by Dan Wingreen
"That's one of the things I love about you, my dear. You are completely fearless, even when a bit of terrified deference might benefit you in the long run," the Prince said, returning the smile.
Elias swallowed roughly. While he'd gotten used to the idea of the Prince…having feelings for him, he still hadn't gotten used to the way the Prince expressed those feelings seemingly out of nowhere. Compliments and professions of love mid-conversation always caught him off guard, and left him at least slightly flustered.
"Yes. Well." He cleared his throat, ignoring the way the Prince chuckled silently to himself. "That still doesn't explain what you think is going to scare me away."
The Prince sighed. "Perhaps scaring you off was the wrong way to put it. Putting you off may have been a better phrase. My father… I know you think of him as a scholar, Elias, and he is, but he's also the Dark King. He rules over a kingdom made up of an incredible number of diverse and inimical species, most of which have cultures possessing little tolerance for weakness. His strength and his magic, along with the symbolic significance of owning the Mournhelm, go a long way towards keeping them in line, but what truly keeps Mournhelm from fracturing into civil war is their awe and fear. And not just the fear of losing the improved lives my father has given them, but fear of my father himself. Fear of what he would do if one of them forgets who he is. A large part of that fear stems from his very brutal methods of punishing disobedience and insult. Something I've also taken part in, on occasion."
The Prince paused and shot Elias a nervous look. Whatever he saw on the scholar's face must not have been what he was dreading, however, because he relaxed almost immediately.
"He can't allow himself to appear weak," the Prince continued, "Which means he can't accept any insult from a foreign kingdom that he would mercilessly punish in his own."
"Insults such as having his only son accused of murder?" Elias asked, starting to understand where this was going.
"Exactly." The Prince smiled briefly. "Although, if he learns I'm being investigated for murder, he'll just assume that I broke my promise to him and demand that I return home to be punished."
"But you wouldn't be allowed to leave because you're a murder suspect."
"Correct again. I do so love your intelligence, my dear."
Elias cleared his throat awkwardly.
"And that's where the problem would start. If my name isn't cleared by the time I'm summoned home, and if your king refuses to release me back to my father, that would be an insult of the highest order, not to mention a kidnapping. No matter how much he currently wishes to avoid war, he would be forced to respond. Your kingdom…would not survive."
"That's ridiculous." Elias scoffed. "He wouldn't need to declare war to get you back. You could just slip away in the night, or use magic to blast your way out of a cell if they decided to arrest you. It's not like the King would send soldiers into Mournhelm after you. Not even Sir Knight's life being in peril would cause the King to go to war with Mournhelm."
"You think Father doesn't know that?" The Dark Prince raised an eyebrow. "Of course he does. And he would find it just as ridiculous as you do. But he would destroy your kingdom regardless. If he didn't, it would be seen as weakness, and it only takes a few species to delude themselves into thinking the Dark King is getting soft for the idea of rebellion to start gaining traction."
The Dark Prince sighed again, and made a point of looking Elias right in the eyes as he said, "And…that's the kind of kingdom you'd be living in, if you come with me. A place where, occasionally, intelligence and rationality are seen as weakness, and where talking instead of acting can sometimes be incredibly dangerous. As my consort, you would be nearly untouchable, but you would still be exposed to views and cultures which you would find ignorant, and sometimes that ignorance will be placed on a higher pedestal than your logic."
To say that didn't sit well with Elias would be an understatement. He hated ignorance. Hated it. And he had thought, when he realized the Dark King was an accomplished scholar, Mournhelm would be a kingdom more like Ellington when it was first founded. A place of learning; where different cultures and ideas came together to be exchanged and debated and cataloged and studied. A place where the mind was valued more than status or the ability to wield a sword. He was…disheartened to learn otherwise.
It was, of course, his fault for making assumptions.
However, he could take some solace in the fact he wasn't the only one assuming things which weren't true.
"Do you truly think that will keep me from wanting to go with you when you leave?" Elias asked.
The Prince looked taken aback. "Well…yes."
Elias shook his head. "Idiot," he said fondly. "I may have been wrong with some of my assumptions about Mournhelm, but I'm not wrong about you. I—love you," he said, thankful he only somewhat stumbled over the still unfamiliar words. "And I've been dealing with ignorance my entire life. It will take much more than cultural stupidity to get me to reconsider an entire courtship. To be honest, it's slightly insulting you would think otherwise."
To Elias's—and the Prince's, if his expression was anything to go by—surprise, the Dark Prince laughed.
"I guess that puts me in my place, then."
Elias nodded primly. "Yes. It does."
And, to Elias's relief, that seemed to be the end of that.
However, they were still left with the problem of proving the Dark Prince didn't kill Selma. Despite the subject matter of his books, Elias's experience with the actual solving of crimes was limited to a couple of interviews with guards, and a few detective novels he'd read to see how crime was dramatized so he could make his own work less dry. Somehow, he doubted this investigation would end with a sudden flash of insight and a dramatic retelling of the murder in front of the killer.
Which was a shame, because that part always seemed like it would be incredibly enjoyable.
"I've never investigated a murder before." Elias mused several minutes later as the Prince started a fire. The Prince seemed to struggle slightly with working the matches, and Elias wondered if it was because the servants usually lit the fire, or because the Prince usually did it with magic before Elias arrived. Either way, he thought it was touching the way the Prince was obviously trying not bring up bad memories by not using magic in front of him. Touching, but unnecessary.
"You can light it with magic, if you want," Elias said, only somewhat teasingly. "I don't mind."
The Dark Prince shot Elias a surprised look. He studied Elias for a moment, probably trying to decide if he was completely sure, then tossed the small pile of broken matches he'd been accumulating into the fireplace.
"Thank the gods," the Prince said, glaring at the fireplace. His eyes flashed purple, and the logs burst into flame. Another flash and the curtains closed, covering the room in comforting shadows. He gave Elias another nervous look, one Elias responded to by rolling his eyes, then collapsed into his chair. Elias closed his eyes briefly, basking in the heat from the fire.
"It's not like I have, either," the Prince said after getting comfortable. It took Elias a few seconds to realize that the Prince was responding to his earlier comment. "But at least you have experience with criminals. This might not be one of your repetitive offenders, but I have every faith that we'll be able to solve the mystery. After all, you're incredibly intelligent and I've yet to discover anything I can't succeed at once I've put my mind to it."
"Baking for vampires, breeding a mermaid that can walk on land, and seducing me are three which immediately come to mind. If you give me a few more minutes I'm sure I can remember others," Elias said with a brief smirk.
The Dark Prince sulked. "I knew I would regret telling you those stories," he grumbled. "And I've only failed at seducing you with magic. I think I'm well on my way to succeeding with more commonplace means."
Elias ignored both the Prince's leer and the way his own stomach flipped. "Unless you think to solve a murder by seducing me, perhaps we shou
ld focus more on our mystery?"
"Oh, very well." Even though the Prince sounded put out, he straightened up in his chair and adopted a more serious mien. "I don't suppose you have any idea where we should start?"
Elias stared into the fire as he thought. The flames usually helped him organize the chaos which sometimes erupted in his mind, and this time was no exception.
"While I've never actually investigated a crime before," he said, slowly thinking aloud, "I have studied the investigation of several. Generally, the guards I've interviewed seemed to place great importance on talking over what they knew to be fact and drawing up theories from there. Perhaps we should do that."
"Excellent!" The Dark Prince grinned. "So, what do we know?"
"We know you didn't do it," Elias said instantly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the almost grateful look which passed quickly over the Prince's face. Elias let out a soft snort and looked away from the fire. "Did you think I thought you guilty?"
The Prince seemed startled for a moment, then let out a small huff that almost qualified as a laugh. "No, I suppose not. And yet, I've grown so accustomed to being in a kingdom where everyone thinks the worst of me in any given situation, that hearing my innocence stated so bluntly and as a matter of known fact caught me off guard. I apologize if my reaction seemed to indicate a lack of trust."
"It didn't," Elias assured him. "Perhaps a lack of common sense…"
The Dark Prince laughed, a real laugh this time, and Elias flushed with the usual pleasure and pride at drawing it out. "At any other time I would assure you any lack of common sense on my part is only because I'm uncommonly sensible, but this time, I believe you have a point."
They shared a small smile, and Elias had the sudden feeling that he was looking at an image of the rest of his life, frozen in time. He could so easily see them sitting in front of hundreds of fires, discussing hundreds of problems which could save or destroy entire kingdoms, and yet still falling into easy, comfortable conversation which drew out hundreds of small, secret smiles. A portrait of the life of a consort.
To Elias's surprise and pleasure he found such a life uniquely—or perhaps uncommonly—appealing.
"So besides my innocence, what else do we know?"
Elias shook himself out of his thoughts and refocused on the present.
"Not very much," Elias said after thinking it over. "We know the guards aren't looking for any other suspects and we know we have three different time limits working against us."
"Three?"
Elias nodded. "At least. We need to prove your innocence before the guards find or manufacture enough evidence to charge you, before word of you being a murder suspect gets back to your father, and before your father summons you home."
"And here I was thinking this was going to be difficult," the Prince said with a wry tilt to his lips.
"Do you have any idea how long it would take for your father to hear of the investigation? Or even when he might summon you back from the exchange?"
"None at all," the Prince said in a manner that could almost be called petulant. "I know Father has some spies in Ellington, but he never told me who they are or how they contact him. If it's by post, then it could take weeks depending on where the letter is going to be dropped off and the species of the messenger Father sends to retrieve it. And he never told me when I was going to be returning, just that I might be gone for up to a year."
Elias let out a long breath and ran his hand over the top of his head, frowning slightly when his fingers got caught in the loose tangled strands. He started to reach into his pocket for a tie, only to remember that he was wearing the Dark Prince's robe. He let out an annoyed huff and settled for gathering up as much of it as he could and stuffing it down between the robe and his nightshirt.
"So we have a few weeks to…seven months or so?" The Prince nodded as Elias was getting himself situated. He hadn't expected a more precise time frame, but it still would have been nice. "It will take at least a few weeks for the guard to decide to manufacture evidence and make it believable, I think."
"Is faking evidence a common practice?" the Prince asked, seemingly more amused with Elias's struggles than the possibility of evidence being forged against him. Elias gamely ignored him.
"No, not at all. Most guards take pride in their job. But if they think someone truly evil is going to get away with a crime they know that person is guilty of, then they have been known to suddenly 'find' a clue or three which leads to an easy conviction."
"And of course they all already know I did it…"
Elias nodded again. "Yes. But on the positive side, you are a royal guest, and foreign royalty at that. It will take very convincing forged evidence for them to charge you, since the King will at least need to review it before an arrest is made."
"Hmmm." The Prince rubbed his bottom lip thoughtfully. "You have a relationship with the King, yes?"
"Yes. Somewhat. But like I said, the King can't shut down an investigation or overrule an arrest—"
The Prince cut him off with a wave. "Yes, I know, but perhaps you could convince him to…take his time, while he reviews the evidence?"
Elias thought about that for a moment, then reluctantly shook his head. "I don't think I'm that close with the King. He's always viewed me as a project of his late wife and a friend to his son; he treats me nicely, but I don't think I have any actual pull with him. I could get him to review any evidence we find, he would do that much for Cornelia's memory, but anything else is extremely doubtful."
"What about…the Crown Prince?" The Dark Prince's lips twisted into an expression of distasteful reluctance. "Could you get him to talk to the King?"
Oh, the irony.
"Before the ball I would have said 'of course', but he's very unlikely to help me now that I've broken his heart. And he's certainly not going to help you in any way."
The Prince frowned thoughtfully. "Do you think he could be behind this?"
That stopped all of Elias's thoughts in their tracks. He'd never even considered the Crown Prince could be involved. Mostly because the Crown Prince was a ridiculous creature who tended more towards tantrums than elaborate revenge, but it had been weeks since the ball and he still hadn't reacted in any way…
"No," Elias said finally. "He isn't subtle or clever enough to murder someone and then frame somebody else for it. Not to mention the sight of blood makes him scream."
The Dark Prince laughed. "Really?"
"Yes. He almost got our entire class skewered by the guards once when he went into hysterics over one of Duke Corander's sons getting a bloody nose."
"Please tell me he doesn't hold a military rank."
Elias snorted. "No, thankfully. Unlike many other kingdoms, military experience isn't required to inherit the throne in Ellington. Founded by scholars, remember? And the Prince has never shown much interest in leading armies. Unless he's leading them against a dragon, of course."
"Insulting them isn't enough, he wants to threaten them, too?" The Dark Prince looked like he couldn't decide whether to be horrified or amused.
"There are no few reasons why no one is looking forward to the King's death," Elias said dryly.
"Not surprising at all," the Prince murmured. A small smile started to form on his lips before suddenly freezing in place. "Wait, that incredibly rude guard said the marchioness's body carried no wound."
"If he's telling the truth," Elias said. "We don't know that. For all we know someone could have ripped her head off and painted a landscape on the walls with her blood."
"Charming image."
"We can't make any assumptions which aren't independently verified by us. Which means we need to track down and interview every witness, talk to the guards who initially responded to the reports of a dead body, and examine the body itself. And that's only so we can get a working theory." Elias managed to hold back his laughter at the expression of utter despair on the Prince's face, if only because he was feeling no small share of it hi
mself. This wasn't going to be easy, and they weren't likely to find much cooperation from anyone involved. Not to mention the questionable-at-best legality of a murder suspect helping to investigate the very murder he's suspected of.
They would be lucky if they weren't thrown in jail by the end of the first day.
"All right then," the Dark Prince said reluctantly. "Where do we start?"
Chapter 23
An hour later found Elias walking quickly through the castle, ignoring the whispers and stares that followed him like persistent mosquitoes. He was dressed in his usual scholar's robes—over the protests of the Dark Prince who, once he realized Elias was wearing his clothing, tried to forbid him from dressing in his own ever again—with his hair freshly washed and securely tied. He'd debated wearing his glasses, but eventually decided to keep them in their case in his robes. As much as he hated fishing them out when he had to use them, there was little chance he was going to be needing them for the next several hours, and he was in no mood to deal with the headache he tended to get when he wore them without reading anything for long periods of time.
In the end, they'd decided to start by trying to recreate the initial stages of the guard's investigation. There was very little they could do with what they knew, and stopping every person they passed and asking them if they happened to chance upon the dead body of a marchioness would be less than ideal. They needed a framework; witness lists, coroner reports, time of death, and the like. Fortunately, Elias had somewhat of a rapport with the guard commander from his time interviewing repetitive offenders. With any luck, he would be willing to share some details with Elias.
He made his way to the Eastern Turret where Guard Commander Spellings kept his office above the dungeons. The moment he slipped into the areas of the castle frequented by guards rather than servants and nobles, the gawking whispers were snuffed out like a candle in the wind. While Elias was never one to assume happenstance to be an omen of anything, he nevertheless found himself cautiously optimistic about his chances of securing the commander's help. Perhaps he hadn't even heard about Elias's courtship and would just think he was interested in a case involving the Dark Prince of Mournhelm. Spellings had always encouraged Elias's curiosity about the law in the past, after all.