Chapter Thirty-Four – Kalon #2
Aerwyna cleared her throat. “Duke Trelawney, if you’re willing, my mages can assist. We have many of the herbs needed to combat it with us.”
He paused for a moment, then nodded. “I would appreciate it, Lady Aerwyna. I daresay your mages are far more used to creating the antidote than mine are.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.” She turned to me. “With Your Highness’ permission, I will retrieve two of my mages from the security checks and go with the duke.”
I glanced at my father who nodded his assent. “Very well. Return to the Imperial Villas. High Priest, assist Rina and go with them.”
“I should stay with Lady Alicia, Your Highness,” he argued.
“Why? You cannot treat her. It makes no difference if you stay or not.”
“What’s wrong with my lady?” Rina tried to sit up and failed, collapsing back onto the table instead.
“Rina, go with High Priest Dhaesis,” I ordered, pressing my fingers against my forehead. “I want a full report of what happened when your arm is treated.”
“But I—”
“That’s an order, Dame Draper.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nobody said anything as they exited the tent, leaving only me, Allie, and my father behind.
“I’m surprised the marquess hasn’t come to check on her,” Father said, taking a seat in one of the other chairs, undoing his cape.
“I’m not. Allie is under the impression he sold her off to me, and she suffered greatly at the hands of the marchioness and her sister. They don’t have the greatest of relationships.”
“Hmm. I’m disappointed.” He stroked his chin. “We’ll move her back to the villa when everyone else has left. Those nobles have enough to chatter about without seeing her like this.”
I nodded slowly, turning my attention down to her. She still had no colour in her cheeks, but she really did look like she was sleeping. The High Priest wouldn’t have made an incorrect assessment of her injuries, so where did that blood on her dress come from?
“She’ll be all right, son.”
I looked over at my father. He smiled warmly, but it couldn’t hide the worry in his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter if she’s all right or not, not for the person who did this,” I replied, sliding off the chair and kneeling next to her. I linked my fingers through hers and kissed her knuckles. “Father, when we find out who’s responsible for this, their life belongs to me.”
His gaze lingered on our clasped hands for a moment, then he gently laid his hand on top of my head. “I trust you’ll deal with them swiftly, Kalon.”
***
“I see,” I said, pressing my fingertips together. “So, that’s what you were doing so close to the forest.”
We arrived back at the Imperial Villas not long before the mages were done creating the antidote for Rina’s paralysis. She’d come to Allie’s room almost immediately after regaining full use of her arm to give me the report on how they’d come to be near the forest.
Why had Allie followed Lillia that far out?
“Did she know where she was going?” I asked.
Rina shook her head. “I don’t believe so, sir. Honestly, their conversation didn’t seem all that friendly. I kept my distance at her request, but from the little I heard, it was Lady Armand provoking my lady.”
“Provoking her? How so?”
“I believe you were the topic of discussion.”
I sighed, dropping my forehead to my fingers. “I didn’t expect Lady Armand to approach Allie. Had I known, I would have instructed you not to leave them alone.”
“May I ask why, Your Highness?”
“Lady Armand offered me her handkerchief earlier today, and Allie happened upon the scene. I had hoped that Allie’s stern words at the time would have been the end of it.”
“If I may say so, I don’t think Lady Armand has any intention of listening to my lady’s warnings.”
“Do you think she took her there deliberately, Rina?”
Rina paused, looking over at Allie. “I can’t say for certain, but the path they took was one that wasn’t marked as being outside of the rest area. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t realise until it was too late, and I will accept any punishment Your Highness sees fit. I failed to protect my lady.”
I shook my head, letting my hands fall to the table.
“You were severely hurt and have to live with the knowledge that you made the wrong choice. You know that a lone knight can’t take on a wraithhusk of that size, Rina.
You made a bad call and knowing that is enough of a punishment.
Even with that said, nobody could have predicted a wraithhusk would be here.
The monsters that were present to be hunted were young, low-level creatures that a trainee knight could easily dispatch.
The only people responsible for Allie’s condition are the ones behind the incident. ”
“Your grace is more than I deserve.”
“Besides, Allie would never forgive me if I punished you.” I rubbed my hand down my face, laughing hollowly. “Go and rest. You may be healed now, but you’ve been through a lot.”
“Yes, sir.” She stood, bowing her head. “I will return to my duties tomorrow.”
“You will rest for two days at least.”
She sighed, but acquiesced with a deeper bow and left the room. Hayes walked in right after, closing the door after him.
“I’m surprised you let her leave here in one piece,” he quipped.
“She’s hurting herself enough without any further punishment.”
“You’re getting soft, Your Highness.”
“You’re awfully noisy, Hayes,” I said flatly. “Do you have a reason to be here or are you merely trying to get out of work?”
“Yes, yes, I have this report for you. How is Lady Alicia?” he asked, glancing at her as he crossed the room to me.
“There’s nothing we can do but wait for her to wake up.” I took the envelope he handed me. “Did you find out who those children are?”
“Yes. They’re Marquess Wentworth’s twins. It appears they slipped away from their nanny to collect flowers from the forest for their sick mother when they came across the wraithhusk. The blood on Lady Alicia’s dress was from the young lady who hurt her leg while escaping.”
“Is the child all right?”
“Yes. A priest healed her cut, but her father requested that he leave her sprained ankle without treatment to teach them both a lesson.”
“That’s one way to do it.” I pulled out the papers. “Did they lead the wraithhusk to the rest area by accident?”
“No. As it says in the report, we found traces of mudlung blood leading a path to the rest area. The children running into it was mere happenstance.”
“The poison in a mudlung tail is like a drug to a wraithhusk, so much so that their blood is enticing on its own.” I scanned the paper.
“I was surprised when Sir Chester said they cleared an abandoned nest of young ones out a week ago. They usually don’t stop to breed in the forest here because it’s too wet at this time of year.
It’s possible the nest was brought in deliberately to be bait. ”
“It doesn’t seem like a coincidence,” Hayes agreed. “Is it possible that Lady Alicia was led there deliberately?”
“I haven’t ruled it out, but I don’t know enough about Lady Armand to say for sure.
All I know is that she’s from a countryside barony and debuted this weekend, but I already have someone looking into her.
Right now, all I can say is that it’s coincidence that both the Wentworth twins and Allie came into contact with the monster.
” I put the papers down and sat back in my chair, sighing. “I assume the hunt has been cancelled?”
Hayes nodded. “His Majesty cancelled all the remaining events but ordered that everyone remain here. Anyone who isn’t staying at the Imperial Villas had to give over their information before leaving the hunting grounds earlier today.”
“Is Lady Armand still here?”
“Baroness Kilgard is staying at the Kilgard villa around forty minutes away.”
“Send someone over there. I want a report on Lady Armand’s movements from now.”
He paused. “Do you really think she has anything to do with this?”
“I don’t know, but the fact that she seems to have a romantic interest in me and clashed with Allie shortly before the attack is enough for me to want to keep an eye on her.” I tapped my fingers against the table. “I want to know what was said between them.”
“You don’t have any interest in that lady, do you, sir?”
I glared at him.
He shrunk back. “Silly question.”
“You know, if you weren’t so good at your job, I’d have killed you several times over by now.”
“Probably rightfully.” Hayes cleared his throat and bowed. “Get some rest, Your Highness.”
I stared after him as he left, then got up and walked over to the bed where Allie was lying. She hadn’t moved since she’d collapsed—not even a twitch. She was so cold that if I couldn’t see the rise and fall of her chest and feel her exhale against my hand, I would think she was dead.
I wasn’t sure I’d convinced myself that she wasn’t.
I reached over and brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Rest, he says,” I murmured, stroking her hair. “How am I supposed to do that?”