Chapter 42 - Maiden's Petite Mort

"What's written here anyway?"

Frowning, Sovereign Prince Gutard von Wuttenfal was trying to decipher the paper in his hands. In the room were just Alexa and him.

"Ah, it's… Excuse me, Your Majesty, if I…"

"Get closer. It doesn't seem like you worked hard in writing classes. In that at least, my son is far superior to you," the Prince gave her room to approach his chair and looked over his shoulder, as he pointed a written line.

The maiden zealously peered at her own manuscript, grimacing at the scribbles of her own handwriting.

"It's just that I was in a hurry… Your Majesty. So does Prince Alexander have a beautiful handwriting?"

"Umm. If you read what you wrote right away, you'll know him in person soon, to know how much my words are true."

"There it is written, 'ALL I KNOW IS THAT THIS WISE MAN LIVES NEAR CARCASSONE, AND HIS NAME IS PETRUS," she revealed. The ruler turned to face her, narrowing his eyes,

"You're a very knowledgeable girl. Is that all you know?"

"I don't claim to know more than the ones who taught me. I'm just a…"

"Yes, Lady Saskia, we are NOT going to talk about you today, but tomorrow. Today, let's stick to what you tell me in this letter. That the doctor you once knew and now is dead, was taught about venoms by this man, Petrus, who lives in Languedoc."

"Yes, Your Majesty. The doctor told that himself. He said the man who taught him was not a Christian. He was from Occitania lands, and had a lot of assorted knowledge, both in Medicine as in other sciences. And… He also said this man doesn't trust anyone. Gold does not buy him, nor titles or promises of any kind,' Alexa added cautiously. Petrus of Languedoc the Alchemist would be considered by many to be a wizard, a Kabbalist mystic, and a man of infinite knowledge. As far as she knew, Iacintho's Master didn't trust men, especially men of power. And he was as capricious as them.

"What in the world can this man want to cure my son?" the Sovereign Prince's harsh tone made no doubt about his impatience.

Alexa could not be sure whether she could convince the Saxon Prince that this was all she knew. With the proximity and intense way the Holstein ruler scrutinized her, the maiden doubted that her ploy was really working. But he didn't dispute her words, strangely.

"Why, Your Majesty, I don't even know if this letter could help you. I just didn't want to leave knowing that I had a name to suggest, even if it was a false beacon of hope, in the end. I just hoped to somehow help Prince Alexander. But I really don't know whether this will be helpful at all. The way the doctor spoke… Well, it seemed this Chemist was a capricious person, and he will not be easily seduced," the maiden had little hope that Master Petrus would accept coming to rescue the poor sleeping Prince. But still some.

"Hmmm…" the Sovereign Prince pondered over her words, and then turned his attention to the letter again, straining his eyes,

"And what else is written here? Let me see."

Alexa bent over his shoulder to see if she'd written anything more important than that,

"Oh, well, there's nothing more important there, I'm just thanking the hospitality of the Holstein people immensely, and blablabla… well, my teacher in the convent said you don't send a letter to an authority without making a courteous and proper finalization… But I didn't get to learn this part, just writing family letters…"

That made Prince Gutard laugh. He put the letter on the arm of his chair, and stood up,

"Lady Saskia, you are very cute. I like you to be smart, I can't stand stupid women by my side."

The maiden bowed, a little puzzled by the real meaning of those words,

"It's good to be of use, Your Majesty."

"Tomorrow we'll talk again, I'll summon you when you are necessary again," he dismissed the damsel, seeming, as when she first saw him, to plunge into inner thoughts and plans even before she left.

Leaving the private room where she had the conversation with the Holstein ruler, Alexa barely had time to look both ways in the corridor. A maid called her and took her to an alcove not far away, where a table set with various delicacies was waiting for her.

When the door closed and she was left alone, the maiden laughed loud, delighted as it was all she wanted most!

"Great! My stomach was aching from hunger! I'm starving! At least a reward for my misadventures!" she poured herself wine and tore a loaf of bread as she walked around the table choosing what else to eat.

The maiden leaned back against the table and breathed in the delicious scent of a roast turkey with apple sauce as she chewed the bread and drank wine in a gulp, "Hmmm Delicious! Hang on a little buddy, soon you'll keep company in my bowl, for this bagel and that lamb pie too!"

"I had heard rumors that you were rude and a gorger, but I thought it was just the big mouth of the court ladies," Prince Magnus's harsh voice rang out behind her. Alexa got a fright because she was really distracted, and choked with the food,

"PFHHHHHHH!" She reached for air, bending pathetically and slapping her chest with a clenched fist in a ridiculous attempt to help the bread down her throat. Her eyes filled with tears of pain as her chest burned internally. Shortness of breath clouded her thoughts for a moment, and she saw a flash of the future before her eyes:

THIS IS YOUR WEDDING TIARA...

MY MOTHER USED IT BEFORE ALL OF US...

YOU WILL BE THE FIRST OF THIS GENERATION...

THE WUTTENFAL FAMILY WELCOMES YOU... HONOR US...

A slightly familiar female voice spoke these words with kind emotion as her hands lifted an old-style tiara studded with gems and seemed to weigh heavily toward the top of the maiden's head.

But everything faded and swirled and she was back to the present, out of air… Now everything went darker and darker…

The Prince rushed to her aid, rubbing her back and giving her some more wine to help digest the wedged food.

Fortunately, the little sips he made her take helped the food to resume its natural flow, and she breathed eagerly, seeing black dots in front of her.

"Are you well, Alexa?" The Prince asked, his expression worried as he caressed her back gently. Realizing that his huge hands now seemed to be measuring the bones of her ribs, Alexa stepped back,

"Thank you, Prince Magnus. It's the second time you save me today."

He laughed, noticing her maneuver, and put his hands behind his back with a big, mischievous smile,

"I'm just fulfilling in advance the vows to protect you until the end of our lives."

"What are you talking about… Your Highness?" Alexa suspiciously went to the other side of the table, still shaken by the foresight brought by an involuntary 'petite mort' experience. What the Prince was talking about made less sense than the sight she had had.

"I told my father about what we did in Alexander's maze. You know… How intimately close we were yesterday," he laughed, savoring some kind of victory.

"WHAT?!" Alexa could not believe it.