The Catalyst

Chapter 27

Seated at the banquet table with her father, the eight-year-old watched her mother make a rare entrance into the dining hall. All conversations stopped, all eyes turned to Kristine Fairlocks.

She was in an emerald dress, blonde hair cascading down her back. No makeup adorned her face. Tessa frowned as her father, pleasantly surprised, rose from the table and greeted his queen. Everyone held their breath. This never happened.

The queen was smiling. Tessa had never seen her smile before. She even let the king hold her in his arms. They started to dance and everyone was so pleased. Tessa could hear them gossip. The queen must be better. She must be cured. It was a miracle.

But Tessa wasn't so easily fooled. She sat alone, sulking. Her mother still wouldn't look at her. If she was all better and cured, wouldn't she finally acknowledge her daughter? Wouldn't she act like a normal mother?

Then Tessa realized that the queen was looking at her now, only with blank eyes that bulged out of their sockets. She was hanging from one of the ceiling beams, strangled by the noose. Dead.

Everyone turned their accusing stares to Tessa.

Somewhere, a gong was ringing . . . She felt its vibrations in her heart . . . 

Tessa woke up gasping as the door to her bedchamber was abruptly slammed open. Her dream faded fast. Onyx and Warrior jumped off the bed as Bellissa swept in the room.

"You need to get dressed, now."

Tessa slipped her legs from under the silk sheets and sprang to her feet. Bellissa was already gathering clothes from the dresser.

"We're under attack? How did they get past the defenses?" Without waiting for the answer, Tessa let Bellissa help her into a plain long-sleeved dress.

"They didn't," Bellissa said. "They attacked from the inside."

Tessa clenched her fists as the blood drained from her face. There was only one possible way in. Only the royal family's most trusted friends knew about it.

"Kemon," she breathed. Had he found out about her affair with Tomas?

"Tessa, hurry!" Bellissa pleaded as she draped a sable cloak over her shoulders.

Tessa put on her boots, fetched a coin pouch from her drawer, then froze in front of her vanity.

"We have to leave now!" Bellissa insisted.

Tessa's gaze brushed over her favorite jewels, but she only took the chain that held a round white amulet.

They slipped out into the corridor, where a guard stood waiting. Bellissa shut the door before the dogs could follow.

"We can't take them with us," Bellissa said firmly. Tessa's heart broke, but she knew this was only temporary. She would come back home to her dogs no matter what.

"Your Majesty," the guard said, "we don't have much time." Tessa recognized him, he had served her father a long time before serving her.

The clashes and screams of battle reaching her ears, Tessa let herself be guided in the opposite direction. As they walked she tied the coin pouch to her hips and secured the chain round her neck.

"We need to get to the stables," Bellissa said.

But then Tessa gripped her arm to stop her. "Wait!" She had been somewhat groggy from sleep – now she felt fully awake. "What makes you so certain they're going to win?"

"Because I saw them!" Bellissa said. "I rang the gong! There are too many of them, too few guards and taken by surprise, some of them still half-asleep. And the enemies have Lord Kemon and Matt Dawnson."