Page 35 of Enchanted Heir
The castle was also swimming with Enchanted. How was it even possible for there to be a fire? Wouldn’t one of them be able to put out the fire with their magic?
By the time we got back to the hedge, I was running.
There was smoke rolling from the direction of the kitchen. The kitchen that we had just left not even an hour ago. I could see some people coughing and standing around the back door that we always used.
“Jorah,” Owen said, grabbing me by the arm and slowing me down. “Please don’t go in there without me. Let’s find out what’s going on first.”
I gave him a nod and headed toward the busboy, George, coughing and grabbing at his knees.
“What happened?” I asked. “Is everyone all right?”
“Jorah!” he said as he gave me a quick hug. “We are all fine, yes. The oven caught fire.”
“The oven caught fire?” I repeated in a confused sort of horror. There was a fire extinguisher right there in the kitchen. I knew because I’d hit my knee on it multiple times.
He nodded. “Yes. Maurice is still in there. It caught fire and then—” He cut off and stole a glance at Owen, as if he was trying to decide if he should finish his sentence or not.
“And then?” I urged.
He whispered. “It caught fire and then we couldn’t get it out. The magic wouldn’t let us near enough to put it out.”
My breath caught. This was no accident; someone had done this.
But why?
CHAPTER9
Ispun toward Owen. The look on his face told me he’d heard what George had said. The king was behind this? Because who else would do something like this?
“Let’s go get Krew,” Owen said softly. “I need to get you locked upstairs. In case this was an effort to get to you.”
“To get tome?”
He put a hand on my shoulder. “Jorah, he knows you spend time in the kitchens. And he hasn’t been able to catch you and Krew not together, so it’s likely he’s sending you a message this way instead.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.No.
And now the kitchen staff wouldn’t be able to get the lunch meal done. And with no meal for the king for lunch, chances were good the whole lot of them could either be dismissed or... worse.
He was punishing them. To get to me?
I wanted to vomit. Someone could have been injured today. Multiple people were still coughing, and one was getting a hand wrapped in some sort of bandage, so it was safe to say peoplehadbeen hurt today.
I was about to lose it, anger boiling in my veins, but then I saw a navy burst of magic. Everyone looked skyward, as if wondering which Enchanted had come to torment them now, but then Krew was there, landing in a crouch.
Had—had he just flown down here?
“Did you ju—”
My question fell off because he was there, bringing me into his arms. As soon as he touched me, his magic slowly calmed. I was used to making it vanish entirely. It was like he was so charged it took a minute to work this time.
“Thank gods,” he said into my hair. “When I heard, I assumed you might have been in the kitchens.”
The rest of the kitchen staff and a few guards who had spilled into the area were all looking at us. Krew looked and sounded exactly like I assumed a concerned lover would. So I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him back, and simply said, “I was in the forest.”
“Of course,” he murmured into my hair.
“Did you fly down here?” I asked, still in his hug.
