I stare back and forth, between them. My head is reeling, and my knees feel weak—as though my bones have all been replaced by water.
“You…you both…how could you?” I get out at last.
My brother shrugs, as though patricide and attempted matricide are no big deal.
“I told you—they were in the way.”
“You slimy, horrible—” I begin.
But just then, Sir Horace knocks and enters the room with several guards right behind him. He bids them wait at the threshold and closes the door, for privacy, I guess.
“Excuse me, Your Majesties,” he says to me and Kellis. “I wanted to check on the Princess—she’s only just returned.”
“I came back to heal my mother, the Queen, only to find that my brother has been trying to kill her!” I snap at Sir Horace.
“What?” His gray-blue eyes go wide with surprise and confusion. “What’s that you say, Princess?”
“Pay my sister no attention,” my brother says quickly. “I fear she came back from her journey quite mad.”
“I’m not mad!” I say hotly. “I just found out you killed our father and you’ve been trying to kill our mother too! You gave them the wasting sickness—along with the help of the Head Healer!”
Sir Horace’s eyes grow even wider, and he looks at my brother and me, as though he’s not sure which of us to believe.
My brother shakes his head sadly.
“Ah, so sad. She thinks she journeyed across the Poison Desert and all the way through Thornmere Forest to meet with the Sorceress who lives there.”
He speaks as though he’s talking about a very imaginative child—one who must be babied and condescended to.
“I did travel to Thornmere—on Dragon back!” I say—perhaps unwisely. But I’m so angry now, I scarcely know what I’m saying. “I used this ring to make a bargain with Valen—the beast, I mean—to fly me over the desert and back again so I could bring our mother the Healing Draught.”
I hold up my hand and point to the silver ring I still wear on my forefinger.
“Ah, so that’s where that went. You little thief!”
My brother grabs my wrist and twists the silver ring off. He tries to slip it on his own finger…but it’s suddenly grown quite small—too small to fit any of his meaty fingers. So instead, he puts it into his pocket.
“A stolen bit of jewelry doesn’t prove your point, little sister,” he says to me.
I’m horrified at losing the ring, but I’m still determined to be heard.
“I brought my mother a Healing Draught,” I insist. “Just look at her if you don’t believe me.”
I point to my mother, who is still sleeping peacefully—her cheeks glowing a healthy pink and her hair shiny and thick again.
Sir Horace frowns.
“Her Majesty does appear to be getting better. Praise the Goddess!” he adds with sincerity.
“Ah yes, she is—because of a healing elixir I brewed for her only an hour ago,” the Head Healer says calmly. “I am afraid the Princess is confused,” he adds. “Poor girl—lost and wandering in the wilderness with that beast. I fear what he may have done to her,” he says and looks me up and down meaningfully. “Or perhaps what she allowed him to do. We all know that women are naturally weak of character.”
I feel my cheeks get hot—I know what he’s implying. He’s not wrong, of course, but I’ll be damned if I let him call me a slut—however sly he wants to be about it—when he and my brother have been conspiring to take the throne.
“They’re both lying!” I say to Sir Horace. “Please, just listen to me. Look—the Healing Draught—I brought it here in this bottle, given to me by the Sorceress herself.”
I hold up the pale blue glass bottle, but the Head Healer promptly plucks it out of my hand.
“Ah, that’s where that went to. Now how did you ever get hold of my best medicine bottle, Princess? I fear you’ve become quite a little thief,” he says, smirking. “Poor thing,” he says to Sir Horace. “I do fear her adventures with the beast have addled her brains.”
