Ultima Ratio

Chapter 48: Chateaus and Chalices

In the quiet, rural town of Belleterre, the Aegis Squad sat around a quaint inn room in a new level of awkward silence. Danya was the least affected, lounging on the dresser beside Akira as she examined a complimentary packet of trail mix. Quyen was next, standing in a far corner with her arms crossed as she monitored the elephant in the room. Then there was Jivan, hanging over the backrest of the desk chair as they stared at Navin with elongated disbelief.

In the middle was Elodie and Navin sitting side by side at the foot of the queen-sized bed. Elodie sat straight and her ankles neatly crossed while Navin slouched with his head hung; between them, Elodie's slender white knuckles were a stark contrast against Navin's dark, sturdy fingers.

Akira had to do something, but she had no idea what. She wasn't taught how to handle such a situation, where one of her subordinates suddenly admits to being royalty of an enemy nation. Right in the middle of an ambush, no less.

"So," Akira began, then paused when the rest of her sentence failed to appear out of thin air. "You're an actual princess?"

"As opposed to a fake one, or one in terms of character?" Danya asked as she picked through the pouch of snacks.

"Yes," Elodie replied, her posture somehow straightening even more. "I am an actual princess who is in line to an actual throne."

"And..." Akira furrowed her brows; she never understood how royal monarchs worked. "You've always been?"

Danya let out a restrained snort of laughter before returning Akira's glare with an apologetic look.

"Yes," Elodie said, clearly not finding the question as amusing as Danya did. "Even now, I don't believe they've removed me from the line of succession, not when they haven't officially declared me deceased."

"She definitely sounds like a princess," Danya said, popping a handful of peanuts into her mouth.

"And this whole time, you didn't tell anybody?" Akira asked.

Elodie glanced at Navin, who in turn kept his gaze on their clasped hands. "Well...Navin knew."

"Okay, that's not surprising. But no one else?"

This time, Elodie looked at Danya; everyone else, aside from Navin, followed.

Danya innocently returned everyone's stares as she finished chewing her snack. "What're you looking at me for? I knew just as much as you all did, which is apparently nothing at all. It's not like I can smell the royalty on her." She made a point to sniff the air, then cringed immediately after. "Okay, maybe I can."

"But you called her 'swan princess,'" Quyen said, speaking for the first time in ages.

"Yeah, because that's what she acts like: stuck up and pretentious."

Elodie's elegant demeanor faltered in favor of an indignant frown. "Excuse you, I am not stuck up and pretentious." She grimaced. "Not usually."

"So no one else knew," Akira said.

Elodie sighed, and her shoulders sagged ever so slightly. "It's not like I could really advertise it. If the UN found out a member of an enemy royal family was in their military, do you think they'd let me stay? I had to keep quiet. I may be fighting for my country, but not in the way people would think."

"And what way is that exactly?" Quyen asked, her voice carrying an unspoken warning.

"My family is being manipulated," Elodie said. "I'm certain of it. And if I can help stop Concordia, I can help free them. And maybe...maybe me fighting for the UN will give them, and my entire country, leniency when this is all over."