Explanation
POV: Lucien
It had been a few days since Alexandra had woken up and I asked Malinus to look into whether or not the tea that I drank on my date with Melody was drugged. He had to send it off to Doc to get the final analysis. Doc said it would be a few days before the analysis would come back. It had to have been something because how would I black out like that? I remember explaining this to Reggie and he didn’t believe me. I thought it would be best to bring proof to Alexandra before we met up. She was taking a few more days before coming back to work. I didn’t want her to come back before we could speak so I told her when she was ready to come back that we would speak about what she saw first. I didn’t want the environment for her to be tense when she got back. Malinus knocked on the door and walked in with a report, “Here you go. It’s from Doc.” I drew in a deep breath and opened the envelope, “It says there were no drugs or potions in the tea or the cups. He says there is one other possibility that he will be by later today to let me know what his theory is and how he can test it.” I looked up at Malinus and sighed, “I was really hoping that would be the answer.” Malinus smiled at me, “The silver lining is that he has another theory.” I held my head in my hands, “But what if it doesn’t pan out? I know that that happened to me but I know it’s hard to believe. What if she doesn’t believe me?” He shook his head, “You know Alexandra pretty well by now I would think you know she’s fairly rational.” I sighed deeply, “Who knows what she’ll think? She saw the kiss and she was heartbroken. She made an assumption.” Malinus shrugged, “She witnessed something that was heartbreaking. You can’t fault her for the way she took it.” I shook my head, “I don’t blame her, I’m just frustrated.”
Another knock sounded on my door and Teddy stepped inside, “Um…Alexandra is here.” My eyes widened, “I thought she was supposed to rest.” Malinus chuckled, “I guess she’s felt she rested long enough. You did tell her to come to see you when she was ready. I guess she’s ready to hear you out.” I was panicked because I couldn’t show her proof of what I knew to be true. Would she believe me? I nodded, “Let her in.” I took a deep breath as Teddy disappeared and I drew in a very deep breath. She came into the room and she looked a lot better. The color had come back to her face. She sat down across from me, “I’m ready to hear what you have to say. I promise to listen through to what you have to say.” Malinus bowed at me, “I will leave you both to speak privately. Please let me know if there is anything you need.” She smiled but it did not reach her eyes so I only nodded. I told her exactly what I told her father. We were having tea so Malinus and Teddy could keep an eye out for anything Melody might try to pull. I told her about how one by one both men were called away and I wasn’t comfortable with being alone with her. I told her how Melody got me on a bench and I blacked out. That was the moment I was dreading and I looked up at her to find her face blank. I wrapped up by telling her I sent Melody immediately on her way. I looked back at her, “What do you think?” She stared at me silently for a long time then nodded, “I know my father doesn’t believe you. He told me as much. I know you are probably thinking that I would take his opinion into account. I usually do but after I had a couple of days bedridden, you get to thinking about things rationally, and logically. I concluded that I should hear you out before passing any judgment or letting you know how I feel. It took me a while to answer you because I wanted to really digest what you said.” I looked nervously, “What did you conclude?”
She smiled and this time the smile reached her eyes, “I think you are telling the truth. What troubles me is that she could use a guard to manipulate the situation and what she used is also troubling. Do you have any ideas?” I sighed, “I thought maybe the tea or the tea cups since she seems to have people helping her on the inside. Doc analyzed them but he found nothing at this point.” I showed her the documents that Malinus brought back, “The other thing might be promising, the more proof you have it would be better to ease my father’s mind. It won’t be good if he doesn’t believe you.” I looked at her confused, “What do you mean?” She sighed, “He’s thinking of withdrawing my name from the competition. He doesn’t think you have the capacity to not hurt me. He doesn’t care about power. That’s what would separate him from the other nobles in Vellum. What about the guard? You could always question him.” I sighed, “We already arrested the guard for conspiracy to tamper with official business. He isn’t giving anything up, I cannot think of what else to do to get him to talk about it.” She smirked at me, “I might have an idea. I will need to talk to Apollo first though.” I sighed, “Great, the one person who loathes me more than your father right now. He’ll be so willing to help.” She chuckled, “I am sure he wants to know who is really responsible for what happened to me. You’ve met him, he’s obsessed with me.” I laughed, “You might be right. I guess we will see what is stronger. Will it be his hatred of me or his love for you?” She smiled, “I think I know the answer and I don’t think he really hates you. I think he’s weary of you.” I sighed, “He treats Cal better and he’s exactly the same as me.” I shook my head, “Not entirely true.” I looked at her confused, “What do you mean?” She giggled, “I don’t love Cal. That’s the difference.”
Another knock at the door sounded and Malinus poked his head in, “Sorry to interrupt but I figured you would want to have the guest that showed up in here.” I looked at him, “Doc?” He smiled and nodded, “Yes along with a few instruments.” I looked at Alexandra, “You can show him in if Alexandra deems it necessary at this point.” She looked up at me shocked, “What? Why me?” I smiled, “Because you are the one who gets to determine if this discussion is over.” She smiled back at me, “You can send him in, Malinus.” With that Malinus disappeared behind the door, Doc came into the room pushing a cart full of instruments and Teddy followed behind carrying a water cauldron. Teddy placed the cauldron on the table, “There you go, Doc. Do you need anything else?” Doc looked over at Teddy, “Stay here. I will need you to conduct the test. Let me talk about what we are going to do first. I’m just glad Alexandra is here so we can conduct the other test I wanted to.” She looked at him confused, “You think some sort of magic was cast on me?” He shrugged, “That is a possibility that we have to consider since you witnessed the act and it directly hurt you.” She nodded, “I understand.” He turned to me, “I’m going to eliminate this possibility with her first and perhaps we won’t have to conduct the other two tests.” I nodded at him, “Proceed.” He walked over to his cart and pulled out a spray bottle and a little bottle. He smiled down at Alexandra, “This is going to seem silly but I need to spray your hands and face.” She held out her hands first, “Good thing I didn’t wear makeup, that would be tragic right about now.” She chuckled at the joke she made and he smiled and then sprayed her hands. He looked down at her hands for a while and shook his head, “Let’s get your face now.” He sprayed her gently in the face and stared at her for a while. He shook his head, “Neither. Not a bad thing since we would have to purify the air in the castle and that would mean clearing it out for two days. I imagine that wouldn’t be fun since the King’s backup sight is Blackwood Manor.” He winked at Alexandra, “I would imagine that someone there wouldn’t mind.” She blushed, “Indeed.”
He turned to the table where he had left the small bottle, “Now I will need you to lean your head back. These are eye drops that will show us if your eyes were tampered with by magic, drugs, or potions.” She leaned her head back and he dropped three drops in each eye, “If anything was done to her vision, she would cry black tears almost immediately when she brings her face up to normal level.” She sat up and the only tears rolling down her face were clear. He shook his head, “So, thankfully, nothing was done to Alexandra. Unfortunately, that means someone tampered with His Majesty and that is, indeed, grave.” He took the small bottle back to the cart but left the spray on my desk. I was wondering if he was going to spray me also. He saw me staring at the spray bottle, “You might have had an airborne contaminant used on you as well. The spray will show us and it doesn’t matter if you showered. Airborne contaminants stick on the body, especially anything made by magic, quite a few days after…up to seven to be exact.” I looked over at the cauldron, “So then what is that for?” He chuckled, “For two reasons. If it is an airborne contaminant, we can determine what it was and the unique magical signature to have made it. We can then determine who did it. It is proof for when you bring charges against whoever tampered with your person. The second is if it isn’t airborne, we can still see what type of magic and signature is used against you.” He walked up to me with the spray bottle and I looked up at him, “Then why did you bring so much stuff with you.” He chuckled and shrugged, “Dramatics? I kid though. The rest were for Alexandra, I’d need different instruments to test further. I didn’t think it was her really but as I said there are different possibilities.” He explained that he would need to repeat what he did with Alexandra and then sprayed me as he did with her. Just like with her, he didn’t see anything on me that would indicate that I was tampered with by airborne contaminants.
He asked me to go over to the couch and lie down. I had only had this test done once and it was rather painful. I shuddered as I sat down on the couch. Alexandra placed her hand on my shoulder, “Do you want to hold my hand? I know it is really hard to sit through that still.” I nodded up at her, “Please.” She pulled up a chair on the opposite side of where Teddy set himself up. She gently clasped my hands and smiled at me gently, “I find it best to think of the best day of your life and it helps to keep your mind off of it. Perhaps you should close your eyes.” I shook my head, “I want to know when it is coming. I feel like I would flinch too much if I don’t see it coming.” She nodded, “How about closing your eyes after it comes.” I nodded, “Sounds like a healthy compromise.” I looked over at Teddy, “Alright, let’s get this over with then.” Teddy nodded and started the test. As soon as the water entered my nose, I closed my eyes and squeezed Alexandra’s hand. She squeezed me back to let me know she was there for me. It felt like an eternity as the water made its way through my system. I was wanting to ask when this would be over but I knew if I opened my mouth that would lead me to possibly drown. The water made its way through my nostril and I gasped for air. Teddy was staring at the output and nodded, “I found something. You’re not going to believe this either.”
