“I know that my marriage protocols aren’t exactly taught at military training, but still… there would have been talk wouldn’t there?”
She shook her head. “Well, apparently not. It’s said that there was an incident when another male mentioned that he thought you would…” She coughs. “Make a good wife. Well, that’s a nice way to put it. Commander Rath apparently took him to task. After that, nobody dared mention you or anything to do with you, including the protocols.”
“But after that, after military training…?”
“After he completed his training, Commander Rath disappeared. For three whole years.”
“What? Where did he go?”
“Nobody can tell me. But what I know from the brief discussion I had with his advisor is that he’s doing his best to catch Commander Rath up on what he needs to know about the protocols.”
“Then he doesn’t know any of the rules.”
“That sums it up, yes.”
I sigh. “This is dangerous.”
“That is also true. I agree that you should refresh your defensive skills, but you need to be very careful. Which brings me to the next thing.”
She stares at me pointedly. “What happened in the Storm Vault this afternoon? I’ve never seen you repel the storm like that. In fact…” She takes a deep breath. “I’ve never heard of any Princess doing that.”
I shudder. She’s right. As far as I know, Princesses don’t fight back; they simply absorb and control. I don’t know how it happened so I focus on the thing I can control—telling Elise about the storm speaking to me. Mai doesn’t want anyone else to know about it, but I can’t shoulder this secret on my own.
I say, “The rain spoke to me.”
Elise’s eyebrows shoot up. We’ve both had a lot of surprises today and I’m hoping this isn’t the one that finally destroys her calm demeanor. “What?”
“It spoke to me, Elise. But what’s worse is what it told me. It said that my husband is going to be cursed. He’s going to kill me.”
Her eyes are huge saucers and all the color has left her face. “But… that’s… no… If you die, the storm will be released!”
“I got so angry at what it told me that I fought back—and the fact that I could fight the storm shook me up too—but I need you to look into this for me. Is a curse even possible? Aren’t there protective spells cast over the protocols? If a curse is possible, could it be the gargoyles? Could it be someone in the elven Houses? Who would gain from my death?”
“Not an elf! Surely not. No, this can’t be true.”
I stare at her. “Okay, if there’s anything I need from you right now is that you have to believe me.”
She lifts her hands. “I do. I believe you. But the only ones who could gain from unleashing the storm would be the gargoyles.”
I say, “Then maybe that’s why they’re nesting close to the border. They’re preparing for an attack without raising too much suspicion.”
“That’s the most likely scenario. We have to tell Commander Rath. Oh wait…”
I shake my head. “We can’t. You’ve taught me enough about spellcasting that I know the curse could be lying dormant in all the champions and will only ignite once my husband’s chosen.”
She nods. “As a champion, he could already carry the curse and if there’s a failsafe built in, it could kill him if he finds out about it.”
“I need your help.”
“I’ll do as much research as I can, as much digging as I can. We will stop this. We have to.”
She leaves me then, racing away to her spell books. I sink into the chair. The distant forest blurs in my field of view. I didn’t tell her my own plan of attack—to fight for myself.
Nobody can know until the Heartstone Ceremony.
That way nobody can stop me.
* * *
