Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you.
I wonder if the fighting animals on the tapestry hiding the passage is significant. Maybe the dark creature is part of Tempos' family crest, and they've always resisted the royal line. Or maybe the whole design indicates a secret passage? Does Loisette have something like that in her room? She should look!
Tempos may be a buffoon, but he's a dangerous one. Where Alexander tried to maintain an image of following the law, Tempos doesn't give a flip what people think of him. Were he to become king, he wouldn't last long - the nobles would band together to unseat him.
Problem is, then they'd have to pick one of their own to rule, and good luck with that! Clarkent still hasn't pulled that sword out of the black rock on the border, so maybe when he does that it will indicate that he's the rightful heir to both thrones. Of course, he's going to have to fight Tempos, and that guy cheats.
The tension is ratcheting up again! I, too, wonder where Peri is, and just who that dark sorcerer is. And you're going to have to write fast to finish all this up in just five more parts! I'm confident that you will, and that you'll give us a moderately happy ending.
Next part is up when?
