Page 50 of Queen Takes Rook
“This way, Your Majesty.” Magnum led us down a short hallway to an imposing twelve-foot-tall wooden door. Fanciful animals were carved on its surface, including dragons, gryphons, and even a phoenix rising from the flames. “I hope you will find it satisfactory.”
She pushed the heavy door open, and even though I was prepared for grandeur, my jaw still dropped in awe. Most of the ceiling was a giant skylight, illuminating the entire room in soft light to frame a massive bed that was only slightly smaller than my custom bed at home. The marble floors were warm golden honey inlaid with large onyx circles. As in the other rooms, the walls were mostly glass.
Racks of clothes waited for us to examine, even more than I imagined. Daire dived in with a whoop.
Magnum walked over to another set of doors. “Your sauna, whirlpool, and master bathroom, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you, Magnum. The suite is lovely.”
“You’re most welcome, Your Majesty. This home has been languishing for more than twenty years waiting for our lost queen to return.”
I turned back to search her face. “I’ve only been lost five years.”
Her face blanked, like everyone when they thought of my mother, but her throat worked, each word forced out like she’d swallowed something thick. “A woman. Beautiful. Dark hair, like yours. Her mocha skin glowed like she’d swallowed the moon. She owned this house and oversaw every single renovation herself. I knew her well, though I can’t seem to remember her name. Do you know her?”
My eyes blurred with tears and I nodded.Esetta Isador. My mother. “Yes.”
“She said this house was to be her daughter’s sanctuary away from home, a place of safety and joy in the midst of danger and sadness.” Magnum cleared her throat, her eyes as teary as mine. “She was heavily pregnant the last time she came. When she left… she was not.”
“I was born here,” I whispered, my eyes flying wide. “Where? Could you show me?”
“Of course.” She led us back out to the elevator and a second massive door, though this one was ebony wood carved in snakes and a large tyet, knot of Isis. “Most of this unit was absorbed into the other, except for this one room. She was the last to enter this room. When she left, she ordered that no one enter it until the lost queen returned. I have kept the door locked ever since.”
She held out an antique, large key made of iron. My fingers trembled as I took it and inserted it into the lock.
“Should we wait outside for you?” Rik asked.
I shook my head. “No. You’re as much a part of this as I am. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it here.”
Even though the door hadn’t been opened in decades, the lock clicked smoothly, and I pushed the heavy door open. A single light flickered on automatically, but the room was still so dark that I could barely make out anything but black marble veined in gold and a small pool built into the floor.
Rik jerked his head, and Mehen, Guillaume, and Nevarre entered the room first, though I wasn’t far behind. The room didn’t have any windows, so nothing could have gotten inside. Very much like how I’d grown up, hidden from the monsters.
Magnum hovered outside the room. I gestured her inside with us. “Was she here long?”
“Many times over the years for renovations. Then usually a few days around Samhain. The last time I saw her, she arrived in late September and stayed through the first of November.”
My birthday.
My heart ached so badly I couldn’t breathe. “Did she leave me here? Or take me with her?”
“Another woman arrived, her sister, I believe, but she came and left in secrecy. I never spoke to her or knew her name. She stayed only one night and left with the baby. I never saw her again.” Magnum cried silently, fat tears trickling down her cheeks. “I heard…” Her voice broke and she turned aside, averting her face. “Sobbing. All night, after her sister left. And the next morning she left, alone, and I never saw her again. She looked shockingly weak and pale, but she wouldn’t allow me to call for help. She whispered something, and I fell asleep. When I awoke, she was gone, as well as most of my memory.”
My poor mother. She had given me to her sister immediately, and then left.
To die alone.
I squeezed my eyes shut.Oh, Mother. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have known you.
“Shara, you need to see this.” Guillaume’s reverent voice drew me to him against the far wall.
From a distance, it looked like the wall had been papered, but up close, I realized it was actual hand-painted papyrus. Painted by my mother, in her own hand.
Her last words to me.
“I need more light.”
“Here.” Magnum hit a switch and rows of lights clicked on all around the room to illuminate all four walls, each painstakingly covered in papyrus and hieroglyphics.
