Page 61 of The Starlit Ring (The Chronicles of Liridin #1)

T hree days passed with no word from Marius.

Neither Toral nor Fallamor came to visit me.

Not even Zellia, who I’d hoped might take pity on me.

My only companions were Iana, Rowan, and my father.

Occasionally, Rowan tried to slip me pieces of information, but Father outright forbade reports of Marius.

As the days passed, and my condition improved, I grew fretful.

I’d married Marius. Loved him, longed for him, worried for him.

How unbearably cruel to keep this from me.

My resentment festered into something hostile and insurmountable, thorny and reeking of rot.

It radiated from me, until I began to feel like the ring itself, baleful and ominous, borderline hateful.

My thoughts had serrated edges and deep shadows. My smile became a knife. Something verging on madness bubbled deep within me.

There is nothing worse than a long recovery , I decided.

I had far too much time to muse on everything that brought me to this point.

The healer gave me plenty of potions that left me fuzzy and lightheaded, eager to fall into the arms of unconsciousness, where no one had abandoned me or attacked me or stolen my husband away without explanation.

But those fleeting hours of awareness devoured me like maggots at a wound, and they did not even have the decency to clear away the decay that built within.

On the third day, I lay propped up on pillows.

The stone wall beside me was illuminated by sunlight, and I spent most of the morning mentally tracing the grooves in the rock, imagining them as some sort of long road.

Eventually, this devolved into a full-fledged daydream about a group of travelers traveling along said road.

Thus far, they crossed a raging river (a crack in the wall), traversed a great forest (a particularly textured rock), and fought off a gaggle of bandits (several smaller stones all clustered together).

By mid-afternoon, I was drowsing. Father would not visit for another few hours, and I hoped to while away the time unconscious.

The door swung open. I anticipated the healer, and hoped desperately for Marius, but it was Queen Tarra who stepped over the threshold, trailed by a gaggle of guards.

Elegant as always, she wore her hair piled upon her head, held in place by combs glittering with sapphires.

The hem of her emerald green skirt dragged across the floor.

Standing before the window, cast in afternoon light, she was absolutely stunning.

I sat up, torn between fear and awe and something else. Sentiment, perhaps? This might very well be one of the last times I saw her; certainly, the last time I would have the privilege of interacting with her.

“Princess Talina,” she said, settling into the chair at my bedside. Guards flocked to her side. One waited at the foot of my bed, while the other blocked the door.

“Your Highness,” I said, biting back tears. It wouldn’t do to cry in front of the queen, although I really, really wanted to.

“I had my suspicions,” said Queen Tarra. A fledgling smile played at her lips. “You were just a bit too familiar with Princess Valeria. Not uncomfortable enough when you spoke to me.”

I blinked in surprise, and she laughed.

“Oh, you were uncomfortable, but not in the way that servants are. Especially new ones. I admit, I was curious to see when you would admit your identity.” An eyebrow quirked. “I’m not surprised Marius was the first to confirm it.”

I squirmed beneath the bedsheet. Her gaze was unreadable. Was I to be punished? Or had she come to gloat at my incompetence?

I wouldn’t blame her. I deserved it.

“He told me that you knew about the ring,” said Queen Tarra.

“Which all but confirmed my suspicions.” She sighed.

“I’m sorry things turned out the way they did.

” Golden, dangling earrings caught the light.

I watched them instead of her face, hoping that she couldn’t see the way my sorrow crushed me into nothing more than a shivering pile of dust.

“Thank you for your kindness,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

“It is always regrettable when love ends,” she said, voice gentle as the breeze coming through my window.

My stomach clenched. Queen Tarra adjusted one of her combs and looked me in the eye.

“I’ve been told that you are woefully uninformed.

I’ve taken it upon myself to ensure that you do not leave Tocchia with the wrong impression.

First and foremost, I find it pertinent to inform you that the marriage between yourself and Prince Marius was legally binding under Tocchian law, despite what you may have been told.

The problem here is that—” she swallowed, and a muscle in her throat quivered “—Marius is not, and was never, the Crown Prince of Tocchia. The legitimacy of your marriage must be determined now by Liridin, and their laws on such matters are complex. There is a possibility that your father will not be able to keep you away from Marius much longer, but that remains to be seen. ”

I struggled to comprehend what she was saying. “He’s alive? He’s alright?”

“Yes,” said Queen Tarra. “But he isn’t here anymore.

” Her lips parted to allow a deep inhale before she continued, “He did not go willingly. I’m sure you’re familiar with his tenacity.

His departure was… something to behold.” She shook her head, as if trying to brush away the memory image of Marius, of his fury and anguish.

I could imagine it now—the tilt of his chin, the tension in his muscles, fury in his eyes.

The way he would have stalked forward, hair swinging behind him, hands clenched into fists, footsteps quick and sure.

“Specifically, he did not want to leave you behind. I am fairly certain the entire palace heard that argument.”

My poor heart could not take much more. “Why did he go?” I demanded. “If he didn’t want to leave me, then he should’ve stayed.”

Queen Tarra’s laugh echoed throughout the tiny room, shrill and incredulous.

I shrank beneath it, shoulders hunching.

“My dear. The Sky Kingdom has waited a long time for their heir. If you think they are willing to wait any longer over a marriage whose validity they would surely challenge, you’re very ignorant indeed. ”

“So they forced him to leave?”

“I’d like to say he went willingly,” said Queen Tarra. “But that would be an exaggeration. He was more or less hauled away.”

The thought of Marius being dragged out of the palace by guards was too much for me. Hot tears welled in my eyes, slid down my cheeks. “Did they hurt him?”

“I doubt it,” said Queen Tarra. “He is still under the protection of Tocchia, at least for the time being. To do so would be a diplomatic insult, and cause for retribution.”

I nodded. Tried to sort my feelings, and found them a jumble of half-formed thoughts and rose-tinted memories, all clawing to the forefront of my mind, competing for attention. “Your Highness? ”

“Yes, Lady Talina?”

“Did you know he was Liridin’s lost heir?”

This time, her answering laugh was booming, nearly deafening. I cringed away from it, fought the urge to cover my ears and hum until the sound died away.

“No,” she gasped, dabbing at her cheeks with an embroidered kerchief.

“No, and neither did my husband. We thought he was Hergarv’s flesh and blood, not some changeling swapped by a desperate midwife.

” Again, that awful laugh. It burrowed under my skin and burned there.

I wanted to rip it loose. “No, the Sky Kingdom would never have allowed him to stay here, under our care, if they had known.” She shook her head.

Something slotted into place. My fingers fisted in the sheets. This was the reason the ring had reverted back to its original state. It wasn’t because of me. It was because Marius had no claim to the Tocchian throne, even if he wasn’t aware of it.

An unbearable gloom festered within me. Marius lost everything he knew and loved, quite possibly overnight.

The family he grew up with was not his own.

The kingdom he was destined to inherit belonged to someone else.

The marriage he was willing to fight for was being challenged on a technicality.

All of this to end up forced from the home he’d expected to keep throughout the rest of his days.

I couldn’t imagine the devastation, the confusion.

“Do you know what happened?” I asked her, bracing for her horrible laugh.

But it never came.

“I suppose I may as well tell you.” She brushed a strand of hair from her face.

The motion sent her golden earrings spinning.

“Word has already gotten out, and there are better sources than myself, but I’ve spoken King Amonrew, and I can see that he’s committed to keeping you as blind as possible. Very well.

“Twenty-five years ago, Liridin was at war from within. The people were starving, unhappy, and King Ilea took no notice. Queen Rimsa was pregnant at the time. She went into an early labor when the castle was stormed.” A flippant wave of the hand.

“I’m not shocked—I’m sure the experience was terribly traumatic.

At any rate, the castle was sacked at the hands of angry peasants.

King Ilea laid in hiding for many years.

The people elected a new official, a man named Harus Damius, and when he earned their ire, Ilea emerged, and convinced the people to take him back. ”

“Did it work?” I couldn’t imagine that it had, but why else would anyone in Liridin care about Marius’s identity?