Shadows in the Trees: Book 1

Chapter 31

Damon rubbed his eyes, trying to focus on The Treatise of War  he was attempting to read. His armchair was comfortable, and the text was so tedious that he was struggling to stay focused. His armchair stood by the fire, flanked by an ottoman and a side table. He fell asleep there often, as he didn't like to do work at his desk. As a result, his desk was occupied by his ivory chess set, a birthday gift he had received when he turned ten. His father had spent hours teaching him to play and practicing with him. He looked out of the window next to the fire. Night had fallen, and a full moon hung above Ludovic, its pale light casting a ghoulish glow on the buildings. He couldn't settle his mind; he knew if he tried to sleep he would simply toss and turn. Usually, talking to his father calmed his thoughts enough to sleep, as the king was often awake well into the night. 

Damon put the treatise on his side table and slid into his silk slippers and fleece robe. He stepped into the hall, nodding to the two guards who stood outside his door. He walked down the hall, following the blue floor runner with gold trim to the staircase. The castle was silent, the only sound the occasional footsteps of a guard making their rounds. Damon sighed. Without Julian's parties, the castle had been rather quiet. 

He reached the large, carved wooden doors of his father's office and raised his hand to knock, but hesitated when he heard a woman's laugh from inside. He supposed it had been several years since the plague took his mother; it was natural for his father to move on, to seek companionship. But still, the thought of his father looking at another woman with the same tenderness he looked at his mother with made his stomach turn. 

He didn't want to interrupt, but he was curious as to who this woman was. A widowed noblewoman, perhaps? Damon couldn't picture his father with a maiden, or with a servant woman. He knocked tentatively, and he heard scuffling before his father opened the door. 

"Damon," his father said, looking . . . nervous? Damon had never seen him this way before. 

"I'm sorry, Father, I -- I couldn't sleep, and well."

"Of course, of course," his father said, waving him in. "Come in, please." 

Damon stepped into the study, searching for the mysterious woman. But the armchairs by the fire were empty, and no one seemed to be lurking in the shadows gathered near the bookshelves and statues that lined the walls. He hoped some poor woman wasn't crouching beneath his father's large desk. 

"What can I do for you?" Wilhelm asked, taking a seat in one of the arm chairs. Damon sat in the chair next to him. He thought he smelled something vaguely flowery, something he thought was familiar, but he pushed the thought aside. 

"I just . . . I can't stop thinking about Julian. I feel --" 

"Son, I told you, you can't feel guilt for that. What happened is no one's fault," he said, a little too loudly. Damon looked around, but no one seemed to be there. 

"But Father, I thought you said --" 

"No one could have known that Julian would be so foolish. He was just so enthralled with that silly Princess and her costumes and her wiles." 

"Father, what --"

"Son, there's something I have to tell you."

Damon stopped his protests. "What is it, Father?" He had never seen his father act this way, and it was scaring him. 

"I . . . your . . ." Wilhelm stuttered. Damon gaped at him, fear pooling in his stomach. "I don't know how to tell you. I'll just . . . show you, I suppose." 

"What are you talking about? What's going on?" Damon asked, standing up. His father went to the bookcase to the left of the fireplace and pulled a book down. The bookcase swung open, and Damon gasped. "Father, why is there a secret staircase in your study?" He shook his head. "I can't believe I just said the words secret staircase. I mean --" 

Someone was coming up the staircase just inside the secret entrance. The sconces along the wall gave little light, but enough to tell that it was a woman. Her skirts swished as she climbed the stairs. He thought he recognized something about the way she moved, but he wasn't sure. 

When she came through the door and stepped into the light, Damon felt his knees go weak. He blinked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. 

"Mother?"