The Lady of the Golden Bloom, Part 2

AN UNLIKELY COLLECTION of people waited inside the Alessias’ private villa, nestled within the northern quarter of the Imperial City. It included a village girl, a dwarf, a wolf, a dragonkin demigod… and a goat, bleating away at the moon in the garden outside.

The tension was thick in the air, as the group waited for the last two of their members to return from the infirmary. They’d been gone for a while.

“Are they doing alright? The Madame didn’t take that long with me,” said Milla, getting worried something might’ve happened to them.

“They should be,” replied Vahram, leaning against the wall. “Gizelle would call me if she needed anything.”

He looked like the embodiment of composure, but truth be told, he was just as nervous as the rest.

“Guess the short one’s a different beast, huh?” said Gromni, sipping on a cup of wine.

“Of course she is. Even among angels, she’s at the highest of orders,” replied Alaiel.

“It hardly shows,” the dwarf shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, I like her antics. But she doesn’t scream ‘I’m a mean angel’ to me.”

Now that they had time to think more calmly, Gromni was having his doubts.

Galardos and the wolf had identified her as a Seraph on the spot, but it was a quick assessment from their part. Maybe things weren’t so bad after all, and Angeline was a more mundane kind of creature.

She’d better be, the dwarf hoped.

“Well, we’re about to find out,” said Vahram, hearing footsteps from the hallway.

He pulled the door open, and Gizelle entered with the so-called angel in tow.

“We’re back!! Fufufu, she gave me candy~” said Angeline, all smiles and sunshine.

“So… how’d it go?” asked the demigod, eyeing his more veteran brethren.

“I’m afraid Galardos was right. She is, without a doubt, a Seraph,” Gizelle concluded.

“Milla, do you want some?” said the angel, not caring an iota about the heavy mood.

Vahram’s expression hardened, as the plethora of consequences for these events raced through his head.

“What about the implant? Could you confirm its origins?” he pressed on.

“He was right about that too. We found similar technology in Naivdar’s laboratory, so I’m confident it was made by him.”

The younger demigod closed his eyes, hoping Gizelle had a silver lining for them. Otherwise, they could soon go to war with the Zarian Order over the two girls eating sweets next to them.

“I’m glad we came to ye, then,” said the dwarf, putting his cup of wine down on the table. “Ye surely can fix them up, I hope.”

Gizelle smiled at him awkwardly.

“I’ll have to see about Milla. The implant is unlike anything I’ve worked with before, so it will take me some time to figure out how to extract it. For Angeline, though, the process is more straightforward.”

Finally, some good news.

“That’s excellent,” said Vahram. “The good health of Lady Angeline is our most pressing concern. We can buy plenty of time for Lady Milla, but when it comes to a missing Seraph, the angels won’t give us such luxury.”

“Now, don’t count our blessings so soon,” Gizelle clarified. “I said healing her is straightforward, but I didn’t mean it was easy. I can’t do it myself, but if I commune with the Goddess, then—”

“LORD VAHRAM ALESSIA!” the voice of a young woman crashed the meeting from the distance, seething with fury. “I DEMAND ANSWERS. AT ONCE!”

“Oh shit…” the demigod in question grew pale.

“Who’s that?” asked Milla, her cheeks puffed with soft candy.

“At this time… I fear she’s our worst nightmare,” came the wolf’s weary reply.

----------------------------------------

THE TWO DEMIGODS stared at one another, standing firm under the moonlight.

On one side stood Vahram, the new heir of House Alessia.

And on the other was Olivia, the 2nd Imperial Princess and Galardos’ former pupil.

At a glance, it was clear the two wouldn’t engage in a mere conversation, but in an outright battle of wills.

“Lord Vahram. I take it you know why I’m here.”

“I apologize, your Highness, but I wouldn’t know.”

“Oh, really? Nothing comes to your mind?”

“If it’s something worthy of the Crown’s attention, then no.”

The Princess glared at the man, but kept her cool. It was clear he wanted to agitate her, make her irrational. But thanks to the lessons in interrogation from Isabella, Olivia knew better than to take the bait.

“Is that so? That’s most appalling, Lord Vahram. I didn’t take you for someone who’d attempt murder on the streets and then deny it to my face.”

“I’ve done nothing of the sort, Princess. All I did was to chastise my brother, which is a family matter as you’d understand.”

“So that’s what you call it? You shattered his magical core, left him out for dead… and you dare to say it’s just chastisement?”

“His crimes are deep and numerous. As the heir of our family, it’s my duty to punish him for what he’s done.”

“And what is it that you accuse him of, exactly?” the Princess struggled to stay from screaming at him.

“That’s for the Empress to know,” Vahram replied, fully aware of Henrietta’s animosity against his brother. If the Princess even dared to utter his name to her, chances were she’d be chased out of the room on the spot.

However…

“No, Lord Vahram. You weren’t there. I’m the reason why he was exiled, why my mother did those dreadful things to him… and I’m the one who will save him from that! So I’ll have you answer me, here and now. Why did you try to kill him!?”

The Princess was resolute.

No force in the world could possibly dissuade her, and her sheer determination had put Vahram in a bind.

Galardos had asked him for strict operational security, and bringing Olivia into the mix could have unpredictable consequences. What if she slipped and told Isabella? Or what if she was charmed and interrogated?

The young Princess added too many variables, which Vahram was unwilling to risk. Olivia, however, had no intention to back down… and by the looks of it, she was willing to fight if push came to shove.

Knowing this, how in the world could he push her away?

“Just give up, Vahram,” said a female voice from behind him. “When it comes to Galardos, there’s no stopping her. We’d better tell her the truth and keep her close.”

The young demigod sighed in defeat, and Princess Olivia was taken aback.

“Grandmother?”

Of all the people she could’ve seen there, Gizelle was the most unexpected. Last she’d heard about her, she was tending to her mentor’s wounds and wasn’t taking visitors.

“Good evening, love. I figured you’d come here,” she said with a soft smile.

“What’s going on?” asked Olivia, her eyes jumping between the two of them.

“We’re having a meeting. Come along, we’ll brief you,” replied Gizelle, playfully ruffling her hair as Vahram stood in resignation.

“Don’t say I didn’t try to turn her away,” said the demigod. Whatever consequences this would have, they’d be on the Imperial family.

“It’s alright. She’s trustworthy,” Gizelle assured. Then she shot a look at an empty space behind the Princess before adding, “Oh, and Gray? Be a dear and help Vahram’s men secure the perimeter. It’s serious.”

“At your command,” replied the voice of the old knight, and a translucent silhouette quietly walked away from them.

Princess Olivia gulped, realizing that in her haste to defend Galardos, she got herself entangled with some larger plot she had no idea about.

But on the other hand, Dominic Gray quietly smiled to himself. His liege, it seemed, had just taken her first steps into actual Imperial politics.