Chapter Sixty-SevenEven sitting, tess Maye was still taller than her. “I was surprised when my niece delivered your letter with an offer to parley.”

  Princess Rosaline ing through was ued. She'd been distant when they've crossed paths retly since her outburst. But she delivered the letter and Harmony had her meeting at the very public Golden Flower Cafe.

  “I felt we should talk. After all, we both want what is best for our dear Prince Adric. There doesn't o be any flict between us if we e to an uanding.”

  The tess unleashed a predatory smile with weight behind it. An authority-boosted social skill? It hit, but soft enough that Harmony wondered what their differen authority was. “Oh, we have no flict or war between us. If there was, I assure you that it wouldn't st long. Now take a seat, the tea here is excellent.”

  Lose this battle. Other victories ter. There is no point in reminding the tess that the st time they saw each other she had a mass of pace guards, the problem princess with her bow, and was in full pte mail a the end of that it was Harmony who walked out with the prince already stashed away safely. “I look forward t it.”

  The seat she took had ara cushion Ambrosia pced upon it so the height difference wasn’t so bad when sitting.

  Maye smiled more like this was some secret victory. This was going to be a loing even if it only sted the length it took to drink the tea. The woman didn’t o accept Harmony’s invitation to talk. She's ag like she's the one who set this up, but even in that opportunity could be had.

  The server approached.

  “Three pots. The bck herb, sweet wake, and simple green. Also, a tray of the house's special little cakes.” Maye ordered without Harmony's input.

  “Thank you fraciously having me, and introdug me to your favorite teas.”

  “These are not my favorite teas. This is the differeween you ahese are Addy's favorite teas. Why he should be under your care baffles me." Maye let out a long sigh. "How is my dear boy doing?”

  Tea? Ciders, meads, wine, water, and sometimes a share of that blue milk he gets by the jug for Bowe. That gives him gas, but still doesn’t avoid it. Not that Maye was lying, but Adriever sought out tea, taking whatever was i when he was at the table. This was the tess's pn?

  “Prince Adric is still sleeping with Bowe iables rec from his treatment at the pace tower. They stopped feeding him, except to shove nasty potions down his throat in the days before I brought him out.”

  “The staff was just being thh.” Maye’s voice slipped a little.

  "It was torture, and they still haven't reinstated his official status as a prind access to his funds."

  "Overzealous administrators and…"

  The tea and cake arrived. Both women took advantage of that tain their posure. The goal wasn’t to antagohe tess over all her as.

  Bck herb true to its name, came out of the pot looking like ink. As iing as the bouquet was, harmony could see Adrijoying it because with an overly deep sip, you create a faux bck mustache in your lip. A man-child, but the kind that is supportive and always there for you.

  “I didn't know he was being treated so poorly,” Maye said softly after a few sips.

  “If I thought you and Rosaline khe extent of what Adric ut through I wouldn’t be here. I know to you it seems like I’m a random woman who both offered a miracle cure and ripped him away. But I do what's best for him.”

  “You say that, yet you’re taking him to dangerous pces. The Deadwoods tomorrow and don’t tell me he won’t go with you into these Asdant Games.”

  There had been some doubt there, but after climbing Nae’s Garden alone, if she was allowed to have friends join her she was going to take it. “He wants to go. You let him go to the Deadwoods several times as a punishment when he was younger and when you thought he was dying. With his experience, he’s practically leading the group. As for the Asdant Games, the hardest part will be him being forced to be away from Bowe.”

  “Which he would never do if he was of his right mind.” Maye insisted. “I’ve even asked an expert to e and help me with my case.” The tess raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

  Who could the tess possibly invite and expect her to listen to?

  Reality ripped and split at the seams o the table. Not delving him. Maekus Von Trell stepped out, his suit still stained from the futile attack, but now he wore it as though it was meant to be that way. Despite him saying he’d be around, he hadn’t visited and Harmony had hoped he’d stay gone.

  “Ah, Ladies. A pleasure to see you both again.” the charter selor's eyes sparkled with enough mirth that harmony khis wouldn't go well.

  “The pleasure is all mine, selor.

  “Maekus,” Harmony greeted him, leaning on informality. How was this man going to mess up her pns?

  The staff appeared with a third cup and ara chair. Maekus took his pd poured himself a cup of the simple green. “Do you know why I chose this outfit today?”

  Ah, the kind of question that came with a scripted answer. “To shame me for my mistakes?”

  “To remi to uimate you. Which is why I was surprised to hear that you haven't quered the garden. The sixth ah floors shouldn't be a problem for a woman of your talents. And the eighth floor, everyone knows how that one goes.”

  tess hid her slight distent, a low grumble, with a tea cup at the praise from Von Trell.

  Often jokingly referred to as the true final floor and chaos inate, how Maekus could think the seventh wouldn’t be a problem for her was ridiculous. He's also seen Hyath and should know how the sixth would be a problem.

  This opened up an opportunity that Harmony had on her list for this meeting. [Mana Rotation] surged ready to boost a skill [Keen Iigative Awareness] blended with [Analyze] and threads from her other social skills. While mana isn't directly used by the skills, everything seemed to get some help from it.

  “Well, since I received a letter with the queen’s aowledgment, I haven’t been dying to take extra risks when at my rate of growth I might never o quer Nae’s Garden to reach evolution.”

  tess Maye’s face tio hold annoya held ion. Iingly enough there was a barest and brief narrowing of Maekus’s eyes at the mention of the queen.

  “Well, good for you.” the tess responded with a touch of bitterness. “Many aristocrats would love such reition.” This didn’t e with any subtle jabs or awareness of what that might mean.

  “I think you’ll find there are bes to pleting the dungeon sooner rather than ter. If only for more practice after evolution before the games with only ten days left.” Maekus responded.

  Maye didn’t know about the letter, nor how it might have been an attack. That was o off of her, and opened up options in this little discussion. Maekus reacted but was too hard to read. It’s not like he’d arrived in Naewauld yet at that time.

  “That’s all good, but I ihe selor here to talk of Adrice he is under Von Trell’s purview while he is around. We’ve had several talks where he has agreed with me that Adric journeying to the Deadwoods and the Asdant Games was a risk to him.”

  Maekus took a bite of one of the cakes and chewed it ptively before speaking. “tess, I fear you are hearing what you wanted out of our versations. The Deadwoods could be dangerous for Prince Adric if his situation is susceptible to the enviro or denizens of the area. For the Asdant Games, I was theorizing that due to the bond requirements, some of the rewards could signifitly affepetitors' bonds. There is a greater danger for Adric I fear you haven’t sidered.”

  “What could be a greater danger?” Maye demanded.

  “The fact that the Prind Lady White are so bound together that I suspect that if she died Adric would die with her or bee something.”

  Could Adric bee one of the oddities that Max, Tyeler, Rose, Len, and her had been reading about for their trip to the Deadwoods?

  “Then order both Harmony and Addy under house arrest so he be safe!”

  That wouldn't work. All that would happen is her unstable authority would slowly kill her and then her nephew.

  “That's a bit too close to getting involved in local politics. The tea was lovely, tess. Lady White, I'll be keeping my eyes on you. Farewell.” Still seated the man slid through an opening, vanishing from the versation.

  “That…” Maye grumped furiously.

  “You want to keep Prince Adric safe, but we o get stroo aplish that. That is why I came to you, and why you accepted this meeting.”

  “Well, what would you have me do?"

  To win, what would the best way to respond be? [Keen Iigative Awareness] helped review her iions with the tess, brief as they were. Loud, a bit ham-fisted, using size to overpensate for something. o be right. o be in trol. When the skill tried to hint that maybe the two of them weren’t so different. Harmony smacked it with a softened version of [Final Silence].

  “We all do something a little crazy for people we love. That’s why I’m hoping you’ll be the bigger person and take over training for Adric for the prier we get back from the deadwoods. I’ve been too busy with my own path climbing up Nae’s Garden and you'll get to have your hand in making him as prepared as he be for the games. There's only so many days left and I'll be ting on you.”

  “I'm listening.”

  Tea, politics, and arras were made.