“Oh,” Mother said, furrowing her brow. “Alright, well I have to get back to Delhoon.” She waved at Melody. “Send word when you’re ready to come home.”
Melody nodded once. When my mother was gone she smirked. “Nice story but I don’t believe it.”
I didn’t bother explaining my reason for lying. Instead I sat in a comfy chair, with Taz plopping down beside me. “My friend Taz and I need to know everything about the Hazelvales but specifically Firo Hazelvale.”
“I thought you were coupled with the Hesstian Crown Prince. Who is this boy?” She looked at Taz as if he were scum on her shoe.
“I am. This is my friend,” I drawled. “Like I said.”
She only spared him a moment’s glance. “You’ve definitely come to the correct woman.” She tilted her head slightly to the side. “The Hazelvales have old money. Even more than me or rumor has it. I have three estates myself but our family has a home in each major city in Delhoon. Even one in Hesstia now. My fleet of prized horses rivals theirs. I have more servants than they do—”
I cleared my throat. “Not to be rude but this isn’t about who has more money. I need dirt.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“For one, Firo is here at the academy. Putting his filthy paws where they don’t belong. I don’t trust him.”
“I don’t trust any Hazelvale. You’d be wise not to either.” Melody tapped her fingers on the wooden armrest. “I’ve heard from some of my spies in their household that they wish to usurp power. They are recruiting more ‘guards’ to protect their properties and members of the family. I think they’re building an army.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Usurp power from us?”
“I can’t imagine who else. They’re Delhoon. Why would they want the Hesstian or Collweyan throne?”
“Academy soldiers would never be loyal to someone who didn’t win a Queens Challenge. Do they have a female powerful enough to challenge my mother?”
“No one is powerful enough to challenge your mother,” Melody said, lifting her chin. “Which means they have other ideas.”
“Have you told my mother of this?”
“Don’t think she doesn’t have spies of her own.”
It didn’t make sense that Firo had said he was recruiting for his family and also that I would “fit in.” If he planned to take my mother’s throne he wouldn’t want me. No, something else was going on. And putting the three of us royals in the arena day one for him and his “friends”... Was it a test? Did he simply like games as he said? Playing them with us could be lethal for him. All it would take is a word from my mother and Firo would be gone from this life. I didn’t care how many guards he had; we had legions of loyal soldiers.
But maybe that’s why he chose us or more specifically, me. Who could he play games with that would have higher stakes? The highest risk likely belonged with me.
“What about Firo? Is he powerful?”
Melody kept drumming her fingers. “He’s above average but nothing remarkable. He has a taste for beautiful women. Often at parties he has one on each arm.” She sat quietly for a moment. “There is something different about them. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there’s a certain—charm about the Hazelvales. They are well-liked by everyone. With the exception of my side of your family of course.”
That sparked the memory of the Fae man I’d seen take the scepter. Maybe I wasn’t just paranoid. Maybe they were connected somehow.
“Could they be connected to the Fae?”
Melody blinked a few times as if the question confused her. The existence of the Fae wasn’t common knowledge.
“My spies have told me of strange travelers from time to time.”
“What was strange about them?”
“It’s not strange per se but they reported on the visitors’ otherworldly beauty. All of them said it was unnatural to all have a similar look. The same small straight noses, perfect skin, slender builds. One even used the words, ‘almost inhuman.’”
The only people I knew who had any real information on the Fae were the merfolk. And we couldn’t meet with them. I needed to see Firo.
We talked with Melody a while longer, getting small details, nothing useful. But I got what I needed. The Hazelvales may be connected to the Fae. Perhaps they’d made a deal similar to the one Vyce had made with the vampires.
Could the Fae have power enough to dethrone my parents, my all-powerful mother? I knew the Winter Prick could rival her but could he defeat her, and give rule to the Hazelvales? And if so, why would they? What was in it for them? I thought they came for brides and souls.
Chapter 24
When we left the meeting, Taz turned to me. “So if Firo Hazelvale or his family want to take over the rule of Delhoon, we need to kill him.”
Taz’s boldness took me by surprise. I would expect Zyacus to say something like that but Taz usually played things safe. “I think we need to know more before we off him.”
“How can we know more? Ask him, ‘hey do you plan on taking the throne? If so, how?’ What if they assassinated your mother and then you.”
“Then they’d have to deal with my father and the warlords. The rule of Delhoon cannot be taken because the queen dies.”
“Your great grandmother said her family has homes in every major city. I’d bet the Hazelvales do, too. They could kill the warlords they can’t get to their side. She also said that everyone likes them.”
I thought about how many people would have to die to usurp the throne. And to do it without a war?
