Chapter 4 3

The Whisper in the Stones

The stone of the Wolf's Den was not quiet. Constantina found this out in her fourth week in the Sun Tower. At first, she thought it was just the wind-a low, humming vibration that came through the floor at dusk, when the setting sun hit the western mountain peak. But when she pressed her ear to the cold wall, the hum turned into a whisper, a thin thread of sound made of many voices, far away and faint, like echoes in a seashell.

...sleeps in the mountain...the heart of the old king...

She pulled back, her heart beating fast. It must be her mind playing tricks, she thought. A sound made by loneliness and stress. But the next evening, as she ran her fingers over the carvings on her fireplace-old, rough shapes of woven wolves and deer that were there before Raymond's family-her skin tingled where it touched the stone. A flash, like a spark from wool, but cold. And with it, another whisper, clearer this time:

...Aragon's blood remembers...

Her father had told stories of old magic, the kind that slept in the bones of the land, in the standing stones and ancient forts. He had called it the "Earth-Song," a gift from the first rulers, nearly forgotten by the world. He said it only answered to blood and to deep, desperate need.

Is my need not desperate enough? she thought, placing her palm flat against the wall. The stone felt... watchful.

Now, her lessons with Raymond had two purposes. As he taught her about crop harvests and soldier patrols, she began to listen past his words, to feel the room itself. The large oak table in his study hummed with a slow, deep patience. The iron in his ring seemed to swallow the warmth from the air. And Raymond himself... around him, the Earth-Song bent and grew quiet, as if pushed away by a core of pure, stubborn silence. He was an empty space in the middle of a humming world.

This changed everything. Her prison was no longer just stone and iron bars; it was something alive, and it was not completely on his side.

The chance to test her idea came by accident. Hilda, the maid, was cleaning quickly and quietly when she knocked a small clay jar of lavender water from the washstand. It broke on the floor.

"Forgive me, my lady!" Hilda whispered, panic in her eyes as she knelt to pick up the pieces. A sharp bit cut her thumb, and a drop of blood welled up, falling onto the grey stone floor.

As the blood touched the stone, the whisper in the room grew stronger. Not into a voice, but into a direction. A pull, like the needle of a compass pointing north, tugged at Constantina's mind. It pointed... down.

Hilda, unaware of the silent shaking, wrapped her hand in her apron and picked up the last pieces. "I'll bring another, my lady."

"Hilda," Constantina said, her voice calm. The maid froze. "The eastern woods. The young master of Croft goes hawking at dawn. Does he ever... speak to the stones?"

Hilda's face turned pale as paper. She looked at the blood on the floor, then at Constantina, real fear replacing her usual worry. It wasn't fear of punishment, but of something much older. "My lady... you... you hear it?"

"I feel it," Constantina admitted, holding the woman's gaze. "What sleeps in the mountain?"

Hilda shook her head hard, stepping back toward the door. "It is not for me to say. The old ways are forbidden. The Duke... he hates what he cannot control." She fled, leaving the spilled lavender water and the silent, pointing stone.

That night, Constantina did not sleep. She sat by the wall, her hand on the cold rock. She thought of her blood, of her parents' blood soaking into the earth of Aragona. She poured her memory of them-her father's booming laugh, her mother's scent of rose and paper-into her touch, not as sadness, but as a claim. I am their daughter. This land was theirs. Hear me.

The stone grew warm. The whisper became a stream of pictures, not words: a path going down, through forgotten hallways behind the wine cellar; a cave lit by glowing moss; and in its center, a still, black pool that reflected not the ceiling, but a crown of stars.

A map. The Earth-Song was giving her a map.

The next day, Raymond was in a dark mood. A messenger had come from the border. "Rebels," he snarled, throwing a scrap of burned cloth onto his desk. It was rough, but the symbol on it was clear-a rising sunbird, defiant. "They attacked a tax collector. Call themselves 'The Phoenix Guard.' Led by some nobody who fights like a devil and disappears like smoke."

A rising sunbird. Her symbol. Hope, sharp and dangerous, cut through her. The resistance was not just a dream; it was real.

"You seem distracted, Constantina," Raymond noted, his eyes sharp.

"I was thinking," she said, "that a ghost enemy is the most dangerous kind. It grows in the shadows of fear." She pointed to the cloth. "They need a symbol to follow. Take that away. Not with more soldiers, but with a better story."

"And what story would you tell?" he asked, his voice dangerously soft.

"The story of a princess," she said, looking right at him, "who has accepted the new future. Who dines with the Duke and advises him. Let people know that Constantina Aragon is not a prisoner in a tower, but a willing guest helping to build a united kingdom. The ghost's symbol becomes your prize."

It was a bold, frightening offer. To publicly support his rule more than ever. But it would also make him less suspicious of her, and more importantly, it might get her out of this tower for more than just dinners.

Raymond studied her, suspicion and want fighting in his look. His want to believe he was winning, that she was giving in, was strong. "A tour," he thought out loud. "A visit to the southern towns. With you beside me. Let them see you." A cruel smile touched his lips. "Let this 'Phoenix Guard' see you."

It was exactly what she wanted, and it filled her with dread. She would be a puppet on his stage. But a puppet could see things, hear things, and leave clues for ghosts to find.

"As you wish," she said, lowering her head.

That evening, as she got ready for bed, she dragged a piece of the broken jar across her palm. A few drops of her own blood fell onto the floorstone in the same spot. The pull downward grew stronger, a silent, echoing call.

The gilded cage had a secret door after all. And the key was in her blood. Above, she would play the obedient princess on a tour, a symbol of peace. Below, she would look for the heart of the mountain, the source of the Earth-Song.

And somewhere in the shadows between, the Phoenix Guard was on the move.