Read A Royal Rebellion for Free Online Page B

her hair falling from its immaculate coif. Her skirts were heavy, the corset too tight, and her limbs trembled, and she yanked fruitlessly at the bottom drawer, the old wooden antique momentarily defeating her. It opened with a snap, and she tumbled backwards, falling on her rear with an undignified squawk. The drawers and its contents spilled across the ancient rug, and Arianna struggled to right herself.
    Her right hand landed on something cool and hard, and she stopped, looking down and wondering what it was.
    A key, as long as her hand, heavy and made of either copper or brass, shiny and old. She peered at it, and the style was reminiscent of a century past. The end of the key held an emblem, and she tilted it back and forth, thinking it was familiar.
    It came to her in a rush, and her mouth opened on a silent ‘oh’. Arianna climbed to her feet, and stared at the mess on the floor and desk in consternation. She wasn’t one for cleaning, and the king could return at any moment. She rushed for the door, tucking her stolen key into her bodice, making sure it was well hidden. It would take Malcolm to find it there.
    She made it back out into the hall, and breathed in relief when she saw no one. Arianna rushed down the hall, and once she hit the main intersection, turned the opposite way she came from originally. There was only place that key would open, with the crest of the Elysian Royal House upon it.
    Her Majesty, once Princess Esme of Elysian, and the late Queen of Cassia, dead these last twenty years. It was her key, and since nothing was in the King’s possession that spoke of the truth, then Arianna would go to the one place where the lies began.
    Maybe with the queen’s key she could unlock the truth. It would be just and proper then, since it was a queen whose first and greatest lie condemned them all.
     
    ***
     
    She was breathless, more from the possibilities than the fast walk through the palace. The late queen’s solarium was as it was the day she died, furniture covered, the books and trinkets and the still present scent of day lilies and roses hanging in the air. It was dust free, as it should be, the servants instructed to clean and little else.
    Arianna hurried through the outer sitting area, heading for the door that would take her to the inner sanctum. The queen’s private bedroom, traditionally where the wife of the king slept when she wasn’t required in her husband’s bed. Such practices died out with the late queen, and Arianna had no intention of sleeping somewhere other than beside her husband. Besides, she had plenty of children…
    Her stomach churned. She stumbled at the door to the old queen’s room, one hand on the panel. The key in her other, staring down at it, dreading. It was on the other side of this door that she might learn the truth.
    Her children would always be hers, and nothing could take from her or change how she felt about them. Yet it was their parentage that was still in question, and so was the line of inheritance. It was the throne and their futures as royals of the Blood that would be taken from them, and all it would take was the truth.
    Arianna approached the final door, the ancient key heavy in her hand. She inserted it into the lock, and after some effort, the lock turned, the door opening with a faint snick. She left the key in the door, and with one hand, pushed it wide. It groaned on its hinges, complaining, dust kicking up as the wood scraped over the uncleaned rug.
    Darkness. The room was fully shuttered, the air stagnant. Dust floated in the air, and her sinuses burned with the desire to sneeze. Putting a hand over her nose and mouth, Arianna took one step in and looked around for a light switch. She found it, and flipped it on, and lights fluttered around the room. A few bulbs popped and went out, but enough stayed on she could see.
    Arianna took in the late queen’s private room. While the outer sitting area had been cleaned, it was obvious this room