Chapter 15: Dark Mysteries

Candlelight hugged the dining hall walls, illuminating warmth. Caspian rubbed his hands against his dress pants, complaining, "Why can't we invest in warmth spells? The castle would be much more snuggly, don't you think, Lord Valleric?"

Valleric peered calmly from his seat, hands elegantly working through his evening meal. "Witches would want our wings in exchange for their powers. None of us are exactly prepared to give up our wings, now are we?" he replied.

Caspian reached for his wine in thought, "Do we not remove the wings of our criminals?"

Lady Lavinia shrieked, "That is horrendous! Who came up with that fiendish penalty?"

"I did," said the queen monotoned, lifting a fork to her mouth.

"That is simply unforgivable, don't you think?" snorted Lavinia, pulling her nose up in revulsion. Her reaction earned her a plain look from Riona, who simply raised a brow to question back, "An unforgivable punishment for an unforgivable act? Does that not seem fair?"

"What could be that unforgivable?" challenged Lavinia.

Riona leaned back in her seat, shrugging. "Oh, I don't know. Perhaps assault? Maybe murder? Or even participating in the assassination of a future monarch?"

Lavinia bit her tongue, her eyes staring hard toward Riona, choosing to keep quiet.

Culbert snorted, distracting the new silence. Caspian frowned. "I would have imagined you'd be gone by now. What do you occupy yourself with?" wondered the blond lord in a seemingly bitter manner. Culbert smiled politely, ignoring the etched tone of Caspian. "Actually, I have asked the Queen to be excused, so I shall be leaving in the upcoming two days," he announced. Caspian blinked towards Riona, quite surprised that she had not sent him home earlier but that he had to ask to go home himself. "Do enjoy home," said the blond, with a friendlier voice.

Dinner went rather calmly after that and once the maids started clearing the dishes, Riona stood to excuse her guests.

Just as Caspian stood to retreat to wherever he would go after dining, Valleric snatched his shirt, tugging him to stay seated. "When will you learn to keep your groping hands from me," gritted Caspian, dramatically prying Valleric from his fine silk shirt, "Have you not heard of slipping coded messages into pockets? Or even signaling?"

"You are too daft to notice them," insulted Vally, scanning the room for eavesdroppers. To his luck, lady Lavinia had left immediately once they were excused.

Caspian rolled his eyes. "Admit it, you cannot resist my charm."

"You have as much charm as a cabbage," said Vally, proceeding to wrap a strong hand around the blond's bicep, pulling him towards the doors. Caspian slightly stumbled. "I am not an object to be manhandled!" he gritted, "I can follow all by myself."

Valleric abruptly let the man go. "Fine," he muttered rolling his eyes, "Walk by yourself."

Caspian patted down his shirt as if Valleric had wrinkled it by touch. The blond scowled: "Gladly."

Without uttering another word he obligingly followed the dark haired towards a parlor. The room was warmed by a fire that illuminated the dark leather couches. A fine wool-weaved carpet spread across the cold floor, decorating the tiles with intricate ancient details of folklore stories. Caspian acknowledged the antique piece, admiring, "To think the mountain dwarves laced such pieces of artwork from the fur of incautious beasts. I wouldn't have thought they could with their stubby fingers if I haven't seen these marvelous carpets."

Valleric ignored Caspian's adoration and plopped onto a leather couch, spreading himself comfortably. The blond frowned offended. "So what calls for this meeting?" he questioned, now eager to leave at once.

"I thought of informing you that two of the dangers were already eliminated. Though, I am not convinced that there are not any more intruders in the castle. That awkward silence tonight implied something and I am guessing Lady Lavinia shares a great deal of it."

Caspian took a seat across Valleric, folding his leg over the other. "I suspected Culbert..."

"I did too until Riona killed the maid. It was her who was responsible for the poisoning."

"How do you know these things?" blandly asked the lord, "I deduced that she did it for the thrill of it. Our queen does have the tendency to have bloodthirst episodes."

Valleric was taken aback. "What do you mean by that? She does not, because if she did, I would have known."

Caspian smiled proudly. "At last I know of something you don't. Well, since the death of her brother — I mean Drystan, the queen has been going through a rather dark phase. At times, the town will wake up to find an impaled victim tied to a post. Rumours go around that she kills a criminal at night as a symbol to what will happen to anyone who defies her."

"That does not make sense," said Valleric, "Are you sure that it isn't perhaps someone else who tries to scare her for what happened? Such as a prior follower of the prince?"

"Could be... she does tend to vanish after such occurrences. Maybe to hide then. But, what if it is her who tries to scare off these people rather than them?"

Valleric stayed silent for a moment, contemplating heavily on which one seemed more believable. Caspian cleared his throat, "Riona isn't the best at ruling... I think she can easily be scared into hiding and I assume that could be their way of doing so if we analyse it from this perspective. Maybe that's why she never leaves the castle."

Valleric rubbed his face, an unexplained unease tracing lines of fear over his shoulders. What if it was true? But why didn't he know of such events?

"When did this last happen?" he asked.

Caspian scratched his head, "Quite a while back I suppose. Five months that I can count? Perhaps the issue has been resolved."

"Or perhaps they have found a new way of spiking fear into our queen... They must be the ones infiltrating the castle, which explains why she prefers sleeping in her locked study — she fears being stabbed in her sleep."

Caspian's entire frame slackened. "That is dreadful... Feeling so unsafe between the walls that are meant to keep you the safest..."

"Our queen is used to it though... Nor could she sleep calmly when her brother resided in the same household as her. I -I understand that he sent people to kill her... Later he sent her very best friend to execute her."

"How do you know this?" Frowned Caspian. "That Drystan had multiple assassinations attempted?"

"Because I used to work for Drystan," bluntly revealed Valleric.