Chapter 4

The corridors from the Queen's chambers to the library were beautifully decorated with ornate paintings and sculptures and designs which took hundreds of artisans months of time to bring to fruition. On one side were huge windows overlooking the royal gardens which boasted flowers - seasonal and foreign rare ones, growing splendidly under the keen eye of the royal gardener and his entourage. One could spend hours staring at these wonders and have inspired poems and pictures one too many. 

Numerous doors led away from the corridor connecting it to the other parts of the castle. Two soldiers stood guard at every door, their expressions stoic. Each of them bowed to Sky as she crossed the doors. The corridor meandered for a long distance finally joining the grand hallway which led to the library. The hallway boasted portraits of the Kings and Queens of the old times who stood smug in their frames. Sky's obsessive historian persona felt giddy at these sights. She wanted to start clicking away and making notes but had far more pressing matters to attend to. 

Sky's jaw dropped in awe as she stepped under the vast canopy of the glass dome that protected the library from all things natural and unnatural while flooding the place with pure golden sunlight.

If it was any other time, or if Sky was in a better mood, the library would have induced tears but she had better things to do. Her mind was whirring with too many new information, to linger onto the beauty of the place for too long. 

"Take me to where the royal records are kept.", ordered Sky to Elijah.

"I will go and call upon Solon. He is the keeper of records and he will know the best.", bowed Elijah and left Sky to her own musings.

"Is it really possible for me to know something that is historically so wrong? Is it possible for the history to change so much? Some thing is up. Is Dominic telling the truth about how much he loves me? Is it true that I don't love him or let him touch me? Whose child was I carrying then? And why weren't there any records of it anywhere? It is too much. Gosh, where is that girl.", Sky turned exasperatedly to resume her screaming when she found herself standing face to face with a man who seemed to be old and young at the same time. Sky's face broke into a smile seeing this man's face as he reminded her of her favourite bookshop owner Sam. Before she could think any further, Solon's soft gruffy voice spoke up,

"My Queen, what an absolute honour. It has been quite some time that you paid this holy place a visit. So where should I take you to  today? Old botany or new?"

"Thank you but today I am here for the royal records. I need anything that will help me know the royal family better. Announcements, news, excerpts, books. I need them all."

Solon frowned deeply at this but he knew better than to keep his Queen waiting or voice his questions, "Whatever you want Milady. This way, follow me if you will."

Sky followed the record keeper through the deep labyrinths of the library trailed behind by Elijah until they reached a separate room guarded by stained glass doors with two soldiers keeping an eye.

They were jerked into attention by the Queen's arrival and on seeing Sky they almost started to shake. This highly amused Sky who casually acknowledged the soldiers while entering the room. 

"This room,  Milady holds all the records you might want on the royal family including certain sensitive documents for which the room needs to be under constant guard. Hope you find what you came looking for your Highness. And should you need anything I am right here.", bowed out Solon. 

Sky made a quick look over the entire room before heading off to where scrolls containing  announcements where kept. She took one out and unrolled it to find an open invitation to a ball hosted in honour of Queen Antiope.

It took her several tries to finally find one that announced the wedding of King Dominic and his fourth wife Queen Amara. There were hundreds of such scrolls and very little time. Sky figured going through scrolls and announcements would not get her anywhere. "Where will I find the official records?", called out Sky to one of the guards. Having never been spoken to by the Queen herself, the guard started to fumble. After a few unsuccessful tries the poor guard said, "Follow me, Milady." Sky had to fight to keep a straight face and wondered, "Was Antiope this scary? She was feared by everyone. Must have felt nice."

"The records are right here, Milady."

Sky's face fell at the gargantuan task that lay ahead of her but this was something she had to do and thus she dove right in.

"Thank you, you may leave."

Several fragile cloth bound books, loose papers and several hours later when Sky finally shut the last document her mind was whirring from exhaustion of imbibing all the new information. She didn't even realize when she stood up or started walking or left the library. Her mind kept on replaying the what she read. Most corroborated with what she already knew but there were a few surprising discoveries. 

Antiope was the only daughter of an extremely powerful king who ruled most of the lands of Scarpetia. Most of the smaller sub-kingdoms where under his protection. But sadly he had an untimely demise leaving Antiope an entire country to rule. According to the rules of the land no unmarried woman may sit on the throne. They could rule only as somebody's wife and thus Antiope had to take a husband. Proposals came from near and far but Dominic was the forerunner. Dominic being the heir to the second most powerful family he was an automatic choice and add to that the almost sculpted looks, the perfect husband and King. 

The fact that Antiope's wish was never taken into consideration disheartened Sky. Antiope was smart, wise, had political ambitions and yet her gender became the determining factor of her future. 

Dominic then went on to marry three more women for various reasons mostly political and to appease various sections of the society. But the fact that his marriage to Antiope was also for the same reason and there might be some actual truth to what the King said highly disturbed Sky. 

Sky was so lost in her thoughts that it took her some time to realize that something was wrong, the room she just barged into fell eerily silent. 

When her eyes came into focus she found herself being stared at by two young women whose pale faces betrayed the fact that they must have seen some ghost so as to frighten them so much. 

"They are Queen Eliana and Queen Myra, Milady.", uttered Elijah softly from behind as Sky stared into their colorless faces.