𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.
It's the beginning of a new age when Jaylah Imperatrix seemingly returns from the dead to reclaim her throne. And in perfect timing.
In her absence, evil has be...
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Act 3 Chapter 116 JAYLAH
Jaylah had to coax Thyros through piles of debris that had yet to be swept away. Shingles from roofs had been shaken down, rockslides tumbled rubble onto the streets, even a few trees had been felled. He balked at a tree branch in his way that had recently broken.
"Do not trifle with me," Jaylah told him with a light flick of the reins. Thyros gave a prim snort. She had seen him jump over barriers four times as tall. He was simply not moving because he insisted upon dramatics for attention.
She gave up, sighing. She looked back to her following soldiers, the fancy white homes on the immense clifftop looming behind them. From here, she thought she could pick out Fotelis's home, from which she was returning home. The firearm designs he had just shown her were even more magnificent than she imagined. All she could do was hope the Kalingi held off long enough for them to be made in bulk.
Her soldiers dismounted and headed to move the fallen log. Jaylah lightly slapped Thyros's silken shoulder to show him what he had caused. In response, his tail gave a self-important flick.
"Celadine."
Jaylah's heart skipped several beats at the name meant for her. Said in the Eastern Language. She turned to see an incoming sight she never thought she would lay eyes upon again. The huntresses, led by the ever-bored Zensa Feibao, who added, "Or should I say Jaylithia?"
She could have gaped in shock. She could have smiled at them, here despite all odds. Instead, she dismounted and took them all in: cool Zensa, Adelié with her loose light brown curls, Ghislaine's shifty smirk, beautiful Sonia with her bow strapped across her back, Margaux's face of freckles, and a dozen more she did not yet know by name. "You...are here." She blinked to be sure they were actually real.
Adelié and Margaux came forward first and enveloped her in an embrace that she had not expected. "I know you're not exactly a touchy person," Adelié murmured in her ear. "But we missed you, so give us a pass this once."
"I missed you too," Jaylah found herself saying, and met Zensa's eyes as she stood watching the scene with her tattooed arms crossed. She was perhaps even less of a touchy person than Jaylah was. "Did you come so far just to glower at me? Come, we will discuss everything in my palace."
"In her palace," Ghislaine whispered to Sonia. Before Jaylah turned away, she saw the ghost of a smile on Zensa's lips.
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"If you are really..." Sonia trailed off, her eyes glancing down Jaylah's queenly gown, "you, then what happened to Alexei?" They were all in a closed sitting room where they could speak freely.
"Alexander," she murmured in correction. "And he is here. To kill me, I believe."
"I beg your pardon?" Adelié's eyebrows raised to touch the wisps of her bangs.
