[2023 Wattys Shortlist, 2023 Amby Awards winner, Featured 3 times in Wattpad Picks lists]
Kaleth has worked as an agent of Luxarx for years. What the average person might see as an exciting, dangerous job has become the routine, and the only thing...
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Nira couldn't believe this. She was walking through a mansion owned by a Garen. Out of all the remaining noble families in Enoria, Kaleth Areon just had to be a member of that one. She doubted any two families hated each other more than hers and Kaleth's. The fact that it had been him who helped her leave Irithara.... Nira didn't believe that was just a coincidence. In fact, now that she thought about it, it almost felt like someone ordered Kaleth to get her here just to spite the queen.
"Who needs this much space?" Rayni commented, looking around as they came across yet another huge room. There was some furniture in this one, unlike the ones they had seen before, but it was just a few bookcases containing no books, a table with a few chairs, and a couch. At least half of the room was filled with cardboard boxes of various sizes, each one labeled. The words books and photos were on a lot of them.
"No one needs it," muttered Kara, still sounding angry. She had been since Kaleth had left.
Nira couldn't say she particularly enjoyed hanging out with secret agents, but so far they didn't seem like they wanted to interrogate her, so she supposed she didn't have to be so cautious. They had probably known about her for a long time anyway, so if they wanted something from her, she would have met them much sooner. Besides, from what she'd gathered, these people seemed to be fighting against the Umbra, which was still all kinds of crazy, but if dragons were real, she was willing to accept it.
"Let's just wait here. I doubt we'll have to stay here for long, anyway," Alor said. When no one said anything against the idea, he sat down on the couch and rubbed his eyes. Nira was once again reminded that Alor hadn't slept in over a day. How was he still functioning?
"All right. Maybe there's something interesting around here," Rayni said, heading over to the boxes.
Nira looked to her left when she felt a tap on her shoulder, knowing even before she looked that it would be Nef because he was the only person close enough to touch her at the moment. Her boyfriend nodded towards the door behind them.
Nef looked like he was trying really hard to hide that he was nervous, which told Nira all she needed to know about the conversation they were about to have. She'd been dreading this since she had met him, but she was trying to stay hopeful. After all, he hadn't broken up with her yet. Maybe he wasn't going to, and they would somehow get past this.
Nira nodded at Nef in reply and followed him outside the room, shutting the door behind her. She took in the almost bare corridor absently, not feeling up to looking Nef in the eye at the moment. The mansion had been making her feel a little wistful, but she only now realized why. Despite the many differences, in a lot of ways, the décor of the house was similar to what the royal palace looked like back home, and Nira would be lying if she said she didn't miss it.
"I, uh, I think we got some stuff to talk about," Nef said, although he didn't sound like he wanted to talk about any of this. That let Nira relax, if only a little, as she finally turned her gaze to her boyfriend.
