ELRED VALKALIN has one job: to ensure the annual feast goes according to plan to solidify her family's claim on the throne. With a series of isolated accidents occuring during the preparation, she is convinced someone is sabotaging her. In a territo...
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2372 Iclis 29, Daleth
Elred frowned into her cup of cousa, processing what Savel had just said. "What?"
The man in front of her smiled. "You're not listening, are you?"
An exasperated huff tore from Elred. It's true, though. They had agreed to meet up in one of the public pavilions in Abshire when she called him through the contactmirrors last night. His voice on the other line was garbled but grim enough to register he treated this case as important as Elred did.
So, despite the heat of the day without any clouds to stop the sun's rays, Elred donned her numerous glamours and stepped out of the Vertinso mansion. She even cancelled some of the meetings she had today. Not that she was looking forward to see Savel.
And when her friend arrived, Elred dismissed the playful leap her heart made. This wasn't the time to loiter around and think of those things. She had a Feast to plan and execute and they had a case, or in this matter, several cases to solve.
Savel had dropped into the seat in front of her and propped his hands atop the table she had saved for them. Elred remembered frowning at his disheveled appearance. "You're late," she said, her tone flat. "You better make up for it."
The man smiled, his green eyes twinkling with the challenge. Heat fled to her cheeks, making it hotter. Damn the clouds. Where were they in this blasted weather? Elred watched Savel brush his messy blond hair off his face. "Oh, I plan to," he said. "It's not every day Helinfirth's princess calls for me personally."
Elred snorted. "You like me calling for you that much?" she did her best to hide the amusement in her tone. "Why not work in the Vertinso, then? I'll call for you until you get tired of me."
"I'll never get tired of you. I thought you knew that?" Savel met her eyes then, and Elred forgot how to breathe for a while.
Then, she mentally slapped herself. Focus. "Of course," she answered with an eye-roll. "The Garde trained you to have the patience of a pelgar."
Savel's face darkened at the mention of the animal. "About that," he started.
"Yeah," Elred's stomach sank at the sudden reminder. They didn't come here to catch up as friends. "What have you found?"
"I went to the scene the moment Yrren informed me the Palace wants us to look into it," Savel tapped a finger in the table in a random beat. "I found something interesting."
Elred straightened, her cousa forgotten. Savel didn't even attempt to ask for anything so he was a bit out of place in a pavillion full of snacking nobles. "Spill," she said.
"The pelgar was killed with a dagger the size of an arm," Savel said. "I can tell from how the blood splattered on the wall. It was also tackled from behind so it didn't even know what hit it. Pelgaris cannot twist their heads very far."
