Both men jumped up and ran to the stairs and up the two flights, only to find a crowd at the door to Tamlin's room and frantic pounding from the other side. Alberic pushed his way through. “Who is pounding in there?”

“LET ME OUT!” was the answer from inside the room.

“Why?” Alberic tried to ask in a calm voice.

“LET ME OUT!”

“Why, Tam? Why do you need to get out?”

A sob sounded from the other side. “I don't know!”

Alberic cringed. He couldn’t stand Tamlin crying. He dug the key out of his pocket and gestured to Neil to help cover the doorway against escape. As soon as the lock turned, the door swung open into the Prince's face and he saw stars for a moment and was only vaguely aware of a struggle near him. Then an arm grabbed his, and dragged him inside the suite. He leaned against the door both to regroup and to shut it.

He looked up to see Tamlin flying straight at his face, probably intending to pound on the door again, but he was in the way. He grabbed her wrists after only a few blows and managed to push her back and into a chair.

She looked awful, her hair a mess, her gown in tatters, and her hands wrapped in ragged, bloody bandages. Tears ran down her face even as she struggled against him.

“Oh, this has got to stop.” Alberic swore quickly and put as much of his weight as he dared into keeping Tamlin pinned down, and asked the harried-looking maid to fetch both Kerin and something that would act as a sedative.

Neil was standing nearby looking awkward. “Should I leave, sir?”

“I might need your help, why do you want to leave? She's in no condition to trick you into marriage at the moment,” his boss answered.

“No, Sir. But she's still a maiden and I am not family.” Neil answered uncomfortably.

Alberic glared at him over his shoulder. “Oh for... walk towards the door very very slowly then, and stop when Kerin comes in and can be a chaperone. Do not actually get to the door and leave me in here alone.”

Kerin arrived with another woman in tow, and they took advantage of Alberic's temporary control of his sister to force a putrid looking drink down her throat. Alberic almost cried to see his sister treated so, but she looked exhausted and he couldn't think of any other way to keep her from hurting herself. Finally he felt her relax and stepped back himself.

Kerin caught him and wrapped her arms around him. “She'll sleep for a while. True sleep, not a drunken stupor. Tabis is the midwife and herbalist. We have been working on a new mix that should keep her calmer, hopefully without doing more harm than good.”

“Thank you.” He turned to nod to the other woman as well, then turned back to Kerin. He resisted the urge to fall on her and cry. “I think my plans for the day just changed. I need this sorted out sooner than later.”

“Where will you start?” his fiancé asked.

The prince sighed. “I guess I'll start with talking to the wizard. If nothing else I can make sure he doesn't let anyone ELSE fall under this spell.”

The wizard was curled up under the magic rose bush, sleeping. At first, Alberic stared in horror, thinking the spell had gotten to the wizard too. He most definitely was not going to kiss him! Then he decided to give the man a kick just in case, and the wizard came awake with a snort.

“Ah. Your Highness, good morning,” the rumpled looking man muttered.

Alberic scowled. “Did you sleep out here all night?”

“I must have,” the wizard replied, picking twigs and leaves from his robe.

“Do you know anything more about the spell?”

The wizard nodded happily. “I know it puts princesses to sleep!”

“I already knew that! Do you know how to break the spell? Can I just cut this blasted thing down? Can you wake the victims? Can you stop my sister from killing herself to get to it?” Alberic yelled in frustration.

“I know it's a witch spell, not a wizard spell.”

The prince bit back another rude answer. “So you can't do anything about it?”

The wizard looked thoughtful. “I could probably blow it up? Or I could mix a potion so your sister can't move...”

Alberic stared in horror for a moment at the thought of letting this man give his sister a potion like that. “No need for that!” he inturupted. “Kerin has it in hand. We haven’t decided if it's safe to blow it up yet. With the way my week is going, it would shatter into a million pieces and each piece would regrow to a new bush. That would be just typical.”

“Ah. Well, then, I would need to research more to find something else I could do.”

Alberic sighed and started to walk away. He was thinking about finding his favorite couch and laying on it until he rotted. Then he turned back with an idea. “Wizard, can you do a seeking spell? Can you perhaps tell us where the witch whose spell this is, is now?”

“Perhaps?”

“Well, get trying.”

***

The Prince managed to avoid the couch, and sat at his desk to work. He had barely picked up a pen though, when he was interrupted by his father.

“Good morning, son! This is a nice castle you have here!” King Algernon helped himself to a seat at the desk.

“Thank you. You gave it to me.”

“Oh? Well, good job me, then! Working today, are you? With guests?” his father asked.

Alberic fiddled with his pen distractedly. “I need to get things done so I can take off after the wedding. Where you needing anything? The staff was supposed to see to anything you wanted during your stay.”

“Nah, I'm fine.” Algernon settled himself comfortably. “Your lady Kerin came around last night for a chat. Nice girl.”

“Thank you,” Alberic answered again. “You've known her for twenty years. I'm glad you like her though.”

His father nodded knowingly. “She and your mother talked the most. About you, mostly. She seemed a bit stressed. Are you treating her right?”

Alberic sighed. He knew Kerin was stressed with all the chaos, as much as he was, but he needed her too much to let her stop helping. He kept waiting for his father to mention Tamlin, or the locked room with three strange women sleeping in it. He'd have been tempted to ask his father if he recognized any of them, since he had more contact with neighboring royals than Alberic himself did, but if the King didn't even recognize Kerin between one visit and the next, that would probably be wasted effort and more trouble than it was worth.

After a few more minutes of small talk, Alberic decided that his father just wanted to get away from the Queen for a bit, and so returned to work and just let his father talk, only having to occasionally nod or agree with something. In a way, it was relaxing, since it reminded him of his childhood, sitting in his father's office while business was conducted, nominally for the purpose of learning. Once he took advantage of the King's presence to ask for a bit of advice on a land-management issue, and relaxed quite a bit after, making it one of the most productive mornings he’d had in weeks.