But Aerity was already swinging the door open. The guard was gone.
“Princess Aerity!” Mrs. Rathbrook reached out for her.
“Stay here,” she told the woman. “Lock this door!” Aerity shut it and ran down the stairs. Officer Vest was at the bottom, watching the chaos with confusion.
People ran into the castle with expressions of terror, screaming, some dressed in finery, some in common clothes.
“Princess, you mustn’t go out there,” Officer Vest told her.
Aerity grabbed her skirts. “Please go back up and guard her with care.” She darted away, pushing through the people.
“Shut the doors!” she heard a familiar voice call down the hall. Harrison!
“It’s out there!” a commoner shouted.
Aerity’s heart was banging. She ran with the crowd. People stopped, jostling into one another, trying to decide where to go.
“To the left!” Aerity yelled over the crowd, pushing her way through. “The High Hall!”
People around her gasped and began to murmur.
“The princess!”
“It’s Princess Aerity!”
They let her through and she led the people to the High Hall. Her silks no longer hung in the room, which had been transformed for a grand celebration. Her mother and father stood at their throne, surrounded by guards, demanding to know what was happening as people poured in. Aerity ushered townsfolk in, and when the last person had squeezed through, she shut the doors.
“Bar them!” she ordered a guard.
“What is happening?” King Charles shouted.
“A beast!” The commoner’s voice trembled. Seas, no. Aerity pushed through the people and found the man, not much older than her own father.
“Please, sir,” she said. “Come forward and speak to the king.” He appeared dazed with fright, but allowed Aerity to lead him forward.
“Quiet!” yelled a guard to the restless crowd.
When Aerity and the man stopped in front of her parents, she noticed Lord Alvi and his family for the first time. They were each wearing furs, their hair like spun gold, their faces fierce and warriorlike. One of the men had hair to his waist, an extraordinarily broad chest, and the most massive gold crown Aerity had ever seen—King Dagur of Ascomanni, and uncle of her betrothed. Lord Alvi moved closer to hear, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Tell us what you saw outside the castle,” Queen Leighlane said to the commoner.
The man fell to a knee and lowered his head. “A—a creature, Your Majesty. Larger than the grandest horse you’ve ever seen, but . . . but . . . its body was like . . .” He fought for composure, shaking his head against the image.
“Go on,” the king said. His face was deathly pale.
“Its neck and head were like a swamp lizard, Your Majesty. Its teeth so large. It moved fast, like a racing horse, tearing at men with its teeth as it passed, taking whole heads in its mouth!”
Great seas.
Murmurs of disbelief and fear filled the room. The king grabbed his forehead while the queen covered her mouth. Lady Ashley wrapped an arm around Wyneth, crushing her to her chest.
“You are certain of what you saw?” The king asked.
“It’s true.” Harrison stepped up, bowing at the waist. “I saw it from afar, Your Highness.”
“It was unnatural!” shouted a woman. “I saw it, too!”
Others called out their tales. Aerity felt a heavy, sour weight fill her stomach as she met Lord Alvi’s eyes. His fists flexed, causing his arms to ripple with a need to go—to hunt and kill this new foe.
A series of echoing bangs came from the arched wooden doors.
“A soldier with a message!” called the door guard. The king gave a nod for him to open it. The guard did so, taking a scroll and reclosing the door.
“He says there are more of these notices,” the guard said from the entrance, holding up the scroll. “Messages posted throughout the land.”
Donubhan dashed from the queen’s side. He weaved through the crowd, taking the scroll, and rushed back through, handing it to his father.
The king scanned the parchment. His eyelids fluttered closed and back open. His jaw set. The room went silent as the king poised to speak.
“In this time of sorrow, we must not panic. I beg you.”
“What does it say?” someone behind Aerity whispered.
The king looked to his wife. “If these parchments have been posted, word will spread.”
“Aye,” the queen said quietly. “Be forthright with the people. We must maintain order with truth and fact.”
The king took several labored breaths before composing himself. “It seems that, unbeknown to all, Rocato had a son who had a daughter.”
Voices and gasps rose up. Harrison called out, “Quiet!”
Aerity wanted to scream at her father not to read it, though she knew the notices were all over the kingdom. King Charles raised his voice. “Rozaria Rocato is her name, and she has left us a message.”
Horrified murmurs of “Rocato!” rippled through the crowd.