Her Reputation (The Empire: Book 1) by Laura R Cole
*
Below Phoenix, the crowd let out a unified gasp. She looked up, where the sun had peeked out from behind the clouds once more, blinding her, and she let out a silent prayer. So this is to be the end…
Her dress suddenly caught on something, and she reflexively reached for it. A large nail had worked itself loose, creating a spot on the smooth wall that she could gain purchase. Though it cut her hands and wrenched her arms nearly out of their sockets, she grabbed hold of the nail and didn’t let go. Unfortunately, the nail wasn’t nearly as determined to hold onto the wall. It held for a moment, but then slipped free sending her back into her fall.
She screamed, the ground rushing up to meet her. People below were scrambling around, some trying to position themselves under her to catch her, others trying madly to get out of the way. She was close enough to the faces on the ground to see the whites of their eyes, wide with fear and surprise, when her motion suddenly halted, her scream cut short as the air in her lungs was forced out. She hung there in midair, panting, her adrenaline pumping like mad, for several long moments. Then, ever so slowly, she began to rise.
As she blinked her eyes, Natalya’s face appeared over the battlement walls, peering down at Phoenix as she rose towards her. Gavin was shoved out of the way, where he blubbered about trying to stop her to the guards who held his arms. Many hands enveloped her from above, pulling her to safety. One of the knights removed his cloak and placed it protectively around her shoulders.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing, Princess?” Natalya asked her, bewildered.
Phoenix opened her mouth to speak out about Gavin, to tell them that he made her do it, but once again her own body betrayed her. Her mouth clamped shut, and her throat closed. Gavin stood there, glaring at her.
She gasped for air, but none could make it past her squeezed throat. Stars danced before her eyes and her vision blurred. Natalya’s bewildered face wavered before her, and she reached out to try and catch herself as her knees gave way beneath her. She tried desperately to gesture to Gavin, to let them know that he was doing it, but Natalya’s face remained confused.
Darkness began to close in around her vision. It began at the edges and slowly worked its ominous way inwards. The pressure on her throat increased.
And then it stopped. Gavin’s glare turned to an expression of surprise as his eyes fixed on something behind Natalya. Phoenix gasped for air, her eyes wide and on Gavin.
She followed his gaze and shuddered at the sight. Alina’s hood was thrown back, and the woman was staring at Gavin with white sightless eyes. Red scars across her face seemed fresh, though they must be many years old, and the intensity of her look was enough to stop him in his tracks. Phoenix knew it was more than that. Most believed that like Natalya, her silent sister was without magic. In fact, she was a most powerful mage.
Wren was suddenly on the battlement with them, and he threw himself at Gavin. “It’s him! He’s a traitor!” he yelled before Gavin’s magic threw him into the stone wall.
Gavin turned his attention back to Alina and he sneered at her now that he could no longer pretend. “You can’t stop me.”
He obviously underestimated her. Phoenix could see him try and focus his power on the woman. It was rebuffed without so much as a blink of her eerie eyes, and his form went limp. Phoenix strained against the guards to go to Wren’s side. He was rubbing his head, but didn’t appear to have been otherwise hurt.
“Is it safe to assume that this young man had something to do with your crazed behavior?” Natalya asked, comprehension finally dawning on her bewildered face. At Phoenix’s nod, she added, “So I don’t need to worry about you trying to throw yourself over the side of the wall as we walk back?”
Phoenix shook her head, but the guard whose cloak she wore kept his hand on her arm regardless. At this moment, Phoenix didn’t mind. She was in too much shock. Gavin had been her friend, and she had been toying with the possibility of him being something more. How could she have been so blind to his deception?
Her parents sudden appeared, their faces blazing with anger. A newly conscious Gavin cowered behind the guards holding him. As the monarchs spotted their daughter, the anger melted and they rushed over, showering Phoenix with kisses and embracing her. They spoke briefly with Natalya and checked on her once again before disappearing with Gavin in tow. Wren came over and laid a hand on her arm awkwardly, and she mustered up a smile for him.
The walk back to her rooms passed in a blur, and Phoenix hardly took in anything around her. Natalya opened the door to the Princess’s rooms, but the guard with Phoenix held her back until the room had been checked. Finally, Phoenix was allowed inside and she collapsed onto the couch. She hardly knew how much time passed before her parents came bursting into the room.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” her mother asked, holding her daughter’s face between her hands and examining her. Layna picked up Phoenix’s left hand where she had scraped it against the nail, flailing to grab hold. It was already scabbed over and hardly hurt. Layna brushed a hand over it and it completely healed instantaneously. Usually her mother let her wounds heal naturally as a reminder of whatever silly thing she had done to receive them but not today. Phoenix was reminded of her mother’s power and Gavin’s words. Perhaps he was right.
“I’m fine,” she assured her mother, taking back her hand and giving her father a smile. “Natalya and Alina took good care of me.”
“Not good enough, Majesties. I’m so sorry,” Natalya interjected. “I should never have let that scoundrel take her out there alone. If it hadn’t been for Alina’s magic we would have been too late to stop him. I failed you.”
Layna waved away her apology. “She’s alright; that’s all that matters. Besides, you didn’t fail me. The two of you saved her. You couldn’t have known that it wouldn’t be safe for her to have a moment of privacy with someone who was trusted in the court. Gavin and Noam had us all fooled.”
“Noam, too?” Phoenix asked.
“Yes,” King Gryffon answered. “Apparently it’s been the two of them behind the rumors all along. We just received word right before your incident that they were involved. They are being questioned right now.”
“Gavin said that he should be ruler,” Phoenix said bitterly. “He was convinced that with me out of the way the people would come to see that he was more fit to be the rightful monarch.” She picked at a loose string on the blanket someone had slung over her. “Did Lady Aria have anything to do with this?” she asked, fearing the answer. Aria had been like an aunt to her, albeit a rather non-hands-on one, and she hated to think that she could have betrayed her as well.
Queen Layna sighed. “At this point, it appears not. We believe the only thing Aria is guilty of is her own naïveté.” Layna glanced at Gryffon and added under her breath, “Again.”
Phoenix was too relieved to question this odd comment.
Her father continued. “The Council is in an uproar, and a full inquisition into the matter will be carried out. It seems that Noam had convinced Aria to have his relatives raise the boy in their home – a custom which is no longer widely used but still in practice – until he came of age. Aria says she was overwhelmed with the duties of being the First Advisor and thought it might be best until the two countries were united under your rule and her responsibilities lessened.”
“And that date kept getting pushed back further and further on the Treymayne’s Council members’ recommendations. This was influenced in large part by Aria, upon the convincing of Noam to do so. She says that he filled her with lies as to the people’s readiness to have the unification happen, and she trusted her husband.”
“How long has Noam been planning this?” Phoenix wondered out loud.
“I doubt we’ll ever get a straight answer out of him,” her mother said sourly. “I never did like him.”
“But the
Phoenix’s mother squeezed her hand. “It will all be over soon.”