Rosaliy

Rosaliy watched everyone scatter with new purpose. Since he had been given no task, Drake had to choose his own direction. Rosaliy decided now was the only time she might have to talk to him alone. However, her brother Cade had the same idea, and he was faster.

Rosaliy hung back, just around the corner from where Cade had intercepted Drake.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Drake was saying bitterly. “I have no intention of staying.”

“Oh.” Cade’s voice was surprised.

Rosaliy’s heart sank. They were both quiet. Rosaliy wanted so badly to peek around the corner to see if they had walked on, but Cade finally spoke again.

“I expected to have an argument about breaking her heart and all that.”

“No need,” Drake answered in a clipped tone.

That had killed the conversation again. Or maybe somebody had stomped off. Rosaliy was annoyed they were having this conversation at all. She should be having this conversation. She very nearly jumped in to interrupt them, but she did not.

“You really are in love with her,” Cade said after the pause.

That was a confusing and alarming leap. She could have strangled her brother.

“Best not walk around announcing it,” Drake groused. “Or she’ll never let me leave.”

“I don’t understand you at all,” said Cade incredulously.

“I don’t understand me either,” Drake admitted.

That was neither confirmation or denial. What did it mean?

“Are you finished?” Drake asked.

“No,” said Cade. “Yes. Maybe? I’m feeling kind of sorry for you. You probably should stay.”

“You’re very convincing,” said Drake in a deadpan. “I’ll take it under advisement.”

“Really, though, Rose cares about you.”

Yes, she was really going to strangle her brother. Possibly both of them the way this conversation was going.

“She cares about everyone,” Drake snapped.

“It’s different with you,” Cade said.

Rosaliy could feel her cheeks flush. She hadn’t even known; how did he?

That one seemed to stump Drake. “Is that everything?” he finally asked.

“For now,” Cade said, trying to get the last word. “Oh, and when you do see Rose, King Hale wanted to speak to her as soon as she had a minute. He has…well, he’ll tell her. It doesn’t seem like much of anything, truth be told.”

Footsteps resumed on the marble passage. Rosaliy ducked behind a column as Cade hurried past. She was going to have words with him about meddling, but not right now. Drake was headed to his new best friend Daniella’s former room. He was just a few turns away, and she could take a shortcut through the room across from her. She waffled over catching up to him or not. What was she going to say? She had no idea. But she knew she had no other opportunity to say it, so she had to say something. She flew in one side of the storage room and out the other, unkindly intercepting Drake just as he was rounding the corner. She managed to startle him, probably because he was preoccupied and had every intention of sneaking off without speaking to her.

“Congratulations,” she said in a rush. “Assuming you decide to stay.”

“You’ve heard?” His blank-eyed, frozen deer expression told her he had definitely intended to sneak off without speaking to her.

“You’ll get used to the speed news travels in this place.” She forced herself to smile normally, like she had not just overheard an awkward conversation.

“You don’t actually think me staying is a good idea?” he asked dryly.

She was annoyed at his tone, like he was expecting her to admit something they both knew.

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” she said. Honestly, what was going on in his head? “Of course it’s a good idea.”

His eyebrows rose. Had she scared him that badly? Well, if she was the obstacle to him staying, she needed to remove that obstacle.

She pursed her lips and her eyes drifted away. “You can just pretend like none of Bayselle happened.” She waved her hand. “Forget I said anything. I never thought you’d—” She cut herself off. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll be fine. Things will just go back to normal.” She forced that smile again and locked her eyes on his sun-browned nose. She could not quite look him in the eyes.

“You’re all crazy,” he said quietly. “All of you. I don’t know what good you think could possibly come from me being here.”

“Look,” she countered, frustrated. “You need to be here—for yourself as much as for anyone else—and you don’t have to worry about me throwing myself at you all the time. We got along just fine for days. Will it really be so horrible to occasionally cross paths with me?”

She was probably proving the exact opposite of being fine, considering how hurt she was. Maybe having him around would be harder for her than she thought it would be. She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry,” she said. She took a breath. “I’m being the opposite of normal. We’re friends, no matter what happens or how you feel. Please don’t stay away because of me.”

And then he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. This reaction was so opposite of what she was expecting, she hardly realized what was happening until he was talking.

“You’re not the problem,” he sighed. “I’m absolutely stupid enough to walk away from you, but I’m not cruel enough to let you believe it’s your fault.”

She had gone slack-jawed. She tried to make some sort of sound, but she was going to need to breathe to be able to produce sounds.

“What?” she managed to say. “What?”

He was standing much too close for someone who had no interest in her. Had he just kissed her, or had she imagined that?

“He’s in love with you, but you’re not allowed to return the affection because he thinks he’s beneath love and happiness. Mystery solved.” There was Daniella in the hallway, looking downright frazzled, at least by her standards. “I need you to use magic,” she continued, matter-of-factly. “I need you to pull out my memories, undo the spells I cast.”

Rosaliy was still reeling, and now she choked out a laugh. “Edict or no, there is no way I can counteract your magic. More importantly—” She looked wildly to Drake. “What?”

He stepped back. “Maybe I can just go and let you two—”

“You’ll stay right here,” Daniella snapped without taking her eyes from Rosaliy. “There must be something.”

Drake was not talking, so Rosaliy tried to shift her focus. “Where is this coming from?”

“Nothing is happening,” Daniella replied. “Nothing has come back. Nothing has presented itself.”

She was worried. Daniella. Rosaliy felt a prickle of sadistic joy at her plight, but she could not indulge the feeling, partly because she was not a horrible monster, but mostly because she and Daniella had the same goal. The adrenaline of her madly beating heart was not helping her keep a clear head.

“But you were sure the kids would turn up as soon as Queen Kat and Alexander returned,” Rosaliy pointed out.

“And they haven’t,” Daniella said, wanting to snap, but keeping close guard over her tone. She really felt like she needed Rosaliy’s help.

“I’m not the right person for this,” Rosaliy warned her.

Daniella shot a glare in Drake’s direction.

“Are you serious?” he said, like she had spoken.

She just kept staring.

“You’re calling me in now? Right now?”

“You did promise.”

“Like my word means anything,” he grumbled.

“What is this bizarre secret code you have between you?” Rosaliy marveled.

Drake exhaled a long, slow breath. “I promised I would help her find the kids,” he said grudgingly, “which she has decided means getting you to find the kids.”

All that from a glare? “First of all,” Rosaliy pointed out, “never make promises to that woman. What were you thinking? No, not a real question,” she said before he could answer. “But second of all, and mostly, if I knew where the children were, I would be finding them or shouting it from the turrets. You’d have to get into Daniella’s head to pull out that information.”

“Maybe I thought I left enough clues to figure it out,” Daniella murmured, resting her hands on her hips and staring helplessly back toward her shattered room with the broken door.

“I’m assuming you overheard your message to speak to Hale?” Drake added.

“Hale wanted to talk to me this morning,” Rosaliy replied without directly admitting she had overheard. “He said it wasn’t urgent, but since he was most likely the last one to see the children, he might have some kind of—”

Daniella cut her off. “Yes, let’s go talk to this Hale.”

The odd trio headed to find Hale in awkward, mostly sullen silence. Drake did not use this travel opportunity to explain himself, but he did come. Rosaliy was directed and redirected by servants who thought they had heard Hale say he was going one place or another until she finally located him outside Queen Kat and Alexander’s rooms in the Naxturaen section of the palace.

“Should I be here?” Drake asked warily.

“Yes,” Daniella and Rosaliy both snapped at him.

“I’m sorry I was in such a hurry earlier,” Rosaliy apologized to Hale. “What are you doing out here?”

Hale answered her with a warm smile. Despite being the acting King of Kianne, Rosaliy had always found him friendly and approachable. It was hard to remember he and the gruff Dmitri were brothers. “Alexander fell asleep right in the middle of asking me a question, and if I go near the ladies hovering around the seeing pool, they ask me to track down plants I’ve never heard of in my life.” He redirected his eyes to Drake. “Are you the Baysellian responsible for my confusing dungeon report?”

“That’s me,” Drake agreed.

“Hmm,” was all Hale said, shifting focus over to Daniella and then back to Rosaliy. “I wanted to speak with you alone, but it makes just as much sense to show both of you.” Hale produced a necklace from his pocket. “I almost missed this until I checked my pockets for the slightest dregs of a clue. I don’t remember putting it there. Does it have any meaning to either of you?”

Hale’s necklace had a streaked orange gemstone set in the middle. Rosaliy reached forward and turned it over, but the gold setting was plain and free of engraving. Daniella did not even examine the necklace that thoroughly before shaking her head slightly.

“It’s amber,” said Drake. “It’s one of the only gemstones found only in Kianne, and its legal supply is held only by Kianne nobles and anyone they’ve gifted the stones to.”

“That’s true,” agreed Hale. “We have a lot of it around the castle. I spent the better part of a day making sure nobody in Kianne had given it to me for a reason I didn’t remember.”

“Is it a clue the children are in Kianne?” Rosaliy guessed.

“No,” Daniella disagreed, suggesting in a single word that Rosaliy’s guess was the stupidest suggestion anyone had ever uttered aloud. “Too obvious, and I was there. No sense in all the secrecy if the children are where anyone is looking.”

“Well, that eliminates Taragon, Bayselle, and the Glade if you’re using that logic,” said Rosaliy. She was being sarcastic—the protectorates were quite large, after all—but Daniella latched onto her words, nodding.

“She sent Hale on a mission for her,” Drake reminded them. “If it was child-related, how far could you have traveled in a few days, round trip?”

Hale thought through his question. “The Burning Mountains, the desert, and the fringes of Curi. I don’t think Daniella would have dropped off a trio of children in the Burning Mountains or Movedizo Tierra.”

“And she tried to go to war with Curi,” Rosaliy pointed out.

“It’s true,” Hale agreed, watching Daniella curiously. “Hard to believe you’d have any friends there. Not any you trusted that deeply.”

Actually, it was hard to believe Daniella had ever trusted anyone at all.

“Not me,” Daniella replied, like this was a revelation. She took the stone from Hale and stared at it like it was speaking to her. “Someone they trust. I wanted this to blow over—to be easily forgiven. The children would be with someone they trust.”

“There are a few Sorceresses from Curi,” Rosaliy said. “We can contact—”

Daniella literally brushed off the suggestion by flicking her hand at it. “Too obvious. Too easily tracked down.”

“Well. Then.” Did Daniella want help or not? “Alexander is most likely to know someone in Curi,” Rosaliy suggested. He was also the one most likely to follow Daniella’s bizarre logic.

Hale pushed the door to Kat and Alexander’s room and held it open while they quietly filed in. Rosaliy could hear Athena, Kat and Issabeth dropping things in the seeing pool next door with splashes, plops, and unhappy murmurs. Alexander was asleep propped up on pillows, a squirming infant on his chest.

Rosaliy hated to wake him, but she approached. The infant’s tiny eyes saw her move at them. Her eyes flashed red and shimmering scarlet patches appeared in her periwinkle hair.

“Oh, no, don’t be worried, little one,” Rosaliy said softly. “I just need to talk to—”

The baby’s hair turned deep red, and Rosaliy could have sworn it sizzled. Alexander shot up, took in his visitors in a panicked glance, and sank back into the pillows.

“You’re going to need a better sense of actual danger,” Alexander told the baby, but he said it soothingly enough the baby’s hair settled down to a pale lavender. “I would take crying over direct emotion injection. What did you need?”

“We have an idea,” Rosaliy started when no one else jumped in to speak. “We were wondering who you might know in Curi, people you trust.”

Alexander blinked sleepy green eyes at them. “The entirety of Curi hates me.”

“All of Curi?” Daniella pressed.

“You know I’m not exaggerating. Or knew. You would have known that.” He yawned, shifting the baby to his other arm. “The only person more hated in Curi is you.”

“There must be someone,” suggested Rosaliy gently.

“Nope. That’s what happens when you break an engagement to a Duchess very popular with the people at large and she gets herself disinherited by running away with a gardener.”

Daniella held up the amber stone in his hand. “Did you give her one of these?”

“It had a twisted silver band,” he said, eyes far away like he was unpacking a dusty memory. “But, generally, the answer is yes. I wonder if she still has it.”

“You can ask her when you see her,” Daniella said quietly.

“Why am I doing that?” he asked.

Rosaliy saw where Daniella was going, but her certainty was questionable.

“Do you trust her?” Daniella pressed, eyes boring into Alexander. “The Duchess?”

“I need more sleep to even begin to have a conversation with you,” he grumbled. “Celia? I haven’t spoken to her in almost fifteen years.”

“But you were fond enough of her to ask her to marry you,” Rosaliy admitted aloud. “And no one would suspect. People assumed you broke off the engagement under bad terms.” Either Daniella’s wild leaps of logic were making a twisted amount of sense or this was wishful thinking.

Alexander looked like he was waking up slowly, understanding just beginning to dawn. “You used Hale to deliver them and wiped his memory, disguised the children from any effort to search for them…” He trailed off, looking for Hale and Daniella to confirm anything he was saying. They were no help.

“You might as well explain to everyone,” Rosaliy offered, gesturing through the vines toward the seeing pool in the next room. “At worst, they’ll have a new place to look.”

The baby had drifted back to sleep, hair settling into a confusing deep blue with matching freckles and an occasional tuft of whispy white curls.

Alexander grasped the arm Hale offered and stood, still thinking. “And, Hale, would you make sure to talk to Drake before he leaves.”

“About what?”

“The powers that be are trying to coerce him into taking on royal guard duties,” Alexander answered.

“That would be a relief,” Hale said. “Although I can’t say I envy you, Drake. Royal children are challenging enough without magical powers.”

“Nor I,” Alexander chuckled. He nodded to Drake. “Hale was the guard for the royal family when I was a boy. I’m sure you can imagine the trials Issabeth, Corin, and I put him through. He’ll have good advice for you.”

Drake was stunned by this casual order. Perhaps he was expecting Alexander and Kat to forbid him from having anything to do with their children. Since he could not very well explain to Alexander how he was absolutely not staying at that moment, he bobbed his head instead, looking uncomfortable.

Hale chuckled. “According to a report I read and a very angry Baysellian, he’s more than qualified.”

Alexander, Daniella, Hale, and the snuggly polka dot baby disappeared through the vines. Rosaliy hung back with Drake.

“You’re all mad,” he murmured. “Completely insane.”

“We are a bit mad,” she agreed quietly. “Does Daniella know what she’s talking about?”

“Sounds like,” he answered absently. “I guess they’ll know if they find the kids.”

She had to smile. “No, I’m pretty sure she’s on the right track with the kids. I meant about you.”

“Me?” He blinked. He had gone back to not looking at her, so she was sure he knew what she meant.

“You’re very good at avoiding subjects.”

He took a deep breath. “I’m also good at doing the opposite of what I intend to do.”

“You intended to kick me in the shins and run away laughing?”

He scowled. “It would have been better for you in the long run.”

“You let me be kidnapped the Flifary, blow myself up, call an octopus in open water, break into a Flifary-guarded temple, and threaten a Baysellian street gang,” she pointed out. “After all that, I have trouble believing you’re trying to protect me from you. This is about you, and I think Daniella was right. You don’t want to be happy.”

He had no response to this. He had more walls built up around himself than their first meeting when everything about him had been a secret.

“I have one more question today,” she told him. “And if you have your way, it could be the last ever, so you have to be honest.”

“What is it?” he asked warily.

What was her last question? It had better be the right one. She could have used a few hours to make a list, because boiling down everything that needed to be said to one single question was an impossible task.

“I’m not hearing a question,” he said dryly.

Then she had it. The perfect question. “What would convince you to stay?” she asked.

“That’s—that’s a completely unfair question,” he replied, faltering.

She shrugged, leveling a stare at him. It worked for Daniella. Most people’s eyes showed their emotions. Drake’s were like a protective shell.

“You would have to promise to have better common sense than to get tangled up with me,” he said, almost defiantly.

His terror of being loved was heart-breaking. If he knew her at all, he had to know his fear just made her love him more.

In what was the easiest lie she had ever told, she looked him straight in the eye and said, “Done. I didn’t have time for you anyway.”

He scanned her suspiciously, but she knew this was a lie he was so desperate to believe, he would accept it.

“Was that your only condition to staying?” she asked before he could think too hard.

He nodded slowly.

“Great,” she said cheerfully. “See you around.”

“Rose,” Kat called, in the most welcome interruption in the history of interruptions. “We need you.”