The Truth About Lies (An Inheritance Cycle Fanfiction)

Family Reunion

At the end of the hall was a massive door of stone, carved with intricate scenes of dragons and their Riders, and runes that I didn't recognize. Four guards—two on each side—stood flanking the huge door with spears. The pale man stopped in front of the door briefly, waited a moment, and then the huge door began to move, swinging outward towards us. It creaked and groaned as the stone scraped against the wall, and then was open enough for us to walk through. If I had to guess, I would think that the door was three times my height. Inside, the room was even more massive. The top of the ceiling was shrouded in darkness, it was so tall. The length of the throne room must have been at least a hundred yards, and at the head of the room stood a huge throne in the shape of dragon's wings. They were spread above the obsidian seat, reaching to the dark heavens above, and tipped with silver spikes. The legs of the chair were in the shape of dragon legs, complete with silver-taloned paws. And upon the chair, crowned with a coronet in the shapes of talons that curved towards his head, was my father. We came closer and then finally the pale man stood before the raised dais that the throne sat upon. He kneeled at the feet of the king, but I remained standing, glaring at my father in angry defiance.

He was not at all as I envisioned him. I'd expected him to be a gnarled, cruel old man with greying hair. But instead, before me sat a man whom I wouldn't have thought to be past forty at first glance, with black hair that reached to his collar and a well-maintained goatee and mustache peppered with only the slightest of grey. But his eyes... they betrayed his age more than anything else. They were dark, nearly as black as his hair, and full of cruelty and knowledge. His stare sent involuntary shivers up and down my spine.

"Princess Tabatha," he crooned, his voice deceptively warm and inviting. The pale man stood and then turned to walk past me, taking up a spot by the huge stone door at the front of the throne room.

"Father," I growled hatefully, finding it very hard to retain my composure. I had long feared this day would come, and now that it had, every way I had imagined it would be had turned out to be completely wrong.

"It is so wonderful to have my loving daughter home from her studies in the south," he said. A small smirk played at his lips as he fingered the hilt of his sword where he held it, the point resting on the marble at his feet.

"So that is the guise you conjured up? That I've been away studying for the past seventeen years?" My voice echoed eerily in the chamber, betraying the hatred I was trying to quell.

"Of course not," he laughed. "You lived here in the castle until your fifth birthday, and then went away for private schooling in Kuasta, at the behest of my advisors. I was heartbroken, of course, but now it is time for you to return to your rightful place at my side."

"So it was a double then," I sneered. How had he managed to fool all of those people? Not to mention keeping the fact that he had a daughter a secret from nearly everyone...

"It was not difficult. There were only a select few who were even aware of your existence after your birth; my advisor, Galion, being one of them." He gestured to the pale man where he stood at the back of the hall. "And with a few simple spells, I was able to change the child's eye color to match your own. The deception passed, but I knew I'd have to come up with something to get rid of her." He leaned against the back of the throne nonchalantly, resting his chin on a clenched fist. "But now you are returned to me, and ready to learn how to rule."

"What makes you think I would ever join you?" I demanded hotly, stepping a little closer to the dais. Galbatorix glanced back at the pale man, Galion.

"Leave us!" he barked. I turned to see Galion bowing deeply and then exiting back through the stone door. The sound it made as it closed echoed hollowly in the throne room and then disappeared altogether, leaving only silence. I turned back to the king and waited for him to continue. He leaned forward slightly to stare at me, inspecting every inch of my face. "You look very much like your mother," he said quietly.