"The human heart is an unsearchable thing... who can fathom it?"

—From the Moonstone,
By Wilkie Collins

SUPPER WAS A TENSE AFFAIR. That tension was aggravated by the clank of iron chains as he ate, the length of it only long enough to allow him to move his fork and knife, both of them encrusted with heavy jewels set into iron: rubies and sapphires--the Dusang colours joined with the Durand ones. He wondered why it would be so; did the Lord Regent consider himself so high and mighty that he would dare to mingle his House with the royal one? Or was it a remnant of that long-forgotten engagement between the Lord Regent's late son and the queen--perhaps a very premature wedding gift?

The queen was seated at the head of the table with the Lord Regent at her right hand, though she looked more likely to stab him than ask him for help. That same guard--the one he suspected of wielding Atlan magic--stood in a corner, stoic and stern. Kaiden sat across from the Lord Regent and next to Holly, who faced a too-handsome Mordanian courtier. She was in chains as well, though hers were lighter, looking as if they could be jewelry.

He shivered, noting that the torches were out and instead the room was illuminated solely by the light of the moon and stars that poured in through the windows; that was likely a side effect of Holly's presence, seeing as she could probably manipulate the fire and burn the entire castle down or at least cause considerable damage. Kaiden knew her little packet of vials and herbs had been confiscated--the thought rankled him, as if they were misbehaving schoolchildren--but he also knew that she was deadly in other ways. It was that capability that he had always drawn him to her.

"King Kaiden," the queen said, swirling her goblet of wine in one hand, the gold standing out against her pale skin. Dark circles shadowed her eyes though her cheeks were bright with colour; he'd seen his own mother in a similar state of intoxication enough times that the sight was familiar to him. "Tell me, how has your stay here been so far?

 Her voice was clear, not a word slurred, but there was a feverish gleam in those green eyes that bothered him. The usually composed, cold, and poised woman seemed... warmer. But hardly in a good way--more like magical fire, the kind that burned too hot because some young magic-wielder could not control it. Fire that blazed out of control and threatened to engulf anyone and everything around it. 

"Well, it could have been a tad more hospitable," he muttered and heard Holly chuckle, the sort of practiced noise that she pulled out like a weapon, like a shield against ridicule and social alienation. "I personally feel your dungeons could use some improvement. These chains are a touch heavy."

"Are chains meant to be light, then, Thorne?" Jovana volleyed the retort back at him with barbs. "In your nation, do prisoners sleep on feather beds and wear bracelets rather than shackles?"

He was silent. Kaiden honestly had not gone back to the solitary, empty castle in a great deal of time. He had not seen his family in five years, since he was eighteen and had been given freedom until his father's death and his inheritance of the crown. Then, he had been able to wander anywhere he wished... with anyone he wished. Because being at home would be a different kind of cage: power, duty, responsibility. He would have to marry whomever the crown deemed necessary, to live as the people expected of him, not to lavish his gold on whichever girl he deemed prettiest that night, but to spend it responsibly. To give his subjects the king they deserved. And he did not think he was that king.

"Well, the food is lovely," Holly murmured. Her hair had been wound into braids and tied into a knot at the top of her head with a gold diadem holding it in place. "There is that."

Jovana laughed, as bitter as the wine. "I am glad that someone can enjoy it at least. I am afraid my appetite has rather soured." Due to present company, she all but said aloud. 

Those feverish green eyes darted over to the Lord Regent who was silent--not for lack of words, but because he was waiting for the correct moment to unleash them, to do the most damage. A patient hunter, like a cat then--not an endurance one like a hound would be. His narrowed blue eyes were darker than usual, holding a tension that Kaiden did not want to see released. The man, he knew, was dangerous.

But Kaiden was accustomed to danger. 

"I wonder why that would be," Ilyas Durand intoned, his voice a bored drawl, his fingers twirling his steak knife rather than using it to slice into the lamb. "Could it be that you feel... regret over the impending execution of the Atlans?"

The queen's hands shook and he saw her drop the wine on the table, leaving a red stain on the cloth. "Is it tonight? I had... not realized it was so soon." 

She stared down at her lap as a maid was summoned over to clean the spill, her dark brows furrowed. Then, the strangest thing happened. She spoke. But not aloud; in his head. Meet me at the hot springs in an hour. You and Holly. 

His spoon clattered from his fingertips into his soup, splashing a few golden-brown droplets onto his white shirt. H-how... What on earth... Kaiden had heard of Mordanians having that rare magic that allowed them to manipulate the mind, but he had always been told that it worked solely on their own kind, that there needed to be a blood connection between the magic wielder and the victim they used that magic on. How could the queen use it on him?

"Is everything alright, King?" Jovana rubbed at her temple with one hand, as if she had a headache. "Should I summon a physician? You seem rather shocked. Perhaps you are hallucinating? Have you drunk too much wine?"

The flurry of questions ricocheted against the inside of his skull, making him wonder if he had imagined her wordless message to him. Yet he had not--her words felt imprinted on his mind, emblazoned there in flaming letters when the rest of the conversation felt like words drawn in the sand being washed away by the tide. 

"I need to be excused, Your Majesty. I'm afraid I may have imbibed too much as you stated." He let his chair scrape back against the stones before the footman could pull it out, and walked briskly out of the room as soon as the queen dismissed him. The clink of chains and holly's measured footsteps assured him that his best friend had followed him. 

Holly. She was another reason he didn't want to return to Atla, to its capital and its castle... because he would have to marry someone else while she would spend her life devoted to serving and guarding him. Or maybe she would marry, maybe she would become forever bound to a fellow guard, but she would always be considered too lowly for him to wed. 

"What is this? I barely saw you touch your--" Holly's hushed whispers were silenced when he grabbed her hand and pulled her into an alcove. 

She pulled the velvet curtain around to give them more privacy.

"The queen just spoke directly into my mind!" he whispered, bending down so that his lips brushed her ear, a jolt of electricity coursing through him at the slight contact. 

"What?" Holly pushed him back playfully, though the alcove was so small that he only fell onto the stone bench. "What do you mean? Perhaps you are directly in your cups."

He rolled his eyes and explained it to her, the insistent message that had felt broadcasted straight into his mind; the words that were inexplicable thoughts he could not have put into his own head.

"Mordania has magic that we cannot understand," was all she said in reply, her brown eyes void of any emotional reaction. He wanted to pry one out of her. "What message did she give you?"

So Kaiden leaned down, wanting to be close to her as well as wary of being overheard, and repeated it into her ear. Her braid tickled his cheek, the scent of cloves and spices drifting from her neck in heady waves as he spoke. 

She nodded. "We need to go... either return to supper or otherwise, but we cannot remain here. It would be too suspicious." 

Kaiden agreed, and Holly returned to the banquet hall while he was escorted by a guard back to the cells.

Neither of them had noticed the flash of blond hair and Mordanian armour that signified Hugo Marchand's presence; he had witnessed their entire conversation. 

///

"The queen is late," Holly groused, tapping her foot as she stared up at the full moon, centred in its skylight. Her hair was becoming frizzy and undone by the humidity that rose from the hot springs. They were both fully dressed with their packs loaded on their backs, ready to leave at a moment's notice, so the heat was nearly unbearable. "She ought to be here by now."

"Are you speaking of me?" Jovana's voice echoed through the cavernous room, bouncing off of the slick rock surfaces. "Only good things, I hope."

She slinked towards them, clad in a sleeveless red gown that was lighter and looked silkier than the heavy wool one she had worn during dinner. When she moved he saw that it featured slits that revealed swaths of pale skin, her legs showing up to the knee--hardly scandalous for Atlans who lived in a more temperate climate but certainly risque for Mordanian fashion. Her hair was down and loose over her shoulders, the kohl around her eyes smokier, her lips fuller and redder, and he realized that she looked like... a lady of the night. She was probably held under tight guard, and this was her disguise to get out--it worked, because she was nearly unrecognizable in such a state.

"I asked you to come here because the execution is at midnight. I have arranged horses for the two of you to leave in safety," Jovana said. Steam wrapped around her bare arms in rings that seemed too perfect to be non-magical. "You will not be attacked. This is not a trap. I want the two of you out of here... and Holly, I want you to set fire to the dungeons on your way out so that it will appear as if you have managed to escape in that way."

Holly was at his side, her hand on his wrist. "How do we know you are not tricking us?"

And then that same mind-bending magic sucked them in. This is not a jest nor is it a ploy. I genuinely wish for your safe return to Atla and for you to never set foot in my country again. Fiery red words read in foot-high letters, gleaming so realistically that he almost reached out to touch them...

Then they were thrown out, thrown back out of the queen's mind. She was panting, her half-bared chest heaving. "Do you believe me now? The Mordanian magic that is used to manipulate the brain can only be used to tell the truth and deliver messages, Kaiden. Nothing more."

He realized with a frisson of surprise that she had called him by his first name. Then footsteps thundered above them. "Very well, then. Holly, we have to leave at once."

And so they did, not looking back.

Not even to wonder how or why the queen would do such a thing...