The Queen's Aerie

31. A Mystery

It was late in the evening, yet Rodgardae had retired to his quarters only an hour before. His brain hurt from all the meetings and strategy sessions he had endured. His sister, Admiral Leonteinparre the Elder, had arrived in a swirl of anger and misery. Lives were being lost in staggering proportions in their attempt to hold the emperor's forces off the coast, and it having become a battle of attrition, the Wattish forces were destined to lose.

No one liked to acknowledge the truth, least of all his proud and moribund sister who had grown up believing the Isle of Watt was invincible. Trying to convince her and the other elders of the impending disaster was its own battlefront, as they just believed that if they threw more dragons forward, the sooner they would gain the upper hand. Rodgardae was determined that the mere wing he was in charge of would not be one of the ones thrown into the crucible as a pointless sacrifice.

It had been a long, long day.

While his staff had prepared his study with a nice fire and a warm pot of honeyed tea on a table next to a comfortable chair, the most important element was missing: Mani.

Of course, he knew that he probably would not see Mani that night, but it still felt odd not to come home to him. Worse, the fact that he was not there clearly meant that he had not found Agadart, or indeed, had any news to share about her disappearance.

With a sigh, Rodgardae stripped out of his uniform straight into his pajamas, figuring there was no point in wearing casual clothes if he was just going to drink his tea and then head straight to bed. A headache was threatening to form, and he felt the magic of his flying form pressing against his skin, anxious to take to the skies and defend his home.

He was deep into his second cup of tea and considering spiking it with whiskey when Mani stepped through the door. Rodgardae's first instinct was to rise with a smile, glad to have his mate back by his side, but the grim expression on Mani's face made him falter as he stood up.

"What did you find?" Rodgardae asked, filled with trepidation.

"Not your worst fears, but it's definitely not good news. I wanted to come and report it to you myself."

Rodgardae took his hand and led him to the chair opposite his, the one more thickly upholstered and covered in opulent fabrics. Mani snorted at that lightly, but it was only a momentary reprieve from his serious demeanor. He sat down and accepted the cup of tea Rodgardae offered him.

"I'll get to the important part first: she's definitely been kidnapped. We assume she was taken alive, but past that, I have no information to provide." Mani did not relax in the chair at all, sitting on the edge of it, his posture tight.

"What did you discover, then?"

"The medicines we assumed were the reason why she disappeared." He sighed.

Rodgardae frowned. "All of them?"

"All of them. Untouched in the bag they were originally packed in." Mani raised his hand to still Rodgardae's questions. "We got to the station and I decided we would conduct a room-by-room search. The station master was incredibly helpful and pulled some older plans for the station, which — oh, I suppose you already know it used to be an autumn palace for Queen Esthae?"

Rodgardae nodded, because everyone in Watt knew that. "May she fly in peaceful skies eternal."

"Right, right. The soldiers Captain Wildt assigned me got more soldiers and I had them conduct a thorough search. Here's the hitch: I told them to literally leave no box unturned, and they didn't. Everything got tossed over. Old trunks, closets, wardrobes, cabinets...if it had a door or a lid, they opened it. I'll give them credit for following directions."