Chapter Ninety-Eight

  The poofy dress was what Harmony considered to be quite out of date fashion-wise, but apparently, it was popur at court. Harmony wanted to go in armored in Night, but Ambrosia convinced her that would start a fashion trend no tailor currently had the ability to copy. It was almost like her friend thought her upgraded paired armor was indecent the way she put her foot down. It did help when Rose showed up in the same style of dress. Len even forgo his robes for a suit, which matched Maxwells enough that she suspected they both used Stewart.

  The five challengers representing the kingdom for the Ascendant Games waited in the reception room to see the queen and her court. They weren’t able to get bodyguards close for this, but neither were they alone. After the trip to the deadwoods, everyone now had some form of support with them. Len had his geist, Hazgul around invisible and Farthington on his shoulder. Tyler had Jessica’s spirit fused into him. Max had his imprisoned chaos spirit, Saccerate on a tight leash but avaible. Hargreaves was there for Rose, almost invisible to Harmony’s senses, the servant had folded himself into a locket around the princess's neck. She’d only noticed when she greeted the princess and the locket was eye level directly in the path of her soul sight that she kept on flicking on due to reasonable fears. Hyacinth sat nestled in Harmony’s cleavage in his smallest size for this visit.

  Oh, she’d wanted Adric too, but after his treatment at the pace tower, he was safer being trained at Countess Maye’s estate. The queen and her handmaidens had links to that trauma, and possibly the attacks on them all. The disturbing reminders kept on entering her thoughts almost as though [Recall] was acting up. Thankfully none of her skills were, but that made all this natural anxiety around her situation. Going through all the resources they could bring to a fight helped.

  “Can you calm down, Harmony? You’re making my oath itch. If you didn’t order me to be on my best behavior unless we ran into trouble I’d have my sword out and standing in front of you.” Max compined.

  “It is her first time visiting the queen.” Len pointed out, having listened in.

  “I don’t get why she’s so nervous. Maekus is considered more powerful and she handled him just fine.” Rosaline commented indirectly.

  Accessing [Cold Touch]. [Final Silence], and [Renew Spirit]. Harmony let them loose with her more social skills of [Poise and Bearing] and [Style and Grace] to calm herself. Having spent time with all of them leaking and acting up using them this way inside her body and soul was familiar and comforting. It was artificial with a limited clock on how long it sted. A crutch was better than a twitchy mess. “There, I’m calm now.”

  The truth is it wasn’t just fear around the queen’s part in the attacks that was getting on her nerves. It was her new css and profession's impulse around what to do about the problem. Regicide shouldn’t be one of the first options that popped into her head. But paired with thinking about all of the resources they had, the ways to kill the queen and get away with it had entered into the mix. The part of her that craved death had always been a tad homicidal, but now her profession rather than fighting it saw it as a possible simple solution to an annoyingly complex problem. Were royals all so bloody-minded?

  “Is it usual for them to have us wait so long before entering the audience?” Tyler asked Rose.

  “I’ve actually never visited the queen. She’s rarely had time or interest for us princesses and princes. Let alone ones that she felt cked potential.”

  Well, Princess Rosaline had the queen's attention now if Harmony’s hunches were right. This could be the worst thing ever. But at least she wouldn’t explode standing next to everyone in the group. There was a lot of authority streaming in all along the tower and Harmony felt nothing. It was actually difficult to feel the intentions and expectations now that she was stable. If she focused on it she could but there were a lot of conflicting ones from jealousy to pride. Now there were only assassins, ambushes, and dirty tricks to worry about.

  A diminutive man wearing a servant's uniform stepped in. “The queen and her court will see you now.” Then stepped back out.

  Good. Harmony was ready for anything as long as that anything required her to cast [Shadowed Graves] and have her bosom secured Hyacinth leap them through the shadows if anything came at them. That might mean leaving everyone else behind but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make if the worst was to happen. The others were smart and sure to have escape options as well.

  That was a bit too cutthroat of a pn that popped into her head. Almost as bad as the regicide one. What was up with this evolution? Friends did matter. She could possibly drag Len or Maxwell with her if they needed the help. It’s also not like the queen would execute the contestants for the Ascendant Games. The press would be terrible.

  She walked with the others into the court. Hundreds of courtiers, evolved entertainers, people of power, and servants were gathered to watch their entrance. Plenty of witnesses, so nothing to worry about. The queen sat on a throne. The king beside her was on a smaller one, as he didn’t have the authority or rank in either his css or profession. Both were older, not Lady Coodly old, but getting up there to the point where the numerous princes and princesses all vying for their shot made sense.

  “The Court recognizes our kingdom’s competitors.” Announced the seneschal as they stood before the queen.

  The influx of authority caused Harmony to breathe in. A reaction due to it being a bit stronger than the queen's private letter, and the deadwoods ambusher's attempt. This one was public and supported by all the people around the queen. Internally now that she had evolved nothing happened. The old Harmony would have popped, [Stride] or no [Stride].

  Harmony activated her soul sight to check for problems. [Poise and Bearing] Kept her from reacting.

  Queen Talia stood up. “May you bring pride to all of us.” She announced.

  Harmony stared wide-eyed, unable to help that part of her. The queen was advanced in her evolution, three or four times if Harmony had to guess. Only brief glimpses at Thorne and Maekus gave her an idea of how those truly powerful looked and that was before she’d gained more skills and evolved. But there was wrong, so much wrong, holes dug into her soul and skills, threads, chains, and a sickly infection. The power she expected, and power the queen had despite all of whatever this was.

  Tyler’s elbow jostled her. Everyone else was entering their bow.

  Harmony started her curtsy st. Shutting off her sight, Harmony’s mind raced through what she’d seen. Something foul was sunk into the queen that could pull or prod her to an extent that she wouldn’t be herself. Bloody twisted corpses she wasn’t prepared for this.

  No attack came as Harmony finished collecting her bearings. They’d been introduced to the court and now the court moved in to greet them. Harmony moved to Max, tapping on his oath like she was usually loath to do. That snapped his head toward her as though she'd poked him with a hot poker. “Keep your eyes and ears open and let me know if anything interesting or unusual happens. Mundane too. I want notes about any interaction here. See if you can rope Len into helping. I’m feeling a bit off, so I’m going to head back.”

  “Yes, my dy.” He answered seriously.

  Harmony quickly summoned a small circle of [Shadowed Graves] and slipped through it with a push from Hyacinth.

  Rather than go directly to her room at The Dragonfly Inn, they went to the backup location they’d scouted out earlier. The door of a private house commonly rented to powerful guests who visited Naewauld. At this time it was occupied by Counselor Maekus Von Trell, who, despite their rough introduction, was about as powerful a person as Harmony could think to contact if all went to failure at the court. Guild Mistress Thorne’s office had also been on her list.

  Harmony knocked three times. The door opened.

  “Oh, it’s you.” Maekus's accented voice answered.

  Rather than be political and expin all of her guesses and theories Harmony went straight to the point. “What in all the hell is going on with the Queen?”

  Maekus sighed. “Of course, you would see that. I can tell you one thing. As long as the charter is being obeyed we do not involve ourselves in local politics. Good night Lady White. I’m excited to see how you do in the Ascendant Games.” With that, he shut the door.

  Harmony and Hyacinth jumped back to her room. Bates and Ambrosia were waiting. “Pack up. I’m done with this weeding city. We can wait out the st days until the Ascendant Games at home in Hazeldown.”

  The end of book 2 KitFalbo