"Spare the formalities," Roxine said as she got Sierra to get back up to her feet, "I heard about what happened. Are you alright?"
"I’ve been better," she sighed, "Roxine, I need to go back to Cair."
Roxine and Sierra had gotten close in the last few weeks. They had spent many an afternoon chatting in the Queen’s Quarters, or in the Royal Gardens. The sudden turn of events with regards to Cair caught her off guard too.
But after hearing what had transpired in the Throne Room from Sierra, she understood her resolve for wanting to return to Cair.
"Please, Roxine. I need to go back, I need to know what happened to my father. What if..." Sierra could not bear to finish her sentence.
Ever since she found out Cedric was now King of Cair, she knew sothing must have gone horribly wrong. Having not heard back from Cair was concerning too. It had been almost two whole days since the last letter.
"Ida, have you seen Bunty? Has she returned?"
Ida was just about to shake her head when a distant chirp of a silverwing caught both of their attention. Silverwings had a distinct call compared to most other birds, that much was known.
"I didn’t know she was back..." Ida said as she followed closely behind Sierra as she made her way up to the second floor.
They found Bunty perched on Sierra’s room windowsill. Queen Roxine had followed them as well. It was not the first ti she had seen the silverwing. But unlike most other tis, Bunty did not have a letter attached to her.
Sierra paused for a mont. She held out her hand and whistled. Bunty flew to her hand imdiately. She inspected the silverwing carefully, thinking perhaps instead of a full-sized letter, a small note might have been attached to her instead.
"Anything?" Ida asked anxiously.
"Nothing," she whispered softly as she looked over to Ida.
"Are you certain you didn’t hear her return?" Sierra asked Ida for confirmation.
"I’m certain," Ida began to recount the series of events from earlier, "I went to run so errands and when I returned, Steven inford that you went out."
"Ida, go look for Steven. Bring him here imdiately," Sierra said.
Ida went to do as she asked. In the anti, Sierra scoured her room. Alistair had taken away the twin swords she had been carrying at the ti, which happened to be the ones that he had given her. She had been carrying those instead of her own since he gave them to her.
But now, things were different.
She unlocked a chest in the middle of her room, unveiling her twin swords. She quickly belted them on.
Roxine watched on in silence, uncertain of the right words to say. She pursed her lips.
Sierra could sense the turmoil in her.
"Speak your mind, Your Highness. I only wish to hear your true thoughts," Sierra asked as she continued to move around the room, gathering things she needed.
"As your Queen," Roxine said as she took a step forward towards her carefully, "It is my duty to advise you to remain here. Your place is here, Sierra. And Alistair did what he did to keep you safe."
Sierra understood what she ant. But what Roxine said next ca as a surprise.
The Queen held onto Sierra’s hand, "But as your friend, I know how important this is to you. I’ll do what I can to cover you."
Sierra bit her lip. It took her a while to co to the realization that perhaps this was the last ti she was seeing Roxine. They had planned for her ’death’ to take place in the next two weeks to co.
"Your Highness, I’m sorry I can’t fulfill my promise to you. I..."
Roxine shook her head, stopping her from continuing to speak.
"This is much more pressing than . Depending on how things go, I may even push up the plans. Just to give you a little help," Roxine replied with a wink.
"No, I can’t ask that of you, Your Highness..."
Before they could debate any further, a knock on the door caught their attention. Shortly after, Ida entered with Steven close behind. A quick glance at him from head to toe was all Sierra needed to piece together details most people would have missed.
"Miss Ida said you were looking for , Sierra?" Steven asked.
"I never allowed you to address informally, Steven," Sierra said calmly as she furrowed her eyebrows.
"Oh, my apologies, Your Grace. A slip of the tongue."
’A slip indeed,’ Opal’s voice hissed in Sierra’s mind.
She too had found it odd that Steven made that mistake. In front of Queen Roxine no less. But she kept her calm as she readied herself to question him. There were more pressing matters on hand.
"Steven, did a letter arrive for through Bunty?" She asked, not wanting to waste any more ti.
"A letter? No, Your Grace. There wasn’t."
"Is that so..." Sierra wasn’t buying it, she continued to question him, "Where did you go after I left for the Throne Room, Steven?"
"I..." he glanced over to Ida for a split second before returning his attention to Sierra, "I was patrolling the gardens."
"That’s it?" Sierra inquired further.
"I also went out to post a letter, Your Grace. When you sent Miss Ida to co to get , I had only just returned from that. She had testified on my behalf on that," he said calmly.
Attention was turned back to Ida, who quickly nodded.
"He’s right, Your Grace."
From the mud that caked the base of his shoes, the thin layer of sweat on his skin, it was clear he had been outside. But sothing seed fishy to Sierra. She could not quite put her finger on it.
As the silence grew in the room, Ida gulped as sweat trickled down her forehead. In her mind, the earlier conversations she’s had with Steven replayed over and over again in her mind.
Her mory of the events from earlier were a little fuzzy. She only rembered that their conversation was pertaining to sothing regarding a letter. But what were the details?
Sierra took note of the look on Ida’s face imdiately.
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