“Court wizard to see her majesty Queen Eleanor and her highness Princess Elizabeth!” the page announced my arrival with alarming volume as I approached the large double doors.

A member of the royal guard came to ask for my staff, but Lance stepped up and told her, “The court wizard is permitted his staff at all times,”

The female guard frowned, but then nodded curtly and backed away, clearly unhappy. As a compromise, I handed Lance my staff, “Hold this for me, so I can drink my tea with both hands,” I told him. Lance would follow me to my meeting, so this would defuse the tension slightly, I hoped, without letting my staff get too far out of my reach.

The two noblewomen did not rise from their chairs as I approached them, remembering what little etiquette Primrose had managed to browbeat into me, I gave them both a bow before drawing near to their table. Lance quietly reached out with his free hand to pull the chair for me, then I sat. Once I was seated, the queen took it as a signal to start berating me.

“Court wizard, may I inquire as to why you did not attend my husband yesterday night when you returned from the dungeon? You should have immediately done so.”

“I’d just fought a floor boss, suffered a concussion, had my mana mostly depleted. I decided that I was of no use in such circumstances, and would be better able to assist Captain Conrad after I’d recovered.” I replied calmly, but I was already starting to sweat under the unwavering gazes of these two women.

“All I am hearing is excuses, the life of my husband is more important than rest! Did you take the time to prepare this ridiculous attire you are wearing? How dare you waste so much time!”

“I…” this was uncomfortable, but I pressed on, “I did not wish to offend the dignity of the court or the gravity of the situation by…”

“Gravity? You look like you’re wearing mourning clothes. To me, it looks like you’ve already given up and have chosen to do nothing! Do not mourn my husband, fix what is wrong with him, or I will see you hanged for treason!” The queen yelled at me.

“Mother!” The princess reached out to tug on her mother’s arm, and the woman fell silent, sobbing slightly. Then the princess turned to face me, “You must forgive her, wizard Jason, she’s extremely distraught. I am sure you are working hard to resolve this issue. Perhaps you can begin to make up for your mistakes by informing us of everything you have learned so far.”

I hesitated, facing the more reasonable tone of the princess compared to her mother, I was about to do as she suggested. She was an astounding beauty, dressed in her elegant white and blue gown, her grace was awe-inspiring and I wanted nothing more than to please her. The room seemed to fade away as I stared at her glorious face. Then Blackwing thwacked me with her wing. “Mental ward,” she told me with a disgusted tone.

Hastily I drew up threads of mana and will into an intricate barrier around myself, tearing apart the faint threads emanating from the princess. A persuasion spell. I was shocked, but the weave had been so thin, how had she almost snared me? I gathered up a few tattered threads with my own and examined them briefly with my mage sight. Charm affinity. Persuasion was likely the first spell the princess had unlocked, and her mana threads were faint and difficult to detect, yet highly effective at mental manipulation. “A persuasion spell?” I asked, still stunned. “You have no right to use this on me,” I told her sternly.

The princess actually looked a little ashamed, “Forgive me wizard Jason, but I am still an apprentice at this,” She gestured to the man standing behind her, who’d I’d ignored until now. It was the old court wizard, “Reginald here is training me to better restrain my accidental spell use. You understand, don’t you? As a brand new apprentice, sometimes I use my magic without realizing it,” She said with a small chuckle.

“Don’t apologize to this man, he should be apologizing to you for not having offered to tutor you as is his responsibility. Really, that you had to hire your own private tutor is disgraceful. The man is our servant, and he’s a poor one at that.” The queen muttered.

I glanced at Reginald, but the older wizard had a glazed look on his face like nothing was registering. Was the man under some sort of mind control? No, it seemed unlikely, he just seemed completely uninterested, as if his mind was elsewhere.

“That is a flimsy excuse, princess,” I cautioned her, “If I were an inquisitor, I’d have already arrested you.” The Mage Guild didn’t often interfere in the internal affairs of kingdoms, but persuasion spells were illegal, as was unauthorized use of soulmancy without warrant or consent. An inquisitor would not hesitate to make arrests. They would arrest whoever stole the king’s soul, anyone involved in carrying out that crime, and anyone trying to impede an investigation of said crime with persuasion spells.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the queen snapped at me, “They wouldn’t dare.”

I didn’t agree but didn’t argue the point either. Nobles had a bad tendency to believe laws didn’t apply to them, Inquisitors were the answer to that attitude. If the Mage Guild had long ago decided not to rule the continent directly for fear of the discontent a return to the era of Mage Kings would bring, they still maintained a tight grip. They would not spare a princess, simply because she was still in training.

Reginald’s attention snapped back to me, “When are the inquistors due to arrive?” He asked me.

“I haven’t called for one yet.”

“What! Why not?!” Reginald asked.

I hesitated. It was an odd question, but it was a tricky one to answer given the audience. “I believe we can resolve this on our own, without outside help.” I replied.

“Given your performance so far, that seems unlikely,” The queen told me scornfully, “Do you even know what poison was used? All the healers have been giving me vague answers. I will see all you useless mages and wizards hanged if my dear husband doesn’t recover soon!”

So they didn’t know about the soul theft? Or they were keeping it hidden. “I am not willing to discuss an open investigation at this time,” I said finally, “But rest assured, if we do not make quick progress, we will be requesting an inquisitor be sent in three days’ time.” There was some risk to revealing that much, but perhaps, if the culprit learned of this fact, they might strike out in fear, exposing themselves. I was hoping to force them to make a mistake.

“You think I had something to do with it?” The princess asked me coldly.

I shrugged nervously, unable to meet her gaze. I did consider her more likely culprit after she’d tried to use persuasion on me, given what I’d learned about mental magic likely being used near the king. The fact that the princess was a budding mental mage didn’t make me less suspicious of her. “I can’t rule that out,” I admitted.

“You dare!” the queen screeched, standing up in furious indignation. “If my husband were awake I’d demand he execute you right now!”

“Mother, perhaps you should go take a rest,” The princess told her mother, and I felt tiny threads of persuasion emanating from her, but they were repelled by the queen's own mental wards. This failure did add credence to the idea that the princess didn't realize she was using her power, but it could also be part of her show. The queen nodded, took a deep breath, and excused herself. We waited in silence as she left the room without looking back.

“Again, you will have to excuse her,” the princess said after her mother had left, “she’s been unwell with grief. She’s not usually like this.”

“I understand,” I said shakily. Truth be told, I was unnerved. I was sweating rather profusely, and reaching for my so far untouched teacup, I saw that my hand was not quite steady. Gritting my teeth, I exhaled and calmed myself before picking up the cup. This sort of emotionally charged confrontation was not something I was good at handling, but lives were at stake.

The princess then calmly took off a ring and held it out to me to examine, “That’s my anti-scrying ward enchanted ring, verify that there’s no ward protecting me now, and cast a passive truth spell.”

Curious, I took the ring and used my mana to probe it, it was exactly what she claimed, and belatedly I realized I should really get around to making enchanted items like it rather than constantly recasting that ward over and over. A ring to ward against mental magic didn’t seem uncalled for either, I thought ruefully as I set the ring down next to my cup. I then let my mana threads stretch out and touch the princess, there were many defensive magics around the princess, but none that would block a passive truth spell. Satisfied, I did as she asked and cast the spell.

A green light appeared at the center of the table. “This light will turn red if anyone nearby lies,” I explained. “This tea is cold,” I lied, watching as the light turned red then gradually faded back to green.

Reginald reached out with his own magic to examine my construct, then coughed, “It’s a legitimate truth spell,” he said.

The princess nodded, cleared her throat then enunciating clearly said, “I had absolutely nothing to do with what has happened to my father. I know not who did it, I have asked no one to do this thing, and am genuinely eager to see him recover as soon as possible.”

The truth spell remained green.

I sighed and said, “Unfortunately, princess Elizabeth, that proves nothing. You’re a mental mage, it would be trivial for you to edit your own memories, convince yourself of your innocence by deliberately forgetting your guilt.”

“I don’t have near that level of control!” The princess objected.

“You also have a wizard standing behind you who could have done it.” I pointed out. Reginald didn’t even bother to object, he just nodded slightly.

“I haven’t used any mental magic on the princess,” he observed, “but I could easily have made myself forget if I had done so.”

This was the reason why truth spells were of limited use. An inquistor could also use mental magic to check that a person wasn’t tampered with before casting his own truth spell, but I lacked the skill. Even if I could do it, I wouldn’t, as such spells were invasive and illegal without a permit. It would be too easy to attempt to pry or meddle while using the excuse of detecting someone else’s mental magic.

The princess huffed and pouted, and for a moment I was reminded how young she really was. Her demeanor was that of an older woman, but she was actually only sixteen. “What can I do to convince you of my innocence?”

“It’s impossible to alter a person’s memories so radically as to change their entire personality,” I observed, “Perhaps you can simply tell me in your own words, why it wouldn’t benefit you to see your father comatose.”

“I love my father!” The princess objected, a hint of her mother’s anger shining through, “I would never…”

“Your father could make a full recovery. This crime might not have been committed with the intent to harm him permanently.” I interrupted.

“So, you do know what was done to him,” the princess said with a small sigh of relief.

I mentally kicked myself, I’d already given up some information unwittingly. But I had the sinking suspicion that the princess was just better at verbal exchanges like this. The smart thing to do would be to walk away, I told myself.

“If there is nothing else you wish to say to me, perhaps I should be taking my leave, your highness,”

The princess frowned, “You can’t do that, court etiquette is that you must wait to be dismissed when engaged in conversation with royalty. You haven’t even touched your tea!”

“I thank you for the etiquette lesson, but I’m very busy,” I could also care less about what the etiquette said, I wanted to escape this room. “...and I don’t think there’s anything more I could gain from this conversation,” the green light turned red at my last statement, so I reworded it, “I think I should leave before you pry more information out of me while giving nothing in return.” This time, the light stayed green, and I slowly started to get up.

“Oh I see how it is, you want a lecture on politics?” The princess snorted, “Hah, where to begin?” The princess sighed, “There’s a lot to cover…”

I sat back down, “I’m listening.” I told her, “Tell me your side of the story, all I know about you is that Primrose thinks you want to be queen and are helping your brother, the eldest prince, against your other brother, the crown prince.”

“That dried-up old prune!” Elizabeth said indignantly, “Well, she’s not entirely wrong. But there’s a lot more to it than just that…”