TruthStone Read online

  Then Lord Gregory walked over to join the prince and regent. He leaned over and whispered a few brief words to Prince Basil. The prince took a quick glance in Shaeleen’s direction but, besides that, didn’t say anything else.

  “Ladies,” Lord Gregory said, giving a quick bow, “I am sorry to have interrupted your meeting.” With that, he headed back out the same door he had entered from.

  “Lady Judith,” the prince said, “it looks like our meeting will have to be cut short today. However, I do have an event I would like you to organize for me.”

  Lady Judith leaned in closer. “Yes, my prince, of course. Anything for you.”

  Shaeleen felt pain once again but kept her face straight. She was getting better at holding things in. She knew, however, that she would pay for it later.

  “I am concerned about the growing numbers of poor in the city,” Prince Basil continued. “I would like for you to organize a charity event to help raise money and bring in clothes for these people. My steward will help you find a suitable place to hold it.”

  Lady Judith’s eyes bulged wide. Lady Bernia and Lady Florence looked taken aback as well.

  “But, my lord, your betrothal?” Lady Judith said. “We should be working on that occasion,” the woman sputtered.

  “All in good time.” Prince Basil smiled widely, almost as if enjoying Lady Judith’s discomfort. “I expect that, with your extreme connections and resources, something should be organized within the next two weeks.”

  “Two weeks?” Lady Judith looked like she was about to faint.

  “Do you not have the resources to pull that off, Lady Judith?” the regent asked. “Maybe we should find someone else to play such a vital role in the city.”

  Shaeleen smiled at how they were playing on the woman’s own vanity to get something good done. Lady Judith was stuck, and she knew it.

  Smiling sweetly, she just shook her head. “No, no,” Lady Judith said. “That will be fine as long as Clarise and Shaeleen here are able to help us.”

  “I would appreciate seeing what Lady Clarise can do with this occasion,” the prince said. “This will be great training for you.” The prince turned to Clarise. “I, myself, and a few of my friends will attend as well.”

  Clarise blushed at the implication that maybe one of the prince’s friends would be a possible suitor for her.

  “But,” the prince continued, “I am afraid that Lady Shaeleen will be busy. I have a few things for her to do myself.”

  “L-Lady Shaeleen?” Lady Judith stammered, apparently appalled that the prince had referred to Shaeleen as a lady.

  Shaeleen was also surprised by this and raised her eyebrows at him. The prince smiled and crooked his fingers to motion her forward. Shaeleen glanced at Lady Judith, who looked livid. But there was nothing the woman could do at the moment.

  “Miss Shaeleen,” the prince said as he bobbed his head toward her. “I have noticed you’re not feeling too well this morning. Are you well enough to join me for a few moments? I have something to ask of you.”

  Shaeleen nodded her head. “I am better now, my lord.” She really was, for no lies had been told for the last few moments of the conversation, though she knew she still held the previous pain inside.

  The prince waved his hand toward Lady Judith. “Thank you again for visiting me today, ladies. I’m so glad you are able to help me with serving the poor of the city. It means a lot to me. I will make sure Miss Shaeleen gets back home safely.”

  A steward was motioned to come and show the other women out. Before exiting the room, Lady Judith turned her head and shot Shaeleen daggers with her eyes.

  Shaeleen let out a long breath. “That woman is insufferable,” she muttered under her breath.

  The prince laughed. “That is the truth, isn’t it?” His intelligent eyes held on to hers. “But she is one of my people, just the same.”

  Shaeleen was sure his comment about the truth referred to her TruthSeer abilities. She wondered what he wanted with her.

  A servant came forward at the beckoning of the prince.

  “Please let Miss Shaeleen freshen up first and then show her to my smaller meeting room. Then go and fetch her brother, who is outside with the next group, and have him join us also.”

  Shaeleen looked from the servant to the prince. Her eyes went wide, and she couldn’t find her words.

  “That is your brother out there—Cole, I believe—isn’t it?” The prince smiled. “I know you wouldn’t lie to me.”

  She shook her head. He knows. Prince Basil knows about me. She became lightheaded and knew that she didn’t have much longer until she’d become sick; this time from worry rather than lies.

  The prince seemed to understand and motioned for his servant to take her to the nearest privy.

  CHAPTER TEN

  About fifteen minutes later, Shaeleen sat in a more private room, on the edge of the red velvet cushion of a chair. For the moment, she was all alone. After vomiting and then freshening herself up, she’d let the servant lead her into this room. He had left a few small sweet cakes on a tray, along with some juice.

  At first, Shaeleen didn’t feel like eating anything, but soon her curiosity got the better of her. She stood up and walked to where the tray sat on a shiny maple table, pausing to glance out of an enormous window. She pushed the long rose curtains out of the way and looked outside. The crystal waters of the Bay of Jalen were extraordinarily clear today. She took a moment to admire the view before picking up a small sweet cake.

  Shaeleen had just taken a bite when the door opened. She tried to chew quickly but was caught with the bite of cake in her mouth.

  Her brother walked inside with the same servant that had brought her in. At first, Cole’s face was serious as his eyes darted around the room. But, seeing Shaeleen with her mouth full and the rest of the cake in her hand, the corner of his lips curled up.

  “Can’t stay away from the sweets, can you, dear Sister?”

  Shaeleen gave him a mock glare. “You should try one. They are really, really tasty.”

  Cole laughed.

  “The prince will see you in a few minutes,” the servant said. “Make yourself comfortable.”

  The servant closed the door behind himself, and Cole came closer to Shaeleen. She offered him a sweet cake, but he turned it down. He continued walking the room, surveying it carefully.

  “What have you done now, Shae?” He turned and looked at her seriously.

  “Me?” Shaeleen said, licking the sugar off her fingers. She was tempted to take another, but she refrained. She didn’t want sticky fingers to greet the prince with. “Why do you think I’ve done something?”

  “Because you always do something,” Cole said. “And, ever since you found that stone—”

  “Cole!” Shaeleen said, cutting him off. “Don’t talk about that.” She looked around the room, feeling as if someone could be spying on them. For all she knew, someone could be.

  The door opened behind them, and in walked the prince, all by himself. Shaeleen was surprised to not see any servants or guards with him.

  He must have felt her questioning stare, for he asked, “Do I need protection from either of you?”

  Cole bowed deeply and formally, saying, “My prince, you have nothing to fear from either of us.” He stood up and glanced at Shaeleen, giving her a look to warn her not to make trouble.

  “Please sit down.” Prince Basil motioned to the chairs. “This is to be an informal meeting. I am among friends, aren’t I?” His smile was wide and warm, the dimple in his right cheek grabbing Shaeleen’s attention.

  Shaeleen sat and then looked from Cole to the prince. “I have heard nothing yet that would make me think otherwise, my lord.”

  Prince Basil barked out a short laugh. “My, you are a complicated woman, aren’t you?”

  “You have no idea,” Cole mumbled. Then, after realizing what he had just done, he spoke his apology. “I’m so sorry, my prince.”

  “No n
eed. I have some questions for your sister,” Prince Basil said. “And it wouldn’t be seemly for me to meet with her alone, would it?”

  Cole nodded his head. “No, sir, it would not.”

  “Cole, I can see honor means a lot to you,” the prince said, “so I will ask that anything we discuss here today does not go any farther than the two of you.”

  Cole stood up. “Of course, my prince. I am a faithful servant of Galena.”

  “Please sit down,” Prince Basil said. Then he turned to Shaeleen. “And you, Shaeleen, will you protect the words that are said here?”

  Shaeleen took a deep breath. Was the prince really this careful with his words? Or, was he trying to trick them into something? He was smart—she could tell that. But she also didn’t hear any lies…yet. She decided to venture out a bit.

  “As long as you are truthful,” she said, “you have no worries from me.”

  “Shae,” Cole whispered. “He is the prince.”

  Prince Basil smiled. “That’s fine, Cole. I see that your sister is a little more loose with her tongue than you are. I find it refreshing. You have no idea how careful everyone treads around me all the time. It can get exhausting.”

  The prince stopped talking, seemed to grow a bit more serious, and then stood up. Shaeleen and Cole sat stiffly for a moment, awaiting his words. Then Shaeleen glanced around the room. It had a small desk, a grouping of chairs around a table, where they sat, and a bookcase full of books on a far wall. It was to this bookcase that the prince now walked. Putting a hand on a book, he glanced back at the two of them for a moment—as if deciding whether to go ahead with his actions or not.

  Pulling three books out from the shelf, the prince put his hand back inside the bookcase. Then Shaeleen heard a soft click, and a portion of the case swung outward, revealing a small, two-foot-wide cupboard. It had some type of lock on it. The prince produced a key, from a chain that hung inside his shirt, and used it to open the cupboard.

  Shaeleen couldn’t sit still any longer. She stood up and took two steps toward the prince. But Cole reached his hand up and grabbed her arm.

  “Shae, wait here.”

  “But I can’t see what Basil is doing.” Shaeleen tried to pull her arm away from her brother.

  “Prince Basil,” Cole said. “You have to call him Prince.”

  Shaeleen succeeded in pulling her arm away from Cole and then continued walking forward. She heard Cole get up and follow her over.

  “Shae!” Cole said one more time, trying to get her back to her seat.

  Then Prince Basil turned around. In his hand was a small, black-velvet pouch. He looked from Cole to Shaeleen and said, “Shaeleen is fine. She is drawn to it, aren’t you?”

  Shaeleen felt something stir inside of her. The only other time she’d felt that was when the old keeper, Melindra, had first given her the stone in the marketplace. Shaeleen found that her hand was resting on the TruthStone in her pocket. It was growing warmer as her other hand reached out toward the pouch.

  Prince Basil smiled widely. “You want what is in the pouch, Shaeleen?”

  Cole stepped up between the two, in a defensive posture. He glanced from Shaeleen to the prince and then back again.

  Shaeleen glanced at her brother and said, “It’s fine, Cole.”

  The prince untied the velvet pouch and put his hand inside it. Slowly, with a sly grin on his lips, he pulled his hand back out, and a dark blue light began to glow around his hand.

  Cole and Shaeleen gasped.

  “It’s Labradorite,” Shaeleen whispered. “The IntelligenceStone!”

  Without thinking about it first, Shaeleen brought her hand out of her pocket, holding the TruthStone inside it. A bright green glow flew out between her fingers. The green glow grew larger and moved toward the prince. It surrounded his hand and melded with the blue light—creating a type of surreal, ethereal light of cyan hue—almost the color she had seen in the bay minutes earlier.

  Shaeleen felt power course through her veins, bringing with it not just truth but intelligence, knowledge, and pure adrenaline.

  “Open it!” she told the prince in a commanding voice.

  Her brother, standing still next to her, gasped out loud at her audacity in commanding the prince.

  But Shaeleen knew that—in this moment, in this power—somehow she was the prince’s superior. It felt wrong to think that way, but it was the truth!

  Prince Basil opened his hand slowly, and there in the middle sat a small, bluish stone with black cracks running through it.

  “It’s so small,” Shaeleen said, “barely bigger than a large pea.”

  Prince Basil nodded, a sad look in his eyes as he glanced up at the two siblings. “It is all that is left. After two hundred years, what had started off the size of a melon—so I have heard—is almost gone now. Bits and pieces were shared with others through the years, given for bravery or bribes, for help or hurt. Its effects are now washed weakly through the blood of many in Galena.”

  The prince continued as he watched Cole intently, “I sense that you have more than your share. I do not know why. Maybe it is to help protect the stone Shaeleen now holds in her hand. Both of you share the lighter eyes of the people in Verlyn—maybe their blood flows through your veins more purely than through mine.”

  Shaeleen’s fist was still closed around her stone. She gazed intently into Prince Basil’s eyes and saw his unspoken request. Then she opened her hand widely, and there on her open palm sat a priceless, egg-sized stone of Moldavite. As Shaeleen concentrated on it, the stone suddenly floated up above her hand and gradually spun around, sending its luminous green rays of power throughout the prince’s private office.

  “It is so much!” the prince said. “How do you stand the lies, the pain it must bring?”

  “I am learning,” Shaeleen admitted.

  “My stone calls to you, doesn’t it?” the prince asked.

  Shaeleen felt tears stinging at the edges of her eyes. “It does.”

  “What do you mean?” Cole asked, his first words in a while. “I don’t understand.”

  The prince held his stone out to Shaeleen.

  “No. No. No.” Shaeleen shook her head. “I can’t take it from you. It’s all you have left.”

  “And that’s why you must take it. It is yours, as it has been promised.”

  “Promised?” Cole asked.

  “For years, we who have held the stones in the royal families have known that one day a TruthStone would emerge and call all the other stones to it. The holder of that TruthStone would be a powerful TruthSeer—one that would hold precedence over all other stones. That day would be an awakening of the truth, a time for Wayland to be refreshed.”

  This is too much for me. She wiped the tears from her eyes and glanced down. The stone had settled back down into her upturned palm.

  As Prince Basil moved his hand closer to hers, the cyan light around their hands brightened. With obvious difficulty and emotion, he dumped the small IntelligenceStone onto the open palm of her hand. And the TruthStone absorbed it into itself, growing slightly bigger as it did.

  “Is it supposed to do that?” Cole asked.

  Shaeleen turned to him and shrugged. “I don’t know, Cole. I don’t know about any of this.” Tears flowed freely from her eyes, running down her cheeks.

  The prince put an arm around Shaeleen and ushered her and Cole back to their chairs. Before sitting down, he wrapped his hand around Shaeleen’s, closing her fingers back around the TruthStone. The light faded into itself, and soon the glow was gone altogether.

  Prince Basil handed Shaeleen the velvet bag he still held in his other hand. “Put the stone in this. It will protect the stone from prying eyes.”

  Shaeleen must have looked surprised at this direction, but she did as she was bidden. Then she put the pouch into a hidden pocket in her dress.

  “The pouch is protected. Keep the stone in there whenever you can,” Prince Basil instructed. “There are others w
ho will want to take it.”

  Shaeleen leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes for a moment. She could still feel the euphoria of both stones, but the power was receding now, becoming only a faint presence in the back of her mind.

  After a long, quiet moment, she opened her eyes back up.

  “How did you know about me?” Shaeleen asked the prince. “No one knew, except for Cole.”

  “As the keeper of the IntelligenceStone, I could tell you were pained by the lies. I know that Galena’s own TruthSeer is with my brother and my mother in North Bay. Lately, it had become too painful for her to stay here—I do not know why. But there is only one TruthSeer per kingdom. So, when I saw you, I knew you must be the prophesied one.”

  Shaeleen nodded, then smiled. “What do I do now?”

  The prince seemed to turn serious before continuing. “For now, I’m afraid we must keep your status a secret. But I do have a favor to ask of you—an errand for me, if you will.”

  Shaeleen nodded for the prince to continue.

  “I need you to go to North Bay and see what my brother is up to in person.”

  “Sir,” Cole jumped in. “Shaeleen is only a young woman. How will she defend herself? How will she know what to do?”

  The prince put his right hand up to quiet Cole. “That is why you will be going with her.”

  Cole’s eyes opened wide, but he kept his mouth closed.

  Prince Basil’s eyes grew dark. “My brother is stirring up trouble. I will be betrothed on my birthday and become king. But he wants to destroy me. He wants my crown, but it’s not his to have.”

  Pain erupted in Shaeleen’s gut and exploded behind her eyes, more excruciating than any she had ever felt before. She leaned over, putting her head in her hands, and tried to breathe. She tried to push the pain away, but it was too much. The stupid TruthStone is trying to kill me.