2

Mabel

A huge commotion was going on outside and I heard the emergency flares launch. I shared a look with Deborah, the officer who lived with me and had just come home from her overnight shift, and she jumped to her feet and pulled me to do the same.

She had her gun in her hand as she came around the table. "We have to move."

"We do not even know what the threat is," I argued. "Or it could be someone hurt."

"It does not matter. I secure you first, Countess."

"Wait, they cannot take her into custody," Whitney said from the foyer.

"Custody!" I gasped. "Who is—what is going on?" I hurried past Deborah and moved into the hallway to see her. I swallowed loudly when I saw her and James standing there looking worried. "What has happened?"

"A representative from the Holy Empire is here demanding to speak with you," Whitney said quietly, nodding when I swayed on my feet. "They brought Holy Knights with them. They could not have come into the empire unless it's a peaceful mission, but the guard from the district came with and said they were threatened to let them in.

"They tried to keep them at the guard station. We argued that they cannot just come to the home of any citizen as they want and demand an audience, but he said that's up to you. He's hostile and has not even told us his name. That's why we lit the flares. They have more people. That's the situation. He made it clear that he will not say more to…"

"Underlings," James drawled.

I nodded, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. "Let's go see how we can buy time until we are not outnumbered. I assume they have swords but no guns?"

"No guns. None are allowed them in the kingdom, and I made it clear that we had to check," James confirmed. "They lifted their cloaks and proved they only had swords as is allowed."

I nodded and headed for the door, checking myself quickly in the mirror. I was dressed for the morning but not fully put together yet or presentable really to go out, but that was fine given this was demanded of me. Deborah opened the door and stepped out first, and I followed after her. I went down the stairs of my porch but did not move any closer to the gate.

"You are the woman born Mabel Sunde?" a man asked.

I could not hide my disgust. "Have you no manners at all? And you say you are a man of our goddess? You threaten the kind guards of this district, do not adhere to the rules of the area, and cannot even show basic politeness." I hurried on when he opened his mouth. "Identify yourself, sir, or I will wait for the police to handle this matter."

He ground his jaw and made it clear in his gaze that he wanted to slap me. "I am High Priest Kiernan of the Holy Empire."

I simply blinked at him. He stated it as if that meant something and we should all fall at his feet or bow to him, maybe fan our faces at standing in his presence. "Are you an envoy or—"

"I am the right hand of the pope," he bit out.

I nodded but bit back a smirk. "So you are here in the context of a messenger for the pope, yes? You were sent on some mission for him?"

"Are you the woman born as—"

"I am Countess Mabel Phoenix but yes, I was born Mabel Sunde. Answer my question, sir."

"I am here to collect the saint who did not surrender herself to the Holy Empire as she should have," he declared loudly. "And hopefully, the goddess will forgive you for your sin of not doing so."

I ignored the gasps and stares of the people who knew me learning that. "I doubt she will forgive you for judging what you have no right to judge and declaring someone a saint who you never even met. I also am not property, sir, for you to collect or to be surrendered. I am disgusted you could speak about one of her children that way."

I poked the right point of pride, and the high priest blew his temper and launched into a rant. It was part sermon and part lecture that a mere woman dare disagree with him… Which was almost amusing given he served a goddess.

But honestly, none of this was funny.

However, it would stall for the time needed.

"Are you even listening to me, Mabel?" he demanded after several minutes, his tone and anger making me flinch as it echoed my father's a bit too much.

"No, not remotely," I admitted, much to the shock of him and his party. "I also do not try to understand dogs barking at the moon, and that is exactly what you sound like. Especially when you dare to speak to me so informally. I am a countess. Are you such an ignorant fool that you do not understand that?"

"You are the saint and I am a high priest," he snapped.

"A saint touched by the goddess is higher than the pope," James seethed. "Even the most basic of us who has ever attended a temple service knows that. And Violetta is a female, so the fact you could treat one of her daughters as property is beyond—"

"Know your place and—"

"Know yours," I blasted. "You are a visiting messenger from another country and starting an international incident with a noble from the great kingdom of Areca. You have yet to state anything of fact or logic, only rants and lectures, sir. This whole situation is lunacy and beyond ridiculous—"

"Will you dare stand before one of the goddess's ordained and deny you are her saint, blessed by her?" he threw back.

I slowly raised an eyebrow at him and took a step forward, making it clear I was not afraid of him. "When did she come down and ordain you? Men decided that you were worthy to be her priest. She's never said any such thing, and the temple is so corrupt that when I tried to tell them as a child that I smelled violets when none were around they ignored me.

"They only cared to ask my mother about more money." I nodded when shock filled his expression along with the knights with him. "So as I said, you judge and judge a situation you have no knowledge of while looking down on a lowly woman you speak of as property. Who in their right mind would tell you or the temple anything?

"I am not insane. I have no obligation to you or anyone who would use me. The temple is so corrupt that they ignored my constant abuse by my ex-husband, several witnessing it and smirking that I was ‘put in my place.' Should I have told them? Would they have listened? Believed me? Or would they have asked for more money while my ex-husband exploited me?"

"So you admit that you are the goddess's saint?"

"If that's all you heard from what I just said, there is no hope for you," I seethed, not hiding my disgust. "I am mine. I belong to no one. The goddess gave me her blessing and speaks to me." I nodded when people could not hide their shock again. "And never has she told me to surrender myself to the temple or Holy Empire like property."

"You should have immediately—"

"Her wishes supersede yours, sir," I yelled, finally using my temper. "I have done as she wishes. I have been saving people, helping her children. Do not lecture me while treating me as you are!"

"You have been making money," he bit out. "You are corrupted because you have been left alone to—"

"And all of those gems on your robes fell from the sky?" I mocked. "Those were donations, and you wear them like a peacock and your pride instead of feeding the hungry and taking care of Violetta's children. Do not lecture me. I pay employees and give amazing jobs, better paying them than the temple."

"And you still have not answered her question or given any proof that you believe she's a saint," James cut in.

I let what he said stand, but I was confused why he brought that up. I was too angry to think straight at the moment and his head was probably clear.

I heard the sound of heavy horse hoofs coming at a rapid pace and was never so glad to see Ian racing towards me… And with a lot of people trailing after him.

Thank you, Violetta!

My eyes went wide when one of them was the king, not in a carriage or his normal regal dress, but just as Ian was like a meeting had been interrupted and they both jumped on horses. I knelt as he was announced, the others around us acting as knights and keeping on guard. I understood, but I glanced up and smirked at the high priest.

I was making it clear in front of everyone whose side I was on and recognized the king as my sovereign.

"Rise, Countess," the king stated as he hurried over, Ian reaching me first.

"Are you okay?" Ian whispered as he hugged me to him.

"I am unhurt but shaken," I said under my breath. "We stalled as long as we could. Thank you for coming." I glanced past him to the king, making it clear I counted him in that as well. This might all have started because he wanted me to get caught, but at least he was willing to handle the cleanup of his mess.

"How dare you come harass one of my people directly," the king bellowed at the high priest. "You were allowed into our borders as a peaceful envoy and given permission to come to the palace with word from the pope."

"Yes, Your Majesty, and I understand, and we were going to after—"

"This is not the palace!" the king blasted.

"Of course not, but the saint belongs to us," the high priest snapped.

Even the king looked disgusted, the royal guards with him not hiding their reactions either, and relief filled me that more would be on my side. "She is a person, one of my citizens and dating my beloved cousin. Have you lost your ever-loving mind?"

The high priest shot me a look of death as he ground his jaw. "I did not realize she was attached to the grand duke."

"Why should she have to inform you?" Ian snapped. "As my cousin said, she's an adult citizen of another kingdom. Not property, so watch your words going forward or they will be your last."

"And how did you come to the conclusion she is a saint?" the king demanded.

"She already confirmed—" the high priest accused.

I bristled. "You tried to corner me into saying I was denying it so you could label me a heretic with witnesses and carry me off." I snorted when he flinched. "I am not an idiot, sir. You were rather obvious. I did not deny it, but I did not confirm it. I have never said I am a saint."

"She never has," the king confirmed. "She is humble and modest, something the Holy Empire could learn from the countess. She has qualities of a saint and confided it to the queen and me, and we were quietly working with her to get the answers so we did not have this sort of circus as she did not want it.

"That is fair and logical so she was not humiliated! How dare you disclose it for her, a citizen of another kingdom who has treaties with the Holy Empire and temples within its borders. Now, I asked a question, and you will answer it or lose your head."

I wanted to back away from the king he was so upset and his sparkles were terrifying. It took everything I had to stay strong and not move, Ian's presence comforting.

Plus, the king was not mad at me.

The high priest met the king's gaze. "The temple easily felt the massive amount of holy power from the products at her store even before it opened. The warehouse when it started, and it was not hard to trace back to her once an investigation was opened."

It was not even the king's fault then. Interesting.

"So instead of having a conversation or respecting her with a simple sit-down, they raced to get their praise from the pope and report on my citizens? Did you just admit that the temple in mykingdom was spying for your kingdom?"

I snorted before I could stop myself. I gave Ian an apologetic look, but he was still confused. "He's treated me like I am the biggest moron and dung on his shoe ever, and he just blurts out the temple is spying and sending information on citizens to another country. They have no jurisdiction to investigate a citizen here. They will be arrested."

"Yes, yes, they will, Countess. Thank you for understanding our laws, unlike the temple," the king purred.

The high priest exploded and Ian countered, a shouting match ensuing that set all of the guards and knights on edge. I got tired of it and glanced at Whitney, begging her with my eyes to do her loud whistle and cut through the nonsense already.

She glanced at the king and winced but did it, and luckily it worked.

"We can argue about this or how it happened all day, but we are at an impasse," I said firmly. "You want me to come with you and I will not and you cannot make me."

The high priest looked at me as if I was stupid. "Yes, I can, and I have a decree from the pope saying as much."

I snorted. "You mean the pope is pissed there is another option for people to receive help instead of throwing money at him and his corruption and he wants to make me go away before donations start to drop and he becomes even more useless and his power nonexistent."

Everyone slowly turned to look at me with wide eyes, shocked that I, of all people, spoke that way.

I dipped my head to the king. "I apologize for being so crass in your presence, Your Majesty. I have a headache after not sleeping well. The goddess sent me a dream last night and it leaves me unsettled."

Shock flashed in his eyes that I said it so openly.

What was the point of hiding it now?

"What was the dream of?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"Do not answer that, saint," the high priest snapped. "You only inform the pope of—"

"If the goddess wanted the pope to know, she would have told him," I drawled. "She trusts me with her wisdom, something the king respects, unlike the Holy Empire." I smiled at the king, letting him know I was doing this to make a point. "I apologize, but it's not clear yet. The goddess is leading me to the information. I will share when it's ready."

He did not like the answer but nodded. "The goddess knows best. If there's any help I can give, let Ian know and we will."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

He nodded and looked back at the high priest before glancing past him. "The royal guards will disarm the knights of the Holy Empire. You were only allowed entry into our borders because you were on a peaceful envoy mission. You broke the terms of what that entails in our treaties. As such, you are not allowed arms.

"You will be escorted to the palace where we will continue this conversation until you are escorted out of my kingdom. This is all in accordance with the treaty signed by our nations. If you resist at any point, you will be arrested and held until negotiations can be reached for you to be returned to your nation."

"Our business is not done with the saint," the high priest bit out.

"She will arrive at the palace later for a formal meeting," the king replied. He moved closer and got in the high priest's face. "I am not an idiot either. I know exactly what you wanted to do here. You came directly here thinking to pressure a ‘lowly woman' to agree with you and then it was done. You came with squads of guards to scare one of my citizens.

"You wanted to compel her before I was involved to protect her. But fortunately, you did not have all of the information and are stupid, so the countess outsmarted you. So enough with the posturing and games. We will escort you to the palace for a meeting, out of my country, or to your funeral. Those are your only options."

"Choose wisely," Ian chuckled darkly.

Relief swarmed me when the high priest backed down and agreed.

The king turned to me and gave me a look of warning, but not full of anger. "A carriage escorted by royal guards will come pick you up for dinner at the palace. Pack what you need to stay overnight, Countess."

I curtseyed. "It would be my honor, Your Majesty."

"It will be okay,"Ian mouthed to me, but I knew neither of us thought it would be. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before he left with the king, and all of the royal guards escorted the high priest and all of the Holy Empire knights.

"I do not know if I want to vomit or faint," I whispered when they were all gone. "I am just glad Kathy was staying with her brother today." I shot a look at James. "Send word to Colin that he has to remain in the capital for now and to keep Kathy with him until things settle down. This is too messy, and I will not risk her being hurt because of me."

"Yes, My—Saint."

"My Lady," I corrected with a grumble. "I do not know what I am, James. The king was not lying. I do not…" I shook my head and walked back to my house.

I forced myself to finish my breakfast simply because I needed the fuel and my stomach would be upset if it was empty. It was difficult to shovel it in when so upset. I thanked Deborah when she made me some ginger tea and found one of my tonics. She also sent a messenger to Andre to update him on what was going on.

There was no way that the Holy Empire would keep my being a saint quiet, especially if they could not have me for themselves. I was terrified of what that would mean and who would come for me next. That was exactly why I did not want people to know.

I ended up calling James inside and decided to be honest with him since he could effectively speak with Ian and maybe the king. "I do not actually want to hide what my dream was from the king. I was going to talk to him and Ian about it. I simply do not know what it means."

He nodded. "Tell me and I will pass it along, My Lady."

"I need to grow a plant—a flower I have never seen." I chuckled when he gave me a look asking if I was joking. "I saw it. I saw it in several places, but they were not places I have seen. I do not recognize the flower and I…" I rubbed my forehead, beyond stressed. "All I know is lives depend on finding it and growing lots of it as fast as possible. I feel dread."

"Alright, then let's get the sketch artist here to make sure we get the right flower, and the king can dispatch researchers to find the right one," he said after a moment.

I almost hugged the man but remembered myself at the last minute. "You beautiful man. You just harnessed Ian's brain for a minute. Yes, that's exactly what he would figure. My head is—having those dreams is not easy."

"I would think not," he said gently. "I will head to the palace immediately and explain it to them. For now, focus on specific characteristics. That's what I have learned about distinguishing types. Pointy petals or darker roots. The conditions they grew in."

I nodded, knowing all of this as well, but he was being kind because my head hurt. I thanked him again and he headed out. I started on a basic sketch as well while listing out what he said.

Luckily, the sketch artist was available, but her children had to come with her, which was no problem. I gave her what I had started and excused myself since I needed to bathe so I could get ready for dinner at the palace and rest a bit. By lunch, she had several options for me, and relief filled me when one was almost exactly it.

"This, this is—almost exactly it," I told her. "But the angle is off. That sounds funny, but it seemed important. The bud drooped funny. Like…"

"Bellflowers?" the maid offered. "They always hang a bit like they are too heavy for the branch."

I let out a shuddering breath. "Yes, that's exactly it. The flower is heavy and large for the stem. It's not a strong stem to support it like a hibiscus, so it does not grow towards the sun. Thank you."

"Of course, My Lady, glad I could help." She smiled at me and brought more to the table.

We ate, and I played with the children while the artist corrected the sketch. Then I was looking at exactly what I had seen in my dream. I asked for some help on other angles since we did not know what would be in the books or how people would see it. It was a flower that was found at the base of trees with heavy, fragile flowers that the trees protected some.

Deep in forests. I knew that much from the lighting of my dream. There was only some sunlight peeking through and a lot of trees. Also, a lot of animals liked to eat the flowers which was why they weren't popular and I'd never seen them. When most went into the forest, they only saw the plant and stems without flowers.

"That means you need to know what the plant itself looks like so maybe they can bring you some of the plants," the artist hedged. "If they do that then they could bloom flowers, and that could help you more than starting with just seeds, yes?"

That was an excellent point. I rubbed my head and was mad at myself for not having thought of that.

"For your headache," my maid said as she set a cold drink in front of me with a worried look. "And your stress."

Right, a high priest from the Holy Empire had tried to carry me off this morning. If there was ever a day to cut myself some slack, it was right then.

I thanked them both for the help and spent the rest of the time I had working with the artist. I gave her ten times her fee for doing such a good job and then entrusted James with the sketches the moment he returned. I was glad that he'd been able to speak with the king, queen, and Ian.

There were three views of the flower—which was the part I needed—and two of the plant how it would be at the base of a tree. Also, my handwritten list of conditions, including how many petals, animals liked the flowers, etc.

"I do not have copies," I warned him. "Please, this is important, and these papers mean too much."

He nodded and handed me back one of the sketches of the flower. "Just in case. And I will ask the grand duke to hire that artist to make more copies tomorrow."

Good, yes. Even better.

I hurried to dress and was ready when the royal carriage arrived with royal guards. I was surprised when they told Whitney and my guards they weren't needed. I understood that the king wanted to make it clear that I was on his side and show the Holy Empire that, but… Ian was his cousin.

"I apologize, something was lost in the orders, but the king knows that a female knight is always to escort the countess after what she's been through," Whitney said firmly. "The royal guards know this as well and I am cleared."

"Of course," the one guy accepted when someone else went to object. "Please, ride in the carriage with the countess then."

That was not how it normally went, but it was fine. I accepted the offered hand to help me up but shivered when the guard was smirking at me with victory. Something was wrong, and I turned to tell Whitney just as I saw one of the guards hit her on the head with the hilt of their sword.

Then something hit me as well and my world went black.