Trickery
POV: Alexandra
Jess had just come back and let us know that all the attendants from Seely Realm. We didn’t even know who Loki was disguising himself as and the look on Blake’s face let me know that that prospect frightened him. Blake doesn’t often show fear on his face but this was one of those times. He looked around the room but then they announced Seraphia and he relaxed a little, “She should be able to find out who the culprit is or at least help.” Grand Pretre walked over to a small table near where they set Lucien up at. The room settled back into their conversation as soon as she sat at her table. She sat and sipped a smaller cup of tea and scanned the room, likely trying to find out if anyone around the room was disguised as Loki. Lucien was then announced and everyone once again quit their conversation and stood up then bowed when Lucien stepped into the room. Unfortunately for him, the Maignys were next to the entrance so they rushed over. Melody was leaning into Lucien and batting her eyelashes at him. Blake chuckled, “She’s laying it on thick today. I wish she had a mind-reading ability because she’d know that her attempts are very futile.” I nodded, “If she really wanted to be Queen, I would think sucking up to the members of the council would serve her better.” Princess Sylphia sighed, “I had thought to eliminate her but your holy woman asked me not to.” Blake, Jess, and I all looked back at her but Blake spoke first, “What? I wonder why.” She simply said, “She only told us that things would get complicated for Seely if we did that.”
Blake grabbed my arm which was resting on the table, “Look, Lucien is annoyed at Marquis Maigny for some reason. There was some whispering and Lucien gave him an annoyed smirk just now.” I looked up to see Lucien’s hand on my brother’s shoulder and he lead him over to his table, “I wonder if His Majesty is getting an update on Meldon’s situation.” I called him by his old name because I couldn’t be sure that anyone was listening, especially since Lady Kastilidan was sitting at the table next to us with Princess Nystasia. Lady Kastilidan was Melody’s best friend so I couldn’t talk of Ashton like I wanted to, not until it was revealed to the rest of Vellum that he was a Batiste. Blake held my hand on the table, “I already spoke to him about it. He’s close to confirming what His Majesty suspects of the ones he’s investigating. We will leave it at that since I feel a pair of eyes looking at us from the other table.” I could see out of my peripheral vision that indeed Lady Kastilidan was looking at us with narrowed eyes. Princess Nystasia called out to her, “Pardon me, Lady Kastilidan but I believe you are not listening to me.” She snapped her head back to the princess who was frowning at her. What I knew of Lady Kastilidan was that she didn’t care which throne she was on just as long as she was a royal. Ignoring one of the envoys would not bode well for the half the chance she had to make that happen. She also didn’t like how close I was to Blake and she made it known to me at school several times that I would never make a proper monarch. I just shrugged it off, she didn’t think I was proper because I hadn’t known all of the customs. That was her only bone of contention with me. She told me once that she probably could have been friendly with me if I hadn’t been trying to get with the brothers. I wasn’t really trying anything, the way the royal brothers felt about me were their own. I did nothing but be nice to them and treat them like regular people.
We continued our conversation talking about the various ways the Seely Court was different from the Vellum Court. Everything there was separate because of the way the King behaved versus the way the Queen behaved. She never corrected her King just as long as he didn’t interfere with her rule or the peace of the realm. Women are the more powerful beings there, the Queen is the one with power and the Generals were all women. Jess listened intently as Sylphia explained the hierarchy of the Seely army. Sylphia invited the both of us to the realm for her coronation, “I will have to send you a formal invitation once I get back to Seely and the date is set. Of course, Blake and Lucien will also be invited. Perhaps by then, one of the candidates will have been selected as the future Queen. I am so hoping it is one of you two or Lady Delnaro. I was quite impressed with her.” She looked over at Blake who glared at her, “I don’t know if you are trying to pick on me or if you’re actually serious.” She shrugged, “A little bit of both, I would say.” My father approached the table as we were laughing about her picking on Blake, “Xan, your mother had to go home early. She had a bit of a headache.” Blake eyed my father suspiciously and looked over at Jess who shook her head. I am guessing that the two were trying to make sure he wasn’t Loki in disguise. I nodded and smiled at my father, “Are you going to follow her then?” He nodded, “I just need your help with something and I will escort you back inside before I leave. Countess Baltilliard brought your mother a painting to be restored and since we didn’t bring a servant, I figured you wouldn’t mind helping me.” I rose from my seat, “Of course, Daddy. I can help out.” I walked away with him towards the area where a larger wrapped package was laying and we picked it up and walked out the side door with it.
We finally got the package to the corner of the building when he set it down to the side. I looked at him confused, “Daddy, why did we stop?” He smirked at me and his face morphed into that of Loki’s, I gasped and backed up slightly. He smiled at me, “Alexandra, I have been waiting for this day. Come with me to my own little slice of Heaven. You shall be lavished with gifts appropriate for my Queen.” I reached my hand out to him and smiled, “I would go with you even if you didn’t offer me jewels.” I said this out loud but a corner of my brain was screaming out to me not to do it. I heard the voice in my head, “Xan, you cannot leave your family and friends. They will be heartbroken.” I shook my head and he led me off through the garden, undoubtedly towards a carriage waiting to drive us to the Seely portal. I rubbed his hand with my thumb and he looked back and smiled, “I cannot wait any longer.” He turned back to me and placed his hand on my cheek and gave me a long passionate kiss. I sighed and placed my head on his chest, “I have missed you, my love. Why didn’t you take me away sooner?” He sighed, “I had to plan properly before I could bring you home.” Suddenly I felt a hand on my arm and it yanked me back and I screamed and reached out to Loki. The hand came over my eyes and I felt calmed and realized that I was in the process of being kidnapped by Loki. I’m not sure I could have called it a kidnapping considering I was going with him willingly with no fight. I heard Loki’s voice, annoyed, “And just who are you and why do you think you can take my woman away from me?” Ashton’s voice came dripping out with contention, “I am her brother and you have no right to take her away from me when I just got her back. Begone from here.”
I heard the sound of electricity crackling and I felt my hair rise up on every inch of my body. I heard footsteps retreat and my brother’s hand fell away from my face. He turned me around and hugged me, “Xan, are you okay?” I pulled him tighter to me, “You saved me from servitude to that horrible God. What did you do? I no longer feel his hold on me.” I felt him shrug, “I have no idea, I am just as surprised as you are. I just felt this heat through my body and he was scared so he ran off.” I looked at him, “I miss you, brother. I never knew how much until now.” Tears started to roll down my face and he smiled then wiped them away, “I miss you too, dear sister. I will be back home with you in no time. The Maignys are making moves and I will be able to finish my mission. What I’m worried about is if he took father’s place then where is our father?” I gasped, “I didn’t think about that. We need to find our parents. He looked at me with a sad face, “Oh right, I will need to find our parents. I will somehow let you know if I can find them.”
We heard a set of footsteps running up to us from behind, “There you two are, I need young Ashton’s help with something.” Malinus had a panicked look on his face. I looked at him, still half embracing my brother, “What’s going on?” He frowned, “His Majesty has tripped and fallen. He’s unconscious in the garden. I need young Ashton to help me carry him up to his room. I will sadly have to cancel the rest of the reception.” Worry washed over me and I started to run in the direction that Malinus came from. I heard him and Ashton shouting after me to be careful. A short run later, I saw him lying on the ground and tears started to fall down my face, “Lucien!” I fell on my knees next to him and placed his bleeding head on my lap and stroked his face, “Lucien, wake up for me. You have to come back to me. I love you, Lucien.” The words that came out of my mouth made me gasp, I did feel the love for Lucien that I had before when we were in that cave. I had questions as to why this was but it would have to wait. I shook the thoughts from my head and I felt my brother’s hand on my shoulder, “Xan, you need to let me and Malinus lift him so we can get him into bed.” Malinus spoke, “We will need to take a secret passage into the castle. No one must know what happened to His Majesty. Also, Lady Batiste must not be seen with the bloodstain on her dress. We will need to get you a change of clothes.” After they lifted Lucien to his feet with each arm dangling on each man’s shoulder, I looked down to see that Lucien’s blood had indeed dripped onto my dress. I didn’t care, I knew I only wanted Lucien to be okay. Malinus led us deeper into the garden until we finally came upon a statue of his father. Malinus pulled on his father’s medal on his chest and the stone cleared away next to the statue to reveal a set of steps. We descended the stairs and took a tunnel back towards the castle until we found a set of stairs. I looked down the tunnel and asked Malinus, “Where does that go?” Malinus looked in the direction of the tunnel, “You didn’t hear it from me but this one connects to the Headmaster’s Tower and your own home.”
