The Horse in the Prince's Stables

Chp. 27

                                                                                  =27=       

=Philip=

          I leaned against the cold stone wall, waiting for Henry's reaction. I told him everything I knew, while Gabriella filled in a few gaps. She still hadn't told me how she knew who and what Kaelyn truly was, but I figured since she was a witch, she would recognize a curse when she saw one.

          Henry took it all in surprisingly well. He never interrupted once. Once I finished explaining the whole girl-horse curse thing, he stood there for a minute processing everything I had just told him. The he met my eyes with his own curious glance.

"So, she was the girl who was poisoned?" Despite that he was looking at me, I knew that the question was directed towards Gabriella. My mouth fell open. I hadn't told anybody about the incident with the ghost snakes. How in the world would Henry know about that?

          "Yes," Gabriella replied slowly while picking up a small vial filled with clear liquid. Her stare locked onto the contents as she swished it around with smooth circular motions of her wrist.  Suddenly she pointed a finger at me and jerked it upwards. My mouth snapped shut, my teeth clicking together a little painfully.

          "Ah." Understanding crossed over Henry's expression. "Why didn't you say so? I was wondering what happened to her." He smiled. "I'm glad she survived though. We weren't so sure if it worked."

          "How did you even know about that? Nobody knows!" I blurted out.

          Henry started to speak, although he was promptly silenced by Gabriella when she came up behind him and placed one hand on his shoulder, which slowly trailed down his arm and she stepped forward towards me. Her unwavering golden stare sent small chills down my back.

          "Nothing can survive a bit from a ghost snake. Not even the largest animal on this earth can survive the tiny little bite from it. It's simple. If you are bitten, you die. Unless," he eyes flashed as she reached the climax of her depressing speech, "you have an antidote." The traces of a smirk toyed on her lips. "And I don't believe you had one at the time."

          Realization dawned on me.

          "You intervened..." I murmured. "But that still doesn't explain how you knew that she needed help!"

          "I am a witch, aren't I?" Her tone sounded like it was on the verge of becoming a little angry. I knew that getting on her bad side was a stupid idea. I decided to back off. If she was so powerful, I wondered why she hadn't found us earlier. Then again I knew little about witches in the first place... Better save such questions for later.

          "I helped find them too, you know," Henry interjected. Gabriella rolled her eyes and walked back over to him and draped one arm over his shoulders and used her other hand to trace patterns across his chest.

          "Hmmmm, yes you did." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Not wanting to look foolish again, I only permitted my jaw to drop mentally. What happened while I was away??

          "And you also helped almost completely drain me of my powers, which could've killed me..." Henry winced slightly at her words, and pulled her a little closer, his arm snaking around her waist.

          "Well, yea but I did help make up for that-"

          "ENOUGH!" I couldn't take it anymore. My previous suspicions were no confirmed, but I didn't want to deal with it at the moment. Henry coughed uncomfortably, and released her from his embrace. Gabriella chuckled darkly and moved over to her potions table, keeping her back to us. I stared at Henry incredulously.