Brotherhood

Chapter 20

Amy woke up in her bed the next morning with a smile on her face. She had thought about Geric all night long. About his kiss. About the way his fingers felt against her skin. She never thought that when she attended that much dreaded masquerade that she would have met the man she would fall in love with. Geric was everything to her. Now it was time to show her parents that.

"Excuse me, Princess," her maid said as she stood on the other side of the room, holding an empty silver tray to her chest. "His Majesty, the King has told me that he wishes you to join him for breakfast."

Rolling out of bed, Amy's eyebrows shot up. "What's the occasion? We rarely have breakfast together."

"I don't know, Your Highness. Queen Cristiana and Prince Charles and the werewolf are to attend as well." Amy didn't miss the way that the maid shuddered at the mention of Geric.

"Ann," Amy sighed as she touched the maid's arm. "Would you be afraid if I were a werewolf?"

Ann paused, looking completely taken aback. "Princess, I've known you most of your life. You wouldn't hurt me."

"Exactly. I wish that you would extend Prince Gericault that same courtesy. Really, he's just a man with amber eyes. He's never hurt a human as a werewolf in his life, alright? Plus, his fur is so soft. He's just like a big teddy bear and he's very kind and he has a very soft heart."

Her maid seemed to relax a little bit, but Amy knew it would just take a little time for everyone to get used to him being in the castle. If it had been a month ago, Amy might have been a little nervous too.

"Will you help me get dressed?" Amy asked as she rifled through her wardrobe. Her eyes lit up as she fingered a light green dress with transparent sleeves that hit her wrist. She hadn't wore this dress in a while and it had always reminded her of Spring. Spring was exactly what they needed. A renewal. A fresh start.

After what felt like an eternity of getting into the dress and Ann pinning her hair nicely over her shoulder in loose curls, Amy had to force herself to walk slowly down the stairs and into the dining hall where Charles, Geric, and her father sat waiting. Both princes stood up as she walked into the room and it took all Amy had not to laugh. It looked like a real competition for sure.

Amy nodded graciously before taking a seat and placing a napkin in her lap. "Where's Mother? Still having a hard time getting out of bed in the mornings?"

"In all the time I've known her, that has most certainly been the case," the king chuckled and took a bite of his food when the cooks served him first, and then her, and then Charles, and Geric last. If she had her way, Geric would be the first one served.

"How did you sleep, Ameline?" Charles asked with a sly expression. "I hope you slept well?"

"Fine, thank you," Amy replied as she pursed her lips together. But then ice crawled up her veins as she glanced over at Geric who wore a taut expression. Charles must have found out Geric came to her room last night. But nothing happened! He wouldn't rat them out, would he? That would only disfavor Geric even further with her father.

Amy looked across the table at Charles with a cold expression. "And may I remind you, Charles, that I will not tolerate there being any silver weapons around Geric. I would like you to remove your knife from your belt and lock it away. I don't ever want to see it again."

Charles' face twitched as he fought off anger, but he nodded. "As you wish, m'lady."

"I apologize, Amy," her father said distractedly. "You will not be joining us at the spar that the knights are holding on the sparring grounds. It's not a place for ladies."

Her heart constricted very suddenly in her chest. The knights had silver weapons. Geric would be surrounded by knights on all sides who had silver weapons. If something happened...

"Very well," she whispered, casting Geric a fearful glance. This felt like a threat, as if her father was reminding her of exactly what could happen if Amy and Geric continued with their attempts. "I trust that you are remaining true to your promise that Geric will have your protection?"

Her father grinned. "He has my protection, but there will be a lot of knights there. Accidents happen." And then he stood up from the table, beckoning both princes to follow him.

"Geric," Amy whispered, her eyes wide in fear as she caught his hand.

"I'll be okay," he whispered back, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Don't worry about me. I'll be just fine." And then she watched him go, and part of her felt deathly afraid that he wouldn't come back alive.

. . . . .

The seconds ticked by into minutes and Amy couldn't stop pacing. She knew they'd be gone for at least another couple of hours, but her worry wouldn't stop. She had to occupy herself somehow. As much as she dreaded the thought, perhaps embroidery would take her mind off everything. Or even studying. Actually, studying up on her foreign languages sounded like a much better alternative to embroidery.

She made her way up the grand staircase and toward the library, but then she paused as she found Charles' bedroom door slightly ajar. Amy wanted to know how many silver weapons he had, that way she could make sure they were all banned from the castle.

Sneaking in as quietly as she could, Amy closed the door behind her and her eyebrows furrowed together. There was nothing in this castle that she hated more than Prince Charles. If only he would leave for good, then she'd feel so much more at peace.

Amy began rifling through Charles' belongings, careful to leave them as she found them. One silver sword, two silver daggers, silver-tipped arrows. It was completely obvious to her that this man was a werewolf hunter.

Her frown deepened more and more as she continued looking around. She pulled open a drawer but closed it again when she only found a stack of letters. But then her heart froze, her eyes widening as she pulled open that drawer once again. It was a stack of letters from the apothecary.

She sat down on the edge of the bed as she went through letter after letter, the fear inside of her growing evermore. The letters dated back months ago. Back and forth from Charles to the apothecary and her name had been mentioned several times. On their wedding night, Charles had planned to kill her.

Flipping wildly in her chest, her heart went out of control. This was absolutely terrible. This was treason. This alone could start a war. Did her father know about this? Did he know that Charles planned to kill her on her wedding night and did he support this?

Amy shook her head. Absolutely not. This wedding was absolutely not going to happen. Not when her life was on the line.

Continuing through the letters, she found an envelope and it felt as if a brick dropped in her stomach as she opened it. Dried herbs. But it wasn't just any herb. This was a poisonous herb. If ingested, it would kill her within minutes.

Amy grabbed all of the evidence and stormed out of there, almost afraid to stay there a minute longer. If she had anything to do with it, Charles would be gone within the hour and he'd never be welcomed back ever again.