“That filthy mongrel attacked me!” Zumra declared, pointing at me and making my eyebrows shoot up.
“You were in my face, I merely pushed you back out of it,” I told her, rolling my eyes.
“Jac, what’s going on?” Fiala’s little voice rang out as she ran up to me, curling around my leg. I put a hand on her shoulder, smiling down at her.
“Nothing to worry about, darling. Right?” I looked up at Zumra and Balthazar, who looked between the two of us skeptically.
“I’d like to speak with each of you separately, just to be sure,” Balthazar said, looking apologetic. “We need to be careful when it comes to our competitors.”
“Of course.” I forced a smile, knowing Zumra’s position was infinitely better than mine. Would that be enough to influence his decision on this matter?
“If you’ll both follow me, we can have the children watched over while we take care of this matter,” he said, looking to Fiala with a small smile, before turning to Zumra. He was clearly looking for the little girl in her care, and upon realizing she was nowhere to be found, raised a brow.
“Where is your charge?” he asked slowly, his eyes slowly narrowing.
Zumra smiled widely, waving a hand breezily. “Oh, she’s well taken care of.”
“How so?” he questioned in return, crossing his large arms and making the muscles bulge as he watched her carefully.
“She was having a tantrum and would not stop screaming.” She shivered, and her lip curled up in disgust. “I used an old family potion that my mother taught me. It puts a crying child down for hours.” She looked so proud of herself, but my mouth dropped open in shock.
“You dosed her?” I gasped, feeling the horror in my voice down to my bones. Magic could be volatile and dangerous to give to children. They weren’t fully grown and could react differently than a mature adult would. I thought it was standard practice to avoid giving potions to children unless it was absolutely necessary, but apparently, Emerald Court did things differently.
Zumra rolled her green eyes at me, “Don’t be so dramatic, she’s absolutely fine.”
“You have no way of knowing that,” I argued, the force of my fury making me tremble.
“She’s right.” I nearly jumped as Prince Ruri appeared from behind me. “It’s too dangerous to give a child something like that.”
His frost-blue hair fell in waves to his chin, framing his face and giving it a softer appearance, but the ice in his eyes was glacial as he stared Zumra down. I thought he’d looked at me coldly, but it was nothing compared to this.
“Prince Ruri,” Zumra laughed, but it was forced now as her eyes darted between two of the closest people in the world to the High King she sought. “My mother used to give it to my siblings and me all the time. It’s perfectly safe!”
“You have no way of knowing that for sure.” He glared back at her. “Balthazar, send someone to confiscate the potion and materials in her rooms. Along with a healer to see to the child.”
“Of course, my Prince.” He nodded, then looked between Zumra and me. “Both of you will need to come with me.”
“No, Jac did nothing wrong!” Fiala shouted, stomping her foot. “The green one was mean! She just made her move away.”
I sighed heavily and kneeled down, taking her hands in mine. “Don’t worry, Fia. I’ll be okay. They just want to ensure everyone is safe, and I’m sure they’ll see that nothing really happened here.”
She pouted, her little violet eyes looking to the floor. “Okay, but you’ll come back, right?” She peeked back up at me through the curtain of her hair.
I smiled softly, leaning in to kiss her forehead. “Let them try and stop me.” I teased, getting a slight smile from the girl before I stood up and nodded to Balthazar.
Prince Ruri was watching me carefully, but something had softened in his bearing from the last time we’d spoken. He leaned down to Fiala’s level, giving her a roguish wink. “Here, you can stick with me until Lady Jacinth is done.”
“Thank you, Prince Ruri.” I dipped my head deferentially, and he gave me a nod in return before I left to follow Balthazar, who met up with a few of his guards along the way to pass along Prince Ruri’s orders. Two of them followed us as we were led to what must have been the guard’s offices and barracks. We walked past a training ground surrounded by an observation deck and then into a hallway that led to several rooms.
The two guards brought Zumra and me each to different rooms, and I was then forced to wait for a while. As I sat there, I considered what Azurill’s response might be to this before realizing that I should really be more concerned about Lord Carnelian’s. I shivered at the thought, hoping against hope that he might not hear about this, but I knew in my heart that it was hopeless.
The man had eyes and ears everywhere. I was just lucky that my role here involved seducing Azurill, or else he might have caught on already that I wasn’t exactly following orders.
The door finally opened to reveal Balthazar, who took a seat across from me. He placed a parchment down on the table along with one of the magic quills that always had ink.
“Forgive me for dragging you here, Lady Jacinth,” Balthazar said, his face blank of any emotion, remaining purely professional.
“I can well understand the need for security,” I told him, nodding slightly.
