The Aldean Chronicles: Spotlight (Part 2)

Everywhere I go, people are giving me looks ranging from pity to triumph. A disturbing number of people are happy to see me depressed.

A few days into the term, Arin walks up to me.

"Hey, princess," he greets softly.

"Hey." I don't stop walking to my next class.

"I heard. About you and Tristan. It's all over the school blog."

"That's great."

"I just wanted to ask if it was because of me."

I stop walking and face him. "What?"

He looks everywhere but at my face. "I feel like my presence affected you guys. That's what some people are saying."

I look around the hall. Some students are giving us suspicious glances. "I actually hate this fucking place."

He frowns. "This hallway or the whole school?"

"Everywhere in my shitty life."

His eyes widen. "You're cursing a lot more than I remember."

"Who honestly cares?"

He gives me a worried look. "Yeah. So um, if you need a friend. You can come to me."

My chest feels tight again.

"Thanks, Arin. That really means a lot to me. I don't have a lot of friends right now."

He looks the most sympathetic I've ever seen him. "Promise me you'll stop ignoring me?"

I fold my arms across my chest. "Do you?"

He nods. "Yes."

I can breathe freely again.

I glance at my phone. If I don't leave now, I'll be late for class. "I should leave."

He nods. "Call me. If you want to talk, or scream in the forest, or something."

A burst of white flames flashes through my eyes. "Yeah."

He smiles at me then walks away.

***

"Okay class. This weekend's assignment is to practice your breathing and do things that give you joy," Professor Cara says.

Derek rolls his eyes. "End me now."

My teacher beams. "Miss Harrington, a word?"

I walk up to her desk.

"How was your break?" She seems interested in the answer.

"It was...something."

She frowns. "I'm not one for gossip, but I heard about you and Mr. Oisin."

"Great. Now even the teachers know how pathetic I am."

"I don't think you're pathetic. I think you're very strong." I say nothing. "And I wanted to ask if you were still interested in helping me with my work."

"Sure." I exhale.

She claps her hands excitedly. "Perfect. What I need help with is actually for a personal research. It's why I took this job in the first place. And, I need your help to do it."

"That's fine."

She hisses. "Yes, but yours specifically. As a professor at Brimstone, I get certain privileges. Access to the Royal Archives for example."

I frown. "Okay."

"I'm researching an ancestor of yours. Delia Beltane."

My brains scramble for information on that name. "I think her brother was the last ruler of the House of Beltane. After them was the Griffords, then the Harringtons, I think."

"Correct." Cara smiles. "Except she had dark secrets of her own. Most of it is kept hidden from the public. But I am truly fascinated by her. She and all her accomplishments are the subjects of my research."

I shake my head. "I still don't know what you need me for. You already have access to the Royal Archives."

"Yes. But don't you think it'll be nice to hear about your family history?"

I huff. "If I'm being honest, I'm kind of sick of my family at the moment."

She looks taken aback. I mentally scold myself. That is not something I should be saying in front of people.

Before I can do damage control. She laughs. "Oh Cassandra, we are going to have a blast with this research."

***

On Sunday, I'm having lunch with Kat.

Tristan's at Lacrosse practice so I sit with her in the dining hall.

"Do you know anything about Delia Beltane?" I ask Kat.

"Beltane? Like Fredrick Beltane?" Is her response.

"No, his sister."

"Fredrick Beltane had a sister?" Mika interrupts.

"Yeah," I say.

They both shrug.

"I knew he had a wife," Mika says.

"Yeah, they both died at their wedding. It was so tragic." Kat frowns.

I did some research online about the family. Fredrick married a poor palace maid. It was a big wedding. And everyone could see that they were in love. But they didn't live to be happy. At the wedding feast, there was an ambush and they were killed. The bloody wedding is what the Beltanes are popular for. I struggle to find anything on Delia.

I know I've seen her name before. I just can't remember where. It's on the tip of my tongue. Trying to remember is driving me insane.

Monday afternoon, Cara and I officially begin her research.

"All right." She drops printed paper on my desk. "These are not to leave this room. I was given clear instructions to burn my copies when I was through with them. Are you ready to read?" She hands me a highlighter.

"What should I look out for?"

"Anything unusual, fun, suspicious, eye-catching."

"That might be the whole document."

She laughs. "Then circle the whole thing." She throws her legs on her desk and gets to work on her first page.

I start my document. It's titled "The Secrets of Beltane". Sounds riveting.

I gloss over the first few pages. They're just stories about Delia's great-grandparents. I do not find that information interesting or eye-catching in any way.

On the twentieth page, I finally see a mention of her.

She was the eldest sibling of the two. Her brother became King. Not because he was a man or anything. Their father just decided to name him his heir. That chapter doesn't give a reason.

"Anything good?" Cara asks me.

I shake my head. "No. You?"

"Nothing." She smiles. "It's only the first few books. We have dozens."

I'm regretting this already.

I go back to the document and skim it over.

I get to the last page and see nothing interesting. Delia's brother was the more famous of the two. And there isn't much to say about him except his tragic love story.

I pick up the second book. It's titled "From the Heart of Aldean."

This one ought to be good.

I skim through the first few chapters. They don't even mention Beltane. How are these the best books in the archive?

Halfway through the book, I come across a paragraph dedicated to her.

...one of such patrons was Princess Delia. She believed in the preservation of the forest surrounding the Percival, and successfully convinced her brother to sign a law declaring it government property. And most importantly, under government protection.

"See something?" Cara asks over her book.

I sigh. "Nothing important. Just something she allegedly convinced her brother to do."

Cara has a small smile on her face. "You shouldn't write things off, Princess. The smallest pieces are still part of the puzzle. And if you don't have all the parts, how can you see the full picture?"

I think about that and circle the entire paragraph.

***

The next week, Cara and I aren't much closer to getting any information.

We don't know when or how she died. We don't know many of the things she did in life. And we don't know why she was so important. At least I don't.

"Are you sure you picked the right heroine?" I ask Cara.

She chuckles. "Heroine? Are you having trouble believing this was a real person?"

"No. It's just...okay, yes."

"History does that. The more time that passes, the less we believe people in the past existed."

I stare at the picture we have of her.

It's a small portrait. We don't even know if it's to her likeness. I hope for her sake it's not. The woman in this picture looks angry. Her eyebrows are bushy, her mouth is thin and stuck in a scowl, and there's a scar under her right eye.

"I can't believe we're related."

Cara makes a dissparoving sound. "Not directly. You share ancestors."

I sit on Cara's desk and stare at the board. "The man who was King after her brother. How did he come to power?"

There's a glint in her eye. "Look who's finally asking the right questions." She looks back at the board. "Their cousin, Gregory Griffords, defeated the assailants and made himself King."

"That was convenient. You think he sent them to kill his cousin so he could take the crown?" That sounds like something that still runs in our family.

"That's for us to speculate." She sighs.

I stare at the board again. "I'm sorry to say, but this feels pointless. We're not getting anywhere."

Cara looks deep in thought. "Maybe we should take a break. Think about what we learned for a few days, then revisit this."

"I don't know..." I start to complain.

"Trust me. This is the best time for inspiration. For that missing piece to make itself known. It can come anytime. The trick is to be ready."

I wish I could catch her optimism. "I hope it does. We'll need a miracle to move forward in this."