The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) (18 page)

Chloe pursed her lips thoughtfully.
That would explain Lev’s involvement. She did not mention what Emma had
revealed about Lev being the Slaugh king. She had a sneaking suspicion that his
sudden departure might tie into Violet’s theory.

“So, these Slaugh,” she said, “You
think Mother wants to use them against Robyn?”

Violet nodded.

“Well that’s dumb!” Chloe said. “If
she knows where Robyn is, then why not send Commander Larue and the rest of our
army after her? Most importantly, WHY DIDN’T SHE TELL ME?”

“Because it’s incredibly
dangerous…maybe even a suicide mission. If the Slaugh go in first, it not only
buys us more time, but shows us what we’re up against.” Violet said.

Chloe watched Violet to see if she
was joking. The girl had turned pale. Her nauseatingly pretty blue eyes got all
watery.

“Suicide mission,” Chloe repeated
in disbelief. “And rather than send in our army…”

“I’m not supposed to know all
this,” Violet said with a telltale hiccup. “I’ve been snooping and
eavesdropping where I shouldn’t. I wish I didn’t know.” She sniffled and wiped
her cheek.

Touched more than she wished to
admit, Chloe reached out and squeezed Violet’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you,
Sis.”

Violet raised her head in surprise.
“Why?”

“For snooping and eavesdropping, of
course. Maybe I’ve rubbed off on you, after all.”

Violet managed a weak smile. “But
what are we going to do?”

“About those Slaugh?” Chloe asked.

Violet nodded.

Chloe thought back on what Emma had
told her. Lev or King Hugo or whatever he was calling himself these days must
have been wise to Mother’s plan. His nasty remarks about the Fay made a bit
more sense put in that light. He wasn’t going to give anyone the chance to make
a sacrifice out of his people. She couldn’t blame him for that. Even so, it
didn’t prove his innocence. Emma might have been onto something yet. Now, with
Mother in distress over botched plans it certainly needed some looking into.

“I wouldn’t worry about those poor
Slaugh,” Chloe said. “I need to talk to Mother and I need to talk to Emma. Go
drag them out of whatever holes they’ve hidden themselves in and bring them to
me.”

“But…the coronation,” Violet said.
“You have scarcely a half-hour left!”

“After the coronation then!” Chloe
said. “If they won’t answer when called by a princess, they’d damn sure better
come running when summoned by a queen!”

The ballroom had been converted to
accommodate rows and rows of seats. A gray sky pressed against floor to ceiling
windows that were framed by silks in Ivywild’s trademark purple.         

Nobles and upper-crust merchants
took up most of the seats. Commoners and servants stood packed around the
walls. Gnomes, who were far too short to share audience space with their Fay
peers, perched on the rails of the grand staircase that flanked the rear of the
ballroom.

A horn sounded. Everyone rose. All
eyes trained toward the dais at the front of the room. An ancient ceremonial
throne inlaid with jewels, seashells and other treasures from the four corners
of Faylinn sat empty and waiting. Judges Kesper, Nuckelvee and wheezing old
Marcellus stood on one side of the throne. On the other side, Princess Violet
stood alone looking pale and uncomfortable.

“Quite a turnout,” remarked Chloe’s
butler, peeking through the curtain behind the dais.

It was almost time for her to make
her entrance. She was a wreck. She’d been scanning the crowd of faces and she
didn’t see Emma. There was no Lord Finbarr to give her words of encouragement.
Even sour-faced Commander Larue would be a comforting sight, but he was doing
his rounds on the castle perimeter.

“This stinks!” Chloe groused.

The butler gave her a puzzled look.
“Is Your Highness not pleased to finally be named queen?”

“That’s all fine and wonderful,”
Chloe said, “but none of my friends are here.”

The horn stopped. The ballroom fell
silent. Chloe took one last peek through the curtain. She caught the eye of a
young man with spiky pewter-colored hair sitting in the front row. He grinned
and gave her a thumbs-up. It was Bazzlejet, the rascal who had pretended to be
her maid. She wrinkled her nose at him.

“Time,” said the butler.

Chloe took a deep breath that
tested the strength of her newly reinforced seams. The curtains parted and she
stepped into the center of the dais.

The crown sat atop a plush pillow
next to the throne. It was far too heavy for daily wear. Fashioned out of
intricate metals, pearls and diamonds, it was the time-honored symbol worn during
public appearances by every Fay ruler for the past thousand years. Chloe had
often gazed at it longingly when Daddy wore it during his speeches. It had made
him look as regal as a god. At least, that’s the way she used to think of it.
Looking at the elaborate crown today she realized it was the man who had made
the crown command attention, not the other way around.

A dry old noble from the clergy was
giving some customary coronation speech at a podium on the side of the dais.
Chloe waited for him to finish without hearing a word. The sight of his emerald
green robe had brought Emma back to the front of her thoughts. She’d had a mind
in the past to tell Emma not to join the boring old clergy.

Then Chloe saw her. Emma was
sitting next to High Priestess Grimmoix who, for once, looked cheerful. They
were seated with the other green robes on the far right side of the ballroom.
It was no wonder Chloe had missed seeing her before. Emma barely looked like
herself. She was but a shrinking shadow next to High Priestess Grimmoix. There
was no light in her eyes. She did not wave or smile.

Chills ran down Chloe’s back.
Something was wrong. She stared hard at Emma, willing her to look up, but her
eyes remained vacant. She was quiet, composed and empty. It wasn’t like Emma at
all.

Bazzlejet turned to look where
Chloe was staring. Chloe knew he’d spied Emma, too, because he made a puzzled
face. He waved to get Emma’s attention but it didn’t work. He turned back
around and locked eyes with Chloe.

Go to her
, Chloe commanded
with her gaze. She jerked her chin ever so slightly in Emma’s direction.
Bazzlejet gave a little nod.

Good. At least he wasn’t a complete
idiot. Chloe felt better knowing somebody was on the case.

“…and upon passing of our dear,
departed King Theobald Louis de Lolanthe, the crown is now granted, by royal
writ and succession, to his eldest child, Princess Chloe Nokomis de Lolanthe on
this the day of the waxing moon, month of the red solstice  in the year one
thousand and one,” the clergyman at the podium recited. He gave a hand signal
to two prim attendants on either side of the dais. The attendants had been
chosen because they were both of an equal height that would allow them to place
the crown atop Chloe’s head without forcing her to kneel down.

The two attendants lifted the crown
in unison. Chloe closed her eyes. She’d been over this moment a hundred times
in her mind. They would place the crown on her, one of the Seelie Court judges
would say a few words and then she would take her seat on the throne, a queen
at last.

She never got to feel the weight of
the crown on her purple curls. She heard the crowd gasp. The two attendants
paused with the crown held in the air between them. Chloe opened her eyes.

Everyone looked startled. The faces
weren’t watching with respectful awe as she thought they should be. Her first
reaction was anger. What was the hold-up? Then she felt a presence looming over
her shoulder.

Chloe whirled around. There,
standing on the dais behind her, was The Duke of Briar.

The Duke was a very tall, very ugly
Fay. He had a gaunt face with a thinning gray beard and pale, intense eyes that
looked as though they’d never seen anything they approved of. He wore long a
cape in Larlaith’s signature color of crimson.

Though the duke had played host to
the royal family on several occasions, Chloe had never liked him. All his
posturing and bullying since Hue’s death had done nothing to improve her
opinion.

“What is going on here?” she asked.

The duke shoved her aside and
stepped to the front of the dais. The bewildered attendants got out of his way.

“My fellow Fay,” he addressed the
crowd, “the coronation you have come to witness today is a fraud. This girl is
not fit to wear the crown of Ivywild.”

A collective gasp went through the
audience. The duke savored it with a smile.

Chloe began to tremble with shock
and rage. “What are you talking about?” She looked to Kesper and Nuckelvee for
help. “What is he doing here? He’s not supposed to be here! Guards!”

Nobody answered her summons. It was
then that she noticed flashes of crimson throughout the room. The duke’s own
men guarded the doors. They flanked the sides of the dais. Onstage, however, it
was the Seelie Court’s personal guards who held order. Three of them surrounded
Violet. She looked around helplessly.

“Change of plans,” Judge Kesper
said as he indulged in one of his repugnant know-it-all grins. “The duke has
provided evidence that proves you are not fit to take on the rule of this
kingdom.”

Chloe’s heart rate spiked as she
tried to comprehend the situation. “WHAT PROOF?” she shouted. “This is
unacceptable
!
He isn’t supposed to be here! Where is Commander Larue?”

“He has been taken from his post
until we determine where his loyalties lie,” Judge Nuckelvee said.

As Chloe watched the smiling judges,
the full scope of the situation hit her. “YOU! You invited the duke! This
is…this is a
coup
!”

A confused rumbling came from the
audience.

“It is true, my fellow citizens,”
the duke said. “There comes a time when those with good judgment must make hard
decisions. After I have presented my case I have no doubt that you will all see
why a change is in order.” He pulled a scroll of parchment from inside his
cape.

Still in shock, Chloe watched him
unroll the parchment. It was a handwritten letter with the seal of Ivywild on
it. That meant it had been sent from the castle.

“This is a letter from my dear,
departed son, Hue,” said the duke. He feigned a look of sadness that made
Chloe’s insides boil. Whatever else the duke said, he couldn’t truly claim any
love for his son. He had been a cruel, merciless father to Hue.

The crowd fell silent and watched
the duke with interest. Most knew the sordid details of the last days of Hue
Briar’s life. The tale had generated as much gossip and speculation as could be
expected. Chloe knew she couldn’t control it, so she hadn’t tried. She had let
the people believe whatever they wanted to believe, knowing that they would
grow bored of the story eventually. She now realized she’d been foolish to
think that her good deeds as a new ruler would soon outweigh the scandal.

“The official word on my son’s
death was that he was possessed by a creature called Robyn,” the duke said.
“Isn’t that what you’ve all been told?”

There were murmurs of assent and
nodding throughout the audience.

The duke gave his own satisfied nod
as he surveyed the crowd. “This letter was sent just days before his
unfortunate end. It tells a far different story—a ghastly tale that the royal
family doesn’t want you to know.”

Chloe could only begin to guess the
contents of the letter but it didn’t matter. She knew the truth. “You can’t
believe anything Hue wrote while he was here! He was possessed! He wasn’t in
his right mind!”

“Wasn’t he?” the duke said
threateningly. “Perhaps the people should judge that for themselves.” He
cleared his throat and began reading. “
Dearest Father
…”

It was enough to make Chloe scoff
out loud. Hue would never have called him ‘dearest’ anything. The audience had
no way to know this. They hung onto the duke’s every word as he continued:

‘Dearest Father, I have found myself
entangled in a situation which I have no way of knowing how to resolve.
Nevertheless, I will forge ahead and try my best to reverse this dire state of
affairs, for if I do not, I fear for the future of all our people. I trust you
alone with this information lest something should go wrong in my bid to do
right. The fact is this: Princess Chloe is possessed by some evil entity. I do
not believe the other royals to be aware of it, so I have taken it upon myself
to cure her. I have gotten as close as I dare without arousing her suspicion,
even moving forward with my proposal as I had planned. I know that dear, sweet
princess Chloe is still present in some form and it is that part of her that I
will take as my bride. If I can shoulder the burden of this beast so that the
rest of Faylinn does not have to, so be it. Wish me luck. I remain your
faithful, loving servant and son—Hue.’

The duke let his voice become
emotional towards the end. When he finished, he wiped away a tear that wasn’t
really there.

Chloe listened, aghast. Surely the
crowd wouldn’t buy it. If this was what had convinced the Seelie Court to
embrace the duke, they were much more stupid than she’d ever believed them to
be.

The crowd was silent. Chloe could feel
them reciting the words over in their heads, deciding if they held weight. Then
she felt their eyes on her, judging. She faced them with chin held high. It was
all she could do not to incinerate the duke where he stood. How dare he insult
the intelligence of her people with such a far-fetched accusation?

Chloe searched the sea of faces for
expressions of doubt. Instead, she saw fear. The people began to whisper among
each other. Panic seized her again and she frantically sought a friendly face
to give her strength. She looked among the green robes. Surely her best friend
would stand up for her.