EVE

“THE 10^TH HEALER HAS BEEN APPOINTED THE NEW HEAD OF THE CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT,” was on the headline of the papers the next morning. That included the breeding, birthing and children's hall.

    I handed the paper back to Miranda after reading the headline out loud. She had rushed into my room together with the twins in the early hours of the morning, waking me up with the news. This was the very next day after the ball.

    So, this was his liege’s way of punishing Megan for the little stunt she pulled last night. I had to give it to him. He was classy, very classy indeed.

    “Tell us all about what happened last night,” Claire said, drawing closer. “We heard his liege offered to have a dance with you, but you ran away.”

    I wasn’t surprised they heard about that. Gossip travelled fast around here, but I was certain they knew nothing about what really happened last night. No one would dare say a word about it after his Liege’s warning. Because they kept pressing me for information, I told them everything that had happened, leaving Megan's incident completely out of my narration.

    “I can’t believe I’m friends with a celebrity,” Miranda said.

    She looked genuinely excited about my story. If only she knew.

    “Try not to throw up next time,” Claira chimed in.

    “I doubt there would be a next time,” I said. We all laughed at that.

    There was a knock on the door, then Archie walked in.

    “Congratulations on your new appointment Lord Archie,” Miranda said as the other girls just beamed at him

    “Thank you, Miranda. Eve, can I have a word with you?” he asked.

    I followed him outside completely ignoring the curious glances the girls were giving us.

    “I would be gone for a couple of days,” he said

    “Is this about your new appointment?”

    “Yes. A lot of things need to be taken care of before I am sworn in,” he explained.

    I nodded in understanding. “How do you think Megan is going to react to this? She was the former head”

    “I do not know, that is why you would stay away from her at least until I get back”

    Why was he being so paranoid?

    “Sure, why not,” I replied.

    “I would like to take a reading of your source when I return if you don’t mind”

    What was this all about? He wanted another reading. Did this have anything to do with what I had done to Robert? Was he still blaming me for what had happened to Robert? He couldn’t be serious. If I hadn’t overhead their discussion from the library and done what I did, he would be in so much trouble right now. He was the one to blame for this because he had the opportunity to clean up loose ends but chose not to. How could he have possibly thought Megan wouldn’t discover something of hers had gone missing?

    “I mind. Do I have a choice?”

    He went quiet for a minute, a pensive expression on his face

    “No,” he replied decisively.

    If only he had been this decisive about Robert, that poor man would not have had such a horrible end.

    “Sure whatever,” I replied dismissively.

    Now I would be tensed up until he returned. I had developed a phobia of having my source read after the drama it earned me three years ago, and Archie was very aware of that. Why was he asking to have another reading all of a sudden? Only the gods knew what my results would be this time.

    I turned away from him angrily and stumped back to my room. Maybe I should have just let Robert spill the beans. That way, none of this would be happening.

    After my encounter with the monster in the woods, I wanted to find some information on what it was so I went to the library. How was I supposed to know he was going to meet with Robert at the same time? I have never heard of anything like what I saw that night. I hadn’t even imagined something like that existed to begin with. Even if I wanted to lay a complaint to the council, what would I say attacked me? Who would believe me if I said a horned human monster with scales chased me in the woods. I had hoped to find some information about what it was before I told Archie about the incident, but I had found nothing. There was nothing that even came close to the description of what I had seen that night. So, not only could I not find any information about the monster, I also got myself in trouble because of it.