Sin: Path of Poison

Chapter 12 Part 1

I woke up suddenly to the sound of footsteps coming up the stairwell, not far from my room. I could recognize the sound of the steps, it was Nomi. She closed the distance quickly, tapping lightly on my door before opening and rushing inside.

"Here." She held my maid robes. "I have to make sure everything is ready downstairs, you'll have to manage on your own. Come down where you're dressed, I'll put a few buns in the carriage so we can eat on the way. The Crown Prince wants to leave as soon as possible." she hurried back out the door.

I sighed in relief, I was able to change on my own. I dressed hurriedly and put my hair up properly. As I was making the bed another tap sounded on the door, it opened before I could respond. It was the servant from the day before, she looked at me as I was stretched across the bed pulling the blankets down.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I was going to take these to the washroom..." My voice trailed off.

"I'll take care of it." She replied, nodding with her head that I could leave the room. She was obviously not in a good mood about something. I grabbed Blake's robe off the stand and left, finding my way downstairs.

Upstairs the servant finished gathering my blankets and took them towards the hosts' room. She placed the blankets on top of his bed, in a pile, then left. Moments later she came downstairs, finding him in the formal living room with Pierce. They stopped talking as she entered the open space.

"Did you take care of it?" He asked her.

"Yes." She replied.

"You're dismissed." He said. No wonder she was mad. I couldn't be upset over it though, I knew it was the scent messing with him. Obviously he didn't normally act this way, otherwise they wouldn't have been spreading gossip about me, it was an isolated event.

"You're wearing that again?" Pierce asked referring to the over the top robe he'd been wearing the night before. "I thought you didn't like it and only wore it for show." He added.

"I have a few visitors later, it's for them. It's easier if I put it on now rather than change again." The host replied. It was obvious he was telling a lie, Pierce changed the topic. I stopped listening, uninterested in their goodbyes.

I wove my way through the various servants, staff, and guards. Finally exiting the way we entered the night before, I made my way out to the carriage. Lei and Blake were already standing nearby.

I moved forward towards Blake, holding out his tunic when I got closer. Just as Blake was about to take the tunic the Crown Prince saw the gesture and Blake withdrew his hand, leaving me standing with the tunic held out to no one.

"What's this?" The Crown Prince grabbed the tunic from my hand. He looked at it closely then turned to take a better look at Blake, who was dressed slightly different than usual. Blake quickly turned around to leave as if the clothes had nothing to do with him.

"Why do you have his outer tunic?" The Crown Prince turned to me and asked, holding the article of clothing in question out towards Blake's back, which had stopped in place.

"You sent him to escort me from the bath house to my room last night. I only had my night robes on, it wasn't really appropriate." I trailed off. The Crown Prince's eyes widened and his neck looked slightly pink.

"Nomi told me the situation before she came out of the bath house, it was all we had to cover her up while I escorted her. I didn't want to take it back when I sent her into the room." Blake also trailed off while also clarifying that he didn't see me in my night robes. The Crown Prince cleared his throat and shoved the clothing at Blake.

"I understand, I guess I hadn't thought that through. Thank you for looking out for her." He commented, clearly trying to leave. Blake and the Crown Prince walked away, both in different directions. Lei looked down at me, an odd look crossed his face, he saw me in my night robes despite Blake's efforts.

"Good morning." Lei greeted me. He looked just as proper as the night before despite his obvious lack of sleep. Blake and the Crown Prince hadn't walked out of hearing range and both turned towards us at the same time.

"Lei, come with me." They both called out in unison. Confused, they momentarily looked at each other, aware of what happened.

"Go with Blake." The Crown Prince said, waving him away with his hand. Rather than standing alone, I climbed into the carriage and waited. It didn't take long before Nomi came out, following Pierce and our host. They said their goodbyes as Nomi searched for the Crown Prince.

"He's waiting for you." Nomi shrugged, noting the Crown Prince's bad mood. Despite his obvious hesitation, the Crown Prince made his way over to say goodbye to the host.

"We'll meet again." The Crown Prince wished him goodbye, they stood looking at each other, things were at least civil between the two.

"If you ever change your mind." The host trailed off, looking towards the carriage. The Crown Prince shook his head in response, leaving a despondent looking host. His servant walked past the group, ignoring the curious looks, she tapped lightly on the side of my carriage. I stepped down onto the grass below to stand next to her.

"This was found in the bath house last night, maybe you left it on accident." She spoke quietly and tried to hold it in such a way that nobody else could see. In her hand was a hair pin, the quality was high, far exceeding the budget of a servant. I'd never seen it before, but I could smell Nomi's scent on it. Maybe she hadn't been rushing in a panic because of the Crown Prince's bad mood, maybe she was searching for this.

Curious of what was happening between us, the Crown Prince nodded at Blake to look into it. Blake obediently stepped towards us, grabbing the maid's outstretched arm before she could retract it. He carefully picked up the hair pin and turned it over in his hand, examining every detail. He looked up at me in question.

"It's not mine." I replied. Blake's expression turned suspicious. He grabbed my wrist and pulled my arm behind me, causing the group of nearby men to all make strangled noises. Yet they all remained silent as they waited for an explanation.

"Then why do they think it belongs to you? Did someone exchange it for a favor?" He pulled tighter on my wrist. I let the muscles in my shoulder loosen.

"It's not mine." I replied again with my face distorted in fake pain.

"I don't think it's hers." Lei offered before trailing off. Blake, irritated by Lei's sudden interference, pulled harder on my arm.

"It hurts! Please stop!" I pouted, wishing I could squeeze out a few tears for visual effect.

"Stop!" The Crown Prince, Pierce, and the host all called out in my defense. This irritated Blake even more as he couldn't comprehend how I dug myself into this usually cautious group so easily. Loosening the muscles in my shoulder even more, I waited.

Sure enough as they took a step towards him, he pulled tighter causing my shoulder to dislocate. The sound was loud, halting everyone in their tracks. He loosened his grip, I acted like I was going to pass out from the pain as I crumpled to the ground. The Crown Prince was the first to reach me, gently picking me up and taking me into the carriage.

Behind us Nomi was crying, finally coming forward to admit it was hers. Nobody asked for an explanation from her. Blake looked sheepish as Pierce and the host both stared at him. Lei peeked his head into the carriage.

"I'll pop it back into place." Lei offered. The Crown Prince was gently touching my cheek, for the first time coming this close to me.

"Okay." He replied, both worried and embarrassed that Lei caught him taking advantage of the situation.

The Crown Prince left the carriage and Lei came in. As he was about to reach my shoulder, I opened my eyes, startling him. Relaxing the muscles, I pulled on the shoulder and twisted my body until it cracked back. Immediately I closed my eyes, pretending to be passed out again. A smile spread across his face as he realized what was going on.