The Dragon's Kiss

If Kel had been paying attention, she probably would have noticed a faint rosy shade creeping into Lucy's cheeks at Thane's compliment, but her entire focus was on the emperor.

Though His Majesty was coated in fresh blood, none of it appeared to be his own. More surprisingly, he seemed to be scanning the blood splattering Kel's body for the same reason, to make sure she was unharmed.

Had he not noticed the pile of bodies laying limp at her feet? How was it possible that his eyes were full of gentle worry rather than surprise or resentment at her lies until now?

As Kel remained locked in a silent starting contest with the emperor, she heard Thane emit a tiny gasp as his gaze shifted to her.

Quickly regaining his composure, the knight corrected his previous statement.

"I have to take that back. It looks like you had some help dealing with these goons," he chuckled to Lucy.

"It would seem so," the woman replied thoughtfully.

Finally breaking out of her trance, Kel looked nervously at the three people around her, at least two of them completely baffled by the situation.

Had the moment finally come? Was it time to tell them the truth of her identity?

"Um.. I.. I.." Kel trailed off, unable to utter the fateful words.

She glanced up again and saw Lucy and Thane eagerly waiting for her explanation. Their eyes sparkled with curiosity.

Were the emperor's eyes sparkling the same way?

Kel couldn't even bring herself to check. Where had her courage from earlier gone?

My name is Keliyah! She reminded herself, clenching her fists. I'm not the princess. I'm-

"No more discussion," the emperor interrupted quietly, placing a hand on Kel's tensed shoulder as she grappled with her doubt. "It's time to move on."

"Yes, sir!" Lucy and Thane recited in unison, pivoting on their heels.

Kel breathed a tiny sigh of relief that her confession had been delayed. Was the emperor truly in such a hurry to move on? Or did he already know the truths she couldn't bring herself to speak?

No. Kel shook her head. If he did know the truth, he wouldn't have come so far to rescue her, and he certainly wouldn't be brushing past the issue now. He must truly believe that she was indeed Adriell.

Her secret was still safe.

But she couldn't keep holding back forever.

As the foursome picked their way through the rest of the tunnel, quietly and quickly, Kel grimaced at the many injured bodies strewn around. Unlike Lucy and Kel, who had stood still, allowing the soldiers to come to them, Thane and the emperor had darted around wildly during their fight.

When Kel fought, her goal was to conserve as much energy as possible. It wasn't as if she was trying to avoid killing her opponents, but so long as the threat was neutralized, she didn't see the need to go any further by slaying them.

Given her unique position in Mevani as more than just a knight, she'd seldom had to take a life in battle. It had happened, of course, but it wasn't normal for her. In fact, the pile of enemies she'd left behind in this tunnel were all mostly still breathing.

But this scene now..

This was a massacre.

With hardly more than a glance, she could tell that there were no survivors among the soldiers who faced Thane and the emperor. Given the size and placement of the wounds on the unfortunate opponents, it seemed the two men preferred to kill their enemies with one hit, before a fight could even break out.

While Kel had been busy locking weapons and looking for ways to get her opponents to the ground, the Dragon Emperor and his knight had simply cut their challengers down like weeds.

Seeing the wreckage left from the battle caused a tiny ache in the pit of Kel's stomach. The emperor really had broken his oath. He'd shattered the once-sacred vow he'd made to leave these people alone.

He'd killed them with his own hands.

All of the questions plaguing her mind before the run-in with Soren's men came rushing back. Why was the emperor doing this? Why now?

There had to be some reason for his actions, something more than simply coming to rescue her.

"Your Majesty?" Kel called softly, tugging on the emperor's sleeve as the group came to a halt just inside the next tunnel.

"What is it?" The emperor responded, turning to face her.

"Why are you doing all this?"

"... I wanted to bring you back."

Right. He'd already explained as much, but Kel wanted the whole truth. No more pieces of the story or vague hints.

She wanted to know what was really going on.

"More than that," Kel gulped, avoiding the emperor's gaze. "Why are you attacking these people? Thane said that even your soldiers were here."

The emperor paused again. "...I-"

"I can answer that for you!" Thane chimed in.

How bold, yet somehow utterly characteristic, of the knight to interrupt his master. Kel risked a peek at the emperor, but he was staring off absently, seemingly unbothered by his subordinate's intrusion.

"When the emperor came down here, he gave us strict instructions to wait in position," Thane explained. "If time ran out and he wasn't back, we were given orders to infiltrate."

"Oh. I see," Kel smiled half-heartedly, still feeling that her question had not been completely answered. "And how did you know where we'd be?"

Also, why did you bring Lucy? She stopped herself from asking as she snuck a quick glance at the maid.

"Ah! The emperor gave us a map beforehand," Thane grinned, throwing his arm around Lucy. "We were assigned here, but other pairs of shadow guards were assigned to-GAH!"

He shot Lucy a hurt look as the woman slowly removed her elbow from his ribcage.

"Shadow guards?" Kel wondered.

Lucy had explained briefly about the emperor's secret order of assassins back when she was telling Kel about the so-called haunted forest. Aside from what the maid had told her, she really didn't know anything about them.

The fact that Thane said there were pairs of them apparently stationed around Subterra.. was that supposed to be a secret? Is that why Lucy elbowed him?

Something about the way he'd referred to the guards gave Kel an uneasy feeling, however. He didn't just say 'pairs of shadow guards,' he said, 'other pairs of shadow guards.'

Then did that mean..

"You.. and Lucy.." Kel hesitated, "you're also.."

Shadow guards.