Sure enough, they soon spotted Kian quickly flying their way. The little flapping wings were causing the fake feathers to fall off and the dust was blowing away with the wind. Not far below the little dragon, the girls could hear soldiers screaming as they tried to follow it. They would have no problem spotting them now!

“Oh, crap!”

Missandra reacted quickly, grabbing her sister’s hand and dragging them down several different streets. Verna didn’t follow, opting to grab their bag and take off in the opposite direction. The two girls didn’t have any time to think about the loss. They started running through various alleys trying to hide from the soldiers. Behind them, Kian thought it was so fun to be flying overhead, but still following closely. Missandra quickly snatched the Baby Dragon from the air. They couldn’t risk it flying above their heads and giving away their position.

Cassandra held Kassian tightly, completely panicked. She had no idea where they were headed as she blindly followed her younger sister, praying they wouldn’t be followed. They ran for a while until Missandra suddenly grabbed Cassandra’s hand and pulled her into a hideout. The door looked locked from the outside but, to those who knew, it only needed a slight push to allow entrance into a small, abandoned garden. And it was very small indeed as Krai wouldn’t have even been able to squeeze its head into it. The sisters scrambled in and Missandra quickly closed the door behind them. With their backs to it now, they tried to quiet their breathing so they could listen for the soldiers’ steps - they were already hard enough to hear over the constant yelling of orders. Once they finally heard the footsteps run past the door, both girls finally let out a breath of relief as they held onto the babies.

Kassian was wiggling around in Cassandra’s arms looking uncomfortable, probably unhappy about the excitement from earlier. Kian too, didn’t like being held. The dragon struggled in Missandra’s arms, wagging its tail in protest. Thankfully, she had quickly picked up how to handle the Baby Dragon and kept her hand tight around its snout to avoid getting bitten.

The sisters waited like that for a few more minutes, standing with their backs against the door, holding their breath... They were both terrified. Those men had definitely seen Kian and would probably realize Cassandra was back in the Capital now too. Once it calmed back down outside, Cassandra slid down the door, her bottom hitting the ground with a small thud and releasing a sigh from her lips. She couldn’t believe they had really made it in with her sister’s crazy plan. She took off the fake collar, tossing it to the side, and rubbed Kassian’s little hands to help calm herself.

“I’m exhausted,” sighed Missandra. “I hope your people have got some good beds for us.”

“Me too. But that woman took our money.”

“Verna? No, she didn’t. I have it here.”

Missandra suddenly pulled out a little purse from under her shawl. Cassandra had lost hers while they were running, but apparently that didn’t matter.

Cassandra frowned.

“But she had it when we were checked. How did you…?”

“Funny enough, when she grabbed the bag away from me.”

Cassandra sighed.

“Mie...”

“What? We need the money, just in case. Plus, she doesn’t even know where we’re going, so it’s fine.”

Cassandra kept shaking her head. Missandra was truly another level of mischievous. But at least they had some money for now, so they wouldn’t have to worry in case something went wrong at the residence. Cassandra didn’t know what to expect there, but she hoped her friends would be able to help them out. They had been sleeping in the woods for a week now with a baby and a dragon baby and they could really use a good night’s rest.

“How did you know that door wasn’t locked?”

“I know several good hideouts like these throughout the City. It’s kind of useful when you need to run away.”

“Missandra...”

“What? I already told you I pissed off a lot of people!”

“We need to talk about your debts once this is all over,” sighed Cassandra.

Missandra shrugged.

“Anyway... Do you know how far we are from your residence?”

Cassandra took a deep breath as she tried to recall which part of the Capital they were in. It was such a large city and they had run through several streets too. Cassandra wasn’t so familiar with all the districts, but she could remember the way from the gate. Judging by how much they had run earlier, they probably weren’t too far.

“Maybe about ten minutes away.”

“Alright, then let’s wait a bit more to be sure those soldiers are gone and then go.”

Cassandra nodded. She got up and looked around for a water source, as all gardens had one, and went to wash away the tan from her hands and face. With her shawl and their spare clothing gone, there was no point walking around with her hands and face being darker than her arms. She quickly washed all of the dye from her hair as well and Missandra did the same after her. They both still had some black in their hair, but their skin was back to its original porcelain color.

Meanwhile, the young Prince and Dragon had been playing next to them on the shawl Missandra had laid out. The human baby was still too young to move around much, but he’d grab Kian’s tail and hold on despite the young dragon’s attempts to shake him off. Cassandra chuckled while catching the scene, and took Kassian in her arms, gently kissing his plump, little cheeks. The baby grabbed at her dress with a pout.

“Alright, let’s go,” she sighed.