-Tales From Meridea Volume II
They were a terrible combination and were going to be the bane of Luci’s existence. The worst decision Luci ever made was going to that cursed ball. The second was not poisoning the crown prince on night one of his stay at Blythe. He was a plague.
“Are you sure you don’t recognize the flower, Luci?” Brielle asked.
A pressure that was quickly boiling built in Luci’s chest. Placing the vial filled with lavender and chamomile onto the table in front of her, Luci took the longest breath of her life, praying to long-dead fairies for the strength to endure this.
With a steadying breath, she turned to find Brielle holding up the drawing Luci made last night as if it held any more answers than it did before. It was a rather decent replica of the one inside her mind, all things considered. Tall and rod-straight except for the feather-like blossoms that sprouted out on one side, one on top of the other.
“Same answer as before. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” she said.
Brielle gave a small pout and gently placed the drawing on top of the stack of handwritten pages Luci had spent all night penning. Every last memory she retained from the ball was all written with as much detail as she was capable of. She'd considered burning them no less than a hundred times, but it was hard to refuse Brielle's simple requests.
“It’s all right, I am sure someone at the castle has seen it.” Prince Ira said, reaching over and placing his hand on her shoulder. “Besides, you’ve already done so much. Look at all of this— it’s more than I ever thought we would have.”
He gestured toward the mountain of papers. Despite hours combing over them and writing down hypothesis after hypothesis, he was still impeccable. Hair perfectly in place with that pearly white smile that probably allowed him to get away with murder. It was all very annoying.
After all, between lack of sleep and trying to put together enough tonics to last Brielle at least a month in the capital meant Luci was adorned with large dark circles under her eyes and hairthat frizzed and stuck out every which way despite the braid it was forced into.
“I suppose that’s true, but it feels like all of this means nothing without the flower,” Brielle murmured.
“Yet we know it to be on top of Glass Mountain in the northern province.” Prince Ira said, releasing Brielle to pull the map closer and point to the large mountain peak that he’d circled several times over.
“You are only guessing. It could just as well be the blue mountains on the eastern side.” Luci said, stalking over to tap the mountain range for emphasis.
Undeterred, Prince Ira smiled up at Luci before grabbing one of her papers and holding up, pointing with his quill at the wobbly cursive.
“Except for the vision showed a great winged shadow— what else could it mean if not for a dragon which by all accounts lived on Glass Mountain,” he said.
“It could have just as well been a wyvern, which were known to be in the Blue mountains.” Luci snapped. “Your overconfidence will lead to unnecessary search parties, wasted money, and wasted energy.”
“Luci,” Brielle whispered.
Ever the gracious prince, Ira waved away her concern.
“No, it’s good to hear every perspective. We don’t need to get this wrong and risk other parties getting word and beating us to it,” he said.
Luci’s eyes narrowed on him. "Like who?”
He shrugged his shoulders and leaned back at the kitchen table as if it were all of little consequence, a prince through and through. Charming smile and polite facade aside, his arrogance reeked of privilege.
“Anyone? My brother, mercenaries, political antagonists,” his eyes glinted as he leaned forward. “In fact, I’d say my idealsituation would be that only the three of us and Max know anything at all.”
“A seven-year-old,” Luci grunted out.
Prince Ira flashed a dazzling smile. “A precocious and highly intelligent seven-year-old.”
Ridiculous. This was all ridiculous. Maybe it was a symptom of their wealth and position, but none of them were taking this seriously and seeing all the pitfalls.
“Hypothetically, say you have enough evidence to say it one mountain or another, which I will remind you, mountains are extraordinarily large and traverse many miles of land, who will be going off on this little quest if it’s only the crown prince, Brielle, a seven-year-old, and a servant who knows about it?” Luci challenged.
Raising his finger to his lips, Prince Ira tapped twice, eyes squinting as he considered.
“This is an excellent point,” he said.
Finally.. Luci’s chest gave way a fraction as the first sign of logic took root in the Blythe dining room.
“While a good point, I’d argue it’s unimportant at this current stage,” he said, leaning back once more like he solved the entire plot.