The flap of the housetent opened and closed as if by a breeze, became a door behind a shadow. The shadow's figure drifted slowly over the well-polished floorboards, over the wet puddles which amassed there in the foyer. There wasn't a creak to their motion. Not a sound.

Up the stairs on the right—deeper into the darkness of a silent house, further in reserved pursuit of that trail of water, chasing that smell of rain through that slumbering house.

Her golden eyes flickered over to the grandfather clock in the hallway before the curtained-off bedrooms. Just past midnight. Just as Rykaedi had ordered.

And she floated through one of the curtains.

“Hahh…” Faunia Vleren sighed, rolled over in her big bed. The covers on the other side were thrown sloppily, like someone had left just recently.

And Hemah began to glow. The edges of the bed caught the slow birth of a flame as her hear intensified in a grand wave.

“Serkukan told me I should trust him.”

Her eyes darted for the voice—behind me!

The crimson helm had already clamped shut over his head. “I'll try that this time.”

Chapter 66.

And She Howled Out In Agony

'Remember… if all else fails…'

Hemah only had one eye left after the blow from Cedric's crimson gauntlet had blown a crater through half of her head and cast her against the foot of the bed. She rolled her head back to the lump under the blanket—but now the lump was falling. Faunia Vleren had never really been here after all…!

Hemah turned back to Cedric—to Serkukan—with gnashed teeth. Then her eyes took on all of the colors, the totality of her own faux Dyosius’ platinum hue. Her skin began to glow fiercely.

Cedric's eyes widened.

…A bomb!

“Serkukan—!” he shouted, but they were already safe. He was looking at the outside of the tent. He felt the flaps between his fingers. “...So this is what it means to control reality…”

There was a quiet hiss of air, the flaps puffed out gently. Then the darkness beyond the flaps faded, revealed the grass beneath the faux tent.

“Hemah blew herself up? Just like that?”

“I would suspect that Aeon has a failsafe. What if someone important got trapped inside one?”

Serkukan didn't reply.

“Where's Faunia?”

“Cedric!” came her voice. She jogged toward him, still in her flimsy white nightclothes. “What happened?”

He raised his eyebrows skeptically beneath his concealing crimson helm. Then a blade sprung from his wrist.

“...Cedric?” Her jog slowed to a crawl, just out of arm’s reach.

One of the sel across the campsite’s narrow road saw the blade. He shouted something in another tongue, and then—

BBRRRRRRRRRRRRR…

Cedric threw up immediately when Antithesis hit him. His helmet melted into blood, let the vomit splat lifelessly into the grass. He hunched over, gripped his stomach.

…Then he lifted his gaze to watch Faunia's skin slide back into place as if she was melting. And there she was—Queen Arobella.

She hunched over to his level, gripped her head as the pain wracked through. Then she scoffed, met his eyes, and smiled. “How'd you know?”

“I sent Faunia far enough away. There wasn't a chance she'd be getting back that quickly.”

“How far?”

He panted, finally struggled back upright. “Try Calamon.”

Her face turned into a sardonic sneer. “You don't fuck around, do you? Is this the part where you kill me, then?”

“I hope not.”

Arobella's brow furrowed in confusion.

Then Faunia swept down from above, embraced in Tirolith’s frozen icicle armor. She drew Tirolith's rapier, landed, and began a steady march toward Arobella.

Cedric lifted his palm to stop her in place.

Then the boy turned back to Arobella. His eyes narrowed discerningly. “Why are you doing this, Arobella?”

The queen finally managed to lift up out of her pained stance. Her weary eyes still carried the wince of the pain. “Doing what?”

“Collaborating with Rykaedi? Why? I want to work with you here—Serkukan wants me to kill you. Now’s your chance, while Antithesis is active: tell me why.”

Arobella reached up and clutched her amulet. She began to shake, her voice cracked. “I… I don’t know why!”

A small crowd had formed by then, exchanging uneasy glances with their swords at the ready. One of the sel made eye-contact with Cedric. They exchanged a nod—Antithesis would be ready on his command.

“I don’t know why I do it! I wanted Kylinstom, I… No, I never wanted Kylinstrom, not like this. I wanted a campaign, I wanted… not to live a worthless life on a throne!”

Faunia asked, “You didn’t want nobility?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“What the fuck is nobility good for? I get to sit in a high chair every day and drink myself into a stupor every night. There’s nothing. But reading about knights, adventures, quests… the Hunters! The Etherian Knights that you, yourself formed!”

Cedric’s face flushed.

“That’s what I wanted… To be one of them. To be a soldier on the front, a commander of an army. I wanted to be like the Silver Sword who I’d heard so much about, like Commander Mari from Calamon. The more I heard about your exploits, the more I thought… why can’t I? Why can’t I endeavor to live the same full life as any of you!?”

There was a stark, new silence when she finished shouting. A newborn silence. Then she realized she was crying. She wiped one of her tears away with her palm.

“Rykaedi isn’t the way to do that, Arobella.” consoled Cedric.

“I know.” she growled.

“There’s a way back.”

The queen suddenly craned her neck up high—”Nope, too late!”

He turned to the sel—”Now!”

—And off went the man’s head.

Faunia screamed, “CEDRIC!” And the platinum strands of Dyosius formed around the both of them like a defensive bubble. Sparks slid off the surface of the bubble like a flurry of attacks, all aimed directly at their throats.

All of the soldiers—at least twenty men and women—fell dead around them. The bubble fell apart.

Then Rykaedi tipped her head back, grinned lasciviously. “Too bad! And we were having such a good time!”

Bony, black wings ripped through the back of her dress. She took to the air.

Serkukan… SERKUKAN!

The crystal armor was already upon him. He leapt up at Rykaedi weightlessly. Two dagger blades sprung from each of his wrists.

Rykaedi's wings began to fall apart. She looked up, raised an eyebrow as her vertical momentum began to slow.

Cedric's blade struck her chest. It dug deep into the flesh that was Arobella's, right through the center of her ribcage, right between her lungs. Serkukan knew the depth, knew the lethality of it. They both held their breath for a long moment.

Then those wings continued on without her. Those two wings became three, then six, then seven, entirely covered her figure.

Before they could react, she burst away on the wind with unrivaled speed. Cedric caught Arobella in his arms. Her head rolled back. She was pale, her eyes were without life.

“Mend.” Cedric ordered his Etherian. The hole in the center of her chest was immediately without blood, the exposed flesh was without even a scar. Cedric rested his head there on the torn part of her gown for a moment, against her cold skin, praying as they fell that she would survive.

When he hit the ground, when he lifted his head, Faunia immediately stuck her hand against Arobella's chest. Tirolith's glowing light began from her palm.

Serkukan's armor melted away. “I need a medic!”

He grit his teeth, lowered Arobella's still body to the ground.

“Are you going after her?” Faunia asked.

He nodded. “I have to.”

“I know. But her speed—”

“That's nothing compared to what Serkukan can do.”

Just as soon as the words left his lips, he was gone. He was too fast for them to even see, he had already blazed all the way to Harth in that moment before Arobella took a creaking breath. He had already watched Rykaedi's absurd visage tuck away between those big obsidian pillars where he'd woken up after the Rejoining. She entered her palace, didn't even glance back at him.

He stopped, landed on the pillar where he first learned that he could fly. He stared down at that collapsed obsidian palace she'd entered with a glare as fierce as Serkukan's own.

“We can't do it. Not without Faunia. Not without backup.”

Just like that, he flipped off the pyre and onto his wings. In less than five minutes, they were back where Faunia was holding Arobella, still glowing in an attempt to heal her.

As Cedric floated down to the ground, Arobella finally opened her eyes.

“What do you think?” he asked. “Was she telling the truth?”

Faunia didn't answer for a moment. Then she laid Arobella down, stood up and began to walk away. “She's your lover. You decide.”

Tirolith appeared in the air behind Faunia, grabbed her under the shoulders, and launched her up into the sky. They did it a few more times until they were both out of view.

Cedric's gaze fell low. He crouched down beside her, lifted her head in his hand.

Arobella looked up with a weakened expression. She stroked his cheek. “Cedric…”

“I'm sorry, Arobella.”

“It's okay…”

“I'm sorry that things went the way they did between us. It's not right for me to toy with your emotions like that.”

Her gaze softened. “You're talking about…?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I'm sorry that it happened at all between us.”

Arobella smiled. “It's a good thing you struck me in the chest, and not any lower.”

Cedric gasped. He stood up suddenly, backed away from her with horror stricken across his face.

Arobella smiled. Her head rolled over, her eyes shut.

Then the field medics passed by Cedric, dropped down beside her. Their hands began to glow with natural ley magic, with once-ley.

“We'll take things from here, King Lorik.” said one of the men lending succor

“She'll be okay. You don't need to worry.” said a woman by his side.

Cedric stood there for a long moment. His breath was caught in his throat. Eventually, he shut his mouth and flexed his wings wide again. He took off, flew away in the direction Faunia had left in.

There she was, sitting upon that same black spyre outside of Rykaedi's shattered palace. He landed behind her to admire the sunrise in the horizon.

“Faunia—”

“It's going to end soon. Isn't it?” Her voice was somber and alone.

“Faunia…” Cedric began toward her.

She stood, turned to face him with the burning amber sun at her back. “We’re going to kill Rykaedi. And then…?”

Cedric came toward her, grabbed her trembling hands in his own. She couldn't look him in the eyes.

“Are you going to leave me? Are you going to die?”

Cedric said, “I don't know. One step at a time.”

“But if all of these steps end in… how do we know what we're doing is right? How do we go into this prepared—so we can avoid all of that?”

“We don't. We have to risk it all to protect what we believe in—even if it destroys us. Isn't that what a knight is meant to sacrifice?”

“...Maybe. I'm staying behind for the siege.”

“I'll be with you through it. One step at a time, Faunia.”

Tears had begun down Faunia's cheeks. Cedric wiped them away with the back of his hand. Her skin was smooth, warm. “Cedric, if you...”

“I'll call for you if I need you. But only if you'll promise me the same. Be my shoulder, and I'll be yours.”

Faunia nodded, buried her head in his chest and embraced him.

Cedric smiled slightly, held her close. Then he pulled back to hold out a half-sardonic fist, as if asking for a bump.

Faunia saw it and made her own smile. She looked up at him. “You're a real bastard.”

“I try,” he said. And they pressed their lips together again.