“You’re courting MJ?” Nix squealed from the other room. She ran back inside. “Well? Are you?”
I flushed, but Lucas only grinned. “Yeah, I am.”
“I knew it!” Nix crowed. “I knew you liked him!”
“So, you like me,” he teased. “Do you?”
“Not really,” I teased back. “Not a lot, in any case.”
Lucas laughed. Then his face turned serious. “Look—I know you don’t like Amador, but her family is a loyal ally to the throne. She would never do something like that. The Court of Sigbin can be disorderly and chaotic like you said, but we aren’t traitors.”
25
The next daybrought news that the high court was preparing for Althea’s trial. Since they were moving faster than expected, I needed to move faster as well to prove her innocence. More than ever, I believed that someone was pulling invisible strings that led to some kind of trap. Whoever the mambabarang was, they were fully ensconced in court life. I had to cut through the spiderweb by freeing Althea.
I summoned Elias. Calling a councilors’ meeting was my first official, independent act as the impending sovereign, so I chose a gown that commanded attention: a dark-green satin butterfly dress with a cape back that created long, drapey sleeves, accessorized with scrunched white satin elbow-length gloves and a delicate tiara with radiant pearls from our seas. Underneath, I wore my father’s amulet as I usually did. I feared less for my safety knowing I had the anting-anting.
Jinky entered the room, and, remembering my conversation with Lucas and Nix, I instinctively reached for the amulet around my neck. Then I realized she’d come in contact with it many times already while helping me get ready, and nothing had ever happened. I was right; Jinky did not mean me harm.
I stepped in front of the mirror. The gown and tiara made me look (and feel) like I was in charge. Good, if I was going to be respected—especially by a bunch of older male encantos who would be fast to dismiss anything I said.
Elias arrived, looking drawn. “At your service, Princess. What can I help you with?”
“Thanks for coming so quickly. I’d like to call the council to discuss the upcoming trial of Althea Ramos, the healer currently imprisoned in our dungeon.”
His left eyebrow raised. “Oh. Why?”
Instead of answering, I changed the subject. “Elias, when your patianaks fetched me, you asked if the insurgents had a mambabarang with them.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you suspect they had a dark witch among their ranks? As I understand it, the Kalahok was disbanded and exiled years ago.”
He sighed. “Yes, but there is always the possibility...”
I waited for him to continue.
“That they survived and are hiding among us. Their Babaeng Pinuno was never captured.”
“I see,” I said. “That was during the war, yes? The one my father ended by winning the Battle of Biringan.”
He nodded. “Your father won the battle decisively. The witches surrendered immediately. Everyone remarked on it.”
“Why?”
“Because we were prepared for a protracted battle, everyone assumed the war would go on for years and years—but then the coven just surrendered.”
“What happened to them?”
“The witches? Most of them were killed in the battle, but those who remained chose exile from the realm. They left Biringan. Why do you ask?”
“I was just brushing up on my history,” I said. “I should know our past if I am to be queen, shouldn’t I?”
I had promised Lucas and Nix that I wouldn’t tell Elias what we had discovered about the beetles and how they tied to the three deaths. I didn’t want Elias to worry, and I also didn’t want him to tell me to stop investigating the source of the dark magic. He would probably lock me in my room till I was senile to keep me safe. Especially since he was already cognizant of the threat of the mambabarang.
“Anyway, I’ve called you here to arrange a special meeting of the queen’s councilors. How do I do that?”
“You would send a formal invitation to each of them by page, with the date and time of your choosing.”
