ARCHIE   

It was finally the day for Charles' annual ball. He has always sent me an invitation each year, so I wasn’t surprised when I received an invitation card three days earlier. I was surprised that I had received two invitation cards with a brief note asking me to bring Eve along. I had pondered on why Eve was invited but concluded he was just being respectful to me. I had never taken an apprentice before, so I did not know how he would treat them. Other promising apprentices must have been invited as well. She seemed excited by the invite and had spent the whole day shopping for the right dress together with her friends. At least she was having a good time.

    We arrived at the ball a few hours late, but I still took Eve around with me to exchange pleasantries. She needed to socialize with as many elite people as she could. It would be helpful for her career. She was doing just fine with the connections she had made on her own already, but this was his Lieges ball. Only the elites of the elites were invited, nothing close to her usual circle. She plastered a fake smile on her face and went along with me as I introduced her to my fellow invited guests. I knew how she felt about the Royals, that was why I had been surprised by her enthusiasm to attend the ball but watching her trying to leave a good impression on these people, I realized she had come for the same reasons I was showing her around; making connections.

   The curious stares she received were not lost on me. They had better be staring because she looked very beautiful in the dress she was wearing or we were going to be having problems. She seemed oblivious to the stares but I knew her enough to know she noticed. She notices everything. She must have just learnt to deal with it, as she dealt with everything else.

    I ushered her to the bar and left for a few minutes to use the restroom. On returning, she was surrounded by a few people. She seemed to genuinely enjoy their company, so I didn’t interrupt. After all, she has proven on too many occasions that she could take care of herself.

     It didn’t go unnoticed that she was the only young apprentice present. I sighted a few members of some sect families more prestigious than mine, but their apprentices or heirs were nowhere in sight. The only heirs present were those of the royals probably because this was a royal ball. People like me were just privileged to be invited.

    Why had his Liege sent her an invitation? I had thought it was out of respect for me, but I wasn’t so sure anymore.

     More worrisome was the fact that Megan was present. I had expected her to be, but after the knowing glare she had given me, I could only suspect she was up to no good. It’s been a week since I visited Charles to make a complaint, but up till now, nothing had been done. I had expected her to be summoned for questioning the very next day and was very disappointed when she wasn’t. It was only confirming my suspicions that his liege was already in the know of what was going on. After all, they were a couple. Should I have gone directly to the general council? That seemed like the better option now that nothing was obviously been done to Megan. The glare she had given me earlier was way too intense. I suspected Charles had informed her of my visit. It was best to stay away from her for now.

    Eve suddenly walked up from behind me. She had company with her, a pretty young lady and Prince Luke. He looked so alive and well, you would never believe he was as good as dead a couple months ago.

    “This is Prince Luke and his sister Princess Isabella,” she said, introducing her companions.

    “Lord Archie,” Luke greeted, extending his hands for a handshake. They were way younger than me, so a handshake was an appropriate form of greeting for my title.

    “You look so much better young prince,” I replied, returning his handshake. I exchanged handshakes with the princess as well, and we soon began conversing about the weather.

    “Archie! You finally arrived” Charles said as he walked towards us with Megan beside him.

    His voice was so loud, it drew attention to my little group. Why did he have to be with Megan? I had been trying to avoid her.

    “My liege,” I said.  

I gave a quick bow, my companions did the same.

    Charles gave me a brief hug before turning his attention to Eve. He hadn’t even paid the prince and princess any mind.

    “You must be Evelyn. I have heard so much about you.”

    She seemed shocked that he had directly addressed her. I heard the gasp from onlookers as well. Had he asked me to invite her for his personal reasons? What did he want with her?

    “My Liege, I’m honoured,” she said with her head bowed.

   Megan's expression was murderous. She wasn’t pleased with Charles's sudden interest in Eve, neither was I.

    “My Liege,” I said, trying to draw away his attention from her.

    He ignored me completely and offered his hand to Eve and asked for a dance. Did he just ask her for a dance? She gasped in shock before covering her mouth with both hands. Giving a morphed apology she ran in the general direction of the restroom. Was she about to throw up?    

    “Did I scare the poor child?” Charles asked aloud, looking intrigued.

    “The offer must have been a surprise to her my Liege,” I replied grateful for the turn of events.

    “I'm afraid we have more surprises, 10^th healer?” Megan said, speaking up for the first time.

    “What do you mean?” I replied.

    Charles glared angrily at her, signalling his disapproval, but she ignored it and stepped away from him

    “How hypocritical of you to say that after what you did.”

    Charles glanced around to see if anyone had seen Megan disrespect him. They had. Their brief exchange had been on full display. He turned back to me with a diplomatic smile on his face. I knew that smile. He was pissed.

    “What are you accusing me of this time, Megan?”

    “Theft” she replied.

    So, Charles had told on me. I was in so much trouble now. An accusation of theft was pretty serious. If she had any proof that I stole from her, which I did, my reputation would be ruined.

    “That is a serious crime you accuse me of. I let it slide the last time in council. Is this how you express your gratitude, by making another false accusation?”

    The scene had attracted an audience who gathered around us, with varying expressions of shock and dismay on their faces. Was it Megan’s plan to humiliate me publicly?

    “1^st healer, you know the consequences of making false accusations. Explain your actions.” the 1^st leader ordered inserting herself into the conversation. Her two daughters and a few other leaders at the council stood beside her.

When had they all got here? This was bad, really bad.

    “I have proof,” Megan replied.

She gestured with her hands and someone was dragged in. We were at the top of the gallery so it would take them a few minutes to get to us, but I could see it was Robert. I didn’t have to see his face to know that. I glanced at Charles briefly and he avoided my gaze. That was all I needed to confirm that he had told on me. How could he? I came to him out of respect for our former friendship. I felt it wouldn’t be proper to report his woman to the council without informing him first. But I had been wrong. He had collected the evidence and most likely handed it over to Megan.

    The leaders were present. It would be impossible for Robert to deny his involvement with me if he was questioned. Besides, Megan wouldn’t choose such a place to make a scene if she wasn’t certain she had everything under control. Robert must have already confessed. He was badly bruised. This was the perfect way to humiliate me. It would definitely make the headlines by tomorrow morning.

    I kept my expression as neutral as possible. Looking guilty would mean I was admitting to the crime. I couldn’t afford to do that. How do I get out of this mess?

    Someone suddenly bumped into the guards as they approached. I looked closer and sighted a very familiar red bun. It was Eve. What was she doing? The alteration lasted a few seconds as Isabella ran over to pick her up from the floor where she had fallen. She looked really confused as Isabella carried her away. Everyone turned their gaze back to me soon enough. The brief scene had only been a minor distraction.

    The guards finally arrived and Robert was thrown to the floor mercilessly. He gave a painful grunt upon landing, but lay very still. If I hadn’t heard his grunt, I would have thought he was dead.

    “This is your proof? He is barely alive,” I shouted, infuriated. How could she hurt Robert like this? 

    “You seem to care so much for this thing Archie, do you recognise it?”

    “Of course,” I replied. “He was once a member of my household.” I couldn’t lie in front of the Leaders. Thankfully, the answer to that question wasn’t so implicating.

    “He just admitted his connections with this thing, 1^st leader,” Megan said with a wicked grin on her face.

    “That wasn’t an admission of a crime, Megan. For your own good, I hope you aren’t wasting our time and disrupting this beautiful ball with this mess on baseless theory such as this,” the 1^st Leader chided.

    “This parasite have admitted to being the 10^th healer’s little thief when I questioned it,” she replied defensively.

    “Then we will have it speak,” the 1^st Leader responded.

    The entire hall went silent as everyone waited patiently to hear what Robert had to say. I glanced upwards towards the ceiling briefly, then glared at Megan. She had a huge grin on her face. I looked away immediately. She had really got me this time and had gone out of her way to have as many witnesses as possible.

    “Parasite, what have you done?” the 1^st leader asked.

    Robert remained silent. Poor man, with what had been done to him, he could barely move more so speak.

    “Compel it,” the 1^st Leader ordered her eldest daughter.

    This was bad. Compulsion was the scariest gift the Leaders possessed. It’s what had earned them their position as second in command to the royals. They could compel you to speak the truth. It was different from detecting lies because that only involved reading your pulse to gauge when it was behaving abnormally. I was told that the truth had a certain pulse range. Under compulsion, you would be forced to answer whatever question was asked truthfully. It was impossible to fight it. The only time a compulsion could be resisted was if the person being compelled was stronger than the compeller. The royals were naturally immune to compulsion, they were the only exception to the rule.

    “I stole it” Robert admitted.

    Lady Arya gave me a snide glance then continued her questioning.      

    “Who ordered you to?” she asked

    “No… one my Lady, no one. I needed some money, so I stole it to exchange it for some cash” he replied.

    Wait a minute, this wasn’t right. I ordered him to steal those documents.

    Megan staggered backwards in shock. She glanced at me accusingly before shaking her head aggressively

    “That’s impossible. It can’t be. It’s lying” she screamed hysterically.

    “Just shameless! How dare you imply my compulsion was ineffective stupid woman” Lady Arya chided

    “No, no, no, you don’t understand,” Megan insisted. “He has already admitted it to me”

    Poor Megan. She looked so confused. I was just as confused, but I kept my expression neutral.

    “Am not surprised it did,” lady Arya’s younger sister chimed in, “just look at what you did to it, it would admit to any crime just so you could leave it alone. You know very well it’s impossible to lie under compulsion or has your foolishness gotten to your brain”

    “That’s enough!” Charles said. He had been quiet the entire time.

    He met my gaze for the first time, then turned over to the Leaders. “The misunderstanding has been cleared already. There will be no more drama.”

    “My Liege, aren’t you curious to know what was even stolen,” the 1^st leader asked

    “There would be no word on this incidence anymore. No one will speak of this in and out of this hall ever,” He said in a loud authoritative voice. Everyone got the memo and dispersed.

    “Archie, this is just a little misunderstanding. You would not take it to heart”

    So he was protecting her. I wasn’t stupid enough to push my luck.

    “Of course, my liege. I was shocked she would accuse me of such a thing.  I’m just grateful I have been vindicated from all of this.”

    Turning to the leaders, I gave them a slight bow then then glanced at Megan. The poor woman was still in shock. I glanced down at Robert who lay lifeless on the ground. He needed to be treated immediately. I could sense he was dying.

    “Take this parasite to the harvesting grounds,” Charles ordered, disrupting my line of thoughts.

    “My liege, please show mercy,” I pleaded.

    “I won’t have you beg for it.  It admitted to stealing from its owner, it will die.”

    “But...”

    Suddenly, the sound of something crashing caught my attention. I traced the source of the sound to a little group not too far away from us. To my dismay, Eve was at the centre of the group. Isabella held her up with a worried expression on her face as a couple more people fanned her.

I ran over to them immediately. “What happened?”

    “She suddenly collapsed,” Isabella replied frantically.

 I checked her pulse. It seemed fine. She must have fainted out of shock.

    “Take your ward home. She must have been frightened by all of this,” Charles said, coming from behind me.

    I glanced back at Robert one last time, then did as I was told.

    This was all my fault. I shouldn’t have gotten him involved in the first place. Now, I was the reason he was going to be killed.