Chapter 450 (1/2)

Chapter 450

Chapter 448: A Silent and Un Conflict

Just now

KATHYLN GLAYDER

I hurried down the long, strangely e, where two very unusual guests aiting forquickly in my throat, driven by my own inexplicable nervousness

Cal all toohad ons, with Curtis and I being swept along in a tide we could not control or fight, and I had just begun settling my head around this new normal It was only natural that such visitors who asked for iven the political context

The clipped beating of my feet on the marble floor resounded off the walls and ca just behind me Normally such sounds wouldn’t be noticeable in the palace; the dull but constant drone of conversation, or co blades from the courtyard, would s it up

But few could stand staying in the palace now, so near the dragons’ heavy auras—the King’s Force, as they called it

I passed by a guard, whose arrow-straight posture straightened even further at the sight ofinto my back once I’d passed Could he sense my anxiety, read me like an open book? I listened for the telltale ar down the hall to reportfoolish, I acknowledged Do not succuht inchauests had been placed to awaitshtly

They were both already standing as I entered, their eyes on the door

Such inhuold of the sun’s reflection on water, the other like two shi+ning rubies

“Lady Sylvie,” I said, acknowledging her with a sharp but shallo, not exactly sure how she ranked in the currently complicated politics of Epheotus and Dicathen

She returned the bow, esture thatHer pale hair tu up fro, I was struck by her height and the sharpness of her features

I shouldn’t have been It was only natural that she would age and grow But the last ti the war, I wasn’t even quite sure exactly how long it had been—she had presented herself physically as a child when in her hu woman, and yet the confidence and maturity that radiated from her like an aura made her seem much older

She stepped quickly forward, and her black dress swished and caught the light, its thousands of tiny black scales glittering

I stiffened as she wrapped

She didn’t seehtly “Lady Kathyln It is good to see you again Thank you forwith us on such short notice I have no doubt you are very busy, and I understand the nature of our arrival is somewhat…unusual”

As she said “our,” I turned to her companion with the red eyes

Blue hair fell down the full-figured woman’s shoulders, si around her head like a crown and bright as it fras they called Vritra-blooded She was suppressing herher core level, although that alone told er than h she did not break eye contact, giving the ressive air “Lady Kathyln Glayder My nahblood Denoir As Sylvie said, thank you for estured to a stiff couch across froers autorooves in the ar the lines as I considered the that you’ve asked for me in some secrecy when there are members of your own race present in this very palace Why not seek the counsel of your own kind? Furthermore, why keep your presence a secret?”

Sylvie sat very properly, her gaze unwavering It was very easy to see her as soons It was a bit uidance and direction I had received from Guardian Charon and Windsom about how Arthur and his companions were to be treated in the event they returned to Etistin

Meeting with them in secret behind Guardian Charon’s back was certainly not a part of said guidance

“Arthur has sent me to infor to be both confident and consoling “An attack targeting the dragons that would nonetheless put you and your brother in extreer”

I feltevery muscle in ht e “I hope you have ons…ould dare such a thing? The fact that you’re here offering a warning makes it clear you find the threat to be sincere, but I can’t i asuras, would be a relevant danger”

Sylvie seean to flow out of her as she wove a story of visions and powerful, asura-killing assassins, dead dragons, and even ly unh her oosebumps all over my skin

I hout, but on the inside, I was a roiling sea of uncertainty I are of Arthur’s fight against these “Wraiths” in Vildorial, as were Windsorona’s soldiers did not pose theons were protecting Dicathen

It was perhaps not fair to Lady Sylvie, but I was also skeptical of any such visions that clai and queen of Sapin, had been surrounded by soothsayers and seers atte to peddle prophecies at every juncture Except for Elder Rinia, I had neverto be an oracle who could tell so much as the next day’s weather

The Alacryan woman, Caera, listened just as raptly as I did, clearly not having known the full story until that ainst them

When she finished, Lady Sylvie was silent as she waited forive olden eyes for any sign of deceit but finding none I ih the streets of Etistin at that veryyour tale has only oal is to prevent this attack on Guardian Charon, why not speak to hih the question even as I was asking it and caons to know you are here until Arthur is with you And Arthur does not want to go to Charon without some proof of the Wraiths’ presence” I felt the sifts of foresight co your kind, Lady Sylvie?”

Her head cocked slightly to the side as she considered me “No Arthur has always trusted you, Kathyln, and so I chose to as well I hope Ifrom anyone else, the barbed words would have drawn on, all I could think was that I also hoped that she was right to tellto pause “What you describe, it sounds like e—”

Mana erupted in the distance, and I forgot what I was saying, instead staring at the wall in the direction of the source

“A decay-type“That was a lot ofout ons will have sensed that as well—hells, the entire city will have I need to make sure there isn’t a panic”

Before either of the women could speak, I turned on uard fro in thean ar down it at any moment He spun and snapped into a salute when he heard my approach

I whisked past him and headed for the main palace entry As expected, I found Curtis already there, standing in the outer courtyard and staring east He glanced at me as I moved to stand at his side

“Did you feel that?” he asked, frowning Grawder, rowl, and Curtis patted his mane

I didn’t answer, as Windsom entered the courtyard at that moment, every hair in place, his military-style uniforht eyes stared upward, and I followed his gaze just as a transfor toward the source of the explosion

“I thought we agreed there would be no transforons within the city proper,” I said halfheartedly, knowing my protest would fall on deaf ears

At ons made him inexplicably nervous, and he hated whenever I said or did anything he dee for the dragon’s return

The huge blue reptilian being landed right in the courtyard with us, the wind of its wingsCurtis and me with his body

And so I didn’t ion’s back, not until I lowered my arm and stepped around Grawder

Arthur, his physical appearance so changed that it still caught round and started walking toward us, heedless of the deity at his back, as if he rode on a dragon all the tih -practiced sense of decoruon

“Call for Guardian Charon!” Edirith, the blue dragon, announced, his voice just as gargantuan as his draconic forht the one called Arthur Leywin! Call for the Guardian!”

Windsom stepped forward and raised a hand, and Edirith stilled and went silent before resu his humanoid form Windsom smiled warmly at Arthur and opened his ht past hi Curtis andfor the boy I’d known at Xyrus Acade the war, but just as the last time I’d seen him, this new Arthur presented so little of who he’d been before

And yet he is perhaps even more handsome than before, if that’s possible

I clearedoff my distraction “Arthur, it’s a pleasure to see you”

“Kathyln” Unexpectedly, he reached out and pulledmy skin as his lips moved so close to my ear that I could feel the whisper of his breath as he said, “The others?”

Understanding I returned his ehtly

He let lancing in Windsom’s direction as he instead held out a hand to my brother

“Curtis,” he said si a beard I’ for you”

Curtis let out the boyish laugh he was known all throughout Sapin for, but the joy of it didn’t reach his eyes He was guarded, wary, and Grawder picked up on the tension, lowering his head and shaking out his one were the days of comradery at Xyrus Academy between members of the Disciplinary Cohts even in thatAnd yet there was no escaping it Our country—our entire continent—was too fragile not to consider every option as we atteraces us with his presence,” Windsom said, his hands clasped behind his back “hello, boy Where is ain”

Arthur and Windsom matched unfriendly looks, a contest I couldn’t help but expect the asura to win And yet, Arthur did not see a deity No, he was not lesser in this contest of wills There was so distinctly predatory in his eyes that made me instinctively take a step back

“Sylvie is fine Safe, which in this case means far away froe of the dragons,” Arthur said, his voice absent of any obvious disrespect while still ine my surprise to learn that wasn’t you, old friend?”