The Interview

If Velia was pale the last time Aurora had seen her, she was a ghost now by comparison. The only color in her face was her cherry red nose left over from her hysterical crying.

The small limping woman was subdued now and stared timidly at the Council with two wide, frightened eyes. Her hands twist at her nursemaid's apron, creases forming from wringing motion.

The nine Councilmen who were unmarried—Ezer and Metehan being the exceptions— had no idea how to handle the nursemaid who seemed like she might shatter at any moment. Fortunately, Junayd, who had headed up the investigation the day before and had quite the way with women, took the reigns.

The former general surveyed the Council in their chairs, bowed to the royals and exchanged a glance with Nurlan, who stood along the far wall. Then with a charming smile, he wrapped his arm around the nursemaid's shoulders and faced the group with her.

"You all are making this young lady nervous. We just want to talk to you, dear…Velia, is it?" Junayd pretended to be confused to put the woman at ease.

He remembered every detail of their interview right after the attack, brief as it had been while the healers tended her broken leg. Yet, he feigned needing the young lady's help. She nodded that he had correctly guessed her name.

"Can you please explain to them what you told me about the attack? If you are up for it, of course. I mean it must have been quite traumatic for you." Junayd led her to a chair at the table and had her sit. He found a stool and propped up her injured leg which was wrapped in hard covering to protect it. "Don't let them scare you. They are just people."

Velia took a deep breath. "Alright," she squeaked, then cleared her throat. "What do you want to know, Your Majesties?"

"As Junayd mentioned, we want to know what you saw, smelled, heard. We want anything that can help us find who did this horrible thing to you." Aurora mirrored Junayd's unassuming voice.

A cloud passed across Velia's face. "Oh. It is all a blur. I heard Nanny struggling in the other room, so I ran to find the issue. It sounded like an attack so I went and covered up Colvyr to hide him..."

"Forgive my ignorance," Junayd interrupted, "but if you thought there was an attack, why did you not bar the door and hide in the safe room?"

Pinprick tears formed in Velia's eyes but she quickly blinked them away. A shiver went down her body. "I should have barred the door. As for moving the prince to the safe room, there was no time. I barely covered him up when the door burst open and there he was."

"What happened next?" Cheif Zan encouraged her, hoping to coax more information from the frightened maid.

"He lumbered forward on two legs, grabbed me by the throat and tossed me to the side wall. I screamed for him to stop, and he did. He sniffed at the air and snorted. He seemed confused..." Velia looked down at her hands.

"Why would he be confused?" one of the Councilmen asked, Velia wasn't sure who. She glanced up and her eyes darted away.

"I had on strong smelling perfume. I think it must have confused his nose." Velia shook her head. "Whatever it was that bothered him, he growled and dropped on all fours, stalking toward me."

"Did he say anything to you?" Aurora queried when the young woman paused.

Looking up in surprise, the nursemaid licked her lips. "He said, 'Where is he?' I assume he meant Prince Colvyr. When I didn't answer right away, he stepped on my leg and broke it. I am ashamed to say I screamed, which made the young prince scream in response." Terror filled Velia's eyes as she struggled with what could have happened.

"Is that when Fate Hanna appeared?" The Emperor's advisor, who was still standing, paced behind Velia as he listened.

"The wolf turned to the crib and pulled back his claw to...but a body appeared between the wolf and the baby. He cut Fate Hanna across the back, but she waved her hand and used some sort of magical force to send the wolf flying across the nursery and off the narrow balcony. Red dust was spilling from Fate Hanna, and using that magic made it glow strangely. The Fate cried out in agony, clutched the child and hurried with Colvyr to the safe room. By then I was in enough pain that I started to lose consciousness. I cannot remember any more until you found me."

The Council waited in silence for a time. "Why didn't you mention most of this before?" Junayd stroked his chin.

"I don't know. I guess... I guess I wasn't thinking straight. It was all so much and I didn't want to get in trouble..." Velia caught herself rambling and stopped. "Am… am I relieved of my duty?"

All eyes moved to the Empress, who sighed. "Is there anything else you want to tell us?"

The small woman opened her mouth, but no words came. "I'm sorry," she mumbled at last as she lowered her head.

"Go back to the nursery, Velia. We will come with any more questions." Aurora held her palm upward and indicated the door. "We will have a soldier escort you back to make sure you are safe." The fiery-haired woman swiveled her head to General Nurlan, who immediately understood her meaning and went to fetch Velia a full-time guard to keep an eye on the nursemaid.

With Junayd's help, Velia rose from the chair, curtsied awkwardly and began her limping trek to the door. "Glory to the Empress!"

Once she was gone, the Council fell into a flurry of questions.

"Why did the wolf speak to her and no one else?"

"Why did the creature let her live?"

"Did you notice that her injury is minor in comparison to everyone else's?"

Devrim held up his had and the assembly quieted. "First give us your assessment, Junayd. You spoke to her once already."

Junayd took the seat where Velia had been. His much larger frame cut a different silhouette on the high back chair. His confidence made him feel far more trustworthy than the timid woman who had been there just moments before.

"Velia gave me only minimal details yesterday when I spoke to her. She was unwilling to even commit to whether the wolf was male of female. The level of detail she gave today was nonexistent before. Maybe she was just hysterical, but I think she might have been being intentionally misleading me." Junayd summarized his thoughts. "While I don't think she lied exactly just now, I think she was trying to make herself look innocent when she was not."

"Do you think she wanted Colvyr to be killed?" Aurora's voice caught in her throat.

"What I think does not matter," the charming man answered with a smile. Then his smile faded. "If she did help them, whoever they are, then Velia is guilty whether or not she wanted to harm anyone. But to answer your question, I do not think she wanted harm to come to Colvyr. If Velia wanted to kill the prince, she could have done it much more directly and made it look like an accident or natural causes. Please forgive this old fool's morbid words," he added as he viewed the shock on the Empress's face.

Aurora shook away her astonishment. "No, no. I deem your assessment accurate. There are easier ways to end the prince's life if Velia wished for it to happen. So the question becomes, what do we do about her? There is a chance she is still innocent."

"I will do some digging into the young woman's background. We vet all palace staff quite thoroughly so she must not have had any problems herself before. But perhaps she has a family or friend influencing her."

"Then we will leave her where she is and keep a close eye on her. Perhaps she can lead us to who is behind this...or be proven innocent. Either way, Colvyr is going nowhere near her until we leave."

Agreeing with their ruler, the Council made plans before dismissing for the day. Everyone was running on nerves knowing that their could be a wolfish monster waiting around any corner. Fortunately none seemed to materialize as the men left the safety of the meeting room.

Aurora caught Zan's attention before he left. "I don't suppose you have heard from the land of magic about the upcoming journey?" she asked when they were alone with Devrim.

"No Your Majesty," the Chief answered. The Guardian and the Queen Mother Lanassa occasionally exchanged message balls as well as letters.

"Me either... Don't look at me like that! I know nothing should arrive until at least tomorrow. I am just anxious to get Colvyr to safety." Aurora's heart was gripped by her near helplessness to protect the child from the unknown enemy.

"I know, Your Majesty. We will all do our best to protect him. I will begin to prepare the 'traveling party' in case we are able to leave earlier." Zan assured her.

Aurora's mouth curved up into a half smile. "About the traveling party...I think we will be having an extra guest with us on the journey. I hope you understand."