The Noble Sellsword (Under Rewrite)

X - Destiny

Lysa

After the confrontation with Pelindros's knights, Cheska insisted they take one of the soldiers' horses. She said it was a strategic move, but when her eyes met with the princess, there was an apologetic look in them and she knew the blonde did it for her. She silently thanked her as seeing their closeness stabbed at her heart.

And that hug. That hug they shared after Cee killed the commander. She saw how the sellsword's tensed shoulder relaxed at the mere touch of the mermaid princess. How she melted and melded against her.

It was a touching yet painful view for Lysa.

So, they took an additional horse and let the others go free. Cee burned the saddles, her eyes shining as fire danced from her hands and covered their tracks with earth. During their travel, Cee rarely used other elements than fire, and that was just to cook food. But seeing her envelop those soldiers in soil and vines, the way she waved her hand and fire came out of it. It was clear she had mastered the elements throughout these years.

She was probably trained the first time it manifested, given that elementals were extremely rare.

As Cee had said, they rode all night. She watched the other two, both of their eyes focused on the road but it was clear their minds were somewhere else. Cee looked grave, as well as Cheska. Their encounter with the past surely dug up something that reminded them of that day.

She knew who Cheska was, even if Cee hadn't introduced them properly. The mermaid princess. She was aware that the blonde was meant to marry a Praelia, even though the thought was a bit impossible before, but she knew now. Seeing the woman change her tail to her legs could explain a lot about how the merpeople blend in with them.

And Lysa knew exactly who she was going to marry.

Lady Chalisandra Praelia.

It was no secret to all the noble families of Creage that they had been arranged even though she knew the two never met as children. She knew they never had, because she had been following the girl since she saw her in her visit to the Praelia's castle. Lord Adamantus and King Kranos had arranged for their firstborns to be betrothed. Royalty to royalty. A union of two houses. She didn't understand why Lord Adamantus arranged for his son to marry her since their family, though nobles, were not royalty. But that was before the lord's son was chosen by the King for the Princess.

And even though that had been the news around the nobles, her mother insisted that she was meant for Cee, and Cee was meant for them.

She remembered a certain memory, something her mother made her swear never to think about. But even as a child, Lysa tended to be a curious one and she had a habit of going to places she was not supposed to.

***

Her mother, the one called the fairest beauty of all Thelas, told her that she could go anywhere she wanted to, except for their cellar. She asked why, but her mother only smiled at her and told her that a child her age shouldn't be as intrusive as she was, and insisted that she was not allowed to go down there.

But there was something in there that Lysa needed to see, and she knew that she wouldn't find peace until she had seen what was in their cellar.

So, on the day her parents had left for the Courts, she managed to slip through the guards assigned to keep an eye on her and got inside the cellar. She opened the trap door and climbed down the stairs. She was expecting a dark and cold room, but to her surprise, it was lit and warm.

She walked deeper inside. Torches and scones hung by the wall. An alchemy lab and enchanter's table were on either side of the wall, facing each other. Crystals, both whole and broken, were scattered on the table. Bowls of questionable powders were lined up neatly near the cabinets. Books were stacked and organized in tall shelves, towering over her.