A Trickle of Soulfyre

Chapter 4 - Target

Vlitavia Palace had become a second home to Lyrani since she started spending every free weekend she had within its glittering glass walls. She had grown used to the intersecting walkways sloping between the pavilions built along the tree branches and the gleaming silver, tapering archways that led into every building, but she wasn't yet accustomed to the winding, never-ending stairs that would take her to the king's office.

She panted, already breathless, and she was only halfway up the palace.

As it always did when it came to any mission, Lyrani's mind won over the rest of her. She pushed against the pain, gritting her teeth, steadying her nerves. She may be late, but no threat in the realm would ever accommodate her delay.

"Sorry!" Lyrani stumbled into a guard as she rounded the final spiral of the staircase and pulled herself up the last few sparkling glass steps.

There it was, a room contained in a gleaming box whose tinted walls kept the sunlight and any curious gazes out.

Lyrani straightened, smoothing her hair and then her tunic as she approached the guards. At first, they frowned, but smiles of recognition displaced their confusion. Lyrani thanked the stars that her face was familiar at Vlitavia Palace, or the guards might've had their spears buried in her chest before they realised she wasn't one of the enemies they had been trained to protect their king from.

"Lady Lyrani." The elf on the right bowed his curly head in greeting.

Lyrani was about to slide her ECISI badge out of her pocket as proof of her identity, but she closed her fingers into a fist before her hand could reach it. She wasn't here as an agent. She was here as a noblewoman from Irylen, and the king's concerned girlfriend.

The guard tapped his brown-gloved knuckles against the door, which swung open to reveal another guard Lyrani knew well.

"Lady Lyrani." Yaneez invited her into Nash's office with a sweeping gesture of his hand, and she accepted. They exchanged a look as she passed him, one that was silent but full of knowing.

Yaneez was one of the trusted few who knew Lyrani's best-kept secret - she was the ECISI agent who had rescued Nash. It had been hard to contain the truth, but Lord Dundor had done everything in his power to ensure that it was to keep Nash, Lyrani, himself, and ECISI safe.

Around them, the room was a deep gold as though Vlitavia's autumn foliage had enveloped it. The furniture stood out, dark wooden and intricately carved with flowers and berries. The doors were closed behind Lyrani by the two guards who flanked them, sealing her inside the meeting she had both anticipated and dreaded.

Lyrani was every bit the lady from Irylen who feared for the king she loved, but as she crossed the room, the feeble afternoon shadows trailing after her like frayed organza, she was also the assassin who would poison armies to protect him. Every eye in Nash's office swivelled to her despite her boots muting her footsteps.

The frown on Nash's face smoothed out when he caught sight of Lyrani. As if by some strange, lovely sorcery, the anxiety that had been twisting her insides into knots released her.

Nothing mattered, not her fear of the unknown threat facing Nash, not the long, ominous shadow that had already attached itself to her mysterious new mission. Nothing mattered except for him.

Nash smiled, and Lyrani's breath caught.

The last time they had been in this office, he had been bending her over his desk while she muffled her screams against its varnished surface. She remembered his firm hands as he steadied her, his burning, loving caresses, and the wonderful bliss that followed his touch.