It didn’t take us long to reach the end of the marked path and find the door leading back into the castle. Since I wasn’t sure where Taryn’s path had taken us, I indicated to my father that we should be quiet, and snuffed out the magical light. Slowly, carefully, I pushed open the door and peeked out.
A hand reached out to pull the door open wider. Standing on the other side was my mother; we had made our way back to her chambers. When she saw me she immediately pulled me into her arms and held me tight.
“Jennica! I’m so glad you’re back, and you’re safe! I worried so much.”
I hugged my mother tight, never wanting to let her go. She pulled back, looking me over. Then her eyes went to the person who had walked in after me, and was standing just behind me. She gasped.
“Joichan?”
Chapter Thirty-Five
MY MOTHER AND MY FATHER stared at each other. I stared at them, staring at each other.
Then suddenly they were in each other’s arms. “Joichan! It is you!” My mother was laughing and crying at the same time.
“Melandria. It’s been far, far too long.” Joichan’s voice was thick, as if he was also fighting back tears.
I looked away, feeling like I was intruding on a private moment.
“Melandria, I’m sorry,” Joichan said. “I should have returned sooner. I should have — ”
My mother cleared her throat and stepped out of Joichan’s embrace. Her bearing changed, and we were suddenly seeing Melandria the queen, not Melandria the woman.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Joichan.” Her voice was gentle but steady. “We have a beautiful daughter — ” she smiled at me “ — and you’ve come back when I needed you the most. I... We... The kingdom... need your help to stop... my husband.”
Joichan nodded. There was a definite change between them, a wall of propriety and obligation that neither dared cross. My heart ached at how fate had treated them both.
“I am at your service, Queen Melandria.” Joichan made a little half bow, using the formality to put more physical distance between them.
I spoke up, hoping to ease the awkwardness in the air. “Mother, what’s going on? Are you well? Taryn said you were under house arrest. And that our wedding deception had been discovered. And she was supposed to meet us to lead us here, but — ”
My mother laughed softly and sat down, indicating that we should do the same. I closed the entrance to the secret passage, and then sat down next to her. My father took the chair across from us.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” she said. “As do I.” She pointedly looked between my father and me. “But let me tell you what’s happened while you’ve been gone.”
As Taryn had told me, King Hendon had grown suspicious of the queen and placed her under house arrest. When my disappearance was discovered, the king had questioned my mother intensely, for several hours.
“He tortured you?” I asked in horror. Joichan stirred restlessly, looking ready to strangle the king with his bare hands.
“Not physically,” my mother said. “He knows he can’t lay a hand on me and get away with it, especially with the wedding day being so close. People would see something was wrong and question it. He may be the king, but he only holds the title because I inherited the kingdom.”
“What did he do, then?”
“He used magic to force my mind, and my mouth, open against my will.” My mother looked down at her clasped hands, which were so tense her knuckles were white. “I held out as long as I could, but he’s too strong now.”
“Now? What do you mean? I thought he hated magic.”
“He does, outwardly. But he’s not above using magical items or people to gain what he wants. And somehow, over the years, he’s acquired some magical skill of his own. I didn’t realize... I’ve failed you, Jennica. Us. Because I should have been paying attention. I didn’t know what he’s become. I worry that we may be too late to stop him.”
I shook my head, still not quite understanding. Hendon was a spell caster in his own right? If this was true, then he had fooled us all. And how had this happened?
My father took off his moonstone necklace and held it in his hand, studying the stone and scowling ferociously. “I think I have an idea of how this occurred,” he said, and I realized I must have asked my questions aloud.
He held the necklace toward us, as if we could see what he saw in its creamy depths. “When a soulstone is created, it contains the essence of the person it is linked to.” He indicated my amber necklace. “As you saw when we created yours, Jennica. And as you use your soulstone, it will gain more and more of your power, which is shared freely between you and the jewel as you use it. It is, quite literally, an extension of you. You can do without it, of course, as I did all these years. But it will always be a part of you.”
He rubbed his thumb over the moonstone. “When Hendon stole my gem, he was able to tap into it and use my power to drive me away. He couldn’t defeat me with it, because how could I defeat myself? But he definitely used it to cripple me and drive me away. I often wondered how he was able to do it, but when we did Jennica’s ceremony I figured it out.
“I think somehow Hendon blood-linked to my soulstone, which should be impossible, but somehow he did it. And by linking to it, he was able to draw on its power, and also learn how to use
