Chapter 193: Where’s Cassian?

Xana woke up early that morning. Not much time had passed since everyone had gone to rest, and she was already up with enthusiasm, heading straight to wake her owner.

She didn’t knock on the door or anything; with her maid outfit on, she walked right in, ready to jump onto the bed where Cassian was resting. But when she collided with what she thought was him, she found that the one sleeping there was Thalassa, and there was no trace of her owner.

"Uh? Did you fight without me? That’s not fair..." she murmured.

But upon seeing that Thalassa seemed particularly tired, to the point of not having woken up even with a weight on top of her, she suddenly decided to pull away quietly and look for her owner somewhere else.

The mermaid who remained in the room, however, opened one eye when the wolf-woman disappeared and let out a relieved sigh while her face flushed completely. She covered her eyes with her hands and then stretched one out to her side, noticing the same thing Xana had noticed: he wasn’t there.

Her brow furrowed immediately. She began touching the rest of the bed and then sat up abruptly, asking herself:

"Where did he go? No one’s called or anything, right?"

In the wing arranged for the royalty of the sea, Lumia still had her eyes open; she hadn’t been able to sleep at all.

She had known Thalassa since she was a baby, and she knew well her mistress’s reputation. Reaching the eighth circle at her age with her hypnotic ability went far beyond the normal; one could say she was a celebrity among all of them, which was why she had always thought that either no one worthy of her would ever appear, or that Ereon, who seemed more her equal, would finally win her over.

«I can’t believe I spent the little time left until dawn thinking about that stinky man and his relationship with my mistress... When there are so many more important things...», a grimace appeared on the princess’s delicate face as she began changing to start the day.

Xana, for her part, had been going room by room, trying to catch with her sense of smell where her owner had gotten to. The servants around her had started fleeing every time they saw her; her strange behavior and the simple fact of being different had earned her a reputation that spread quickly.

"Ah! Here she comes, quick, hide."

The wolf-woman came at full speed, skidding at the end of a hallway, tail raised and alert, looking around to determine her next prey.

"Left?" She shook her head. "No, Xana already checked there. Right then?" She shook her head again. "No, Xana already checked there." Her eyes shone as she looked straight ahead. "Straight ahead then!"

She channeled aura into her legs and exploded forward with power.

The servants hidden in the surroundings looked at each other; some swallowed hard, others sighed in relief, but they all thought exactly the same thing: «YOU ALREADY WENT THAT WAY!»

...

In the Empire of Pradiles...

An ominous silence ran through the walls of the main palace. The servants came and went, preparing who knows what with notable haste.

"Did the empress really ask for that?"

"Shut up and help! If we don’t finish on time they’ll punish us all!"

"But..."

A maid stopped in front of the one who was doubting; she slapped his face hard enough to knock him to the floor. She leaned toward him until their faces were almost touching and said:

"No doubting..." Her voice faltered; she looked around to make sure of something and added: "I’ve never seen the empress with that face... We have to make sure everything goes well."

The servant on the floor frowned, but as if those words had reminded him of the same thing the other maid was talking about, he extended his arm for her to help him up and quickly got to his feet.

Not far from there, a room with comfortable armchairs surrounding a table with floral arrangements and various dishes was being set up.

Ravena entered while it was still being prepared; she looked at the place nervously and exclaimed:

"Is it still not ready?!"

The servants, startled by the shout, stopped. Their chief signaled them to continue with what they were doing and approached Her Majesty to calm her.

"We’re almost finished, Your Majesty. We’ve selected the freshest flowers for the center arrangements and made sure the cushions of the armchairs have the exact distance for perfect closeness. The sweet dishes are already at their ideal temperature, the light pastries are ready to be shared, and the exotic tea that your guest likes so much is steeping right now so the aroma fills the entire room. Everything will be impeccable and on time for your meeting."

The empress began fidgeting with her hand, scratching with her nails and biting her lip; she took a seat trying to calm herself while nodding to the servant, never taking her eyes off the door.

And at the same time one of the maids was placing the last floral arrangement, the door opened and a sweet, honeyed female voice was heard:

"Ravena...~"

The mentioned one stood up startled, only to sit back down, but now with a rigid back.

The woman who entered went straight to the table in the center; there were several armchairs to sit in, but she ignored them all and sat on the same one as the empress, pressed right against her side.

"Did you miss me?" she teased. "Ah, but spending a whole day chatting about trade routes with Elizabeth really wore me out." She leaned back against the backrest lazily, at the same time causing a certain friction with the woman beside her, who was beginning to show a light blush hidden on her cheeks.

The woman’s shrewd gaze began to scan the place more carefully, smiling as she saw the care put into the details, unable to help teasing again:

"I see that you did...~"

Ravena frowned and answered with a slight hesitation:

"What are you talking about?! Always so forward. I’m an empress; you can’t stick so close to me and call me by my name."

"Oh? Little Ravena is rebelling." Morgana raised her hands and brought them to the woman’s waist, starting to tickle her.

"No, no! Stop, Morgana!" Laughter filled the place.

By the time the woman teasing her finally decided to stop, both were lying on the armchair, one on top of the other; both of their breathing was agitated and the blush of the empress, who had been teased until she could take no more, was intense.

Morgana let out a smirk and brought her face to Ravena’s ear to whisper:

"Empress...~ How long have you been alone? Your parents dead... your sister’s status unknown..." She paused for a moment, her smile widening, and continued: "and no husband by your side all this time since you took the throne..."

Ravena swallowed hard, not knowing what to answer. Ever since this woman had arrived in her empire, she had been driving her crazy; she had thought that ignoring the shameless looks she gave her or the advances she never stopped making would be enough, but all of a sudden she had started wishing for them to come...

She lowered her gaze to observe the careful arrangements she had ordered; then she looked back up, just in time for both pairs of eyes to lock, gazing at each other with something more that only the two of them knew.