Chapter 4 - The Shadow of House Valmont
The Council Chambers were vast, cold, and illuminated only by the flickering glow of tallow torches.
Ella sat upon an upholstered oak chair, her dusty apron still covering her faded servant dress.
Captain Nathan stood guard at the heavy iron-reinforced doors, his hand never leaving his weapon.
Through the narrow stained-glass windows, Ella could see torches moving frantically across the palace courtyards.
The news of the glass slipper had already spilled beyond the ballroom walls into the city streets.
The common people, who had suffered under Beatrice's heavy taxation, were gathering at the gates.
Adrian entered the chamber swiftly, closing the heavy doors behind him to seal out the growing noise.
He removed his ceremonial military jacket, tossing it onto the long oak council table with a sigh.
Beneath the royal jacket, his white linen shirt was damp with sweat from the immense tension.
"Are you harmed, Ella?" he asked, walking directly toward her with genuine concern in his eyes.
"I am unhurt, Your Highness," Ella replied softly, looking down at the glowing glass slipper on her foot.
"Please, call me Adrian," he said, pulling up a wooden chair and sitting directly across from her.
"For twenty years, I believed you were ashes scattered across the palace gardens," he admitted quietly.
"Why did you not search for me if you knew I survived the fire?" Ella asked, her voice laced with pain.
"I was an eight-year-old boy whose mother had just been murdered," Adrian said, his jaw tightening.
"Lady Beatrice controlled the Royal Guard, the treasury, and every whisper inside these limestone walls."
He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees as he looked into her familiar hazel eyes.
"If I had asked about a surviving child, Beatrice would have found you in the kitchens and slit your throat."
"So you waited?" Ella asked, realizing the terrifying burden the young prince had carried alone.
"I waited until I came of age, until I secured the loyalty of Captain Nathan and the border regiments."
Adrian gestured toward the glass slipper that continued to pulse with gentle, living light upon her foot.
"The ancient slipper was kept inside Queen Eleanor's private tomb beneath three enchanted locks."
"I stole the key last night and brought it to the ballroom under the guise of finding a noble bride."
Ella’s hazel eyes widened as she grasped the dangerous game Adrian had played with the court.
"You never intended to marry any of those noblewomen," Ella realized, her voice barely a whisper.
"Not a single one," Adrian confirmed with a faint, rare smile touching his handsome features.
"I knew the legend of House Eldoria: the glass slipper only bends to the direct bloodline of the founder."
"I knew that if Eleanor's daughter still drew breath anywhere in this castle, the shoe would reveal her."
"And what if I had never stepped forward?" Ella asked, remembering the terrible fear she had felt.
"I saw you standing in the shadows by the servant entrance," Adrian confessed, his gaze turning tender.
"I saw your eyes when the others failed, and I prayed to every ancient god that you would have the courage."
Before Ella could answer, a soft, scraping sound echoed from the high stone balcony above the chamber.
Captain Nathan’s eyes widened as his seasoned instincts detected the subtle shift in the air.
"Ambush! Down!" Nathan roared, drawing his heavy broadsword with lightning speed.
A black-feathered crossbow bolt shattered the stained-glass window, whistling through the empty space.
The lethal iron projectile embedded itself deep into the back of the oak chair where Ella had just sat.
Adrian threw his body over Ella, slamming her down onto the cold stone floor beneath the table.
Three figures dressed in midnight-black leather dropped from the vaulted rafters with drawn daggers.
They bore no royal insignia, but their poisoned blades gleamed with the deadly green tint of House Valmont.
Lady Beatrice had sent her personal assassins to ensure the true queen never saw the light of dawn.
Nathan charged the first assassin, parrying a vicious dagger thrust with the flat of his heavy blade.
With a brutal sweep of his armored boot, Nathan broke the assassin's knee and drove him to the ground.
The remaining two killers ignored the captain, lunging directly toward the council table to butcher Ella.
Adrian kicked the heavy oak chair violently into the path of the nearest attacker, throwing him off balance.
He drew the ceremonial short sword from his belt, his eyes blazing with ferocious, protective rage.
The assassin lunged with a venomous thrust aimed straight at Ella's unprotected throat.
Ella rolled across the stone floor, her foot kicking instinctively upward with incredible force.
The glass slipper struck the assassin's forearm with the impossible hardness of reinforced diamond.
A sickening crunch echoed through the room as the killer's arm bone shattered under the impact.
The assassin screamed in agony, dropping his poisoned blade onto the cold flagstones.
Adrian capitalized instantly, delivering a crushing blow with the pommel of his sword to the killer's skull.
The assassin collapsed into a lifeless heap upon the floor as Nathan ran the third attacker through.
Heavy silence returned to the Council Chambers, broken only by the ragged breathing of the survivors.
Adrian turned quickly to Ella, pulling her up from the floor and inspecting her for any injuries.
"She is trying to butcher us before the High Council convenes at dawn," Adrian breathed, his eyes dark.
May you like
"Then we do not wait for dawn," Ella said, her hazel eyes burning with fierce, unyielding resolve.
The meek servant girl who had scrubbed floors was gone, replaced by a daughter ready to reclaim her birthright.
