Informed
POV: Cal
I grunted with frustration that I couldn’t get a hold of Alexandra. I wanted to talk to her about a conversation that I overheard between a girl with blonde hair and a guard from the castle. It wouldn’t help me but I thought she deserved to know since she might hear whispers through the castle and misunderstand things. I sprung out of the chair that I was sitting in and walked out of the room that I was in. I figured I could see if Malinus knew if she got home okay. I stopped halfway down the hall with the realization that she might’ve already heard something and that was why she didn’t look so well at lunch. I walked over to the King’s office and walked into reception. No one was there so I sighed, “Where is everyone?” I heard my father say behind me, “I heard they took a little trip to Blackwood. I wonder if there was a lover’s spat. She was upset at lunch and Lucien left shortly after his work was done. Perhaps he went to apologize.” I turned to him and sighed, “I don’t know, Father, I wish I could figure out how to contact her.” He rose an eyebrow, “Why don’t we speak to Helena? She might know of a way to speak with Blackwood.” I nodded and we walked down the hallway towards the Queen’s Parlor. He knocked on the door and a maid had answered, “Your Majesty, what can we do for you?” He looked over at me, “We have a worry that we wish to speak with the Queen Mother about. May we come in?” The maid stepped aside and the Queen Mother was at her desk writing out what appeared to be invitations. She turned and smiled at us, “Renier and Calypso, it is lovely to see you again. What brings you here?”
My father took a seat on the couch next to where the Queen Mother sat down, “We had lunch with Lady Alexandra and Prince Blake earlier. She didn’t look well and we are concerned she’s not being treated well here in the castle. As you know, her health and safety are of utmost importance to the Seely Realm. Since we are representatives of Seely here, we must insist that we be kept informed.” Helena nodded, “I understand. What caused you concern? What are your specific grievances? I will do my best to address them from here and anything else we can send a message to Blackwood for an update.” He nodded, “Well, our first grievance is that we have no means to go see her. I know the proper etiquette for visiting a home as a foreign visitor bars us from doing so until we are given royal permission or by invitation by the House themselves. We have had such an invitation.” He pulled out a letter with the teal panther seal. He smiled, “We are invited tomorrow night to meet her family but as you well know that we cannot go there now to check on her. Now to the problem. She was pale and out of sorts earlier today, not at all her wonderful vivacious self that she normally is. This worries not only me but most importantly my son. He was frantically searching for Malinus just now.” I wasn’t frantically searching but I didn’t want to correct him since I thought perhaps this would put an emphasis on the Queen Mother that we are wanting to get a hold of him. I had a way to contact her but I didn’t want to tell him not to mention I couldn’t get in contact.
A knock came at the door that the maid hurried to answer, a note was handed to her. She immediately brought the note to Helena. Helena took the note, “I do hope you will excuse me. I rarely get notes so this must be important.” She held out her hand and the maid gave her a case. My father nodded once at her, “Do not fret, Your Majesty. We can wait quietly for whatever urgent matters you might have.” She pulled glasses out of the case and placed them on her face. She unfolded the note and all you could hear in the room was the mechanical click of the large clock in the room. She furrowed her brow then folded the note. She took the glasses off, placed them in the case, and folded the note. She then handed the bundle of items to the maid, “Put that over at my desk. Bring some tea. We will need it.” The maid curtsied, “As you will it, Your Majesty.” The maid left the room and the Queen Mother closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. She opened her eyes, “That was a note from Talia Batiste. I think what we say here needs to be amongst just the three of us. I think this will cause a scandal that we don’t need. Given that Alexandra is your living Goddess, you also deserve to know what that note says.” I felt a pit in my stomach knowing that what she was about to say was not good. She sighed, “She got home to lie down. Blake got her there safely but shortly after she collapsed in her bed. Talia says the prognosis is grim but that Aphrodite and Apollo have a plan. Aphrodite has taken her out of danger for now. They request that you keep your appointment to dine with them and they will promptly after hold some sort of ritual. She said that Apollo and Aphrodite did not specify what it was but they wanted to make sure Cal was there.” She looked at me, “Do you know why that is? I understand she also requested Lucien, Derek, and Blake.” I shrugged, “I don’t have much idea. Probably the common theme here is people who deeply care for her. I don’t know what ails her though.”
Helena nodded, “I just really don’t understand what happened. I wonder if The Order is responsible.” My father sat up, “I spoke with Blake about this Order of yours. It seems they have been a great threat to her. I think the King needs to put out an announcement that Seely will consider it an act of war to harm her.” The Queen Mother shook her head, “Threatening the life of Alexandra is already considered treason as she is, by extension, royalty in Vellum. This does not stop them. The threat of war may not deter them.” I looked at my father, “May I speak, Your Majesty?” He nodded at me, “I think you could speak with King Lucien about partnering up to take down The Order. You could threaten action if they do not stand down.” My father smirked at me, “You are my son. That was very clever, my boy. Using the power of both crowns in partnership, this will either help deter their aggression or we can take them out. I will add that to my agenda in our meeting with Lucien tomorrow.” He looked back at Helena, “What do you think, Your Majesty?” She smiled, “Yes, I think a partnership will work just fine. We don’t want to go to war for the acts of nefarious people. That would be such a waste of a loss of life.” My father stroked his chin, “I agree but with that being said, I am going to send for a royal guard to Seely. I will assign that person to Alexandra. I do hope the King won’t find this as an act of aggression.” She shook her head, “He cares for Alexandra deeply. It isn’t a secret to many. I don’t believe he will turn away more protection for Alexandra. Lord knows she has too many enemies because of her favor with the King and where she was raised.”
I sat and thought about what she said and requested permission from my father to speak. He nodded, “I have to ask, Your Majesty, I was taking a walk in the gardens earlier and overheard a conversation that troubles me. I wonder if my theory about Alexandra is right.” She looked me in the eye, “What did you hear in the garden?” I sighed, “It was a blonde woman and a castle guard. It sounded conspiratorial. The woman said that she finally got to kiss Lucien and it was magical. She said she just needs that woman out of the way and Lucien will be hers. She believes that made his feelings falter for that woman. The guard answered that he would find a way to break them apart further than she gave him a parcel but I don’t have a way of telling what it was.” Helena balled up her hands as she sat and listened, “Melody Maigny. She is Alexandra’s rival in every way but mostly in this bloody competition. I should have known she would be involved in this mess somehow.” She massaged her temples, “I bet Alexandra somehow found out about the kiss and Lucien didn’t clear it up before she fell ill. I really wished Talia was more specific on what it was that was ailing her.” My father, who looked incensed, spoke through his teeth, “What do we have to do to punish that vial woman then?” The Queen Mother sighed, “Our prophet said that it was imperative that we leave her to continue to be free. Blake believes she and her family to be part of The Order but Lucien has held any action back from being taken against them. The prophet believes that the right time to act against them will be key to the future of Vellum.”
The maid came back through the door with a tea cart and a woman in white robes entered the room. The Queen’s eyes widened and then she kneeled, “Your Imminence, we were just speaking of you.” She nodded, “I know. I came to speak to you about Alexandra’s condition. It is important that I speak to this young man here.” She placed a hand on my shoulder and I immediately felt a chill down my spine. She sat down next to me and took my hands. I looked into her eyes, they were a chilling icy blue. She stared at me for a while then nodded, “You will do just fine. Prince Calypso, you will be her champion. You will need to fight the fight to keep her from the Abyss. Do you know what the Abyss is?” I shook my head, my voice wouldn’t come and she smiled at me, “It is a place in between life and death. You see, those who presume to diagnose what is going on with Alexandra call that death but it isn’t quite that. She will still have an alive body but a dead soul. A dead soul means that she will not be able to pass on to the Heavenly Realm. She will remain in a sort of purgatory. Do you know what happens to a soul that gets stuck there?” I shook my head again but this time I was able to say breathlessly, “No.” She sighed, “The soul gets corrupted and twisted until that soul becomes what the celestial beings call the nullite. Alexandra has God-like powers which would automatically make her the Queen of the nullite which would be a bad thing for Terre, Vellum, and Seely alike. She will attack everything for her revenge on all the worlds for the grievances she has for each world.” My father spoke up, “Pardon me, Your Eminence, but what possible grievance could she have against Seely.” She smiled at my father, “I think you can figure that out on your own if you dig deep. I am not here to give you the answers. I’m here to give warning and steer the Prince to a place that will save all realms.” I spoke with a low voice barely audible, “What can I do? I have never been particularly useful to anyone.” She smiled at me and stroked my head as if she were trying to comfort me, “You will rescue her during this ritual but not in any way that the Gods are thinking it will go. A little bird told me so.”
