“She went around back. There was someone from the store there, unloading boxes off a cart—a Southern woman, by the looks of her long blonde hair. They exchanged some words. Jayme handed something to her. The woman handed her a small satchel in return. And then they parted.”
“Did you hear what they said?”
“No… I didn’t want to get that close.”
“Understandable. Thank you for telling me. I’m sure it was just a friend of hers.” Vi smiled, hoping to put the matter, and Andru’s clear worry, to rest.
Jayme had never spoken of the Le’Dan family. But Vi had never asked, either. In fact, she’d never inquired much about Jayme’s journeys from south to north and back. It wasn’t unreasonable to suspect she’d made some friends along the way—companions to share a table with in the Crossroads to make her travels less lonely.
“Well, I think that—”
The door burst open, interrupting her thought.
“Vi Solaris!” Ellene exclaimed, barging in without so much as a knock. “We have not seen you in—”
When Ellene and Jayme actually saw her, they froze mid-step. Both women looked from Vi to Andru, to the meal laid between them. Jayme, to her usual credit, kept her composure. Ellene, however, looked utterly shocked.
“We’re not interrupting something, are we?” Jayme asked slowly.
Vi could practically see the incorrect assumptions tallying up in their minds and she burst out laughing. “No, no you’re not.”
Andru sat rigidly in his seat, looking between Vi and her friends, and then focusing on anything else in the room
“Are you sure? Because we could come back.” A fox-like grin was creeping across Ellene’s lips.
“Andru and I are not having some sort of clandestine affair under your noses.” Vi snorted again with laughter at the notion. “Not in the slightest.”
“Wait…What?” It seemed to have dawned on him all at once what the two were hinting at. “No. No we are not. Her highness is right. This was just dinner to… to go over things.”
“And what were you ‘going over’?” Ellene waggled her eyebrows as she sauntered over to the table and helped herself to one of the leaf-wrapped pouches.
Jayme continued to hover, looking between Vi and Andru. For one brief second, Vi was worried she’d somehow heard them discussing her. But she followed shortly behind Ellene, sitting at Vi’s left and picking at some of the skewers from a nearby platter.
“Something I need to go over with both of you, so I’m glad you’re here.” Vi leaned back in her chair, food forgotten for now. “Someone is trying to kill me.”
“More than the saddle?” Ellene asked through her food.
“Yes.” Jayme was the one to answer.
“How doyouknow?” Ellene asked with a mix of shock and hurt.
“Jax told me, as part of the investigation, since I’m Vi’s guard. He swore me and the other warriors to secrecy over it… He doesn’t want word spreading that the Crown Princess could be in danger.”
“You could’ve told me at least.” Ellene huffed and pressed her back into her chair. “You know I wouldn’t have told.”
“She was just trying to do her job,” Vi spoke for Jayme, hoping Ellene would listen. “It’s a recent posting and all.”
“Yes, yes, I get it.” Despite what she said, Ellene still folded her arms over her chest, clearly frustrated. “Though, that explains why there were so many warriors around the bridge and halls leading to it… To think, I believed them that they were merely looking for any other structural weaknesses!” Ellene turned to Vi, the full depth of the situation dawning on her. “Are you all right?”
“I’m still here,” Vi said gratefully.
“Speaking of being here…” Jayme turned to Andru. “You know something. That’s what this dinner is about, isn’t it?”
He gave a small nod, looking anywhere but the guard staring him down. “Yes… I saw him. The attacker.”
“Tell me what happened,” Jayme demanded. “I’m clearly missing something that wasn’t imparted to Jax.”
“I told Jax the truth,” Vi insisted.
