Chapter 6: The Name Buried Beneath the Throne
The name Isabelle followed Elia back to the palace.
It appeared in her thoughts while she washed her hands, while she looked out through the rain-streaked windows, and even when she closed her eyes.
Why had someone embroidered a different name into the blanket?
Why had Queen Eleanor reacted as though she had seen something terrible?
And why had the name been hidden for seventeen years?
Elia found Adrian in the western gallery shortly after midnight.
He was standing before a portrait of the late king.
A glass of untouched wine rested on the windowsill.
“Your Highness?””
He turned.
“Elia. You should be sleeping.””
“I couldn't.””
“Neither could I.””
She approached the portrait.
The man in the painting had dark hair, sharp eyes, and a small scar near his chin.
Despite the royal clothing and golden crown, he looked less like a king than a father waiting for someone to come home.
“Was he kind?”” Elia asked.
Adrian studied the painting.
“He could be.””
“Did he love your family?””
A faint smile touched the prince's lips.
“He used to carry me on his shoulders through the palace gardens. He hated seeing Mother cry. And whenever I made a mistake, he would tell me that being a prince did not make me more important than anyone else.””
Elia looked at him.
“That sounds like a good father.””
“He was.””
Adrian paused.
“Until the night my sister disappeared.””
Elia lowered her eyes.
“I'm sorry.””
“Don't apologize for something that happened to you.””
He turned toward her.
“There is something I need to ask.””
“What is it?””
“When we opened that chest, did you recognize anything besides the blanket?””
Elia thought carefully.
“The bell.””
Adrian frowned.
“What about it?””
“Mara had one exactly like it.””
“Where is it now?””
“I don't know. She kept it in a small wooden box. After she died, I gave most of her belongings to the orphanage where she used to volunteer.””
Adrian's expression sharpened.
“Did the bell have a name engraved on it?””
Elia shook her head.
“No. But she always told me never to ring it.””
“Why?””
“She said it would bring someone who should never find me.””
Adrian looked toward the dark corridor.
“What else did she tell you?””
Elia hesitated.
“Sometimes she said that I had two names. One for the world and one that belonged to the people who loved me.””
The prince said nothing.
Then he held out his hand.
“Come with me.””
The royal archive occupied three floors beneath the northern tower.
Only the king, queen, prince, and royal archivist were permitted to enter its oldest chambers.
The doors were made of dark oak, reinforced with iron.
Adrian unlocked them using a key inherited from his father.
Inside, thousands of documents lined the shelves.
Elia followed him past old maps and royal decrees.
Dust filled the air.
“Where are we going?”” she whispered.
“To find out who Isabelle was.””
Adrian stopped before a locked cabinet bearing the symbol of the first dynasty.
He tried the key.
It did not turn.
Elia's palm began to warm.
She stepped forward.
“May I?””
Adrian moved aside.
She placed her hand against the metal lock.
A faint golden light appeared.
The lock clicked.
Adrian stared.
“Apparently, the royal archives recognize you too.””
Elia gave a nervous smile.
“I wish they would recognize me enough to explain what is happening.””
He opened the cabinet.
Inside lay several leather-bound books, a small silver box, and a sealed document bearing the king's personal crest.
Adrian opened the first book.
It was the royal birth register.
He found the entry dated seventeen years earlier.
His finger moved down the page.
Then he stopped.
*Crown Prince Adrian: born at the ninth hour.*
Below it:
*Princess Liora: born at the ninth hour, twelve minutes after her brother.*
Adrian exhaled.
It was official.
Elia was his sister.
But a strange detail stood beneath the second entry.
A line had been crossed out so violently that the parchment had nearly torn.
Adrian brought the lantern closer.
Elia could make out several words.
Additional infant.
Female.
Delivered before dawn.
He looked at her.
“There was another birth entry.””
Elia's stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?””
“I don't know.””
He turned the page.
It had been torn out.
A small note remained attached to the binding.
By order of His Majesty, all references to the third child shall be removed.
Three children.
Not two.
Adrian read the sentence again.
Then a quiet voice sounded behind them.
“Close the book.””
Queen Eleanor stood in the doorway.
Her face was pale.
“Mother,” Adrian said.
“You knew?””
The queen approached slowly.
“I knew there had been an unusual complication during the birth.””
“An additional infant?””
She looked at the damaged register.
“I was heavily medicated. I remember hearing a baby cry after your sister was taken away from me.””
Elia stepped forward.
“Was there another girl?””
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“There were three heartbeats recorded by the midwife. But only two children were brought to me.””
Adrian stared at her.
“Who took the third?””
“I never knew.””
The queen sat down on a wooden chair.
“Your father believed one of the children had been falsely recorded. The royal physician insisted there was only one surviving princess.””
Elia looked at the register.
“Then who am I?””
Eleanor's tears returned.
“You are my daughter. Of that, I have no doubt.””
“But which daughter?””
The queen reached for her hand.
“That is what we must discover.””
At dawn, Master Edmund arrived with a document retrieved from the sealed medical archive.
It was a birth statement written by the royal midwife, Lady Margaret Vale.
Adrian read it aloud.
“Three infant heartbeats were detected before delivery. Two children were delivered into the queen's care. The third child was removed from the chamber before the final examination.”
He looked up.
“Removed by whom?””
The document continued.
“At the king's command, the matter was not to be discussed. The name of the third infant would be preserved in a separate record.”
Elia gripped the edge of the table.
“Was there another record?””
Edmund nodded.
“According to the archivist's notes, yes. It was kept in the private chapel.””
Adrian frowned.
“Then why was it not in the chest?””
“Because it was removed.””
Queen Eleanor stood abruptly.
“Who had access?””
Edmund hesitated.
“Only the royal family, the chancellor, and the head midwife.””
The queen's expression darkened.
“Varrick.””
The physician nodded.
“Or someone who inherited his keys.””
Adrian looked toward the door.
“Lord Malcolm.””
At the same hour, Lady Serena stood in her father's study.
She had not slept well.
Her father's strange behavior since the chapel attack had unsettled her. He had spent most of the night receiving secret visitors, burning letters, and locking himself inside his private rooms.
Now he stood before a cabinet filled with old documents.
“Father,” Serena said, “what is going on?””
“Something that does not concern you.””
“I heard the queen mention three children.””
Malcolm turned sharply.
“Where did you hear that?””
“In the ballroom. One of the guards was speaking to a minister.””
Her father approached her.
“Listen carefully. You will not repeat that story.””
“Why?””
“Because it is dangerous.””
Serena folded her arms.
“Is Elia really a princess?””
Malcolm looked at her for a long time.
“Yes.””
The answer landed like a slap.
Serena's mouth fell open.
“You knew?””
“I suspected.””
“Then why didn't you tell me?””
“Because you have a habit of speaking before thinking.””
Serena moved toward the cabinet.
Inside, she noticed a portrait of two newborn girls.
She picked it up.
“Who are these babies?””
“Put that down.””
Serena ignored him.
“Why are there two girls in this portrait?””
“There were three.””
She stared at him.
“What?””
Malcolm snatched the portrait away.
“Your grandfather was involved in the royal nursery affair. He worked under Chancellor Varrick. He helped arrange the children's disappearance.””
Serena stepped backward.
“You told me our family had nothing to do with the fire.””
“I told you what you needed to know.””
“Did you help them?””
Malcolm's expression became frighteningly calm.
“I was a young boy when it happened. I carried messages. Nothing more.””
Serena looked at the cabinet again.
“Then why are you so afraid?””
He gripped her shoulders.
“Because the third child was never meant to survive.””
That evening, Elia returned to the old chapel.
She could not explain why she had asked to see it again.
Perhaps she hoped the place would reveal something the palace records had hidden.
Perhaps she simply wanted to feel close to Mara.
She stood beneath the broken bell tower, holding the faded blanket.
The queen and Adrian were still inside the palace, reviewing the royal records.
For once, Elia had come alone.
The wind moved through the broken windows.
She took the small silver bell from the blanket's folds.
It was the same shape as the one Mara had kept in her wooden box.
She remembered the old woman's warning.
Never ring it, Elia. Not for anyone.
Her fingers tightened around it.
A memory suddenly surfaced.
A cold room.
A woman holding her close.
A man's voice saying, “The third child must never be found.””
Then Mara's whisper.
“Forgive me, little one. I have to give you another name.””
Elia stumbled backward.
The silver bell slipped from her fingers.
It struck the stone floor.
One clear note rang through the chapel.
The sound traveled into the bell tower.
And from somewhere beneath the floor, another bell answered.
Elia froze.
She knelt and pushed aside the broken stones near the altar.
A small iron compartment had appeared beneath the loose flooring.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
The paper was old, but the royal wax remained intact.
She opened it carefully.
The first line was written in a familiar hand.
To the daughter who was hidden before she could be named.
Elia's breath caught.
She read on.
Your name is Isabelle, but the world will call you Elia until the day you are strong enough to return.
Her eyes blurred.
At the bottom of the letter was a signature.
*Mara Venn.*
But beneath it, another name had been written in a different hand.
*Princess Liora Eleanor Vale.*
Elia stared.
Liora.
Her mother had named her Liora.
Someone else had changed her name before Mara ever carried her away.
Footsteps sounded behind her.
She turned.
A shadow stood at the chapel entrance.
“Don't move,” a woman's voice commanded.
Elia rose slowly.
The stranger stepped into the candlelight.
She was elderly, dressed in a dark traveling cloak, with silver hair tied beneath a hood.
In her hand she held a small pistol.
Elia's eyes widened.
“Who are you?””
The woman lowered the weapon slightly.
“My name is Margaret Vale.””
Elia recognized the name from the royal birth records.
The former royal midwife.
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
“I delivered you seventeen years ago.””
Elia clutched the letter.
“Then tell me the truth.””
Margaret looked toward the chapel doors.
“I will.””
She took one trembling step forward.
“But first, you must understand something. The queen was never supposed to lose only one daughter.””
Elia's heart pounded.
“What are you saying?””
Margaret's voice broke.
“The night you were taken, someone came back for the other two.””
Before Elia could respond, a crossbow bolt struck the stone wall beside Margaret's head.
The old woman screamed.
A second figure appeared behind her.
May you like
And this time, Elia recognized the royal crest embroidered on his cloak.
It belonged to the palace guard.
