Wind rinsed over the stone village of Chiori Faire's capitol as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Violet light wrapped around the taller statues, while darkness fell through the streets.

Sorein leaned against the tower's highest point where he overlooked them, vision focused on a faint sliver of the Yinea sea. His gaze hardened as the night grew.

"Sorein," a deep voice called from the garden path. "You won't find anything up there."

He cast his gaze down to Jeremy, who only just managed to pull on his Azurian uniforms yesterday. His Captain was still limping when he walked, attempting to mask the pain on his face from what the Taqrias had done to him.

His brown eyes scanned over Sorein with a critical, dissecting haze. "Come down."

Sorein's brow raised in response.

"You'll need to come down eventually."

He exhaled through his nose, feeling the chill of darkness creeping into the space between him and the city. With one last glance at the distant ocean, he allowed himself to skid down the peaked roofing until he could jump down.

"Have you seen Destry since the trial?" he asked, ignoring the concern in his friend's glare.

"No," Jeremy replied. "Just like Ezre, she'd been meeting with emissaries and officials alone."

Sorein nodded, mentally reminding himself to investigate her involvement in the trial.

She'd been nursing a guilty expression since Iliya disappeared from the estate and he couldn't shake the idea that she had something to do with it.

"Don't do anything stupid," Jeremy reminded him as they stalked into the main foyer.

He didn't have the energy.

His plan was simply to listen to Ezre's nonsense long enough to take his leave and investigate the real locations Iliya might've been. He only had to play along for a couple weeks before the king caved.

"I'm not Noah," he said, smirking.

"I take offense to that," his former Diplomat chimed, casually leaning against one of the many columns in the dining hall.

Sorein hated himself for tensing at Noah's presence. The tension between them felt like a wildfire he couldn't tame–especially not when his friend's behavior seemed off.

"Look who decided to show up," Jeremy said, chuckling. "The get-up suits you."

Noah rolled his eyes, raking a hand through his hair. "You're finally out of bed, I see. Where's all that Fae healing when you need it?"

The banter tasted sour on his lips, as if the relationship between the three of them had gone stale.

Sorein's teeth locked together.

The sound of boots hitting the stone beneath them sent him turning to face the west corridor, much of which was foreign to him save for the Celestial Tower.

When Rhydian entered the hall, fully equipped with enough blades and armor for war, his blood froze.

Iliya's cousin eyed the group warily before passing through and pointing toward the Grand Archive. He didn't speak as he disappeared down the winding staircase.

"Guess that's our cue," Noah muttered, shoving off and walking after him.

Sorein observed his comfortable demeanor, relaxing into the black militia gear of a RIM agent. The way Noah stuffed his hands into the deep pockets of his long, black trench coat. The sword strapped to his hip.

His eyes narrowed.

Jeremy, clearly oblivious to Sorein's suspicions, followed suit.

As they entered the Grand Archive, Ezre sat at a table with a stack of files organized in front of him. The king was pensively double checking each tab to make sure he'd accounted for them.

His golden gaze lingered on Rhydian longer than anyone.

"Change of heart?" Ezre asked him.

Rhydian's stare–still stone cold–heated with an anger Sorein thought was only directed at him.

"I came to ask if you knew," he replied instead.

The king's brows furrowed.

Sorein's hands clenched at his side, holding back.

Rhydian turned to face the room, crossing his arms. "You're searching for Iliya, right? That's why her friends are here?"

Ezre nodded, expression turning uneasy.

"I found it rather odd that the last thing Iliya said to me, begged really, was to not let Destry do this," Rhydian explained. Despite his external calm, rage continued to build in his eyes. "I was too busy ripping vials of sedative out of her arm at the time to realize."

His voice was raising.

The muscles in the Captain's jaw flared.

Sorein glanced around the room, watching the ice form in Ezre and Noah's eyes as well.

They hadn't known.

No one had known Destry had said anything to her.

His gut feeling was right.

"After confronting her myself, I thought you 'ought to know Destry dosed Iliya with enough medicine to incapacitate her so she couldn't interfere with Sorein's trial."

Sorein's stomach dropped.

Ezre swore under his breath, while Noah and Jeremy exchanged a look of horror.

Rhydian swallowed a growl in the back of his throat, taking a deep breath. Pacing himself.

"So, I need to ask you, did you know Destry sedated her?"

Ezre shook his head pensively.

The king appeared thoroughly horrified at the thought, but he couldn't be sure it wasn't a cover after everything. Lying to save face is what got them into this mess.

Not to mention, Chiori's Captain wore a glare that could ice an entire village.

"If Iliya's dead, I will never forgive her."

Sorein believed him, he was even inclined to agree with him. Destry had no idea what she caused by betraying Iliya's trust, without mentioning all the lies.

"So, what now?" Noah asked, turning to Ezre. He was clearly trying to diffuse the tension building between them. "What do we do if she's motivated to hide?"

Rhydian's eyes narrowed in on Ezre as he stepped closer and stared into his golden eyes—slowly deconstructing him from king, down to grandfather, then man. He sliced through every layer until the growl resounding through the room disappeared and he leaned back.

"I'm going to look into the High Council, any last sent missives or doctrines that could've been exchanged in the last month, and start a proper investigation. With men. And questioning."

The threat read clear in Rhydian's eyes.

Sorein couldn't read if there was satisfaction or disgust tightening his mouth, but the expression was uncomfortable to witness.

"You're on your own," he finished.

"On our own?" Jeremy asked, stunned.

"This only came about because Ezre trained her the world was her enemy," Rhydian replied. He stalked toward the archway and sighed. "Now I must investigate my own Aunt to understand what else she and anyone else has lied about."

No one could argue with that burden.

Rhydian exited with the same brooding nature he'd entered with, leaving the four of them to stand in his tense wake.

Noah blew out a long breath and laughed incredulously at the ceiling.

"What's so funny?" Sorein asked.

His friend shook his head, the image of pure frustration. "Nothing, just—this."

"Enough," Ezre said, exhaling sharply. "I'll deal with him later."

"Deal with him—as in stop him from digging through Destry's lies?" Noah sniped, scoffing. "Heilos forbid he tell the High Council of her Ionsia."

The room froze.

"What did you just say, Whitecross?"

Noah's brow raised. "What, is Tattone not supposed to know?"

"Forget Jeremy, how do you know?" Sorein snapped.

The king glared a hole through Noah's skull, locking onto his brain, as if he could read it.

If information leaked about Iliya's condition, trouble could be coming for them so much quicker than–

"Other than being the only one allowed to visit Iliya when she was in the infirmary? I might be human, Sorein, but I'm one-hundred and thirty years old, I've seen the runes on her wrist before."

Ezre paled.

"Do you know where she is?" he asked.

Noah shook his head, face unreadable.

Sorein noticed a flash of concern in his brown eyes for only a moment. Potentially guilt or panic, he couldn't be sure. But the man was certainly holding his position on the matter.

"Are you certain?" Jeremy pushed, stepping forward. "Do you know anything about her disappearance?"

"No," Noah maintained, meeting each gaze in the room. "I was in Nynoli when she fled, remember?"

Right.

RIM.

It almost seemed too convenient.

Ezre appeared to agree though he bit his tongue.

"Well, if we're to do this right then you should all know her condition is lethal to both her and anyone who finds themselves in the crossfire," he explained, mostly to Jeremy. "Her Ionsia is an ailment where Iliya is able to absorb the mana in any living thing, possibly even control it. We need to find her quickly so as not to alert the High Council of another case."

"Another?" Jeremy asked.

Sorein had never heard of the condition before, let alone another of her caliber possessing it.

"You're afraid of what they'll do to Iliya if she shows signs of becoming anything like A—"

"Silence!" Ezre yelled.

"Fine. Keep your secrets, old man," Noah growled. "Just tell me what you need done."

"You, report back to Nynoli. I'm sure Attlis will want to follow up with your transition, but any free time you come across can be used to search the streets."

To his credit, his friend only nodded, donning the smart soldier role.

Sorein couldn't be so idle.

Even if he was skeptical and distrusting of how much Noah knew, the former diplomat was indeed older than them. He could've seen those marks before and kept it to himself to save face for Ezre.

"Sorein, once I've confirmed with Elive, we'll need you to begin searching for Iliya in Solraidas," Ezre continued, his eyes flickering to the door and then back. "Hopefully I can catch her before Rhydian does. Jeremy is welcome to accompany you once he's medically cleared to do so."

He nodded mechanically, forcing himself to be grateful he was involved at all.

"I'll find you at sunrise," he concluded, gripping two of the etharis files tightly. "Please be ready."

"Yes, sir," Jeremy replied.

The king stalked out of the room, eager to catch up to Rhydian or perhaps Destry even.

His Captain reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial, downing it in one go. With a casual wave, he too dismissed himself.

"Iliya's too smart to go to Solraidas," Noah muttered.

"You were with her in the infirmary?"

He nodded.

"Did she seem off to you? Did she say anything out of the ordinary?"

Noah's gaze hardened. "Illie was high on serum and in excruciating pain. I'd be hard pressed to see anyone act normal in those circumstances."

"But she didn't tell you her plan–"

"No," Noah snapped. "You'll need to trust me sooner or later if you expect to get anything done."

Sorein sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry."

But he couldn't trust him.

He felt pins and needles nagging at the soft spot above his neck like he was being lied to.

Everyone was lying.

"Let's bring her home," his friend said, offering a tight smile. He grabbed Sorein's shoulder for only a second before letting go. "I'll see you at dawn."

He stood still as the last of their gathering left.

Alone.

The madness swarming the room was a draw from the Aphyre, if not Heilos itself.

Sorein could feel the weakened barrier pulsing behind him, strongly enough that he followed the urge to leave.

He'd seen enough of the Grand Archive for a century.