Chasing Royalty

3

William continues, “All the proper investigations are being made. Her body will be returned to someone who was connected to her life outside of the castle. Evette did not have any known quarrels with anyone, but she could have easily kept a problem a secret. Her murder might have nothing to do with her castle employment, maybe she offended someone from her home in the city.”

He’s simply trying to make it seem like he has more answers than he does. He doesn’t want us to know he’s failed. He was supposed to keep the castle free of danger.

It’s clear that he’s run out of information to tell us. He’s drawn out the little information he does have as long as he can. I ask, “Is anything known of her family?”

“No, we only know that she lived with someone in the city.”

“She might have been the only source of income of her family. If this is true, we should provide them with some type of income until their finances become stable.” I say.

“We don’t know her home situation.”

“Can’t you ask somebody?” Violette sits up straighter. “One of the kitchen servants must have talked to her before about her life at home. I’m sure if we asked enough people, we would be able to help her family.”

William’s face remains blank, “I suppose I could assign someone to that duty.”

“What about the castle security?” Emilienne says, “Are we going to be employing more guards to the castle or add more shifts? If the murderer came from the city, surely we must make sure our castle walls are more secure.”

“I can assure you that you are not in danger. The guards are the most highly trained soldiers in the kingdom. The death of Evette was likely caused by a quarrel between her and someone else. Our castle will go back to the peaceful environment it has been for centuries.”

Emilienne nods but doesn’t seem convinced.

Maybe William’s not worried about the murderer, because he was the one who killed her. He’s never been very empathetic with us or the servants. But is he capable of murder? How well do I really know William?

“Do you have any other questions or concerns regarding the unfortunate fate of Evette?” William almost seems to be daring us to ask him something.

I take him up on his challenge. “What about the public? Do they know what happened? Will we inform them of anything?”

“They will not be informed of the accident unless rumors begin spreading. Once the murderer is caught, we will have a public trial and inform them of what’s happened.”

Nobody says anything more. William nods tightly, “You may be dismissed.”

We rise, curtsy, and trail out of the door. Violette catches up to me, “I’m going to go to the Sitting Room. The castle musicians are going to play something for me. Would you like to come?”

“Yes, although I’m going to stop by my room first for Grace and my book of poetry. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

We go our separate ways once we reach our sleeping quarters. Grace waits patiently inside, bent over a sheet of music. She smiles at me, “How did it go?”

“William barely knows anything, or at least he’s pretending not to know anything. I tried to find anything self incriminating within his words or emotions, but he was as blank as always.”

Grace shushes me, “Don’t say it out loud anymore. I don’t trust these walls too be thick enough to keep us from listening ears. It hasn’t left my mind since you left and I think we should drop the idea. Simply considering that he would, well…” She sends me a meaningful look, “…could get us executed. We can’t discuss it anymore.”

“But what if he did? We could all be in danger.”

“There are guards everywhere, you’re safe. You should just focus on the competition and let William handle the investigation. We still don’t know the rules of the competition. Give that your focus instead.”

I raise an eyebrow at her, but don’t say anything more. I won’t make any hasty accusations, but that doesn’t mean I’ll forget the idea.

Grace sees the hesitation on my face, “Please?”

“Fine.” I mutter. “We’re going to the Sitting Room. Some musicians are playing for Violette and she wanted me to join her. Would you bring my poetry book for me?”

Grace picks up my poetry book from the corner and follows me out of my room. The Sitting Room was created for the only purpose as a private place for us four princesses to gather. No other royal guests have ever been welcomed inside.

Plush chairs, portraits, and bookshelves line the walls. A small elevated stage sits in the corner with a different group of aspiring musicians every day.

Violette lounges in one of the chairs in the back, staring out the ornate stained glass window. She taps her foot in time to the soft singing voices and soaring instruments. She hears me enter and hops up from her chair.

“Come listen, this song is one of my favorites so far. Do you have any plans for the day?”

“I have some reading that my tutor wanted me to do before I meet with him in the afternoon. Why?”

She takes a deep breath and lowers her voice, “Emilienne and I were talking and…we wanted to revisit the courtyard, you know. Maybe together we would notice something that William missed. He’s an Advisor, not a detective after all. ”

“William wouldn’t…”

Violette interrupts me, “William never specifically said we couldn’t do our own investigations. He said we were completely safe here, so why wouldn’t we be able to revisit that courtyard?”

I nod, “What time?”

“We were thinking immediately after lunch. Would that work for you?”

“Yes, is Alexanne coming?”

“We want her to come, four heads are better than three. We just don’t know how. Her lady in waiting is…”

Alexanne’s lady in waiting, Noelle, is known for being a snitch. Alexanne has been reprimanded for a series of small events that only her lady in waiting would have known about. They were all simple things that were within William’s authority to scold Alexanne for. A stolen pastry there. Not working on her tutoring work when she was commanded to. Staying up late into the night to finish a painting when she needed to be well rested the next day for a public event. Alexanne has tried to dismiss Noelle from her duty, but William won’t let her. He wants Noelle to continue feeding him information on our ill-behaved activities.

We’re all wary of Noelle, making sure she’s gone from the room before we discuss anything. It’s close to impossible to say anything to Alexanne without Noelle listening in.

“I’ll figure out a way,” I promise. “I’ll leave here in a few minutes to try to get her away from Noelle. That’s more interesting than reading this pointless poetry book anyway.”

Violette smiles lightly, changing the topic to more permitted topic. “Beautiful music, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely,” I agree.

We sit down in the chairs and pretend to be the perfect princesses we aren’t.

●◊●◊●

After a few minutes of mindless chatter, I rise. Grace follows after me, “Where are you going?”

“I need to go see Alexanne. You can stay here with Violette.” I continue walking.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I just need to talk to Alexanne about something privately. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

Grace nods and takes a seat by Violette. I hurry to Alexanne’s quarters and stride to her bedroom door. I knock softly.

Noelle pulls the door open a fraction of an inch. “Yes? What do you need, my lady?”

“I need to speak to Alexanne.”

“Um, I’m not sure whether Alexanne is in the mood for conversation. Maybe you could come back at another time?”

I try to peek around her to see where Alexanne is.

“It’s really important. What’s wrong? Is she not feeling well?”

“I’m afraid not. She’s been running a fever. She in constant shivers and can’t focus on a thing.”

“When did this all start? Does she need to see a doctor?” I ask.

“It came on last night, but she insisted on attending the meeting this morning. I made her promise that if her condition continues into the night, we would request some type of medical attention.”

I had noticed that she’d left immediately after the meeting. “Please, I need to talk to her, only for a few minutes. I need to see whether she’s okay.”

“I’m sorry. Alexanne had requested that no one visits her. It could be contagious.”

“I’m not leaving until I see her.” I promise, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Fine. Five minutes.” She swings open the door and I hurry in.

Alexanne lies in her bed, bundled within her blankets. She’s been crying, and her nose and eyes rimmed in red. The dim lighting shines on her pale skin.

She sniffs, “Admira? What are you doing here?”

Noelle stands directly behind me. “It’s private,” I say.

Alexanne’s voice is weak. “Noelle? Would you give us just a couple minutes of privacy?”

“But don’t you want—” Noelle begins.

“No.” Alexanne firmly says. “I’ll be okay for five minutes. Could you get me a pastry from the kitchen?”

Noelle grudgingly curtsies and exits from the room.

“What do you need?” Alexanne seems to be melting into her bed.

“First of all, are you okay? Do you need a doctor?” I question.

“No, I’ll be okay. I think I might be better for lunch.”

“You’re in no condition for lunch. What hurts?”

Alexanne blows her nose into a handkerchief, “I think it must just be a bad stomach sickness. I’ve thrown up a few times, but not in the past hour or so. Noelle thinks I have a fever, though I constantly have the chills. I’m sure it’s nothing too serious.”

I offer her a sympathetic smile, “I hope you start feeling better. If it gets any worse, you need to call a doctor.”

“I’ll have Noelle call one if I need one. What did you need?”

“It was about the murder.”

Alexanne’s eyes widen in fear. “I hate talking about that. It’s terrifying to think that a murderer could be in the castle with us right now and…”

“I know, it’s horrible. Violette, Emilienne, and I are going after lunch to the courtyard where it happened. We thought maybe the four of us would notice something that William might have overlooked. We know this castle better than anyone and maybe we might notice a difference. We were going to ask if you wanted to come, but…”

“I don’t know…William wouldn’t want you to go to the courtyard. ”

“He never specifically banned us from the courtyard. Besides, he doesn’t have to know we went there.”

“Be careful. If you see anything interesting, I want to know.”

I nod as Noelle slips through the door, balancing a pastry and some tea on a tray. She tries to do it quietly, as if she wanted to sneak in on us. I turn, “Thank you, Noelle, for the privacy. I really hope you feel better.”

I escape from Noelle’s suspicious stare. I revisit Violette in the Sitting Room.

Violette asks, “What’d she say?”

“She’s sick. She was stuck in bed with a horrible stomach sickness. She says there’s no need to call a doctor—”

“Isn’t that just like Alexanne?” Violette smiles.

“Exactly like Alexanne. If she isn’t better by tonight, I’m going to call the doctor myself. She can’t come to the courtyard today, but she wants to know if we find anything.”

Violette nods, “It’s just you, Emilienne, and I searching for a murderer.”