Page 59 of The Cerise

“What about our kingdom? Do you know what lies on our borders?”

I shake my head. “No. I’ve never traveled that far.”

“Where have you visited?”

I let out a deep breath and try to remember all the places Mom brought me. There were so many villages. Towns I’d never heard of and others that are still talked about for trade. We never followed a map but wedid stay on the trails, which is how I was able to discover some of where we went after I moved in with Sutherland. “This is my first time in Central Arcane. Divale is in the Western region, and I’ve been to the Eastern territories, but that’s all.”

“So, you never explored the Great North?”

Didn’t I just say that?I shake my head.

Vidya bends over and flips through the pages of the book. “Before Harold Farbow was invited into Arcane, these lands were rumored to belong to the Daughters of Legend. One Regent Cerise at each point.” She opens it to a hand-drawn map as old as the sun and points to each region: North, East, South, and West. “Each Daughter was rumored to have a gift of the elements: Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. They were masters of their element, living peacefully within their corners of Arcane. During each month’s full moon, they would travel to Central Arcane. Here.” She taps a spot near the middle of the map. “To renew their powers and thank the Goddesses for their gifts. But in time, one of the Daughters grew envious of her sisters. She wasn’t happy with having the power of one element. She wanted more, so she went searching for other Creatures.”

“What kind of Creatures?” I ask.

“Something that should never have been summoned. The kind that fed on the souls of others. She offered her body as a vessel to the Creature under the promise it would give her the power to control others, but the influence of the Creature corrupted her. She formed an army to overthrow her sisters by offering innocents their heart’s desires—but at a painful cost. By the time the mortals realized what their bargain required, it was too late. Their minds, bodies, and souls belong to her and the Creature both.”

“How is that possible?”

“The Creatures use the mortal’s bodies as vessels. The Daughter of Legend transformed them from phantasms that could only feed off of energy into monsters who thrived off of blood and could reproduce by the venom in their bite. In return, they massacred villages at her command.”

I try to hide my shock and Vidya chuckles. “So, you do know these creatures.”

“No,” I lie, unable to deny the parallels between the curse Mom waschasing, the one Ezra suffers from, and this one. “I just can’t believe there’s things out there that would feed on other people.”

“Very few Creatures of Legend are warm and fuzzy. Most want to rip your heart out, which is why the Daughters invited King Farbow into Arcane. He had an army at his disposal and their people were helpless. He put a bounty on the Creatures’ heads and slaughtered every bloodthirsty devil until they went into hiding. The Daughters agreed to let King Farbow rule their lands so long as they could live peacefully beneath the blanket of his protection.”

“If this happened more than three generations ago, why wait until my lifetime to put a bounty on the Cerise? What happened to their alliance?”

“Valid question,” Vidya muses. “One I don’t have the answers to, but this is a library. I recommend you spend some time learning the history of our kingdom while you can. It tends to repeat itself when forgotten.” She pauses and stares at me, an unspoken thought hanging on her lips. “I must warn you, the walls are warded. Once a book is brought in, only its true owner can remove it. One of the many ways King Travers ensures information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

That’s problematic. Hopefully, the spell will recognize I’m my mother’s daughter and let me take her book. I don’t want to be detained or implicated because I was forced to read in here. “My guard explicitly said the library was off-limits. What if someone catches me in here reading?”

“Do you know what this place is?” Vidya asks, ignoring my question. She holds her hands out and gestures to the room.

“The library?”

A wrinkle forms between her brows and her lips purse together. Her frustration lasts less than a heartbeat and it’s the first sign of emotion I’ve seen on her face since I arrived. “Think bigger. Knowing your mother, she taught you not to stay within the confines of what you see.”

She’s right. Mom always said the world was painted in more colors than black and white. I just need to look to see them. For someone who claimed not to be my mother’s friend, Vidya seems to know her fairly well. “We’re in the castle.”

“Bigger.”

“Okay.” I hesitate and try to think of what Mom would say. This isn’t any castle; it’s King Travers’s primary home. The one Queen Aemi died in.But Vidya wants me to think bigger, beyond the stone walls of this home. “We’re in Central Arcane.”

“Precisely! We are in the heart of the Cerise Kingdom.” Vidya taps the map again. “This is where the Daughters of Legend went to thank the Goddesses for their powers. This is their magical nexus, where anything and everything is possible. Or so the legends say.”

“How is any of this going to help me be queen?” I ask because isn’t that the point of these lessons? To ensure I’m ready to ascend the throne?

“A queen must understand all threats to the crown, even when the king himself refuses to acknowledge their potency.” Vidya closes the book and hands it to me. “We have forty-five minutes left of our session. It is your responsibility to read this book before we meet again tomorrow.”

“The whole book?” I ask, my eyebrows jumping.

“If possible, yes. I’ll let the commander know where you are so that when the soldiers switch shifts, they know where to find you.”

“Actually,” I say as calmly as I can. I need to handle Graves but until I can kill him without getting caught, I can’t risk being alone with him. Especially not in a room where he can lock the door. “I’d prefer if you didn’t.”

Vidya clasps her hands in front of her, those dark eyes probing for an explanation. The truth will damn me as quickly as a hasty lie. I try to think, quickly looking for a middle ground I won’t trip over later.

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