A Dove's Tale

Chapter 142

Breakfast was off.

The first explosion I heard was Clavis throwing a potion to slow Yves and Leon down. Unfortunately, he threw it as he rounded a corner and ran into the Simmons family, and as I heard it, he barreled through them, toppling Lady Simmons and the oldest daughter to the ground without even slowing his pace or shouting an apology over his shoulder. To make matters worse, the potion had a...unique effect. When the twins and I arrived, the Simmons were all back on their feet, and Lady Simmons was spewing angry complaints interrupted by random chirping. Her daughters were chirping, too, their faces red with embarrassment as they hid their mouths behind their hands.

I could only manage a straight face while I stayed for damage control because of my sobering conversation with the twins and the equally sobering realization that Clavis' stunt could have more serious consequences than ridding himself of an unwanted marriage proposal. Lord Simmons' far-reaching influence was not something to be taken lightly, and I'd put in a lot of work to improve his family's relationship with the Michel family and, by extension, the royal family as a whole. So, I didn't even crack a smile as I ushered the chirping women back to their rooms, apologizing profusely and explaining my honest intention for arranging breakfast with Clavis the next morning was to show them his unsuitability as a husband before he pulled something like this. I'd almost calmed them down when the second explosion knocked Lady Simmons to the ground again just as the livid Lord Simmons joined us, and any chance of salvaging the situation vanished. Her frenzied words broken by equally frenzied chirping only made her husband angrier, and although I couldn't blame them for being upset, I was relieved when the family stormed out of the palace with orders to send their baggage later.

Theresa and my guards appeared during that debacle to assist in my efforts. The twins disappeared.

I escaped to the library as soon as I could, pausing only to look through a window when I heard the third explosion. The princes were all down in the gardens surrounding a cloud of smoke, and when it dissipated, there was Clavis, strung up from a tree branch by his ankles and laughing hysterically. They'd stripped him of his jacket and were rifling through it, and when Leon pulled back his arm to lob something at Clavis, I knew it was a potion before Clavis disappeared behind another puff of smoke. I smiled and shook my head, turning my attention to scan the laughing crowd for the twins. Luke and Arianna had joined the bunch, although Arianna stood off to the side, awkward and hesitant, probably wondering what she'd gotten herself into. I knew the feeling.

Nokto was there. Licht wasn't.

The smile faded from my lips. I turned away and resumed my path to the library, retreating into the back room before I encountered anybody who wanted to stop and talk.

Licht had three means of escape. The two everybody knew about were fleeing the palace for a lengthy horseback ride on his bay stallion, Marron, and intense sword training. But when he was really upset, when something triggered the guilt that ate him alive, he disappeared into his room, and only I knew what he did there.

I told myself he might not be there now. Maybe he went for a ride on Marron. I had no way of knowing that wasn't the case unless I checked the stables for his horse. Or maybe he was in the training arena, practicing his swordsmanship, although that was unlikely. Whenever Keith came to visit, he and Licht liked to train together, and I'd seen Keith among the princes in the gardens.

No, I knew better. I saw the way he withdrew into himself when I told him and Nokto I knew about their mother. He was in his room right now, cutting more marks into his arms with a dagger, bandaging supplies at the ready for when he felt like he'd hurt himself enough. I wanted to go there and stop him, but I wasn't sure if that would just make things worse, so I forced my attention to the spines of row after row of Chevalier's books in front of me, selecting a book at random and pulling it free from its neighbors without really seeing it.