Kymalin emptied the last of the contents of the vial into her tongue. The back of her nose still felt like a graspel got loose in it and had scratched her throat dry with its claws. Whatever murder gas the brownies set off on them, they would pay for that. She would make sure of that.

She winced at the sudden explosion of a sour taste at the back of her throat. This particular mix reminded her of acrid wine served during Jered Kilemna. Then again, it's not like she has a choice. It's one of the mixes packed into each and every member's food ration provided whenever they go out.

The stash Kymalin had at the back pocket of her belt could last her two weeks at the maximum. This meant that unless she figured out a plan and enacted it with success the next three days, she would have to go back empty-handed. Oh, how the Heiress disliked members she sent out returning empty-handed.

Kymalin either had to think of something better to offer than the throne she was after or she could risk staying out longer to accomplish her original plan. The latter option seems a little risky considering that there were little to no sources of nourishment now that trade has been limited. Either option, the chances of her dying were high.

Her gut twisted. There's no way she would die just like that. Where in Pidmena's bosom was Marin?

The moment that the last tree fell courtesy of April, the brownies and June disappeared. Kymalin thought that they were flattened by the tree's thick branches and suffocated by its luscious foliage. She heard the crack when the tree fell. It's almost like lightning striking dirt. No one could have survived that.

However, when they searched the area, they found no bodies. Their targets escaped. The three of them failed once again. Then, Marin went snooping the wrong way and suddenly, she, too, vanished before their very eyes. Kymalin considered going after the girl to find out if she was still alive or not but decided against it. If anything, Kymalin wasn't jumping into secret tunnels and invisible entryways.Her own life was more important.

Kymalin wished Marin would come back sooner, though. She had been listening to the air sprite whistling the same tune for over an hour that it drove her mad. It wasn't even a song she liked. It's a freaking children's rhyme! After a few more minutes of putting up, Kymalin pushed off from the trunk her arm had been leaning on. She whipped towards the air sprite's direction. "Do you mind?" she snapped.

April's head snapped up from preening her feathery wings and smiled at Kymalin. Pearly white teeth—something that Kymalin didn't have—flashed from the air sprite's mouth. Kymalin's stomach churned. The air sprite's body was something Kymalin wanted for her own, with a lithe stature and less...baggage at the front. The way the air sprite had been studying Kymalin told her that April knew what Kymalin had against her.

Gods of Calaris, how April liked to rub it into Kymalin's face.

"What am I doing wrong this time?" April blinked like a damned frup cub.

Kymalin crossed her arms. "If you're supposed to be smart, figure it out."

April chuckled and stalked off somewhere farther. From the corner of her eye, Kymalin watched the air sprite sit on an upright tree's exposed roots and begin preening her feathery wings once more. Kymalin narrowed her eyes at those magnificent wings. Oh, what freedom would she feel if banshees have them? Flying along in the sky...

No. Kymalin shook her head. They were merely random fantasies. Such a difference in physique was just something brought about by some forces she didn't want to think about. She was unlucky enough to be born into a race that couldn't fly. It was what it was.

Kymalin's foot tapped against the compact dirt without much rhythm. Night had fallen in on them, bringing forth the stars. Their distant twinkling reminded Kymalin of the bells in the paneldoja she wore whenever she was in the Temple.

The clinking bells were a distant memory she was certain she had forgotten. If there was an object she could don to drive off all the misfortune, she probably would have paid a wholesome amount and sworn to never take it off. Sadly, no such thing existed.

Kymalin observed the fallen trees that still littered the barren forest, their branches sticking out of the mess of foliage like thin horns. She glanced once more at the air sprite. April had one of her wings laid out on her lap while she picked dirt off of it, clicking her tongue whenever she pries a particle off it. Must be hard to maintain those feathery things.

The fallen tree nearest to Kymalin waved at her. It had snapped from its stump in a clean swipe. It had been nothing but the strong gusts of wind from April flapping her wings that made them fall down. If such a creature would end up on her side in the war, no army sent by the Synketros would stand a chance. A sigh escaped Kymalin's lips. Let her hope the Heiress's efforts on convincing the sprite heirs were paying off. Otherwise, Kymalin would have to deal with more than just punishment from having nothing to show.

Which reminds her...

"If you're the Crown Princess," Kymalin leaned back against the tree again. She kept April in her periphery. "Then who's the Falkirtan heir?"

April's hands froze, hovering a distance from the feathers of her wings. "June is," she said in a flat tone before going back to her wing. "If I do succeed in killing him in front of the Seelie Court, then the right to rule will be passed on to one of the noble families in the Council. If things are still the way from when I left, the Caizu has the strongest claim."

Kymalin noted how April's nose wrinkled at the mention of the name. "You don't seem to like them."

April chuckled without humor. "Oh, they're going to make Falkirta fall if I let them have the power over the Imperial race," she exhaled. "I must take the throne so that I can fix everything before that happens."

"What even makes you think you could do that with the throne alone?" Kymalin knew full well that the High Queen barely had power over autonomous territories as stated in the Lanteglos Treaty.

The reason they even have a High Queen was to unite the fairies into battle should the other races decide to attack them. Other than that, they served no real purpose except to look pretty and have portraits of themselves hanging in musty galleries. It's something Kymalin didn't get. Why were people so caught up in believing that being High Queen could fix all of the island's problems?

"Besides," Kymalin forged on when April didn't answer. "Won't you incur a drawback if you kill your kin?"

April's face darkened as a mixture of emotions flashed across her face. She settled on scowling after a few seconds. She plucked a feather that stuck out like those branches behind Kymalin. "I wouldn't need a full year to fix this island," the air sprite said with enough bitterness to age a bottle of wine. "If I work really hard, I can get it done quickly."

Kymalin gave an amused chuckle. The cold night breeze shuffled her hair off her face, reminding her that she needed to chop it off as soon as she got back to the base. "Fixing islands usually takes longer than a year, from what I hear," she said. It looked like April lacked the basic requirement of ruling a kingdom—foresight. "You won't even survive a month in that castle."

"Oh, and you know what it's like to be in a castle?" April glared at Kymalin.

"I'm Kymalin Iaro. Does that ring a bell for you?"

The air sprite's eyebrows rose before coming down faster than a swinging ax. "Ah," was all she said. She plucked another ill-looking feather from her wings, wincing at the apparent pain it caused her.

Why would April need to pluck out feathers in the first place?

"How are you even going to get to the throne with Cardovia and Synketros putting all the tension at Lanteglos?" Kymalin asked after some time to break the silence that crept between them. It made the night deeper and she hated it. A distraction from all the things going on in her mind—that's what she needed.

April scoffed. "I got that part planned out," she said. "The Sovereign promised me that she would back me to the throne by winning over the majority of the Seelie Court for me."

With bribes, no less. Kymalin pursed her lips. No use telling the naive heir about that, right? So, April's working with Synketros. How was that not surprising? Back at the base, when she got back from the graveyard she had been sent to, she heard of talks of a glorious air sprite joining their ranks. Marin, herself, had let slip the information that confirmed such rumor.

Could April be that air sprite? Kymalin heard that the Dwanzeig deal was successful because of the air sprite's presence but Kymalin couldn't be sure. All this girl knew was to swing her sword and talk down on people. Was this really their next High Queen?

Killing her brother for the throne...

Would the forces that be let it off just because it's an act of revenge and an apparent obedience to traditions long set by fairies before them? Those buttheads certainly didn't consider the instance that a brother and sister would be vying for the throne.

Tch. Why would Kymalin even care about what April did with her life? They've all got one life to live. Kymalin shouldn't spend hers worrying about how others spend theirs. To each her own. Besides, once her wish was fulfilled, she wouldn't even have to think of these things anymore. If only...

Kymalin gritted her teeth. Where was Marin? The half-blood's taking too long.

Kymalin whirled to April and found the air sprite's hands glowing with some kind of spell. "Do you think the kid's still alive?"

April's mouth curled into a smile as she finished her spell. She held up a piece of metal sharp enough to double as a dagger. Ah, that's why she needed to pluck feathers off. "I'm sure she's fine," April hummed to herself a few lines of the same children's rhyme before muttering a merging spell. She stuck the metal feather back into her wings.

Kymalin blinked. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was impressed at the air sprite's ingenuity. Indeed, those sharp, deadly feathers proved useful a number of times now. Perhaps, Kymalin should have the inventors make her a prototype of wings with the same mechanisms. It's a brilliant idea.

Instead, Kymalin shook her head and nodded at April's statement. "It's been an hour."

April's gray eyes gleamed playfully. "Are you worried?"

Kymalin scowled. "It just means that my rear is going to be whipped hard if I don't return with my student," she said. "She still hasn't finished training with me."

April cocked her head to the side. "Why is she out in missions, then?" she jerked her chin in the direction where they saw the half-blood last. "Marin seemed to have handled the Dwanzeig treaty too."

Kymalin started, her hand immediately on the hilt of her dagger. She wouldn't hesitate to strike April down if she proved to know information about their operations.

April chuckled. "Relax," her voice was soft and brimming with amusement. What was funny? Didn't her posture warn April of something bad bound to happen if the air sprite didn't shut up or clear the air after that statement? "I don't care much about Cardovia anyway," April's smile petered off. Her eyes were trained on Kymalin's stance. "They have nothing to offer me except a chance to track June when he had that drawback from killing the High Queen. I failed the first time when the Virtakios stopped me."

"Seems like we both have stories about the Virtakios, then," Kymalin loosened her grip on the hilt of the dagger behind her back. April didn't know much about Cardovia either. She wasn't even aware of the danger she put herself in from switching allegiances.

Kymalin could see the day where the Heiress would order one of the Magistrates to dispose of April. One wouldn't think that switching organizations would be as easy as swallowing fairy potions. If the Synketros deemed April not worthy of protection, they wouldn't hesitate to throw her to the hungry graspelis to be devoured. Should Kymalin take her head now while she had the chance? Perhaps the Heiress would take this as a replacement for her probably botched mission.

Kymalin cast another look at the air sprite. April had plucked another feather and was working on turning it into sharp metal before sticking it back again to the mess of feathers. It must have hurt but here was this small girl enduring it all for the sake of fulfilling her dream.

April had Kymalin's respect for that. It's not easy to chase a dream. It's definitely not a walk in the forest to make it come true.

The air shimmered to Kymalin's left. She jumped back as her fingers immediately closed around the hilt of her dagger. Her magic blazed to the surface, altering the spirits in her influence to be alert.

Instead, a familiar figure slipped off the shadows with a bewildered look on her face.

"I found something," Marin said before bracing her knees as she wheezed for breath. The half-blood gave a little swish of her hand and the shadow-gate disappeared in a faint wink. Her hair was a mess of glass and uncombed tangles. Had the girl been running?

Kymalin stepped back and let the half-blood catch her breath. "That is?"

Marin looked at Kymalin before turning to April who stood up from her perch to join their little assembly. The half-blood's eyes flashed in the dark. "Ice Sprites."