Realm of the Sun

Chapter 27

"Roza! Gwen!" Solarie exclaimed upon seeing the pair. "What are you doing out here?"

"We could ask the same thing," Gwen raised a brow. "Since I expressly remember our dear prince forbidding you from going on the rescue operation."

"Hey, I know that this is a fun reunion for everyone, but we have a problem." Michael interjected, motioning to Akari. "She got hurt, and since she's from House Byzjer, she can't heal herself. We need to get to a medic."

Solarie immediately felt guilty for not noticing just how much Akari had been hurt by the attack. She had been too busy marvelling over her own ability, and hadn't even stopped to think about the rest of the group's welfare.

Roza and Gwen exchanged looks, and hesitantly nodded. "We can get you one, but only Akari and Solarie are coming. The rest of you need to go back to command. Tell Corporal Yin that he and Sergeant Cheng are requested in my office." Gwen said, already grabbing Solarie's arm.

With no other choice but to comply, they split up and Solarie, along with a worsening Akari, followed the pair back to the palace. Solarie had never seen an injury like the ones inflicted by monsters- they weren't big bloody gashes or torn limbs, but rather dark blotches that appeared on the skin, depleting the soul of its life's essences and wrecking the immune system. Depending on the amount of time spent without medical attention and how much damage the monster had inflicted upon its victim, death was almost certainly an inevitable fate. Akari had a bit of extra resistance built into her, thanks to her heritage, but she was quickly growing more and more ill.

As soon as they made it back to the palace, they placed Akari into the emergency care unit. One of her relatives rushed to her aid, concern written over their face. They made sure Akari was safe.

Roza and Gwen pulled Solarie aside, into a separate room. It was completely bland, decorated sparsely. "I'm going to be very blunt, Solarie," Roza started.

"When are you not?" She replied nonchalantly.

"She has a point."

"Not now, Gwen." Roza rolled her eyes. "There's a spy in the palace, and we've found some pretty damning evidence that it's Corporal Yin."

"What?" Solarie said, puzzled.

"We still need more evidence," Gwen interjected. "But so far, it all leads to him being the spy. The letter, the ferry log..."

"Not to mention, the fact that the rebels even know where these safehouses are. Only the covert unit and the crown's family knows where they are, and I'm leaning towards a leak in the covert unit." Roza finished.

Solarie considered this, and though she hated to even bear the thought of it, she had to admit it was pretty convincing. The attack at the safehouse they raided was definitely no coincidence, and it was Sergeant Cheng and the corporal who had found all the locations...

No. But it could be possible. Just because something was improbable didn't mean it was impossible. Sylas had taught her that.

Sylas. She still had yet to figure out everything that had happened, and everything around her was only getting more and more complicated. The weight of everything was finally catching up to her, the misfortune, the miracles, the death, and all of the incredibly unbelievable things that had happened to her was swirling like a tidal hurricane in her head, demanding to be let out onto the sands of the last calm place in her mind. In every hurricane, there was the eye of the storm, where things were deceptively calm. She had sailed there for a while now, and now, she was leaving the calm in trade for the chaos of unforgiving waters.

Death. Death. Death.

She hadn't allowed herself to grieve the loss of her mother, of her sister, or even of her father so many years ago. Solarie was the eldest child, and from such a young age she was forced to shoulder the burden of death. She couldn't cry, she couldn't complain, and she couldn't give herself any choice of freedom. But now? People were gone, but that also meant the chains were gone too. She had her own power, and even if some prophecy of war damned her to a life of more death and fighting, at least it would be a path she forged on her own, with people she finally could find solace with.