Chapter 9 - The House Without Mirrors
Blackthorn House stood beneath the mountains like a dark stone ship.
The gates were locked.
Snow covered the drive despite the mild weather in the valley below. Tall trees surrounded the property, hiding it from the main road.
Theo parked the truck inside an abandoned barn.
“The police will watch the roads,” he said. “We continue on foot.”
Lily opened the compass hairpin.
Its needle pointed toward a ruined chapel east of the house.
They crossed the frozen grounds.
The chapel roof had collapsed, and vines covered the old stone altar. Behind it, they found a circular well.
A metal ladder descended into darkness.
Adrian went first.
The tunnel beneath the chapel led directly into Blackthorn House.
They emerged inside a narrow room where every wall had once held a mirror.
Only empty frames remained.
“Why did they remove them?” Lily asked.
Adrian touched one of the frames.
“My grandmother believed mirrors could be used to observe people through hidden rooms.”
Theo found narrow gaps behind the walls.
“She was correct.”
They entered the main hall.
Dust covered the furniture, but fresh footprints crossed the floor.
A fire had burned recently in the library.
Lily noticed a cup on a table.
She touched it.
“Still warm.”
Someone had left only minutes earlier.
They searched the ground floor.
In the eastern wing, Adrian opened a bedroom and stopped.
The room had been prepared for a child.
A small bed stood beside shelves filled with books. New clothes hung inside the wardrobe. A wooden crown rested on the desk.
Lily picked it up.
“My name is inside.”
L.V.A.
Lily Vale Ashbourne.
Theo found a stack of school records.
They described Lily’s health, education, favorite foods, and daily routines.
Someone had been watching her for years.
Adrian opened another file.
It contained photographs of Lily walking to school, reading at the public library, and sitting beside Miriam in their apartment.
The earliest picture had been taken when Lily was two.
“This was planned before Elena disappeared,” he said.
Lily turned toward the door.
“Mommy knew.”
A floorboard creaked in the corridor.
Theo moved first.
He found Miriam Bell leaning against the wall.
Her coat was torn, but she appeared unharmed.
Lily ran to her.
“Miriam!”
Miriam held her tightly.
“I am sorry. I tried to keep them away from you.”
“Where is Mommy?”
“They moved her to the Winter Garden.”
“Where is it?”
“Below the northern greenhouse.”
Adrian studied Miriam’s face.
“How did you escape Lucien?”
“A guard left my door unlocked.”
“Why?”
“I did not wait to ask.”
Lily looked at Miriam carefully.
“What do you call him?”
Miriam frowned.
“Who?”
Lily pointed toward Adrian.
Miriam understood the test.
“Prince Adrian when he is behaving like his father. Your uncle when he remembers who his family is.”
Lily hugged her again.
Adrian remained cautious.
“Elena said to trust the woman who confesses before midnight.”
Miriam lowered her eyes.
“I know.”
“What do you need to confess?”
“I helped Elena disappear.”
Adrian went still.
“She came to me eight years ago after you refused to meet her. She had discovered the falsified transfers and believed Lucien would kill her before she reached court.”
“Why did she not come to me again?”
“She did.”
“No.”
“She entered Ashbourne Tower through the private garage. Celeste met her before she reached your office.”
Adrian remembered that day.
Celeste had told him Elena had called from another country demanding money. Adrian had ordered his staff to block every future attempt.
Miriam continued.
“Celeste showed Elena a document with your signature. It instructed security to arrest her if she entered any Ashbourne property.”
“I never signed that.”
“Elena did not know.”
Miriam took a folded paper from inside her coat.
It was Adrian’s supposed order.
The signature looked perfect.
“I believed Elena when she said your family had been compromised,” Miriam said. “I gave her a new name and helped her leave the country.”
“Then Lily was born.”
“Two years later.”
“Who is her father?”
Miriam looked toward Lily.
“Elena never told me.”
Lily’s expression tightened.
“My mother said he died before I was born.”
“That may be true.”
A bell rang somewhere inside the house.
One strike.
Then another.
Midnight was less than an hour away.
Theo looked through the window.
“Vehicles are approaching.”
Celeste entered the house through the front door.
She was alone.
Black ink still stained one side of her gala dress.
“I came to make a trade,” she called.
Adrian met her in the hall.
“What do you have left to trade?”
“Your sister.”
“Show me.”
Celeste played a video on her phone.
Elena sat inside a glass greenhouse surrounded by snow-covered plants. A metal door stood behind her.
She looked tired but alive.
Lily touched the screen.
“Mommy.”
Celeste ended the video.
“The seventh pin for Elena.”
“You do not know which pin is seventh,” Adrian said.
“I know the one you opened at the gala was number seven.”
Adrian realized she had seen the serial mark.
Celeste extended her hand.
“Give it to me before my father arrives.”
“Why would you help us?”
“I am not helping you. I am protecting myself.”
“From Lucien?”
“From the person he serves.”
Adrian remembered Elena’s warning.
Ask him which crown he means.
“Who is the Regent?”
Celeste looked toward the emerald brooch at her throat.
“My father told me Queen Amara died in the palace fire.”
“So did everyone.”
“Last month, I saw him receive a letter sealed with her private signet.”
“Anyone could copy it.”
“The letter contained a sentence only the queen and my father knew.”
“What sentence?”
Celeste opened her mouth.
A gunshot sounded outside.
The hall window shattered.
No one was struck, but Celeste dropped to the floor.
Theo pulled Lily and Miriam behind the stone staircase.
Adrian dragged Celeste to safety.
More vehicles entered the drive.
Celeste looked up at him.
“My father knows I came here.”
“Then finish your confession.”
She removed the emerald brooch.
“My father did not purchase this from a collector.”
May you like
She placed it in Adrian’s hand.
“Queen Amara gave it to him three weeks ago.”
