Page 6 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
“You would have to ask her.” I shrugged. “She hasn’t announced her summer tour yet, so she might be free.”
“Oh, really.” Chloe raised an eyebrow at me. “Where is she off to next?”
I took a sip of my drink. “She’s going to Servalt for Duke Wyldon’s birthday tea party, then she’s off to Peldeep for an apple blossom ceremony, and then she promised Henrietta that she’ll visit for the Hollow Silver Star Festival, all of which takes place before your wedding at the Summer Masquerade.”
Chloe creased her brow in a delicate frown and scrunched up her nose in disgust. “Whyeverwould she agree to visit Servalt after they kidnapped her and broke her instrument? I’m surprised the place hasn’t fallen apart already after the whole incident at the Spring Ball.”
“Servalt is hunting down the perpetrators,” I pointed out. “And they’ve successfully recovered all of Lieutenant Franni’s platoon.”
“That still proves my point, doesn’t it?” Chloe countered. “If they’re still hunting down the villains, then the villains arestill out there. And there are plenty of reasons to stay away in the meantime.”
“You’re just saying that because you don’t like Servalt.” I laughed. “From what the Continental Council has gathered, this mess stretcheseverywhere, and every kingdom is responsible for contributing to the search.”
“Idon’tlike Servalt,” Chloe agreed. “So how is the search going?”
“Duke Wyldon returned to Servalt after the Spring Ball and tore apart every estate associated with Marquess Chadwick. He’s done most of my work for me.”
“What’s left then?”
I sighed, the thought of the previous weeks’ overtime a distant nightmare that still wasn’t over. “Now that I’ve finished combing through transit documents from every Servalt merchant going back over the last three years and reviewed every single missing person, and immigration and emigration file, I just need to cross-reference those forms with the other kingdoms border offices.”
“Sounds fun,” Chloe said dryly. She tried to cheer me up with, “At least it’s just paper shuffling? It shouldn’t take too long.”
“Do you know how many people have emigrated to North Sumbria in the last year alone?!” I dragged a hand down my face, dreading the arduous task ahead. It was my fault, though; I’d been teasing my king a lot recently, and vengeance was a dish best served with paperwork. “And that’s not everything; I’vealsobeen tasked to visit our illustrious neighbors to check on thosegiftsour rulers sent them.”
Namely, the seventy-five-odd assassins who’d survived the Dark Enchanted Forest and been kindly sent back to the guilds in Servalt and Peldeep. Nobody had bothered to check which assassins went to which guild, but that would be their job to sort out.
I just needed to go and reestablish contracts with both guilds so that it wouldn’t happen again. And, under order by my king, figure out how the assassins keep popping up everywhere and getting past the kingdom’s golem defenses.
“Nowthatactually sounds fun.” A brilliant smile lit up her face as Chloe’s fiancée, Countess Julia, walked over to join us.
“Dear, are you bothering Rufus while he’s on guard duty?” Julia chastised playfully, winding an arm around the necromancer’s shoulders. Julia was a head taller than Chloe, and she took after her mother: tall, dark, and powerful.
“We’reallon guard duty.” Chloe waved a hand over the wedding party. “But it’s unlikely anything will happen with Feliwyn so close.”
We all turned to the giant sleeping dragon, who remained blissfully oblivious to the celebration going on around her.
“When do you think Her Eminence Feliwyn will wake up?” Julia asked. “I heard King Keith say it was soon, buthowsoon?”
I shrugged. “It’s been eight years… so any day now?”
“I think she’ll nap the whole decade,” Chloe said. She finished her drink and wrapped her arms around Julia’s forearm. “How about we take a walk? I need to check oneverything.”
“Of course you do, darling.” Her soon-to-be wife laughed. “It’s almost time to swear fealty, and the unicorns are getting antsy.”
“Why didn’t you say so?!” Chloe perked up and started for the herds milling about the field away from the celebration. “I’ll go speak with Goldenhoof right now.”
I finished my drink and headed for the snack table while enjoying the ambiance that Minstrel Bronwynn added to the event. Suddenly, sorting through a few hundred people’s emotions didn’t seem so hard.
The Dark Enchanted Forest welcomed its new Dark Lady with open arms. No one tried to outright assassinate anyone, even as representatives from around the kingdom offered their allegiance to Queen Henrietta.
And nobody had poisoned the punch!
All in all, the wedding was a great success. And I was ready to get back to the castle for a rest.
CHAPTER 2
It’s Better Than Eating Babies
