AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It is not,” Noctus said. “Because you cannot possibly be right. Charon?”
“Of course not, Your Majesty.” Charon bowed deeply to Noctus, and then in the same breath pivoted to face me. “Shall we leave for the tour now, Chloe?”
“Oh, we can wait for Noctus,” I said.
“If you wish,” Charon said. “I will wait for you at the main entrance to the town.”
“Thanks, Charon,” I said.
“Of course. Excuse me.” Charon bowed at large to the group, then slipped out of the doors, leaving a stunned audience behind him.
“Oh, this is positively delightful!” Aristide laughed. “Life is going to be so much more interesting from now on!” He slapped Noctus across the shoulders, then continued on his way toward us, still snickering as he tapped his cane on the smooth ground.
“I don’t think—Aristide’s obviously wrong,” I said as Noctus approached me.
Noctus chuckled, his expression bemused. “No, I’ve seen the signs for a while that Charon was starting to take an interest in you—your wardrobe marked the beginning. And Aristide is correct. Perhaps I have grown too comfortable in my assurance of my position. If I had asked my people earlier about coming forward, I could have saved us both a considerable amount of misery.”
I glanced at the door Charon had shut behind himself. “I’m pretty sure he’s also playing it up—for the fun of it.”
“He does have a very twisted sense of humor,” Noctus said. “But he also doesn’t look well at tardiness, so I’d better get cleaned up, or he’ll come whisk you off without me out of spite.”
White magic formed around Noctus’s hand as he returned the saber he’d been using to his heirloom arsenal. His armor faded, leaving him the black boots, pants, and shirt he usually wore for training.
He kissed my temple, then headed for the door, which Aristide was already prying open.
Ker, instead of following them, closed in on me, sweeping me up in a tight bear hug that made my bones creak. “I’m so glad we met you, Chloe.”
“Thank you?” I said, my lungs starting to burn from the compression. “I’m just very thankful that you all have welcomed me.”
“Of course,” Ker said. “You’re important to Noctus. We’d love you no matter what, for his sake, and with your powers you perfectly round us out as a group. But it’s more than Noctus and your abilities.” She finally released me, stepping back so she could look down into my eyes.
“You value us. You listen to us. And you don’t see us as a threat—you don’t see ourfriendshipas a threat. Instead, you work to understand it.”
“Well…my closest friend in Magiford is a trash griffin,” I said. “But I have Pat and Joy. So I understand both loneliness, and the kind of love that’s so special it’s like magic.”
Ker’s smile shrunk from her big, wide grin, to something smaller but truer. “Yes,” she said. “It’sjustlike magic.”
* * *
“I’m textingyou an interactive map of the next city level,” Charon announced as we turned off from the huge white staircase that started at the top of the city, at Noctus’s villa, and marched down the entire mountain side.
I swiped my phone screen open just as my phone chirped. “Got it,” I said. “…why are the aqueducts marked as usable paths?”
“Because the Mors elves are a paranoid bunch who like to have contingency plans for all possible pathways and places of combat,” Aristide said.
“At least once a year he makes us practice fighting while standing in them,” Ker said. “It is not as fun as you would assume it is, and then we have to clean the aqueducts to keep the water purified.”
“The first structure on the left is the overhang for food carts,” Charon continued, ignoring the dubious background to his rules. “Food carts are allowed to begin service at dawn, and must close by the midnight hour. The apartment over the structure belongs to Maven and Cedaric, the representatives of this tier. They have two children and four grandchildren. Maven is an embroiderer, while Cedaric serves in the guards and was once a member of the Mors army.”
I looked up from the map displayed on my phone. “Charon, I’m sorry but I’m never going to remember everyone’s names.”
“I will create flashcards for you, to aid you in your memorization of the city representatives,” Charon thoughtfully said.
“Is there going to be a quiz on this?” I joked.
Charon took just a touch too long to look at me. “Of course not,” he said with absolute insincerity.
There’s absolutely going to be a quiz on this.
