Chapter 159- Gotcha (II):

Arabella:

Fear crawled up my spine as I stood there with the two dragons in front of me and hundreds of eyes watching from every corner of the hall. I had no idea what I was supposed to do now, or how the hell I was going to explain any of this.

My eyes searched through the crowd until I found Lucien standing near the far end of the royal table.

For some reason, I expected him to be angry. His mother had practically announced to the entire hall that whoever summoned the dragons was responsible for what happened in the palace, and now both beasts had run straight to me.

But when our eyes met, I was taken aback. There was no anger on his face, and he didn’t seem shocked either. He simply stood there watching me, completely ignoring the commotion around him.

Something about the way he held my gaze made me realize he wasn’t going to interfere yet. He was waiting to see what I would do. As if he wanted me to decide what happened next and he would simply follow my lead.

But there was something else in his eyes too, something that slowly eased the panic twisting inside me. Whatever happened next, he wasn’t going to let anyone in that hall hurt me.

All I had to do was trust him.

I hadn’t realized how tightly Toby was holding my hand until his nails pressed harder around mine. I looked at him, but his attention was fixed on the royal table.

Fine. If everyone wanted an explanation, I would give them one. I drew a breath and started to step forward when Toby leaned closer.

"Trust me," he whispered.

Before I could ask what he meant, he pulled me back and moved in front of me. "Toby, what are you—"

"I’m so sorry, Your Highness." My mouth fell open as he dropped to his knees.

"I made a mistake," he continued, his voice breaking as he clasped his hands in front of him. Tears were already running down his cheeks. "Please forgive me. I swear it won’t happen again."

What the actual fuck? I stared down at him, completely lost.

Around us, whispers began spreading through the hall. Even the dragons remained near us, watching Toby as he knelt on the floor. Then I looked toward Theodora. The smug smile had disappeared from her face.

"What did you just say?" She asked in a whisper.

"I called them," Toby cried before anyone else could speak. He kept his hands together as he looked up at the royal table. "I didn’t think it would actually work. I was only messing around, Your Highness. I swear I never meant for anyone to get hurt."

Whispers broke out around us.

I stared down at him, finally understanding what he was doing. That idiot was actually trying to save my ass.

He hadn’t given anyone enough time to think about why the dragons had stopped in front of me. He dropped to his knees and claimed them before anyone could even ask.

My eyes went to Lucien. For the first time tonight, he looked genuinely shocked. His gaze moved from Toby to the dragons and then to me, as though he was trying to make sense of everything at once.

"Mother." His voice cut through the growing noise in the hall. "We can discuss this later. This was supposed to be a magic show. There’s no reason to turn it into something else right now."

"No, Lucien." Amy pushed her chair back and came forward.

"Those dragons set fire to Toby’s room and hurt Arabella’s friend." She pointed toward the two beasts. "Someone could have died that night. We can’t just forgive him because he apologized. There needs to be a proper investigation."

My panic returned the moment I saw the guards gathering near the entrance. At a signal from Amy, they began moving toward us.

I turned to Toby.

"If you really think of me as your friend, you won’t say a word about this," he whispered quickly as he got back to his feet and grabbed my hand.

"But you weren’t the one who..."

"Quiet," he hissed, squeezing my fingers. "Don’t repeat anything. Please, Ara. Let me do this. Just this once."

"Don’t be stupid, Toby. I’m the one who called them." I said through clenched teeth.

"I know." His eyes flicked toward the approaching guards before returning to me. "But right now, you have more important things to deal with. Take care of them first, and when you’re done, you can come take my place in prison. Until then, let me handle this."

"Oh, Toby. No!"

"Please, Ara."

The guards were getting closer, and panic began clawing at me. I couldn’t just stand there and watch them take my friend away for something I had done.

I needed to stop them from taking Toby, so I did the only thing that came to my mind.

"Your Highness," I was loud enough to get Theodora’s attention.

When she turned toward me, I gave her a small curtsy. "If that’s the case, then I think your magic could be used for something much more important."

The guards who had been approaching us slowed down, waiting for further orders, while murmurs began spreading through the hall. I could see people turning in their seats, some curious and others already looking annoyed that I had opened my mouth again.

"What does she want now?" a woman whispered from one of the nearby tables.

A man sitting beside her gave a dry laugh. "Since she came back to the palace, we’ve had dragons, fires, and fights at the royal table. What else is left?"

"Let her speak," someone else interrupted them. "Whatever you think of that girl, she’s not a fool. I want to hear what she has to say."

That shut them up.

When I looked back at Theodora, she was waiting for me to continue, although the tightness around her mouth told me she probably wasn’t going to like whatever came next.

"I know you lost your daughter three years ago."

The whispers around us faded almost immediately. Theodora seemed taken aback by the sudden mention of Anika, while Amy straightened and turned her full attention toward me.

I didn’t give either of them the chance to interrupt.

"If this magic can bring those dragons here and tell you who called them, then why are we using it to investigate something that happened a few days ago?" I gestured toward the two beasts still standing nearby. "You’ve been trying to find Anika’s murderer for three years."

Theodora’s eyes remained fixed on mine, but I could no longer read what was going through her head.

"So why don’t you use the same magic to ask Anika herself?" I continued. "Ask your daughter who killed her. If you can use magic to find the person who called these dragons, then finding her murderer should be possible too."

A heavier silence settled over the hall as I held her gaze. "Wouldn’t that be a better use of your magic, Your Highness?"

I gave her the same smug smile she had given me only minutes ago.

Gotcha, Your Highness.