Winterfall

I walked silently down to the Council Chamber in the castle's basement with Fredrick. "Now, Princess, I recommend you be on your best behavior."

"Please, I only punch those who deserve it."

"Princess, please. I am begging you not to upset Sybil. We do not need a delay in your pledge as our Royal Head."

I weighed my options and sighed, "Fine. No punching. But if she attacks me, all bets are off the table."

"Thank you, Princess," Frederick said as he opened the door to the dimly lit chamber.

Most of the Council was there already. Thora sat next to Cedric and Wulfric, who were across from them, and Frederick and I were there. Sybil had yet to arrive.

We all took our seats at the round table and waited. Five, ten, fifteen minutes later, Sybil finally decided to grace us with her presence. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as her heels clicked against the stone.

She shot a glare in my direction to the point with the saying, "If looks could kill…" I would have dropped dead there. This woman hated my guts. And I was okay with that; I hated her.

"Princess Maria, I have been briefly informed about what has taken place since our last altercation. Please stand and fill me in." She took her seat, giving me the floor.

Her gaze fixed on me as I rose from my seat. I cleared my throat and began, "After our altercation, the other council members confronted me about joining. As we all know, it has been a few years since a Royal member was part of the council. I was hesitant to join, I'll admit, but I want what is best for our kingdom, and our kingdom needs a Royal Head."

"So you went against me and decided this for yourselves?" she asked the rest of the council.

Cedric spoke up: "You can look at it however you want, Sybil. But the decision still stands. Maria is going to be our Royal Head."

Her eyes narrowed as she turned back to me, "Can you be trusted? Rumors fly, Princess."

"And what rumors are those?" I didn't think I would get an answer, but you can't blame a girl for trying.

"That's not important. What is important is the question at hand, Princess: can you be trusted?"

"Yes." My voice was firm.

"Then why has it taken you this long to claim your father's spot?"

"Grief played a big part in that. It took me a while to get over my parent's death that you all…" I began to blame them but caught myself, "Regardless, I was healing from the loss of my parents. I wasn't ready then."

"But you are now?" Sybil questioned me further.

"Yes. I am more than ready to take his spot."

She turned her attention to the others, "Are you sure you all agree with this? She is still rather young."

"The decision has been made, Sybil. The formal celebration is in five days." Cedric spoke. His voice sounded rather annoyed.

"Then I have no choice but to accept this. I hope you all know what you are doing."

She was annoyed just as equally as much as Cedric if not more. Her body stood firm as her posture didn't fluctuate at all. And her eyes, remained fixed upon mine.

"Do you have something you want to share with us, Sybil? Something that you want to enlighten us with?" I questioned her. I was tired of her word games. If she knew something, I wanted to know what it was.

"Nope. Not at this time." Sybil remained fixed on me but fell silent. I we knew at this point that it was more than likely that Sybil was Crimson in disguise, but I had limited proof. The only proof that I could get…wait a damn minute.

Theo, do you have your scry ready?

I do. What is it?

I don't know why I hadn't thought about this before. I want you to scry on Sybil or Crimson. Better yet, both.

Just to confirm your theory?

Yes. She is acting how Crimson is with me. I swear Sybil is her. Please do it. I knew he also had his suspicions based on his draconic instinct, as it picker her up years ago.

I'll get back to you in twenty minutes.

Thank you.

Mhm.

His scry can last up to ten minutes each. This spell allowed the caster to see the others' surroundings. If something happened to Sybil, like if she was dead, the spell wouldn't take hold. I knew it was a long shot, as the council members were supposed to have protection against spells like this, but it was worth a shot. Maybe if we were lucky, Crimson did not know that minor detail.

I can't get through to Sybil. Let me try Crimson.

"The Princess has been doing well in her training." Frederick had spoken, bringing my attention back to the meeting. "She's able to recite the pledge with pose and ease."

"Thank you, Frederick. The pledge was tough at first to learn, but I managed."

"We have everything else ready for our formal celebration?" Thora asked

"Yes, Thora. Everything is planned, ready, and good to go. We just got to count down the days." Frederick responded, as we all knew that Thora was only curious about the wine portion of the celebration.

"Sybil, what are you thinking?" They all turned their focus to Sybil, but Cedric noted that her attention seemed to be pulled elsewhere. She was staring into space.

"Nothing." Sybil said, standing up from her chair, "I have business to attend to. May I leave?"

"I suppose we don't have much to discuss until The Princess is fully instated as our Royal Head."

"I bid you all a good day then." Sybil quickly retreated out of the chamber, closing the door behind her.

I was right, wasn't I?

Yes. I pulled from her as soon as she noticed the orb.

I will wait to tell them until the formal celebration that they have been eager to have.

Is exposing her a good idea? We need to be cautious with this.

Ugh, you are right. Damn it.

Pay attention to the rest of the meeting. We will discuss it later.

I regained my focus for the rest of the meeting, which was just talking about wine and entertainment for my formal celebration. I put very little input in. I honestly didn't care too much about how the party went. I just honestly wanted this formal celebration over with.