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Barely holding back a grin, I stepped into the office.
It was as eclectic as Lady Frexin was, with strange mechanical objects lining the floor-to-ceiling shelves, which covered the walls. They were her personal collection of marvels.
It even included a few glass cases containing small relics she was somehow allowed to store away from the vault.
"Thank you for being prompt, Prince Kierstall and Miss Maderoth," she said, looking between us, a wry smile twisting her lips. "Please take a seat. We'll need to wait a moment for our last guest."
"I'm sorry, my lady," I said, slipping into the spindly blue chair across from her. "But while we wait, perhaps you could clarify why Prince Kierstall is here? I don't see why we would need a diplomatic —"
The door behind us clicked open.
"Yes, yes. I will explain once Lord Dimiri gets settled," Lady Frexin said, tapping her long green nails on the stack of files in front of her. "In the meantime, I wanted to reassure you that King Torsten and I have discussed your assault today by Investigator Fordyth."
Assault? I wouldn't necessarily call it that —
"We've come to the agreement," she continued. "That his value to the Empire no longer outweighs this new propensity of his for disobedience."
"What's going to happen to him?" Guilt twisted in my chest.
"That's none of your concern," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Your focus must remain on the relics. They are all that matters."
I tried to push away the budding guilt. This wasn't the time — not when the king had assigned me a mission. Turning, I watched as Lord Dimiri, an older man, made his way through the room.
He wore a fitted navy suit with a modestly tied cravat and a bowler hat to cover his curling gray hair. As he stepped to the desk, he removed the hat and tipped his head toward me in a respectful nod, those deep brown eyes bracketed by well-carved smile lines.
I hadn't worked with him yet, but from what I'd heard, he was a good leader and even somewhat of a father figure to his team.
His gaze moved to Jaiel sitting atop a leather stool beside me, and something seemed to pass between them.
"Lady Frexin, Miss Maderoth, Prince Kierstall — I apologize for keeping you waiting." He dipped his head slightly. "We received some upsetting news from the Fae court that needed an immediate response."
Jaiel stiffened.
Could it be connected to his family?
Lord Dimiri came up beside Jaiel, pressed a hand to his shoulder, then pulled out a chair and carried it to sit by Lady Frexin on the other side of the desk.
Rumors had it that Jaiel's parents, the previous rulers of the Fire Court, had abandoned him to our kings. They'd claimed he suffered from some kind of dangerous curse.
All I'd seen was that strange power back in Gleyma the day we met two years ago. Eli had claimed the monster inside him could eat corruption.
I'd assumed it to be Fae magic, but after two years of secretly learning as much as I could about magic, it was clear the inky, almost living darkness that flowed from him was neither human nor Fae magic.
Perhaps the rumors were true and he was an experiment of some kind …
Either way, it had been the source of his Prince of Shadows title.
The two leaders exchanged nods and turned to us.
Lady Frexin leaned forward over her desk, eyes somber. "As you both know, the primary goal for our Relic Hunting teams is to collect twisted artifacts left by the mages from before The Fall."
We nodded.
"Well, as I hinted at earlier, Kaiya — your recent success in Karemi has indirectly led to the discovery of a powerful relic on the Isle of the Forsaken."
My jaw dropped.
Holy hells. If I was going to the Isle, this mission would truly be a dream come true! Finally!
