“Well, let me see, first I had to find his room. Then by the time I found it, I had to wait for the guards to leave. Then the princey decided to attack me, he lunged for me before I could even explain why I was there.” One of her auburn brows was raised, that explained the obvious tension between them. “As soon as I said your name he stopped…”
I looked back to Hadrian who just stared at me. His golden eyes glowing above the single lit candle in the middle of the table. “I have apologized more times than I care to remember,” he added.
“We also had to shake off his baby sitters so I’m not sure how long we will have till they track him down. These mine?” She pointed to the spare tankards and I nodded.
I looked between them. Nyah more occupied with her drink and Hadrian not taking his eyes off of me.
“I must apologize, Petal, for not calling on you sooner, but like Nyah told you, Father has stationed guards with me at all times. He has gone overboard with protection after the Morthi attack.”
I shot Nyah a look as she choked on her tankard. She hadn’t missed what he called me.
“I haven’t told him anything…” Nyah whispered over the rim of her tankard. I wished she had. I didn’t know where to start.
“I am impressed, I must say. Sending moth girl to fetch me was a pretty risky move.”
“If he calls me that one more time,” Nyah hissed, placing her tankard on the table.
Hadrian turned to her. “What?”
“If you think being prince will stop me from hi—”
“Nyah! Hadrian, enough!” I shouted, slapping my palm on the table. “Nyah, go and pay for our ales and get another round in. Hadrian, if your guards are out looking for you now, it won’t be long until they get here.”
Nyah pushed her stool back, and turned for the bar. “Hold on, you were meant to get these. Not me.”
“Please, Nyah.”
I pulled the cloth from my pocket and placed it on the table before Hadrian. “I found it as I was leaving Nasamel’s forest. The arrow I stopped was embedded into a tree and caught under its head was skin.”
“That doesn’t look like skin…” Hadrian said, picking the cloth up to study it.
“That’s not skin, the skin was wrapped inside of it. I gave it to King Dalior when we arrived back, but I was able to keep this.”
“You saw the King? Why?” Nyah questioned. She walked back to the table carrying four more tankards. Hadrian didn’t seem surprised. He would have been told, I just didn’t know how much of our conversation would have been revealed to him.
“He called for me when we returned, to thank me for saving you.”
Nyah slammed her tankard on the table, her face alight with excitement. “Why didn’t you tell me? That’s incredible!” Her enthusiasm made me cringe.
“It wasn’t what I expected it to be like.” I shook my head. “But that’s not the point. He saw the skin of the attacker and still lied.”
Hadrian said nothing, but kept his gaze shifting between the cloth and me. His polished nails grazed against it.
“I told him about what happened when we were attacked.” Hadrian flickered his gaze to me. He knew what I meant. “He was adamant that it was the Morthi, but I know that’s not true. Look…” I turned the cloth over so the stain of red blood was visible.
Hadrian’s expression changed the moment his eyes caught the stain. He leaned forward to examine it closer.
I wasn’t sure if he was playing dumb or had still not connected the dots. From his pinched brows and wrinkled forehead, I went for the latter. “Hadrian, it came from the attackers, the blood is red… the elves that tried to kill you was not Morthi. I think that whoever tried to kill you was one of us. Niraen.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. Why would father say any different if you showed him this?” He dropped the cloth to the table, disgusted.
“I did, and he even kept the skin. He has the proof and told me he would investigate it. King Dalior knows everything, he knew that whoever shot that arrow was not Morthi I’m sure of it.”
“I know your confused, Zacriah, and so am I. But father is not someone who lies, at least not someone I thought even had the capacity to,” Hadrian replied.
“Well clearly you and your daddy are not as well acquainted as you thought,” Nyah said, clicking her knuckles.
There was a shout outside.
I snapped my head to the door and Nyah jumped up. “I’ll go and see what’s going on out there.”
“Good idea. Let us know the second you see the guards.”
Nyah only nodded back to me and made for the door.
“Finally,” Hadrian huffed, not even waiting for the door to close. He reached his hand over the table and grasped mine. I stopped for a second, my mind telling me to pull it back but my heart refusing to follow the command. “I am truly sorry I have not spoken to you sooner. It has been a crazy day with the speech and everything.”
“I understand.” His hands were warm.
“So, you think my father is lying?”
I nodded. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I am sure those who tried to kill you were not Morthi. It is the only thing I can think of that explains this.” I gestured to the cloth.
Hadrian released me and placed his head in his hands. My next question came out of me before I had a chance to stop it.
“What are you? I mean… the fire in the forest. It was amazing, but how?” I could hear how awkward my question sounded. Hadrian looked up from his hands, a confused look on his face.
“The question is what are you?” he replied.
“That’s not fair, I asked first!”
“Life isn’t fair. Elemental? Mage?” Hadrian asked.
I dropped my gaze, embarrassed. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you do not know? How could you not know! I could tell by the way your magick moved that you have used it before. You know it well.”
“I meant what I said. I’m not an Elemental, both my parents are Niraen which also eliminates Mage. They know about my magick but they won’t talk to me about it.”
This was not the answer Hadrian was expecting. He let out a breath, a long drawl of concern. “Interesting…”
“What about you, surly the Prince of Thessolina should not have the magick you have? I’ve never heard of a member of our royal family ever causing unnatural fire. Does your father know?”
“No, my mother promised me to keep it between us.” he said. A shadow passed over his face at the mention of his mother.
“But I thought the queen was Niraen also, I had no idea she was Alorian.” I was certain of it.
“She was Niraen. If you are thinking that the two options I mentioned were the only explanation of power, you would be wrong. I’m neither an Elemental nor Mage. I’m Dr—”