“Then why…” Lady Featherby’s voice broke. She pressed her lips together and stiffened in her chair.
“He’s dealing with something,” Dominic said gently. “I’ll talk with him after breakfast. Whatever it is, I can’t imagine it’s about you.”
“Lashing out often comes from pain,” Lady Kenneth said. “Not actual anger at the target.”
I nodded. “Your caring nature is appreciated by everyone in this court. Lord Turren included, even if he can’t express it right now.”
Lady Featherby managed a watery smile. “Thank you, dear. All of you.” She straightened her shoulders. “I should check on the kitchen herb supply. They were running low on chamomile yesterday.”
She rose and left, her head held high.
Lady Kenneth watched her go. “That’s the thing about caregivers. They absorb everyone else’s pain and never know what to do with their own.”
Dominic and I shared a concerned look. Another mystery, another court member in distress. The dampening magic might be our primary investigation, but clearly something else was affecting the people here.
Savory ruffled her feathers and stole a piece of fruit from my plate.Sometimes the mask becomes so heavy that removing it feels like losing oneself.
“We should add this to our observations,” I said quietly to Dominic. “Behavioral changes, emotional distress. It could be connected.”
“Agreed.” His hand found mine under the table, and he linked our fingers. “After I talk to the lord.”
The door burst open again, and a servant rushed in, breathless. “Your Majesty, forgive the interruption, but there’s been an incident in the greenhouse.”
Dominic stood. “What kind of incident?”
“The emotion-responsive orchids, Your Majesty. All of them. They’ve turned completely black.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
DOMINIC
My boots struck the cobblestones as we crossed the courtyard toward the greenhouse. The cool morning air bit at my face, though it was warming fast. Overhead, clouds gathered, threatening rain that would only make any disaster worse.
Lady Kenneth kept pace behind us, close to running. Savory swooped ahead, her black wings cutting through the air.
Sasha moved at my side, her frown showing her mind was already working. I could see it in the way her eyes tracked everything around us, from servants pausing in their morning tasks, to guards stationed at their posts.
“The festival orchids have been cultivated for over two centuries,” Lady Kenneth said between breaths. “Some varieties exist nowhere else in the realm.”
My stomach twisted. The festival was only a few days away. There might not be enough time to solve this mess. The celebration wasn’t just tradition, it was renewal, the emotional and magical sustenance that kept our court thriving through fall and winter.
And someone had attacked its heart.
The greenhouse came into view, its glass panels catching weak sunlight. Usually the sight filled me with peace. The structure had been my refuge since childhood, a place where court politics couldn’t reach.
Now dread coiled in my chest.
Savory landed on a post, her black eyes fixed on the greenhouse entrance. The door stood ajar when it should’ve been secured.
Two hearts beating as one shall either save the bloom or seal its doom.Lady Edwina’s prediction echoed in my mind. At the time, I’d dismissed it as her usual nonsense. Now the words felt prophetic.
Sasha’s hand found mine, a brief squeeze of solidarity before she released me.
I wasn’t facing this alone.
We reached the greenhouse door, and I pulled it all the way open. The smell hit first, so fundamentally wrong it made my magical senses recoil. Instead of the humid, green scent that should greet us, something acrid hung in the air. Decay mixed with an absence I couldn’t name, like someone had carved out the space where life belonged.
I stepped inside and stopped.
