt.

Not as a noblewoman before a prince.

But as someone speaking to a frightened child.

"Your mother remembered you every day she was free," she said softly. "She sang to you every night. And when the palace began to turn against your father, she begged him to send you away."

Toby swallowed.

"Why didn't she come with me?"

Seraphine's eyes filled with tears.

"Because she believed staying behind would save your life."

He looked at her for a long time.

Then he reached for the locket.

The moment his fingers touched the silver, it opened.

A tiny portrait appeared inside.

A beautiful woman with dark auburn hair and hazel eyes held a newborn child wrapped in white silk.

Behind them stood King Aldric.

But there was someone else in the portrait.

A younger woman with golden hair.

Queen Claudia.

She stood beside Elara, smiling gently.

One hand rested on the infant's shoulder.

Toby frowned.

"She knew me?"

Seraphine nodded.

"Claudia was your mother's closest friend before she became her greatest enemy."

Toby studied the portrait.

Something about it felt wrong.

Claudia was smiling.

Elara was smiling.

King Aldric appeared happy.

Yet the queen's hand was positioned strangely.

Two fingers rested against the baby's wrist.

Exactly where Toby now carried the golden birthmark.

"Why is she touching me there?"

Seraphine leaned closer.

Her expression changed.

"Give me the locket."

Toby pulled it away.

"Why?"

"Please."

He turned it toward the lantern.

For the first time, he noticed a thin dark line beneath the portrait.

A hidden compartment.

He pressed it.

A tiny piece of folded parchment slipped into his palm.

Seraphine froze.

Garrick leaned forward.

"What is that?"

Toby unfolded the paper.

The writing was faded but still legible.

It contained a date, a royal physician's seal, and a short message written in a woman's hand.

If anything happens to me, do not trust Seraphine.

Toby's blood ran cold.

He looked up.

Seraphine was staring at the message.

Her face had gone white.

Garrick drew his sword completely.

"Step away from the boy."

Seraphine raised both hands.

"Garrick, listen to me."

"Step away!"

Toby backed toward the window.

"Why would my mother write that?"

Seraphine shook her head.

"Because she didn't know the truth."

"What truth?"

Before Seraphine could answer, a sharp metallic sound echoed from inside the secret passage.

Garrick spun around.

A crossbow bolt struck his shoulder.

He staggered backward with a cry.

Another bolt flew through the darkness.

Seraphine threw herself toward Toby, dragging him behind the stone fireplace as the projectile shattered against the wall.

A masked soldier stepped from the passage.

Then another.

And another.

Each wore black armor marked with a silver serpent.

Garrick struggled to remain standing.

"Royal assassins," he gasped.

Seraphine pulled a narrow dagger from her boot.

Toby raised the Sunforged Arc.

The masked soldiers spread across the chamber.

Their leader lifted one hand.

"By order of Her Majesty, the boy is to be taken alive."

Toby drew the bowstring.

No arrow appeared.

He pulled harder.

Nothing.

The golden mark on his wrist flickered weakly.

The assassin laughed.

"Your little miracle has run out."

Seraphine moved in front of Toby.

"Stay behind me."

But Toby was no longer looking at the soldiers.

He was looking at the parchment in his hand.

His mother's warning.

The woman standing between him and the assassins.

And the possibility that the only person offering to save him was the very person he should fear.

Then the assassin leader removed his mask.

Garrick stopped breathing.

Toby saw the commander's expression change from pain to horror.

"No," Garrick whispered.

The man beneath the mask was young, with dark hair and a narrow scar beneath his right eye.

He looked directly at Seraphine.

"Hello, Mother."

Seraphine's dagger slipped from her fingers.

The assassin smiled.

"Did you really think I died with the others?"