Page 46 of A Dark Prophecy's Heir

For the first time, the confident man shifted in discomfort.

“Miss Sapphire…”

“Saph,” she corrected pleasantly, already guessing where this was going. “And let me guess—you’re not allowed to discuss it.”

“I think it would be more efficient if you ask him,” he said diplomatically.

“Why? Is he going to kill you if he finds out that you told me?”

He looked so offended that she immediately knew there wouldn’t be any harm involved. Bernard fervently shook his head.

“No, but it’s better that way.”

“Okay.”

Maybe he was expecting to wear her down at some point. Her swift, casual response caught him off guard.

“Miss Sapphire…”

“Saph,” she reminded.

“Saph…that’s it? Don’t you have instructions?”

“Instructions?”

“For the staff. Your servants.”

“They’re not my servants,” she denied.

“They swore fealty to the master and now you’re mated with him,” he pointed out. “That automatically makes them loyal to you and your bidding.”

“Including you?” she tried again, then bit back a grin when his mustache twitched.

“Yes. Except to answer those kinds of questions.”

There was no finding out the truth from this man, and she suspected Miko would be the same stubborn, hard wall to break. Sapphire sighed.

“Fine. I do have one instruction.”

Bernard perked up. “Go ahead.”

“Proceed with your activities and don’t change a thing on my account.”

He looked at her as she waved at him and went about her way, leaving him to figure it out himself. When she was out of his sight, she headed straight for the castle, starting her search for the one man who had become elusive in the past few days. It didn’t take her long to figure out that Bernard had been telling the truth, especially when Jacques repeated the answer. Left with her puzzle, Sapphire situated herself beside one of the upper hall’s large windows, dragging a chair, a blanket, and a book to keep her preoccupied. The hours went by and she grew bored, so she took out a potion and dipped her hand in the liquid, creating a mirror-like circle that floated in front of her.

“Em?”

There was no response from the other end, the darkness remaining silent. She waited for a few more minutes before closing it and deducing that no one was at home, where she had the easiest time creating a communication channel. Biting her lip, she dipped her hand again and created another one, this time using a series of more complicated hand motions and lines. It took three tries to secure the lines and make the circle open, and it took even more tries to get the mirror-like circle to show her something. When the blur steadied, she found herself looking at a familiar bar’s back hall, where the patrons often passed to get to the restrooms. She waited patiently, quiet until she spotted a familiar voluptuous figure.

“Pearl!”

The figure jerked back in alarm, slamming against the wall. Sapphire winced, then waited some more as Pearl wildly looked around before eventually spotting the circle. Gray-white eyes bulged out.

“Holy shit! You scared the crap out of me.” Pearl dramatically placed her palm over her heart before her expression sharpened. “Are you okay? Are you in trouble? Is there an emergency? Should I be calling the council and setting up a rescue mission?”

“No. Hide somewhere. This isn’t an emergency, but I need to talk to you.”

To Pearl’s credit, she didn’t ask questions, snatching the floating circle and leading it away from the hall with Sapphire’s help. Seconds later, all other voices were cut off and a dim lightbulb swung behind the short woman.

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