The Truly Divine

Chapter 12: A Devastating Discovery

Author's Note: I apologize for the long wait!! School has been so crazy, I hardly have time for anything. Thanks so much to everyone who waited & please enjoy!!

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     The tour around the Palace is beyond anything I ever remembered when I was a child. I smile at the warm relationship Brady and Henrik have as they punch and push each other down the lavish corridors of the castle. I walk next to the princess, looking sideways at her beauty.

"Athena, is it impossible for you to not to be a bore?! Eliza will never want to visit the palace again!" Shouts Henrik and he takes off around the corner down another corridor. She rolls her eyes before turning to me to ask, "I am not boring am I?"

Her perfectly sculpted face and amber colored eyes, for a moment look worried, before resolving back to a simply focused contempt.

"No, Princess. You are in every sense the opposite of boring," I smile politely. I burst out laughing when she gives me a sideways glance, "First Eliza, my name is Athena, you may call me that. Secondly, sarcastically complimenting the Princess is still an insult in disguise."

We round the corner to another hall much different than the others. In between every door, instead of paintings of ancestors and previous royal families, mirrors hang. Great grand mirrors from the ceiling to the floors on either side stand luminous as we make our way down.

"Why are there so many mirrors?" I ask Athena curiously.

"They are meant to make the rooms sound proof, this is the Truly Divine Hall, where important meetings and matters are held." She sighs before continuing, "We should not be touring through this part of the palace, regardless of the fact that you and Brady are apart of the Divine families."

Her pace quickens as she tries to catch up to Brady and her brother, who are making a raucous somewhere down the halls. I feel myself stricken with opportunity; this could be my chance to hear something important. I slow my pace, falling behind the Princess as she aggravatingly searches for the boys, sternly whispering their names. I recall the King saying he had 'business matters to attend to' and wonder if him and his men are in one of the rooms right now.

I take to a hidden part of the hallway where the wall dips in and a small table and glass vase stand in place for decoration. How in the world am I supposed to know what room they are in and then get into the room if there is only one entrance? I hear my name called quietly, knowing I am running out of time before they come back down the hall and find me. I lift my hand to ruffle through my mess of blonde hair when my elbow hits the glass vase.

To my surprise the vase does not fall over and crash to the floor, but instead tilts to the side against all gravity. I stare at it in wonder when behind the table I feel a burst of cold air. I turn to see that the wall has disappeared and a small, dimly lit hallway lies in front of me. Without a second thought, I leap through the threshold, causing the door behind me to close. "Idiot!" I panic, wondering how in God's name I am supposed to get out of this place.

Reluctantly I continue down the eerie hallway, hoping this will not have all been for nothing. I shout quietly in victory when I hear the King's booming voice on the other side of the dark grey, brick wall.

"Although this is a state of extreme concern it cannot be released to the public, not yet."

There is a beat of silence before there is a sound of a chair against the floor and a man speaks, "B-but Your Highness, what will we do when we find out who it is...they are our kids."