The Sorcerer's Bride 42 Regrets

Zylvia and Fayre had fallen silent. Listening to the princess cry had dampened their mood. Hazel had really been distraught. Zylvia realized that the young girl was the sort to feel stuff very keenly.

She was broken out of her melancholy thoughts by the arrival of a servant with a letter addressed to her.

Zylvia accepted the letter with a sinking feeling in her stomach. It was, of course, from Celia. Zylvia accepted it but considered throwing it into fire again.

However, Fayre smiled and asked her if she was going to open it. Listening to her best friend she did, besides she really needed to face this. Scanning the contents of the letter she was shocked. This...went too far.

"Fayre I think I need to talk to Jayesh." Zylvia's voice came out faint. Why had she not already said anything? Now what would Kaldrek think?

She had thought that Celia wouldn't actually do anything, that it would be okay to ignore her delusions as Zylvia had always thought them. But now, this letter was definetely not harmless.

Fayre looked puzzled, "Is something wrong?"

Zylvia was already leaving the room, "Yes, very."

Zylvia could tell that Fayre was worried as they were walking but she was a bit distraught over what she had just read. Seriously, why had Celia ever thought this was a good idea? Zylvia felt anger replacing some of her worry, though worry was still centermost in her feelings at the moment.

When she entered Jayesh's study, Kaldrek was just about to leave. She noticed vaguely that he looked worried and tired.

Her husband took a look at her face, "Zylv? What's wrong?"

"..." She felt a bit of fear and uncertainty inside of her and wasn't sure what to say. So she merely handed the letter to him. She felt tears at the back of her eyes.

"What is..?" Kaldrek looked down at the letter and his brow furrowed.

Jayesh read it at the same time and she saw a look of disbelief on his face. But Jayesh wasn't the person she was actually most worried about. She kept her eye on Kaldrek, she was so afraid that he would be upset with her.

"Well, I always knew Celia didn't like me, but I certainly wasn't expecting this." There was a dry quality to Kaldrek's voice as he finally spoke. He handed the letter to the king, "On the plus side, at least we now know the motive right?"

Fayre was looking utterly confused, "What is going on."

"Celia belongs to a group of anti-magic activists." Zylvia's voice was quiet, "I always a.s.sumed they were harmless enough."

"How long has this been going on? Or how long have you know of it?" Jayesh looked at her.

"I don't know exactly, and I didn't think it was to this degree, but I've known of her inclinations for a while." Zylvia felt terrible.

"Alright," Jayesh shook his head, "Next time, Zylvia, please tell us immediately instead of keeping it to yourself."

Zylvia felt a bit of disbelief, was she not in any trouble? But she should have some punishment of some sort right? After all, if she had mentioned it earlier, things might not have progressed to this point.

She glanced at Kaldrek, whose head was tilted to one side with his lips pursed in thought. He seemed to think of something, "Zylv? Do you know who else was involved?"

Zylvia frowned trying to think, "I don't know any for sure but I have a few suspicions." She gave them the names of several people.

Jayesh sighed and stood up, "I should probably deal with this, before they do anything else. Can I take this letter, for evidence?"

Zylvia nodded. She was feeling absolutely wretched. The fact that no one was saying any words of blame gave her conflicting emotions. Not that she wanted them to be upset but she felt like she deserved it.

Both of the men had such grave looks on their face, but neither one yelled at her. Kaldrek must be hurt though. That thought alone was enough to make her heart twist painfully. Fayre was still not entirely sure what was going on, but could obviously tell it was serious.

The king left in order to go deal with the blatant act of treason. Fayre squeezed her hands and then followed her husband.

Being alone with Kaldrek, Zylvia wasn't sure what to say. He seemed to be deep in thought, considering something. She wished she could take whatever pain he must be feeling away.

Her husband suddenly looked at her, "Come with me." As he turned and left, she scrambled to keep up. She studied him as they walked, trying to get a feel of his body language. Of everyone she knew (except maybe that knight of Hazel's, but Zylvia didn't count a block of wood) he was always the hardest to read.