We headed out on horseback to avoid drawing too much attention. I wore a long cloak over my body, the hood pulled low to hide my face. But there was a problem: Mia and I both knew how to ride, but Ishu? She acted as if the creature would eat her alive. It was a bother; I almost left her behind right then and there.
Luckily, my brother had sent a knight to help her mount. That was how we set off—me on my own horse, with Mia and Ishu sharing the other. Thanks to Mia's knowledge of the shortcuts, we arrived at the city's heart in a few hours.
The Cathedral of the Holy Light was a place of white stone, incense, and annoying silence. When the heavy oak doors groaned open, every priest turned, expecting a vision of grace. Instead, they got me.
I stepped onto the hallowed marble wearing my riding trousers and a man's tailored shirt, my golden eyes glowing in the dim candlelight. Behind me, Mia looked perfectly calm, while Ishu looked like she wanted to melt into the floor from embarrassment.
"Lady... Lady Iris!" The High Priest, a man so old he looked like crumpled parchment, clutched his chest. His eyes bugged out as he looked at my legs. "Your... your attire! This is a house of God!"
"Then God has seen legs before, Your Eminence. I assume He made them," I said, walking past him toward the altar. "Now, stop wasting my ink on your letters. What do you want?"
"We... we must discuss the prophecy! The golden-eyed child must—"
"Must what? Pray until my knees bleed?" I cut him off, leaning against a holy pillar. The poor man looked like he was about to have a stroke. "I'm here because looking at those white-ass papers every day is becoming a bother. Let's make this quick."
I glanced back at Ishu. She was deep in thought, staring at the golden statues with a look of pure hunger. But when she noticed the priests looking at her with pity, her expression soured. She hated being the "charity case."
Suddenly, the air in the cathedral changed. It became heavy, freezing, and smelled of iron—the smell of a battlefield. The side door swung open, and the "Shadow" of the North stepped in. Theodore Crisis. He didn't bow. He didn't pray. He looked at the High Priest like he was an ant, and then his eyes locked onto mine.
"A Witch in a Church," he rasped, his 6'4" frame casting a shadow that reached all the way to my boots.
"I didn't think the floor would hold someone like you," I replied coldly.
His eyes slowly scanned me from head to toe. "A noble lady wearing something so... scandalous. Interesting." I could swear I saw a smirk on his ugly face. Wait... he's not actually ugly. I shook my head; I couldn't get distracted by a face like his.
"What brings the Mad Dog to a church? This is a place for the innocent, not for sinners." I meant for my words to hurt, to drive him as far away from me as possible.
"Look who's talking," he countered. Why did he always have a comeback? He leaned forward, his finger trailing lightly over my arm, sending a sudden jolt of goosebumps through me.
"I have important work today," he whispered in my ear. "If I weren't so busy, I would have liked to play with you more."
With that final, chilling remark, he left. But if that encounter wasn't enough to ruin my day, the journey home was worse. We never made it back to the estate. Thanks to a "mistake" by Ishu, we were ambushed.
By the time the sun began to set, the future Queen of the Kingdom had been kidnapped.