Ch. 7: Deception Pt 2

"How did you get into that cell?" She flicked idly at the sword against her throat, making a light ringing noise.

"You should know. You led me into that portal." He pressed the sword harder against her throat.

"And you saw my face when I led you to that portal, right? You should know by now that I love to taunt when I have the advantage." Like she was doing now. As he thought back on it, he realized that she was right. He hadn't seen her head at all that day, just her shirt, right up until the moment that she had confronted him in the courtyard. He had followed a decoy.

"So you didn't lure me here personally. What does that prove?" The sword at her neck didn't waver. He wasn't fooled by her words.

"So let's keep going. How did you manage to escape the cell?" She asked.

"The guard left the key in the keyhole."

"That's protocol. Strange that the enchantment disappeared right after I left with your void-enchanted sword, right?" She taunted.

"There was an enchantment on the cell? You nullified it with my sword… But how?" It didn't matter. He didn't have time for most of the thousand questions going through his brain.

"None of this proves that you didn't take the Stone, and it doesn't explain what you were doing in Ortain." He told her.

"I did take credit for the theft publicly, but that would make for three teleportations in one day, you know. All of them would be long range, and at least two of them would have needed to have been forced, and right now only Royals are allowed to traverse worlds, since it's not stable or safe." Two long range forced teleportations and one prepped would make anybody seriously ill, no matter how strong they were. She wouldn't be standing.

"What do you mean 'traverse worlds?'" He asked.

"You're really far from home. It takes a special person to be able to go that far, even by teleportation." There was obviously a lot more to it, but they didn't have time. He filed the question away for later.

"Fine, but if you didn't take it, then why were you in Ortain?" She crossed her arms and leaned her head further against the wall, showing more of her neck and getting comfortable. "I've got two reasons for that. The public here fears me, a lot. It's good PR if I take credit for the theft." Then she muttered, "Even if it was botched."

"And the second reason?" He asked.

"You. I was to lure you in Sennil, too, but I didn't feel like getting sick." He could tell that she was lying about her reasons, she had already proven herself too tough to back down for a reason like 'fear of getting sick,' but he respected that her reasons were her own.

"Okay, but even if you are telling the truth, how do you expect me to be able to trust you?" It seemed to him that she had chosen to release him from a prison that she had placed him in. Since she didn't seem to be the type to act out of regret, it was obvious that she had ulterior motives.

"You can't trust me. Frankly, I can't trust myself, but I don't steal things that mean that much to people, and I definitely do not mess up." Adrian dropped the sword point from her neck to her breastbone, but she grabbed it, purposely cutting her hand.

"What?" He exclaimed, surprised.

"I don't steal personal items, and I would never be dumb enough to cut myself on your father's balcony, like the real thief did, which you would know if you went home. I have some pretty special blood, for future reference." She showed him the cut on her hand, a white slime welled in the cut and stained the pitch black blade. It was an even brighter white than her skin, which looked like it had only seen the sun once in her life.

"Your blood is white. It's like mine." He realized.

"Technically, it's the exact opposite from yours. The rightful ruler of Uriah has black blood, while Royal Vampires get white blood."

"That doesn't prove anything right now, but you are the only reference point I have, so I'm going to choose to believe what you're telling me. Where is the Stone?" He asked.

"Have you tried the river? There are usually quite a few rocks near it." She taunted.

"Stop messing with me and tell me what I want to know."

"But messing with you is so much fun!" She teased.

"We don't have much time. Do you have some sort of death wish?" He asked, annoyed.

"Absolutely." She licked blood off of her palm. Surprisingly, the wound was already half-closed. Then, she slammed her hand into the flat on the blade and used the momentary confusion to swiftly break his grip and flip the sword into her own grip. She did it so easily that it was fairly obvious that she could have done it at any time. She lowered the sword point to the ground.

"I don't like having weapons pointed that close to me, though. As for the Kingstone, my gather is never going to keep it in one place. It probably left the city the moment that you were captured, or soon after. Tracking it by ourselves isn't going to be possible. Unfortunately, our problem right now actually outweighs getting that rock. We have far bigger problems." She strode past him and started digging through the drawer.

"Nothing means more than that stone." She tossed him his sword.

"Thank you. Your sword's pretty nice." He told her. She pulled out the purple armor piece by piece.

"It's called Darkreina. It's basically the exact opposite of yours, equally high quality. That's why it feels so comfortable." She explained. She tossed him the other set of armor.

"Are you sure this will fit?" He asked.

"I stole it from your castle, so I'm fairly certain that it will." She said, shutting the drawer. She grabbed the bag of money from the dresser and tossed it to him.

"Get dressed, I'll be right back." She headed for the bathroom, but Adrian grabbed her arm.

"Rosemary, what problem do we have that could be bigger than the Stone?" He asked. She looked at his hand until he removed it from her arm.

"Rosy. Just call me Rosy, and I didn't exactly mean bigger, I meant more immediate."

"Okay, Rosy, what are you talking about?" Rosy met his gaze.

"Your sister. The longer she's here, the more likely that she will end up dead." He didn't question Rosy, despite the hundreds of questions bouncing around in his head. He dressed as quickie as he could, but he was still fumbling with the chestpiece when Rosy burst through the door, messing idly with the knife from the drawer, which had its own sheath half-hidden in her left sleeve, She was flipping it out and back in with practiced ease.

"Those clasps are hard to do yourself. You want help with it?" She asked.

"I don't think I'm ready to trust you near my spine with a blade yet." He told her. She shrugged and strode to her desk. While he finished adjusting the straps, she took a quill and wrote something on a piece of parchment, then she opened the secret drawer, put the paper inside, and locked it back up. She replaced the key around her neck.