Her deep green skirt rustled as she pivoted on her heels, completely ignoring the restrictive dress and the clinking of her high boots as she bolted up the steps.
"Matthew?!" Her voice echoed through the castle's third floor as her eyes darted back and forth. "Shit! His shift hasn't started yet!"
Within the time that she reached the third floor, Matthew came rushing towards her with concern radiating through his face. But seeing she was alright, he let out a deep breathe. Then his eyes fell on her reddened white sleeves.
He stepped up beside her, his hand slowly easing off the hilt of his sword, though his jaw remained tight. "Sovereign... That was a dangerous gamble. If your pulse had spiked even for a fraction of a second—"
"I don't have time to explain how vascular pressure works under psychological control, Matthew." Aefia interrupted rudely, her garnet eyes snapping toward the remaining of the grand staircase. "Victoria didn't just bring the First Aethalgard to test me down here. She brought two other Guardians. Where is the second one?!"
She was panting heavily from the run, but it was unsure whether she was also hyperventilating.
"They remained outside the palace gates—" Matthew began, rushing up the stairs right behind her.
"No. They didn't," Aefia gritted her teeth.
She reached the upper corridor, her heart hammering against her ribs—not from fear of Victoria, but from the horrifying realization that she had left Helio alone in her study with orders to only observe. Not with a weapon or how to defend himself. He wasn't a Guardian. He had his healing element of course, but he didn't have the political knowlegde or combat experience against the Rise faction's elite. But nor did Aefia.
Which was why she used politics to save her neck.
Aefia practically threw her weight against the heavy oak doors of her study, shoving them open with a loud thud.
"Helio—!"
The words caught in her throat.
The study was in absolute, quiet disarray. Bookshelves had been pulled open, a few decorative scrolls lay unrolled across the carpet, and the light silk curtains near the window swayed gently in the draft.
Helio slowly turned his head towards the door. The moment his radiant green eyes met her garnet ones—the stoic, dangerous expression on his face completely melted away.
"Aefia!" He beamed from behind her desk. His golden-blonde hair was slightly ruffled, his breathing heavy, and his knee was still firmly planted on the intruder's lower back. In his right hand, he held a sleek dagger—its blade resting mere millimeters from the Guardian's neck. His left hand grabbed the poor guy by his hair.
But judging by how Helio was still not letting go, Aefia almost felt pity that the Guardian fell onto the hands of someone like him.
"You are back earlier then I expected." He asked while losening his grip a very small fraction. His voice carried a slight, nervous edge as he looked down at the guy he was pinning down and then back up at her.
Aefia stood frozen in the doorway, her lips slightly parted in shock. Matthew stopped right behind her, his eyes almost bulging out of his head as he stared at a mere elemental user casually holding down one of the Rise faction's war-trained fighter.
"Helio..." Aefia breathed out, her mind rapidly trying to process the scene. She stepped into the room, her heels clicking against the wood as she walked right up to him. "Why do you have a hostage? It was barely twenty minutes since I left."
"Well," Helio cleared his throat, slowly retracting his knee off the man's back and wiping his still clean blade on the intruder's cloak before sheathing it back into his pocket. "He came through the window while you were downstairs. Started tearing your bookshelves apart looking for something to bring back as prove." He pointed an accusatory finger at the nearly unconscious man.
"Besides... He bullied you once. It only served him right to get beaten up a second time." He grinned while kicking his shoe into the man's calf. The victim winced in pain.
Aefia stared at the man laying flat on her table, then looked up at Helio's face. "You took down a Rise faction Guardian by yourself?"
"Why? It is not like he would dare to complain about it."
"You are absolutely insane!" She was bewildered by his response. Wandering when he became this unhinged. Still, looking back, she actually appreciated the man being beaten for vandalizing her room. "But I have got to say... I am impressed. Congratulations."
"Thanks!"
"Now what are we supposed to do with this guy?" Aefia frowned while tilting her head to see if he was alright. "He is from the Rise faction, and the Eclipse faction is in a very volatile position to sent him back like this."
"I can heal him though. Then threaten him and let him go." Helio looked at Aefia with a questioned gaze.
"And then what if they do the truth test on him? We all are going to be exposed. The next time you do something, maybe just tie him to a chair and leave him like that." She answered while rubbing her forehead with her fingers. "I am starting to wonder if I myself have done something wrong about this. Besides... There is a reason I told you to just observe—putting aside if you got attacked... Were you?"
"I was... Not." Helio smiled guiltily. "But wait! He was throwing things around so it is still equivalent to attacking!"
Her jaw dropped at his absurd comment. "That is not!"
Matthew walked into the room while looking down at the books. "Well, Sovereign Aefia actually had a plan you know. She was going to use this vandalism to frame the Rise faction and corner Sovereign Victoria."
"Oh..." Helio flushed in deep embarrassment. "Well I did not know the plan! So I did whatever would stop this guy! Someone be grateful this palace isn't a mess because of me!"
"We aren't saying we aren't grateful! You are still holding a knife to his throat!" Aefia pointed out, silencing the entire room.
He immediately cleared his throat and pulled back, watching as the now unconscious man slipped down the table and onto the floor.
After seeing him do as she said, she looked towards the door where Matthew was standing. "Station two guards in front of the door right now. If someone wants to enter, tell them to knock."
"Understood." He bowed and walked away with his clipboard in hand.
"After that, tie him to a chair, throw him in the holding cell downstairs, and tell the guards to lock that floor. I plan on personally interrogating him and tearing down someone else's property."
"You know for one thing... That man is going to fear this palace right now. Pretty useful. Right?" Helio beamed while flipping the hilt of the dagger between his fingers. Trying to seem nonchalant.
But it only left Aefia and Matthew completely stunned, leaving behind a silence so thick he could hear the gentle rustle of the unrolled scrolls on her carpet.
"...Consider it done... My Sovereign." He finally spoke, nodding before while telling a passing guard to drag the Guardian out of the study. The door shut behind him, leaving only Aefia with Helio in the room.
Slowly, she crossed her arms.
"Sorry." Helio scratched the back of his head while looking down.
"Nah. I was actually thinking to works quiet well." She tapped her chin while looking down at the pile of books and ledgers on the floor. "Using an intimidating environment happens to pull out more of the truth. So if I have that imprisoned Guardian under immense pressure, I can pull out informations. But also, I am wondering how I am going to deal with the aftermath."
"Then what about doing whatever you did to escape just now?" He tilted his head.
"Not that. I can actually later twist the subject and divert his attention from the imprisonment. That actually might strengthen the ground I am standing in by gaining his trust. But then that does not guarantee that he will see through it either." Aefia pinched the bridge of her nose, her head throbbing. "No, that actually has a very tiring and worrisome method. It has a very high risk too."
She slowly let out a sigh and looked back at his head, then at the ground. "Well if I could finish reviewing those ledgers. I can find out what I can use to my own use against the Rise faction. So I am going to assign you a favour."
"What is it?"
"While I go through this mess—get the ink and a fresh scroll." Aefia commanded, pulling back her red-stained white sleeves then crouching down. "If Victoria wants a war of influence, we are going to give her one. But first... Can you wipe your boot mark off my desk?"
Helio blinked, glancing down at the smudge on her mahogany table. "...I thought it added character."
"Helio." She glanced back up at him with a tired gaze.
"Sorry. Wiping it now." He immediately ran to grab a clean cloth and soaked it into a dish of water and started to get back to work. He paused for a second, looking back down at where she was sitting. "You know one thing? I think I did a pretty good job upstairs. Didn't I?" He smirked, trying to make her laugh through the stress.
"You really are insane." She breathed—though a faint, reluctant smile finally broke through her exhausted expression. "You ruin my plans, beat up my enemies, destroy my political leverage, and then look at me like I am supposed to give you a medal."
"A medal would be nice. Or a tea break. Running on pure adrenaline is exhausting, you know." He answered back while continuing to scrub at the wood.
"You are getting neither. Given that you came to my Realm and edited the situation the way you liked. But if you go a good job at what I assigned you, I will see if you deserve a break."
He stared at her with disbelieve for a very small amount of time. "Unbelievable," he muttered under his breath, grumbling as he scrubbed harder. "No appreciation for martial arts. No respect for the dark vigilante aesthetic. I risk my life for her interior design, and I get put on housekeeping duty."
"I can hear you!" Aefia noted calmly. "Besides... Don't you have Felix to look after later on?" She tilted her head towards his direction.
"That is another twelve hours away. I am not leaving that early—in between a situation this big. Your brother took care of himself for six while months. He can survive another week or so."
"I am sure he can. However, I don't want my brother to be alone for long. Since you want to stay another week, I am not stopping you... But what if you took a one day break and then came back the next day? It balances the amount of time you are spending here and there."
"Works I guess." He took the cloth and dish, then walked into the adjoining bathroom to place it down and wash his hands. "By the way... How was Victoria behaving today?"
"She was glaring at me." Aefia replied while separating the files into two different stacks. "And I used her name right there as a revenge."
"Oh well, she must have felt miserable then. Stated that speaking a Guardians true name in front of others is disrespecting them."
"Well Astraea is her husband. So what can she be embarrased of? But yes, she was miserable. Since I made Justice mad and drag her out by her arm with a bruising grip."
She suddenly paused, her finger stayed frozen at the edge of another book. Her eyes widening at what she just said.
"Wait... I hope I didn't just raise a conflict that involves domestic abuse?" She spoke with a low voice as her memory replayed again and again.
Slowly, Helio walked over to her place and slumped down behind her. Wrapping his arms around when shoulder from behind and propping his chin on her shoulder. "Done." He huffed, looking down at her. "The table is immaculate. My heroic reputation, however, is destroyed."
Then softly, he brush a strand of hair away from her face. Sensing the guilt radiating from her.
"Forget about what happens to Victoria." He murmured next to her ear. "Did she care about whether you were alright? Then why do you care if she will be alright?"
Aefia still felt like she had done something intensely wrong. "I am worried that she might be dumping her anger on me because of what Justice may be doing on her."
"Even if... She chose to marry the first Aethalgard. For whatever was her actions back then, she is facing the consequences now. And if you are worried about the Guardian of Wrath... He has another senior who takes care of him." He slowly pulled her hand back to her knees so he could slid his finger between hers.
"I personally think Victoria will not change even if you stop her from facing whatever she is going through. You can defy the second Aethalgard... But not the father of a child who died under his watch and who ignored it."
He reached out his other hand to pull a book onto her lap—as a way of comforting her.
"You don't have to think about who is facing what in their relationship. How about this book to distract your thoughts?" He whispered, flipping open the pages. "You like historical stuff."
"Well yeah..." Aefia finally moved. Her fingers flipping through the pages. "The founding myth sounds nice."
"Then that is settled." Helio finally let out a sigh, pulling back enough to sit beside her and read it along. " So what story does this one have? Is this the one where the first Aethalgard allegedly split the sky to carve out the original five territories, or the version where he just got lost in the mountains and claimed he was guided by divine fate?"
"Nah! That would be incredibly silly." Aefia laughed softly, leaning her head against his shoulder. "But your imagination was wild."
"I am from Greece by the way." He reminded.
"Yeah I am know." She slowly turned to face him, staring for a silent moment. "Thanks for that."
"That is only the smallest I can do for you." He grinned while pressing his lips to her forehead.