Chapter Seventeen: The Mass Grave Beneath the Throne Room

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Serilda and Gild examine the throne room, which Gild notes has no obvious hiding places for a body. Serilda describes how the space looks on the other side of the veil—cobwebs, broken furniture, and thorn bushes, though the thrones remain untouched. They decide to investigate the dais, a raised platform covered in a gold-knotted rug. Together they push it and discover a hidden rectangular pit roughly four feet deep.

Inside the pit lies a mass of bones—femurs, skulls, and scattered remains—alongside two perfectly preserved bodies. One is the prince, Gild’s former self, dressed in a green cloak with gold embroidery and lying facedown. The other is a young girl with golden curls: the princess, Gild’s sister. Both have gold-tipped arrows piercing them. Serilda recognizes valuables among the bones: a jeweled dagger, a gem-studded brooch, and a crown.

Serilda realizes these are Gild’s family and court. The Erlking murdered them all and discarded the bodies carelessly, keeping only the prince and princess preserved by a curse. Gild is shaken, angry at himself for failing his people, though Serilda insists none of it was his fault. He gives his ring—bearing the royal seal—and his locket to the prince’s body, saying these belong to the true prince of Adalheid.

Serilda notes the princess’s body bears bruises around her throat and suggests she is not truly dead. They realize her spirit is missing; she is not tethered to the castle as Gild is. Gild refuses to break his curse by removing the arrow, unwilling to leave Serilda behind. He picks up the crown and declares he wants to earn the right to be king. Agathe arrives, bandaged and smiling, and offers to help them.

Key Events

Serilda and Gild push aside the throne room dais and discover a hidden pit beneath it.
The pit contains dozens of skeletons alongside two perfectly preserved, cursed bodies: the prince and the princess.
Serilda identifies the remains as Gild’s family, courtiers, and servants, all murdered by the Erlking.
Gild places his family signet ring and locket onto the prince’s body, symbolically returning them.
They realize the princess’s spirit is missing—her body is preserved but her soul is unaccounted for.
Gild refuses to break his own curse because doing so would trap him on the other side of the veil without Serilda.
Gild picks up the crown and vows to earn the right to rule.
Agathe appears and offers to assist them.

Character Development

Gild undergoes significant emotional turmoil in this chapter. Confronted with the physical remains of his former life, he moves from hollow disbelief to furious grief. He blames himself for failing his people, despite having been absent during the massacre. His decision to give away his ring and locket shows a willingness to let go of his past identity, yet his refusal to break his curse demonstrates his deepening commitment to Serilda. The chapter ends with a new resolve: he wants to earn kingship rather than inherit it.

Serilda acts as both investigator and emotional anchor. She pieces together the meaning of the hidden grave and offers comfort to Gild while also pressing him to consider freeing himself. Her own guilt surfaces when she wonders whether she could abandon the captive children, even if escape becomes possible.

Agathe reappears after being injured, now offering aid. Her timing suggests she may have been watching or knows more than she has revealed.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Mass grave as evidence of tyranny: The pit beneath the throne is not just a burial site but a literal foundation of the Erlking’s rule, built on murder and disregard for human dignity.
Preservation versus decay: The cursed bodies of the prince and princess remain lifelike while the bones around them have rotted. This contrast mirrors the unnatural pause the Erlking has imposed on the castle and its ghosts.
Grief without memory: Gild struggles to mourn people he cannot remember, yet Serilda argues that missing someone does not require memories. This exchange highlights how trauma can be felt even when recollections are erased.
Objects as identity: The ring, locket, and crown carry symbolic weight. Gild’s decision to return them to the prince’s body signifies a relinquishing of his claim to the past, while his later choice to take up the crown shows a shift toward earning a future role.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter Seventeen is a turning point in the novel. It provides the first concrete evidence of the Erlking’s cruelty on a massive scale and forces Gild to confront his erased history. The discovery of the princess’s preserved body raises the stakes: she is not dead but missing, suggesting her spirit may be held elsewhere. Gild’s choice not to free himself for Serilda’s sake deepens their bond and sets up the central conflict of the second half of the book. Agathe’s arrival signals that the rebellion may be gaining allies.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Gild refuse to remove the arrow from the prince’s body and break his curse?
Gild explains that breaking his curse would immediately trap him on the other side of the veil, separating him from Serilda. He is unwilling to abandon her, especially since she has not yet found her own body and remains vulnerable to the Erlking.

2. What does Serilda realize about the princess’s body that changes their understanding of the curse?
Serilda recalls seeing the princess’s body strung up earlier in the story, and she notices that the body in the pit appears merely asleep rather than dead. She concludes that the princess is not truly dead—her body has been preserved by the same curse that holds Gild, but her spirit is missing, tethered to some unknown location rather than to the castle.

3. How does Gild’s decision regarding the ring and locket reflect his emotional state?
By placing the ring and locket onto the prince’s body, Gild symbolically returns the tokens of his former identity to the person he used to be. This act suggests grief, surrender, and a desire to lay his past to rest. However, his subsequent decision to pick up the crown indicates a shift toward building a new identity based on earned authority rather than inherited title.