The name hung suspended in the heavy air long after the last motes of Kazimir's soul dissolved into the wind.
Aefia stood alone in the absolute center of the ruined amphitheater. The sky above smoothed out, the shattered tapestry of chaotic stars and overlapping suns collapsing back into the early twilight of the evening.
The barrier surrounding the stone ring hummed one last time before shattering like fragile glass, letting the bitter, biting autumn breeze flood into the space to wash away the thick heat of the desert-like domain.
Her hand remained outstretched in empty air, her long, needle-sharp claws slowly retracting back into trimmed, polished nails.
The wolf-like ears faded into light, leaving behind only the girl in the stained, blood-soaked pinafore.
She lowered her hand, her fingers trembling slightly as the full weight of her injuries returned in a surging wave.
"Ugh—!"
Aefia gasped, doubling over as the wound at her side burned like liquid fire. Blood welled up rapidly, soaking through her clothes and dripping onto the cracked cobblestones.
She pressed her sleeve hard against her ribs, her breath coming in ragged, shallow hitches.
Silence—deafening and absolute—blanketed the gallery.
The ministers of Mides sat frozen on their raised stone tiers, their eyes wide with unadulterated terror. The Smod vanguards didn't move. The remaining palace knights didn't draw a breath. They stared at the empty space where their King had just turned to ash, and then at the girl standing amidst the rubble, her dark coat fluttering in the cold wind.
Aefia didn't look up at them. She slowly walked over to where the three-stoned dagger lay on the stone—its brilliant flare extinguished, returning to an inert piece of metal. She bent down, her fingers closing around the hilt before slipping it back into her coat pocket.
"The duel... is concluded," a herald stammered from the far platform, his voice cracking violently as he dropped his scroll to the ground. "The Crown Princess... has claimed victory."
Aefia wiped a smear of dark blood from her chin with the back of her hand. She turned her head toward the trembling ministers, her garnet eyes calm and entirely unreadable.
"Mides will be restructured under Smod governance by nightfall," she said, her voice coming with a faint rasp in her throat.
"Assemble the remaining court officials in the grand hall. I expect a full accounting of the royal ledgers... and every key to the lower chambers."
None of them dared to utter a word. They simply bowed their heads in unified, desperate submission.
But before they would move, she fell to her knees. She gritted her teeth, bending down until her forehead touched the hard stone ground.
The guards tried to step forward. But she stopped them. She got on her own two feet, and held out her hand.
"Nevermind... Delay the meeting to three days later."
She turned on her heels to continue the long walk back to the camp. Each step left a faint, vanishing speck of red light on the stone floor. If a guard tried to follow, she wouldn't allow it.
Her feet dragged across dried leaves, and for a moment, she felt like she wanted to raise her eyes to the sky once more. Her breath left as a mist from her mouth, before she collapsed against a tree.
"Hah... Did I end up losing afterall?" She asked herself, staring at the stars that were slowly coming into view.
A sharp rustle of dry leaves snapped the quiet.
Aefia didn't bother opening her eyes fully, her hand instinctively twitching toward where the dagger rested in her coat pocket. "I thought I made it clear..." she rasped softly, her voice barely carrying over the wind. "No guards."
"Your Imperial Highness," a low, formal voice called out from the shadows of the tree line.
A tall figure stepped into the pale starlight. He wore the dark silver steel of the Trinvina Vanguard—a crest Aefia knew far better than the dragon of Smod. It was the personal commander and right-hand officer to the Archduke of Trinvina.
Aefia's eyes snapped open, the faint garnet glow returning to her pupils in an instant. Her gaze swept past him, searching the empty tree line behind him.
"So...?" She swallowed hard, tasting copper on her tongue. "Where is Helio?"
He stopped ten paces away. His helmet was unclasped beneath his arm, his face drawn tight, pale, and entirely devoid of its usual steady composure. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the ground, his mouth pressed into a thin, rigid line.
Silence stretched between them—heavy, suffocating, and far more terrifying than the duel she had just fought.
"Sir."
Aefia shoved herself off the tree. Pain flared violently through her side like a red-hot iron, making her vision blur with dark spots—but she ignored it completely. She stumbled forward, her boots dragging through the fallen leaves until she reached him.
She reached out, her blood-stained fingers balling tightly into the collar of his chest piece.
"Where is he?!" she demanded, her voice cracking as she yanked him downward, forcing his eyes to meet hers. "Why are you here alone? He was supposed to be securing the southern line! Answer me!"
The knight didn't pull away. He took a heavy, shuddering breath, his head bowing slightly under her frantic grip.
"His Grace... Archduke Helio took the field alright this morning, I am sure you have heard of it." He said softly, every word laced with grim weight. "But the Mides knights were more relentless then what we had anticipated. During the breach... His Grace sustained a brutal injury to his back while holding the line."
Aefia's heart dropped into a cold, bottomless void. Her grip on his armor loosened, her fingers trembling violently. "Is he... WHAT HAD YOU BEEN DOING WHEN THAT HAPPENED?! YOU SHOULD HAVE STUCK TO HIS SIDE LIKE I HAD TOLD YOU TO—!"
"He lives, Your Highness," Cedric interrupted quickly, his voice urgent. "He was evacuated across the border into Smod territory. But his condition is... Stable. I rode ahead to inform you the moment the southern siege was broken."
"Take me to him," Aefia choked out, turning on her heel to march toward the road. "Now. Get the horses—"
She didn't even complete two steps before her legs gave out completely.
The world tilted violently on its axis. Her knees hit the dirt with a dull thud, her hands catching her weight just before her face slammed into the dried leaves. She coughed violently, dark crimson splattering across the forest floor as the damage from the dagger finally took hold of her health.
"Your Highness!"
The knight dropped to his knees beside her, catching her shoulder before she could slump over sideways. He took one look at the red blood soaking her coat and the deathly pale shade of her face, and his eyes widened in sheer panic.
"You are dying..." he muttered in disbelief. "What in the world—I thought you won't be injured...?"
"I am... fine," she groaned through gritted teeth, pushing against his arm to stand, but her muscles refused to respond. "Helio... Go to him... get up..."
Then a familiar pair of footsteps echoed into her ears.
"Forgive me, Your Highness," Cedric said grimly, stepping out from underneath a tree.
Without waiting for her permission, he reached into his leather pouch and pulled out a small, crystal vial filled with a shimmering, deep-emerald liquid— restoration draught meant only for extreme battlefield emergencies. He unstoppered it with his teeth and held it to her lips.
"It has been some time since we last saw each other. But I am surprised to have found you in this state. And what was I even expecting? My friend had a way of getting herself into the most bizarre troubles," he whispered. "Drink. Now. Or you won't even survive the ride to the border, let alone see the Archduke."
Aefia glared at him through narrowed, bloodshot eyes, but the terrifying reality of her own failing pulse forced her to yield. She swallowed the thick, bitter potion.
Instantly, a surge of intense heat flooded her throat, and rushing toward her ruptured side. The internal bleeding slowed to a trickle as the magic forced her torn flesh to stitch together, though the deep exhaustion remained like a lead weight on her shoulders.
"Ten minutes," Cedric said, holding her steady against his shoulder as her body shuddered under the rapid healing process. "We wait ten minutes for the potion to stabilize your vitals. Then we ride."
"You are one hell of a friend... I just killed your serial killer older brother, okay?" Aefia closed her eyes, resting her forehead against her fist as she counted every agonizing tick of the clock in her mind. Ten minutes felt like an eternity.
She had handed him the title of Archduke of Trinvina without a second thought, knowing his gentle strength would protect everything she left behind.
Who in the world am I supposed to blame? I was the one who brought this down on him. She smirked to herself.
As the tenth minute struck, Aefia opened her eyes.
She pushed herself up, standing firm on her own two feet without leaning on Cedric for support. She wiped the dried blood from her lip with the back of her sleeve and turned toward the horse tied near the road.
"You came here looking for me, didn't you?" She asked, turned her eyes to his place.
"Yes. Or what?" He shurgged.
"So you know where Helio is?"
"That guy is currently in my house, causing chaos without my permission... You think I would look for you for no reasons?" He asked, folding his arms. "I kindly ask you to take back your menace of a fiancé out of my property please. He hates the sight of Rosetta. Saying she is the reason you have to go through such political problems."
Aefia pursed her lips into a straight line. "Ah... Just a bit uneducated you see..." She said, scratching the back of her neck.
"Alright... Now if we ride through the night, how long until we reach your placd?"
"Four hours at maximum speed, Your Highness."
"Then we leave now," Aefia replied, vaulting into the saddle with a swift, practiced motion. She gripped the reins tightly, her knuckles turning white as she stared into the dark horizon toward Smod. "He better be sitting quietly when I get there."
Cedric laughed, looking over at the knight. "Don't just stand there, get me a horse. Do you think Her Highness can guide herself to a commoner's home without directions?"
***
At the foot of the valley sat a modest, double-story estate constructed of dark timber and river stone—unassuming, hidden from Imperial maps, and entirely removed from the suffocating grandeur of court life.
Before her mount could even come to a complete halt in the cobblestone courtyard, Aefia slipped from the saddle. Her boots hit the ground with a heavy thud. Her legs wobbled for a fraction of a second, the sudden exertion making her vision swim with crimson spots, but she straightened immediately, brushing past the startled stable hands without a word.
"Her Highness is in a rush, I see," the vanguard knight muttered, catching her horse's reins.
"Let her be," Cedric said, dismounting with an unhurried leap. "If anyone can quiet that golden-haired nuisance, it's her."
Aefia threw open the heavy oak doors, stepping into the warm, firelit foyer. The smell of dried lavender, crushed herbs, and metallic iron hung thick in the air.
"I told you, I am not resting until—"
A sharp, familiar voice echoed from the top of the staircase, followed immediately by the clatter of a wooden tray hitting the floor and the frustrated huff of a young woman.
Aefia froze at the base of the stairs, her breath hitching in her throat.
There, leaning heavily against the dark mahogany banister, stood Helio.
His thick, golden-blonde hair was disheveled, falling in messy strands over his forehead. His pale chest and shoulder were bound tight in thick linen bandages—faint spots of fresh blood seeping through the wrapping near his collarbone. But his bright green eyes—vibrant, defiant, and burning with that ridiculous, stubborn energy—were wide as he stared down at her.
Behind him, Rosetta stood with her hands on her hips, her sleeves rolled up, looking ready to strangle him with a bandage strip.
"Aefia...?" Helio breathed, his voice cracking slightly.
He took one staggering, uncoordinated step down the stairs, completely ignoring Rosetta's sharp gasps of protest. He gestured dramatically with a bandaged arm.
"Do you have any idea what this place is like?! She tried to feed me some bitter swamp grass tea, and Cedric isn't even here to—"
"Helio."
Aefia's voice cut through the entry hall like a snapped whip.
She marched over to the foot of the stairs, her garnet eyes narrowing into sharp, terrifying slits. "Are you out of your absolute mind?! Standing on a staircase, yelling at Rosetta like a spoiled brat, and complaining about tea when your back is practically split open?!"
Helio blinked, taken aback by the sudden verbal barrage. "I—well, I was just saying—"
"Shut up!" Aefia scolded, pointing an accusing, blood-stained finger directly at his face as she climbed two steps to match his eye level. "You are the Archduke of Trinvina! You are supposed to be setting an example, not throwing a temper tantrum at commoners who are trying to save your stubborn, ungrateful life! And what were you thinking taking a direct strike to your back on the southern line?! Did you leave your brain in the capital?!"
Rosetta stood in the background, her mouth slightly open, before slowly nodding in absolute, glorious vindication.
Helio's jaw dropped. "Aefia, I was holding the breach! A knight tried to flank our vanguard—"
"I don't care if a dragon tried to flank you! You don't get yourself carved up and then act like a nightmare patient!" She stepped closer, her voice rising in genuine, sharp frustration. "Do you have any idea how terrified I was when your knight told me you were critical?! Do you have any idea what it felt like riding four hours through the dark thinking you might—thinking you—"
Her voice cracked mid-sentence. The fiery anger in her eyes dissolved in an instant, replaced by a sudden, raw wave of overwhelming relief and exhaustion.
Before Helio could even form a single word of defense, Aefia closed the remaining distance and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him down into a tight, desperate hug.