Trapped

Chapter 3-2 - The Funeral

April, 2001

Lily notched her flaming arrow carefully, not wanting to ruin the ceremony by missing.

Her shot was true, however, landing in the boat floating in the middle of the lake, setting it alight as intended.

Her companion began to cry next to her, and she wasn't sure what to do.

She felt as if she should be crying too. She might not have known the woman for very long, but she was her heir. It felt strange not to mourn her. But Michael had known her for years. His tears were justified. She just didn't know how to comfort him. The soft-hearted healer wouldn't find peace in promises of vengeance, and she had never gotten the impression that he was overly invested in the Old Queen's quest to return her bloodline to the throne. He had simply tended to her in her failing health.

"I'm sorry," she eventually said simply. "She was a good woman."

"She was," he agreed. "I wish you could have known her better."

"As do I."

Mostly, Lily wished that she could have stayed as a mentor. She had no real idea what she was doing with the immense power she had been given. Take back the throne, she supposed, but to what end? The usurper was dead. News of his demise had reached them just as the Old Queen had died. He had died while he prepared for his son's wedding. There were rumours that an assassin was responsible, but the official word from the crown was that it was a natural occurrence.

Apparently they had combined the coronation ceremony for his son with the wedding. The kingdom had a new king and queen now, and Lily wasn't sure if the war to take the throne back from them was worth it.

If she was entirely honest, Lily's mind was entirely elsewhere. It had been since she had realised that she was the Old Queen's heir. Everyone kept telling her that it was all down to her now. With the Old Queen dead, Lily was the only one of the bloodline left.

All except her sister.

Lily hadn't heard from her since they were children. She assumed that she was dead. Or worse. The usurper wasn't kind to his prisoners.

But now she had resources of her own. She had the Old Queen's network. And, if her sister was alive, the throne belonged to her as much as Lily.

She had to find her...