Picking sides (1)

"Why are you still by my side?" Tessa asked.

"How do you know that I am here when you are not looking over here?" Liam asked, moving to be by his mother's side.

Tessa tapped his hand after he tried to take one of the cookies she baked. "They are not for you. They are for Hazel. I will be visiting her in the palace soon."

"Why?" Liam questioned, not wanting his mother to step foot in the palace. 

"Because her parents are out of town tending to Helena and the king must be busy with all those women that keep going missing. I am not her mother, but I hope my presence may help her feel that there is someone she can speak to. Don't touch," Tessa tapped his hand again.

"Is that all or do you plan to warn her about grandfather? You mustn't tell her yet," Liam said.