Prince Dominic
Dominic felt like he should have foreseen this despite the fact that the ability to see the future was not in his arsenal. He had hoped that no Inquisitor would be coming to the Tower the morning after Edward's death, that way any evidence that could possibly link his sister to the dick's death would have completely vanished. However as luck would have it, Lady Amanda had already been on her way to the Tower. It didn't take a genius to tell that she had been sent here by her father for something else, something that would as usual make him feel even smaller than he already felt in the eyes of his father and by extension the nation; but decoding that mystery would be something to do at a later date, at the moment they had to tie up the loose ends they hadn't expected to be a loose end.
If it had been another Inquisitor, he and the others would not be doing this, trying to once again try their luck and sneak around the Tower avoiding the guards that patrolled the hallways and then get to the Forbidden Forest. An ordinary Inquisitor would have sent word to Edward's family for permission to cast a tracing spell which after a sennight or two, or at worse case scenario three days, of careful deliberation, the request would have be granted; by then anything that could connect them to Edward's death would have vanished. Unfortunately for them they were dealing with Lady Amanda, the youngest Chief Inquisitor in the history of Syera who had only been given that position after enjoying a near 100% success rate in her career. To add to that glamorous resume was the fact that a Chief Inquisitor could cast a tracing spell once the person of interest was deemed missing for too long.
Looking at his side, he noticed his sister's expression that did not show much enthusiasm towards this operation. The first time they had done this, he had had to reassure her every step of the way that everything was going to be fine and honestly it was not because she was weak; it was that she did not want what they were doing to affect him in anyway possible. Therefore it was very understandable that she was not too happy with what they were doing in the dead of the night like a couple of criminals.
"You know there is a saying among Inquisitors which I heard during their break from re-educating me, the saying goes that 'every criminal returns to the scene of the crime either to clean up their mess or to gaze upon their work with pride'." Dominic said as they hid behind a statue to avoid the sight of a group of guards.
"Good thing no one knows we are returning to a crime scene." Derek said as they patiently waited for the guards patrolling the area to move away.
"Unless if Lady Amanda has already cast the spell and is waiting for us beside the body of Edward, waiting for the professional killers that killed him to stumble into the woods." Dominica said.
"I guess we would indeed strike an image of professional killers if we entered the woods in our pyjamas." Elswyth deadpanned which caused him to huff in amusement.
His sister turned to him in surprise while wearing a confused smile. "Did someone other than me just make you smile dear brother?"
At her question even he became surprised. "What?" He asked, unsure when it was that he smiled.
Elswyth then looked at him as all eyes fell on the usually dead serious Prince of Syera who only laughed when his sister cracked a joke. "Have I cracked your code?" She sweetly asked him.
Unsure how to respond to another person other than his sister being nice to him, he turned his attention to his sister, his comfort when in the midst of discomfort. "The guards have passed, so we have a short window of time to race across the hallway to the back gate." He said, bringing their attention to their operation in progress.
The smirk on his sister's face said that she knew exactly what he was doing and was going to return to it once they had achieved their mission. Nodding her head at the others, who were not yet used to taking orders or suggestions from the usually quiet Prince, they all raced across the hallway and kept moving till they got to the back gate.
Going through the back gate brought memories of them dropping the body on the floor in a bid to force the locked gate open without the aid of their beloved magic lest they left a trace to any Inquisitor worth his salt to figure out that they perhaps had had something to do with Edward's disappearance. The panic he had felt that night had been very real and near uncontrollable but he had had to hold his nerves, for his sister's sake. He had had to keep his head cool and ensure their tracks back were covered and looked as natural as possible and had ensured the privileged kids had not stepped on the wrong place and gotten the attention of one of the many eager creatures impatiently waiting to feast on their flesh. Being as unloved as he was, he had made sure to spend his peaceful moments doing worthwhile things like researching how to survive among the various abominations that thrived in the Forbidden Forest; abominations like himself.
Bringing his mind back to the present, he assisted the others in opening the door they had re-locked to the best of their abilities the night before, before they began to move through the dark forest as cautiously as prey moved around in the habitat of a predator. They walked as carefully as they could while they tried to find where they had dropped the body using the limited moon light above the tall canopies of trees.
"I have never understood why the girls didn't secretly want to be with you. You are handsome enough and have a seductive brooding charm about you." Elswyth said.
Dominic squinted his eyes in confusion at the path the conversation was going. "Uh... what?"
"I mean, other than not being able to summon any magic, you have this whole healing attributes going fine for you." She said.
"Perhaps, but being able to heal doesn't really mean much in the grand scheme of things. A Crown Prince should be able to defend not just his person but the kingdom, what use is the power to heal when you cannot fight?" He said, reiterating the words of his father word for word when he had recovered from his first re-education.
"Sounds like the King alright." Curtis said as they trespassed the forest.
Dominic didn't really know how to take on this weird behaviour from the students who had hardly given him a passing glance in the hallway. Hell, they had spent four years in the Tower and this was the first conversation they were having with him!
In panic, he looked at his sister for guidance on how to navigate this strange social interaction. In understanding, Dominica moved closer to him almost as if to shield him from any more barrage of friendly talk. "Okay guys I know that your gratitude is making you feel chatty, but my brother would really benefit from a little kindness at a time rather than an onslaught of it." She said as she looked at them one at a time before returning her sights to him.
"We better find his body fast and get the hell out of here before the creatures that patrol this place come for us." Dominic said as he returned to leading them through the dark forest.
It didn't take too long for their minds to return to the comeuppance they would all face if they failed this night or were worst case scenario, caught undressing Edward. Dominic had no qualms of Lady Amanda arresting the other three Saints who despite not being directly involved in his four years of hell in the Tower, had made no effort to get to know him. They had been quite content with the words his father had preached and had done a very good job of avoiding him judiciously, ensuring that he felt as isolated as possible. The only reason he had not pinned the crime on his new friends was because they had witnessed his sister kill the prick.
Stumbling on a root, he fell face down and narrowly avoided kissing the corpse of Edward and instead kissed the ground. Releasing a sigh of relief while ensuring he didn't take in any lung full air of rotting corpse, he staggered to his feet and moved a couple paces back. "Well, there he is. Why don't the three of you figure out how to remove his clothes without too much noise while my sister and I look for the murder weapon." He said without room for debate and gently guided his sister with him as they went deeper into the forest.