"You are nothing but a filthy beast," Nyxis growled at June as the half-blood shoved him into a cell. The reason why June had a cell in his room was something Nyxis didn't even want to know.
"Why are you doing this?" Nyxis searched his friend's face to get any indication that this wasn't happening. June's expression was a blank mask. The cheerful person that once rode with Nyxis's humor was nowhere to be found. More like, it's as if it had never existed all along. "Xanthy does not deserve this."
June stared at Nyxis but didn't speak. He only moved to clasp chains around Nyxis's wrists. "Answer me!" Nyxis screamed. "Why are you doing this?"
The sound of chains snapping shut echoed in the still air around them "This castle is rigged with protection against magic usage that even stops the Virtakios," June said as he moved to clamp cuffs around Canelis's wrists. The pixie growled but didn't fight. "They will only remove that prohibition to give way to the extraction as per the Heiress's orders."
"Just die," Canelis rasped, tugging at her chains. "I do not have time for this. My people need me."
June regarded Canelis. "Then your people will have to learn to live without their Crown General," June retrieved Canelis's sword resting against a wall. "And their heir."
"You vile, insolent, piece of sh—" Canelis rattled off a colorful string of insults that made Nyxis's errant heart proud. June didn't blink. He hefted the pixie's sword. "This will make a fine decoration in the torture rooms," he muttered to himself. Nyxis squirmed against his chains as the half-blood turned to the door without looking back. In a few seconds and after the door clicked shut, there was no trace of June left.
As it should have been from the start.
Nyxis rested his head against the wall of the cell. How come it ended up like this? He was supposed to meet Xanthy in Dwanzeig to do who knows what. He would have forewent searching for Cardina's throne for a while to help Xanthy. Then, he got the note that Xanthy was going to Peltra and that wasn't needed anymore.
He pretended the dismissal didn't hurt. Sure, who was he to Xanthy, anyway? He had a throne to find. Then, right as he was having fun in Helinfirth, Reeca had to burst his bubble to say that she didn't trust June and that Xanthy might be in danger with this Death Knight running around and requesting her presence.
Oh, how the past came biting Nyxis back in the rear. Not only was Reeca right in Xanthy being in danger, she was also right in not trusting June. June was the damned Death Knight, for Rudik's sake.
Rage curled at the base of Nyxis's stomach. How perfectly had the half-blood wormed his way towards Xanthy's life, keeping her close just so he could betray her in the end. For what? So he could do his mission? So he could get to haggle with the High Queen to grant him a wish.
How selfish. Nyxis cursed. How had he not seen this sooner? He could have warned Xanthy and saved them a ton of hassle of being stuck in prison cells later. To think that Nyxis let June say what he did to Xanthy and have what those two now shared.
Ravalee was kind enough to let Nyxis in the loop with what's happening with Xanthy and June. Nyxis had spent the past few weeks telling himself that this was reality and that he's not dreaming. Not anymore.
Well, with Xanthy being Xanthy, she would find every reason to forgive June. Nyxis's heart wrenched. As much as he wanted Xanthy to be herself, this simply was one of the chances that counted as unforgivable. Nyxis mussed his hair making his chains clink against each other in the process. This was one big mess and he didn't like it.
Also, what's up with shard fairies stalking him? He had to take a detour towards Gulstead before losing them there. Then, he arrived in Edgerift only to arrive in the middle of Unities attacking Xanthy and this new fairy he had never met before. Has Xanthy made a new friend?
Nyxis glanced at the pixie chained next to him. Was her name Canelis? June did let that slip. His fingers brushed the part in his chest where the handle of his satchel was once slung against. Should anything happen to that satchel, Nyxis would have to break a neck or two. "Hey," Nyxis blinked at the pixie's dust-flecked white robe and up at the perpetual frown etched on her face. "June called you a Crown General and an heir," Nyxis started, keeping it casual. That's usually the first step in making friends with the ladies—make them talk about themselves. "What is with that?"
The pixie clicked her tongue and glared at the cell's ceiling. "Great, now I have to speak in Ylanenla," she hissed. "How worse could this day get?"
Nyxis raised both his eyebrows. Okay, not the response he's expecting. He shrugged. "We could die at the gallows," he shrugged. "These fellows are not exactly kidding."
Canelis scoffed. "Answering your question," she nodded. "Yes, I am the daughter of Peltra's Riogener and Renagener. That makes me the heir and the Crown General."
Nyxis whistled. Here goes step number two—make them talk about their hometown. "How is it like living in the most powerful territory?" he tilted his head at Canelis.
"Haunting, especially after it fell before my eyes," Canelis averted her eyes towards her fists clenching and unclenching at her lap. "Peltra is supposed to be indestructible. We have trained everyday of our lives for any kind of attack. When it came, it is unjust to see how quickly we fell, how unprepared we really are."
Right. Things were taking the wrong turn here. Nyxis pursed his lips. "No one could really prepare for what happened to you." Empathy, check.
"That is the thing," Canelis faced him, her narrow, dark eyes filled with rage to match Nyxis's feeling towards June and this situation they're in. "We should have survived. We should have defeated her. We are supposed to be different from all you unwalled creatures."
Nyxis knitted his eyebrows. "Unwalled creatures?"
"You know what I mean," Canelis rolled her eyes.
"Okay," Nyxis shook his head. Things have definitely taken an untraveled road. Usually, the girls he talked to were vibrant and happy. He had zero to no knowledge on how to go along with these types of conversations spanning tragedy and loss. Instead, he cleared his throat. "How are you holding up, so far?"
"I am taking it in, piece by piece," Canelis nodded. "The audience with the High Queen is not ideal in this present circumstance. The Imperial Highness did not even take the time to hear what I have to say and accused me of trespassing with a human."
Nyxis held his hands up, rattling the chains. "Hey, if I could be anywhere apart from this place, I would, too."
Canelis's frown deepened. "How about that brownie?" she jerked her chin at the empty air. "What is your relationship?"
"Uh..." Why was he the one being examined now? Nyxis winced. How the tables have turned.
"Are you her lover?" Canelis prodded.
Blood rushed to Nyxis's face. "No! Of course, not!" he shook his head faster than he normally did. Why was he talking fast? "She would never see me that way. Friends. We are friends. Sometimes, I treat her like my little sister. That is all."
Canelis smirked. "You like her, do you not?" she turned away from Nyxis and picked at the hem of her skirts. "You are just making yourself feel better by claiming she is just a friend of yours. Why? Is it because of the half-blood?"
Nyxis's eye twitched. Gods, it's spot-on. He narrowed his eyes at the pixie. "Are you always this perceptive?"
"I am a soldier," Canelis said as if it explained everything. "I observe well."
"Okay," Nyxis shook his head. Change the topic, like, right now. "You mentioned being an heir."
"I am the holder of the Lifecatcher. It is the sword the half-blood confiscated," Canelis crossed her arms. "I do not understand why it has earned the interest that it did."
Lifecatcher. Thrones seemed to have those fancy names. Nyxis scratched his chin. "Looks like the Heiress got double points this time."
"You keep mentioning that name," Canelis propped her arms on her thigh as she turned to him. Her chains clinked as well. "Xanthy didn't relay to me enough details apart from the need of the thrones and the Virtakios."
Nyxis sighed. He, too, didn't know much about Cardovia. "One thing I could tell you, though, was that the organization she leads, Cardovia, is not something to be underestimated," he propped his hands behind his head as the memory of the battle in Cardina played in his mind. "What the Heiress wants, she gets. That is all I could tell you."
Canelis leaned against the cell's metal rails that shone a faint purple. "She cannot have my throne."
Nyxis raised an eyebrow, watching the pixie from his periphery. "Why not?"
"The Lifecatcher is not something that would depart me even if I willed it. Believe me when I say I tried. It is like a curse on my veins. It will always find its way back to its owner, especially when I swore upon it and my father passed it on to me."
Nyxis rubbed his lips together. "What does the Lifecatcher even do?" The real question should then be whether it was right to use thrones for their power.
"It can cut through anything and it never dulls. It even sharpens its wielder's physical abilities," Canelis's face darkened. "It never misses but it stores inside it every soul it kills. That is the price for using the Lifecatcher."
"Do you plan to use it to kill anyone?" Nyxis's heart pounded in his ears. His heartbeat relaxed when Canelis shook her head. "No. Never," the pixie whispered.
Nyxis flicked his gaze to the chains around his wrists. "It can cut through anything, huh?" he mulled. He turned to Canelis. "How long until your sword comes back?"
"I am unsure myself," The pixie hefted her chains, seeming to get the same idea. She sighed. "Sometimes it takes minutes. Other times, days."
Nyxis slumped back into the wall. "I guess we will have to remain here until then."
Canelis struck the cuffs in her wrist, her lips moving as if chanting a spell. Nyxis reached over and laid a hand on her wrists. "It would not work, even if you use magic," he raised his chains to prove a point. "These are lesium cuffs. It blocks magic and weakens you."
True enough, he could feel his limbs getting heavy and his eyes drooping. His temples started to throb. Sweat slowly beaded on his forehead and drenched his arms. Canelis's skin paled notches lighter but she uncurled her fists. "So we wait?" the pixie's tone was no more than a whisper.
"That is the best thing we could do," Nyxis pressed his lips in a thin line. "For now."