Accusations

Sybill, Silvi, Rowland, and Sammy were gathered around the carriages, their trunks packed and ready. All four wore travelling cloaks, including a tiny one fitted neatly around Silvi's stiff porcelain body.

Sybill stared up at the carriage with fascination. Its large wheels were painted glossy black, while the dark exterior was emblazoned with the golden crest of the Kingdom of Etheria. Heavy curtains framed the windows, and plush seats upholstered in button-tufted fabric gave the interior the appearance of a luxurious chamber on wheels.

"This horse house is the so big and luxury-looking. Come, check the Sammy."

She grabbed Sammy by the back of his cloak and pushed him inside.

"Ow! Sybill, slow down! You'll break my neck. I have already been—"

His sentence died halfway.

Rowland, standing beside the second carriage, watched them with utmost curiosity. His eyes moved from Sammy to Sybill.

Why was she so close to the servant boy?

Elena arrived wearing a travelling cloak that complemented her green eyes. Behind her stood another carriage specially commissioned for her, along with several trunks filled with dresses.

She hopped over to them excitedly before lowering her voice.

"The journey to the summer house can be dangerous. Are you sure we want to go there? Especially with Sammy?"

Silvi answered from inside Sybill's cloak.

"The poor soul needs to see his father. But we don't reveal his identity until we find the culprit behind his kidnapping."

"The kidnapping," Sybill repeated, nodding seriously.

Elena glanced toward Rowland.

"I still can't believe the Grandmaster let him come."

A few days earlier, Sybill had entered the Grandmaster's office wearing the beige gown copied from the painting, while a faint radiance spell devised by Silvi softened the light around her.

"Grandmaster, Princess Elena has invited me to accompany her to the summer house."

The Grandmaster looked up from his papers.

"I see."

"Perhaps Master Rowland could come with us."

His brows lifted.

"Rowland?"

"Yes."

"He is in the middle of his training, Miss Sybill. I would rather not interrupt what little progress we have finally made."

"You needn't worry about that," Sybill said calmly. "His training will continue directly under me."

The Grandmaster studied her. Over the past several weeks, he had watched Rowland argue with tutors, ignore instructions, and turn even the simplest lesson into a battle of wills.

Sybill was different. Somehow, she was the only person who had maintained her footing around him long enough to make him listen, even if only occasionally.

"His parents may also impress the gravity of his position upon him more firmly than we can," Sybill continued. "Perhaps a few days with them will nudge him in the right direction."

The Grandmaster leaned back, his gaze briefly shifting toward the painting behind his desk before returning to Sybill.

"Hm."

"If his training continues under your supervision, the journey may do more good than harm."

He set his papers aside.

"And perhaps a reminder from his parents as to why he was entrusted with the position of crown prince in the first place would serve him well."

"Very well. Rowland may accompany you."

"Thank you, Grandmaster."

Back beside the carriage, Silvi's tiny voice carried unmistakable satisfaction.

"I planned accordingly."

Rowland was now swinging his sword at an imaginary opponent beside the carriage.

"We might need him more than you think," Silvi added. "We need leverage against the Longbottoms."

Elena watched Rowland nearly trip over his own cloak.

"As Silhvester says, keep even the stupid suspect closer until you solve the case."

"We are doing espionage, Elena," Silvi reminded her.

Sybill nodded solemnly.

"The espionage."

Sammy groaned from inside the carriage.

"Can someone help me with my neck before we continue the espionage?"

The city gradually disappeared behind them. Stone streets gave way to winding country roads bordered by flowering hedgerows, with green ridges rising and falling in the distance.

Narrow streams flashed beside the road before vanishing beneath old stone bridges, while sheep grazed lazily across the slopes. Sybill had barely moved from the window, Silvi sitting upright on her lap.

A sudden flutter among the branches caught her attention. Her lavender eyes narrowed as magic shimmered across them, sharpening her sight until the distant bird came into perfect focus.

"Silvi, look."

She lifted the porcelain doll toward the window.

"The bird is having the white spots and the red neck."

Silvi's button eyes faced slightly too far left.

"You are pointing me at a tree."

Sybill adjusted her.

"Now look."

"I see it."

Sybill smiled and watched until the bird vanished into the woodland.

A little farther along, Elena pointed toward the opposite window.

"Look at that."

A waterfall spilled down the dark face of a distant ridge, luminous against the green countryside. Before Sammy could move, Sybill climbed straight across him to reach Elena's window, Silvi clutched securely in her hands.

"Sybill!"

"The waterfall."

"Sybill, you're crushing me."

"I am not doing the crushing."

Elena glanced at Sammy wedged against the side of the carriage.

"You are a little."

Sybill shifted barely an inch.

"Now I am not."

Sammy stared at her. Sybill was already showing Silvi the waterfall.

From the carriage behind them, Rowland happened to glance through his window.

Miss Sybill was holding that doll again.

Not merely holding it. She had lifted the porcelain thing toward the glass and appeared to be showing it the countryside.

Rowland frowned.

What kind of obsession is this?

She was seventeen and still playing with dolls.

Then an image of the black box beneath his bed surfaced in his mind: the green dragon, the armoured knight, and the Silver Paladin with the removable sword.

Rowland quietly looked away.

Perhaps some hobbies were better left unexamined.

**********?

An old stone bridge appeared over a narrow stream, followed by a broken watchtower on the distant hillside and a ridge curving around the northern road. Places Sammy had not seen in a while returned one after another.

Sybill remained captivated by the scenery, but Sammy had grown quiet. She eventually noticed and placed a hand on his head.

"Sammy, are you the sick again? Is the hand hurting?"

Sammy looked at her and smiled.

"I'm fine."

Sybill studied him for another moment, then returned to the window.

But Sammy was no longer looking at the birds or waterfalls. He stared at the road ahead.

Somewhere beyond those ridges was the summer house.

And his father.

Elena noticed the change in him but said nothing. Sammy looked toward his sister, and his mind returned to the conversation after Elena first recognized him.

The question—

Did you poison the king?

—still hung heavily in his mind.

Every pair of eyes had been fixed on Elena. Mascara streaked her cheeks, and her lipstick was smeared around her lips. Her expression seemed to say only one thing.

How could you think I would stoop so low?

"Sammy, do you think I would—"

"I was kidnapped, nearly assassinated, brutally beaten, and I come back to find Father suffering from some unexplained illness. What exactly do you expect me to think?"

"I want an explanation."

"And you are my suspect as of now."

Silvi spoke first.

"But what's her motive, Sammy? You're missing a point here."

Sybill nodded.

"Point here."

"Maybe Etheria's patriarchal succession laws, or the fact that Rowland gets the throne now—"

"Stop, damn it!"

Elena's voice broke as she wiped angrily at her face.

"Have you lost your mind, Sammy? You can keep your damn judgements to yourself."

"Father wasn't sleeping. He wasn't eating. He cried incessantly for days. His eyesight—his eyesight was deteriorating."

Her breath hitched, and when she spoke again, her voice had begun to grow hoarse.

"It was like I died with you. Like I wasn't there."

"Do you know how that feels, Sammy? To lose everything and become invisible to the one person who is supposed to care about you?"

Silvi blinked silently while Sybill stared at the wall, frozen in place. Elena's eyes burned with anger as she looked directly at Sammy.

"And now you come back and look at me like I'm some kind of monster."

"Do you have any idea how long I waited for you? Every single day, hoping for a miracle."

She wiped furiously at her face, struggling to steady herself.

"I just wanted to sleep."

Her next words came unevenly, but she forced them out.

"Old Man Jack was the only one who saw through it—the smiles, the jokes, the stupid bubbly exterior. He saw the dark circles beneath all that makeup. The exhaustion. The misery."

"He kindly offered to help me with a sleeping potion," she whispered, her voice spent.

She drew a shaky breath before continuing.

"Lady Longbottom asked him to cultivate those herbs in the garden when they came to drop off Rowland. He discovered their sedative properties by accident."

Elena looked directly at Sammy, her expression hardening again.

"I'm certain he doesn't even know about the blindness."

"Because unlike you, I trust people."