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“Someone ge?—”
I stopped as the door opened, and John walked into the room. I had been about to tell Miles to grab the others, but here was John, likely having heard the guard knocking on our door.
He grabbed the letter from Emric and snorted as soon as he finished reading it. “Regards? Goodness. Is there a colder sign off?”
Emric gestured, hands out at his sides. “Well, yeah, she could have told us to board our ship and leave. Along with a,” he paused to make his voice sound high pitched, “Good Riddance, Her Royal Majesty Queen Estalena Rhea Mallick.”
“He has a point,” Miles offered.
Archer opened the door to leave. “Can we eat now? I am famished. Also a bit bored.”
“Let’s.” John handed him over the letter to read as he let his green magic form a sound barrier around us. John’s bloodline wasn’t as strong as Valanova blood, and he didn’t care to strengthen his magic as much as he did his mind, but he still could use his Enchantment when needed. His eyes went to mine. “I need you to be Prince Charming and ask about the queen tonight at supper. See what you can get the server to say now that we have warmed her up to us.”
I reached for my jacket over the back of my chair. “Got it.”
Silence greeted our entrance at the tavern, much like every other time we’d come. A few guards, knowing that this was where we would be, always ate a few tables over.
We usually talked amongst ourselves, careful not to mention anything of importance.
“Gentlemen,” our server smiled as we walked over. She was a middle-aged woman, hair slightly graying at her temples where her hair was thrown up into a bun.
She had been here all three nights now. Emric had finally sweet talked her into her name the night before.
I smiled at her. “Mina.”
“Your Highness, what will it be tonight?”
We gave her our order, her jotting the information down on her short notepad.
I knew asking her right out of the gate about her queen would only make her suspicious and uncomfortable, so I waited until we were paying for our food before saying a thing. And not once did any of the rest of us speak of what tomorrow would bring while we ate our food, knowing that there were always extra ears in a tavern.
Fortunately, no matter the country, gold was gold, so we were able to use our currency to pay for things, even here in Dra Skor. If they didn’t like our coin, they could always melt them down and repress the gold.
“Mina. Tell us you’ll miss us,” Emric sang out, arms wide as he stood. “Just a little?”
“Miss you?” she asked, while rolling her eyes. Her eyes went to two guards sitting toward the back of the tavern, and I wondered if she had issue with us because we were foreigners, or our presence combined with the guards made her nervous.
I stayed sitting while some of the rest moved to stand. I wanted to talk to Mina, and because of my height, I tended to tower over people. I didn’t mean to intimidate in this situation. “I think he means to tell you that we head for the castle in the morning, so you are soon to be free of us.”
“Oh.” I caught her eyes going slightly wide.
Emric laughed. “Thought they’d just ignore us, huh?”
She gave a shrug. “Well. A little, yes.”
My lips twitched. “That one,” I pointed to Emric, “is trouble. I am concerned he will become totally smitten with your queen, and though I would currently love to have him off my hands, I was wondering if you could tell me if she is married or not, so he does not make a fool of himself.”
Mina pressed her lips together as if to keep from laughing. “Believe me, our queen can handle herself just fine.”
Interesting choice of words.
She leaned over to pick up our dishes, clearly not wanting to talk about it further, so I let out some magic to do it for her, pushing everything together and stacking the plates.
Her breath caught, not being used to magic in this form. I noted one of the guards reach for his sword, clearly concerned. This was the first time any of us had used our Enchantment publicly like this. I hadn’t meant for it to be a show of power either, I simply wanted to help her and keep talking to her. Mina had warmed to us over the past three days. She was most likely to help us over some stranger on the streets.
“Mina, please,” I said, lowering my voice to speak softly. “Last anyone knew in Wylan, the queen was betrothed. I am not asking you to spill any of Dra Skor’s darkest secrets. We only wish to know if there is a king or consort or not. We truly do not want to insult the crown our first steps into the castle.”
She was quickly filling her hands with dishes, and I knew she could balance a lot of them from our previous nights eating here, but I also knew she would need to take multiple trips. So I began to gather them with her to at least carry them to the bar top counter for her.
