A Touch of Poison

Chapter 4

It wasn't until late afternoon the following day Gwen was able to see Rhosyn and fill her in on what she'd learned. Her friend had been aghast at the news.

"This is what he's been planning all along?" she asked. "To get away with murder and still remain king?"

"And double the size of the kingdom, apparently." Gwen swiped at a nearby tuft of grass with the side of her boot. It seemed whenever the two of them wanted to talk seriously about something, they did it while walking through the pasture. Gwen hoped she wasn't coming to associate the beautiful meadow and the smell of horses with the negative and emotional discussions about castle life.

"I'd never even heard of that before —a marriage of what?"

"Affiliation. Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either. Apparently it's more involved than just an alliance. The two kingdoms become one on the day of the marriage. It's a huge deal. A priest even asks Eirene to bless the ceremony."

Rhosyn turned to Gwen, looking perplexed. "She won't though, will She? How can She possibly give her blessing to something like this?"

"I've checked a little. The wedding couple kneels, each holding their crystal. The priest recites a prayer, and She gives her blessing to the arrangement if there's no malice in either of their hearts. So long as the crystal I'm holding glows, it's a done deal," said Gwen. "Father's already figured out how this is all going to work, and he doesn't seem worried about that part, so I don't think Eirene's going to withhold Her blessing in this case. I don't think I have malice in my heart or whatever, but—"

"We can't let this happen, Gwen."

"I know we can't! I've accidentally burned people before, but nobody's ever died from touching me! If someone were actually killed because of what I was, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself. What kind of person could live with something like that? As it is, just thinking about what I ended up doing to Rolf, I–" Gwen's voice wavered, and she swallowed hard. "We've got to find some way to warn this prince, try to save him somehow."

"We're not just talking about saving some stupid prince's life, Gwen. This is your immortal soul we're talking about! You haven't done anything wrong, but if something like this is viewed as a sin by the Goddess and your crystal in the temple goes dark—"

"Damnation, banishment. Possibly even worse things. And I totally agree with you," said Gwen. "We've got to stop this."

"So, what do we do?"

"I have an idea."

"What?"

"Simple, really. We tell people. Tell everyone!"

Rhosyn looked at her skeptically. "About your father's plan?"

"Well, that too. But more importantly, we tell people about my condition." Gwen held her gloved and sleeve-covered arms out to either side for emphasis. "Think about it for a second. The only time I'm seen in public is for official ceremonies where it can't be avoided, and I'm never introduced to anyone. The people don't know me, or anything about me. Father replaced everyone who used to work in the castle, and the new servants aren't supposed to find out about my condition. And you can bet your knickers this prince doesn't know about me. This whole plan hinges on keeping it a secret, right? So, let's make sure everyone finds out about me. Staff, townspeople, everyone!"

"We just go around telling people? That is a pretty simple solution." Rhosyn frowned. "Your father isn't stupid though, so he's probably already thought of that. He'll try to stop you."

"For the next five days he can bully me, threaten me, lock me in my tower, whatever he likes. Maybe he makes it so I'm alone and can't talk to anyone, but that won't matter. Even if I'm locked up, you won't be, right?"