Chapter 29
Sebastian: A Terrible Realization
Sebastian couldn’t focus. Every time he started sketching a design for the third task, Lucy’s terrified face floated into his mind.
She’d been absolutely certain that Thaddeus would kill him to get to her.
Would she really leave him behind if she thought it was the best way to save him?
A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him she would.
She would convince herself that it was what was best for him.
Which was absolutely ridiculous. If he’d learned anything in the past week, it was that he was always better off with her in his life than he was without her.
He sighed, crumpling his latest attempt at a design, when he realized that he’d just been writing her name on the paper repeatedly. This was useless. The images that usually floated freely in his mind were simply not coming. He needed to focus, or he’d never be able to finish in time.
Instead, he flipped open Lucy’s sketchbook. Perhaps something she’d drawn would give him the inspiration he needed to get started.
He flipped through the book until he found one that stopped him in his tracks.
She had drawn it in bold black and gray and red, all centered on a hulking werewolf attacking a small, frightened girl.
Other wolves dotted around the background, but clearly, they were too far away to help or they hadn’t noticed the problem.
Sebastian’s stomach churned as he stared at the sketch. Was this what Lucy had experienced the night that Wilde had attacked her? He shuddered to think of her going through such an experience alone. And Wilde was still out there somewhere…
A knock at the door interrupted his musings. He looked up to see Robin entering the room, a frown on his face. Sebastian waved. “What are you doing here, your highness?”
“Did you know Lucy is leaving?” Robin demanded.
Sebastian stared at him, the prince’s voice robbing him of coherent thought. At last, he sputtered, “What? She’s just checking on her grandmother.”
“I know that’s what she said, but I don’t believe it. You don’t pack all your belongings to go visit grandma,” Robin growled, irritably. “What did you say to her? She was perfectly happy…well, not happy, per se, but she was fine when I saw you two in town.”
Sebastian shook his head. “She’s got it into her mind that she needs to leave me and her family behind to protect us,” he growled. “She thinks Thaddeus will come after us all to get to her.”
Robin studied him. “What do you think?”
“I think the werewolf I met last night would do anything to get to her,” Sebastian admitted.
“But I also think that between the two of us, not to mention our respective armies, we could deal with it. You’re already intent on arresting the cur, and I have no desire to stand idly by and let you get all the glory.
I promised to protect her, and I meant it.
She doesn’t have to go. But I didn’t have time to convince her of that before she got that blasted note. ”
“What note?” Robin wondered.
Sebastian jerked his head to where he’d left the scrap of paper. The prince crossed the room to read it. Once he had, he looked up, concerned. “So it was true? Her grandmother’s ill?”
“She was when we got here,” Sebastian grunted. “That was why we were late the first day—we’d stopped at her cottage the night before to check on her. But the healer there was optimistic about her chances of recovery. I’m baffled as to why she suddenly got worse.”
Robin groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “This is awful. I didn’t realize having a little sister would be so stressful.”
Sebastian studied him curiously. “A little sister? What are you talking about?”
Robin’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t tell you. Not yet. She should be the first to know. I was planning to talk to her tonight. Take her to dinner, break it to her gently. I was going to invite you too, for the record. I thought her intended should be one of the first to know.”
“I’m not her intended,” Sebastian said.
“Well, that’s really something you should have thought of before you let her go.
I saw the way you look at her. For that matter, I saw the way she looks at you.
As far as she’s concerned, you hung the stars from the sky,” Robin quipped before giving his head a rueful shake.
“I guess I shouldn’t talk, though. I didn’t tell her my news when I had the chance. ”
Sebastian shook his head. “We’re a pair of saps, your highness.”
“That we are, Mr. Doyle,” Robin said. “Well, I, for one, will not sit by and watch her walk out of my life so easily. I plan to deal with the insidious Thaddeus Wilde and then I’m going to hunt my sister down and bring her back to us.
By the Starkind, I’ve already misplaced one sibling.
I will not let another one disappear into the ether. ”
Sebastian smiled at his determination. “I’ll help.
With all of the above.” He hesitated, then continued, “And if you want, I’ll put my feelers out about your brother, too.
If he’s anywhere in or near Moyar, I’m fairly certain I can track him down.
There’s very little that happens within our borders that my people don’t know about. ”
Robin gave a jerky nod. “I’d appreciate that.
” He sighed. “Well, I’d better go check in with the emperor.
Today’s attack was unexpected, to say the least, and it really shook him up.
He and the empress both, actually.” He gave a humorless chuckle.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Empress Zaria so unsettled. And I grew up with her.”
“Well, I’d be concerned if an assassination attempt didn’t shake her up,” Sebastian pointed out. “I think the only reason Lucy and I weren’t so shaken was because we were watching for something like that. Though, admittedly, I didn’t expect such a clumsy attempt.”
Robin frowned. “I was thinking the same thing. That explosion was mostly bark, very little bite. Even the few fires it started, the imperial guards could control them easily. And it wasn’t nearly close enough to the emperor to put him in any danger, but, even if it was, you’d thrown up a shield.
The arrow yesterday would have been more deadly if your spell hadn’t diverted it. ”
“The poison was probably the closest they’d have gotten to an actual assassination attempt,” Sebastian mused. “If we hadn’t given it to Avelar to study, I’d be worried about someone searching our studio and room to find it.”
Robin nodded. “You’re not wrong about that.” He furrowed his brow. “Are you sure no one has searched either place?”
“I don’t think so. No one’s been in our rooms except us, Lady Quinn, and the Lees. And the only unauthorized person in the studio was…” Sebastian’s eyes widened. “Wilde.”
Robin’s horrified expression mirrored his. “You don’t think—”
“Good morning, gentlemen!” The two men whirled around to see Avelar entering the studio, carrying his black doctor’s bag. “I heard you had some excitement this morning. I hope you aren’t too injured?”
Both men shook their heads wordlessly. Robin said, “Not at all. Not even bumps and bruises on me. Mr. Doyle might have been a little shaken up, though.”
Avelar frowned. “Hmm. Very well. I will take a look at you after I look at my primary patient.”
“You mean Tala?” Sebastian asked.
Avelar scoffed. “No, I do not mean Frau Phaelan. I mean Fraulein Lucy. I heard from Fraulein Quinn that she had gotten injured in the line of duty and I came as quickly as I could.” He looked around the room, as if he expected the two men to be hiding Lucy in one of the bolts of fabric. “Do you know where she is?”
Sebastian and Robin shared glances before Sebastian spoke. “She left for her grandmother’s cottage about half an hour ago. If you wanted to talk to her, you could have just stayed with Tala.”
Now it was Avelar’s turn to look confused.
“Stayed with Frau Phaelan? Why would I do that? She is perfectly fine…well, aside from being a little cranky that I would not let her enjoy her full moon nights the way she wanted. But I told her, 'Tala, you still have one night left of the full moon. Plenty of time to frolic and do whatever werewolves do when they’re under the moon’s influence. '”
A chill washed over Sebastian. “Wait…Tala is fine? Healthy enough to enjoy the last night of the full moon?”
“Ja. I told Fraulein Lucy that yesterday when she showed me that vial of Schlecht. She was so happy, she almost dropped it,” Avelar said.
“Schlecht? Is that the name of the poison?” Sebastian wondered.
Avelar nodded. “Very nasty bit of goods, this is. One drop of this in someone’s food or drink and…well, it is best to have a very experienced doctor on hand if you don’t want to deal with the more fatal of the consequences.”
Robin blanched. “So, for instance, if someone were to put it in the emperor’s wine as they were helping him into his garments…garments that only they could see…”
“Or if they were to offer him a sip of water after a very frightening explosion occurred nearby…” Sebastian mused.
Avelar frowned. “Yes, it would be a very bad situation. Fortunately, the antidote is very easy to make, if someone spots the symptoms in time.”
“Where is the poison now?” Robin asked. “The vial Sebastian and Lucy found, I mean.”
“Fraulein Lucy has it. She said she wanted to hand it over to Frau Quinn,” Avelar said.
“I don’t think she had time,” Sebastian said. “But, just in case, maybe we’d better find some of that antidote.”
“Can you prepare one for us?” Robin asked. “Or, better yet, two or three? Just to be safe.”
“I can,” Avelar said. “But, please, why is Fraulein Lucy not here?”
Sebastian handed him the note. “She received this just before she left. She assumed it was from you.”
Avelar frowned. “A turn for the worse? No, no, this is not true. I saw Frau Phaelan only a couple of hours ago. She was fine.”
Robin and Sebastian shared a horrified look. “The lad said someone with an odd accent had given him the note,” Sebastian muttered. “He was from Umber. A Moyaran accent would sound odd to him.”
“Especially a Moyaran accent from the Moonwood Glade. The inflection from that area is unlike anything I’ve ever heard,” Robin said.
Sebastian cursed. “Wilde attacked Lucy last night. And then he made a mess of the studio. At first, I had thought it was just because he wanted to get back at Lucy for stabbing him, but what if…”
“He was searching for the vial. And when he didn’t find it, he realized that he’d have to go to the source.
He would have known that we’d be on high alert around Lucy after last night’s excitement,” Robin finished.
“He must have sent her that note so he could get her alone. So he’s either waiting to ambush her in the woods or he’s at the cottage itself. ”
Sebastian swore again and abandoned his sketches. “I’ve got to get to Lucy before she has to face Wilde.” He remembered the dagger he’d removed from the werewolf’s side. “She unarmed, and she’s got no idea what she’s walking into.”
“I’m coming too,” Robin said. “You may want another sword at your side for this fight.”
Sebastian nodded his thanks, then turned back to Avelar. “Please make up the antidote and bring it to the cottage. We may have need of it.”
Avelar bobbed his head. “I shall work quickly! May the Starkind guide you.”
Without another word, the two younger men hurried from the room. Sebastian could only pray that they weren’t already too late.