The pawn shop bell dinged as she opened it.
"Have a safe night, my lady," the priest bowed solemnly.
"Thank you for escorting me, brother Lirien."
He turned around and left without a word.
She wondered if they were all just serious, brooding people. Not Revian, though, her cheeks warmed at the thought of him, and she caught herself smiling.
Scanning around the pawn shop for her mother, she couldn't help but notice the shop looked way bigger on the inside than it did on the outside.
Tomes, artifacts, strange creatures floating in transparent glass suspended in amber liquid, Shoddy jewelry, dusty tomes, expensive-looking trinkets, shiny swords, rusty shields and dried herbs of all sorts hung, animal skeletons hung on the walls. The shop was lit by a golden orb floating in the center of the room and by floating golden candles in the corners.
It was both overwhelming and oddly comforting.
"There you are!"
From a corner, Lady Elowan popped up with one of the shop attendees holding a basket.
"Where have you been?"
"Hi, mo, her," Jia said with a wan smile.
Mother. What a laughable concept. The woman smiling at her with genuine warmth has no idea the soul in this body belongs to an intruder.
This fever dream was not ending any time soon.
" What took you so long, Adeline?"
" I'm sorry, mother, I got caught up in the sights of the night market," Jia lied smoothly, giving her " mother" a quick hug before taking the shopping basket from her.
Lady Elowan's laughter was warm.
"You never could resist the sights of a strange thing. Hence why I brought you to one of the most interesting pawn shops run by Madam Erin, a high elf."
Elf?
Those wise, nature-obsessed pointy pointy-eared beings that lived for thousands of years?
Holy shit.
As if on a cudoorbell or bell chimed, revealing a tall, pale woman in a Green hood, who walked in.
"Hello, Lady Elowan. How nice of you to grace my store after so many years…."
"Adeline is the one looking forward to this the most, I assure you, Lady Erin."
"Adeline, huh?"
Her eyes were a striking green, and her smile was genuine, but all that changed as her gaze landed on Lady Elowan's daughter.
Jia stiffened. Lady Erin regarded her, the briefest hint of coldness crossing her eye before nodding with a smile.
Jia's heart slowed to a crawl. Was she discovered?
"It is good to have the Corvus family visit my humble store. What do you have for me, then?"
"We only want to trade in a few pieces of jewelry for a dress. My daughter was invited to a dinner with the prince of the Kingdom, you know?" Lady Elowan enthused proudly.
"Alright, let's see what you have brought for me…"
Lady Erin said, pulling back her hood, and walking towards the counter.
Inwardly, Jia breathed a sigh of relief, but as she passed by, she whispered:
"I know you're not Adeline."
******************************************************
"You think we are good to deploy the eastern forces to something as naive as a hunch?" Lord Eadric de Viremont slammed his fist against the table.
Known for his hot-headedness and bias toward ironclad defense and slow, grinding sieges, he was more cautious than a hungry mouse stealing from a barn full of cats.
"I ask you to recall when our guards ignored a hunch on the poisoning of our soldiers, and the kingdom only concluded it was due to overdrink from the night before, Lord Eadrick," Count Barrowmare interjected.
The Royal meeting room erupted into a heated argument as Duke Cassian clasped his hands together with a heavy sigh.
An urgent order from Prince Lucien had arrived early dawn, commanding lords, counts, and even him to appear on account of half their spies sent to the East being wiped out overnight, and whilst they waited, they all debated hotly on the correct course of action to take.
" All I'm saying is that the wisest thing would be to assemble the noble houses loyal to the kingdom of Elyria and–"
" There you go again with your tainted imperialist views, Cedric Valtemont —! Viscount Godfrey Raven Croft interrupted angrily.
He had yet to come up with a viable solution to the low crop yields in his territory. He harboured raising the tax, but it seemed inevitable.
The atmosphere was almost suffocating; he hated men who pointed fingers instead of quietly figuring out the solutions to their problems. When was the damned Lucien arriving anyway?
As if on cue, the guards at the entrance bowed in reverence before opening the hefty doors.
"Announcing the arrival of his Majesty, Prince Lucien Alaric Vaelthorne the sixth!"
The room immediately fell silent as Everyone rose in acknowledgement as Prince Lucien took a seat at the head of the table.
"Please, sit."
Lucien, as serpentine as ever, scanned the room.
"I see everyone is here. I am grateful you heeded my summons. I apologize for the delay. I'm afraid that matters at hand prevented me from arriving at the agreed time."
His gaze landed on Duke Cassian, who snarled in his direction.
If anyone knew Lucien as long as he had, that was a lie.
He was most likely secretly carvoting with women of questionable morals and missed the time.
Lucien was a great actor right from Military school, but to the Duke's trained eye, he could spot the drunken demeanour from the tiniest detail: the way his eyes roved wildly over his audience and the slight stiff gait to overcompensate.
The matters of the Kingdom were only a chess game for his amusement. Having been overly indulged as an only son, Lucien toyed with people for the thrill of it. He wanted the throne but only with the hopes of turning the kingdom over to his complete control.
"Duke Cassian? May we hear your thoughts?" Lucien said with his trademark benevolence.
Cassian swore inwardly. He'd completely missed whatever Lucien was waffling about.
"I agree," Cassian said, working a nod of his head.
"Well, that's a surprise!" Lucien said with an exaggerated clap of his hand as the other lords murmured in approval.
Heavens, Cassian thought. What did I just agree to?
"How generous of Duke Cassian to loan us his privately trained soldiers to replace the spies who have perished in the service of our country. "
"Your generosity will not go unforgotten."
Cedric Valtemont added with a nod of respect in his direction, and Duke Cassian grunted.
Cedric, a Descendant of the Valtemonts who turned the tide at the Battle of Crimson Ford three centuries ago, their sigil still bore the crimson ford's stain.
He was an extreme loyalist whose house was fiercely biased toward aggressive expansion to reclaim lost ancestral lands.
"I suppose this meeting is over now. Thank you all. Duke Cassian, I would like to see you privately. There are matters at hand to discuss," Prince Lucien said as the crowd bowed out of the meeting room till it was just two of them and the guards.
"Cassian. You never seem to be able to hide your irritation with me."
"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean, my Prince." Duke Cassian said flatly, and Lucien stifled a laugh. Were it not for his hangover headache, he would have burst into a full belly laugh.
Instead, he got up, turning his attention to the guards.
"I wish to speak with Duke Cassian in the Southern gardens; we are not to be disturbed. Understood?"
The guards bowed and left.
Duke Cassian got up and followed the prince, who hummed to himself as he led the Duke past the Royal courtyard and into the garden.
Famed for its rare herbs and flowers, Cassian could not stand the strange, exotic smells it produced. Lucien led him here, fully aware of the Duke's proclivities.
"I say….don't the birds sing cheerily today?" Lucien remarked brightly. turning to look at the Duke, who had a blank look on his handsome face.
"Hmm," Cassian grunted, noncommittal.
A pity he was so grumpy and refused the attention of all maidens, including the worthy ones.
Cassian was feared far and wide for being a wild wolf on the battlefield and earned the title of the 'iron-blooded Duke's but Lucien knew how to set him off.
"I invited High Priest Revian and Lady Elyra to a dinner with the king and queen tonight."
The Duke's confident steps behind him halted.
Ah-ha.
Prince Lucien could not hide his satisfied grin.
"And….you will be there?" The Duke asked.
Prince Lucien turned around. " Of course. We must formally and informally welcome the new saint of Elyria. It would hardly be a royal dinner if I weren't present now, would it?"
"You bastard…." Cassian hissed under his breath.
Lucien threw his head back and laughed.
The Duke's grey eyes were stormy with rage.
"Just make Sure you don't taint her with your filth. We know the Royal blood is half-foul, you draconian breed–"
Duke Cassian caught the punch cleanly on his jaw, and he stumbled.
Lucien's green eyes had turned vacant–the way they did whenever he turned violent.
"Careful now…" Lucien warned.
Duke Cassian spat out saliva and blood, and in a flash, he kicked Lucien in the jaw that sent him flying into a saltwater bush flat on his back.
Lucien struggled to his feet as his anger disappeared, replaced with amusement. There were only a few people who could take his punch without dying, and even fewer who would dare raise a fist to him, and Duke Cass
ian was both.
"We are not friends, Lucien and stay away from Elyra," Duke Cassian warned, his hand on the sword at his hip, a dangerous glint in his eye and walked away.