Page 72 of I Ran Away to Evil
“Jumping off myself doesn’t count,” Gerda countered. “Ah, the tea should be steeped. Let me grab us some teacups.”
“I also have a present for you!” I used the opportunity to pull out a small cloth I had rolled up and stuffed in my belt pouch. “I saw these in Frolin and thought of you.”
I handed over the cloth. She put it on the table and unrolled it to reveal four crystal tea set spoons carved with mushrooms on the handle tip.
“I thought of you and the first riddle you gave me,” I said, slightly nervous that she wouldn’t like them. Gerda usually used little wooden soup spoons for mixing honey and cream into the tea, so I hoped she liked these.
“They are beautiful, Ria!” The troll reached out and delicately picked one up to inspect it. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” I replied. “For being the first friend I made in the Dark Enchanted Forest.”
I pretended not to see the troll rub one eye. She gathered up the spoons to go rinse them in her kitchen sink so we could use them right away.
All in all, today was looking to be a great day.
CHAPTER 46
Why Is Everybody So Enamored with the Princess’s Socks?
Keith
Keith was having a very bad morning.
A very bad morning indeed.
Again.
It had started at an hour too unbearable to even consider calling it morning.
They’d found another spy. This one was a half-elf guard repositioned from the Servalt border closer to the castle.
He’dalsobeen found in Ria’s closet.
“Why is everyone so enamored with the princess’s socks?” Keith demanded to know. He didn’t expect an answer.
“Maybe they want to leave a poison needle in one?” Chloe offered.
“Or perhaps they think she’s stolen a kingdom treasure and hid it in her unmentionables?” Rufus added.
The necromancer and commander general had joined him for breakfast. Keith could never be sure if Chloe would come down for breakfast at the same time he was there. He didn’t know Chloe’s sleeping schedule, and neither did she; it was a free-flowing nebulous thing that switched between worshipful “beauty sleep” and staying up all night sewing minions back together after a wagon accident.
Chloe had to have all the pieces attached properly for most of her spells. It also made everything cost less mana. Resurrecting someone with just a fingerwaspossible, but dangerous. First the body needed to be magically healed piece by piece starting at the finger, andifit was reformed in time, then the necromancer would have to invoke higher level spells than she could safely cast. She told everyone that she couldn’t do it, and that they’d better do their due diligence and bring her thecorrectpieces to put back together.
Nobody wanted to end up with two left hands or Uncle Jimothy’s bunion toes.
His commander general more often than not had eaten and gone about his day long before Keith came downstairs. Rufus was the early-to-bed-early-to-rise, five-small-meals-and-exercise kind of man. No wonder he was still single.
“I wasn’t being serious,” Keith groaned. He took a sip of his tea and let the hot honey and smooth, creamy liquid warm him from the inside out. Lady green tea was a key ingredient in the Awakening potion, and he savored its natural effect. “Though I wouldn’t put it past Drendil to attempt a poison sock needle.”
“Did you learn anything from the first spy?” Chloe asked around a mouthful of cheesy flake pastry.
“I learned that her favorite snack is dehydrated apples, she works for Ven Larsen as a tailor, and that her mother’s name is Lola Higgins.” Keith sighed. “She isn’t under any enchantments, so I’m no use. Rufus will have to take a go at her spy perks. I’m pretty sure she has [Liars Palace].”
“I love a good challenge.” Rufus grinned and carefully cut a piece from his avocado toast. “It’s rare that we get a spy who’s mastered the talent to create a fake identity so well they can take on the fake personality as truth.”
“Give her to me, and I’ll sort it out.” Chloe said. “I could get an answer—”
“That’s against the Valarian Council,” Keith put in. At the same time, an angry Rufus warned, “No mind control!”
