COF 1: The Fairy Legacy

23 | Funeral (I)

A sigh escaped her lips. No matter. Just wear the damned dress.

Within minutes, Xanthy was dressed. She yanked the dress's cinch around her waist. She didn't realize that she was thin as a pole nor that she wasn't blessed with an ample chest. What did that matter, anyway?

She folded the smock she discarded, pushed the crate back from where she found it, and crept out of the room. Her feet slapped the floor as she tramped towards the door whose sign read laundry.

A whiff of dark hair caught her attention. She knitted her eyebrows as her fingers closed around the door's knob. Wait, what was Nyxis doing here?

She whirled. There was no one with her. Huh.

"So we didn't find what we came here for," a voice sounding much like Nadia's echoed from beyond the corner. Xanthy slapped her hand to her mouth, barring the small gasp that came through. What was Nadia doing here?

It wasn't Nyxis. It was—

"But we freed Cardina," Diran's voice was laced with apprehension. "Shouldn't that be appealing enough?"

Xanthy tucked the smock underneath her arm and crept closer to the corner. The candles traced silhouettes of at least five people. She spied Nadia's bald head, Diran's shoulder-length hair, and the twin's broad shoulders.

"The Sovereign could care less what happens to Cardina," the fifth figure snapped. Xanthy knitted her eyebrows at the wide planes being traced out of the figure's shadow. Were those...wings?

Who...?

"Are you sure it wasn't anywhere on the Palace?" the winged figure asked.

Nadia's shadow of a head jerked. "No trace," she replied. "It was either stolen, cloaked, and hidden somewhere or the heir knew something about it to have brought it with them."

The winged figure cursed. Her voice wasn't something Xanthy heard before. "We move out in three days," the figure ordered. "Secure the weapons. Bury the dead. We meet at the base."

"And the girl?" one of the twins asked.

"I will deal with the Sovereign about her, Pikard," the winged figure replied. "Let her do things for herself in the meantime."

"And the prince? The half-blood? The varichria?" Viktir's shadow waved its hand. "Don't get me started on the Draswist runts. Each one of them is suspicious."

The winged figure shifted. "But they did help us fight off the Civil Knights, right?" she snapped. "If they are Cardovia's allies, we'll be seeing repercussions now. But so far, the Sovereign is quiet."

"Do you know why?" Naida interjected.

"Who knows?" The figure's wings flapped. The sound of tinkling chimes resounded along the walls. "Well, this is where we part ways. I will clean things up here and see you the soonest. Dearest of luck, comrades. Avraja."

"Avraja," four voice echoed.

Footsteps receded. The winged figure didn't move. Xanthy pressed closer to the wall. A sharp intake of breath sounded from the figure. Before Xanthy's eyes, the shadow morphed from a person with wings to a woman with braided hair.

Xanthy's eyes widened. Vikara.

The shadow jerked its head. Xanthy edged farther east. What would she do if Vikara discovered her eavesdropping? She's doomed.

Heartbeat throbbed in her temples. Whoever the Sovereign was, they seemed keen on something from Cardina. It's not about stopping the purges. The whole lot of them were looking for something. Something that has to do with...heirs.