Page 55 of Enchanted Kingdom
“The jerky?”
He nodded. “He’s probably used to warm meals.”
“Oh. I thought....”
“Magic isn’t used just for nefarious purposes, you know,” he said defensively. “I’ve been trying to show you that, but you apparently haven’t noticed.”
I tipped my head back to look at the sky. “Are you honestly going to tell me that more good magic than evil magic flows from that castle? Because where I stand, for every one of you good Enchanted, there are three or four that are cruel. The bad far outweigh the good.”
He spun toward me, eyes livid. “Actually I am. You don’t know the half of it, Jorah.”
There was a lot going on that I still didn’t understand. Owen had even alluded to something in play to remove the king. Or did he just assume that once the princes were married off, the king would finally step down? There was still a lot about life at the castle that I didn’t understand. “Yes, because no one will tell me, Owen. Yesterday you said a lot of things I don’t understand. Today I found out there is a jail of sortsinthe mountain.” I stopped to gesture toward the castle. “I don’t understand what’s going on in the castle, but no one will even take the time to explain it to me, so excuse me if I keep my own suspicions.”
We walked in tense silence the rest of the way back to my room.
CHAPTER18
Iwalked into the common rooms the next morning and immediately snagged a puzzle off the shelf. It killed me to do it when cards had seemed to be bringing us all together, but I also didn’t want Aiyana tattling on me anymore to the king.
“No,” Molly groaned as I placed the box on the table. “Please tell me you’re joking. We want to play bingle.”
I shook my head. “I am not.”
Renna’s eyes went wide with understanding. “We got told on.”
The crease between Gwen’s eyes got deeper. “By whom?”
“Who do you think?” whispered Nara.
No one needed to say her name, we all just knew.
“Puzzles are allowed though?” Renna asked. “It does take brain power to do puzzles. I’m surprised His Majesty allowsthem.”
The whole table seemed to be in shock with her obvious disgust toward the king.
“Be careful,” I hissed, glancing around for Aiyana.
Renna nodded and closed her eyes a moment.
We worked on the puzzle for the required two hours we were supposed to be in the common rooms. I alternated between looking out the window at the forest, searching for any sign of that gray wolf, and working on the puzzle.
Renna was one of the first to leave once the time was up. Molly was not far behind, swapping out a book on the bookshelf before she left.
“See you in a bit!” Gwen whispered with a smile before also leaving.
Nara and I walked toward the door together, deciding that if everyone else was leaving, so should we.
Owen and I had just fallen into step together when I heard Aiyana’s voice from behind me. She was talking loudly to Taleah, who appeared to be her best friend here. Thankfully for Taleah, she was in Prince Krewan’s consort and thus not in any way competition standing between Aiyana and the crown.
“Did you see how quickly they all left today? Evidently, if they cannot gamble, they are more likely to spend more time properly preparing for the evening dinner,” Aiyana giggled. “How ladylike.”
Owen whispered next to me, “You taught them how to play bingle, did you not?”
“Yes.” There was no betting in bingle, but Aiyana obviously didn’t know how to play, or she would have known that.
He rolled his eyes.
“She does seem quite close to her guard though,” Aiyana added even louder, her voice full of contempt.
