The Blue Tower by Thalia Blake

Author:Thalia Blake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FireHive Media

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“I’m perfectly capable of walking on my own,” I said for the fifth time as I tried to keep up with my captor as he marched me down the hallways of the citadel.

“Be that as it may, I don’t trust you not to run,” he said stiffly.

“Where would I run to?” I asked caustically. “The citadel is full of your smelly guards and I have nowhere to go.”

“I said, I don’t trust you,” Commander Morse growled. He glared at me and I glared right back. He said nothing more, and all I could do was focus on staying in step and avoid tripping over loose stones.

“That is the throne room,” I said as we passed a large wooden door. I yanked my arm out of the commander’s grasp and ran for the door. I ignored his angry shout and leaned my weight against the rough wood set with wrought iron roses and pushed it open. The hinges screamed in protest and I tumbled into the room before Commander Morse could catch me.

The tears of frustration and anger that I had been holding back since stepping into to the citadel poured down my cheeks and I sank to the stone floor as I stared at the blackened walls of what had once been the seat of power in Iromouth.

The carved white marble throne had cracked in two and carved stone roses littered the burnt flagstones at its base. The tapestries and banners that my mother had been so proud of had fallen into burnt and rotten piles beneath the copper poles that had once held them aloft. The walls of the chamber had been scorched by fire and in places I could see daylight through the crumbling mortar.

The stained-glass windows that had borne the crests of the great Queens of Iromouth had been shattered and molten lead had poured down the walls and hardened there like dark gray tears.

Thick cobwebs and dust covered every surface, but I could still smell the scorched stone through all the grime. I choked on my tears as the room blurred in front of me.

When Commander Morse lifted me to my feet, I did not struggle, and he led me from the room with a gentler grip on my shoulder than before.

He said nothing as he walked me up the wide staircase that led to the chambers above the throne room and I said nothing as he opened the door to a room that I knew as well as any of the others in the citadel. This had been my room.

My bed had been replaced by another, smaller one hung with a dark velvet canopy and thick curtains. My books had been removed, and there was nothing in it to give me comfort or remind me of the life that had been stolen away when I had been taken to Bluestone Isle.

I walked to the window and placed my hands upon the ledge and stared out into the blanket of mist that lay over the dark waters that lay beyond the citadel.

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