Page 78 of Badmouths & Bards

He was right, of course. Even with the room frozen in space, the arcane gateway was still open and only the gods knew where it lead to or when more warriors would come through. The last thing they needed was for another fight to break out or for anyone to wrongly accuse them of allowing an enemy through.

“It was the ring—or, at least I’m pretty sure it was the ring,” Tala said, eyes searching for the Princess Osonia.

“The ring? Wha—”

“I’ll explain later, just help me find her and convince her dad not to lock us in jail, okay? You’re better at the talking thing than I am—”

“Sir Justyan!”

Well, there’s a damn miracle, Tala thought.

The princess in question had once again evaded her lady-in-waiting and all of her father’s guards as she rushed the stage. Tala couldn’t be sure exactly how she had broken through Casimine’s spell, but there she was, stuttering to a standstill in front of a man in red. She looked like she was on the verge of tears and the last thing the evening needed was an inconsolable royal.

“Princess Osonia!” Tala grabbed Casimine’s wrist and yanked him along.

“Help him!” the princess cried. “Whatever has happened here, please help—”

“Please don’t worry Princess Osonia. He is momentarily stunned and will be back to normal shortly,” Casimine explained. “I promise he’s—”

Tala wasn’t patient enough.

“Give me your hand.”

Before the princess could protest, Tala was already taking her hand. Her skin was soft the way a princess’s hand was expected to be, but Tala’s attention was quickly drawn to the familiar silver she had grown way to accustomed to.

“I—Oh, I didn’t mean to take it without permission or anything!” Princess Osonia fussed. “I saw it on the ground after you left and this dress doesn’t have pockets so I—”

Without fuss, Tala pulled the ring free from her finger and the arcane gate quickly collapsed into space, vanishing entirely. A relieved sigh was shared between Tala and Casimine, but the princess kept rambling nervously.

“Princess Osonia, I am so sorry,” Tala bowed. “You were never meant to have this ring and that’s my fault. Because I was careless this…incursion was allowed to happen.”

It was better to get it all out now than to avoid it. Even if it hadn’t been her intention or not, it was still Tala’s fault for being so gods damn careless with the ring.

“Tala, there’s no way you could have known what was going to happen,” Casimine tried to soothe, placing his hand along the small of her back.

“I’m still responsible for this mess, regardless,” Tala replied.

She appreciated his support, but the writing was on the wall in the worst way.

And no amount of bardic influence is gonna help me out with this mess, Tala thought.

In the aftermath of Casimine pulling out the angry mom move and magically commanding the entire gala to stop moving, the reality of what had just occurred was starting to set in.

“I—” Princess Osonia shook her head. “I don’t care about whose responsible for all this, I just want to know that Sir Justyan is going to be okay!”

Even in her bowed position, Tala couldn’t control her eyebrow from raising at the princess’ tone. While a single meeting in the veranda was not enough to build knowledge of her personality, there was something in the way Princess Osonia spoke that implied—well, it implied that she cared quite a bit about Sir Justyan. How much, Tala couldn’t say, but she did find it suspect. Apparently, Casimine saw the same thing as her, because he quickly snapped his finger in Sir Justyan’s direction and he suddenly stumbled forward into Princess Osonia’s arms.

Sir Justyan reared back, nearly flinging the dagger away from him as his body came close to the princess. He was panting, his breath brushing the hair from Princess Osonia’s cheeks and when he spoke her name in shock, the princess looked like she was on the verge of collapsing with relief.

“Are you okay?” Princess Osonia asked, clutching the material of Sir Justyan’s tunic.

The man didn’t respond, turning a violent shade of red as he stared at Princess Osonia’s face.

Oh…

Tala and Casimine exchanged a look. A moment later, Casimine was leading Tala away from whatever sweet words were being exchanged between the princess and her sir knight. Tala questioned having to repeat the whole ordeal as the king came back from whatever chamber his men had stuffed him into, when she noticed Kerith. He was kneeling next to one of the unknown, fallen warriors, examining their armory. When he had managed to break off Casimine’s spell, Tala couldn’t say, but she recognized that he was already at work.

“Who are these guys?” Tala asked as she approached him.