Connor eyed the pair of us for a moment before he said, “I’m not sure.”
Declan pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think he’s trying to get a read on the five of us. Trying to be divisive.”
“Again. Why?” I leaned my head back against Ryan and let him stroke my arms.
Quinn turned and looked me in the eye. If it was me, I’d use it as a distraction technique. For whatever it was I really wanted.
“Well, if he doesn’t want Avia and he doesn’t want me, what the sarding hell does he want?”
The silence that followed my question was deafening.
We didn’t know.
The day after Abbas’ arrival and finger-sucking ploy, was hectic.
I had a morning breakfast with all the ambassadors. Connor accompanied me and did his best to smooth things over with Meeker, the Sedarian ambassador, who still had a bee in his bonnet over Abbas’ visit. He was doing an excellent job until…
“Haven’t haard a single thing about his plans!” Meeker scolded as he shoved a buttered croissant into his mouth. He kept talking even as he spat bits of crumb. “He’s such a smug bastaard though. Waatching me, knowing he’s gaat elven chain. Good luuck with him activating thaam though! Ha.”
I tried not to hide my ignorance of the subject. Other than understanding elven chains controlled the person who wore them, I knew very little about how they worked. The elves on the Isles of Peth typically guarded their secrets well. Only the country of Sedara had ever gained their confidence. “Well, thank goodness for that. Then what they stole has little value.”
“I didn’t say thaat—”
“So do they have the ability to activate the chain?” I took a sip of my juice. “Or did they steal something they couldn’t use?”
“I, they—” Meeker suddenly stopped talking and glared at me, realizing Abbas could activate that chain.
Hell and sard. Not what I wanted to hear, I thought.
“Do you think Abbas is too old for my sister?” I asked, staring over at the pair of them, who’d shown up across the hall and were serving themselves breakfast. I pretended I hadn’t noticed Meeker’s slip.
“Entirely,” Meeker eyed me.
“I’m inclined to agree. What kind of country has a suitor visit before the girl is even of age? It’s rather manipulative, isn’t it? To influence an innocent young girl that way?”
Next to me, Connor squeezed my hand twice as Meeker went stiff again. And all Connor’s hard work went to nothing.
I stared at Meeker as though I didn’t know what I’d said. But, Sedara had sent Declan over when I was only fourteen. My mother had declared him her ward and sent him to class alongside me. She’d never given him the lavish reception of a suitor, hadn’t told me about it until I was eighteen. I was certain Meeker considered my mother’s actions a slap in the face.
I considered her sensible, recognizing what a snake-in-the-grass Abbas was. Declan had been my age and hadn’t had nearly the same seductive powers when we were younger. But throw a young girl a ball, as we were about to do in a few days … lots of princesses could get swept away in the romance of it all. I wouldn’t let Avia be one of them.
I wasn’t quite sure why my mother had allowed Abbas to have the full suitor treatment. I thought perhaps her illness had made her leave the details to her butler, Jorad, who ran everything in the castle according to a long book full of protocols. If she was well, I very much doubted she would have approved how Abbas kept his hand low on my sister’s back. So low it could easily slip—
“Should I go break up the happy couple?” I asked, as I saw Avia start. She didn’t squeal, but I was pretty certain our honored guest had just taken privileges.
I stomped toward them, flames in my eyes, just as a young serving girl carrying a white daisy approached us and stopped to speak with Connor.
“Your Highness. Avia,” I greeted them both and allowed them a moment to get the annoying curtsy and bow out of the way.
Abbas looked amused, his eyes dancing as he studied me. He knew exactly what had brought me stomping over.
“My, Princess Bloss, you look quite excited this morning. And the Sedarian ambassador, sadly, looks a bit put out. Why might that be?”
I turned so I could see Meeker out of the corner of my eye. He was red in the face, ready to burst with rage. I only hoped the new rage I’d given him outweighed the old, and that he’d forget he’d essentially confirmed that the elven chain stolen by Cheryn was an active threat.
“Meeker was just warning me about you. He seems to think that you’re dangerous.”
“Does he?” Abbas laughed.
“Well, it was rather confusing. He thought you dangerous but an idiot. A dangerous idiot.”
“And why is that?”
“He thinks you have elven chains but aren’t smart enough to activate them,” I gave a playful shrug, watching Abbas carefully.
His courtier’s smile didn’t drop. Not an inch. His expression didn’t tighten. But his abdomen did, ever so slightly. And then his fingers flexed.
He did have the chains. And he didn’t like Meeker’s insult. Insults riled him.
“What did you tell Ambassador Meeker?”
“I told him that if Cheryn had any ill intentions toward us, they wouldn’t have sent their least powerful prince as the representative suitor.”
Abbas’ eyes narrowed.
I batted my eyelashes up at him. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to steal my sister away.” I linked arms with Avia and hurriedly left the chamber.
“Are you mad, Bloss?” she asked, as I opened a seam to a spelled passageway and pulled her inside.
“No. But they certainly are,” I responded as I lifted my skirts and began to lead the way back to my chamber.
“Why would you do that?”
“Angry men make mistakes,” I replied. “I need to know who our true enemies are—who sent this beast after you and what the hell Abbas wants.”
Quinn, get shadows on Meeker and Abbas. Now.
Yes, Dove. And may I say, beautiful performance?
I grinned as I led my sister around a dark bend in the tunnel.
We emerged in my chambers and Avia was shaking her head like our governess had. “This sounds like a terrible idea.”
“Avia, you’ve watched Ryan and the others fight, right? Have you ever participated in a sparring match?”
She shuddered and ran her hands over her arms. “No! That’s sounds awful. Why would I want to do that?”
“Because … someone has it out for Evaness. I’m forcing the fight. If you’d sparred, you’d know: it’s far less painful to give a hit than to get one.”
That afternoon, Quinn and Declan joined me in my room to discuss Abbas.
Meeker had been ranting to his staff about my churlish and immature ways all morning. But ranting meant little.
Abbas hadn’t said a word to anyone. Quinn’s people had followed him around, and only seen him go on a nature walk through the palace orchards, where he’d been accosted by a rabbit, nearly tripping over it.
“Wyle says that elven chains need a ring to activate them. And a magical spell. Not impossible. But Abbas is the djinn who only received speed as his power. I doubt he inherited enough power himself to activate it. He could have a witch or mage in his entourage who could, though,” Declan said.
He has a glowing ring in his rooms, Quinn said. But he hasn’t put it on. That could be a power source. No one in his entourage has done any active spell work though.
“Would his brothers be able to activate it?” I asked.
“Probably,” Declan sighed. “If they’d come.”
I kicked my legs up on the side of my chair and played with my hair. “Conspiracy theory. Most husband groups are not like mine, cobbled together. Most are families of brothers. Or groups of male friends who seek a wife. Would you, in a normal situation—not ours—have let your brother go to meet your future wife without you?”
“No,” Declan shook his head vehemently.
No sarding way.
“Well, then, further conspiracy. What if his brothers are here somehow?”
“The spell at the gates removes all disguise spells,” Declan gave me a look that said I was an idiot.
I glared at him. “I said it was a conspiracy theory.”
“The brothers have been ill since their mother passed away four months ago.”
I sighed. “Fine.”
It’s not a terrible theory, Dove. The rest of them are shape shifters. It’s just … highly unlikely.
“I just … something in my gut just feels wrong. Abbas shouldn’t be here alone. He should have rescheduled. He didn’t. Why not? Why did his brothers let him come? Unless they’re desperate for this alliance? Unless there’s something here they really want or need. Something they can’t wait for…”
I trailed off. Evaness was a prosperous and country. We had fertile fields.
If Abbas was desperate enough to come here without his brothers, why the hell was he insulting me? I yanked a hank of hair, frustrated. I was going in circles. I was getting nowhere.
“Dammit!” I cursed, just as my door swung open.