"No wandering off, no deviating from chosen paths, do not go anywhere without first finding a guard to escort you, do not mention anything about the incident in front of any townspeople, if his majesty begins to look unwell, immediately inform Weatherford and retreat-" Agatha stops reading and turns to frown at Callis. "This is like being at home."
Callis shrugs, easily keeping pace with her as she marches along the corridor leading to the Entrance Hall.
"It's to be expected. It's a wonder they're letting this visit go ahead."
"Beatrix said Tedros convinced them it would stop people panicking about him." says Hester, sauntering alongside them. "For once, he has a point."
"What is it?" demands Agatha, flipping the paper over to see if there's more information on the back. "Where are we going?"
"To some orphanage in the city. A charitable visit for his birthday." snorts Hester. "They were trying to keep it confidential, so that no one would be able to follow us and have a second go at putting him six feet under."
"Not that it worked the first time." mutters Agatha. Over the past three days she's gotten the impression Tedros is more sulky than seriously injured, from what Dot and Beatrix have said when they come to see her.
"I thought the assassin had disappeared?" says Callis.
"He has, but the palace guard thinks he can't have gotten far." says Hester. "No one saw anyone of his description in the surrounding towns, so they're suspicious he's still hiding out in the grounds somewhere."
"There was a description?" asks Agatha.
"His majesty provided some half-baked description of his assailant, yes." says Hester dryly. "Not much to go on. His court was too worried about his concussion to care, though."
Callis snorts.
"I saw him twenty minutes after it happened, he was barely dizzy. Concussion." she lowers her voice. "Convenient excuse, though."
The three of them exchange glances. Agatha had told Hester, Anadil and Callis of her suspicions, and they had come to the conclusion that Tedros's foggy memory of the attack was a little too convenient. Still, no one had been able to provide any extra information that could be a clue as to his powers, and Agatha was still doubtful about what she'd felt at the coronation.
Callis starts to say something else, but is cut off as they turn into the Entrance Hall and encounter Vanessa and Sophie, both swathed in huge, furry winter cloaks. It's snowed constantly over the past three days, briskly banishing the sun they'd had in late October and apparently making the huge castle a thousand times colder. Agatha has spent a lot of time wandering around barefoot, unbothered by the temperature change she can't feel, whilst Callis stares at her, aghast, from under a pile of blankets.
"Ah, Agatha." Vanessa approaches them briskly. "Good, you've brought Captain Baumann. Now, I need you to be extra careful today, you understand? Don't leave the King's side unless absolutely necessary, and remain on your guard. Here, take this, it's cold-"
She bundles a fur cloak into Agatha's arms, despite knowing full well Agatha doesn't need one, and shoots a wary glance at the guards on station near the doors.
Agatha sighs and puts it on. Appearances and all that. Besides, she's too tired to argue with her mother. It seems that Tedros's near-death experience has reminded her that they're both rather valuable to her own purposes. Whether she means those instructions to keep Agatha safe or to keep Tedros safe, though, is hard to tell. If what they suspect about Tedros is true, then it seems either could be the case.
But did Vanessa know?
As Vanessa bustles off to help Sophie with her gloves, Agatha turns back to Callis.
"Do you think she knows?"
"I was just wondering the same thing." murmurs Callis. "She spends so much time with Weatherford, it seems likely. And it's equally likely that she wouldn't want to tell you."
"Rich, young, influential and magically inclined? She'd blow a gasket just thinking about all the nice things I'll have." scoffs Agatha. "Well, it might not be as fabulous as she thinks, depending on how powerful he is and what his magic is."
"What if it's the same as yours?" muses Hester.
"Lucky me." says Agatha dryly. "I don't have to worry about burning his pretty face."
"What if it's water?"
Agatha and Hester both turn to stare at Callis.
"Just a thought." her nursemaid says. "His colouring is very light."
Agatha can tell from the tight expression on her face and how she's twisting her sleeve, that it's not just a thought. It's a worry. It's something Callis has been sitting on for a while. Nothing would be worse than that, for Agatha. Directly clashing powers.
And yet, there's nothing there that should really suggest it to Callis, who's usually very practical...
"You're not telling me something." Agatha says.
Callis clasps her hands tightly.
"I don't know anything for sure."
"Callis-"
"When I went in, after the attack, the floor was wet underfoot." she says reluctantly. "I think it was probably from cleaning the blood off the floor, but there was a lot of it. An excessive amount. I had to wonder…"
Agatha lets her trail off, thinking. She doesn't even know what would happen if that was the truth. But from what she's read, there's no real change in bodily temperature for water spirits. She'd probably hurt him, and she can't imagine he'd be much better for her.
In fact, he might be much worse.
"Mother must think herself very clever," she says grimly. "If that's the case-"
"Agatha, take this seriously," murmurs Callis. "He could be directly dangerous to you. This could be a disaster. Have you ever-"
"I've never felt threatened, or unwell, around him." says Agatha, anticipating the question. "It's just that faint magic presence. Besides, his magic is restricted by the ivu. There's nothing to be threatened by."
Callis still looks unsure. Agatha grabs her hand and squeezes it briefly.
"I'll keep an eye on him today. I'll tell you if anything's changed."
"Nice timing," says Hester thinly. "He's just turned up."
Suddenly apprehensive, Agatha turns to look the way Hester is looking. She's not seen Tedros since they left the library three days ago, and in light of all the recent revelations, she's not sure she wants to.
But there he is, tottering towards them in the centre of a cluster of guards, all keeping cautious pace with him. His face is pristine as ever, apart from a slight suggestion of a purple bruise on his right temple, where makeup hasn't quite covered it. He walks stiffly, presumably thanks to his damaged ribs, and his bandaged hands are held gingerly away from his sides like a penguin.
A painful pang of guilt jabs Agatha in the stomach. They've spent the past three days talking about Tedros like he's some sort of ambiguous enemy, throwing out all sorts of suggestions and theories about him, and now she feels terribly ashamed. He's not hostile. He's just some guileless kid who was nearly murdered in his sleep but still, for some godforsaken reason, wants to go and visit the orphanage in the city. On his birthday.
She watches him approach, noticing how tense he looks. Weatherford is whispering furiously, walking at his left shoulder, and the guards are crowding him almost aggressively, hands all tight on the hilts of their swords. Only Chaddick, directly behind Tedros, looks worried- the rest seem threatening. If Agatha didn't know better, she'd think he looked more like a prisoner than a King.
When he reaches them, though, he makes a very brave, very unconvincing attempt at a cheer. He smiles, and spreads his arms as if to to present himself.
"Not dead." he says good-naturedly.
But Agatha hears his voice shake slightly on the last syllable.
So, instead of curtseying like she normally does, she does something she's not sure she's technically allowed to do, and is probably very stupid.
She takes a couple of steps forward and hugs him carefully, trying to avoid hurting his ribs.
"Not dead." she agrees. "Happy birthday."
She immediately notices Vanessa scowl, and she hears Hester sigh, but she finds it hard to care, because Tedros's faux-cheer is immediately replaced with something much more genuine.
"You remembered!" he says excitedly.
Agatha, pulls back, and is immediately smacked with the full force of his genuine smile. She blinks, not certain if she's ever had it directed at her before.
"Er-I, yeah, of course."
"We're the same age now!" says Tedros brightly, offering her his arm as Weatherford directs everyone towards the doors.
"Like I said, don't get too comfortable about it."
"I've got a few months to enjoy it. The wedding's in February. When's your birthday, April?"
"Yeah, April." says Agatha distractedly, watching Hester elbow one of Tedros's guards out of the way so that she can flank them. "I, um, didn't get you anything-"
Tedros snorts.
"Don't be ridiculous, we've all been confined to barracks because I grabbed a knife, how could you have?"
"So you did grab the knife?" Agatha squints at his bandaged hands. "How deep are those cuts?"
"Pretty deep," says Tedros, with an unnecessary amount of pride. "It was so grisly, there was all this shredded tissue and blood, I'll show you later-"
It seems the injury part is not the part he's concerned about. Typical. He's still a teenage boy. But before Agatha can comment on that, Weatherford clears his throat from behind them. Tedros winces.
"Oh. Perhaps it's not proper to show a lady. Or to… talk to you about it. Like that."
"Maybe not in front of these kids we're going to see," says Agatha easily. "But I deposited a dead frog in Callis's lap multiple times when I was young, so my constitution isn't particularly fragile." She lowers her voice. "Besides, I've eaten all sorts of horrible stuff at fancy dinners, on dares from Hester."
"Oh, no, me too..."
"They stuffed this pheasant with three other meats, plus the offal, it had all this weird fancy sauce on it and the combination was hell. I nearly passed out. Course, no one noticed because I had my veil on, but Hester knew and she was just laughing at me for ages."
"Funny," says Chaddick, who's been blatantly eavesdropping. "We do that, too. Pretty sure the worst thing I ever dared Tedros to try was the candied eel with spicy sauce, wasn't it?"
"Closest I've ever come to throwing up at a formal event." sighs Tedros.
Weatherford and Vanessa, walking nearby, look disapproving of the teenage silliness, but don't move to intervene. Still, Agatha doesn't doubt they'll all be interrupted later.
They've reached the carriage by now, and Agatha allows Tedros to help her up the step, expecting another flash of that odd magic- but there's nothing, disappointingly. Perhaps, like her, he needs to be more agitated. When she'd first noticed it, he had just been in danger of getting minorly to moderately injured by Chaddick, at the tournament.
Even though she's sure it's putting pressure on his wounds, he doesn't flinch- just smiles and follows her. Callis is behind him, and Agatha can see her watching him carefully. It seems she's not abandoned her misgivings as quickly as Agatha has, and it makes Agatha a little nervous to think she might be being taken in too easily by Tedros.
But then Tedros grabs her arm to point out some random bakery and she finds it hard to believe he would ever do anything nefarious.
On purpose, anyway.
Agatha had been too nervous to pay much attention to the city when she'd first arrived, so now she finds that the ride through Camelot allows her to appreciate it more. Her initial observations, that it was bigger than Gavaldon, were correct- but it's also much busier. Buildings squished into every available space, with people sprinting across the street and haggling at market stalls, riders and carts constantly rumbling past them. Even in this weather, with a thick layer of snow on the ground, people are everywhere. Their carriage, along with the armed escort on horseback, draw a lot of attention, and people stop to stare and point. Agatha and Tedros, both on the side further away from the window, sit awkwardly and try to avoid staring back. For once, Agatha is glad for her veil.
Tedros is staring unhappily at his hands, and Agatha finds it hard not to follow his gaze. It feels wrong to see him without gloves, though the vast majority of them are covered by bandages. His nails are short, almost as if he bites them- an imperfection, finally!- but they're painted blue, to hide it.
Agatha carefully picks up one of his hands for a closer look-
And gets such a strong hit of magic she nearly recoils.
She knows immediately that he's stopped taking the ivy.
She doesn't know why he would have. It must have something to do with the assassination attempt. But she knows that there's no way that magic is restricted anymore. It's sharper, fuller, more obvious.
More powerful.
She looks up and meets his wide, slightly panicked, gaze.
It's only them, Callis, Hester and Chaddick in this carriage. She could just ask him, right now. She could tell him, and he'd tell her, no problem-
But she knows that's more trouble than it's worth.
So, instead, she says;
"These are pretty. Does Beatrix do them?"
"Yeah." says Tedros weakly. He clears his throat. "Yeah, usually you can't see them, but she likes to do mine when she does her own, and I like them, so…"
"Perhaps I'll get her to do mine." says Agatha, letting Tedros take his hand back. He looks relieved that's all she's said.
"Yeah, maybe you should."
"You should get red," says Callis.
Agatha is inches away from kicking her before she realises it's far too obvious. She resigns herself to glaring, even though Callis can't see.
"With my complexion? Come on, Callis."
Callis smiles indulgently.
"That's why it's fun, dear."
"You are quite pale." Tedros leans over and runs his thumb down the side of her neck- her only exposed skin- thoughtfully. "Darker colours suit your skin tone better."
Agatha opens her mouth to respond but finds she has nothing to say.
Hester and Chaddick are having a quiet, sniggering conversation that is clearly at their expense.
Thankfully, before Agatha can say something humiliating and nonsensical, Tedros pulls back quickly.
"But I suppose red would be good." he agrees awkwardly. "For fun."
"Yeah." says Agatha faintly.
Callis turns a laugh into a cough.
As it turns out, Tedros is rather good with children.
While he might be by the Grace of God, of Camelot, Albion and the Dominions beyond the Seas, King, he is quite happy to sit in the snow with toddlers.
For the first few hours, Agatha stands awkwardly to the side, accepting congratulations, chocolates and wobbly curtsies from little kids and making small talk with the people who work at the orphanage. It's not so bad, she supposes, even if she is fielding both embarrassing questions and suspicious glances from the older kids. Still, she finds herself turning to Chaddick whilst Tedros happily allows himself to be pelted with snowballs and lugs huge chunks of snow about, the perfect manual labourer for building a snowman.
"This feels very improper. I'm surprised Weatherford lets this happen."
"He's not happy about it," grins Chaddick. "But this is the perfect PR opportunity- it proves Tedros is fine, boosts morale and makes everyone go wow, he's spending his birthday with a bunch of snotty kids, how altruistic. Course, he'd much rather make a snowman than do a boat parade anyway, and Weatherford knows it looks good, so… he lets it happen."
"Huh." Agatha considers this. "That would never work at home."
"Yeah, I thought it wouldn't. Hester's been airing all sorts of dirty laundry about your mother in the knight's mess hall," shrugs Chaddick. Then his face drops a little. "She's kind of terrible to all of you, isn't she?"
"Honestly, I'm just sorry she's been inflicted on all of you." mutters Agatha, watching Vanessa swoop around, twittering away to anyone who will listen. Sophie is talking to Callis, clearly bored.
Chaddick looks at her for a minute, frowning.
"When Tedros raised the alarm, I was one of the first onto the scene." he says quietly. "I was in bed, but Yara came and shook me awake. I got there and saw all the blood and all the bells were ringing and… you know, there was chaos- and I just started crying. I felt so bad that I wasn't there to stop it, even though there wasn't anything I could have done, and I wasn't even on duty. I've been friends with him since we were six. But your mother arrived later, whilst everyone else was panicking, and it was chaos- she burst in shrieking, probably just to make it look like she was worried, then started ordering people around. I'd been pushed away by all the medics and was just sitting on the floor, and she looked at me and demanded to know why I wasn't searching the grounds, and why I was just sitting there panicking, was I a guard or not?" He glances over at Vanessa. "I told her that Tedros had requested that I stay, and he was my friend, of course I was panicking, and she just looked at me like she couldn't understand it at all. And I felt really bad for you."
He pauses.
"I'm sure this is proper weird, given we've only spoken like three or four times and you're gonna be Queen, but-"
"It's fine." says Agatha quickly. "It's okay, she didn't take much of an active role in my upbringing."
"Problem in itself though, isn't it?"
Agatha looks at Chaddick, bewildered.
"You're very wise."
Chaddick grins.
"Despite the example Tedros might set, you can have both brains and brawn."
Agatha laughs.
"Pretty sure only I'm allowed to insult him like that."
"Not so, my lady!" tuts Chadduck. "I was the first person to make fun of him after he'd been crowned and I will go on doing so long after you've fallen in love with him and decided you don't want to be mean anymore."
"Um, what?"
"Oh, hello, he's here."
Agatha whips around to find Tedros advancing rapidly towards them, carrying a little girl.
"Hi, can you just hold her a second? She's cold- here, sweetheart, go and see Princess Agatha, that's it-"
Tedros deposits a snuffling toddler in Agatha's arms, smiles, and goes running back off through the snow again. Agatha and the child blink at one another, the toddler just as surprised to suddenly be in Agatha's company as Agatha is to be in hers.
She's cold. Agatha nearly snorts at the convenience of it all. Hand the cold child to the fire spirit. Thankfully, she's wearing enough layers to mean her body temperature is mostly concealed, but she's still warmer than everyone else out here.
The girl seems to consider this adequate, and makes a swipe for Agatha's veil, interested. She yanks at it and Agatha tenses- if anyone looks now, they will be able to get a more than sufficient glimpse of her profile.
And her scar is on that side.
"Oh, um, don't do that-" Agatha carefully pries chubby toddler fingers from the fabric. "That's not a very… a very good idea..."
She flattens her veil back down frantically and glances at Chaddick, but he's politely not looking at her, instead making snowballs for a little boy nearby. She has no way of telling if he saw.
Heart pounding, she turns towards the building, hoping she can make herself useful inside before the girl tries it again-
Thankfully, it's started snowing again, and suddenly snowflakes are a lot better to grab with toddler hands than veils.
After another few hours, three snowmen, and Agatha being of some actual use in the kitchen (subtly making the kitchen fires burn higher whilst helping cook), she walks with Chaddick and Tedros on the way back to the carriage. They'd both insisted on accompanying her- Chaddick to wind Tedros up, and Tedros because he was worried it was slippery, even though Agatha is wearing far more practical shoes than everyone else.
"That was fun." Tedros says brightly. "Did you see the snowmen we made?"
"I was surprised they didn't fall over." says Agatha. "They were very charming, but very… lopsided."
"Just my impressive snowman-making abilities." says Tedros.
"Sure." snorts Chaddick. "That's what it was."
"What would you call it?"
"Luck? Divine intervention? Magic?"
"Watch it, master Knight."
"Don't think I will, your highness."
Agatha grins, listening to them bicker-
Then Vanessa crosses their path and all three of their smiles fade.
"Well!" she takes Agatha's arm and yanks her out in front of Tedros and Chaddick. "Wasn't that sweet?"
Agatha isn't convinced sweet is the right word, but she makes a vague noise of agreement. Vanessa looks down at her.
"That girl you held was very adorable. Just… don't be reckless, next time."
Agatha stops and yanks her arm out of her grip. So she'd seen. Of course she had.
"I'll be sure to be very careful. Next time. And all the time until the wedding."
Vanessa glances at Tedros and Chaddick, and smiles tightly.
"Of course, dear." she turns and marches off, under a tunnel of trees that lead to where they left the carriages.
"After which," Agatha mutters under her breath, "You'll be gone."
Chaddick laughs, but Tedros doesn't. He doesn't do anything.
Agatha turns to look at him-
There's a cracking sound and a shriek from in front of them, and Agatha spins to see Vanessa suddenly covered in snow, and a branch above her suddenly rather lacking of it. Weatherford and a few knights go rushing over to help her. Agatha can hear Hester and Callis laughing behind her, and has to admit that she's very tempted, herself-
"Wow." grins Chaddick. "Convenient."
"Guess there's too much snow on the branches." says Tedros coolly. He's smirking a little, himself. "Come on, if we get through here fast enough we can probably avoid it happening to us, too."
(It happens to Chaddick, which, this time, does make Agatha laugh.)
There's a definite sense of relief when they get back to the palace in one piece, and with no incident. Tedros doesn't acknowledge it, if he notices it- he's too busy looking out at the snow.
"We could go skating?" he offers, peering out at the lake only just visible in the dusk. Agatha frowns.
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"No!" Tedros says emphatically. "I'll make sure it's safe. It's really fun."
"Only because you never fall over." scoffs Chaddick. "Having a purple backside is not fun. Besides, Weatherford is definitely not going to let you do that, now."
Tedros's face drops.
"Oh. I didn't think of that." he frowns.
"I'm sure we can think of something else to do." says Agatha hastily, as the carriage stops. "It'll probably snow again."
"It will." says Tedros vaguely, hopping out of the carriage and into a puddle of melted snow. holding out his hand to help her down. He looks up and smiles. "Come on, Silkima made me a birthday cake and it's way too big to eat on my own, we'll have supper!"
"Sounds good." Agatha internally grimaces at the puddle, but accepts his hand, and stands to the side to wait for Callis. It's snowing lightly again, but it won't settle here, it's too wet-
Except it's not.
"Careful," says Tedros to Callis, helping her down. "It's icy."
But it hadn't been. She'd watched him jump into a puddle. She'd heard it splash. But now he was standing on a patch of ice, and so was she. It couldn't have frozen that quickly, it just couldn't have, and definitely not with she and Tedros stood on it-
Tedros stood on it.
Realisation shoots through her.
The water on the floor. The snowman. The spike of cold. The snowfall on Vanessa. I'll make sure it's safe. It will.
Not water.
Not water at all.
Agatha stares unseeingly at Tedros as he and Chaddick start up the path- Chaddick shuffling and sliding, Tedros walking as easily as if it was solid ground-
"Agatha?" says Callis from behind her. "Agatha, what's wrong? You're melting the ice you're stood on, and I think you're singeing the furs-"
"Oh my god." says Agatha softly.
"What? Agatha, tell me-"
"You were nearly right." Agatha murmurs. "But we're not fire and water. He didn't summon water. It was melted ice."
"You're not making sense, sweetheart-"
"He's winter. Snow and ice." Agatha turns to Callis and grabs her wrists. "Callis, he's ice."
Callis stares at her, white-faced in the lamplight.
Then, slowly, they both turn to look after Tedros and Chaddick's retreating figures, silhouetted by the lights of the castle.
Only Chaddick's breath is steaming.