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Draçon was oddly stifling today, the air itself sultry. In addition to the sweltering humidity, there was an odious scent in the air of something dangerous. Animosity wafted through the streets. Whilst the nobles moseyed on about their monotonous lives, tension loomed around them. Snaking up the city's gates, and etching tension into the snowy streets. Outside the formidable walls of the arbitrary capital, gathered a crowd. Getting larger by the day and protesting through the night it seemed as though not one person was worried in the slightest. In fact, it seemed as though no one cared at all.
The loud buzz of the agitated gathered crowd could be heard from within the walls of the large well-funded athenaeum, in which Lilith and I sit together. Papers strewn about the floor besides us on the floor of a small office space, where we sat dumbfounded by the evidence surrounding us.
"This entire time, it's been The Agency." Lilith scoffs in response, her half laugh sounding as exasperated as I look. "No way in the ninth circle of hell could this be true. You know what this could mean for us all? For the royals?"
Both of us are too stunned to speak, dread clawing at our insides at the meaning of what this all equates to. "So, the bar, the van, and the victim are all connected to the Agency somehow. But what about our serial murderer?" I quickly change the subject, deflecting to another important topic. "Our murderer cannot have possibly been in that van."
Lilith's quiet as I blow out a sigh of frustration. "Unless…" She ponders, a bright gleam in her lavender eyes. "What if the murderer has access to portals?" She questions quickly turning to me.
"That isn't possible though. Only citizens have portal rights, and still then you can only portal within one district." I shrug, not knowing where she's going with this.
"Yes, that's true. But we can go from district to district, right?"
"Yea but that's only cause-"
"-Because we have higher clearance deemed from headquarters, yes. There is one place however, besides headquarters that gives out the same if not higher clearance for portal traveling." Her mouth curved into biggest grin; she starts to rummage through all the papers near us.
"What are you talking about?" I ask, realizing I'm completely out of the loop.
"This," She holds up a wrinkled worn-down pamphlet, the majority of its front covered in giant letters.
It read:
WANTED, ALIVE:
Our Lost Future Queen AKA Verona Celeste
All interested Bounty collectors, inquire at Royal Court.
"Wait so, you mean to tell me the killer is working for the Royal Court?" I shout.
"Exactly. Meaning we are completely fudged, and this entire case just got infinitely more difficult."
I struggle to process everything I just learned. Starting and ending with the fact that The big bad Agency is working underneath the Royal Court.
"Wait, this is good! This means, they have to be here in Draçon too." I stand up and scroll through the last twelve hours of news updates. Stopping on the most recent one that startled me. I pull it up and throw it into the air, the article projecting in between Lilith and me.
"They found Verona last night, and the current court is holding a celebratory Gala for all of Ecrea for the first time in decades. Reporters are going insane, and it's all anyone has been talking about. This must be where the bounty hunter will be, and where he is Verona is no doubt." I take the article down, and spot Lilith's face. Her eyes are dark as she slowly saunters towards me.
"You're extremely sexy when you do that, you know." She says brushing my mouth against hers.
"When I do what." I ask breathless and suddenly weak in the knees.
"When you're you." She softly crushes her lips on mine, and I melt into her. Her fingers run through my hair, as I feel every curve on her body.
I feel the world slowly start to peel away when her mouth opens wider but not before she pulls away. Leaving me all hot and bothered, panting like a dog.
"Ah ah ah, Although I want to rip your clothes off right now and scour every inch of your skin, we have a Gala to get to." She clears her throat and backs away to the wall across from me. "Now, what time was it?" She smirks tenuously, her short breath the only obvious indication of our entanglement.
With my rapid breathing the only thing I can hear clearly, I manage to stutter. "Ei-eight, I believe."
"Alrighty then, let's get shopping, shall we?" Although she smiles innocently, that dark look still wanders in her eyes.
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The flying object narrowly missed our faces as we stepped out of the Athenaeum. The wild sounds of the crowd I had heard from inside earlier, now are immensely more aggressive. The situation is growing more precarious by the minute.
In the middle of the street stood a giant mob. The individuals hurling objects of all kinds towards nobles, who in turn threw magic. It was like staring at a messy portrait, with mixed colors in the air and ground. The hovering streetlights hung in the air illuminating the city around us, whilst also signaling the late time of day.
It was as if everything was so quiet there was a stillness in the air. And then a second passed by and all the loud zoomed in right at us.
Children were screaming, running, and crying in the streets. Their parents either lying still on the flat cement ground or carrying them in their arms as though they were delicate eggs that needed cushion so as to not break them.
Rubble and smoke snaked its way through every inch of Draçon as the nobles fled to safety. The cause of all this chaos lit up the sky with a thunderous bolt of lightning that seized my attention.
The streets were on FIRE and there was nothing I could besides stare.