“And I’m just concerned I won’t enjoy it or I won’t cope with it,”
Alessandria lent back in her cold chair. This was hardly her area of expertise. What if she gave him bad advice? What if he hated it?
Taking a deep breath, Alessandria calmly replied: “Daniel, Harrison loves you. You’re both autistic. Just talk to him and he’ll understand,”
Daniel nodded.
“Why were you seeing the Lord Justice?”
“Change the subject, why don’t you. Um, we made a deal with the head of The Serpent Gang. We need to free her grandson,”
Daniel nodded.
“What about your attackers?”
“Same people who attacked the Queen. You’re in a better position to peruse that line of inquiry,”
Alessandria couldn’t argue with that, but she coughed as the smell of the medical chemicals entered her nose again.
“How did your meeting with the Greenscales go?”
“Good, they pledge their support to you if we free their land from the military siege,” Daniel started as he got out of bed and looked for his leather trench coat and trousers.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to go to the Queen’s Procurator’s Archives to find the legal basis for the siege. Even if it’s within his power, he had to create a report,”
“Daniel, it’s seven o’clock at night. You just collapsed from exhaustion,”
“I’ll take Hellen with me,”
“I’m not going to persuade you otherwise, am I?”
“No. Whilst you and Nemesio go to see the Lord Justice, we’ll search the archives. Come to Harrison’s house afterwards. We’ll regroup,”
Knowing her brother wasn’t going to back down, Alessandria passed him his leather trench coat, sword and leather trousers. It only bought her some comfort that Hellen could protect him. She couldn’t afford to lose him. Yet at least he said Nemesio’s name without tensing.
CHAPTER 12
Despite my body aching and my head a tiny bit fuzzy from fatigue, myself and Hellen entered the Archive deep under the castle. In all honesty, I'm not sure if I'm aching from the fatigue or the ridiculously long spiralling staircase we had to walk down to get here.
The sound of Hellen's big wooden stick tapping against the dark stone floor thankfully broke the silence of being so deep below ground. I could probably scream in here and no one would be able to hear me.
Looking at Hellen with her massive stick and her grey Procurator cloak. I was definitely grateful Alessandria made me bring her. With her stick nearby, I felt a lot safer but something was still off.
As I looked at the immense books of parchment containing centuries worth of documents. The fact that there was only one light and a lot of hiding places didn't exactly make me feel comfortable down here.
Focusing on the Archive in more detail, I appreciate the bookshelves bolted to the walls. To support the immense weight of the centuries old brown leather book covers.
Hellen walked past me and looked behind the back of the bookshelf on the far end of the Archive. She shook her head and I knew why. From looking at a map of the archives a few years ago, I know this place is a maze and this little 'entrance' way with three bookcases and a small wooden table around us was only a fraction of the true inventory.
Thankfully, I doubt Ares would have been bothered to file the case correctly. Meaning it should theoretically be in this 'entrance' part.
However, I hate the smell of the Archive. All these dusty book covers and smelly ancient bits of parchment, most of which I'm sure were mouldy. Not exactly my scene. I love books but not smelly parchment.
Taking a few steps closer towards the wooden table, I cocked my head at the strange map laid out. It showed an ancient coastline of Mortisical. Surely Ares had wanted to see this for his rogue crusade. It's all rather stupid if you ask me. Attacking the Mortisicals is pointless and we've won anyway.
That's one of the benefits of having a boyfriend with personal access to the Queen. He got to proofread the final proof of the peace treaty and the Queen asked for his opinion as a common subject. Then he told me all of the details of the treaty. I don't know why Ares' is complaining we make a lot more money from this peace deal than at war. But what are you going to do with ignorant people?