Helina smirked, rolling her eyes to look out the window. “Are you sure he's flirting with you? You can rarely tell the difference between mockery and love, you know.” Edward was all her friend would talk about lately, much to Helina's great annoyance. She didn't like thinking that Anais might be in love with the cook, but not because of his station.
Anais scoffed, pushing a bit of turquoise hair from her face and behind her ear. She often dyed her hair strange colors, as an act of rebellion. She made sure there was a portrait painted every year, when her hair was at its strangest, and had it sent back to her parents. Her mother was King Orussus's sister, though he ran away from home at a very young age to become a soldier.
“Well, at least you don't have a horrid old man leering over you.” Remiel shivered, wrapping her arms around her athletic waist. She was a tomboy for as long as she could be without being shamed for it. Helina always thought her ability with the sword was admirable, but her parents wanted her to join The High Court one day, which meant a proper schooling and wearing dresses. While Helina and Anais were able to run around in jeans, Remiel was constantly reminded to be ladylike.
“Is he still bothering you? Doesn't he know that High Court members must be virgins? You can't be a priestess if you've been defiled, as ridiculous as it is to talk about sex that way.” Helina frowned. Though there wasn't more than a handful of Christians in Mindren, that didn't stop the emphasis on purity. At least in her country, it was equally important for men and women.
Remiel nodded, rubbing her fingers. They were bandaged from her many errors while learning how to cross stitch. “Unfortunately, he is convinced he can get my parents to change their mind, and almost has them convinced that's my goal! They screamed at me last night to get him to leave them alone. Oh, Helina, can't you do something about it?”
She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. She couldn't let her friend be harassed by an unwanted suitor. “I'll talk to Anoud about Sir Aleister. I'm sure he will convince him to leave you alone.” Helina reached over the table and patted Remiel's hand.
“Well, if you're doing favors-”
“Not even I could force a man to marry you, Anais!” Helina laughed. “You'll have to convince one on your own!”
“Hmph,” Anais pouted, then smiled again, leaning in. “Do you think I could get away with an affair with Edward?”
Helina blushed, but looked away before her friends could notice. She looked outside, watching the rose petals blow in the wind. They would bloom even in winter, thanks to the environment spells around the castle grounds, but she had to admit the unseasonable cold was beginning to worry her.
“And anyway,” Remiel said, continuing a chastisement that Helina missed most of. “If you have an affair, your future husband might not like it. So I don't think it's a good idea.”
“Well, I may just do it anyway. A current lover is much more fun than hoping for a future husband.”
Remiel sighed, and Helina chuckled. “You'll do whatever you think you want to do, Anais. We expect nothing less of you. Perhaps you should ask him for a dance during the summer harvest ball tonight?”
“I just might! What a wonderful idea, Helina, thank you.” Anais stuck out her tongue, and Helina returned the gesture.
A sudden crash forces all three women to turn their head to the sound. “Oh, goodness! I'm so sorry, miss!” A maid was stooping on the ground, sweeping dropped cookies and shards of ceramic into her apron with her bare hands.
Helina was about to tell her it was okay when the woman started to scream in horror. She looked at her hands, raising them to her face.
The maid's skin was sizzling, rotting away from her flesh and turning a disgusting green color. Helina stood, horrified by what she was seeing. Other servants rushed in, but kept their distance from the woman. There was an unsure murmur across the crowd that watched as the woman screamed. Their reaction, their inaction, infuriated the princess.
Helina rushed to the maid's side while her friends protested. She held her hand up and tried to heal her, pumping as much power as she could into the spell, but nothing would happen. Her skin continued to bubble and fester until the maid collapses onto the floor, taking her last breath right before the princess's eyes.
Remiel was the first to scream. Many others screamed after her. Helina remained silent, staring wide eyed at the dead maid, wondering what had just happened. Had someone just tried to attack her, to assassinate her? How could this happen in her own home?
Anoud finally runs into the room, his purple suit half closed after his bath. “Helina! Are you alright?”
“I'm the one still standing,” she croaked out, pointing at the woman. Anoud looked at her, circling the maid.
“What happened?”
Helina shrugged, and then one of the cooks stepped forward and told him what happened. Anoud's face struggled with worry and fury. “How could this happen? Who let this happen?”
The servants all remained silent.
“You all have until midnight to find the traitor that allowed this to happen. If you don't, you will all be whipped and fired, your families ruined for your hand in this treasonous act.”
The fop stared at all of them, his anger ridiculous on his feminine features. Then he clapped his hands. “Well? Get back to work! And someone call in a priestess to help decontaminate the maid. I don't need any more of you dying.”
Anoud turned back to Helina and pulled her into a tight hug. “My dear child...”
“I'm not a child,” she protested.
“You will always be a child to me. I raised you from when you were only a toddler. I can see you as nothing else. But you need to learn that a maid is replaceable. The future queen is not. Your safety comes first.”
Helina shook her head, but Anoud silenced her with another tight hug.
“I'm sure her family didn't think she could be replaced,” Helina said, quietly.
Anoud frowned, holding her at arms length. “I wouldn't be so quick to give her your sympathy. She very well could be the person who tried to poison you. But your softhearted nature will make you a compassionate queen.” He twisted to look back at Remiel and Anais, both still shocked from having seen a woman die. “Ladies, could you take Helina elsewhere? She shouldn't be surrounded by death. I need to find out who tried to poison her, and how it happened.”
Remiel and Anais both took Helina's hands and pulled her away.
“And Helina?”
She turned back to Anoud, who smiled a reassuring smile.
“We'll be hiring you a taster. Don't worry. They won't be able to poison you. For tonight, for the ball, avoid any food or drink that I do not personally give to you.”
Being ushered out of the room and into the rose garden, Helina felt lost. Her friends sat in the sun, at a table made of glass and etched with beautiful runes. She could see her name, and Terra's name as well. The table had been a gift from a duke from Riftedge, an American witch colony.
“I didn't even know her name,” Helina said. She put her head into her hands, breathing in deeply. “I didn't know my maid's name.”
Neither Anais nor Remiel said anything. Giving each other a look of worry, they set back in, talking about who they would want to marry, what kind of man they wish would court them. They knew better than to attempt to cheer Helina up.
The princess was easy to throw into black moods. Anoud told her this was something her mother did, as well. When in such a sorry state, any attempt to cheer her would lead only to anger. She once gave Anais a black eye, though her cousin quickly forgave her.
Helina listened as she tried to calm down. The scent of the roses did much to aid this. After a while, Helina stood. “I am going to take a short walk through the roses, to collect myself before the ball. I'll be right back.”
Anais nodded and Remiel continued to giggle, thinking about handsome men from faraway countries. Helina stood, wiping her clammy hands against her slacks.
The breeze through the garden carried with it many bees. They were spelled to be gentle, but could also attack if given the order by The Queen's Guard. One landed on her shoulder, and she smiled at it. “Hello, friend.”
There was a sound from far away, at the front of the manor. Helina plodded over to the corner of her home and peeked around it, seeing a purple rift in reality tear open. A portal! Only the strongest witches could create one anymore. She was barely able to do so, though her teacher promised that she would become better at it.
Watching, she saw a company of men exit. They wore strange, dark clothing, and their skin was very pale. Perhaps they were witches from the north? She'd heard that they were extremely handsome, and these men did not go against that rumor.
One man in particular caught her gaze. Even from far away, he took her breath straight from her lungs. His hair was light blond, light as the sunshine itself. The tallest of the group, he led them into her manor quickly.
Maybe they were soldiers? Anoud wasn't past calling in bodyguards for her. He'd done it after a traitor's son had tried to stab her as a teenager, and she wasn't allowed to dismiss them until she came of age.
Her eyes followed the handsome stranger until they no longer could, their party disappearing inside. She could hear the thump-thumping in her chest.
She wondered if he might be someone with a marriage proposal. A lost royal from a faraway land, come to help Helina claim her throne and rule her country. Her heart danced in her chest when she considered this.