Chapter 35: A Garden in Bloom

The next day, Amy and I took a carriage to Myrddhin House. Fiona and Vincent met us at the door. I wondered if the two of them were still intimate, then I discounted the idea. Fiona would be upfront if that were the case. I also reminded myself that I shouldn’t mind if that were the case. I couldn’t provide what Vincent could provide her after all. But I was confident that if this interested Fiona, she would bring it up with me first. And then it struck me that I hadn’t done the same about Amy. Of course, I had already been with Amy. Fiona hadn’t seemed upset when she discovered it. But I felt as though I had failed her. 

“Yesterday was enlightening,” Vincent said, once we exchanged pleasantries. 

“Enlightening,” Fiona said, “But unhelpful. We could not save the seer. We found nothing we could use as evidence.” 

“And we still don’t know where Wulfric is staying,” I said.

“Does that matter?” Fiona asked.

“It does if my plan is going to work. Lynn doesn’t want to marry Wulfric, but she feels like she has to marry him. And she won’t stop. She’s convinced that this is the only plan that will work. I’m not. Hyperborea is preparing for military action. The only way we can stop this is to threaten them with something they can’t beat. They can defeat Ys. They can defeat us with a fraction of their military. They’re too large and we’re too small. They could defeat Ys and Agartha at great cost to themselves. But they can’t defeat the combined might of the Boro Sea. We can enforce a naval blockade. At least we can if we rally the other island nations: Hy-Brasil, Emain Ablach, and Tech-Duinn. We can invade and conquer Hyperborea itself. Or we can with the might of Southern Karshvar. We would need them all: Agartha, Lyonesse, Cockayne, Suddene and Reynes. But if we threaten to expose their plan to the other nations, they will have no chance. They will have to back off or such an alliance would destroy them.”

“You would need to involve somebody in the House of Lords for this to be possible.” Fiona answered.

“But we know somebody in the House of Lords,” Vincent pointed out. “His Grace, Duke Leon is a wonderful person. And he’s in love with Lynn. We can all see that.”

“Exactly,” I nodded. “I would recommend killing Prince Wulfric so he can’t try anything in the future. I would recommend using a silver potion instead of a weapon. That would give us plausible deniability. There would be no wounds on whatever we returned to Hyperborea. This would make assassination harder to prove. And silver would force a transformation to his werewolf form. Meaning he would be all or part wolf when he died. And so, the Hyperboreans would have their own incentive to hide the details of his death. They wouldn’t want to out a member of the royal family as a werewolf.” 

“How would you poison him?”

“That’s the tricky part. I don’t know how to make this plan work without Lynn on board to actually poison him. She’s the only person we know with ready access to him.” 

Amy slumped in her seat, “So your plan hinges on Lynn doing the opposite of what she plans to do.”

I sighed and nodded, “Yeah. It’s a silly plan. But that's all I’ve got. Lynn poisons him. And once we’ve shown proof of the conspiracy, we get the House or Lords, or even Leon alone to arrest them. I don't know what else we can do.”

* * *

We returned to Castle Octavian in time for dinner. And we discovered that Wulfric had joined the family for dinner. I did my best to play nice while the crown prince was present. But when he suggested that he and Lynn go for a walk in the garden, alarm bells sounded in my head. And so, I followed. 

I didn’t trust this. I watched as Wulfric and Lynn stood by the fountain talking. Lynn was putting her best flirt on. She has hands clasped together at her waist. She was using her arms to push her breasts together and up, giving her improved cleavage. She had leaned forward to give Wulfric a better view of said cleavage. When she answered him, she shifted her weight, causing her hips to sway. But I knew how Wulfric acted when aroused. He got violent. The man didn’t differentiate between sex and violence. I feared for Lynn’s wedding night. 

I couldn’t hear them at this distance. But Lynn stepped back in response to something Wulfric said. And then he stepped forward. Lynn took another step back. I stood up. Wulfric took two steps forward, pressing himself against Lynn. He pushed her into a marble sculpture of some scion of House Octavian. Lynn struggled as Wulfric wrapped an enormous hand around her neck. Holding her in place, he grabbed her right sleeve and pulled crosswise. He tore the top of her dress open, revealing a black lacy bra. Lynn said something to him, and he stepped back. Lynn slid to the cobblestones and wrapped her arms around her exposed bosom. Wulfric stared at her. Then he shook his head and turned. He marched away without looking back. 

Meanwhile I was already stumbling as best I could towards Lynn. I wasn’t wearing tall heels. But heels were all I owned, so I wore a two-inch kitten heel. I reached Lynn and dropped to my knees beside her. She grabbed me and pulled me into a painful hug. I hugged her back. She pressed her head against my shoulder and cried.

“Shush shush, I’m here,” I said, “You can cry it out. I’ve got you.”

“I did it,” She whispered.

“No, he did it,” I said, “This isn’t your fault.”

“This is the cutscene,” Lynn said, and I realized that she was right.

“You knew he would do that? You were ready for that?”

“I knew he’d do it if I got him to the right point in his interest. You need at least fifty points in his interest to cause the break-in cutscene. You need at least one hundred points in his interest to trigger this cutscene. I didn’t know I’d hit that number until he did this.”

“This isn’t worth it,” I said.

“It is worth it,” Lynn answered, “It’s harder in person than when I’m behind a keyboard. Watching a cutscene isn’t the same as having somebody actually tear your shirt open. It wasn’t just a violation. It hurt. Clothing doesn’t tear easy. I’m bleeding. But now I’ve got the necessary points in his interest. Now all that remains is to bring his respect up to one hundred points as well.”

“This was the last traumatizing cut scene, wasn’t it?” I asked, running through the playthrough Lynn was following in my mind. 

“It was,” Lynn said, “The next cutscene will be his proposal. So, we need to avoid derailing the story again between now and then.”

“And then you marry him.” I felt my voice going flat.

Lynn nodded, “Yes. Please, no lectures. I can handle it.”

“No lectures,” I whispered. “But one question: what if you can’t handle it?”

“There is always a way out of an abusive relationship, if I can’t handle the relationship any longer.”

I gasped and was about to object when somebody spoke.  

“Lady Carolynn, what happened?”

I looked up to see Amy setting down her drinks tray and then kneeling beside us. 

“Wulfric happened,” I answered, “Can you stay with Lynn while I get something to cover her?”

“I’ll get it, you stay with your cousin, my lady.”  

“You don’t have to do that,” I said.

“But I’m wearing flats, Lady Ren.” Amy raised a foot to show her black slippers. “And I haven't had any visions lately, so I’ll be quicker.”

I nodded, “Thank you Amy.”

I stared back at Lynn. There were a thousand things I wanted to tell her. But I knew she wouldn’t listen. So, I said nothing. I knelt beside her, instead, and let her cry on my shoulder. 

“I’m winning Ren. I’m winning.”

“It doesn’t feel like winning,” I whispered.

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