Royal AU: Yellow Jessamine

Devil's Breath

He raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the Queen answer for Caroline instead, even more, when she mentioned that it could be dangerous if used wrongly "Oh- Well, I suppose you're right. Perhaps you should get some rest too" he stood up as well and made his way to the door "I planned on going outside anyway, I needed to go buy some more ink from a certain merchant" he mentioned briefly as he opened the door

"Really? Well then, why don't I accompany you?" Flora offered, walking next to him with a smile while Caroline got angrier instead and even more when figuring out that Flora was starting to understand her powers and that she was probably going to warn Sky that she had been poisoned. "Hold on a moment...!" Caroline said as she set a hand on her shoulder to stop the woman "Skylar, give me a minute to ask her about safe teas so that I don't make such silly mistakes again" Caroline asked him softly, smiling warmly "You go ahead, I'll let her catch up to you in a moment..." she reassured, although Flora widened her eyes slightly and wanted to say something to get out of the situation. Before she could even speak up or hope for Sky to stay, Caroline once again used her powers on him by changing her tone and staring slightly to briefly command him again "Really Skylar, go..."

He glanced down at her and smiled softly "Mh? Of course, I don't mind!" However, when he was about to go along with her he was briefly taken off guard by Caroline stopping them. "But- I she should get out now to get a breather." He spoke up and glanced back at Caroline with his eyebrows slightly furrowed "We've caused her enough inconveniences already...of course, your Highness" the tone of his voice changed quickly as well as him loosening up again, and turning towards the door again

"Skylar!-" Flora tried to call for him but as soon as he was gone, Caroline shut the door and shoved the queen back inside. Flora looked at her and growled under breath "You think I'm actually that stupid?" She scoffed "You thought I'm that easy to kill off? Just wait until he'll hear about this" she added, basically threatening her. Caroline immediately got irritated by that, taking a few steps closer to Flora and locking her eyes on her again since she could see her emotions coming through. "Oh, but he won't, you little pest..." she growled under her breath, her powers starting to take effect. Flora widened her eyes, managing to understand fast enough that she was about to experience that sensation again and attempting to resist momentarily by glancing away, although Caroline grabbed her coat and forced her to look back at her, forcefully hypnotizing her. Flora went back to having that empty stare as she blankly listened to the ruler. "Forget about all of this... he doesn't love you, he'll never love you. He hates you, you got that?" Caroline smirked "You're just going to end up lonely and miserable. Even if you stay around him all you want, you'll never stop thinking how much he despises such a useless thing. This shall be the last time you show yourself to him... When I kill you for good, he won't even remember or notice." She chuckled, finally pulling away. "And you better obey that." She said.

Flora didn't answer at first, partially leaning against the wall for support since she was still feeling weak but beginning to slowly nod. "Of course... he doesn't love me. I understand, he despises me. I shall not show up again after this... thank you for opening my eyes, your highness..." she mumbled, bowing to her slightly.
"Now go." Caroline frowned, allowing her to finally follow the prince. Still sometimes using the walls as support and mostly hypnotized, Flora obeyed silently and walked away, catching up with Skylar while still looking emotionless.

Skylar had been walking away until Caroline started hypnotizing Flora, making him snap out of it instead and stop "..Ah? Wait- What was I just thinking?" He mumbled to himself before he briefly remembered having wanted to accompany the Queen. Seeing her get out of the room eventually, he waited for her until she got next to him "Flora-? Is everything alright, you don't look too good" He asked, becoming concerned

"Don't worry about me. Let's go." She said still emotionlessly, not really giving a proper answer and only sticking by his side while generally staring more at the floor in front of her than at him. Caroline peeked from the door and smiled in satisfaction, then left the room to continue to other business.

Her emotionless response as well as her avoiding eye contact got him slightly confused, trying to not think much of it at first "So uh...what kind of safe tea did you suggest her?" He asked after a moment "I didn't know comfrey can have such a dangerous effect nor did I know you could drink it"

She was mostly silent as she walked next to him and kept giving short and empty answers "Almond tea." She answered the first question, then briefly looked up only forward to herself and not him. "Used to... toxins." She mumbled, reminding him. "Let's get the ink, I must head back soon."

The short answers had him even more confused, feeling as if something had drastically changed. As they exited the castle he continued walking with her "Did Caroline say something? You seem so...drained?" He asked briefly in between

"Caroline... was so nice to me..." she said with the same tone. "I'm just... so, so tired..." She said with a partial lie, though she did seem to not walk properly and stumble a little. Of course alone the weird tea flavor, Caroline had surely added some actual drops of strong poison. Even tho Flora could survive it, she still hadn't been used to it for a long time and could only barely survive it enough to be still standing. "You should be... so glad for having Caroline" she continued "She's the best you'll ever have..."

He stayed close to her, having noticed that she wasn't walking very well and stumbling in between. The young man raised his eyebrows slightly when she mentioned that he should be glad for having Caroline and that she was the best he could ever get to which he shook his head with a slight smile "I'd be lying if I agreed to what you said" he commented briefly as they had entered the kingdom's market

Once they entered the kingdom's market, the hypnosis started to wear off although even without it she still looked pretty emotionless as now she was made to fully believe as reality anything Caroline had said, even forgetting about her powers and the poison. "No, Skylar... You really should be grateful..." she mumbled still a bit tiredly, with her eyes still over the ground.

His smile fade a little when he'd hear her insist so tiredly, noticing that she was acting quite emotionless and staring above the ground without having looked at him once "..You know, I'm starting to think that the comfrey tea may have affected you more than you make it look like." He mentioned briefly, sounding quite worried about her

At that point Flora wasn't even answering anymore, only stumbling so much that she eventually lost her balance, beginning to fall with her eyes half open and confused by her surroundings.

The prince widened his eyes when he saw her starting to fall, reacting to it quickly and catching her before she was about to collapse. Holding her he tried to support her back up, now being even more worried "Flora- I don't think you can go back to your Kingdom on your own like this." He shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows "The ink can wait, I'll accompany you on your way back" he decided

"Skylar..." she mumbled tiredly once he had caught her, slightly gripping his jacket for support. "It's okay, I'm okay... don't accompany me..." she mumbled, slowly trying to pull herself back up. "I've been through worse, I'll arrive safely." She tried to reassure him

He tried helping her regain balance by supporting her "That doesn't matter, now's not the time to prove yourself as strong. I'm genuinely worried you might pass out on your way there" he clarified, still holding onto her "And it's no trouble for me either, if that's what you're worried about"

Flora kept her eyes lowered to the ground mostly while still holding briefly onto him, listening to his words. She furrowed her eyebrows but slowly nodded "Whatever you prefer, as long as it won't waste your time..." she mumbled, accepting a bit forcefully

Once she had agreed the prince would keep supporting her and start to head away from the market, focusing on getting her back home safely instead.