Page 145 of The Fifth Life of Alicia
“Allie asked Lady Vivian and she set it up. It seems the split within the Tower is far greater than we realised, with Duke Trelawney on the side of wanting to collaborate with Stein’s mages. Allie said Ivan regularly does this kind of stuff on the duke’s behalf.”
Ezra slowly nodded, looking at the ground thoughtfully. “Of course. Although they’re officially neutral, the Trelawneys back you as the heir as we do. I’ll see who we can get in there.”
Which was another reason Eudocia and Torin were so desperate to get Allie on side. House Vermillion would naturally support her husband as the heir, and they needed one of the major houses to back them up.
Even if the Alansias and Trelawneys were officially neutral, it was no secret within the nobles that they backed me as Crown Prince over my brother.
“Approach Ivan, if you must. Even if it means sharing information between Lady Vivian and Allie.”
“How would you explain your interest in it to Allie? You’ll have to tell her that you own Illusion.”
I shrugged. “She’s going to be my wife, so what does it matter? She’ll figure it out sooner or later anyway. She’s too smart.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think she ran her own information guild.” Ezra chuckled. “She’s quite something.”
“I would prefer if you didn’t openly lust over my fiancée in front of me, Ezra.”
“Is that permission to do so privately, Your Highness?”
I stared at him until he held up his hands in apology and shrunk back. “Visit Duke Trelawney sometime in the next week,” I ordered. “He has a prototype from the Tower that’s used to transport letters instantly. There are restrictions on the magic so you can only send a letter once a day, but it means there’s no risk of interception between the capital and Stein. Lady Vivian brought me mine on his behalf when she visited Allie, but he will give you the box’s partner.”
“I’ll make a point to bump into him during the hunt and set something up.”
“Good. With this artifact, I want more regular reports on what’s going on in the capital. I don’t trust Eudocia where Allie is concerned.”
“You fear her more than Torin?”
Only a sparrow would fear my brother.
“Of course. Earlier, Allie told him that if he wanted to marry her that badly, he should have taken the initiative to propose to her first, and he looked like someone had just shot him.” I shook my head. “He’s smart but too emotional. Without Eudocia, he’d never have taken the seat of Crown Prince. She’s far too cunning.”
“So cunning she didn’t initiate the proposal either?”
“She didn’t anticipate that Allie was actively looking for a husband, nor did she think that I would ever step up and propose on my own before the palace could. Not to mention there were convincing rumours I would marry a noble lady from Stein.” I pushed off the tree and plucked a leaf from my saddle so I could mount my horse. “Now that an Imperial Order has been issued for our marriage, she’s running out of time. She doesn’t know that we’re not getting married right away, so she may act rashly.”
Ezra nodded, mounting his horse, too. “Lady Abalon is still her lady-in-waiting, and the Empress seems to value her quiet nature. Communication is risky, but that’s how we found out about the poison during the spring ball.”
Ah, yes. That feeble attempt to get rid of me. Clearly, my delightful stepmother had forgotten I’d built up a fair tolerance for most poisons courtesy of her attempts to kill me.
It’d be stupid of me not to.
After all, she’d poisoned my mother to secure her own position. There was no reason to think she wouldn’t do the same to me to guarantee her son’s.
“See to it that she’s compensated. The guild will be getting a delivery of magic stones next week.”
“Of course, sir.”
“One more thing before we go.” I looked over at him. “Find out anything and everything you can about the de Armand family, especially the daughter, Lillia.”
“Aren’t they a barony outside the capital? Who wants to know about them?”
“Me.”
“Why?”
Because her very existence was upsetting to my fiancée, and that was unacceptable.
“Because that woman debuted this weekend and isn’t being shy about her interest in me. Allie was shaken by the mere sight of her at the ball last night before we were even introduced, and I want to know why.” I gritted my teeth. “Put Jinx on it. I want a preliminary report before we leave.”
