Why It Happened
POV: Lucien
I had sat there and waited through her little rituals with the tea and the charts. She finally asked me about the date. I looked at her and inhaled deeply, “I took her to the place you told me to. I wasn’t expecting her curse to lift there and I just want to know how that was. Was it the rocks?” She placed her hands on the table and clasped her hands. She looked at them for a little while, “No, it wasn’t the rocks. They just provided the ambiance for the evening and before you ask it wasn’t the water either.” I was sure it was the rocks and if that had been the case I would have made my way back there quickly to harvest a rock from that cave to make her necklace. I was bummed it hadn’t been because that would have made it very easy to lift the curse for a while. I asked my next question, “What made that place so important then? You were insistent that I take her there specifically.” She giggled, “You see that place at one time, in ancient times, was a holy place for the Goddess Aphrodite. That place coupled with Alexandra’s ability and the day that you went was the perfect storm to overcome that curse. Unfortunately, this cannot be replicated for another year. We don’t have that long to lift her curse.” I looked puzzled, “What do you mean?” She sighed and leaned back in her chair, “The curse must lift before the conclusion of the Queen competition or the kingdom will be threatened by The Order since the wrong woman will be on the throne.” I thought about Litha but I had thought that Blake had cleared her of suspicion. She shook her head, “It isn’t Lady Delnaro, I don’t know who it is but I know it isn’t her. My vision was of her bowing down to the figure. The figure is shadowy so I cannot tell you who it is though but her family is heavily involved in The Order and she encourages it.”
I turned to look out of the window to see the snow-capped mountain that lay behind Tarn. It was turning cold outside in Tarn so the snow showed up overnight while we were gone. I thought about how the summer was turning into a cold fall and how the Queen competition would conclude around the time of the Winter Solstice. I looked back at Grand Pretre, “Do you think this plan of Mordred’s will work then?” She shrugged, “I cannot say, this too is veiled to me since it involves a God. I can only tell you that there must be no interference or she won’t get another chance.” I sighed, “And what will happen if there is interference?” She clenched her jaw, “I don’t know exactly. That scares me.” I tapped the table, “Well, then we must see to it that she succeeds then.” She nodded, “Yes, I believe we must.” We sat there listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall, it was a tense silence until she snapped her fingers. She rose from her seat and grabbed a rolled-up parchment and handed it to me, “You’ll need to have Malinus send this to the Elder Council. It’s the rankings from my observations from the Queen competition. I can tell you the ranks if you’re curious.” I sat up, “Yes.” She smiled, “Well, Alexandra didn’t make one I’m sorry to say. If I was going to be objective, I had to rank her properly. So it was Lady Kellen, Lady Baltilliard, The Batiste, Lady Kastilidan, Lady Uradine, Lady Ligidew, Lady Anton, Lady Delnaro, Lady Renitas, and Lady Maigny. Melody was horrid during my reading saying that I didn’t know what I was talking about and how I was a charlatan. All I told her was that her chances of being your wife was ten percent. She didn’t like the percentage I gave. The most gracious one was Jess, she was able to accept that she had a high chance of becoming Queen. She was also candid that she really would be too nervous to be one, it was refreshing. Most who get readings from me, lie to my face. Alexandra was too anxious, I could tell that she was holding back her fears. She fears that her curse will somehow lead to trouble for the kingdom. Her mind has not gotten past it, she wears a mask of calm about it on the outside but in reality, she’s anxious that she won’t live up to her duties if she cannot truly love you.”
Hearing that about Alexandra broke my heart a little, I think I would definitely need to write to her that no matter what she felt about me that I would always support her. There was nothing more than I wanted at that moment than to ease her fears. Grand Pretre reached across the table and squeezed my hand, “I think you should ease her fears. Write to her definitely, tell her how the love in your heart for her will carry her through anything. Tell her that she will never be alone when she has those fears. That is what she needs to hear from you. She may have the healing heart but you are her fuel. Be the crutch she needs for now. That is how you can help her through this part of her life. She will carry this through the competition and work hard for you. I know in her heart that she wants to save you from marrying that woman.” I laughed, “Does she really?” She smiled and nodded, “Yes, she truly believes that your happiness lies with anyone but Melody Maigny.” I sighed after a short chuckle, “She’s not wrong, I just feel deep in my heart that having a Maigny on the throne would be disastrous.” She nodded, “I do too. They are far too greedy except the boy. He’s different. There is something off about him and his past and future are also veiled to me. I have tried to look into him but it is darkly veiled. Something happened in his past that was far too traumatizing to pry into it. He blocks it out somehow which blocks me out. I have never seen anything like it in all my years.” I rubbed my chin, “I observed also that he is unlike any Maigny that I’ve ever met. If he wasn’t a twin to Melody, I would wonder if his mother was cheating on the Marquis.” She rose from her chair and grabbed a crystal ball, “I haven’t tried anything from this method about him yet. Should we try? I want to make sure he is okay to be around her. I think you do too.” I tapped the table again, “I really don’t know. I saw how he was getting along well with Alexandra when we were out there. He said she made him feel comfortable.”
She raised her eyebrow, “I see.” She swiped her hand across the ball and a black smoke appeared through the ball. She pouted, “I expected it but I am still upset this is no clearer to me. How is he a mystery to me? I don’t like him being around Alexandra unless we know for sure he isn’t part of this Order business. I cannot even tell if that family can be eliminated or not. They are the epitome of greed but I cannot call them greedy enough to join a cult to take the throne.” I leaned over and swept my hand across the ball and chuckled, “You never know. Anyhow, Blake trusted him around her and I would trust his judgment when it comes to her.” She smiled, “You’re right. Ever the one to put a mind at ease.” She rose from her seat again and pulled out a paper and wrote a few things afterward. She sealed the paper and handed it to me, “You will need to open this before the Seely Realm sends their envoy. This is some critical information for yourself that will give you a small heads up about the two they send.” I straightened up, “You said two?” She nodded, “Yes, I know the agreed-upon number of representatives was one but there will be a slight change just before. The information about that will be in that letter. You cannot open it until then.” I nodded and stuffed the instructions in my pocket, “I will follow your lead as always. Is there anything else that we need to discuss?” She looked up at the ceiling, “Yes, I believe you will have a little bit of an issue regarding Talon Esperanza soon. You can navigate it properly but you will need to take council with the Elders to appear that you are being even in your judgment.” I nodded, “I believe I know what you mean. I was going to take council from my scribe but now that you mention it, it wouldn’t be proper since he is a cousin to Talon.” She smiled and then looked at the ball then gasped, “Oh my goodness!” I looked at her, “What is it?” She looked up at me wide-eyed, “I don’t know what you did but I am seeing something about Meldon Maigny.”
