Page 49 of A Touch of Royalty

The story spilled out, borne on the back of his worry for his wife. “And she didn’t tell me, Asan.” he took a breath. “She says it’s happened before.”

“Show me the letters,” Asan said calmly, not addressing the rest of Cas’ panic. “I will take them and figure out how they were sent.”

“I don’t know where they are.” Cas shook his head. “Probably on her desk in her sitting room.”

“You did well to not touch them.” Asan said thoughtfully. “There is a non-zero chance that the poison in the letters is actually targeted at you, Cas.”

“What?”

Asan laid a hand on Cas’ shoulder. “Think, Cas, what better way to get to you than to threaten your wife?”

“I don’t want to acknowledge that you’re right.” Cas said. “But you are likely right.”

“I know,” Asan said dryly. “Let’s go and see the letters, and then we can discuss what the queen is planning in the city.”

“That was Emryn.” Cas said, still full of pride for his wife. “She was magnificent, Asan. You should have seen her face down the council.”

“I have,” he smiled. “Now, to business.”

Cas took Asan through to Emryn’s sitting room, to her desk, but the top was clean, no papers to be found.

They were in one of the drawers, in a folder labeled ‘fake letters’, and Cas could almost feel the danger radiating off the file.

Asan looked concerned as well, reaching out to surround the file in a bubble shield. “I will take this back to my tower, and see what I can divine about the poison and its origins.”

“Thank you, Asan.” Cas nodded to his teacher. “I will inform Her Majesty in the morning about what has happened.”

“And tell Emryn I said hello,” Asan said, holding the bubble in his hands.

“I will,” Cas replied. “I am going to go back to bed. I’ll see you in the next days for you to tell me you were right.”

“There is every chance,” Asan chuckled. “I will see you soon.”

And then he was gone, back through the mirror and Cas put it back in its velvet box before he went back to bed.

Back to cuddling his wife, knowing that the letters and the mystery that they represented were in much better hands now.

He naturally toldEmryn what he’d don as soon as they woke the next morning, as they were walking Brutus in the garden.

“It’s a good idea,” she agreed, and he relaxed a bit. “I never would have thought that the poison would have been directed at you, but the First Wizard makes a very sound point.”

“Emryn, are you alright?”

She nodded, smiling up at him. “When he’s all business, he’s the First Wizard. When he’s giving you greetings for me, he’s Asan.”

“I see,’ Cas smiled back. “He did tell me that he says hello.”

“Then he’s Asan,” Emryn giggled. “sort of how I was never simply Emryn when I was working, always Healer, or Healer Emryn.”

“It makes sense,” he bent to pet Brutus, which didn’t require as much bending as it used to. “So, we should go and speak with the queen, tell her about the letters. It’s going to mean that your correspondence goes through the college for testing.”

“Other than those letters, I haven’t had any.” She shook her head. “And I don’t expect any, so that’s no concern.”

“Let’s go talk to Mother then.”

He’s expected her to be concerned, and she was. Had expected her to demand his plan, and he gave her everything that he’d done, including telling her the things that Asan had said.

And as he’d told Emryn, her Majesty came down, that all the correspondence directed to them would go through the college of magi and be inspected.

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