Tied to the Crown

by Neha Yazmin

  “You’re the last three left to pick,” Quin said as she made it to the landing.

  Seth, Wyett, and Aaryana took a few steps back to make room for the Princess.

  “What about His Majesty?” Aaryana blurted out.

  “Oh, Father doesn’t have to pick,” Seth informed her as he lifted the lid of the chest.

  He held his right hand, palm down, a few inches above the pouches and moved it around in a circular motion. Then, he pulled out a pouch, loosened the gold-coloured ties, and shook out the contents into his hand.

  Aaryana had been right—these icons weren’t jewels. Seth’s icon was clearly wooden and stained brown. When he held it up to her, she saw that it was the size of her thumb, and eye-shaped. No, it was an eye. A wood carving of a human eye.

  “Man,” Seth announced. “Same as every year.”

  So, Seth ended up picking this icon every year?

  A minute later, Quin’s chest was ready for Wyett to pick his icon. He wasn’t nearly as theatrical as Seth had been. He simply lifted the lid and took out the pouch closest to the rim of the wooden box. Another wood carving! It was more or less the same size as the wooden eye and the same dark brown colour. Wyett had picked a pair of wings, joined in the centre, almost like a butterfly without the thin body in the middle. The wings weren’t constructed of feathers, though, but of tiny licks of flame.

  Like the flame wings on the Throne.

  “The fire angel,” Wyett said in a bored voice.

  Fire angel. The eternal fire in Roshdan, the Nidiyan youth Alsea had said, was a gift from the fire angel. To his homeland.

  “As always,” Quin said with a half-grin at her eldest brother.

  Wyett stuffed the icon back in its pouch and dropped it into the chest.

  As Quin shut the lid and gave the chest a good shake, turning it upside down and back to front, she said, “Lady Aaryana, this is your first time picking an icon. I wonder what you’ll get…”

  “What does all this mean?” Aaryana asked, beyond curious now.

  “I’ll explain once you’ve picked your icon,” Quin promised.

  Opening the lid, Aaryana looked at the three pouches. Immediately, she knew which one she wanted. She couldn’t explain why, but she just knew which pouch she should pick. It was such a strange feeling that she rebelled against it and decided to pick the pouch that was to its right.

  As she reached into the box, despite her conscious decision to pull out the one next to it, Aaryana’s fingers curled around the pouch she’d wanted from the start. For a second, she just stood there, her hand still in the chest. The others were waiting, wondering why she was taking so long. Wyett was frowning. Quin looked slightly put out.

  Seth rubbed his hands together, excited. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s see it.”

  Aaryana nodded and plucked out her icon with her fingers, without even removing the pouch from the chest. She dropped it in her palm and looked at it. They all did.

  All of them gasped—apart from Aaryana, because she didn’t understand what any of it meant.

  No one spoke for a long time.

  Finally, Quin named Aaryana’s icon. “The Queen of the Deep.”

  Aaryana’s head snapped up. “But it’s a fish,” she said with a small shake of the head.

  Indeed, the thumb-sized carving was that of a fish, its mouth open and its body intricately scaled.

  “Yes,” Quin agreed, “and it represents the Queen of the Deep, just like the wings represent the fire angel, and the eye represents man.”

  Aaryana nodded. Things were starting to fall into place. The three icons symbolised man, the fire angel, and the Queen of the Deep, and the Throne of Roshdan paid homage to all three. The fire angel was responsible for the ever-burning fires in Roshdan. Man was responsible for man—humans gave birth to more humans. What had the Queen of the Deep given to this Island?

  “Who’s the Queen of the Deep?” Aaryana asked. “What’s ‘the Deep’?”

  She had a feeling she knew the answer. This Queen was represented by a fish, after all.

  “The sea, of course,” Quin answered as though Aaryana should have known already.

  But how could she? She didn’t know anything about Roshdan’s history. She hadn’t come across this topic in the books that she’d seen in the library.

  “The ocean,” Quin went on. “Water. The Queen of the Deep is known by many names. The Sea Goddess. The Sea Queen. Mother of Water.” Quin threw those names at Aaryana as though she was trying to help her remember something she’d known her entire life.

  But… “I’ve never heard of her,” Aaryana mumbled, dropping the icon back in the pouch.

  “Really?” Seth asked. “What do they believe in Adgar, about how the world was created?”

  “Not this,” she told him, nodding at the contents of the chest. “What do you believe?”

  Seth opened his mouth to reply, but Wyett snapped, “We don’t have time for a history lesson. I need to speak to Father.” He stalked away.

  Seth followed, saying, “I’ll come with you.”

  He probably wanted to make sure Wyett didn’t succeed in convincing the King to punish Aaryana after all.

  She faced Quin and gave her a sheepish smile. “I thought I knew all the stories,” she lied. “I was the one that told all the best tales.” Another lie. “But I really know nothing at all, do I?” She shook her head at herself. “And this business with the fire angel and the Ocean Queen—”

  “Sea Queen,” the Princess corrected.

  “It all sounds fascinating.”

  “It is,” Quin said. “I used to beg Mother to tell me all the stories before I went to sleep at night. She knew them all. Some, she made up, just for me.” She smiled at the memory.

  “She sounds lovely.”

  “She was. When she died, I repeated the stories to myself every night, so I wouldn’t forget.”

  “We will never forget our mothers,” Aaryana said, reading the true meaning behind the Princess’s words. She was afraid she’d forget her mother. “You’ll never forget her, trust me.”

  Quin swallowed but nodded.

  “You know, my mother used to make up stories for me, too.” This was a truth she was starting to forget. She hated herself for it. “And I wish I’d repeated them to myself, because now I don’t remember them. I just remember one or two images that those stories conjured up in my mind, not the actual words.”

  Images of the sea folk brushing her hair. Singing her to sleep. That’s why I never believed that the sea folk were dangerous. Stories that my mother told. And that thought reminded her of the rhyme about Adgar’s Dungeons Keeper.

  Tell me child, why do you fear me so?

  The stories that my mother told.

  What say she about my soul?

  It’s as black as coal and a hundred years old.

  Aaryana shivered, thinking of the cold dungeons and its eerily beautiful Keeper.

  “Maybe… maybe I can tell you some of the stories I know,” Quin said. “And you can try to remember some of yours?”

  Aaryana beamed. “That would be wonderful, Your Highness.”

  Quin seemed a little uncomfortable with Aaryana’s enthusiasm. “Well, I best go put the icons back, now that everyone knows what they’re wearing to the ball tomorrow.”

  “What do you mean, Princess?” What did these icons have to do with the ball?

  “Really, someone should have explained all this to you…” Quin shook her head in exasperation, rolled her eyes. “The icons you pick determine who you dress up as for the ball.”

  “The King’s birthday ball is a costume party?”

  “It used to be, yes. But over the years, everyone’s been wearing normal party wear with a little something to pay tribute to the fire angel or the Queen of the Deep, depending on the icon they picked out.”

  “I see. What about the people that picked the eye?”

  “They can just go as themselves.” Quin shrugged.

/>   “What did you pick?” Aaryana asked.

  “I don’t have to pick anything; it’s just for the adults.” Quin didn’t look disappointed or relieved about this. “But the Sea Goddess icon hasn’t been picked by anyone in a long time; that’s why we were surprised to see you pick it out.”

  Aaryana stood there, considering what Quin had said. Quin seemed to take that a dismissal and turned towards the stone steps.

  Before descending the stairs, she said over her shoulder, “Don’t do anything too fancy with your hair. You’ll be wearing a Crown.”

  The Crown of the Queen of the Deep.

  Aaryana returned to her room, deep in thought. She knew she’d be attending the ball. The King wanted everyone to think that she and Wyett were becoming close friends, perhaps something more, so there was no question about her not going to the party. But she didn’t know the ball would also commemorate something else, something to do with the fire angel and the Queen of the Deep. Had Jeena been talking to her, the girl surely would have mentioned the dressing up aspect.

  And picking the icon that symbolised the Sea Goddess… Being a descendant of Nidiya—known as the Sea Princess in some parts of the world—of course, she’d pick the icon that represented a creature of the ocean. But she’d be the only one dressed like the Queen of the Deep. Wearing a Crown.

  “Will you be changing for lunch, my Lady?”

  When had Jeena entered her chambers? Was it lunchtime already?

  Aaryana glanced up at the maid. “No, I’d like to eat here, today. And you will join me,” she said sternly. “I need to discuss my attire for the ball tomorrow.”

  “I thought you didn’t have any problems with the gown I found for you, my Lady?”

  “I don’t.” She hadn’t been paying too much attention to the clothes Jeena had found for her to wear this past week, least of all the fanciest one for the ball. “But I picked my icon a little while ago and—”

  “Oh, what did you pick, my Lady?” Jeena looked excited.

  “Bring me my food and I shall tell you all about it.”

  In another part of the castle, Prince Wyett was working up a sweat in the training room. He had ordered his guards to train with him. Or rather, get a battering from him. Wyett’s sword cut through the men like a hot knife through butter, disarming them so quickly that this couldn’t be referred to as ‘training’. It was lashing out.

  Maybe only the Adgari would be able to slow him down right now. Wyett roared out loud at the errant thought, at the truth in it, and sliced his sword through the air so hard and fast that his opponent’s blade shattered when it made contact. Any other day, this would have shocked him into a pause, into contemplation, but he only glared at the man who was due to enter the ring next. Swallowing, the guard came forward.

  They waited for the other man to gather up his broken sword and depart before bowing to each other and springing into action. Wyett’s muscles were aching—he hadn’t warmed up properly and he wasn’t pacing himself. But he pushed through the pain and unleashed himself at one guard after another.

  That was the thing about rage—it was a great motivator and an even better opponent. He didn’t want to be so angry, and it was his fury that he was fighting, not these men.

  How could his father let her get away with treason? How could he rebuke Wyett for “blowing our cover in front of Seth” because he’d demanded that the girl be punished while Seth was present? Why did they have to hide their plan from Seth, anyway?

  Wyett hadn’t had a chance to talk to his brother in private all week—that’s why he hadn’t shared the plan with him—but it appeared as though their father wanted to keep Seth in the dark about this.

  When Wyett had returned to the King’s office after picking his icon, Seth following, their father had put up his hand and calmly asked Seth to leave. When his brother had opened his mouth to protest, their father had assured him that the Adgari would be fine, that he wanted to speak to Wyett alone.

  Then, he laid into his eldest son for undoing all the hard work of the past week. “Seth sees all,” his father had said. “He knows that you and Aaryana sneak into this tower at night. He told me yesterday that he thinks it’s wonderful that you’ve started to care for her.

  “But the things you said today… You should have been campaigning to protect her, not to have her punished. If you’re lucky, Seth will assume you were hurt by the fact that Aaryana loved someone back in Adgar. That you were lashing out because of that.”

  Wyett made a disgusted face.

  The King sighed. “I hope this wasn’t the undoing of all the hard work we’ve done this week. I hope you know that you were close to blowing our cover in front of Seth. You will work extra hard to make up for this blunder. Can you manage that?”

  Wyett was about to find out in a minute. His brother had just entered the training room and was calling to him to stop. But Wyett couldn’t. There was a fire burning inside him and he didn’t have anything to douse it with. All he could do was let it consume him, inch by inch.

  “Wyett, stop!” Seth said again. “Please.”

  Wyett didn’t stop. Couldn’t.

  “Guards, leave us,” Seth ordered as Wyett disarmed his opponent and waited for the next one to step up. “All of you,” his brother yelled. “Every single one of you. Leave. Now.”

  The men began to exit.

  “Don’t!” Wyett shouted. “Come back.”

  He stalked towards the tall man that was supposed to be his next victim. The guard was half-turned towards the door, but his eyes were on Wyett. He didn’t know who to obey. Wyett outranked Seth, of course, but the Crown Prince clearly wasn’t thinking straight.

  In the end, the man was saved from deciding—Seth stepped in front of the guard, blocking Wyett’s path to him. Wyett clenched his teeth.

  “Go,” Seth told the guard over his shoulder. The man obliged at once. “If you’re still looking for a fight, brother—”

  “I am not fighting with you!” Wyett snapped.

  The thought of lifting a finger against his little brother deflated him. The fire in his veins fizzled out, the rage with it. Wyett panted hard, bending at the waist and holding onto his knees.

  “No, of course, not,” Seth laughed. “I was going to say have lunch first.”

  Wyett flicked his eyes to his brother.

  Seth was wearing a smug grin. “Come on, the food is getting cold. I’m starving.”

  Wyett straightened up, his breathing steadier.

  “It’s going to be alright, brother,” Seth soothed. “She said she doesn’t love that Rudro anymore.”

  She hadn’t said that, though.

  “Aaryana freed herself from him when she wrote that letter. She wants to move on. With you. He was her past. Her future is with you. That’s all that matters.”

  It wasn’t like that at all, but for the sake of keeping up the pretence, Wyett nodded and went to the dining hall for lunch. He hoped the girl wouldn’t be there.

  As they ate, Aaryana told Jeena that she’d picked the icon that required her to wear a Crown. The girl was delighted.

  “Oh, I’ve never seen the Sea Goddess’s Crown! I can’t wait to see it.” She was flushed with excitement.

  “It’s her actual Crown?” Aaryana asked, eyes wide.

  “Of course, not, my Lady!” Jeena gave her an indulgent smile. “How could we get hold of anything that belonged to a Goddess?” She shook her head, eyes bright. “Did Princess Quin only mention the Crown? Don’t you have to wear the tail as well?”

  “There’s a tail?”

  Jeena laughed at the incredulity in Aaryana’s voice, her expression. “I’ve heard that it looks like a fish’s tail, scales and all. I think you’re supposed to tie it around your waist, so from the back, you look like you’re a giant fish.”

  Aaryana made a disgusted face.

  Jeena chuckled. “If the Princess didn’t mention it, you probably won’t have to wear it.”

  “Knowing my l
uck, I probably won’t be let into the ball unless I wear it!”

  The maid laughed out loud. “I hope to be there if that happens.”

  Aaryana narrowed her eyes at the girl.

  “But I must say that it’s very fortunate that the gown I found you will match the Crown and tail. It won’t clash, at least.”

  Aaryana vaguely recalled that the dress was a bluish green—or greenish blue, depending on how you wanted to describe it—with tiny blue and green crystals sown on.

  “The Crown and tail of the Sea Goddess is blue?”

  “The dress I got for you is a bluish green, my Lady,” Jeena said, “not blue like a summer sky or a bluebell.”

  Aaryana rolled her eyes.

  “But I won’t ruin the surprise any more by telling you what the Crown and tail look like.”

  “Can you at least tell me who the Sea Goddess is?”

  “She’s the reason we have water, my Lady.” There was reverence in her voice as she spoke. “Why we have the oceans and seas and lakes and canals and ponds. The Sea Goddess gave life to water.”

  “She’s the one that rules the seas?”

  Jeena made a buzzing noise, like a wasp. “Those that call her the Sea Queen or Queen of the Deep believe that she rules the world’s waters.”

  “But you call her the Sea Goddess—”

  “A lot of people do. We believe she’s a God, the one that created—or gave life to—water.”

  “So, this ball is not just to celebrate His Majesty’s birthday, but also to commemorate the God that gave us water.”

  “And the fire angel. And their middle brother,” Jeena informed her.

  The fire angel and the Sea Queen were brother and sister? And they had a third sibling? The middle brother… Those words got her thinking of Seth, of the sick middle child of the Fresdans. Before she could say anything, Jeena had gathered up the dirty dishes and was leaving her chambers.

  Did these creatures have anything to do with Seth’s curse?

  Chapter 6

  Aaryana stood outside the ballroom, listening to the King of Roshdan address his Court. “I am so happy that this ball is taking place today,” he was saying. “We need a little music and merriment after the dark few days we’ve had. Which—” he emphasised this word “—I will not dwell on. Today is not about the past, but the present and future. Not about pain and sorrow, but hope for better days to come.”