Chapter 6 #2
Dyri was jumping around them, barking. He had no idea what the excitement was about, he just wanted to be included. Asta patted his large head, and he trotted off.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Asta lightly punched his arm.
Gyrial walked over to one of the many sofas in her common room and plopped himself down. “Had free time for my lunch. Figured I’d see my favorite girl while I had a minute.”
Asta joined Gyrial on the sofa, Linnea taking up a plush armchair across from them. The crackling fire in the hearth made Gyrial’s golden eyes flicker.
“Will you be in tonight?” he asked as he threw an arm over her shoulder.
Asta nodded, nestling into his chest. “Plan on it, unless something goes wrong. Hasn’t yet, thanks to Linnea.”
Linnea gave a sweet smile to Asta and blushed when Gyrial saluted her.
Her cousin had been helping her sneak into the village for months now, ever since she caught Asta climbing out of a window one night.
When it first happened, Asta expected Linnea to go straight to the king.
But she took a few days to think about it, then agreed to help cover for Asta with each break-out.
After all, what else was there to do while locked away in a castle?
It was the only rebellious thing Asta had ever known Linnea to play a part in.
Gyrial pulled his black braids back into a loose tail behind his head, some plaits drooping to cover his ears. Something about him had always been otherworldly to her, between his aureate gaze and his deep toned complexion, he also moved like a wildcat.
“How’s the promotion? Father working you to the bone?” Asta tapped his nose lightly. He had recently been promoted to major in the royal guard, now running his own command of over one hundred men. It filled Asta’s heart with pride to know that so many relied on her best friend. He deserved it.
“Loving it. Though I do wish I had more time to visit a certain princess more often.” Gyrial winked, causing Asta to roll her eyes.
Their friendship had always been complicated. A little more than friends but a little less than lovers. They were in a gray area and Asta always felt guilty about it.
The doors to her suite burst open and Gyrial was on his feet instantly, a hand on the pommel of his sword.
A flash of black, copper, and white zoomed in from Asta’s bedroom, and Dyri began barking at the two guards in the doorway.
Not that the canine would do anything. Dyri’s only form of defense was his booming bark.
If there was a real threat, he would hide behind whatever ally he could.
A giant baby, Asta thought to herself. Dyri was the largest dog she had ever encountered, yet she’d seen him run from his own shadow on multiple occasions.
“Burning Dagmar, you two! Knock next time.” Gyrial’s gesture to the goddess of war was in hope that she would set her soldiers straight.
Liva and Tova smirked, the twin guards sauntering over to the other sofas and spreading out across them. Gyrial sat back down, his shoulders relaxing.
Tova let out a laugh, her long sheet of black hair swaying. “Don’t get your undergarments in a knot, Major. Who else would be coming into Asta’s suite in the middle of the day?”
“A poorly trained murderer,” Liva mused, but her face remained stony while she picked her nails with a dagger.
The Nagi twins were members of the castle guard, and Asta had befriended them over the years.
They were always assigned to her wing, and she couldn’t pass them every day without stopping to say hello.
Saying hello turned into small conversations.
Small conversations turned into them stopping by at the end of their shifts.
And stopping by turned into the type of friendship where they could barge in unannounced, apparently.
Tova looked at Asta and grinned. “Think daddy dearest will ever let you out to come to the pub with us?”
“Not a chance,” Asta stated. Tova had been trying to bring her out for a girls’ night for years now, and King Botmar refused every time. The longer-haired twin was the less uptight of the two, always indulging in everything life had to offer.
“Any updates?” As the words left Asta’s mouth, the mood in the room shifted drastically.
Liva’s mouth formed a flat line. “Three more orphans showed up, two of them with symptoms. Seven more fishermen are missing.”
Asta had only been out of the loop for a week, and seven more villagers had gone missing.
She couldn’t believe it. The villagers of Orntali had always disappeared mysteriously, but not nearly at the same rate that they had been this past year.
She had brought it up to her father multiple times, but each time she pushed the subject, his eyes would gloss over and he would grow quiet.
So quiet that Asta had no other choice but to leave the room and try again another time.
It was another reason her father infuriated her so much.
He did not possess a single fragment of backbone.
His people were going missing and he shut down any time someone wanted to address it, as though he were in a trance and unable to speak on the matter.
So, Asta had started investigating months ago, but she always came up empty-handed.
The men and women simply… disappeared. Orphans had been appearing more and more.
Orntali had always had full orphanages, but they were bustling now.
The villagers whispered that the orphans were cursed, but Asta disagreed with their harsh language.
Their town bore an unusually high number of children who were nonverbal, deaf, or a combination of both.
But lately, that number had also been increasing.
The disabilities didn’t mean they were cursed, but the fact that so many had been born with the impairments was of concern and did not seem like a simple coincidence.
Asta rubbed her temples. “I’ll look around more tonight.”
“Be careful,” Gyrial replied quickly.
“I am.”
“I mean it.”
She knew he meant it, and she was always cautious when she investigated. Maybe not as careful as a princess should be without her guards, but she still checked her surroundings.
Asta observed the crowd in her room, noticing that Linnea was only watching, but seemed relaxed. The princess cracked one finger. Nope. Another. Nope. Then another. Done.
She let out a long exhale in satisfaction, the pressure in her chest unfurling.
She had to figure something out tonight, even if it was small. Even if it didn’t make sense yet.
They just needed something to work with.