Lorraine and Edith carefully tended to her wounds. The green bottle was filled with a green ointment that tingled coldly on her bruises. Yavanna had decided that once she was finished speaking to the king she would apply some of the paste on her face's bruises.
Once they completed the task, and Yavanna's neck felt cold all over, they gave her a spoonful of liquid from the blue bottle. "This is the one to ease the pain."
Yavanna nodded as she swallowed the bitter liquid. It coated the back of her throat unpleasantly as she was brought back to when she'd been poisoned. Pushing down her sudden anxieties she took her pen and parchment and nodded goodbye.
Edith insisted on accompanying her and she accepted. As they walked through the dark, torch-lit hallways they were met by a tall thin man. Yavanna felt a rush of ice pummel her veins when he met her eyes.
"Prince Velio." Edith bowed to him and Yavanna looked at her in surprise. 'Prince? So, it was safe to say that he was the king's brother.' He nodded at Edith's address but his blue eyes remained fixed on Yavanna's widened ones behind the veil. His eyes trailed down her body slowly, eliciting a squirm of discomfort from her.
"Good morning, your majesty. I must have missed you yesterday. How was your sleep?"
Her nonexistent voice caught in her throat and she attempted to swallow. His voice… It was him. There was no denying it; his voice had been the one haunting her since the day she had arrived within the castle.
Without another word she hastened to the king's study, that stood a short distance from where they were. She didn't think to knock and only thought of fleeing from the frightening man. She shut the door and backed away slowly, her heart pounding in her chest as she expected him to burst through the door at any moment.
A minute ticked by but the fear had not abandoned her and instead gripped her tightly. She had long since blocked out the sound of her wheezing and of her struggling swallows.
"What are we waiting for?" She jumped from the voice next to her ear and emitted a strangled scream that lodged painfully in her throat.
'Don't do that!' She screamed mentally at the smirking king who was staring down at her with a smug look.
He took a step forward, his amusement quickly wiping off of his face, "What are you doing here?" She retreated a step from his commanding aura and recalled her quill and parchment that she had brought with her.
She sat down on the couch, without being asked, and placed the parchment on the table to write more easily. He remained standing and she shoved the paper into his face. It read; "I was kidnapped last night and strangled. Someone saved me but I cannot speak. Your brother kidnapped me."
"Which brother?" He asked when he was finished, his face impassive. She blinked and realized that she hadn't accounted for the fact that he may have more than one brother; she certainly did. She quickly wrote her answer and handed it to him. The paper had written on it the name of the prince she had just met in the hallway.
She watched as his eyes hardened for a moment before returning to the apathetic ones. "And what proof do you have that it is ideed my brother, the steward and second prince of Nothad?"
She swallowed slowly, doing her best to hide her wince as she thought of what to tell him. Writing her answer out she handed it to him. He raised a brow, "You recognized his voice?"
She nodded. He laughed, "That is not proof."
Frustration clouded her mind. 'I just met him outside of your study.' But she wrote down a different response, "Why was he in your study?"
He scoffed when he read it, "And why should I tell you?"
"I deserve to know." She wrote down quickly, "I am your queen, and he is my brother-in-law, and he's hurt me twice since my stay here at the castle."
"I don't believe you."
'You wouldn't.' After sitting in her disappointment and anger for a few moments with the king having returned to his documents. She wrote down a question, "Do you think I have magic?"
When she handed it to him at his desk he raised a brow, "Do you believe you have magic?"
She shook her head and quickly wrote down her answer, "It's impossible. No member of the royal family of Viland has ever possessed magic."
He received her answer tiredly and scoffed, "Then how do you explain what happened that night?"
Her shoulders slouched and she wrote her honest reply, "I have no idea."
"Well…" He drawled out and she pursed her lips in apprehension, "I'll be interested when you find the solution to it all."
She frowned and wrote hastily, "You'll be interested when I discover the reason for the creature?"
He nodded and returned to his work, "Yes."
She nodded and sighed when she realized that she would need to take a trip to the library. She would bring her ladies in waiting along. She paused and raised her hand to write again. Handing the note to the king he glanced at it and she was pleased when she saw him do a double take.
Grabbing the parchment, he said, "And what else do you accuse this lady of?"
Yavanna swallowed, "I believe she may have had something to do with the poisoning."
"Do you?" He raised his blue eyes without lifting his head. She nodded and he reclined in his seat. "I… will have my investigator look into it."
She blinked and wrote a messy thank you. He scoffed but she didn't wait to meet his eyes before leaving. She couldn't speak, and so she wouldn't say goodbye. She had to visit the library. A shiver passed through her at the thought of what had occurred the last time she had gone there. But steeling her nerves, she nodded to Christa, when she returned to her room, to follow her then began to walk to the library.