Trip To Faedon
POV: Alexandra
We finished breakfast with the Queen and decided that we would go back to our rooms and change into less formal attire. The sisters said they would walk me to my room so we could discuss how long we would be out, where we would meet up and places we would go. We finally finished getting dressed after a short while and walked out to the carriage Syl had called for. When we stepped out of the castle, I froze in my tracks seeing the Prince leaning against the carriage and talking to Jheelis. Ny shouted out, “What are you doing here, Cal?” I looked over at Syl who pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered, “No tact whatsoever.” Cal looked over his shoulder and gave her a big toothy smile, “Oh I have business with Jheelis here and I was hoping to catch Lady Alexandra.” Inwardly, I was troubled by having to face him after I ran out on him after he had kissed me the night before. Outwardly, I gave him a small smile and stepped forward. Ny pulled Syl to the side to give us room while Syl grumbled about how it was not good to encourage their brother. Jess nodded at me and whispered in my ear, “I will be just over there with the Princesses if you need me. I know you are anxious about this so just know that you have my backup and I can step in at any moment.” I made a nervous giggle, “Don’t start a war, dear friend. I think I will be fine. I’m just nervous about what exactly he will say.” I couldn’t say I disagreed with Sylphia’s assessment of not being encouraging but I didn’t want to be rude so I indulged him.
He bowed at me as I stepped in front of him, “Good morning, my lady. I wanted to speak to you about a few things. One is about last night.” I drew in a deep breath but I let him continue, “I wanted to apologize for being so forward. I didn’t ask you if I could and that was awfully rude of me. I would like to speak more with you about what my father is planning but I think it would be best if we were alone. Also, he wanted me to give you this.” He pulled out a letter with a golden seal with a lion on it from the breast pocket of his well-tailored suit. He handed it to me with such grace that I was slightly mesmerized by the action. I took the envelope and sure enough, it was a letter from Lucien, “How did you get this?” He sighed, “My father likely stole it from the courier before it reached my mother. I don’t like these underhanded tactics but I thought it would be best to comply for now so he doesn’t result in more devious tactics.” My brow furrowed at the thought of what he might mean, “How do you mean?” He looked down at his feet, “Like him showing up in your room in the middle of the night trying to seduce you on his own. You are too young for him but he will try to get what he wants. As I said, it would be best if I spoke in more detail later on. Would you be willing to meet with me later? You can bring along Lady Jess. I think she should know more too since she is protecting you.” I nodded, “Okay, it seems like you are not anything like your father. Just know that I am still guarded around you but I will trust you slightly since Ny says that you are a good person.” He smiled, “It is all I ask, my lady. I do hope you have a good day out in town.” He stepped up to the carriage door and opened it for me.
I looked over at Sylphia who was looking up at the castle frowning, “What is going on?” She sighed, “My father was watching your discussion with my brother with a big smile on his face. I don’t like it but we can discuss it in the carriage on the way.” It was funny to me that they would call a car a carriage but I decided to let it go for now. We all got into the car and settled in before Syl spoke up, “Xan, I do hope you will let me give you some advice here. May I?” I nodded at her, “You’re probably the most level-headed and smart person I know. I invite your opinion.” She looked over at the driver area at Jheelis, “Before that, I must inform you that Jheelis is my spy in the King’s court so you must know that you are free to speak here. You should also know that whatever he does in front of the King is to maintain his place in his court. Do you both understand?” I looked at Jess and she nodded at me then I looked at Syl, “We understand completely. I thank you for the heads up.” She cleared her throat, “Moving on, I overheard your conversation with my brother. While I don’t think it is a good idea to encourage my father at all, for his sake I think appearances must be kept. I thought about it a little and I know my brother won’t readily go along with any scheme my father cooks up.” Jheelis spoke up at that point, “Certainly he is not in favor of whatever the King is doing in regard to you, Lady Alexandra.” Syl glared a hole in the back of his head, “As I was saying before being interrupted, he won’t want to go along with his scheme. That being said, I had heard rumors that anyone in my father’s court that doesn’t prove useful would be convinced to do so and I don’t believe my brother would be immune.” Ny crossed her arms and began to shiver. Syl placed a hand on her in a consoling action, “Ny knows all too well what it means not to be found useful to our father. She got to witness it.” I looked at Ny, “Are you able to speak of it? I want to know what your brother and of course Jheelis faces if they don’t comply. I don’t want you to relive your trauma if you are uncomfortable with it.”
Ny straightened up in her seat and smiled, “I love that you are considerate of my feelings, Xan, but I can tell you. You see, when I was a little girl, my father had summoned me to his court to have a visit. In those days, he thought he could win my sister and me over to his side and it might have worked on me were it not for that day.” She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before she continued, “My father had sent a spy to my mother’s court but word got around that she had made him her lover. Father wanted assurance that he would remain loyal to him but he would make no assurances so father deemed him a traitor. He had the man stripped naked and…well…they tortured him and mutilated him. He wouldn’t agree to stay loyal to my father so he died in a bloody heap. It was horrifying enough but then my father turned to me and told me that this was my price to pay for what I had done.” I gasped, “So that was punishment for you too?” She nodded, “Father knew I had strong empathic powers so he knew being in the vicinity of that sort of suffering would mess with me emotionally. All that because I told my mother one of his secrets and I dare not repeat it.” I leaned forward and patted her on the knee, “It is alright, Ny. I don’t blame you for keeping that to yourself. I thank you for informing me of what these men face.” Syl spoke again, “I will continue now. My advice to you is to continue the act, write to Lucien about the goings on here but give the letter to me. I will ensure that it gets out to him properly. In the meantime, write another letter that goes to the courier and include general sweet things about your visit here like how lovely the Queen is, how great the King is etcetera. You know the basic letter. Father will, of course, intercept it as he did with the letter from Lucien and likely will read it. Make it easy for him and don’t put a seal. In your real letter, include that you are writing a pseudo letter and explain the situation to him.” I nodded, “That sounds brilliant, Sylphia. I believe Seely will be in great hands once you are on the throne.” She smiled at me tenderly, “Thank you, my friend. I appreciate that. I hope you aren’t too uncomfortable carrying on with Cal. I know you are in love with Lucien so pretending to crush on another man might be different.” I looked at her with a smile on my face, “You use the term crush here?” She looked confused, “Yes, of course. Why do you ask?” Ny interjected, “In Vellum, the term is wink. Isn’t that silly? I guess humans also use the term crush.” Syl nodded, “Ah, I see. Well, I could see your amusement by this but that still leaves my question quite unanswered. Are you comfortable with this situation?”
I shook my head, “Now that I know he isn’t with your father and hearing it from both of you, I think I can trust him. Besides, he seems nice enough and I don’t want to be the cause of his torture. This would simply not do for me. I do wonder if there is a diplomatic action Lucien could take in all of this. I will set up some time to speak with him alone later.” Jheelis spoke again, “Permission to speak, Your Royal Highness?” Sylphia rolled her eyes, “You may but only after I tell Alexandra this, you must not get Vellum involved in our in-fighting. This could cause another war waged by my father and my mother, while powerful, could do little to stop him from trying to assassinate Lucien to get what he wants. With him out of the way, you would be free to become his daughter-in-law since no one would be able to prove it was him that did it. You may speak now that I have said my piece, Jheelis” He sighed with relief, “Much obliged. My lady, you won’t have to set anything up. His Highness is on his way to a rendezvous point we set up and you will meet him there. All are invited to join since this plan will likely affect us all.” Syl sat up, “He already has a plan?” Jheelis nodded, “Yep and it is not unlike your own so it might be best to hear him out and we can all get through this shit show unscathed…hopefully.”
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