Five Minutes Ago

  “Here,” Rebecca handed over two letters. “The one with the royal seal is from Prince Basil. He wants Countess Peregrine to know that the office space is ready for her, and he’s had the Minister of Trade draw up plans for her to review when she arrives.”

  “Good.” Lish nodded, “Tell him she’s free tomorrow to come by—infestations!”

  The maid panicked and grabbed Rebecca, dragging her around the corner. The lizardkin could tell Lish had seen something, which was the only reason she allowed herself to be maid-handled.

  But as soon as they cleared the street, she wrenched her arm free. “What was it?”

  “The fox and your knight commander.” Lish said, glaring daggers through the corner of the estate wall and the two royal guards beyond. “We have to be quick, what else do I need to know about the office space?”

  “Just that most everything was done before you even got here,” Rebecca dusted off the spot where Lish had touched her, “Remind the countess that the contract states the office would be fully established before the wedding – and now it is.”

  “And the second?” Lish asked, lifting the other scroll.

  “You’ve already said you don’t care if your side is the one that breaks off the contract–” Rebecca began.

  “That’s right.” Lish agreed. For obvious reasons - the Queen could be trusted as far as an acorn could float. Not that their fox was any better, but from what Lish understood, if Bastian failed then Queen Terran would tap as much sap from Peldeep as she could - and probably leave Peregrine here to do it.

  “--well, here are all the ways I can think of to make that happen.” Rebecca finished. “In a step-by-step process. Starting here,” -she thrust a thumb at the Knight Commander’s house- “and ending at the wedding itself.”

  “I wanted to have this settled before the wedding.” Lish frowned, cracking open the list and going over everything Rebecca had to offer. “... most of these we can rule out since Bastian is a lascivious brute–“

  “Careful, Lish.” Rebecca’s voice could cut kindling. “That is my superior you are talking about.”

  Lish was already holding back irritation knowing she’d left her lady alone with the drakin for the duration of this conversation. Only the fact that Kiki was with her mistress kept her mind at ease. “You aren’t a complete fool, lizard, you must have seen the way he paws at my mistress!”

  “I don’t go around calling your lady a temptress, and you stop calling my commander a lech, remember?”

  Lish drew in a deep breath. “Fine.”

  She tore the paper with Rebecca’s ideas on it in half. Not because they were bad, but because this meant it was now ‘garbage’ and could be stuffed into her Shadow cleaning space. “Operation death by proxy. I think it’ll be the easier to accomplish between the two of us.”

  “Really?” Rebecca raised an eyebrow. “I thought that would’ve been one of your last choices.”

  Lish did not hesitate. “I am loyal to the Ferns. And there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to bring Peregrine home.”

  “Then I’ll do my part.” Rebecca said. “Just don’t back out at the end - I’m not above throwing you under the blade if that’ll get the job done.”

  Lish nodded at the lizardkin, “I feel the same way.”

  ...

  Bastian POV:

  In order to help Bastian sleep, Peregrine snuck into his room that night and held his hand until he slipped into blessed slumber.

  Then she teased him about it over breakfast, when Lish went to grab a dish from Kiki in the kitchen, whispering, “I don’t know how you're going to survive until the wedding.”

  Bastian, for his part, agreed. He squeezed her hand, the one she’d kindly let him hold all throughout said breakfast, and whispered back, “I don’t either. But I’ll make it work.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “We’ll make it work!” Peregrine smiled at him and went back to eating her freshly baked breakfast roll.

  There were bits of shredded cheese and wild onion baked into the bread, and it was hot enough to melt the unigoat butter lathered in the center.

  Of course, he wasn’t finished eating his lovely breakfast with his lovely wife-to-be when he got the summons. So off to the palace they went.

  Their Royal Highness had returned, and they weren’t alone.

  “Howl!” Peregrine exclaimed, but didn’t rush forward to greet her brother. Bastian wondered if it was because they weren’t in that kind of warm sibling relationship, or if she was being overly cautious about letting go of Bastian.

  He appreciated her either way.

  They had been led to a gathering room in the wing outside the main Emerald Palace, halfway between the embassy rooms and the barracks. Lish wasn’t invited, so she told them she’d wait for them at the barracks.

  “Peregrine,” Howl smiled at his sister in an openly warm greeting, which promptly soured into a strained polite mask as he noted Bastian and Peregrine’s closeness. “I’ve been given special leave from the academy to attend your wedding—if you’re still getting married?”

  The young elf was definitely a Fern. He had his father’s cobalt blue eyes that Count Valin and Peregrine shared. Howl’s hair was a lighter blue than his fathers, and he had his mother’s chin.

  “I am!” Peregrine nodded and squeezed my hand.

  “Welcome back, Your Highness,” Bastian thought it pertinent to greet his ruler first, then nodded at his soon to be brother-in-law, “Count Fern, how was your trip?”

  Howl shot a quick look at Rowen, who was happily sitting on a lounge chair eating thimblecakes and watching the reunion with amusement. They had taken on the guise of a young human woman wearing a red daydress and tall black boots.

  Howl had been sitting across from the fox when they’d arrived, which was an honor Rowen rarely granted to guests. They liked to keep people on their feet, or they liked to make them feel awkward by offering them a seat and then hovering.

  "Pleasant.” Howl replied. “And yours? I was sure I’d catch up to you on the road...but it looks like you got too far ahead of me?”

  Peregrine was much better at hiding her feelings than her brother, she nodded, “We took a short cut through the swamp that forced us through Drendil where we were out of Pirate Abra’s influence so caught a ship the last step of the journey.”

  His fiancé made it sound like they hadn’t spent over three quarters of the trip on a boat, and he didn’t correct her. “It was a very quiet journey.”

  “Probably dry too,” Howl grumbled, and Bastian got the distinct impression that only added resentment to whatever other feelings Howl had for the drakin.

  Knowing what it would do him, but hoping to offer an apple branch to the elf, Bastian said, “How about you and Peregrine take some time to catch up while I report to Their Highness?”

  Everyone looked to the ruler of Peldeep, who was still eating thimblecakes in silence. Rowen grinned at the group, “Grand idea. Peregrine, why don’t you show Howl to the royal library? A fine mage like him should appreciate our spell book catalog. It’s just two doors down on the left.”

  Rowen might have agreed, but Peregrine looked up at Bastian with worry, “Will you be alright?”

  He wasn’t, he was sure, but it had to be done. “Yes, go enjoy some time with your brother, and I’ll catch up.” He let go off her arm and forced a smile, “There's an original copy of Toxophilus on Archery you might want to look at while you’re in there.”

  Her excitement was palpable; her love of archery clear on her face, “Alright Howl, let’s go!”

  Bastian stood and watched her leave, the feelings of possessive anxious greed clawing at his senses. By the time the door closed behind her, his hands were shaking and he felt so sick with himself that he wanted to scream.

  “I was wondering if this might happen,” Rowen was suddenly standing beside Bastian, or maybe they’d walked over normally and he’d just been too focused on the door and Peregrine to notice. “But I’m surprised to see it hit you so hard.”

  Rowen walked around Bastian, tapping their chin as if inspecting a particularly interesting offering. It wasn’t the first time. When Bastian was going to be executed for entering the Emerald Palace, Rowen had circled him much the same.

  At least this time Bastian wasn’t bound and gagged, kneeling before the fox.

  “You were planning for this.” Bastian stated. No sense accusing Rowen for something that obvious, but still wanting to say something.

  “More like hoped.” Rowen laughed. “Pink is your favorite color.”

  Bastian couldn’t help it. “You thought I’d fall for Peregrine because of her hair?”

  “Among other things.” Rowen plopped back down onto the lounge. The thimblecakes reappearing in their hand. “Either way, I’m assuming you won’t disagree with a festival wedding?”

  Bastian didn’t know if he could even wait that long. He might end up in the dungeon before the week’s end at this rate… at least if he did, he’d be close to hand when they dragged him out for the ceremony. He asked, “When were you thinking?”

  Rowen picked up a thimblecake, paused, and then lifted it to his nose, taking a small sniff. Bastian was already unsheathing his blade.

  “I really was hoping for one day.” Rowen sighed, tossing the cake back onto the tray before snapping their fingers. A wave of aura filled the room, forcing the assassin to poof out of stealth and land in front of the curtains. Without preamble, the three-foot tall magic racoon-dog assassin leapt at Their Highness, claws-out and teeth-bared.

  It hit Bastian’s Ice Shield and then activated a Skill. Suddenly, there were six racoon-dogs, and they all attacked at once. Two worked away at the Ice Shield, three circled Bastian, and one dropped a smoke bomb, filling the room with acrid, poisonous gas.

  Unfortunately for the racoon-dog, Bastian wasn’t his calm, calculating and professional self. No. Today was a bad day to be an assassin in the Emerald Palace - or in the building beside the Emerald Palace, as the case may be.

  Bastian released all of his wound up energy on the conveniently arrived foe. At least Peregrine was safely in the library and out of harm's way.

  Or so he thought.