Something With a Prince

Chapter Twenty-Three: She

Arlyn

It was dinner by the time I had slept off whatever...well, whatever that was. Nothing had changed, as I still felt this roiling in my gut over Dominic's note, but Elleanor had been right. There was no sense in fighting fire with fire. Still, my fingers would slide into my jacket pocket and grip the edge of the envelope now and again, just to remind myself what a threat felt like.

My mother sat across from me; her eyes fixed on the princess as the two of them talked about the next hunt coming up. Apparently Elleanor was an extraordinary hunter and tracker, which, at this point, what can't she do? She pulled me back from the edge, tried to save a life, planned half a wedding she didn't want to be in, and still managed to smooth things over with her father after the whole castle heard my outburst. He was not fond of finding out I have such an "outrageous temper."

It took some willpower not to snort and say, "You and me both."

Looks like I got more from my father than I thought. However, that thought wasn't the least bit comforting as Niklaus stared down the table at me chewing both his steak and his words. I didn't blame him. I wouldn't blame anyone for skirting around me for the next couple of days after that. Maybe now that I have a reputation for being a hothead, I could get answers on how Dominic knew the coronation had been moved up.

Check espionage off my list of super fun royal experiences.

It had to have been someone in the room earlier this morning, which narrowed it down to a manageable fifteen people. Very powerful, egotistically sensitive people, who I am sure would not be appreciative of being called a traitor. I haven't discussed the topic of a spy with anyone since figuring it out, and since nobody else read the note, the advantage may be on my side. I could work this one out on my own. Especially since I was sitting next to the number one suspect.

Cassida hadn't been in the war room at the time of the decision, but that didn't exclude her from puppeteering someone into doing her dirty work. The way she smiled at me this morning, then from the garden when Andreas died, was enough to make her top of my list. She knew something. That was always her upper hand, information. Slerian was the middle ground between Rughwen and Tuisedor, so most messengers were caught in her traps and wrung out for information. On top of that, it was mostly neutral land. Allowing for meetings of the kingdoms and their gossip. Weaponized neutrality, that was her.

My tongue itched in my throat to make some sort of comment on what happened, just to see what her reaction would be, but I was in more than one dance at this dinner. With my mother present and trying to be as careful as possible not to upset anyone, it would have to wait.

Suddenly, Thea was in my head, egging me on. She wouldn't like Cassida at all. Like, at all. The thought made me chuckle.

"Is there something particularly funny about the mechanics of a bow and arrow, Your Majesty?" The Queen spoke to me, taking Elleanor and my mother's attention away from their conversation.

I shook my head, "No, I was just thinking about a friend."

Mother's eyes widened at me in warning, as if she had known exactly who I was thinking about despite constant reassurance that Thea and I were "not friends" anymore.

Calmly sipping my wine, my words amended themselves, "An old friend of Lansing's that is. She used to hate shooting bows. Said they were as dependable as slingshots."

"Used to? What happened to this friend?" Cassida leaned in at any mention of Lansing.

My eyes didn't move from hers, "I don't know. That was a very long time ago."

Cassida hummed and took a sip of her wine. "Interesting, how many female friends your brother seems to have. All his life apparently."

Nobody else would have noticed it, but my mother grew very tense. Her hand clasping the stem of her glass with stone fingers. Elleanor, too, descended into an uncomfortable silence, playing with the potatoes on her plate. Niklaus seemed unbothered in general, but I don't know if he had been listening at all these past few minutes. He seemed to be wrapped up in thought, gazing passively out the window but not entirely detached from the world.