Page 36 of Bound By Honey

As they walked, they could hear laughter and music coming from the grand hall. They entered the entryway and saw the Charming Four gathered around the fireplace in the sitting room. Relief washed over her, knowing they had returned from their adventure.

Freddy cleared his throat. "Uh, hello?"

The four mages turned to them. Asher looked them up and down. His expression was one of surprise. "It's good to see you're home, Sage. But you," Asher nodded to Freddy, "what are you doing here?"

Before either of them could answer, Sage's eyes dropped. Her heart leaped into her throat.

Colby stepped forward. "Sage, are you alright?"

Sage took a deep breath and then began to tell them her story. She described the crown prince's attempt to force her to make poison and how she used mad honey in the tea to make him hallucinate. She finished with how Freddy had shown up, and they altered the potion Prince Owen had her make.

The four were silent. "Sage, this is serious," Sawyer finally said.

Asher placed his hands on Sage's shoulders. "I'm glad you're safe." The others nodded.

"We all are. You have shown yourself to be resourceful. We need to figure out what to do next, though. If Owen already has her in his sight, it's dangerous for all of us."

Sage nodded. "I understand."

Sawyer smiled at her. "We will figure something out. Don't worry. We will protect you."

Freddy put his hand on her shoulder. "I'll do what I can to help, too."

Sage smiled. She was relieved to know that she had the support of her friends.

"She should come with us," Prince Finn said.

"On your missions?" Freddy asked. "She can stay with me while you're gone."

Asher looked at Prince Finn. "That's actually not a bad idea. It would be good to have someone with medical knowledge on some of our missions; we should be able to protect her between the four of us. This next one, she actually would be useful in quite a few ways."

Colby and Sawyer nodded. Sage was confused. She wasn't against traveling with them, but she had no skills to protect herself on the type of missions she imagined they went on.

"Where are you going on your next mission?" she asked.

"The Freefall region," Prince Finn replied. "There's been serious flooding in the area. It's not a guild mission but a request from my father. We will be representing the royal court as part of the relief."

The hustle of servants in the courtyard suddenly made sense. They had been packing relief supplies and readying for the Charming Four.

"When do we leave?" Sage asked.

"First thing tomorrow morning," Prince Finn answered.

"I will need to stop by a shop to restock a few things beforehand. Flooding often causes certain illnesses to run rampant. I should get treatments for the most common ones."

"Whatever you need, honeybee." Prince Finn smirked.

"What did you call me?"

He laughed. "I'm not the one who used honey to poison the future king. I think the name fits."

Sage’s face heated. "I didn't poison him."

"Oh?" Sawyer replied, brow raised. "It doesn't take a lethal dose to be considered poison."

"I will have you know that mad honey is used for medicinal purposes by many."

"Whatever you say, honeybee," Prince Finn replied as he headed toward the door. "Pack and get some rest. We leave early."

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