2410 Tull 31, Kindreth

Anahel wrinkled her nose, grimacing at the sheer heat in Cardina. It was enough to melt her. She didn't go down from Helinfirth just to endure this.

"You look like you're suffering," Geradine said from beside her. Anahel glanced at her friend, at the blond locks flowing down her back and the sharp blue eyes surveying the scene unfolding before them. "Let's just get this over with."

Anahel pursed her lips. "Aren't you the one who should be having a hard time? Being an ice sprite and all?"

Her friend frowned. "Do you go and spew that everywhere you go?"

Anahel smirked at Geradine's annoyed expression. "Why? Does that matter?"

Geradine clicked her tongue and turned back to the courtyard where the Human king was talking to the Civil Knight nearest the gate to the dungeons. Anahel blew a breath, wiping sweat off her brow and using her magic to hide any traces of it ruining her updo and her cosmetics. Geradine could show a little bit more gratitude instead of snapping at her like this. After all, the ice sprite had come calling from her shoddy house in Cardina, begging for a chance to meet with Anahel.

So, she obliged. A few days ago, she wouldn't have counted on her friend being a member of the ice sprites all along. "Hadn't they gone extinct duringt he Human-Fairy War?" She remembered asking. Geradine had rolled her eyes and said, "Really? What do you call me, then?"

Anahel was sure she had answered something insulting. She forgot it when she saw Geradine produce ice magic from her system. Her eyes, given how many glamours she had to see through in a day, told her that was real.

Geradine was an ice sprite.

Anahel had laughed to herself as sooon as she got home. Of course. Her senses had told her Geradine had something to hide even back when they met in the Academy. She didn't think it was this big, though.

Then, Geradine had asked for Anahel's help for a secret mission. She rarely asked her friends for favors so Anahel was curious about what it could be. That's probably the only reason she agreed. Now, she's melting underneath the sun while perched on the Palace's lengthy walls. Geradine had insisted it was something only Anahel could do and looking at the situation, it was true.

"I need you to fake my death," Geradine had said, causing Anahel to spit out the cousa she had been drinking. Anahel remembered talking to the ice sprite in detail on how she wanted it to happen.

"So, do you want your husband to see it?" Anahel had said. To her horror, Geradine replied, "No."

"Why can't you just leave them and return to the Ice Capital?" Anahel, back in the present, asked.

Geradine pursed her lips. She didn't appear to be sweating despite the heat. She must have been here for a long time for her to get used to the weather. "I prefer to leave no loose ends to tie," she said. "My death will provide Jarvik with enough closure so that he doesn't go looking for me. I can't risk him discovering the Ice Capital. You know how he is with information when he really wants to know something."

Anahel chuckled. Together with Eldan and Marthiaq, their combination proved deadly in terms of gathering intel. Even Anahel, with all the power and resources she had as the Queen of Helinfirth, couldn't catch up to them. She tucked strands of pale blond hair behind her ear. This stupid breeze kept blowing them into her face.

"Why not just tell him?" Anahel said. "He already knows you're a fairy and loved you anyway."

Geradine's eyes hardened. "The Grand Marshal will not have it," she said. "No one must know about our existence."

"And yet you entrust your protection to the Brownies," Anahel countered. "And me. Are you secretly planning to have me killed?"

Geradine grinned. It wasn't anywhere near playful or kidding. "If I have such a plan, I would have executed it a long time ago," she said. "You wouldn't even have known it until it's in your face."

Anahel hummed. "I happen to hear a rumor," she started. Geradine didn't turn to her. It's a sign for her to continue. "Erin, the Queen of this Palace, apparently fancied Jarvik back in the Academy."

Geradine scoffed. "I trust you to hear the latest gossip about people's personal lives, yeah? What happened in the Academy should stay in there," she said. Then, switching into a quieter tone, she added, "It's a long time ago."

Anahel watched the King instruct a Civil Knight to go back to the Palace and retrieve something. A lost trinket, maybe? Geradine hadn't even told her what's supposed to happen in this courtyard. As far as Anahel's knowledge about the humans, it's that they had been eager to follow behind Lanteglos's footsteps and legalized persecution of half-bloods. They even went as far as barring the entry of fairies in the territory.

"It was perfect timing, don't you think?" Geradine said after a long while, making Anahel look away from the ground. She was about to say something in reply when Geradine cursed. "He brought a child. What was this witch thinking?"

To her horror, a boy no younger than five sauntered into the courtyard and approached the King. Who was that? Anahel bit her lip. Was that child supposed to be out here?

Geradine nudged Anahel with an elbow as the boy and the King exchanged a few words. "On my mark, cast your illusion," she said. "It has to be today. We can't delay it further."

Anahel swallowed the growing lump in her throat. Yeah. She has things to go back to in Abshire as well. This couldn't wait. That poor boy would just have to endure what the King was about to do.

"Bring forth the prisoners!" the King's voice echoed throughtout the expanse, loud and sure. It was an annoying sound.

Anahel called her magic and turned her attention to the scruffy crowd shuffling from the western gate. Her fingers flexed and hooked in the air, her senses working harder to maintain an illusion. The air shimmered so faintly one wouldn't even notice it as a passing sight. Slowly, an exact copy of Geradine formed into the line of prisoners being forced to kneel. The Civil Knight in charge of her didn't even know what's going to hit him.

The boy was made to walk in between the array of prisoners. Even from her place in the walls, Anahel could see his hands shaking. He walked with a tentative gait, almost like how Cirasa did when he was nervous about something. She's sorry for what she's about to do but they've got to sell the illusion. So, with her magic flaring hotter in her skin, she sent Geradine's copy to grab the boy's ankle.

"Please let me go!" Anahel chanted, making sure the illusion was repeating it in synchrony. She did her best to match Geradine's voice. "I have children at home. I have to get back to them."

Geradine watched the entire exchange with passive eyes. Together, they observed the boy try to shake the illusion's grip and failed. The King turned to his soldiers and shouted, "Proceed with the execution!"

Blades flashed silver against the sunlight. Anahel fiddled with her spell once again, having the sword slash straight into the illusion's neck. Blood splashed in the courtyard, some of it real, some weren't. Anahel attached her magic into the puddles forming and made it envelop her illusion's severed body. All in a day's work.

The boy had paled so badly his skin matched the stone floor. Then, he ran, carrying a sliver of Anahel's illusory blood with him. It wasn't fun, terrorizing the kid. He had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. It might not even be his fault. The King of Cardina was a madman Anahel almost felt sorry for Erin. Why did she even marry into this dynasty? They're clearly deranged.

"Well, that's that," Geradine dusted her beige skirts she got from staying in the Commons for a long time. She didn't even appear mildly concerned about a child seeing bloodshed. Could she feel guilt...at all?

"I trust you could scrub this place free from any trail that would lead to you and me?" Geradine said to which Anahel nodded to. It was a cheap trick, trail erasure.

"Swear on Daexis's name you will never mention this incident to anyone," Geradine continued, summoning her wings. "You don't want to get yourself killed."

Anahel smiled. "I swear on Daexis's name," she said. "I won't tell anyone of this moment. You can go."

Geradine was about to when Anahel added, "About me being killed," she said, making the ice sprite pause and look back at her. "I'll know when my time is due."

The ice sprite nodded. "On second thought," she said just as Anahel was beginning to summon her own set of wings. "Have you gotten any hint that I wasn't a water sprite like I said?"

Anahel pressed a finger to her lips and winked at her friend. "I know a glamour when I see one," she said. "Well, that's our cue to leave. I wish you luck on your journey from here on out. Don't forget us. Avraja."

Geradine's face didn't betray her thoughts. "Avraja," she answered before launching herself into the sky. Anahel waited for a few minutes, at least until her friend's form was a mere dot in the sky, before flapping her wings and doing the same. This time, she went the opposite direction—back home.

Both of them failed to notice a dark shadow flitting through the Palace's lower levels, having witnessed the entire execution with its eyes, hearing the screams with its ears. The shadow knew something was wrong with the wind but couldn't quite pinpoint it. Whoever was responsible for that, they were good. Really good.

So, the shadow flitted back to the darkness, going back to an empty and quiet house where his two children waited for their mother.

It belonged to no other than Jarvik Draswist.