Target on His Back
POV: Lucien
Edgar took a seat at my desk across from me and sat quietly for a few minutes before he was sure that Alexandra was out of earshot. He looked up at me after a little while, “I wanted to speak with you alone because of something I actually found just now. I didn’t want to bring this up in front of her. She has enough worries and we need her to focus on her tasks here not just for the people of the Glades but also for you and all of Vellum.” I raised a brow at him, “You know you’re supposed to remain unbiased through these tasks. If it wasn’t me you were speaking to then you’d be getting lectured.” He chuckled, “Oh, I am just acting on my observations of the three candidates. For me, she is the most suitable which is why I asked your mother to assign me to be Alexandra’s evaluator. That being said, I will judge her fairly as I would have had I been assigned to either of the other ladies. Besides, I know you aren’t unbiased either, Your Majesty. I have seen the way you look at her.” I leaned on my elbows on the desk, “Oh? And how do I look at her?” He smiled, “You look at her like she is the only person in the world like she’s a rare gem.” I laughed, “You are right she is a rare gem. I don’t think I need to make it a secret to you here what I feel for you since you can plainly see it. I do have to wonder if everyone is as astute as you.” Edgar shook his head, “No, you only dropped your guard here today and only when she so delicately calmed you down. You just have to be careful where you let your guard down. You seem very even around the ladies which is great.” I nodded, “Okay so now that we’ve established how I feel about one of my Queen candidates, what was it that you wanted to tell me in regards to her?”
He nodded and pulled out the file he had tucked by himself when he sat down, he handed it to Malinus for his review. Malinus’s face became one of anger, frustration, and then worry. As he handed me the file, he said, “You must protect my family, Your Majesty. That is all I will say.” I pulled open the file and saw a letter:
Count Kastilidan,
I would like to conscript a servant of your contract pool once more. I now have reason to believe that my own son has betrayed me in favor of that Batiste cow. I don’t know what it is about her that makes everyone go so crazy over her. She is nothing so special as my Melody. Let me not mention the taint of her that she was raised amongst what is meant to be our food. If that cow gets on the throne, Vellum will become tainted. You have already been so kind as to help me find a contingency to Zero. I will now need an assassin for that ungrateful Batiste brat that I raised. W saw him help our necromancer escape so I imagine he has probably found out his origins. If that is the case, neither of us can afford for the King nor the Elder Council to find out. Both will send the Citadel and we don’t need those meatheads in our business. We are in this together now. Let me know who you can send.
Maigny”
I turned to the next page where it gave details on a hit contract for Meldon Maigny aka Ashton Batiste. We had some sort of idea that Ashton would no longer be safe from his kidnappers, we just didn’t know the details. Now we had two names who would be sent after him, where it would happen and when it would happen. They thought Ashton would be back from his special mission by the ball so they figured they would take him out after the ball. The contracted men were already sent to a place the documents called the Cell for training and to go over what the plan was. Ashton was safe for now and would remain that way if I had anything to say about it.
I looked up at Malinus, “You needn’t worry about your young cousin, Malinus. We have him under the protection of the Citadel. He is a fine soldier in his own right. This will help us to keep him more protected. I can see why you kept this from Alexandra though. She has a special bond with her brother already so this would distract her and make her upset. It is best for her to focus on her tasks here.” He nodded, “She’s doing great work out here. The children in the medical tent rave about how great she is. One of the mothers approached me and told me how she fixed something her daughter was upset about. Some of the older patients outside of Ms. Celia have not had much time with her yet but I’m going to have her focus on the older patients tomorrow.” I nodded, “Do you know how Melody and Rayla are doing?” He sighed, “I do. Melody has been handing out supplies but only the ones her family sent and she has been sure to remind people that her family is supplying them with these things. She’s been really selfish throughout this whole recovery. As for Rayla, she has been helping to hand out water and food to the people. While she is being helpful, she hasn’t had much interaction with the people beyond telling them what she’s brought and saying ‘You’re welcome’ when she is thanked. She wants to help, you can tell, but at the same time it is a very disinterested type of action.” I sighed, “So we have one who is eager to gain my hand because she wants me and my power, another that is just not interested, and the other who is doing everything she can for the people without anything in return.” He nodded, “You speak to anyone at this camp and they will tell you who they would want to be their Queen. I have asked the General to have his soldiers write reports on their perception of the ladies, anonymously of course. We’re going to use that as part of the evaluation of the candidates.” I nodded, “That seems like a very prudent decision.”
I rose from my seat and walked over to the stacks of papers, “We need to find out everyone involved in this contract business. We need the perpetrators, the victims, and the clients. Every single one. Be they noble or not, they will be punished. I need someone trusted to help Malinus go through this.” I turned around to Edgar, “Do you know of anyone we can trust to do this task?” He rubbed his chin and thought for a while then nodded, “I believe the one you could trust the most with this task is Reginald Batiste. I would command him to come out here.” I regarded him for a while, wondering why he thought Reginald would be the best man for the job and he chuckled, “If you think about it, you don’t want someone to come across Ashton Batiste’s name and wonder who he is. Reginald knows the secrets and his daughter is a Queen candidate who can be trusted to keep your secrets. Your family has a long history with his.” I nodded, “You are very right. I was going to take your suggestion but I was curious to know why you suggested him. Those were pretty good arguments. I probably would have brought out someone from her family but likely would have thought of Talia. You think about it: she does help Reginald to file paperwork. She was very helpful in her uncle’s estate from what I understand.” I looked over at Malinus, “Indeed, Your Majesty. It is she who taught me how to be so efficient at my job. She was one of the top scribe scholars in LDMU when she went through. She wanted to focus on her husband, his estate, and her family so she quit. I imagine she would be in my spot if she hadn’t quit. She would be far more suitable than I.” I shook my head, “I believe you are where you were meant to be Malinus.” I walked over to my desk and pulled out the stationary and wrote the order, folded it up, and sealed it with my seal. I placed it in Malinus’s hands, “Wait to send this. Alexandra has a message she wants to send out there too. Her father will need that as well and I have instructions in this message that he will put together the supplies she requests before coming here. She forgot to write it out while she was here.”
Edgar rose from his seat, “I will go remind her, she should likely be done with her dinner by now. Hopefully, she can get that letter to you fairly quickly, young Malinus.” I dismissed the Elder and I turned to Malinus, “This is a troubling find. We likely wouldn’t have known where to find this were it not for Alexandra, I believe.” Malinus stared down at the box of documents but did not look up at me, “I believe so too. The General said that they had to break open a stone chimney-like wall that they likely would not have done otherwise. They would have just tossed it onto the pile to dispose of. It was only because she had that conversation with Celia about what the Kastilidans were doing.” Alexandra had a knack for getting people to open up to her and this was no exception. I looked down at the box myself, “I think we will need to give her a commendation after we wrap up the investigation and arrest everyone. She helped to bring down huge criminal activity in Vellum. I don’t know if there is anyone more suitable to be by my side in life and power than her. I know she never wanted it but she shows time and again all the traits that my father saw in my mother. I can only pray to the Gods that my fated one is her.” Malinus sighed, “There are many corrupt factors in place that might interfere with that but finding this…” He waved at the box and looked up at me, “This should help to eliminate those factors. We just need to know the right time to reveal this information.” I heard a woman’s voice belonging to Grand Pretre behind me state, “That is what I am here for. To talk to you about the plan to expose the rot of Vellum.”
