Chapter 14

"Well, well, well," said the great King Tritan as he floated leisurely outside the air bubble in which Diana was encased. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last, Diana Gilld."

"I wish I could say the same," she answered blithely. "Who are you really?"

"I'm shocked," said Tritan, not seeming shocked at all. "I would have thought that your father would have said much about me. But I forget, he died before you were born." Diana's jaw fell open and she was so surprised, she couldn't even think of a suitable reply to that absurd statement. "Anyway, I am, as you have already been informed, King Triton, Lord of the Seven Seas, Prince of all the Oceans and Lord Regent of all Water. You can address me as Your Highness."

"You know, you're almost as charming as Harry here," Diana muttered. "Why have you brought me here?"

"There are a number of reasons. But you were promised to this young man even before you were born and I am merely here to see this promise fulfilled."

Diana fought hard not to snort. "But I see you don't believe me," Tritan continued. "You're wondering how it is possible that Joshua Gilld would ever promise a child of his to the hated royal family."

"I'm not wondering," Diana shot back. "I know he wouldn't. So just reveal whatever terrible secret you're building up to, I'm not enjoying this game."

"She is truly a marvel," Tritan said to Harry, who nodded ruefully. "Well then, let me not keep you in suspense any longer. When I mentioned your father, I was not referring to the Duke Joshua Gilld, but to a different man."
"No!" Diana shouted almost involuntarily.

"Yes," he replied, sounding all too happy. "You were born eight months after your parents married, one month after your mother had slept with another man. Shall I tell you his name?"

"You filthy liar!" Diana shouted, lunging at the King, not caring what he was going to say. He was only trying to provoke her, his words had no basis in fact. And yet she could not allow someone to say such things about her parents. She was stopped abruptly as she ran into what felt like a brick wall. She had reached the edge of the bubble that surrounded them and could not pass it to reach the King outside.

"Foolish Diana," Tritan said, laughing at her. "If you leave your little bubble, you will die a very painful death." Diana stopped beating her fists against the barrier. "Now will you listen to me?"

"If I must," she answered with an attempt at a nonchalant shrug, though she was still breathing hard.

"Your father's name is Duke Andrew Gilld."

Diana couldn't help herself and just started laughing. "Oh please," she said when she had finally caught her breath. "What sort of an idiotic story is that and why did you expect me to believe it?"

"Perhaps because it's the truth?" Tritan asked icily, the interview not going at all according to his plans.

"Of course, and I suppose that England's colonies in the Americas are going to revolt and become a world power. Perhaps you are going to fly me to the moon after that?"

"Watch your tongue," Tritan snapped.

"No," Diana answered. "You watch yours. What sort of daughter do you suppose I am that I would allow you to say such despicable things about my parents?"

"Shall I force you to believe us?" Harry asked in a low and dangerous voice.

"How? Diana scoffeed, though she was quaking inside. She was obviously in the presence of madmen and, while their words were patently absurd, their abilities in magic and in combat were certainly more than enough to overwhelm her. Not to mention that she was prepared to believe that Harry would marry her against her will and never allow her to see her family again. So, all slander aside, she was in a very dangerous position.

"You think that wizards haven't invented a spell to reveal parentage?" Tritan asked, smiling wolfishly at her. I assure you, with the amount of wild oats sown by the magical community, the need for an accurate verification spell was paramount. And it will work on you just as well as a wizard's bastard."
Diana had a bad feeling about this. In all her mother's stories, this would be where the intrepid heroine would shrug her shoulders and allow the villain to perform the spell, not noticing that there was one small flaw in the words that would allow the result desired by the evil one to come about. "On one condition," she said finally.

"Diana my darling," began Harry condescendingly, "you are in no position to dictate the-"

"Do you want me to believe you or not?" she challenged. Harry turned to Tritan, who merely shrugged.

"It will work for her just as well as it will work for me," he said. "Why not let her say it?"

A chill ran down Diana's spine. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. But now all she could do was go along with it.

"All right," she said softly. "How does it work?"

"Do you have a wand on you?" Tritan enquired. Diana shook her head wordlessly.

"Tsk," said Harry, looking smug. "I do." And before Diana could reply to what was undoubtedly a double entendre, he pulled out a thin wand made of rowan wood and coated in silver.

"Where did you get that?" Diana breathed. For it looked just like one of the five wands that her mother kept in her office.

"I 'borrowed' it," he answered, holding it out to her. Diana gasped as she felt the familiar shock of energy that made the air around her tremble with electricity. Each wand had it's own signature of a sort and this was most assuredly one used by her mother. She was tempted to ask how he had gotten his hands on this, but she had a feeling she wouldnt like the answer and, besides, she was unbearablely curious about how they were trying to trick her into believing she was the daughter of her grandfather.

"Very well," Diana repeated. "Now what?"

"Imagine a person in your mind's eye," Tritan said, his voice low and soothing. Diana did as she was told, deciding to test the spell first by imagining her little brother, Jonathan. There were no doubts about his parentage and this would be a way to discern if the spell was rigged in some way. "Now, the arial method works like this. You must concentrate on the person as a tree and, once you have that image in your head, you will be able to see their ancestors, their roots, so to speak."

"It sounds almost too easy," Diana, murmured, trying not to laugh as she imagined her eight year old brother covered in bark and sprouting leaves.

"Everything's easy if you're told how to do it," said Tritan dismissively. And, indded, it was almost too easy. She saw these strange golden lines radiating out from her brother's feet. There were two bright rays, one that led to an image of her mother and another to that of her father.

"Do you see it?" asked Tritan excitedly.

"I do," Diana answered, trying not to smirk. "MY brother is indeed my father's son." She let her small smile show at the look of outrage on the faces of those around her. "Forgive me for not trusting you gentlemen," she said sweetly. "I have been raised to believe that not everyone is as honest as they should be."

"Will you get on with it?" Harry asked through gritted teeth. It suddenly occured to Diana that Harry didn't know either. He was betting on this and, if he was wrong, there would be hell to pay. Diana stroked the wand, her eyes dark with mischeif.

"Hold on," she said softly, "I have to prepare myself for the magic. One should never just rush into these things."

"If you don't hurry up, I will kill you with my bare hands," Harry shouted.

"And there goes your dream of a magical monarchy," Diana said with a shrug. She had the upper hand as long as they needed her to validate their utterly absurd claims. Diana had to work this as long as she could, since when Harry found out that Joshua was really her father, as she was sure he would any moment, he would lose his temper at Tritan and she would be trapped down here at their mercy. She had to be useful to them.

"You have a little sister," said Tritan idly. "True, she is not of the same birth as you, but she would do if necessary. Joshua is a powerful mage, if not quite as powerful as his father."

"He wouldn't let you near Abigail," Diana snarled.

"He wouldn't let me near you either," Harry pointed out idly. Diana swallowed nervously.

"Very well," she said softly. And she began to imagine. She saw herself in her mind's eye and began to picutre herself as a great rowan tree, covered in pale blossoms. She smiled as the flowers waved around her like a dress and, slowly, the two beams of golden light began to flow from her feet. On the distaff side was an image of her mother, slight in frame yet strong in personailty. On the other side, her father's side, she saw the most terrible sight imaginable.

"No!" she shouted, letting go of the wand and allowing it to fall. It toppled to the grounand rolled along the floor before coming to a stop at the edge of the bubble. Diana paid it no heed, she had buried her face in her hands, as if to block of the image that had been burned into her brain. The sight of a tall, good looking man with a tan face, light brown hair and eerily green eyes. It was the same picture that hung above her father's desk, that he would never answer any questions about. She had known it was her grandfather, nothing more. "It's not true," she breathed. "Tell me it's not true."

Harry put what was meant to be a comforting hand on her shoulder, though she could sense the pleased superiority. She wrenched herself away from his grip. All her pleas were for nothing. She had tested this spell well, she knew it only told the truth. Duke Andrew Gilld was indeed her father.

"Very well," said Diana, raising tired eyes that simply could not cry to look into the face of King Tritan. She was beaten. Her mother had lied to her all her life and the man she loved as her father was really her older brother. She shivered in revulsion. There was nothing left for her in that nest of lies, nothing. For one brief moment, she thought of Anduin and wondered if he would run away with her. But she threw that thought away quickly, he would much rather stay with Rose. Besides, she was illigitemate now. No one in their right mind would marry her. Yet she doubted Harry was in his right mind. At the moment, however, the thought of him was the least of her problems. Her entire existence had been a lie and she felt this strange swelling of anger at all those who had hid this from her.

"You are convinced?" Tritan asked happily.

"I am," she answered, forcing all those she had ever held dear out of her heart. For they could not love her back, not if they treated her like this. "What do you want from me?" For it would be prudent to play along with them for now. After all, she had nothing else.

Tritan smiled wolfishly. "You will carry on your father's legacy," he told her. She tried to understand that Andrew Gilld was the man Tritan was referring to, though she couldn't erase the image of Joshua from her mind. "You will be the bridge between England and Atlantica. You will join your magic to mine and together, King Henry and I will rule the world."

"Why am I not surprised?" Diana muttered.

"Sometimes I think you have too much of your mother in you," Harry said. "But don't worry, my little dove, you will bve quite happy as Queen of the world."

I'm sure I will be, Diana thought sarcastically. And then the true enormity of what happened finally hit her. She sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands, not crying, but rocking back and forth as she mourned for the loss of all those she had ever loved, but had never truly loved her back.

T.B.C.

A/N – Yes, it's another short, mildly evil chapter. For all those of you who were hoping Diana would find out from her parents, I'm sorry. And she's mad. I don't blame her, poor girl. But she hasn't given up yet. She's a strong girl, she'll be okay. I'm going to do a quick reply to reviews, since I have to go and put my campers to bed.

Shortstef – Yes, you did deserve a cliffhanger. Especially after your latest update. I don't actually plan a single thing when I write, I tend to just let it flow and work things in when necessary. I have, up until now, had extraordinary luck with the way that things work in my stories, but no, I tend not to plan very much.

Lesalanna – What can I say, we're all masochists and cliffhangers make people come back for more. Yeah, HBP was very upsetting and, as one of my friends said, will cause a huge upheaval in the world of fanfiction.

Soofija – I'm in America, I can do whatever I want (just check with my president). Seriously though, I'm sorry about the lack of clarity. If I ever get on an editing kick, I will go back and try and clarify (work it in to the story earlier as well). If you have any specific questions, please ask them, I would be more than happy to answer. And I'm working on the speed thing, see previous statements about campers.

Anarea Rose – Well, you got your wish,. Diana's had the startling revelation and I'm glad someone likes my cliffies, since I'm growing rather fond of them.

FutureFamousMovieDirector – Glad you liked. And I'm sorry this took so long, I was supervising campers (staying up all night to make sure they DON'T sneak into the boy's cabins and do god-knows-what is not conducive to creativity.

So that's all for now. People are noticing that I've been typing forever and that it looks like a whole book, so I'll leave you for now. More soon, or so I hope.

Levana (Damian)