Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-seven
Jacinth
Ididn’t think I could feel more conflicted, but Azurill had managed to prove me wrong.
His answers about what happened to my family left me uncertain. While his guilt regarding it was clear, his words left me in doubt about the reason why. He acted like he thought it was terrible, which wasn’t what I’d expected of him at all.
Or perhaps it was what I expected of the man I now knew, and not the idea of the High King who loomed large in my mind all these years—the villain who orchestrated the downfall of my entire world.
Since Lord Carnelian’s slip-up, my mind was in constant turmoil.
Thankfully, Fiala needed watching, giving me something to divert my attention.
She was such a sweet girl, and taking care of her gave me a glimpse of what having a child might have been like.
The way my heart ached as Azurill and I had put her to bed was wretched.
It was too easy to imagine a future that would never exist.
And then, he’d surprised me all over again.
Despite all of my doubts and conflict, knowing he felt the same way was a beautiful torment. It could never be, but he left the taste of temptation on my tongue and my heart a desolate shell, hollowed out of my rage and pain, leaving only an aching desire and a longing that could never be sated.
I put a smile on my face and pretended like my entire world hadn’t shifted, but Faiza and Amatista were too easily able to see the truth.
More people that I’d let slip beneath my skin and into the heart of me.
It was foolish. It was irresponsible. But it was the truth, nonetheless.
Azurill might have been asking for himself alone, but I couldn’t deny that my heart ached for everything I’d found here.
“Something happened,” Amatista said, watching me with shrewd eyes. “You’re trying too hard to keep that facade of yours up, even around us.”
I sighed deeply, hanging my head as Faiza snickered, “Well, she and Az did disappear together yesterday.”
“That’s true.” Amatista’s eyes lit up. “Did something happen between you two?” She smiled teasingly, nudging my shoulder.
“Shh, little ears are listening.” I narrowed my eyes at them, waving a hand to indicate the three children playing before us in the garden.
“Oh, come on, they aren’t paying us any attention.” Faiza laughed. “You can tell us.”
“What’s this?” Another voice interrupted, and I turned to face Zumra, who walked up to us with a sneer already on her lips.
Her emerald-green hair was perfectly curled and shone brilliantly against her white dress.
So pure and unstained, even though we were supposed to be taking care of messy little children.
“Does Jacinth have some gossip to share? Perhaps where she truly came from?” Zumra asked haughtily. I narrowed my eyes at her, but realized something very important was missing.
“Where’s the child you’re supposed to be taking care of, Zumra?” I demanded, standing to face her.
She scoffed, shaking her head, “I don’t see how that’s any business of yours.”
“And yet, you keep trying to insert yourself into mine,” I countered with a raised brow.
“That’s because I know you have something to hide,” she hissed, getting right in my face. I raised my hands and, using just the tips of my fingers, dug them into her shoulders to push her back out of my personal space.
She staggered backwards, gasping dramatically in shock. The area went deathly silent as she stared back at me with her mouth gaping open. “How dare you put your hands on me?”
“What is going on here?” I recognized the man with icy-blue-green hair who walked up to us as the head of the royal guard, Balthazar. Azurill’s best friend. I nearly groaned, but managed to keep it contained.
“That filthy mongrel attacked me!” Zumra declared, pointing at me and making my eyebrows shoot up.
“You were in my face, I merely pushed you back out of it,” I told her, rolling my eyes.
“Jac, what’s going on?” Fiala’s little voice rang out as she ran up to me, curling around my leg. I put a hand on her shoulder, smiling down at her.
“Nothing to worry about, darling. Right?” I looked up at Zumra and Balthazar, who looked between the two of us skeptically.
“I’d like to speak with each of you separately, just to be sure,” Balthazar said, looking apologetic. “We need to be careful when it comes to our competitors.”
“Of course.” I forced a smile, knowing Zumra’s position was infinitely better than mine. Would that be enough to influence his decision on this matter?
“If you’ll both follow me, we can have the children watched over while we take care of this matter,” he said, looking to Fiala with a small smile, before turning to Zumra. He was clearly looking for the little girl in her care, and upon realizing she was nowhere to be found, raised a brow.
“Where is your charge?” he asked slowly, his eyes slowly narrowing.
Zumra smiled widely, waving a hand breezily. “Oh, she’s well taken care of.”
“How so?” he questioned in return, crossing his large arms and making the muscles bulge as he watched her carefully.
“She was having a tantrum and would not stop screaming.” She shivered, and her lip curled up in disgust. “I used an old family potion that my mother taught me. It puts a crying child down for hours.” She looked so proud of herself, but my mouth dropped open in shock.
“You dosed her?” I gasped, feeling the horror in my voice down to my bones.
Magic could be volatile and dangerous to give to children.
They weren’t fully grown and could react differently than a mature adult would.
I thought it was standard practice to avoid giving potions to children unless it was absolutely necessary, but apparently, Emerald Court did things differently.
Zumra rolled her green eyes at me, “Don’t be so dramatic, she’s absolutely fine.”
“You have no way of knowing that,” I argued, the force of my fury making me tremble.
“She’s right.” I nearly jumped as Prince Ruri appeared from behind me. “It’s too dangerous to give a child something like that.”
His frost-blue hair fell in waves to his chin, framing his face and giving it a softer appearance, but the ice in his eyes was glacial as he stared Zumra down. I thought he’d looked at me coldly, but it was nothing compared to this.
“Prince Ruri,” Zumra laughed, but it was forced now as her eyes darted between two of the closest people in the world to the High King she sought. “My mother used to give it to my siblings and me all the time. It’s perfectly safe!”
“You have no way of knowing that for sure.” He glared back at her. “Balthazar, send someone to confiscate the potion and materials in her rooms. Along with a healer to see to the child.”
“Of course, my Prince.” He nodded, then looked between Zumra and me. “Both of you will need to come with me.”
“No, Jac did nothing wrong!” Fiala shouted, stomping her foot. “The green one was mean! She just made her move away.”
I sighed heavily and kneeled down, taking her hands in mine. “Don’t worry, Fia. I’ll be okay. They just want to ensure everyone is safe, and I’m sure they’ll see that nothing really happened here.”
She pouted, her little violet eyes looking to the floor. “Okay, but you’ll come back, right?” She peeked back up at me through the curtain of her hair.
I smiled softly, leaning in to kiss her forehead. “Let them try and stop me.” I teased, getting a slight smile from the girl before I stood up and nodded to Balthazar.
Prince Ruri was watching me carefully, but something had softened in his bearing from the last time we’d spoken. He leaned down to Fiala’s level, giving her a roguish wink. “Here, you can stick with me until Lady Jacinth is done.”
“Thank you, Prince Ruri.” I dipped my head deferentially, and he gave me a nod in return before I left to follow Balthazar, who met up with a few of his guards along the way to pass along Prince Ruri’s orders.
Two of them followed us as we were led to what must have been the guard’s offices and barracks.
We walked past a training ground surrounded by an observation deck and then into a hallway that led to several rooms.
The two guards brought Zumra and me each to different rooms, and I was then forced to wait for a while.
As I sat there, I considered what Azurill’s response might be to this before realizing that I should really be more concerned about Lord Carnelian’s.
I shivered at the thought, hoping against hope that he might not hear about this, but I knew in my heart that it was hopeless.
The man had eyes and ears everywhere. I was just lucky that my role here involved seducing Azurill, or else he might have caught on already that I wasn’t exactly following orders.
The door finally opened to reveal Balthazar, who took a seat across from me. He placed a parchment down on the table along with one of the magic quills that always had ink.
“Forgive me for dragging you here, Lady Jacinth,” Balthazar said, his face blank of any emotion, remaining purely professional.
“I can well understand the need for security,” I told him, nodding slightly.
“Can you tell me about your confrontation with Lady Zumra in detail?” he asked, his eyes unblinking as he watched me.
I sighed, launching into a retelling of what had occurred. I watched as he took notes, nodding in parts, before he flipped to another piece of parchment, likely to compare my story to whatever Zumra reported.
When I was done, he nodded thoughtfully before smiling slightly at me. “It sounds like no harm was truly done. I can certainly understand your frustration with her antics, Lady Jacinth, and I apologize if you felt threatened while under High King Azurill’s protection.”
I couldn’t help the slight smile that snuck out, “I truly don’t blame the king for Lady Zumra’s vendetta.”
“I’m happy to hear it,” he responded gruffly, nodding quickly. “I think we’re all set here. You can return to Fiala, if Prince Ruri hasn’t run off with her, of course.” He chuckled.
I chuckled, unable to imagine the suspicious prince running around after a child. Then again, there was no reason for him to show me his softer side.
I made my way back to the gardens, entering them through the giant archway made of gems. The sun warmed my skin as I walked by the colorful plants and gems growing all around me.
The winding paths split off into several different routes, and I went to turn right toward the playground when I spotted Sania heading my way, along with the child she was watching over.
“Lady Jacinth.” She greeted coolly, looking me over.
“Lady Sania.” I nearly stuttered, unsure how to handle the interaction. No matter how many times I’d thought about speaking to my cousin, I hadn’t dared to. Now, I had little choice in the matter.
“I heard you had a bit of a scuffle with Lady Zumra.” She raised her orange brow, brushing her long curls over her shoulder as she watched me steadily.
“Oh, nothing so dramatic.” I forced a chuckle. “Just her being dramatic, in fact.”
Sania smiled, but it looked forced, and there was certainly no humor in it. “I’m sure.”
She moved to go around me, not even saying farewell, but stopped as she came level with me. She turned her head to the side to face me directly, and her orange gem-eyes glinted as they narrowed.
“You should be careful,” she advised in a carefully neutral tone. “You never know what someone is willing to do to win.”
With that, she walked away without another word, the child following obediently after her. The entire interaction left me feeling unsettled. Her cool demeanor could easily be attributed to several factors, but it was so at odds with her warning.
Unless she was talking about herself and trying to threaten me. But then why would she warn me at all? It didn’t make any sense, and I hated not knowing what game she was playing.
Zumra and Safira’s games were easy to figure out, but Sania was clearly smarter than them both. She was more subtle about whatever machinations she was up to, if she was indeed up to any.
I hadn’t spent enough time around the other ladies in the competition to know their agendas either. Faiza and Amatista were friends enough for me. Except now I couldn’t help but wonder if I did myself a disservice by not getting to know the others better.
Maybe it was time I found out more.
About everything.