Chapter 21 #2
Alina didn’t share his confidence. She didn’t know all the details of the new plan for the investigation, but she knew that it involved someone trying to get taken on purpose.
It sounded risky to her. Whoever that person was, he naturally hadn’t traveled with the group.
As she understood it, he was going to the forest city, not to her town.
That was the site of the last two attempts, after all.
Another day passed before she crossed paths with the investigation team.
She’d returned to the tavern, trying to tell herself there was no loss of dignity in asking for her old job back.
The money she’d received from the investigation was considerable, but she didn’t intend to live on it.
Then it would just disappear. She hoped to buy a modest home she and the twins could live in, and in the meantime, she still needed to work.
She didn’t get as far as speaking to the owner, however. It was the middle of the day, and she’d expected the place to be empty, but the prince was sitting in the alcove seats he and his party had first occupied, several others from the team beside him.
“Alina!” He hailed her at once, his face lighting up.
Alina waved in greeting, telling her fluttering heart not to be absurd. She kept walking, and seeing that she didn’t mean to stop, Xavier struggled out of the booth.
“Are you looking for us?” He came to a stop in front of her, just by an empty table. Zuzu hopped from one table to the next, rubbing her head across Alina’s arm and purring.
Alina scratched the creature’s ears absently as she shook her head. “I’m here to speak with the owner. I don’t know if he has need of more help, but—”
“You’re not going back to working in the tavern.” Xavier seemed to realize a beat too late that he’d said it as a command rather than a question. “Surely?” he added.
Alina shrugged. “It was good, steady work.”
He searched her eyes, troubled but silent.
“How’s the investigation going?” she asked.
He sighed. “Not very well,” he admitted. “The guard is doing everything he shouldn’t do if he wanted to be safe, but so far, there’s no sign of him being targeted.”
“That’s disappointing,” Alina said. “But maybe it will still happen.”
Xavier nodded. “Some of us are leaving this afternoon to travel to the forest city. We won’t risk meeting with him directly. He’s actually coming back here to speak with the captain. But I want to receive an in-person report from the man we left there when we returned to the capital.”
“So you’re in the group going?” Alina asked.
He nodded.
“Well…” She shuffled her feet a little. “Be safe.”
“You, too,” he said, his voice quiet.
Alina left the tavern, not able to face a conversation with the owner when Xavier was in the next room.
She, Benji, and Lilah shared a quiet meal that night, the contrast between their simple fare and the luxury they’d enjoyed at the castle sitting like an invisible fourth presence in their midst.
After they’d eaten, Benji went to collect water while Lilah and Alina cleared up from the meal. Feeling her friend’s eyes on her, Alina summoned a smile.
“There’s no need to look so concerned, Lilah,” she said. “I’m not suffering from any affliction I know of.”
“Aren’t you?” Lilah took the dishes from Alina’s hands, depositing them by the empty basin, then turning back to her friend. “You don’t need to pretend with me, you know.”
Alina sighed. “I’m not trying to be false. Obviously things aren’t quite normal, and there’s a lot on my mind. But I can’t even put words to it in my head, let alone out loud.”
“Do names count as words?” Lilah challenged. “Because if so, I think you can put at least one word to it.”
Alina didn’t protest. What was the point? Lilah wasn’t an idiot.
“I saw the prince at the baker’s this morning,” Lilah said. “Mrs. Pincer sent me to get her some bread. He also didn’t seem quite…normal. Somber and depressed would be a better description.”
“Zoe must not have been working there this morning, then,” Alina said, trying for humor.
Lilah wasn’t having any of it. “That’s not fair, Alina,” she said. “I think you wrong him when you talk about him like an incurable flirt.”
Alina stared at her. “He is an incurable flirt,” she said. “He flirts constantly.”
“With you,” Lilah agreed. “But with other girls?”
“Yes,” Alina said emphatically, picturing the scene the day before they’d left the castle.
“Well, I suppose you know best,” Lilah said, not sounding as though she believed her own words.
“But I don’t think I’ve once seen him flirt with anyone other than you.
When we were at the castle, I saw a lot of girls try to flirt with him.
But I never saw him respond with anything close to the line. ”
Alina didn’t want to talk about the incident she’d just been thinking of, so she chose something safer. “You weren’t there the first night they were in town. Zoe was serving their table, and the way he carried on to her lived up to his reputation in full.”
“But that was before he’d seen you, right?” Lilah said matter-of-factly. “Did he keep doing that after?”
Alina frowned, never having considered it according to that timeline.
She remembered the serving girl at the inn in Alton, and all the others who’d tried and failed to catch the prince’s attention in that town.
Lilah’s words were uncomfortably reminiscent of Xavier’s defense when she’d painted him as a flirt because of the things he’d said to her when they were younger.
To you, he’d said, hurt in his eyes. Not to every skirt that swished past me.
Benji returned with the water at that moment, rescuing Alina from the conversation.
She helped him to fill the basin, then place the half-full pail under the table.
In spite of his claims that he was fine, he looked so dejected that her heart went out to him.
Was Lilah right that Xavier was steadier than she gave him credit for?
Should she take more seriously his offer to help Benji?
“Benji,” she said, folding her arms as he repositioned the pail. “What exactly did that guild representative say to you?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Benji said gruffly.
She frowned, exchanging a glance with Lilah. The other girl also didn’t look satisfied.
“Benji,” Lilah said sternly, “it will be much better for you to just tell us.”
“No, it won’t,” he contradicted. “It’s best to just leave it alone.”
“But you were so optimistic after you took the test,” Alina insisted. “Why would that guild member come in person just to tell you that you didn’t get in?”
“He came to check my eligibility, and he found me not to be eligible,” Benji said. “Please can we drop it now?”
“No, we can’t.” Lilah was staring at him. “Do you mean you scored well enough, but you weren’t sufficiently high-bred?” Her sweet features were as close to outraged as Alina had ever seen them. “Why have a scholarship if it’s only available to the privileged anyway?”
“It wasn’t that,” Benji sighed. “It was…other things.”
“Benji.”
Alina and Lilah were side by side now, their arms crossed. Benji’s expression as he looked at the pair of them could only be described as cornered.
“Tell us.”
Alina’s curt command didn’t have the effect she expected. Benji’s eyes were hooded as he looked at her, his jaw working.
“I don’t want to tell you, Alina,” he said. “And you don’t want me to, either.”
Alina felt her arms uncross, startled by the shift. “Me specifically?” she asked. “Why not? Please, Benji,” she pressed, as he wavered. “You have to tell me. Being forced to use my imagination would be even worse.”
Benji let out a breath, dropping into a chair with a clear gesture of defeat.
“I was determined not to tell you,” he said.
“It was the strangest thing. The guild member seemed almost as disappointed as I was. He was the one who administered the test, and he basically told me at the time that he would push for my acceptance. I think he came to the castle intending to give me good news.”
“So what happened?” Lilah demanded.
Benji shrugged. “I don’t really know. But when I received the message that he’d come, I was so excited I went out to the courtyard to meet him, and I saw him talking to someone else.”
“Who?” Alina demanded.
“Too far away to tell,” said Benji. “But it was someone in a royal guard uniform.”
“And you think this person spoke against your case?” Lilah was frowning, as confused as Alina felt. “But no one in the capital even knows you.”
“Unless it was someone from the investigation team,” Alina pointed out. “We traveled together.”
“I don’t recall Benji making any enemies on that journey,” Lilah protested.
“It’s not me who has enemies,” Benji said quietly.
Reluctantly, his eyes moved to Alina. “The guild member’s manner was very strange when we spoke.
He seemed stressed. The only thing he really asked me about was my connection to you.
It was as though he was trying to get me to say I didn’t really know you, like we’d just met, or our connection was only passing.
Obviously I wouldn’t say that. I told him straight that you’d taken in my sister and me two years ago, and I considered you family.
He got sort of resigned and told me that unfortunately they couldn’t offer me a position. ”
Alina’s pulse was thundering in her ears by the end of this account.
“You…you were barred entrance to the guild because of me?” She could hardly believe it. She didn’t know which consumed her most, guilt or confusion. “I hate that I stood in your way, Benji. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
“Not sorry,” Benji said, scowling at her. “Don’t you dare apologize, Alina. Someone else’s prejudice isn’t your fault. I’d rather never use magic again than disown you after all you’ve done for us.”
“But why was there prejudice at all?” Alina said. “Who would have such a problem with me?”
“I saw plenty of girls who looked ready to stab you every time the prince talked to you,” Lilah said helpfully.