Talia stood in the doorway and stared uncertainly at the wrapped package leaning against the entryway wall.
The shape of it suggested a large picture frame or mirror. There was no tag or address label on it, and the Prince had made no mention of anything he had sent for. It was suspicious, indeed.
"Are you going in or coming out?" A voice asked from behind her.
She turned to find Ilya had approached without her realizing.
Instead of answering, she cautiously entered the room and approached the parcel to give it closer study. Ilya followed her in, not waiting for an invitation.
"It arrived just before you did," he volunteered. "A wedding gift from Lady Grieta, whom I believe you met today."
"From Lady Grieta," she repeated and frowned, unconsciously taking a step back.
"I'd would bet that it's a painting, wouldn't you?" Ilya asked lightly.
"Yes, most likely," Talia agreed, crossing the room to lay her outer wraps on the entry table. Although she hoped to convey indifference, Ilya was not one to easily be thrown off.
"Aren't you going to open it?" he prodded.
"I don't see why I should. It isn't as if it is addressed to me," she shrugged.
Truthfully, her curiosity was clawing at her internally. This was certainly the painting Grieta had mentioned several times. What was so important about it? How had she managed to wrap and send it so quickly that it had arrived at the palace before she did?
However, she had promised Prince Mikhail, only moments before, not to do anything foolish, and though it seemed a very small thing to her, Prince Mikhail would likely count opening a suspicious parcel from Grieta as foolish.
Not to mention the fact that Ilya was watching her with an unbearably knowing smirk.
"She's an interesting woman, isn't she?" Ilya remarked mildly. "The lady Grieta, I mean. I must confess that I was suprised to learn our Prince had taken you to visit her. Did he happen to mention-"
"How they were acquainted?" Talia cut him off. "As a matter of fact, he did, and as long as we two are confessing our thoughts, I find your behavior lately... this intent you have to cause discord between Prince Mikhail and myself... confusing. Last night you said-"
"I know what I said, and my offer stands," Ilya interrupted, his expression becoming serious at once.
"You would betray your Prince so easily?" she scoffed.
"No, I would not betray him. I cannot betray him in any way that would cause him harm... as you must realize," Ilya answered.
"And yet you offer to assist me in scheming with the King of Blackside Islands, without his knowledge or approval! How is that not a betrayal?" Talia asked, crossing her arms as she turned to face him.
"Because he ordered me to protect your life, even in the event that I must sacrifice my own..." Ilya replied evenly. "Your life, as far as I know, is in greater danger while you remain within the Empire than it would be from allying yourself with Blackside."
Talia nodded slowly.
"His order... created a loophole for you to bargain with," she realized. "You saw an opportunity and you-"
"No," Ilya growled. "There have been plenty of opportunities over the years, but even knowing what he is capable of, until now, I always believed that he regretted... what was done to me... that he had no choice... that he..."
Ilya grit his teeth and turned away, clasping his chest as he let out a pained groan. He was treading into something that he had been forbidden to speak of.
"What changed?" Talia asked.
"I could... tell you that... I could tell you everything... let you decide for yourself who to ally yourself with... if... if you..."
"I don't yet know how to break your bond," Talia reminded him gently.
"No. If to me... if you did to me, the same as you did to him," Ilya corrected her.
"Blood magic," she murmured, wincing at her own words.
It was odd. Unlike Ilya and Prince Mikhail, no such painful bond prevented her of speaking of blood magic, but a lifetime of warning, of having it repeated to her over, and over- that she must never speak of it, that the survival of Eosin and of Vezda itself depended on her silence-- it served the same purpose.
"You want me to perform the same spell on you that I did on Prince Mikhail- to free your tongue. Do you not understand that there are consequences to such a spell? Every word you speak, you will pay for in pain and suffering, and possibly with your life. It is a spell which only delays the consequences, it does not prevent them," she explained.
"I've survived it once already," he reminded her.
Talia drew a deep breath and let it out, although she had by no means decided whether or not to perform the spell, part of her was already making plans- considering how the spell might be tweaked, wondering where she would mix her tincture, and how much time she would need, and even how to keep it hidden from the Prince.
"I don't know.." she mumbled.
Prince Mikhail did appear to be acting in good faith-- at least in as much as it was possible for him-- and it felt underhanded and wrong.
"You aren't agreeing to betray him, you know," Ilya added quickly. "I'm simply offering you more information in order that you might make the best decision for yourself and Vezda. Even if you do decide to take my offer, it is not betraying our Prince. He once promised me that if he could... if he... if he knew a way..." Ilya winced and balled his hands into fists.
He made a fair point, Talia rationalized to herself. If she could find a way to free Ilya of his bond, it did not mean he would turn and seek revenge upon the Prince... and she might not be able to accomplish it anyhow.
Yet if she were to have a willing canidate, she could work at it until she succeeded, and once she had...
Once she had... once she proved that it was possible... then perhaps, Prince Mikhail would agree-
A loud banging on the outer door caused her to jump and then glance wildly at Ilya. She hadn't agreed to anything! Was this a trap? Would Ilya tell Mikhail that she was plotting against him to meet with the King of Blackside? Would he-
Ilya chuckled.
"You startle easily, Princess," he chided her as he went to the door.
"Yes, what is it?" He asked, cracking the door to reveal the red and huffing face of a palace guard.
"Sir Ilya... forgive me, Prince Mikhail sent me to... there was a package... delivered in error to his rooms, from Lady Grieta," the guard explained between deep breaths. "I've been asked to remove it."
He had obviously come running at the Prince's instructions. Talia scowled, wishing she'd given in to her curiousity when she'd had the chance.
"Yes, I'm aware," Ilya lied. "I'm in the process of removing it now. It must be repackaged before it is transported, you understand of course. I shall see to it myself."
He closed the door in the man's face before he had the opportunity to protest, and then returned to stand before the package.
"It would be a shame not to at least take a peek at it before it's removed. Aren't you even just a little curious?" Ilya asked and grinned at her.
She certainly was!
"Perhaps a little," she said and shrugged.
"It is a shame. If I had a reason to be suspicious of Lady Grieta or anything she had sent, I likely would have already removed the wrappings to check the parcel and ensure our Prince's safety. It would have been done well before the order arrived, and then... no one could have faulted you for having seen it..." Ilya studied his nails, and spoke in an off-hand manner, but when he glanced up at her, there was a teasing glint in his eye.
Of course! He was suggesting that he would take the responsibility for opening the package, if she would play the role of the jealous woman who had insisted Lady Grieta could not be trusted.
Talia smiled wickedly. Ilya did not know that Grieta had made herself an enemy of Prince Mikhail only an hour or so earlier. She wouldn't even be considered a jealous woman... merely a cautious one. Not even Mikhail would fault her if Ilya opened it.
"A pity you didn't ask what happened during our visit with Lady Grieta. I would have told you immediately that there was quite a heated argument between your Prince and the lady, and that your Prince ordered her to leave the city. One would assume she would be most displeased about it,"Talia informed him.
Ilya shook his head slightly, as though he could not quite believe her words.
"Did you say he ordered Lady Grieta to leave?" He asked.
"He told her that he would send the palace guard for her immediately, and that she had better be gone by the time they arrived," Talia said.
"Why would he... never mind, I am certain I'll hear about it from him," Ilya frowned, and then turned back to the package.
Removing a small knife from his belt, he cut through the wrapping across the top and ripped the paper back to reveal a large colorful painting.
He stepped away so that Talia could examine it better.
Her eyes moved across the canvas, taking in a wooded landscape that looked nothing like Vezda, until they fell upon the central figure of the painting- a tall, comely woman with long dark hair, and a face that.... a face that she immediately recognized.