Page 96 of The Rebel's Prize

"No argument here, love," he said gravely. "But I'm sure Madame de Montesse is keen to begin the work rather than talking about it."

The King Consort was a man of few words in her experience and one who preferred to take action. She suspected that, in this case, he was more interested in making sure everything was dealt with and Sophie safely returned to Anglion as fast as possible more than he was worried about helping Chloe. But she had no argument with that. She felt the same about Lucien. And after all, their goals were aligned no matter what their individual motivations.

"It's Madame de Roche now, or Lady Castaigne, really," Imogene pointed out with a smile. "But you are correct. We should get to work."

Sophie rolled her shoulders and sat back on one of the three sofas in the small room. She tucked her feet up under her pale blue silk gown in an un-queenly fashion and gestured for the others to sit, too. Her hair was braided simply around her head, and if not for the glorious dark blue sapphires dancing at her ears and circling her throat, the shade a near perfect match to her betrothal ring, she could have been a student at the Academe rather than a queen.

But Chloe knew better than to underestimate her. Sophie was young, but she had outwitted her enemies and survived, against all odds, to end up on the throne. Her hair was red and black like Chloe's own rather than the deep brown it had been when they'd first met, testament to the strength of her magic. The strongest earth witch in Anglion's royal line for decades, not to mention the first water mage accepted in that country for far longer. Her reign had the potential to change her country for the better, and it would only help secure her hold on power if she avenged the king and queen assassinated before her.

She sat on the sofa opposite Sophie, and Imogene joined her. Cameron took his place beside his wife. His clothing was more sedate, though the shades of blue and gray matched hers, his only jewelry his wedding ring.

"Thank you for coming. I know it's not the best time for you to leave Anglion, but we need to ask Elarus some questions. Is she willing to talk to us?" Chloe asked.

Sophie shrugged one shoulder. "Talk, yes. Whether she will answer all of them is up to her. Particularly when your message suggested the topics might be...delicate in nature."

"Octarus and Ikarus refused to answer them," Chloe admitted. "But they thought Elarus might."

"Then I guess we will have to see. Elarus, would you join us, please?" Sophie said.

Elarus appeared behind the queen. She was taller than the other sanctii, her skin darker, more black shaded with gray rather than the reverse like most of the others. She wore a long black tunic, and her dark eyes found Chloe's before nodding a greeting.

"Hello, Elarus," Chloe said. "Thank you for agreeing to talk to us."

Elarus nodded again, gesturing toward Sophie. "I will help. If can."

In other words, she reserved the right to not answer.

Well, there was little to be done about that. Chloe glanced at Imogene, who just nodded slightly, as though happy for Chloe to take the lead.

Chloe took a deep breath. "All right. Let's start at the beginning." She began to explain what had happened at the parliament first. Elarus's expression remained calm throughout the retelling, but before Chloe could move on to the night at the palace, the sanctii held up her hand.

"Memory taken?" she asked, nodding at Chloe.

"A short one, yes," Chloe agreed. "At least, that's what we think happened. A friend saw me talking to a woman in a green. I don't remember doing that. Octarus saw her, too. He showed me the memory, and I recognized her. I knew her at school a long time ago, but I don't remember speaking to her at the parliament."

Elarus frowned and stepped around the sofa to move closer to Chloe. She stared at her a moment, then said something short and sharp in the sanctii tongue. Chloe thought it might be "Come," but her memory of the language was hazy at best. She knew some basic common words that Henri and Martius had used during her childhood but hadn't had time since bonding Octarus to try to learn more.

But she must have been right about the meaning because Octarus appeared in front of Elarus. He shot one quick glance at Chloe, his eyes wide before he focused firmly on Elarus, inclining his head respectfully.

Elarus continued speaking sanctii to him. Chloe tried to watch Imogene and Sophie, seeing if she could judge by their reactions what was going on, but the discussion between the sanctii didn't last long. Elarus barked out one last sentence, then turned to Chloe. "You will show me this memory?"

"The parliament? Yes, I can do that."

Elarus beckoned her closer and stretched out a hand toward her temple when Chloe reached her. The sanctii's touch was rough but warm.

"Show me," she said.

Chloe closed her eyes and tried to recall the reception at the parliament. The parts she could, anyway. As the images began to flow, she started to hear something like the echo of a bass voice chanting in the distance. Sanctii magic? She'd never heard it before, but perhaps it was different with Elarus.

The images began to move faster, becoming more real, almost as though she was experiencing the moment all over again. When they jumped suddenly from her entering the retiring room to Violette speaking to her afterward, Elarus pulled away with a grunt.

"What is it?" Sophie asked as Chloe opened her eyes.

"Bad," Elarus said, her voice harsher than usual. "Bad magic."

CHAPTER21

"Yes," Chloe agreed. "And I only lost a few minutes. There are others who have lost more. And some who we suspect may have had memories taken and false ones put in their place."

---