Days after Xanthus's coronation, most of the noble guests lingered around to catch a glimpse of the twin princes, or even trying to set tea time with them, seeing that they were favoured by the new King.

Seeing the potential headache this would cause the princes, Xanthus had three people he trusts to be with them consistently: Peiren, Nyna and Pasithea. Of course, this brought up unsavoury rumours of  how the new King wants to make stronger, political ties to the Empire using the princes' marriages to his sister and cousin.

Many had been silently opposed to the idea, though some took pity on the princes as they were being used in a different sense of political hostage.

Though some still thought that it'd be worth it to hold the mixed bloods' hands if it means they can achieve more power.

Urien tagged along the twin princes as they took a walk around the greenhouse, curious as to how they could be calm with all those eyes and whisperings that had reached their ears.

Even if the King had given them leave to roam the castle as if it was their own home, they should at least have some self consciousness about the implications.

"Oh, Lady Pasithea!" Somnus greeted her brightly when they turned around the corner. "What a surprise to see you here."

Pasithea smiled and curtsied before them. "Hello, Your Highnesses. Hello, Sir Urien."

Somnus ditched his two companions to walk up to her faster, making Letum grimace and look at Urien.

"He's infatuated again, isn't he?" Letum asked the older heron. "Why does that fool easily fall in love?"

"Well…we didn't have many young ladies visit us back then, so he didn't have many chances of flirting." Urien sighed. "Don't worry, I told him to be mindful of their positions."

"You really think Somnus would listen to that?" Letum shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder if we were actually triplets, with Somnus devouring our other sibling for him to have quick shifts in personality."

Urien chuckled weakly at that. "I don't think that's possible…more importantly, Your Highness…?"

"Hmm? Yes?"

"You shouldn't talk like a bitter, old man like that. You're young and should experience love at least once or twice in your life."

Letum scrunched up his face as he pointed at Somnus chatting up Pasithea and seemingly having fun discussing the plants in front of them.

"You want me to be like that? No thank you."

"I didn't say you have to flirt like—"

Letum turned away from him, annoyed, and raised his voice to get his brother's attention.

"If you don't have any plans on leaving to look for that wormwood you came here for, I'll go on ahead and look for it instead."

Somnus's shoulders flinched at that as he awkwardly looked back at his younger brother.

"I'll leave it up to you, Let. Don't harvest too much, okay? I'll come find you later."

Letum shook his head in disbelief before turning away, with Urien raising an eyebrow at Somnus. The older prince only made a shoo-ing motion with his hand and the heron sighed heavily as he turned away to accompany the younger prince.

Pasithea watched them go before returning her gaze to the prince before her with a questioning look.

"Why would you need wormwood?"

"It's not what you think." Somnus replied sheepishly. "I am a tea connoisseur and I'm always on the lookout for….ingredients. I've also heard that wormwood can also be used in some kind of medicine."

Pasithea crossed her arms, unconvinced. "It's true that it's used as medicine by the Third Princess to alleviate her gastritis…but one wrong calculation in dosage will result in it becoming poison. I highly doubt you're professionally trained…"

Somnus chuckled at her words. "That's true, I'm not professionally trained like the fancy healers or physicians of the kingdom. However, I do have enough knowledge to pass as one."

He turned to the plant behind him to avoid seeing her frown, a small smile on his lips as he gently touched the tips of the leaves.

"I've heard interesting rumours for the past few days." Somnus said, eager to change the subject. "King Xanthus has finally chosen which Imperial prince he'd like to join his family."

"Didn't I clear that up before?"

"His royal court doesn't seem to be convinced, seeing that the two of us are getting closer and Nyna has loudly proclaimed her love to my brother."

Pasithea grunted in annoyance, making Somnus look back at her in surprise to hear such sound coming from her.

"I'll let you in on a secret." Pasithea told him rather firmly, motioning for him to come closer to her.

Placing her lips close to his ear, she covered both sides of her mouth so that no one else could see what she was telling him.

"Xanthus has been in correspondence with the Empire even before he asked for you to come here. He finally got a response from the Empire after waiting for so long. I guess the Emperor isn't too trusting, especially since it was a message we secretly sent out to him."

Somnus wasn't able to process her words fast, as he got distracted by her closeness, the warmth of her breath against his ear and the light, airy scent of her perfume he recognized as a combination of rose, peony and white musk.

He blinked his eyes multiple times to get his mind back on track, moving away from her as he held his ear, and hoping his face wasn't flushed red.

"How did you…know all that?"

Pasithea stared at him, wondering why he's behaving abashedly when he was so confident back then when he flirted with her.

"As the successor to the Hierophant, Xanthus chose me to be his confidant and advisor instead of the current one." 

"Aren't you…a little too young to be an advisor to the King?"

"What are you talking about? I'm of legal age since last month and I have been doing some administrative work here and there." Pasithea replied, a little offended. "Granted, not many like me as I am not from the main family so my work is a little harder to do but with the new King's backing…"

Somnus ogled at her.

"You're…three years older than me?"

He honestly thought she's the same age as Nyna, who happened to be younger than them by a mere two weeks, seeing that they were candidates at the same time for the successor position.

"You're really focusing on that, out of all things I said?"