Chapter 46 Koarthandris
KOARTHANDRIS
Saldrea had excused me for the evening, bringing in one of her other guards for the night. Apparently, just looking at me made her upset, even after she’d carved her mark into my face. I was thankful for the reprieve from her madness.
I’d headed to the archives, deep beneath the library.
A niggling curiosity had been eating at me these last few days, ever since I’d seen Izzy’s handwriting and taken her notebook.
I’d been pulling folios of handwritten decrees and writs from across Seial, trying to find where I’d seen scrawls like that before.
I couldn’t quite explain my desperate drive to figure this out, but some deep part of me pushed and pushed, so I’d been spending all my — limited — free time here, searching.
I’d gone back a hundred years and still nothing.
I carefully returned the documents I’d already reviewed to the shelves and pulled more.
An hour later, halfway through the next stack of documents… I spotted it. A signature at the bottom of a document. It wasn’t quite the same as Izzy’s writing, but there was enough of a resemblance for me to look closer.
I inspected the signature with a magnifying glass, comparing it to Izzy’s writing. Yes, there were definite similarities. The tilt of the “t”, the flourish on the bottom of a “y”, the curve of an “s”.
Curious.
Whose signature was this?
Queen Leastrine Anadendyra.
I blinked.
No.
Why would Izzy’s handwriting have any similarities to the dead queen?
My heart gave a heavy, hard thump.
No… it can’t be.
I immediately rose and searched farther back in time, over a hundred and twenty years ago…
there wouldn’t be any handwritten documents from the lost princess until prior to that.
These archives might not even have any handwritten documents from the princess, but she had attended school here at Veilblood Academy, so I had to hope…
I finally found a research paper handed in by Princess Ysania Anadendyra and brought it back to the table, studying it.
More similarities to Izzy’s writing. In fact, at a quick glance the two were nearly identical. Handwriting wasn’t necessarily genetic, but certain similarities might be taught or passed on from a parent to…
To a child…
My throat went dry.
My heart skipped several beats, and when it resumed, it pounded an erratic tattoo in my chest.
No…
As far as anyone knew, the princess had never had a child, but she’d been in the human realm. And if the princess had had a daughter, she’d be half-nymph, since Ysania’s consort had been a nymph.
Perhaps… after she’d heard of the assassination of her family, the princess had hidden her daughter…?
“Fuck,” I breathed, chest constricting. The weight of this realization crushed me, because more and more of what I’d seen in Izzy made sense.
Her features — even masked by her nymph’s morphosis — resembled enough of her mother that I should have seen it.
And her grit… only a true royal would have the backbone to spurn Saldrea like Izzy had.
But mostly her spirit. I’d sensed how strong in spirit she was, though Vyns’ insight had been more acute than my own.
Izzy’s presence was a burning star, which had drawn so many to her.
That had always been something the Anadendyra family possessed.
They were true blooded royals, blazing with Titania’s heritage.
But if this was true — and I couldn’t deny it now — then I’d been serving a false crown all this time…
Bile rose, burning the back of my throat.
Blessed Skies! The things I’d done for Saldrea.
She was a pathetic and disgusting creature, unworthy of the crown and I’d always known it.
But I’d still devoted myself to her just as much as I had to the Anadendyra family.
No, I’d been even more devoted, fanatical, because long ago I’d been lax in my duties and that had led to the death of the royals I’d served prior to her.
So, I’d redoubled my dedication while serving Saldrea…
But Izzy was true royalty, which meant I’d been aiding an enemy of the crown.
Self-loathing rose like a beast within me. I’d been such a fool!
But I wasn’t dead yet.
I had life left in me, life I’d dedicate to the real queen. I’d help her, serve her, save her from… Skies Above! Saldrea was plotting vicious and potentially deadly vengeance on Izzy right now. I alone probably couldn’t stop her, but I had to try.
But first, I needed to find Izzy and tell her I knew who she was.
Though as I rose and raced out of the archives, I began to wonder why Izzy hadn’t claimed the crown, claimed her heritage.
Unless… she didn’t know?
That realization stopped me in my tracks.
More and more clicked into place.
Izzy had been raised in the human realm, by humans. And Neyalim had said Izzy had a binding to protect her form. If her mother had bound her to a human form, then passed away… Izzy would have been trapped as a human and perhaps never known who her mother had been.
Blazes!
I had to tell her now. She needed to know. She needed to be unbound from her limiting form and discover her true power and heritage…
…before Saldrea killed her!
I raced up the steps, sending my spirit out to seek Izzy’s blazing spirit-form. What I found instead was another blazing spirit right ahead of me.
I turned a corner and nearly bowled down Vyns.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed. “If Saldrea finds you… no… that’s no longer important. Wait… Did—”
“I need you to take me to Elysial,” Vyns said, stoic, as I pushed on, talking over him.
“—you know about Izzy? Is that why you left?”
He blinked. “Sorry? Know what?”
He didn’t know.
“Izzy’s a royal! She’s the fucking lost princess’s fucking daughter!” I had to keep my voice down but found it hard with my emotions running so hot and high.
Vyns gaped, eyes wide, then a rather heady flush colored his face.
“Skies Above! Did you fuck her?”
A silly grin was all the response I needed.
I slapped him… lightly. “Get in the game.”
“Right, sorry. Izzy’s an elf?”
“Half-elf, half-nymph.”
“Right!” Vyns seemed to finally clue in. “Wait… I just saw her. When I was sneaking down here to find you, she seemed to be sleeping up in the library!”
I sighed. “Thank the Skies!” I rushed by him. “Come on!”
Sending him to Elysial would have to wait. We had a princess to save.