Light was still fading every day as the darkness across The Black Deep grew. She slid from the bed and stretched, pushing down on how eager she felt to get to breakfast.
Reeve wasn’t there when she arrived in the small hall where they met for meals. She rounded the corner and stopped at the sight of the empty table. No tableware, no drinks or food. Maeve crossed the hall, her footsteps echoing off the crystal walls.
“Hello?” she called out hesitantly.
When no reply came, she ventured farther into the palace, walking in silence.
“Does no one live here?” she muttered, realizing that besides her chambers, the hall where Maxius lay, and eating her meals with Reeve, she hadn’t explored the palace at all. It was the size of a small city itself.
“Many once roamed these halls and called them home.”
Her shoulders jumped as she turned back quickly.
Eryx stood with his arms folded across his chest. He was dressed casually, and his long blonde hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail behind his pointed ears.
“Why’s it so empty now?” she asked.
Eryx’s eyes narrowed.
“This was once the home of the Senshi.”
Maeve’s throat tightened.
“And now that they are no longer here, there is no longer a large staff of cooks, cleaners, maintenance, and so on. Not only did you successfully manage to run Aterna dry of its army, you also unemployed hundreds.”
Maeve sighed, remembering the last time she and Eryx fought. Now, in a rematch, she’d be at quite the disadvantage.
“Reeve wouldn’t let hundreds go without their pay,” she argued back.
Eryx shook his head, but didn’t deny she was right. “I’m just waiting for the moment this act of yours falters.”
She hated that those words burned. She hated even more that they were warranted. “Thinking so lowly of me?”
“It comes easy with a record like yours.”
Another justified blow.
If her Magic had once been fresh air in her lungs, she was choking. Anger, resentment, grief, and so many other things she didn’t want to name rolled through her with nowhere to go. No way to expel them.
“Where’s Reeve?” she asked, keeping her voice calm.
A new voice answered. “In his quarters.”
Maeve and Eryx looked to the side. Melione, or Mely as Reeve introduced her, stood leaning against a large arch.
“You’re late,” snapped Eryx.
And Maeve could see why. Mely’s skin was flushed with a sickly green color. The skin beneath her eyes was dark. She stood clutching herself as though she might topple over any moment.
She smiled, as best she could, at Maeve. “I’m alright,” she said. “I have an. . .affliction that makes times of war quite difficult when it's nearly on our doorstep.”
Maeve nodded. She remembered her.
“You can sense death,” said Maeve, more of a statement than anything else.
Eryx snorted. “If by sense it, you mean vomit and whine,” he remarked, and then walked past Mely.
Mely took a steadying breath and prepared to follow him.
