Chapter 6 - The Passage Beneath the Crown
The tunnel beneath the Vale estate had been built before Bellavere became the capital.
Official maps described it as a collapsed drainage system.
It had not collapsed.
Adrian led the search party through narrow stone corridors lit by guard lanterns. Elara followed despite his objections. Helena followed despite everyone’s objections.
Miriam remained behind with the palace physician.
After twenty minutes, the passage widened.
Iron rails appeared beneath the dust.
“This was a supply route,” Adrian said.
Helena touched the wall.
“It carried more than supplies.”
Elara looked at her mother.
“How many times have you used it?”
“Twice.”
“When?”
“The night your father died. And the night after.”
Adrian stopped.
“Why did you go to the palace?”
“To demand answers from your father.”
“My father was ill during that period.”
“He was not too ill to threaten me.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“What exactly did he say?”
“That if Marcus’s evidence became public, Elara would be charged with treason as an inheritor of Vale Shipping.”
Elara stared at Helena.
“You never told me.”
“You were a child.”
“I am not a child now.”
“No. Now you are standing in a tunnel with the son of the man who destroyed your father.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“I was twenty when Marcus Vale died. I had no knowledge of Crownfall.”
“But you inherited its benefits.”
“And its crimes.”
Helena’s bitter expression softened by a fraction.
“You sound like him.”
“My father?”
“Marcus.”
They continued.
The tunnel ended at a steel door marked with the royal crest.
Adrian used his signet ring against a hidden mechanism. Gears shifted inside the wall.
The door opened into an abandoned chamber beneath the palace’s eastern wing.
On the floor lay Julian’s coat.
Beside it, a blood trail led toward a second corridor.
“He is injured,” Captain Rian said.
“Or wants us to believe he is,” Helena replied.
Adrian ordered two guards to remain at the entrance.
They followed the trail into a forgotten records vault.
Shelves rose from floor to ceiling. Thousands of sealed boxes filled the chamber.
At the center stood an empty pedestal.
A brass plate read:
CROWNFALL
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
The box that had once rested there was gone.
Julian had not entered the tunnel to escape.
He had come to steal something.
Adrian examined the dust around the pedestal.
“This vault was sealed during my father’s reign.”
“Who had access?” Elara asked.
“My father. The intelligence director. The chancellor.”
“Which chancellor?”
Adrian did not answer immediately.
Helena answered for him.
“Lord Sebastian Vale.”
Elara frowned.
“I have no relative named Sebastian.”
“You did,” Helena said.
“My father’s brother?”
“Marcus’s older half brother.”
“Why have I never heard of him?”
“Because he was removed from every family record.”
Adrian looked toward Helena.
“Sebastian Vale died fourteen years ago.”
“No,” Helena said. “He disappeared fourteen years ago.”
Captain Rian returned from the far corridor.
“There is no sign of Harrow. The blood ends at a ventilation shaft.”
“Search the upper levels,” Adrian ordered.
Rian hesitated.
“Your Majesty, there is something else.”
He held out a small envelope.
It had been pinned to the wall with a knife.
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Marcus Vale stood beside the late king and three other men outside a mountain facility. One of those men was Julian’s father.
Another was a younger Helena.
The fifth man’s face had been scratched away.
On the back, someone had written:
Ask your bride why her mother was present when Crownfall began.
Elara looked at Helena.
“You said you became involved after Father discovered the accounts.”
Helena’s lips parted.
Before she could speak, alarm bells rang through the palace.
A guard appeared at the entrance.
“Your Majesty, the western gates have been breached.”
“By whom?”
“We do not know. They are wearing royal uniforms.”
Adrian reached for Elara.
The lanterns went out.
Darkness swallowed the vault.
Gunfire erupted in the corridor.
Adrian pulled Elara behind the pedestal.
Helena dropped beside a shelf.
Captain Rian shouted commands.
A flash of muzzle fire briefly illuminated masked soldiers entering through the tunnel.
They carried the crowned-lion insignia.
But the lion’s head faced left.
The true royal insignia faced right.
Adrian fired twice.
One attacker fell.
The others retreated.
A metal cylinder rolled across the floor.
“Smoke!” Rian shouted.
White vapor exploded through the chamber.
Elara covered her mouth.
Someone seized her from behind.
She fought, kicking backward, but a cloth pressed over her face.
The last thing she heard was Adrian calling her name.
When Elara opened her eyes, she was inside a moving carriage.
Julian sat across from her.
A bandage covered his left arm.
Between them rested the missing Crownfall box.
“You should be grateful,” he said.
“For being kidnapped?”
“For being removed before the king discovered what your mother truly did.”
Elara pulled against the ropes around her wrists.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To the first place Adrian will be unable to follow without surrendering his throne.”
He tapped the Crownfall box.
“Ormara.”
May you like
Princess Celestine’s kingdom.
The country whose alliance depended on Adrian marrying her.
