"I shouldn't have given it away," Sophie said, trying to be as brave as Emel's stone reading predicted. "I see that now. It wasn't just a ring. It was your ring, for me," Sophie said, biting her lip.

Before Henri responded, Tristan jumped in, "How did you find that ring, Henri? It's the eight-sided diamond of Gemmes; did you know that?"

"Of course not," Henri said defensively. "I found it one day in the woods, a few years ago. I didn't realize how important it was, obviously, I'd have returned it to the king had I known it belonged to him. I always knew ... never mind...."

"Unbelievable," Tristan said, shaking his head.

"Henri, what did you know?" Sophie pressed him to finish his words.

Henri looked at her with eyes full of history.

"I always knew it was yours. I always wanted to give it to you. Strange isn't it? How it already belonged to you, the Queen of Gemmes?" He shook his head.

Sophie realized she wanted him to cross the room, cover the space between them. In reality, it was maybe ten feet, but it felt like the breadth of the ocean. All she wanted was him to be at her side and never leave.

That truth, once she acknowledged it, filled the cavernous spaces inside of her. The spaces resentment and hostility had dwelled. She had let them in the door of her heart, not just inside her stony walls; they had become her essence. They knew their way around. They had been a part of most everything she had done.

But now.

Now she was no longer an Ice Queen, ruled by those glacial feelings she knew so well. No. Now that the garnet was gone, there was space inside of her for love.

Love for Henri.

"Henri?" she asked, pensively. "I am sorry for giving away your ring. Will you forgive me?"

He nodded as his shaggy hair fell in his eyes, his perfect smile breaking to a grin, and dimples forming across his cheeks.

She crossed the breadth of the sea herself, because she couldn't imagine them apart for one more minute. One more second. One more breath.

Because breath wasn't a thing to take for granted, Sophie had learned.

She was unwilling to waste a single one.

She pulled him into a kiss. His lips met hers and she swore they tasted like the ocean she'd never seen and the salt may have been his tears or her tears, and it mattered little. Because all she needed to know was if he would still choose her.

Because after all this time she knew, with all of her beating heart, that she chose him.

Tristan North Montagne, Gemmes The next morning the sun rose bright, and the clouds were gone and everything seemed possible. Except for leaving the Palace. That was proving more difficult than any of them had anticipated. The rioters were causing quite a delay for their whole 'open the mountain and figure out what the legend meant' expedition.

"Perhaps the best thing to do is invite them with us," Sophie suggested.

They looked at her, trying to decide how serious she was. She'd assumed the role of queen for what, twelve hours and already making preposterous proposals. Drake stopped looking at the map with Uncle Remy, to assess Sophie. He didn't seem to know what to make of her.

Who did, really?

Tristan had utterly devoted himself to this creature since the moment he set eyes on her. Although, he now realized, that had less to do with her, and much more to do with the garnet buried in her chest.

To his disappointment, his charisma and charm hadn't set her heart aflame. He was a fetching adventurer, but obviously not much else. It seemed now that she had the ability to love, her choice was already made.

She'd chosen Henri, and Henri chose her. Much to Emel's and Tristan's awkward disappointment. They found their way out of the chamber room last night the moment Henri's and Sophie's lips touched.

Which was fine because Emel was quite ravishing herself. Emel was much less obscure and cynical, she was gorgeous in a Boheme, diseuse de bonne aventure way. Fortunetellers were hard to compete with, in honesty.

"We don't actually know what is inside the Montagne, you know that right, Sophie?" Tristan asked.

Now that the moment he had waited for had finally arrived, it was more nerve-wracking than he'd anticipated. What if it was dust and rubble? What if the Legend was a giant hoax? What if it was everything he'd hoped for, what if it was more?

"Better for everyone to see it and believe it, than us telling them tales of what we found." Sophie seemed sure of herself.

"But the tresor is...." Tristan started.

"Is what?" Sophie crossed her arms protectively. "The tresor, as we've discussed thoroughly, belongs to everyone in Gemmes, equally. We live here. We die here. We will share the spoils democratically."

Tristan shook his head and Tamsin smiled at the corner of her mouth. It seemed the woman still had secrets.

"We will set you up on the Palace steps and open the gates," Drake said, moving quickly from the room. "You can tell your citizens there."

Sophie The Steps of the Palace Royale, Gemmes The thing was Sophie didn't know much about who she actually was. The idea of leading an entire nation of people overwhelmed her. She had not set out to rule this country. She'd only wanted to find her parents and the stark truth was she had neither.

The rioting crowd had quieted as the looming Legion surrounded the Palace. One could not deny the power of their curiosity. Sophie watched from her dead mother's bedroom window. Desperate to breathe deep, desperate to remain calm.

She sat at the dressing table, the one lined with shakers of fancy gem-dust filled with the promise to make one a better person. Sophie picked up the jar labeled Amazonite; the powder of the green stones promised to soothe her nerves. She needed all the calming properties offered, and she shook it vigorously.

She couldn't understand how everyone managed to make it through life with such deep banks of emotions swelling inside. No longer solely cold, Sophie felt the ache of losing her mothers ... both of them ...Francesca and Cozette ... both pressing in on her. The ache of losing the father she never knew. The ache of being an orphan. It was overwhelming, feeling so much.

"Henri, can you unclasp this?" Sophie asked the only person she had left. Watching him through the mirror as he tenderly unhooked the chain of emeralds, Sophie felt another pang. The pang that apparently happens when you love someone so much it physically hurts.

She felt that for Henri.

"Don't you want to wear some of the Royal jewels, Jou-Jou?"

"I think that seriously compromises my position as the people's queen."

"True. See, you will be fine, already thinking of the citizens above yourself." Henri smiled as he leaned over to kiss her cheek.

"This will be dreadful," she said, pessimistically.

"You'll be grand," Henri said, kissing her other cheek. "Besides, worst case scenario we flee this foolery, steal Emel's wagon and go live a glorious life alone."

"Promise?"

"You don't need my promises. You were born for this. You are the same Jou-Jou I always knew and loved ... smart and cunning and irresistible. The people of Gemmes will listen to you."

Henri walked with her from the queen's chamber, down the staircase, and out the Palace. Sophie felt stronger with Henri gripping her hand, believing in her.

Sophie looked at the people; she saw the exhaustion in their eyes, the years of death, of grueling work, of undelivered promises. She would offer them more than what they had. Worse case-scenario, she realized, if the was no treasure in the Montagne, she could still open the king's vault and bestow on them the gems they had rightfully earned. This backup plan filled her with confidence.

She stood tall; shoulders back, and spoke with poise. Poise, she realized, she would carry with her all the days of her life. It was the poise her mother had poise she had as well, buried inside the four chambers of the heart. The heart that was her mother's, the heart that was hers. The heart that would lead her people.

It was a relief to realize she had indeed been born to lead this country. She stood before protesters, who appeared quite taken aback by the opening of the Palace gates. Sophie smoothed her crimson gown, raised her head, and spoke.

"I am Sophie. The lost daughter of King Marcus and Queen Cozette. Rulers who have passed from this world to the next, leaving me the heir and rightful Queen of Gemmes."

A cry broke through the crowd, and fists shook with raised pick-axes.

"I know you're angry. You have the right to be. I grew up in the Vallee, raised by a woman killed by the King's Legion, I have seen first-hand what living under the king's rule is like. I want more for you. I want more for Gemmes."

Sophie swallowed, and glanced at the people who stood stoically beside her. This hodge-podge alliance formed the only people she had, and they were enough. Drake, Emel, Tristan, Tamsin, Remy, and Henri. They nodded at her to continue, to not stop now. She could be brave.

"You may have heard of the Tresor de L'espoir. It is a tresor that promises to give riches greater than we can imagine, if it is found and opened. We," Sophie pointed to her friends, "believe we can open it. We want you to come with us. To see it with your own eyes. Now."

Her direct approach seemed to work, and no one screamed back insults or tried to break past the guards. They had questions.

"Where is it?"

"Can we bring our families?"

"Will you share?"

Sophie beamed as Drake fielded the questions. The palace would send convoys filled with provisions. Palace cooks would be rounded up and food would be prepared for anyone who joined them. The soldiers would load wagons with surplus tents and gear. The country of Gemmes was rich, and Sophie knew it was high time to share that wealth with her people.

When she walked off the steps, back inside the Palace to pack, she realized with a gasp that tears pricked her eyes.

She brushed them away, realizing for the first time these were not tears of sorrow, or tears of pain. These tears were borne from joy.

Tristan North Montagne Tristan couldn't help but feel a bit stiffed out of his own personal tresor. Uncle Remy reminded him it was because of Tamsin that they had any stones at all. And Tamsin only had insight because of her morbid connection to Sophie.

If the tresor was anyone's, it was Sophie's. She'd suffered enough, unknowingly, because of it. Sophie believed the tresor belonged to the people of Gemmes.

Now there was an enormous band of travelers behind the Royal Carriage. A Palace Crier travelled ahead, telling villagers the plans of the Monarchy. Tristan sat, looking out the window as they approached Madame Josephine's in the North where he had stored the other gemstones. They had travelled for two days and it was a relief to be one step closer. The idea of sitting next to Sophie and Henri for one more hour, as they looked at one another adoringly, would cause him to vomit.

Thankfully, the carriage stopped.

He disembarked with Uncle Remy, Sophie, and Drake. Drake had become Sophie's trusted Advisor, and although it was rumored that the queen had dismissed him on grounds of his relationship with the king, it seemed he was still the man who was most closely acquainted with the ruling of Gemmes. He was an asset for sure.

Madame Josephine scurried outside of her Auberge to greet them, wrapping Tristan in her arms, and then Remy's necks.

"Oh my sweet boys ... back at last!" She had tears in her eyes, clearly surprised to see them. Tristan noticed her giving an appraising eye to Sophie, but she said nothing. Intimidated by the new Queen most likely.

"We need to step inside my room, I left something quite valuable inside," Tristan said courteously, knowing Josephine would be honored to have the Royal Carriage stop at her humble hostel.

"Of course, of course, tea? Cafe au lait? Lunch?" she asked the group.

"We're fine, but we need to step upstairs, my dear," Remy answered for everyone.

The Auberge was empty; most everyone in the village had made their way to see the enormous traveling party, or had run home to get their horse and cart to join them.

Tristan led the group up the stairs to the room he had claimed as his own for so many years. Finally, he was coming to take the gems, take what was his at least in part. His stomach roared in anticipation.

"Help me with this, Drake?" Tristan asked, needing to move the bureau.

Once moved, and carpet pushed aside, Tristan used his chisel to pry up the floorboard, revealing the discreet hiding place no one would ever think to look. Tristan moved aside for his uncle, the man who inspired him to track in the first place, the man who taught him everything he knew.

"All here," Uncle Remy said as he counted the gems in the slim box that held so much, a tear slid down his weathered cheek. The fruition of a dream was a moment to savor. "There are five here, Tamsin gave me the sixth--" He held up the blue sapphire. "And Sophie? The garnet?"

"It's here," she patted to the discreet pouch hanging on her neck, "I will take these," she said, lifting the box of gems.

It was hard to let go. Tristan didn't want to, but he had no choice. The other men nodded curtly to the queen. She could do anything she wanted.

They walked out of the Auberge, kissing Madame Josephine as they left. Sophie stopped in front of the carriage next to Henri, looking at Tristan expectantly. In fact, everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Oh, yes. Okay. So." Tristan cleared his throat and began reciting the book he had practically memorized, "You must go to the foot farthest away, and set the gems upon their stone stage.

Once they are placed, the magic will hold, opening up riches untold.

The one who places the gems will see their future, their power, their majesty."

Tristan's eyes gleamed, and he was expecting to see shouts of joy. Instead everyone looked at him with their heads to the side, arms crossed, perplexed.

"It's a bit vague, isn't it?" Sophie asked. "I mean, the foot could mean an awful lot of things."

"What exactly is the tresor?" Henri pressed, apparently as cynical as his amour.

"I don't know everything. I never said I did. I said we needed to track these gems that the book lists. Find them and see what happens. That's what I did. I'm a Gem Tracker, not a stone reader!"

The group swerved their heads simultaneously toward Emel. Because they did have diseuse de bonne aventurer on their hands.

"Okay, okay, I get it! I will get the crystal ball from my wagon. What would you have done without me, my darlings?" Emel asked, laughing at them.

Tristan followed her, anxious to see where they were to go, with the entire country of Gemmes on their tails.

This was more than an adventure. This was his life.

Tamsin Toward the Foot of the Montagne, Gemmes Sophie looked like her mother. It was strange to stand back and watch her now, taking over Gemmes so authoritatively. It reminded Tamsin of the stories villagers used to tell of King Marcus and Queen Cozette, when they were strong and ruthless rulers. Sophie was like them, but better.

Tamsin saw Sophie's pause before she answered a question. Tamsin saw it when Sophie listened to Emel explain the route the crystal had promised. Tamsin saw it when Sophie looked over her shoulder at Tristan, making sure he wasn't watching before she took Henri's hand in her own, and held it tight.

Sophie was kind.

Sophie was the sort of leader Gemmes needed.

"Remy, do you think it will take long to get there?" Tamsin asked, as they sat alone in a carriage behind the one holding the queen.

"No, it won't be far now. Although this outrageous entourage may cause some problems."

Tamsin looked from the window at the people streaming behind them for miles. Sophie invited the entire country to watch as the Tresor de L'espoir was revealed. Royalty had never made a gutsier, bolder move.

"What are you doing when this is over?" she asked Remy.