Once Upon a Castle - Jill Gregory [139]
The rebel chiefs formed a protective circle around Elani and Grette. Tressalara knelt beside Cador and touched his beloved face. Her silken sleeve trailed his blood. His cheek was already cool. All the passion, the intelligence, the lust for life was quenched. His soul had fled. In her horror she would have traded pride and wealth, throne and crown, even her very life in exchange for his. “Oh, Cador, my love!”
The words were wrenched from her. She cradled his head upon her breast, heedless of the blood that smeared her silken gown. Her heart had shattered into a thousand pieces, and every one had Cador’s name engraved upon it. A part of her had died with him. She knew that she would never love again.
Her tears bathed his face, handsome even in death, and her lips gently pressed his. His amulet seemed to grow warm against her skin, and a faint flush of life seemed to color his cheeks. Tressalara lifted her head. Once more Cador was as still and white as wax.
Again she touched her lips to his, and again a tinge of pink colored his face. A murmur went through the watching circle. Another strange thing happened then. Two rats appeared— one white, one black. They were rolling something along ahead of them, pushing at it with their naked pink feet until it touched the hem of her gown. Brand drew his dagger to dispatch the rats, but she stopped him.
“Leave be! These are surely enchanted creatures.”
Tressalara immediately recognized the object by the strange symbols engraved upon it:. It was Rill’s crystal, yet the signs were similar to the ones on Cador’s amulet:. Were their powers somehow linked? There was little to lose in chancing it.
As the princess picked up the shard that Rill had dropped, the blush of life pinked Cador’s skin for a third time. The blood that had been pouring from his wounds ceased its flow. The crowd whispered in astonishment. The white rat and its black twin pulled at her sleeve. Tressalara thought she understood. If these two crystals, so alike in composition to the Andun, could do this much, what could the Andun Crystal itself do?
The Andun Stone lay where it had fallen.
The smoldering ashes nearby gave proof of its mighty power. But Tressalara had not been handed it by her father and named true heir, as had always been the case before. If she touched it, without its being given to her by the previous heir, would she share Rill’s fiery fate?
She didn’t hesitate. Still touching Cador, she lifted her other hand. As she reached out for the Andun Crystal, the courtiers gasped in alarm. Brand stopped her. “Highness, Cador did not give his life for you only to have you risk yours in this way.”
Tressalara lifted her head with royal dignity. “I would not be fit to govern were I not as willing to give my life for my loyal subjects as they have been for me.”
Brand looked her in the eye, then nodded and released her. “So speaks a true queen.”
Silence filled the great hall as Tressalara again reached out to the Andun Stone. Although there was fear in her heart, it was only for Cador. Her hand did not tremble as her fingers touched the cool stone.
A crash of thunder shook the air, and a shock of cold fire ran up her arm. Cold changed to incredible heat. Tressalara was unable to move or breathe. Then the power filled her, like the light of a hundred suns. It poured through her body and into Cador’s.
When the great scintillating light vanished, the onlookers blinked their eyes. One moment their princess had knelt before them, the next a whirling pillar of golden flame had blinded them with its glory. When they could see clearly again they shouted out with joy. Tressalara had not been harmed.
She leaned over Cador and kissed his lips. She felt his flesh soften and warm beneath hers, heard a soft sigh of