Gems (3)

What exactly Terrell could do to them was exhibited very shortly when the next day, Marc, Marie, Owen, Sofia, Giselle, and Vin were all assigned work that would put them in separate faraway locations all over the continent. It was extremely rare for everyone in the inner circle to be away from the capital at the same time.

Marc was furious as he stormed into Terrell's palace room.

"I know you were the one who did this," Marc slammed Terrell's door shut.

"Calm down, little brother," Terrell smiled genially, "you left me with no choice."

"He is going to die if nobody's there to take care of him," Marc hissed.

"You can leave him in my custody," Terrell said, "I'll keep him alive."

"And that's about all you'll do," Marc shouted, "don't you have any sympathy."

"For a terrorist, not really," Terrell said dryly. "But out of great love and care for my little brother, I could let you be the terrorist's keeper if you agree to my terms."

"What do you want?" Marc slumped into one of the chairs in Terrell's sitting room.

"First, you'll let me attach a tracking spell to him," Terrell said.

"But-" Marc started to protest. They wouldn't be able to keep him at Vin's anymore.

"Second, he will have two weeks to recover before I expect to see him earning his keep, or we can reenact Henley's performance."

Marc kicked the floor. "What did you have in mind for his assignment?"

"We could send him to assassinate Dullahan," Terrell shrugged.

"There's no way he's capable of that yet," Marc disagreed.

"I really don't care what he does as long as it either brings results or kills him," Terrell said.

Marc paused as he thought of something that Terrell would approve of. "Look," Marc explained, "we discovered that Dullahan is collecting gems to repair a divine dagger. Theo would be able to retrieve the pieces that are still missing."

"I could have someone else do that," Terrell said with a shrug.

"But Theo's already shown he can," Marc argued, "He's retrieved three out of eight, and there's one that we only still have because he tipped me off."

Terrell fixed an eye on Marc, "Exactly how important are these gems?"

"Dullahan's been obsessed with them, which is enough for me," Marc said.

"Fine," Terrell agreed. "I'll agree to let Theo of Dullahan work on that for now." Terrell stood and escorted his younger brother to the door. "I expect to see Dullahan this evening if you want some of those assignments to change."

Marc bid his brother farewell with a curse before he made his way to Vin's house, where the others were waiting. Since the sofa was the only piece of furniture in Vin's sitting room, they were all sitting on a rug. Their faces were etched with worry as Marc slammed the front door behind him. The slam of the front door was enough to briefly wake Theo. Scourge nudged himself under Theo's hand when he realized his human was awake. Theo's hand twitched in an attempt at a pat.

"Terrell is going to make us let him put a tracking spell on Theo, or we will have to abandon him," Marc announced.

Theo smiled thinly, and Marie moved to feed him a potion as soon as she realized he was awake. Theo passed back out before he could finish the vial. Marie sighed and corked the remainder.

"He obviously can't survive by himself yet," Vin said.

"Do we have any other options?" Sofia asked. "Could we just hire someone to take care of him?"

They exchanged glances. There was just too much risk of Theo bleeding.

"A civilian can't take care of him when he's unconscious," Marie said. "There's just too much risk of disaster from even the tiniest cut. It has to be a mana-user at our level to care for him."

"I can't think of anything," Marc said as he sank to the floor, sitting cross-legged. "And Terrell's within his political power to influence our assignments."

"I could kill Henley," Marie growled. The others murmured their emphatic agreement. The feeling was universal.

"At least your brother didn't ask for an oath," Giselle said. "That would feel excessively cruel."

"Well, we'll have to move him," Marc announced. "If Terrell's going to track him, it would reveal your home for no reason, Vin."

"Where will we keep him?" Vin asked.

"We might as well put him in my rooms at the palace if Terrell's going to be keeping an eye on him," Marc said. "I've already ordered the maids to leave my quarters alone since I'm never there anyway. I'll just act like I'm moving back in because of the fire and tell them I've gotten used to the privacy of taking care of myself."

"And my rooms are the next ones over," Sofia added, "So I can help keep an eye out."

"Now, how do we move him to the palace without him being seen?" Marc asked.

The group settled on folding Theo into a trunk they could carry into the palace. Marc would pretend that the trunk was his belongings that survived the fire if asked.

The trip went surprisingly smoothly. Marc's townhouse hadn't been a secret from his family, so the staff was already alerted that he would return to the palace as his primary residence.

"Little Markel!" One of Marc's older brothers greeted Marc with a slap on the shoulder as they approached his rooms. "Glad you're finally moving back in."

Marc rolled his eyes at Roland. The brothers were both blond and had brown eyes, but that was where the resemblance ended. Roland was a swordsman sans magic and had the build of an ox.

"I'll see you at dinner," Marc firmly brushed his older brother aside as he attempted to follow the group inside Marc's residence.

"I know it's good to have space of your own when you're young, but the palace is the best place for a royal," Roland chuckled. "Mother is going to be so relieved."

"Nice to know you are all concerned about my home burning down," Marc muttered as he swung the door to his rooms closed.

Vin and Sofia shared pointed looks and a silent argument while Marc and Marie worked on pulling Theo out of the trunk and setting him on the sofa. Scourge had quietly clung to Theo's chest during the move.

"Your home is magnificent," Scourge's eyes were wide as saucers as he took in all the gold furnishings of Marc's palace quarters.

"My home is hectic," Marc grumbled, "my siblings are a bunch of politically-obsessed headaches."

"With the exception of me," Sofia added. "Marc and I are the only ones who have given up on the system."

Word always traveled fast in the palace, and it wasn't long before Terrell showed up with a scroll in hand. Marc quickly signaled for Scourge to hide before he let Terrell in. The tiny dragon listened quickly. He had been more obedient than usual since they had started healing Theo. On the other hand, Terrell was met with stoic glares from all the humans in the room.

"No need to be so serious, everyone," Terrell met their glares with a practiced smile, "this is for the good of the kingdom."

Terrell pressed the scroll to Theo's hand and spoke a few practiced words. A seal was seared onto the back of Theo's hand when the spell was complete, and the scroll crumpled into dust. Theo twitched but didn't wake. Terrell winced as the magic took place. Tracking spells drained mana, and the drain would only get greater the farther the two people were apart. It was the reason Dullahan had relied on oaths without the use of a tracking spell.

"Mana hit you a little hard, big brother?" Sofia asked sweetly.

"I have plenty of reserves to deal with it," Terrell sniffed. "And it's worth it to keep track of someone this notorious."

"Great," Marc said, "now keep your end of the deal."

"Consider it done," Terrell flashed one last smile as Marc escorted him out the door.