Chapter 21

Tiberius POV

I’m so lucky to have Celia. She’s stuck with me through so much already since I first met her at the birthday tournament. Who knew a woman could fight so well until her and my sister squared off for first place. She’s been my support for so much. I’m glad she’s coming with us to the witch queens kingdom. I have a feeling I’m going to need her. We split up to go pack our own bags so we could start on our way to find out what information Queen aster has on my father and why he won’t wake up.

I got to my room and found the door cracked open. I traced my steps back and grabbed a guard around the corner as quietly as I could just in case there was someone in there. We quietly walked back to my room and pushed the door open. She was quiet. I’ll give her that. But her downfall was that she didn’t see us come in. “What are you doing in the princes room” came a loud voice. It was the guard I grabbed of course but I didn’t expect him to be as loud as he was. She turned around and did a short scream. I didn’t think we’d surprise her that much.

She looked terrified, she was breathing heavily, and tried to make a run for the secret door to the bedroom. I didn’t realize it was open until she ran for it. But as she started to run I reached the door first and said, “I believe my guard asked you a question”. She just starred and was starting to cry. “Please forgive me my prince, please, please forgive me!” Was all she said before she pulled a vial from her pocket and tried to drink it. I lunged for her, tackling her to the ground, she dropped the vial and it broke on the floor. When I had her pinned she just cried. The guard came over and took her in hand. I was barely standing up when Immyria came running in from Al the noise.

“What’s going on here?” She shouted at me, “and why is your room completely destroyed?” I looked at her and then glanced and the guard holding the maid. Then I turned back to her and said, “I’m not entirely sure, I grabbed the guard when I saw my door partially open and when we came in she was going through all my stuff. When we tried to question her she tried to drink that,” I motioned to the broken vial and spilled liquid on the ground. “Will you please take her to the dungeon?” I asked the guard. He nodded and started walking out the crying maid.

Immyria walked over to the puddle and drug a finger through the liquid and lifted it to her nose. “Tiberius, this is poison.” She looked at me with a surprised look. A sense of anger filled me, “Do you know who she is?” Was all I could ask. “Her name is Nala… and she’s my personal maid.”

Immyria POV

Nala tried to poison my brother… she’s my personal maid. She’s been my maid for as long as I can remember. She’s only ever taken care of me. Why would she do this? I looked at my brother and he was lost in thought. “Tiberius?” I asked and broke the silence. “You’re sure that’s poison?” He asked giving me a serious face. I thought about it for a minute to make sure and double checked the smell. “Yes, I’m absolutely certain. It’s a sleeping death poison” was all I could say. I had a phase where I studied herbs, plants, and poisons over everything else. It was a fixation for a year or two. I became familiar with pretty much everything.

I couldn’t make sense of this. So I turned to my brother and said, “I’ll send in another maid to clean this up. Get your bag packed fast and meet me in the stables. Celia is already there waiting for us.” I started walking out the door when Tiberius called my name, I turned and grunted in acknowledgment, “Don’t tell Celia about this.” Was all he said. It wasn’t a question, it was very much a statement. One I understood. He didn’t want her to worry anymore than she already has been.

I finally made it to the stables and got my horse ready. Celia had beaten me there and had already gotten her horse ready to go. She was working on my brothers now. “He’s awfully late.. he usually comes with you. Is everything alright?” She asked out of the blue. I told my brother I wouldn’t tell, I reminded myself. “He probably got busy talking to someone or our mother stopped him.” I replied. I already told her and she gave us her blessing so she knew everything already.

When Tiberius finally showed up he thanked Celia for getting his horse ready and asked if we were all ready. When we nodded we mounted the horses and started our journey to see Aster and hopefully get more information about what the hell was going on. It was definitely time to start getting some answers.