Discovery of a Secret
POV: Lucien
Grand Pretre was shocked to see that her crystal ball had revealed something about Meldon Maigny. I looked at her concerned, “What is it?” She chewed on her bottom lip, “I’m not quite sure just yet.” She placed her hands on the ball and her eyes turned white and glowed, “He’s not what he seems. This child is not a twin to Melody Maigny. He was told this lie his whole life to keep him loyal to her. I cannot find out who his father is though. This is veiled to me.” She lifted her hands and her eyes went back to normal. I sat there thinking about how he said he didn’t like the way his family acted, perhaps this was because his origins weren’t so simple as he was a twin with Melody Maigny. She clenched her fists on the table, “If he was not born under Scorpio…I have been looking at the wrong charts for him which means his fate would definitely be veiled to me. I wonder…” She rubbed her chin and then looked at me, “I think I will need to consult all the constellation charts until I find the right one. I think it is best we keep this to ourselves for now until I figure out where he belongs.” I looked at her confused, “What do you mean by that?” She sighed, “You thought just now that he said he didn’t like the way his family acted. This would indicate that he isn’t in a place where he belongs, meaning I don’t believe Meldon Maigny is really a Maigny. This is obviously a theory though so I cannot be sure. He’s for sure not the twin brother of Melody which opens the possibility that he is his mother’s son but not a son of the Marquis.” She got up and paced the room and started to chew on her thumbnail, “How would I figure this out though? I’m puzzled as to where to start with this…”
I realized that this indeed would have implications of great magnitude if it were discovered that the Marquess was cheating on her husband. Nobility did not treat infidelity kindly and she would be shunned by the others and Meldon would have to go into hiding as a bastard. I liked Meldon so I didn’t want this of him. I looked at her, “Would you mind if I stuck around to watch you figure this out? I have the rest of the day off. I was going to take time to rest before I resumed my duties as Headmaster.” She nodded, “Yes, I think your presence may help the investigation. I have already learned much from you being here. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that you waved your hand over my crystal ball and I got to see some information on the young man. If you didn’t want to stay, I think I would’ve had to keep you captive here. I appreciate not having to commit an act of treason to figure this boy out.” She walked over to her shelf where she kept the constellation charts and pulled all but the Scorpio chart out. She pulled out the Aquarius chart and opened it. She swept her hand across it saying his name and shook her head, “He isn’t an Aquarius.” She tossed the chart to the floor next to her and pulled out Pisces and chanted his name the same way she had before then proclaimed that he wasn’t a Pisces. She also tossed that to the side. This continued with Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, and Sagittarius. She pulled out the Capricorn chart and inhaled a deep breath, “This has to be it.” She spread it out on the table and ran her hands over it and chanted Meldon. She gasped and shot up from her seat, “He’s Capricorn!” Something must’ve come to her mind because her face fell and she tapped on the chart.
She walked over to her desk and pulled out a paper and started to scribble on it and muttered, “This is odd. I need to see if I can make a chart with this date and time to see if I can read his chart for him.” She walked over to a shelf where her books were and pulled out Capricorn and brought it back to the table with me. She opened it up to December 26th and started to scroll through then nodded. She walked over to where she kept the charts for people she deemed important and pulled one out then spread it on top of the Capricorn chart and book. She ran her hand over the chart and chanted his name. She looked up at me then clenched her jaw, “This is rather difficult to explain but Meldon Maigny definitely isn’t a Maigny and I know that for a fact now. His chart states that his path is laid out to Baltilliard as his future wife but his House will be different by then. He isn’t a bastard though.” I rose from my chair, “What do you mean by that?” She tapped the chart, “This symbol here? It is a fox holding a yellow poppy.” I nodded, “Yes, that is the animal and flower of the House Maigny. That is his family, of course, he would have that symbol.” She traced her finger along a line that went from black to blue, “You see here where the color changes from black to blue?” I nodded, “Yes.” She tapped a black dot on the chart, “This is where his house changes. He will soon make a discovery in secret with what you learn here today that his house isn’t Maigny.” I looked up at her, “You mean to tell me that you know his house already?” She nodded, “Yes but before we get to that. I want to discuss Alexandra a bit more.”
I leaned back in my chair, “That seems sort of erratic doesn’t it? One minute, we’re discussing Meldon Maigny and now you want to discuss Alexandra Batiste again?” She giggled, “Just work with me here, Your Majesty. I promise you that I will get back to Meldon.” I sighed, “Okay, I will follow your conversational topic. What about Alexandra?” She cocked her head to the side like a dog would when they are curious, “You’ve spent more time with her than I have. Has she ever felt like something was missing?” I shrugged, “Not that I know of. She’s never mentioned it.” She hummed, “That’s interesting. Perhaps this is something she kept to herself. How about her family? Darren had to have mentioned that something was missing.” I thought to myself for a little while, “He did always say that Alexandra had a lonely look to her at times. I wonder if that is what you mean.” She snapped her fingers, “Precisely. She was missing something…or should I say, someone.” I contemplated what she meant by that, “So you’re saying she was missing Meldon? Meldon that she didn’t even know existed. They get along well but I don’t think their friendship is that vital.” She laughed, “But she did miss him because he is a part of her and she is a part of him. Did they finish sentences for each other? Unusually close rather quickly?” I nodded, “Yeah, it was kinda eerie, to be honest.” She got up from her chair and walked over to her window and clasped her hands behind her, “I don’t think you are understanding what is going on here. Do you Lucien?” She used my name instead of my honorifics, this only happened once before when she informed me that Alexandra was vital to Vellum. I sat up, “I guess I don’t.”
She smiled and strode over to the chart and turned it towards me. She tapped the name on the top right-hand corner of the page. Scrawled out in beautiful and delicate cursive handwriting was the name, “Alexandra Batiste.” She smiled, “This is Alexandra’s chart so I ask you…how am I able to read Meldon’s chart using Alexandra’s chart? This only happens when two children are born to a family on the same day at about the same time. Everyone always thought that it was odd that Alexandra was an only child given that the Esperanzas always birthed twins. Put the pieces together here Lucien.” I gasped, “You mean to tell me that Meldon is Alexandra’s twin and he somehow ended up being a son of the Maigny family.” She winked then nodded, “A grave crime I would say. A Marquis stealing the child of a Duke and Duchess. We need to confirm with Reginald and Talia that they had a twin brother for Alexandra though. Could you do that?” My heart was thumping fiercely in my chest at this discovery and nervously nodded at her, “Of course. It will be hard to bring up but I will have them summoned to Vellum under the guise of joining us for the Seely Realm envoy. I need to talk to Reginald about a few things anyhow, why not bring up a likely painful past.” She laughed, “That’s the spirit, Your Majesty. As Meldon’s chart indicated to me, you will be the one to break the news to him in secret so I suggest you start figuring out a way to tell him.”
