Sephia stood. "Your Highness, we need to send the EM now."

Jacob sighed at length, but he got down from the bunk and joined her at the EMS. She started typing out a message to Thornwillow informing him that they had arrived at the inn safely. When she finished she turned the device towards Jacob and he placed his hand on it.

"This is my other specialization," he explained to the indifferent Carter. "Usually these messages get put through to a middleman, who uses electrical magic to direct it through the correct channels. But most royals learn electrical magic on their own, so they can send messages more privately." With this, the machine momentarily glowed blue beneath his hand.

"That's that," he said. "Did you need to send anything else?"

"Yes, Your Grace. Personal."

He nodded, but at that moment the machine buzzed to life once again and began printing a message. Jacob picked it up once it finished.

"It's Thornwillow," he said. "Blah blah formalities, and then he says that the guard getting knocked out at the border is worrying, and he's asking the Mavar Town knight division to go check out the place."

Sephia nodded. "That's good. There's not much else either of us can do for now."

 "Yeah. Okay, do your thing." Jacob turned around and Sephia began typing again, this time a message to Atrocia.

A moment later, the advisor's reply came.

"Glad to hear you made it! How are you holding up?

Also hey, I have a question for you. I'm thinking of getting a new car. What do you recommend?"

Sephia responded:

"I'm fine. As for cars, I recommend a Vetousco. It's cute and has lumbar support on the seats. And it's on sale from 300,000 ferras— only 299,999."

Atrocia's reply:

"Only 299,999?! Wow, that's a great sale. I'll buy ten.

I don't think I'm prepared for the world of cars.

Anyway, your descriptions of your state of being are as in-depth as ever. I'm telling you, Seph, you have to be more open, even if it's just to yourself.

But anyway, safe journeys… and don't slack on the exercise regimen. I'll know if you did!" 

After Sephia finished reading this, Jacob spoke. "I'm starving from using so much magic. Let's get room service."

"Alright," Sephia said. As long as Jacob's face was hidden, it should be fine.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Oshto hadn't returned yet.

It had been something like an hour since he went up to give the "free dinner" to the ambassador and her crony, but he still wasn't back. It was definitely a mystery, but Frey wasn't too worried about him— more so about the plan.

There were arrivals in the lobby. When she heard them, Frey crept closer to the closet door and pressed her ear against it. There was a decent chance that it would be the prince and his companion, so now it was Frey's turn to look out for a chance to land the curse on him.

Her stomach fluttered with sudden anxiety. What if no chance arose? Would she have to attack him directly without Oshto? 

Twenty minutes passed and Frey was starting to give up when she finally heard footsteps coming up the hallway again. It was the desk clerk. Was she going to the kitchen? Frey bit her lip. Or to get something from the closet? 

The footsteps stopped suddenly. Directly in front of the closet. Sweat dripped down Frey's temple, and she resisted the urge to excavate her rifle from the blanket right then and there. She couldn't make a noise. 

The clerk shouted. "Two orders of dinner for room 241!"

"Got it!" shouted back someone from the kitchen.

Pressure lifted from Frey's chest as the clerk walked back to the lobby. Her cover was intact! And the order had been 241! 

Now was her chance. She carefully slung the rifle over her shoulder, exited the closet, and ghosted up the hallway towards the kitchen. The door was closed. She peeked in through the window momentarily, and saw that the head chef and his assistant/delivery boy were hard at work cooking. Two open containers were set up on a tray at the left of the door, as Frey expected from her observations when she and Oshto first entered the inn.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Frey turned the handle on the door. She opened it just a crack, centimeter by centimeter. When she felt she had enough space, she reached for her belt. Attached to this was a roll of extremely thin yet sturdy wire.

Trying not to linger by the opening too much, she identified a good place in the kitchen for a distraction. On the other side of the room was a stack of metal pots. She silently drew out a length of wire, aimed, and tossed it.

Success— the wire twisted itself around one of the pot handles. Frey immediately gave a yank, causing the entire stack to come crashing to the floor. The cook and the assistant jumped and whirled around.

The cook's face relaxed into a frown. "I told you to place those carefully!" He stopped what he was doing and walked over to the mess, starting to pick things up. The assistant sheepishly came over to help.

They were both facing away from the hallway. Frey darted into the kitchen, one curse paper in each hand. She stuck one to the bottom of each container and peeled off the protective wrapping. Now whoever touched them bare-handed would fall victim to it.

Her job done, Frey dashed out the door, and into the open air. Taha and Eve should be waiting for her by now. But still, where was Oshto?

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

A knock came at the door of room 241. Carter and Jacob looked up, the former sitting on the floor, and the latter standing at the window. Sephia went to open the door, and Carter was a bit startled to see a different delivery boy than the one who came last time.

No matter, right? Maybe this inn was just bigger than she thought.

Sephia accepted the two containers, holding them in a stack, hands wrapped around the sides. She thanked the hotel worker and the door shut and the three of them were alone again.

"Hell yeah, let's dig in," Jacob said, walking over and reaching for a container. Carter's stomach flipped. No, I really have to say something. Astrid would think it was dangerous.

"Wait," she said. Jacob froze; he and Sephia looked at her quizzically. "I don't think you should eat those. It could be dangerous. We got room service without even asking earlier today. So… taking that along with… the other suspicious things…"

Sephia tilted her head. "Did Ambassador Faizah agree with this?"

"Yeah." Carter didn't know whether that improved her case or took away from it.

Sephia thought for a moment. "Okay. It's better not to risk it." 

"I agree for now," sighed Jacob. "But I'm going to at least take a closer look, and see if I can get more information."

Carter figured that was fine. She and Astrid had both opened the containers from earlier. It seemed that Sephia thought so too— she extended the containers to Jacob, ready to open hers as well.

Jacob took one, and both of their hands brushed against the bottom of the containers at the same time. And then they both suddenly reeled backwards like they had been hit. Carter stood up, shocked. Sephia put a hand to her face and grimaced, eyes screwed shut. Jacob, on the other hand, dropped the container to the floor with a thud, and went to his knees, face buried in his hands as though he were in intense pain.

"Agh—!!" Rings of electricity crackled erratically around Jacob's body, before fizzling out just as quickly as they had come. 

Sephia seemed to recover from whatever had come over her. She bent down quickly, placing the food on the floor and coming nearer to Jacob. "Your Highness, are you alright?"

"What was that?!" Carter exclaimed. "What happened?"

Jacob lifted his head slightly. His eyes were visible through his bangs and he was taking hard, uneven breaths. Wordlessly, he stretched out his hand and tipped over one of the containers with the edge of his finger. 

Then the three of them saw it— a long piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the bowl. It was blank.

"What is that?" Sephia asked. She turned around and flipped over the other container, revealing the paper underneath that one as well.

"It's a curse," Jacob said, disturbingly quiet. He stood, supporting himself against the wall. "We touched it. They got us."

"What does it do? I feel no different."

"I…" Jacob closed his eyes again, like he was concentrating. "No…"

Sephia reached out, eyes wide, but didn't touch him. "Your Highness? What's wrong?" 

"No… no!!" Jacob was shouting now. He hunched over and dug a hand through his hair viciously. "My clairvoyance, I can't use it. My magic energy was sealed— I can't see anything!!" 

Sephia was taken aback. "Your Highness, please calm down."

"You don't understand, it doesn't matter to you because you don't use magic anyway! To me, it's— I— what am I going to do?"

Sephia dropped her hand to her side, and her expression returned to neutrality.

Carter spoke up. "Hey, shut up. Did you really try everything? What about the electricity thing?" She'd thought of it because of the rings of electricity from earlier. She didn't know enough about magic to tell if it was just a bodily reaction from him to the curse, but she thought he should test out every specialization before concluding that his magic was completely sealed.

She received a momentary glare from Jacob, before he looked away and took a glossy black wand out of his pocket. He aimed it at the flipped-over food container on the floor, and after a second, a blast of blue electricity shot out of the wand and decimated the container.

A wisp of smoke floated into the air. Jacob grinned. "It's not as strong as usual, but…" His voice trailed off and he started waving the wand at various objects in the room. 

"Whoa, are you destroying everything—" Carter said.

But nothing seemed to happen, and Jacob lowered the wand. "Nothing else works. Just the electricity. But…" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Guess my energy was strong enough to hold against the curse that much. Now I just need to kill the scum that activated it." 

He considered the floor for a moment and then continued, deadpan. "This came from the kitchen, so whoever did this is probably still there or leaving or left recently. So—" he darted to the EMS and typed with lightning speed. 

After sending a message, he pulled away and grabbed his cloak from the floor, a ferocious smile on his face. "I told Thornwillow to send the Mavar Town guard here right away, to the back entrance of the inn. They'll find their culprits from earlier."