Page 185 of The White King's Favorite

“Good morning.”

They turned around, spotting Aglithia standing there with a faint smile. She was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, and was busy eating one of the familiar beignets.

“Ah!” Nana exclaimed.

“I can’t help but get one when I can,” said Aglithia, amicable. “They truly are delicious.”

Naptunie blushed a bit, proud of her family’s food’s reputation. Meanwhile, Cessilia was surprised by how calm and easy-going that woman was. Next to her, Darsan crossed his arms, visibly doubtful as well.

The dragons also reacted to this woman’s presence. While Kian growled a bit, like a fair warning to a stranger, Krai tilted its large head and approached slowly. Aglithia stared right back at the dragon, completely calm and fearless despite the large size of the beast. It was as if she was perfectly familiar with dragons already. The siblings exchanged a look, and Nana was in awe too. People rarely felt anything other than fear when first meeting a dragon, especially an adult one. The enormous difference in size and the large claws and fangs usually kept even the most curious ones at a safe distance. Aglithia, however, seemed completely fascinated by the dragon and not the slightest bit intimidated.

“They are two beautiful ones,” she said calmly.

“How d-do you...?”

“I am not afraid,” she said. “Moreover, dragons sense fear, don’t they? It excites them.”

Darsan and Cessilia exchanged another intrigued look. That woman did know a thing or two... Soon enough, though, she turned away from the dragons to smile at them.

“Are we ready to go? Are... the others not coming, then?”

“They need t-to rest,” said Cessilia.

Another reason she had refused for Ashen to come was that she didn’t trust the Cheshi just yet. Their arrival had been way too timely, as if they had really waited for something to happen before intervening. Even if Aglithia seemed to have nothing but pacific intentions, she had still placed the triplets by her side from the beginning and had been watching them. Plus, Cessilia had to be doubtful of a woman who didn’t fear dragons. The previous one had turned out to be quite a handful...

“Alright then, let’s get going.”

She turned around, and began walking back toward the Outer Wall. The three of them followed behind, both intrigued and cautious. The dragons followed them for a little while too. The streets were empty at such an early hour, partly because of the poor weather of the past few days. Only a few intrigued eyes that were in the streets at that time curiously followed the strange quartet and the two dragons behind them.

Aglithia seemed familiar with the streets. Twice, she suddenly turned into small alleys that people foreign to the place would have missed. The dragons had to take extra detours and jumps to keep up, Krai even trying to get on the roofs until Cessilia called it down.

“Sorry,” said Aglithia. “I don’t think they will be able to follow us much farther...”

To their surprise, she had taken them to a small building that looked like one of the little shops in the Outer Market. It seemed to have been closed for a while, but Aglithia went in anyway, clearly very familiar with the place. She asked all three of them to come in, and for Darsan to close the door behind them. The space was actually so small that he had to lower his head a couple of times to not hit some pots hanging from the ceiling. Cessilia looked around. It seemed like this place was a simple pottery shop during the day…

Aglithia walked behind the counter and into a small room in the back made for storage. She went directly to a very large chest, taking the things on top of it out of the way, and opening it up with a groan. Cessilia was fascinated. Everything else in the shop had a very thin layer of dust on it, except for this large trunk. Aglithia took some random things out of the safe, like wax candles and pots of paints, then what seemed like a wooden mat, and suddenly stepped inside.

“I hope none of you has an issue with confined spaces,” she said.

Darsan grimaced, but none of them said anything. She grabbed one of the candles, quickly lighting it up with a little stone. Then, Aglithia’s body gradually disappeared downwards. Intrigued, Nana and Cessilia went to the chest, discovering it actually had no bottom. It was probably previously covered by the wooden mat, but there was now a large hole with stairs and Aglithia’s figure leading down.

“Come on. Don’t worry, someone will put everything back once we’re gone.”

Cessilia frowned, but stepped in, helping Naptunie behind her. They each took a candle too.

“They don’t have tall people, these Cheshi?” groaned Darsan behind them, who had to twist his shoulders a bit to get in.

Luckily for him, the space got larger as they went down. Cessilia was still in awe. They were clearly in a tunnel. Not only that, but a well-maintained one. The steps were made of stone and quite old, but they were only moving ridiculous amounts of dust. There were no traces of spiders or any bugs in there. The passage was also dug large enough to let someone of Darsan’s width go through easily. There were even little mirrors strangely carved into the walls, and Cessilia quickly understood they were meant to help spread the light from their candles inside the tunnels. For a while, none of them said a word. Cessilia could feel Nana walking very close to her, probably a bit worried, and from time to time, they heard Darsan grumble and complain about the uneven ceiling above them. She was even more intrigued by the fact that they kept going down.

Suddenly, the steps stopped, and they found themselves in a flat tunnel, going two ways: left or right.

“The right one takes us to the castle,” said Aglithia, “but I don’t recommend we go there today, it would be risky to be found on the other end. The Yekara have seized control of the castle.”

“Is th-this how the t-triplets had followed us t-too?”

“Yes,” nodded Aglithia. “They had orders that at least one of them should remain with you at all times. Not that you needed protection, but we thought it would be better to keep an eye on you... that’s how we learned what had happened. They warned us as soon as they realized the Royal Guards were preparing for a fight...”

That explained how Aglithia had appeared so soon at Bastat’s safehouse...

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