"My work here is done, My lady."

Arabella gave a quiet sigh of relief as Dr Charland rose out of his seat beside Alistair and gathered his belongings into his bag. The old man gave a polite nod towards Alistair. "So long as you don't over-exert yourself, young man, everything should return to normal quite soon."

Alistair sat stiffly in the bed and smiled uneasily at the man, "Thank you..."

Arabella noted that despite her reassurance, Alistair remained in a constant state of unease around Dr Charland, afraid of being found out. As far as she knew, however, the man had no interest in anything other than his medical pursuits and would be hard-pressed to name more than 5 noble families, let alone a forgotten prince.

Dr Charland approached her and bowed his head with a smile, "I pray that you won't be needing my services any time soon, but if you do, do not hesitate to call for me."

Arabella beamed up at him, "Thank you, doctor. I'll keep that in mind." In a smooth motion, she curved her brows upwards in a pleading manner and gave a guilty look. "I apologise dearly for causing you to be embroiled in this matter. I know you're a busy man. Your workload must already be daunting enough without an apprentice. And here I am only adding to that."

He let out a chuckle, his eyes crinkling warmly, "Do not worry, I understand your situation entirely. It was mature of you to take the wellbeing of a stranger upon yourself." He tapped his nose and smiled reassuringly. "It will stay between us. I understand your brother would not be pleased."

With a pleasant grin, Arabella waved the doctor goodbye until the door had closed before sighing and letting her hand fall quickly back to her side. She turned to face Alistair with a judgemental eyebrow raise, "You seem to have made yourself comfortable." He laughed at that and she crossed her arms at his response, walking over. "Haven't you overstayed your welcome? It's been a month."

Alistair grinned boyishly and pressed a hand dramatically to his forehead, "How can you kick me out when I'm feeling so faint?"

"Go faint at your own house," She said, setting herself comfortably on the seat previously occupied by the doctor. Despite the bite in her words, she was eased to see Alistair was well enough to joke around. Her mind wandered back to the topic they had discussed earlier and she grew serious. "Did you hear from her yet? When is she coming back?"

Alistair said nothing and simply smiled at a spot just past her head, causing her to frown in confusion.

"I'm already here."

Arabella shrieked at the sudden declaration next to her ear and whipped her head around in panic just in time to catch Winter snickering behind her gloved hand, eyes crinkling in amusement. The woman chuckled to herself, standing upright again with her hands lazily resting on her hips. "Didn't mean to interrupt, but a little birdie told me Al was here."

"How did you get in here!?" And who the hell told her that when she had worked so hard to keep it secret?

"Don't worry about it."

Arabella grimaced at the woman's casual attitude to breaking and entering. The fact that she didn't notice her presence was slightly disconcerting, considering Winter always carried the faint scent of cigarettes with her- unmissable. Winter walked closer to Alistair with a heavy sigh leaving her lips, causing him to tense slightly. She narrowed her eye at the boy, "I leave you alone for what, 5 seconds, and you're already trying to get yourself killed?" Alistair let out a yelp of 'sorry' when she reached to grasp at his head of hair, scolding him. "What are you, a puppy let off of his leash?"

Once she relinquished her iron grip, Alistair looked up like a kicked puppy, rubbing sorrowfully at his scalp, "I know, sorry..."

"I knew something was up, but I didn't think he'd be stupid enough to take it himself." Winter turned her head to Arabella, finally addressing her with an earnest expression. "Thanks, by the way. For looking out for him." Arabella simply nodded in acknowledgement, causing a smile to spread on Winter's lips. With her sudden change in demeanour, her voice took an unfitting sweet tone. "Now, it would mean the world if you just spared me some time with the Kid, alone. Knock some sense into that head of his-"

"No need for that, Katherine, she already knows." Alistair interrupted her candidly, still gingerly stroking the top of his head. His expression remained neutral as Winter's visible eye rounded in surprise.

Winter squinted, her voice laced with scepticism, "Even about-"

"The plan to cure Queen Frances? Yes." Arabella finished the woman's sentence, crossing her arms over her chest as she crossed one leg over the other. She tilted her head with a frown. "I know. So hurry up and grab a seat."

At that, Winter stared in disbelief for a brief moment. It wasn't long before she seemed to accept the situation, however, punctuated by her quick shrug and vague noise of acceptance. The pair watched as the woman dragged her own seat towards them, before sitting in it the wrong way around and smirking, "Fine. Let's talk."

Alistair nodded at her request and began, "Was it like I thought? All the same symptoms?"

"Thinning hair, gaunt, hardly able to walk, breathless and coughing blood. It's all the same." Winter listed off her findings rapidly, tapping her finger against the chair. "You have no idea what I went through trying to get that shred of information. Only her ladies-in-waiting have been able to enter and leave, plus guards are crawling around. I had to get in touch with an old friend and follow some bizarre paper trail to get in touch with an errand boy who got me in touch with some hack apothecary. Long story short, it's the same as Trisha."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Arabella and Alistair shared a brief, knowing glance. He had stayed true to his word and divulged everything and she knew even more than Winter did, at the moment. He had never lied about travelling to Nyotari to bury his mother, however, his initial intention had been to save her life. The illness, thought to be terminal for years, had a cure- one that had apparently only been developed 3 years into the future in Nyotari by a pharmacist's apprentice. Alistair's recounting of this fact seemed sorrowful and mildly bitter but she sensed nothing she could say would ease those feelings away. The most comfort she could possibly offer him was ensuring that this bizarre plan of his could be followed through.

"I thought so..." Alistair pinched his chin, thoughtfully and his eyes travelled towards Arabella and seemed to shine. "You understand what that means, right? I have the leverage I need."

"Not until we get that apprentice over here. Unless she is swayed to help, it's for nothing," Arabella noted. He had a tendency to get overeager, whether he knew it or not. She would have to work to reel him back in. "Leave that to me, of course. I'll try my best."

The corners of his lips quirked into a smile of silent gratitude. In the brief silence, Winter took her chance to speak up again with a curious frown, "That apprentice, she's called Jennifer Pearson. I looked into her on Al's behalf and from the looks of it, she's got a good thing going over in Nyotari. Not much you could say to make her relocate." The woman raised a judgemental brow at the young girl. "If you're planning on throwing cash at her, give it up. Your money won't convince her."

As much as she wanted to retort at the woman, Arabella couldn't argue with that. Alistair had told her as much as he could about the apprentice and from what she knew, Winter was right. She was working under a pharmacist of a foreign ducal family, and the prestige and money they offered were not anything that she could match at all. But she wasn't going to give up just because of money and rank.

"That's true. But Alistair spoke highly of her dedication to her craft. It reminded me of someone else I know, so I'll use that," She smirked to herself proudly at the plan she had conducted in her mind. Winter stared at her sceptically and Arabella grimaced. "I'm not just going to throw money at this woman. I couldn't even if I wanted to. At the moment I'm actually... broke."

Winter let out a bellowing laugh at Arabella's plight, provoking the girl to glare at her. Alistair's quiet snicker didn't help and she quickly shot him a sharp stare too to shut him up. He held up his hands innocently, but a glimmer of amusement still sparked in his violet eyes as he spoke, "Calm down, by the time the rail line is built, I'm certain you'll make back ten times what you put in!"

She sighed sorrowfully, once more, remembering all of those zeroes... Mattheo had already begun to secure the correct permits for the construction, so she found some solace in the fact that things were moving forward at the very least.

It made sense he would want to try things differently. With the Queen still alive, the succession crisis would move much slower. They'd have more time to gather people to their side when there wasn't a scramble for a new King. But that all relied on the plan working. Convincing her to name Alistair crown prince would never work; people would see through it and accuse him of blackmail since it would be completely nonsensical for Queen Frances to do so. But, something as simple as forcing her to refrain from even naming a crown prince could work. Evening out the playing field even a little would be better than what happened in the other timeline.

She crossed her arms again and looked at Alistair with concern laced in her furrowed brows. She had sworn an oath to help him, but... There were doubts lingering in her mind about this plan of his. It was too optimistic. Too opportunistic.

Failing could risk imprisonment. Succeeding could provide equal playing ground, or rather, the opportunity to even join the game even if it was with a weak hand. But even then, a weak hand could still win a game, albeit with maximum effort and the most amazing bluff known to mankind.

"...I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this, but this could very easily backfire on you," She said with a worried frown.

Alistair focused his full attention on her and laced his fingers together in his lap. A smile spread on his lips, one that held an heir of security that slightly reassured her, "I see why you're worried, but I'm confident. I don't intend to drag you into something half-baked," He looked to the ceiling in thought as he continued. "I need something I can hold over her to give me an advantage once I enter the palace, it's my one bargaining chip and I won't squander it." A wave of something swept over his face in a split second that pulled his lips into a remorseful smile. "...But, still, dangling life above a dying woman like that is..."

He trailed off quietly, making the comment seem more to himself than to the other two people in the room. Regardless, Winter and Arabella simultaneously shared a look of concern. Winter sighed exaggeratedly and rose out of her seat to tousle the boy's white hair, pulling him back to reality, "It's you or her, kid. At least you're giving her a shot at living, even if you're getting something out of it." Her expression grew serious. "Look out for yourself above all else. Don't go soft, because trust me, no one in the palace will do the same for you."

Arabella felt involuntarily tense at those words. She quickly shook it away and spoke up, "Let's leave that talk for after the medicine is developed. Just rely on me for the first part and then I'll leave the rest to you two."

They didn't have long. Arabella's memory wasn't perfect, especially regarding anything that had happened before her debut, but she had a vague recollection of Queen Frances' death. Sometime after Arabella turned 15 was when the queen's illness had been publically announced and she had retired to the countryside to recuperate. All that Arabella remembered now was that the queen died sometime before she turned 16. It wasn't exact dates, but the vague timeframe was better than nothing.

With a self-satisfied expression, Arabella rose out of her seat and looked at the two of them, "I think that should be all for now. Now I want you both out of my house." Both Winter and Alistair let out vague noises of indignation at her order but she promptly ignored both of them and crossed her arms sternly. "I've been nice enough."

Winter scoffed light-heartedly, "Whatever you say. We'll get out of your hair."

She watched in mild amusement as the two made mirroring expressions of resignment. She had briefly thought it earlier, but if it wasn't for the fact that Alistair and Winter looked nothing alike, she could be convinced they were related.

A sudden knock on the door caused her to whip her head around in surprise when Aubrey's voice sounded from the other side.

"My lady, your letter has arrived."