The Silver Crown

12.

The queen gasped, her hand over her mouth in astonishment. She turned to the king who was staring at me with wide-open eyes. His face was the perfect representation of incredulous. "I knew we would find her, Peter. I knew it! I knew she couldn't be dead." Dionisa reached for the king's limp hand and grasped it in both of hers, turning to gaze at me.

The pain in my wrist was a distant memory but I was left sweaty, bloody and dumbstruck, heaving for breath. I was who?

I was only me, a street orphan with a missing brother. Not a princess. Never a princess.

"Mother, who is Alyssandra?" A young girl sitting three seats to the Queen's left broke the silence.

"Poppet, Alyssandra is your older sister who was stolen away from the palace many years ago. We gave up hope of finding her but here she is, kneeling in front of us."

"No way. No damn way," I said eloquently.

"The reports about Alyssandra say that she was taken in the night at the age of five. The kidnappers were caught scaling the castle wall and the one holding Alyssandra fell. He landed in the river and his body was found four days later but Alyssandra's was never found." Brinian said slowly. The whole table stared at him and then turned to me simultaneously.

"This is idiotic," I insisted. "You have no idea what you're talkin' about. Just because some priestess says that it's true doesn't make it true!" I reasoned loudly.

"Brinian, perhaps it would be best if you pulled Alyssandra out of the room for a few minutes." The king added, "We may then be able to finish our breakfast in peace and deal with this matter on a full stomach." I scoffed; what did he know about an empty stomach? The king continued, "I know that I, at least, need some more time to process this shocking new occurrence."

"Yes, my King."

Brinian dragged me out of the room to the sounds of the queen inviting Maisa to join them for the rest of breakfast.

We went down the hallway a short distance until Brinian opened a small door. Inside was a room bare of any furniture or windows. He shoved me into the room and closed the door, the other guards standing outside to keep watch. I stumbled and fell, but was up on my feet in a flash, wary, my hands still tethered behind me.

"What the hell are ye doin'?" I demanded as the captain stepped behind me to untie my hands.

"Untying you."

"Not that. The other thing!" I snapped as I yanked my hands free. He took a step back, then a few more when he saw my face.

"Uh, talking to you," he responded, scratching the back of his neck.

"But why are you all lyin' to me. Is this some plot to trick me into admittin' something?"

"No. I assure you—"

I cut him off. "Because you are talkin' about me. Me. And I am me. I know who I am."

"No, you don't. You don't remember your parents. That means that maybe everything you think you know is wrong. Maybe your real name isn't Kade. How can you say that you know yourself when key points of your life are a mystery?"

I hated him. I hated him for so many reasons. I hated him because I had somehow been forced into this. I had parents. At least, I had had my mother. I tried desperately to forget that woman, but she had been mine. Right? I hated him because somehow the High Priestess had done some spell and it suddenly said I was someone different. Someone different than I always thought I was.