Page 102 of Enchanted Queen

I let out a sigh. “If Amory was the culprit, she would not be working to bridge the gap between the shifted Enchanted and human Enchanted. She seems to be one of few left doing that as is.”

“She is well loved. Even those who seem to have an issue with Esta do not have one with her,” Archer agreed.

John nodded. “I don’t really think it is her either, but we need to be fair.”

“Plus,” Emric added, “she’s the queen’s proxy, thus essentially the queen when it comes to some things. She wouldn’t need to start this war from within Dra Skor when she already holds the power.”

“Valid,” Dex stated. “She’s my favorite. It isn’t her. Let’s move on.”

John rolled his eyes. “Favorites don’t apply here. We are trying to approach this as if they are all capable of this.” He paused, picking up Malachi’s parchment. “And Malachi?”

“He is in love with Amory,” Emric explained. “He adores the queen too. But even if he didn’t, I suspect he’d want to be on whatever side Amory was on.”

“He also grew up with the queen,” I added. “As did Jagen, but Malachi has less to gain than he does by removing Esta from the throne.”

“And Jagen?”

We all went quiet. I was the only one with interactions with him, and I had more respect for Esta’s brother than I did her father. “He told me she was the better ruler.” I paused. “And for some reason, I believe him. If he truly wanted the crown, he wouldn’t have to kill her, he’d just wait out the time limit until his parents took the crown off Esta and passed it to him.”

“But then he could have been trying to kill you and not her during the attack,” John said with a nod. “To prevent you from switching her back.”

I had liked Jagen, yet that comment made me feel nothing but dread. I felt responsible for what happened and couldn’t get past my gut feeling that spear hadn’t been for Esta.

A knock sounded on my door which I moved to answer.

I opened the door to find Amory standing there, a tea cart before her. “Good morning.” I opened the door wider, and she noticed my very crowded room. “I was expecting to find you sleeping, Keir, not....” she cocked her head and looked to everyone else as I shut the door behind her. “What are we working on, gentlemen?”

Every single one of them looked to me for me to answer. Loyal to a fault. Except that made us all look suspicious as hell.

Her brown eyes turned to meet mine in question.

“We are going through the queen’s advisor’s one by one, exchanging information on what we know of them,” I admitted.

Her mouth fell open. “You are barely recovered and yet you are...investigating?”

I gave her a nod. “That about sums it up, yes.”

She stood there with the cart. “I actually came to get the plan for the pond tomorrow, and have tea, but—” she gave her head a shake and looked to me. “Would you mind grabbing me a chair?”

John took his glasses perched on his nose off. “You wish to help us, Amory?”

She gave a simple shrug as I wrapped my magic around the feet of Miles’s chair and dumped him on the ground giving Amory a free space.

“Rude,” Miles muttered.

“I know them better than you do,” she said simply. “I’ve already gone through this a hundred times in my head and with the queen and Malachi. Maybe your new perspectives will help.”

* * *

My room was a disaster.There were crumbs and cups and bodies everywhere. All day we had talked and discussed the queen’s advisors. The sunset now painted the sky, and we were no closer to any answers.

The truth was that it could be any one of them. Amory was a good sport and played along, even giving reasons for herself to be guilty, which was exactly why I didn’t believe for a second that she was.

“There is a tension within the queen’s family that has to be related to this,” I stated. “Something I can’t quite put my finger on.”

Amory picked up our parchment for Reyald Mallick, which was now full. “I don’t think he’d do it. He might not like that Esta cannot truly rule in the form she is currently stuck in, but I do not think he would harm his own children. He’s harsh but not a total monster. He was more than proud to crown Esta as queen.” She picked up Jagen’s. “Jagen, like you, never truly wanted to reign. So, I don’t know what would have happened to change his mind.”

“We know nothing of his new fiancé,” John offered. “Does she wish to be queen?”

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