The Guard In The Prison
POV: Alexandra
We all went to the Citadel and as I had said, Ronan only let me and Vanessa in the dungeon. For some reason, the love blood magic would only work on men. I had asked Vanessa on the way over what the item looked like and she had held up her hand to show a silver bracelet on her wrist. Apparently, the magic worked like a magical tool but was not one. No one knew exactly where the item came from or how it was made. She had surmised if she could somehow reverse engineer the item to copy it into an effective magical tool that did something similar. She stared at it for a time before we had arrived. We were in the dungeon with Alita Baltiliard, she brought us to the cell with the former castle guard. He stood up and smiled at me, “You’re here.” I stepped forward, grasped the bars, and leaned his face against the bars, “I’ve been waiting for you to visit, Your Grace. She said you would, she said you would praise my efforts to lift that man’s spell over you.” I looked at him strangely, “What spell? I don’t understand.” Vanessa stepped in front of me, “I think I know what might be happening here. I think you probably need to leave, Alexandra.” I didn’t want to question her, she knew more than me when magic was affecting someone and that was likely what was happening here. I looked over at Alita, “Do I need you to escort me out?” She shook her head, “I think you should be fine if you know your way. Besides, you have your guards with you so you should be safe. I need to stay with Ms. Tannen since she is in the presence of the prisoner.” I nodded and turned, “Be careful. Both of you.” I walked off to the entrance of the dungeon with my guards following behind me.
I stepped out of the entrance to the prison where the men we came with were standing. Ronan stepped forward, “That was quick. Wait…” He looked around me, “Where are Baltiliard and Ms. Tannen?” I sighed, “They’re still down there, apparently some sort of magic has been used on the former guard. He seems to be a little infatuated with me.” Lucien sighed, “I think it makes sense.” I looked over at him, “What makes sense?” He shook his head, “I don’t really want to say until Vanessa gets back. I just have a theory and I think she will find that out. I’m guessing, as per her modus operandi, that she stepped in front of you like a protective mother?” I nodded, “Uh, yes. How did you know?” He shrugged, “Considering the yelling I got today because of her protectiveness for you, tells me that she would step in front of a flying arrow for you. Then again, not many people wouldn’t. You have a habit of collecting people who absolutely admire you. You charm everyone.” I shook my head and waved at my guards, “I have to disagree. I wouldn’t have to have these three if I did, indeed, charm everyone. Did we forget about the woman who likes to call me a cow?” He shook his head, “Of course, there will be people who hate you just because you were raised amongst those they consider food. We would all be feeding on humans if they had their way.”
Ronan sighed, “Well, who knows how long Ms. Tannen will take. Do you all want to have some tea in my office?” Lucien nodded, “That sounds like a good idea. I wouldn’t want the ladies to be standing around out here waiting on something that could take a while.” We all walked over to the other building where Ronan’s office was. Toby left us at the door since he had offered to make the tea for us. We all sat down on the couches in the office and discussed the events of the morning until Toby came in with the tea. After that, we discussed the upcoming ball and what everyone was looking forward to. Jynx wondered if she had to get all dressed up fancy since fluffy, frilly dresses were not her aesthetic. If she were in Terre, she would be considered a goth. She loved black and dark makeup. Lucien assured her that she could wear whatever she wished since she was guarding me that night and not technically an attendee. Toby only hoped that there would be good food since I knew that Toby very much loved food. Tyleesh was just curious about the women of Vellum and I joked that he would be very popular with the women in Terre since he looked like a character out of fantasy shows about elves. He argued that he was an elf and that was his touché against me. Lucien was looking forward to the competition being over and he could finally be openly in love with me. Ronan was looking forward to that for a different reason, he said he very much wanted me to be the Queen. I had to remind all that were there that nothing is guaranteed yet again. Tyleesh questioned whether I wanted to be Queen of Vellum and I told him that of course I did but I was also a realist.
The door to the room opened, and Vanessa and Alita behind her walked in, “So sorry General. I informed Ms. Tannen that we should knock on the door before coming in.” Ronan chuckled, “It’s quite alright, Baltiliard. I am to understand that Ms. Tannen is actually royalty so she need not knock.” Alita looked at Vanessa like she grew a horn out of her head. I laughed, “She’s the daughter of the King of Witches, Mordred Le Fey. That effectively makes her Princess Vanessa Le Fey of Lasparia. Right?” I looked over at Lucien and he nodded, “Yeah. I shudder to think of what she will do with that type of power now. She’s already used that against me. I suppose you could use that as well, Alexandra. You are declared the Highest Highness of Seely.” Tyleesh nodded, “She is to be revered as a living God. Please don’t forget, Your Majesty.” Lucien sighed, “I suppose if that had happened to literally any of the other Queen candidates, they would most definitely lord that over me. I don’t think I have to worry about that with her.” I shot him a sort of glare, “What is that supposed to mean? Are you saying I’m really soft on you?” He shrugged, “You haven’t really given me a reason to fear you. You’ve never really stepped out of line.” I clenched my jaw thinking of a way to assert myself with him. I thought to myself that I would use my Seely title at some point to get my way down the line. I gave him a sadistic grin and he sighed, “Thanks Tyleesh, I think you’ve given her ideas.” Tyleesh shrugged and sat back looking pleased with himself.
Vanessa cleared her throat, “If you all are done playing who's more powerful, I did go down there on a mission. Did you all forget?” Lucien sat up straight as if he was scolded by his own mother, “Sorry.” Ronan pulled up a chair for her to sit in and dismissed Baltiliard but not before asking for a written report on what happened down there. Vanessa took her seat and looked at Lucien, “Well, I think I owe you an apology, Your Majesty. The guard, indeed, used blood magic and that blood was from none other than Alexandra. Unfortunately, the use of Alexandra’s blood also meant that her ability was uninhibited outside of her body. The guard is very much obsessed with Alexandra. That being said, we were able to get a confession out of him about how it all went down.” She looked at Ronan, “You’ll get the full account in Alita’s report but the summarized version of it is that the blood was given to the guard to use. He has been practicing it since his teen years. He met with someone from The Order and he agreed to check out the blood they gave him. He was infected by the ability that Melody Maigny took advantage of to get her way. She told the guard that Alexandra was under an oppressive spell to make her in love with the King. She told him that he would need to use his blood magic to make the King fall in love with her in order to break the spell that he had over Alexandra. The guard legitimately thought he was rescuing Alexandra by casting blood magic on the King. It’s not my place to tell you both how to punish the guy but if you ask me, he was inhibited by the blood of our girl here so he’s not in his right mind.” Ronan sighed, “Well, yes, I suppose that is something we must consider. The problem is that, if he truly is obsessed with Her Grace, then we have no choice but to consider between two punishments: death or banishment. Ultimately, it is up to his victims which would be His Majesty and Her Grace.” Lucien nodded, “I will have to confer with Alexandra but ultimately the final decision is mine since the magic directly affected me.”
Vanessa opened her mouth to argue with him but I shook my head, I didn’t think she should advocate for me in this instance. It was likely a two-fold desire to advocate for me. She knew I wouldn’t allow that man to die so if the decision was mine to make, I would banish him. She sighed and crossed her arms, “Fine but promise you will take Alexandra’s thoughts into heavy consideration. She almost died because of that trick they pulled and she should have just as equal of a say if you ask me.” I sighed, “You….just…couldn’t help yourself. Could you?” She shrugged, “It’s not in my nature, little rose.” Lucien whispered only loud enough to hear her, “She’s truly a harpy.” I sighed at the childish behavior between the two when they got together. It was like an older sister bickering with her younger brother. Lucien smiled at her, “So was that all?” She sighed, “Okay…I’m sorry for berating you. Happy?” Lucien chuckled and shook his head, “As much as I appreciate you apologizing, that’s not what I meant. Apology accepted, by the way. No, was that all you got out of him?” Her eyes widened as something dawned on her, “Oh there was one more thing. It’s pretty important…” She paused and looked at me and I knew she was trying to come up with a sensitive way to broach the subject with me around. I knew this wasn’t going to be good. Lucien was starting to lose patience with the lingering silence, “Well, spit it out!” She glared at him, “I’m trying to be delicate with Alexandra in the room. Just give me a minute to choose my words.” Lucien sighed, “I don’t think there’s anything you could possibly say that would hurt Alexandra more than what’s already been done to her.” She grunted, “The spell on you is still very much active. If you see Melody, you will be only in love with her.” I instantly knew at that moment just why Melody was fighting so hard to get into the castle today. She knew the blood magic was still cast over Lucien.
