Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 21

As she finally began to slide across the ledge, she was for once glad that she had not been blessed with as much womanly endowment as Drew. Being as flat as possible against the wall kept her from throwing off her balance, and though it took her much longer than it should have, she finally reached out and snatched at the window frame with shaking fingers.

Pulling herself close, she waited a moment to calm her nerves. Heights had never been something she ever wished to experience, and if her mother had not been in trouble and the threat of being returned to her stepmother seemed so vile, she would never have tried it.

She peered into the window, doing her best to keep mostly out of sight, and saw that she was looking into the actual bedchamber. It was empty of persons, but was tastefully decorated in deep burgundy tones. The bed was possibly large enough to fit a small fishing vessel on, and the wardrobe spanned an entire wall. The floor was entirely carpeted in velvet, which was good news for Cole. Her jump through the window would be muffled by its plushness.

Pushing the window open, she hopped into the room and carefully closed it behind her. She immediately smelled something similar to Bastian's lavender scent, however this was tinged with something strange and metallic. It wasn't pleasant, and Cole wrinkled her nose against it as she crept through the room and toward the door at the other side.

She placed her hand on the knob, but before she could check if it was locked or not, she heard voices on the other side. Her first instinct was to run and hide, should they be coming in to the bedchamber, but she forced herself to stay still and listen for a few more seconds.

She figure out that they were not moving, and were far enough from the door that she was not in immediate danger. In fact, as she settled down, she peered through the keyhole and could see a sliver of the room beyond. She mostly saw the edge of a table, piled high with papers, but a moment later, a person came into view. It was the mysterious figure from the audience chamber, judging from the long cloak. All Cole could see of the person now was their side and one arm.

King Thijs voice filled the room beyond. "They're very sure it's been breached?"

When the second voice came, it was that of a man's. But almost barely. It rasped and raked, and something about it seemed to slip out of Cole's ears so that she had to concentrate until her head hurt in hearing him. "The men dug through a Sparkstone vein and into the cave last night. It wasn't even dawn before the deaths occured."

"And we're certain those deaths had something to do with the cave?" Thijs asked. "It could just be bickering between slaves, or natural illness."

"No, your highness. It was only those who had dug, and not even all of them. Only the ones who had entered the cave itself."

Instead of the worry Cole expected from a sovereign when something so strange had happened, she heard instead an excited edge to his voice as he answered his lackey. "It must be the right cave, then. What is the current progress with it?"

"The men have closed it off for the time being, but they report that a strange substance leaks through the cracks sometimes. No one will stand close enough to guard it, but no one else is brave enough to try and get too close."

"I trust that you took a look, though? Through the scrying bowl?" Thijs asked.

The man in the cloak hissed, but his hood shifted as he slowly nodded his head. "It almost cost me my life, even Looking into that cave. I would have been here three days earlier, but I was lost in a world of fever and pain."

"Yes, but what did you See?" Thijs' voice was impatient, and Cole could imagine him waving his hand in the air, dismissing the man's brush with death as something barely of more consequence than a fly.

The man paused, and Cole saw his shoulders shift forward as he slunched and seemed to writhe as he recalled whatever it was he'd seen. "A black presence, something much like a bottomless pit. It was hungry. Hungry and untamed."

"Untamed is perfect," Thijs said, a hint of pleasure in his voice. "If something is untamed, it only means that no one else has had the chance to bring it under their power. I will be the first. And no matter what power it holds, no matter how ancient or deadly it thinks it is, I will master it. It will come under my will and follow my orders."

"Of course, your highness," the man hissed, ducking his head in a deep bow. His cloak shivered as he stood, and Cole saw his gloved hand grasping the pommel of his sword tightly.

"Ride ahead of me and prepare the site for when I arrive," Thijs said. "I want to see it for myself."

"Yes, your highness," the man said. "But you will miss your son's celebration if you leave now."

Thijs snorted. "He is capable of handling it on his own. If he cannot pick a suitable bride out of the hundreds I've pulled for him, he's a greater simpleton than I thought." The sound of shuffling rose, as Thijs began his preparations for leaving. "Besides, I'll leave my advisor behind to guide him to the right choices. The lily-livered fool shouldn't be able to stuff it up, even if he is barely competent as an heir."

The cloaked figure inhaled sharply, a gleeful sound. "You know I still offer my services to make the little piggy squeal. I can peel away his skin layer by layer until you are rid of him forever, sire."

Thijs paused, and in that pause Cole felt her stomach churn in disgust.

"...No. At this point it would be too much trouble to cancel the ball," he replied. "If I can help it, I don't want to start over and wait another eighteen years. No, we'll let this one live a bit longer. Perhaps a marriage will bring him into reality."