Chapter Thirty-One
Greylan
J ust a flower? Doubtful. Whoever poisoned me knew we were on to them. I was sure of it. I could think of no other reason that they would’ve shown their hand in this way.
We stopped ordering meals from the kitchen yesterday. If someone was tampering with the food, they would surely have noticed that right away. I doubted anyone considered we might be showing our own hand by doing so. An oversight we may have come to regret.
I wanted to reassure Saphyra as she huddled between Valyx and Lex, to tell her that everything was fine, but she needed to take this seriously. It was possible we’d underestimated the danger we were in.
Against all odds, our entire group managed to cram into a single lift, including the armored alphas. I was told this form of travel was for emergency use only to conserve the energy it takes to run them, but today’s incident certainly warranted expedited protocol.
The huge soldiers dwarfed Saphyra as we huddled in the enclosed space. I never would’ve imagined that we’d all fit, even stacked together as we were. The snug confines were uncomfortable and overly warm.
When the carriage moved, I swayed, knocking into an alpha who pressed up against my side. A wave of nausea flooded my gut, and I grit my teeth against the urge to vomit. After-effects of the poison were affecting me still, and the recovery would be a slow process.
In addition to that, the incomplete mate bond battered me at every turn, growing more persistent every day. The crescent mark Saphyra left with her bite throbbed in time with a burgeoning headache. I wasn’t an alpha with improved healing. I wasn’t as strong or fast either. That’s why I could never let her see the blackened infection radiating from my half-healed mate mark. Nothing could be done, and I didn’t want her to worry. I would heal in time, or I wouldn’t.
If I were an alpha, I’d be better equipped to overcome it. As a beta, and weakened by poison, the chances of finding the answers to our mate bond concerns in time for me seemed unlikely. That was a fact I’d come to accept.
I may not make it, but Saphyra would be better off with her alpha mates. There was nothing I could give her that they couldn’t. I’d stay with them as long as I could, but I’d accomplished what I’d wanted to do. Deliver the queen to her home, her throne, and her mates. If that was all I could do for her, it was worth it.
As a group, we stepped from the elevator. The alphas had their weapons drawn, scanning the hall of a floor I didn’t recognize. It was quiet and more dimly lit than the residential corridors I was accustomed to. There were still so many parts of this underground warren I hadn’t seen.
Saphyra looked at me with those wide, gold eyes of hers and reached for my hand. I couldn’t offer her the protection the others did, but I could offer her comfort when she needed it.
Together, we moved down the passage encircled by alphas, to a set of double doors where multiple codes were typed into a pair of keypads, allowing access through them.
Saphyra, Valyx, and I were ushered through the entryway into a conference room, leaving some of the soldiers outside as guards. The doors sealed behind us and helmets came off. Lex, Axion, Arkyn, Fenix and the tall blond woman I’d heard called Albion were there.
“My team is trustworthy, but we can’t be too careful,” Fenix said as he set his helmet down and took off his gloves, tossing them on the large oval table. “The fewer people that know what’s going on, the better.”
“And what is going on, Mr… what am I to call you, exactly?” Saphyra asked, looking around wide-eyed at the screens and blinking lights covering the walls.
“Your Majesty.” He bowed, somewhat belatedly. “You can call me Fenix, if you like.”
Axion snorted and punched the man in the arm. “Stop flirting with my mate.”
Fenix straightened, rubbing his shoulder and grimacing. “I fucking was not.”
Saphyra pulled away, letting my hand slide from her silky grip, glaring at Axion. “Stop being stupid, and someone tell me what’s going on.”
Dizziness assailed me momentarily as black spots danced across my vision. Skin to skin contact helped with my escalating symptoms. Losing that connection was jarring. When my sight cleared, Lex was pulling out a chair for Saphyra, which she sunk down into.
“We’d been discussing possibilities for next steps when Valyx called for assistance. We came,” Lex said, taking a seat on the other side of Saphyra.
Everyone took that as permission and found chairs around the conference table.
“I saw that part.” She fiddled with a strand of her golden hair as if unsure how to go on.
“If I may,” Fenix said. “We were going over options for the coronation security and your potential fact finding mission. But with this new incident, we’re being backed into a corner rather quickly. Axion informed me of the altered food and other suspicious events. Unfortunately, every attempt to trace that to its origin has been met with more questions than answers.”
“Meals are prepared in the kitchen, but are often left unattended while waiting to be delivered. None of the staff seem to know anything, but they could be lying. The alphas involved in the incident in the corridor were all relieved from duty early, but we were unable to find a record of that order, or who sent it. We’re doing our best to keep things quiet so as not to tip off whoever is involved.”
“I believe it may be too late for that.” I shifted uncomfortably as the attention of the alphas fell on me. “We didn’t order from the kitchen this morning, and you didn’t eat at the dining hall. It could’ve been noticed, and the larkspur was a warning. They’re letting us know that they saw what we’re doing and can still get to us.”
Fenix sat up taller. “Larkspur? You mean the plant?”
“Yes, there was a small blond boy, around eight, who approached the queen and handed her a flower. By the time we realized the danger, the child was lost in the crowd.” I blinked more spots from my eyes and leaned toward Saphyra. Proximity helped, but not enough.
“A little boy? Hold on.” Fenix tapped the tabletop, and it lit up like a mainframe. With a few taps, a list of illuminated names appeared on the table in front of each of us.
The names, ages, and descriptions of nine children were displayed. Not a single blond male from six to ten years old was in the file.
“Is this every child in that range?” It seemed to be a small number for a population this size.
“After we fled the old capital, most of our digital records were lost. If the urchin is as young as you say, and was born here, they should be in the document, though.”
“Maybe I’m being paranoid, but could someone have altered the database?” My temple throbbed along with a hot sensation licking at the mark on my neck.
“The only people with that sort of access are in this room, or the Regent.”
That sounded unlikely, but I couldn’t rule out the possibilities. “What about video? Can we see where he came from or where he went?” I hoped that would lead us to the origin of the flower, if not his identity, at least.
Axion flashed me one of his up-to-no-good grins. “Funny you should ask that.” He flicked his fingers across the read-out in front of him.
The far wall lit up with the image of a security feed. A little blond boy skipped through a nondescript corridor, knocked on a door and entered. When he came out moments later, he was carrying a tuft of purple flowers. The cameras followed him through the halls and into the civilian sector. After that, we lost him. We’d already been told that the residential ward wasn’t monitored closely, so that was no surprise.
“What is that place? The door he went into?” I asked.
“That room is registered to Indra Lochlan,” Fenix answered as his fingers flew. “Her file says she has surface clearance to forage, probably where your plant came from.”
Saphyra shifted closer to study the video. “But that doesn’t prove anything. It could still just be a flower.”
I loved that she wanted to see the best in everyone. It was one of her finest qualities. She was correct. This proved nothing, but it looked quite suspicious.
Albion leaned forward, breaking her silent vigil. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.”
I was having trouble following the conversation but found it interesting that they had ducks here. I’d never seen a duck. My Saphyra’s face wavered, and a dark haze pressed into the edges.
“Maybe it is a duck, but I’d like more proof before we go accusing people of things,” Saphyra said before slumping down into her chair.
“I can send one of my teams to check it out. We’ll call it a routine inspection. It’ll be less likely to raise suspicion that way.” Fenix shut down the camera feed on the wall. “We will get to the bottom of this. Don’t you worry, Your Majesty.”
Saphyra’s reply echoed in my ears, and I shook my head, trying to clear the fog that was suddenly clouding my vision. The conversation carried on, but I lost track of what was being said as it all ran together. Dizziness rose, and my vision darkened.
Something was very wrong.