The Plan
POV: Alexandra
I woke up the morning after the tea party that really wasn’t a tea party with a small headache. I had hoped all night that Lucien wouldn’t misunderstand what was going on. I knew he would get word before I could explain what was going on. I stuffed my face into my pillow at the thought. Would he be angry that I encouraged the Prince? Would he read my letter and understand what it was I was trying to do? I heard a gentle knock at the door and understood that it was likely Jess, “Come in.” Sure as my prediction, Jess stepped into the room. She smiled at me when she saw where I was, “Lamenting?” I sat up and nodded, “It seems like that’s all I’ve done since coming here. This place is stressing me out.” She walked over and sat at the foot of my bed, “I can understand that. Hopefully, Lucien will have a little understanding once he reads your letter.” I sighed, “I wonder if we are expected to have breakfast with the Queen because I don’t know if I can handle that right now.” Another more authoritative knock came on my door, Jess hopped up, “I will answer it.” She walked over to the door and opened it, “Hello Your Highnesses, did you sleep well?” Sylphia and Ny stepped into the room both dressed as if they were ready to go out. Syl shook her head, “I did not sleep well. My mother is acting rather odd and I am more than sure my father is behind it. If only we had Lucien’s reveal ability that might tell us what is going on.” Ny nodded, “I don’t think anyone in Seely has that ability either. I don’t want to think that my father has gained control of my mother but from what my sister says, it seems to be that way.” I flipped the blankets off of my legs and pulled myself out of bed, “How are you so sure?” Syl sighed, “You know my parent’s relationship is more of a hate thing than a love thing, right?” I nodded, “I think everyone knows that. It’s no secret.” Ny blurted out, “Mother was getting intimate with Father last night.”
My eyes widened and I plopped back down on the bed, “Well, that IS different. Do you have a plan?” Syl shook her head, “For once, I don’t have a fully formed plan but we are meeting today at the same place so I need you to get dressed so we can head out.” I sprung up and went over to the wardrobe where the maids had neatly unpacked my bag and I pulled out a purple sweater, jeans, and brown boots.” I was quick to finish getting ready and we all headed out to the front of the castle. Jheelis was standing there but his face had a bandage on it. I reached out towards him and he bristled away, “I will explain later, we need to get going.” We all piled into the car and we quickly reached our destination. It was the same place Jheelis had dropped us off at the last time. It looked like the bakery was closed, which I hated because the pastries that Ny had bought me there were delicious. They were almost like baklava with creamy custard. They were so delicious that I had hoped to buy some more to share with the family. I guess I must have been frowning because Ny put her arm around me, “Don’t worry, we can have someone send us some more. She’s usually closed today to go worship the Goddess. Today is the holy day for the Goddess in Seely so not much is open. Some other Gods are worshiped here but mostly it is Aphrodite since the fae thrive on love.” Jheelis came back after parking the car and we made our way to the house that the King didn’t know about.
Cal was already inside staring at the fire. We stepped into the room but he didn’t look up. Ny cleared her throat, “First of all, why is Jheelis cut up, and why are you acting like the undead?” Cal looked up at her with tears in his eyes, “It was torture. Jheelis was tortured by Father because he left Seely without informing him.” I gasped, “How would he know that? I didn’t think it would get him in trouble.” He sighed, “I think you are aware of how he knows. I was told that you were informed of who is helping him.” I sighed and nodded, “So Lytir. How do we know he doesn’t know about us all meeting?” Cal looked over at me and patted my hand, “Well I overheard Lytir tell my father that he lost sight of you after you took a trip out of Seely and came back. I’m not sure what that is about but I’m assuming any action that you take will be unknown to him to include this meeting.” Syl nodded, “It seems like a safe assumption but this will make it hard to plan things once Alexandra is gone.” I looked up and said, “Apollo? Aphrodite?” A golden orb appeared in the room and Apollo manifested, “You called, my beautiful child?” I nodded, “Aphrodite cast some sort of spell when I visited Eden. Do you know what that is?” He nodded, “All Mighty wanted to keep you protected from that other God so he had her cast a prophetic blinding spell on you.” I stood up and walked over to the fireplace where he was standing by, “Do you think you can cast that on all here?” He held up a finger, “Let me check with Gabriel.” He closed his eyes and started to nod after a while then opened his eyes again, “He says All Mighty has given permission since this will help him keep an eye on things here. He knows Lytir is here but he wants to see what his plans are or at least have an inclination before we swoop in and arrest him as well.” He raised his arms to his sides and pulled his arms to clap them. Golden sparkles came raining down on the others and he smiled, “It is done. Remember you are all agents of All Mighty from here on until we find out what is going on. We have another member inside the King’s court but that is for me to know for now. He will reveal himself when the big guy deems it necessary. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must be going. I have things to do.”
Apollo left just as quickly as he came but that was fine since we needed to move on with the discussion of our plans together. Syl sighed, “I need to bring something up since we are all here.” All of us turned our attention to her and she spoke again, “I have very strong reason to believe that the Queen has been compromised. This would explain her reckless behavior of sending a marriage offer to Vellum. Mother would never do that without talking to the council and myself. Not to mention that…um…she was having…relations with our father last night.” She blushed and looked down and Cal looked gobsmacked, “They were intimate? You’re sure?” She nodded, “It’s hard to ignore our shirtless father coming out of the room where mother came out of with nothing but her robe on. I am fairly certain something was going on there.” He sighed, “Something is definitely up then. Do you have a plan?” Syl shook her head, “I’m afraid not. The only thing I could think of was Lucien’s reveal magic but we don’t have that obviously.” Cal furrowed his brow, “Reveal magic? How does that work?” She shrugged, “I’m not sure, I have never seen him cast it but I do know that he has that ability. It’s been hard to get much by him with that.” Cal nodded, “I imagine that would come in handy here. Hmmm…” He was rubbing his chin and snapped his fingers, “I think I have something but it would require the cooperation of Lady Alexandra. Would you be willing to help us out?” I nodded, “Of course, I wouldn’t want your mother falling into your father’s hands. That cannot be good for your realm or mine. What do you have in mind?” He sat back in his chair, “I understand your light healing potion can do a lot. We’ve had word from a contact in Vellum that it is helping to clear up the disease quickly. Do you think this would work on whatever magic my mother is dealing with?” I shrugged, “I don’t exactly know if it will be effective but it could be worth a shot. My question is…how would you administer it to your mother? It’s not exactly inconspicuous.” Syl cut into the conversation, “I can slip it to her but you had told her that you couldn’t make it here. Is that true?” I nodded, “We need a special ingredient that someone I trust is currently keeping safe for me. It’s very powerful stuff that needs to be concealed. I will need to return to Vellum to make it but I can do it today and send some back as long as I have fae-specific ingredients.” Syl nodded, “We can have some sent with you by Mother. We can say that you are ensuring that you have what you need to make it for our realm since you have already agreed to do it.” I looked at Jess, “Is there a good way to send it back without tampering?” Syl nodded, “We can send Hobbs secretly to you without Mother’s knowledge.” Jheelis cleared his throat, “Pardon me but won’t Lytir know if you send Hobbs? He doesn’t have the concealing magic as we all do.”
Silence filled the room as we all realized that wouldn’t be the best of ideas. Jheelis spoke up again, “I can conceal myself since the King cannot track me again with the magic cast here today. You can send back a batch through the normal channels and give me the vial you need for the Queen. I will ensure it gets back to Princess Sylphia. The fae here know that my power of sneak is very good only bested by Jess.” Cal nodded, “I agree that Jheelis is probably best suited to this task. It isn’t like we can have Ny come back through. She’s not exactly sneaky or quiet.” Ny slugged him in the arm, “You butthead! I take offense!” She shouted so loudly all of us covered our ears and this prompted Cal to say, “Case and point.” I giggled, “Sorry Ny, he isn’t wrong. You are a wonderful person but you aren’t exactly a blend-in-the-crowd type of girl. You were made to stand out and, while that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just isn’t suited to this situation.” She nodded, “I can agree with that. You put it so much more eloquently than my jerk brother.” She stuck her tongue out at him as she proceeded to pout. The rest of the meeting was about how we would figure out a way out of the situation with the marriage offer. Syl said that most of this will definitely have to come from Vellum. She figured a thinly veiled threat from Lucien might do the trick. We all left feeling a whole lot better than when we came. I told Jheelis as we left, “Do you think that cut will scar?” He touched the bandage on his face, “Likely. Why?” I nodded, “I’m going to insist to His Majesty that you get some of the potion.”
We parted ways from the Prince but I found myself wondering how he got to the house and castle so quickly he likely had some secret passage or some such thing. We made our way over to the car and piled up inside. Ny was talking about what she was going to do once she gets back to Blackwood and how excited she was to go back to her garden room in the manor. We finally got back to the castle where the King was waiting for us outside with a confident smirk on his face. Syl left the car first and kissed her father on the cheek, “Is there something you needed from us, Father?” He smiled and shook his head, “Oh no, not from you my daughter.” She looked at him confused, “Then you need Nystasia?” Again he shook his head and she asked, “Jheelis?” He sighed, “I’m obviously here to see my future daughter-in-law. I wanted to show her something before she leaves for Vellum.” I climbed down from the car and he smiled at me and threw his arms up beckoning for me to hug him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek, “Come my darling girl, I would like you to take a walk with me. I have something special to show you. You can even bring your little guard.” This statement sent a small chill down my spine thinking that Sebastian may very well make an appearance again in Seely.
