“Paladin Lucia,” Hraustrekr said as he passed by the pale therion.
“Your highness.”
The woman nodded at the prince, her face impassive as she continued to check the last of the injured nobles and servants who were being taken out of the pastry shop. There weren’t many left, but those who were still inside stared at the gathering with wide eyes. Jadis had no doubt that the meeting of the First Prince, the Hero, and the Last of the Nephilim was going to be a hot topic on the rumor mill, even with the attack on the city. Maybe more so, because of the attack.
There wasn’t a ton of space in the front end of the pastry shop, but there was enough room that as the prince strode into the space, everyone seemed to make way for the man. Jay, Wilhelm, and everyone else who was near them were clustered around the shop’s main window, which was a decent number of paces away from the front door, but not so far that the people being escorted out would be unable to overhear anything said. Jadis wasn’t sure if having an audience would affect whatever the idiot prince was going to do, but she doubted he was going to have anything nice to say.
“Prince Hraustrekr,” Wilhelm said as he turned towards the approaching elf. “Lucia has almost finished checking everyone here, and Jadis and her companions have searched the whole floor. It seems the cultist who was hiding in their numbers has slipped away, your highness.”
“Of course,” the gold-skinned elf said as he took the helmet off of his head. “Not much has gone right this night. No reason to hope for better results now.”
“Things could be a lot worse,” Wilhelm started to say, but Hraustrekr waved him off.
“Yes, yes, your timely arrival has saved many lives. But the utter failure of the city guard or any of the many paladin orders who are supposed to protect the city is undeniable. Measures will have to be taken to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. That is a talk for later. We will need to focus on the here and now to resolve the immediate threat.”
Putting his hand on the Hero’s shoulder, Hraustrekr gave the human a firm nod and a grim smile.
“Runar has already led his company down into the tunnels that the Demons used to breach the upper city around the palace bridge. Tiernan is with him. I want you to take the rest of your companions down this breach, along with the royal knights I have brought with me. Make sure the undercity is safe. I will be at the north side upper river port, another site that was attacked. Send word if you find anything of note.”
“Of course, sir,” Wilhelm said, his voice stern as stone. The Hero took the helm from under his arm and reequipped it. When he spoke again, it was with that vaguely hollow echo that came from wearing a helmet. “We won’t let another innocent life be lost this night.”
“Good,” Hraustrekr said as he clapped the Hero’s shoulder. “Now, off with you.”
With that, Wilhelm departed. Jocelyn followed right behind him, tossing a wave and a hasty bow towards Jadis and the others as she left. The rest of the Hero’s companions were already outside, except for Lucia, who continued her duty by the door, making sure that every person was checked before leaving. Jadis and her companions were, essentially, left alone with the First Prince.
The others were quiet as they watched the armored elven man. Jay was at the fore, Alex still hanging on her shoulder, though the Demon had shifted around slightly so that more of her was between Jay and the prince. Jadis knew that her positioning was an attempt at protection, but considering what she knew of Alex’s condition, she wasn’t particularly happy with the move. As subtly as she could, Jay angled herself so that Alex wasn’t between her and Hraustrekr. While most everyone else stood to the side and behind Jay, with even the confused Sabina having gone silent, Kerr had stubbornly moved so that she was standing partially in front of Jay on Alex’s side. The extra layer of protection was appreciated, though the thought of the outspoken archer addressing the First Prince was almost frightening. Jadis could just imagine what Aila was thinking.
Syd, Thea, and Bridget had come out from the back room and stood further away, watching the confrontation as well. Jadis was glad the two were far enough away that they were outside of the prince’s immediate attention, as Thea looked like she was about to have a meltdown and Bridget had turned several shades of green lighter from the blood draining from her face.
Jadis hesitated for a moment. The bold approach usually worked for her, and she didn’t have any qualms about facing the prince who had been such a bane to her existence as of late. However, now that she had him in front of her, she wasn’t entirely certain what she wanted to say to the elf. Her sudden indecision probably came from her frazzled and exhausted mind; recent revelations and the many trying events of the evening hadn’t left her in the best state to try and engage in verbal banter.
Hraustrekr was the first to break the brief silence.
“Jadis,” he said in a calm, emotionless tone. “You are past your curfew. Go back to the temple district.”
Jadis blinked, disbelief momentarily stunning her like a blow to the head. She stared, dumbfounded, as the prince casually turned away from her, then paused as something caught his eye in the pastry shop window display. Reaching down, he took a small round bun from the display, sniffed it, then took a bite. As he started to walk away, chewing on the treat he’d just taken, Jay finally recovered enough to call out to him.
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me?”
The prince stopped and turned halfway back towards her, a slight frown puckering his brow. He finished swallowing the mouthful he had bitten before motioning with one hand towards her.
“If you had been raised in proper society, then you would know that it is only correct to refer to me as ‘your highness’ upon first addressing me, then sir afterwards. Since you are an uneducated rustic, the breach in etiquette can be overlooked. But to answer your question. Yes. That is all I have to say to you for the moment.”
Uneducated rustic? Etiquette? She almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“All the shit you put me through and you don’t have anything else to say? You’re going to just chide me like a kid up past their bedtime and then walk away like you didn’t almost get me killed in Weigrun by siccing your pet bear on me? Like you haven’t been accusing me of terrible crimes with no evidence? Like you haven’t been a colossal prick to me when we’ve never even met each other before?”
Hraustrekr gazed at Jay for a brief moment, his green eyes unblinking and his expression unreadable. Then, he strode forward and closed the distance so that there were only a few feet between them. He didn’t spare Kerr a single glance, simply forcing her to back away by his very presence, though Syd could see that her lover wasn’t cowed, going by the look on her face. His focus was solely on Jay, though, and all others present were disregarded. Due to the height difference, he had to crane his neck back to continue to meet Jay’s eyes. Yet, despite the awkward angle, he somehow managed to make Jadis feel like he was still looking down on her.
“Yes, I am telling you to go back to bed. Like a child. A child who has no experience and no inkling as to what it means to make hard decisions that could affect the lives of millions. I will not apologize for taking the course of action that I did, as it was what I thought was best to do to make sure my people are kept safe. Perhaps someday you will have the proper perspective to be able to understand. Until that day, know your place. Mind your elders. And get your pale ass back to the temple district, along with that damn Demon of yours. We shall see about having your restrictions lifted in the coming days. But for now, your job is done here. Goodnight.”
Jadis almost punched the man in his face. Jay’s fists had clenched so tightly that her nails had dug into her skin and she could feel the blood dripping from the cuts she had gouged into her palms. She was inches away from assaulting the prince, so close that she could already feel the familiar sensation of his nose breaking against her knuckles. She’d gotten one prince already, after all. Hraustrekr was overdue.
Aila’s hand on her arm was the only thing that stopped Jay from lashing out. That calming touch of reason that reminded her that punching this particular prince in his haughty face was not a move she could make lightly. There was a time and a place for everything. This wasn’t the time or place for her revenge. Not with witnesses nearby who would report what happened to the emperor and everyone else in the city. Not when the damnable man had power over her.
“You aren’t going to try and blame this attack on me? Or Alex?” Jay said instead of breaking the man’s face, hoping to prod the prince into saying something helpful to her while there were witnesses around to hear his words. “You’re so quick to toss accusations around. I figured you had to have at least a couple more for me.”
“Why would I accuse you of having involvement in this?” Hraustrekr said, giving her a patronizing look. “You’ve quite obviously been the victim of the attack, as many witnesses can attest, as has your pet Demon for that matter. I’m sure Lucia can already confirm that you and Alex are not followers of Samleos. Is that not correct, Paladin Lucia?”
“Yes, your highness,” Lucia called back without taking her eyes off of her task. “I checked them earlier. They are not followers of the Death God.”
She had? Jadis didn’t remember the woman casting any spells on her or Alex. But as she looked more closely at what the paladin was doing, Lucia’s magic wasn’t displaying any overt signs. There was no glow or sparkle. She was just touching the person for a brief moment, no more than a few seconds, and that was it. Had Lucia managed to sneak a touch on both her and Alex without Jadis noticing?
“There you are,” Hraustrekr turned his head back towards Jay. “Evidence strongly indicates you were not involved. Now, if any new evidence should be discovered that shows you did have some connection to all of this, we’ll revisit that assessment. But for now, I see no reason to waste any more time on a matter that isn’t going to go anywhere, and clearly never was.”
The next words that the elf spoke were so soft that Jadis almost didn’t hear them, and Hraustrekr was careful to keep his face angled so that only Jay and her companions could see his lips.
“My brother has wasted more than enough of both our time as is.”
When Hraustrekr turned to leave again, Jadis didn’t try to stop him a second time. She watched as the haughty asshole exited the building, and listened as he called out orders to soldiers in the distance before leaping on the back of his armored unicorn. In just a few moments, the man was gone, riding off down the road towards the riverside, where he was apparently dealing with another area the Demons had attacked.
The whole interaction had just left Jadis puzzled and exhausted. Why wouldn’t the antagonistic bastard take advantage of the opportunity to screw her over? She could easily see how the man could try and blame the attack on her and Alex. He had already accused her of being related to the cult of Samleos. The rumor mill around the city was rife with stories of her consorting with Demons thanks to her relationship with Alex. It wouldn’t be that hard to tweak the narrative and further ruin Jadis’ reputation. Maybe even turn the night into something he could use to more permanently imprison her. Why would he back off now?
One possibility stuck out to Jadis’ mind.
“I am so confused,” Sabina broke the silence.
“You and me both,” Kerr growled. “Why in the abyss is that no-dick duck fucker just walking away? I thought for sure he was going to try and arrest us.”
“Because he hasn’t come this far by being foolish,” Aila sighed. “If he was, Kestil would have taken the crown from him already.”
“You’re right,” Jay huffed. “He’s smarter than I thought he would be. He’s not treating us like criminals anymore because he knows that the Hero would know that it would be a lie. I bet if Wilhelm hadn’t made it to the city tonight, Hraustrekr would have absolutely used this as an opportunity to go after me. Now he can’t because Wilhelm and his companions know that’d be bullshit.”
“And I am quite certain that Sir Wilhelm has far more sway with the public at large than Prince Hraustrekr does,” Eir commented, speaking up for the first time in a while. “You will also find that far more nobles are on your side now than there had been before tonight. You saved many lives.”
Jadis hoped that was true. She still wasn’t certain that Prince Hraustrekr wasn’t planning on trying to use the attack against her in some way. But if the jackass was going to be smarter than she would have liked, backing off from this particular fight because he saw no way to use it to his advantage wasn’t something Jadis could reasonably complain about. There would be other battles to be fought, she was sure.
“No, that’s not what I’m confused about,” Sabina said as she twisted around in Dys’ embrace. “I mean, yes, I’m extremely confused by everything the prince just said and what you all just said and all of that, but I’m still confused about what happened? I mean, what happened? I assume there was some kind of Demon attack, but why are we in a pastry shop? And was that the Hero just now? I’m really lost.”
“It’s okay,” Dys smirked as she patted Sabina on the back. “We’ll explain on the way back to the temple. This whole night turned out way, way different from what I expected, in more ways than one.”
“Speaking of heading back,” Sorcha perked up as she looked out of the window at the dark, crowded street filled with soldiers and snow. “What are the chances of our carriages still being around?”
Jadis let out a long, weary sigh. It was going to be a cold walk back to Lyssandria’s High Temple.
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