Ronan felt relaxed. From what he could now feel the return ritual had stopped gnawing at his wounded leg, his eyes closed to a peaceful veil of black while he laid on his back. He waited for the voices of his friends or even the frightening boom of his uncle to welcome them back, but was disappointed when none came. And so, he reluctantly opened his eyes. A cream coloured ceiling stared back—the wrong ceiling. It wasn't the one he had timidly stepped under, the one made of dreary grey stones stained with water and the scorched scars of failed experiments before his uncle could get a paravelt to work. He twisted his neck, feeling the soft and feather stuffed fabric hugging his body. He was in a bed, in the middle of a fair sized bedroom that was lavish enough to fit the palace of Fairez Stella, but somehow homier than his bedroom back on Earth. It had a desk propped in front of one of the windows, right next to a line of wooden shelves built into the walls and weighed by a line of fa

Ronan only saw his friends when they were walked to a stable full of fierce bronze griffins, unable to even greet them by Mr. Rudas' decree. The silence stretched the journey to twice its length, the dragging time still insufficient for Ronan to make a plan.As Phantom had predicted, his brash move of running to Fairez Stella was now biting him in the butt, and with the Council's nosy dog he didn't even have a plan to get the ingredients from Zalius.When they landed in Cobalt's field, Ronan was holding back his urge to vomit. The nauseating rock upon the beast's back was only trumped by his buzzing leg, and he accepted Ariabella's assistance off the beast when Mr. Rudas offered none. He was lead to the front entrance before any of his friends and even Puff, worry the only emotion plain upon their faces as he looked over his shoulder.As they climbed the tiny length of stone steps, Ronan swore he felt some of Mr. Rudas' ragged sigh on the back of his neck."Must we take the front entr

"So what's the new way you're getting caught?" Phantom said, his voice pressed with a cringe as he saw Ronan try and climb up onto a chair just below the hatch with his injured leg. "I can't watch this."Ronan balanced on one leg, watching the small hook binding the hatch shimmer with an enchantment when his fingers brushed it."Truvius said these were emergency exits, so maybe we can get to the secret room without Tia seeing us..." he replied, muttering insanctious and ordering the hatch to open.The fine dust of a shattered spell fell on his face and the hatch swung down, settling a flurry of dust at his feet."Those aren't emergency exits. Zalius' father didn't like the servants walking the same halls as the nobles, so those exist. Probably helped whoever killed him get away too, but they really don't go where you're thinking.""They go out of this room without getting caught by Tella, that's where I'm thinking," Ronan said, his grin twisted with gritted teeth to hide the pain in h

Ronan felt Phantom relax in surprise, his own emotions mirroring the response as Mr. Rudas grinned at them both."You'll not gamble his majesty's heir for the sake of calling a bluff," Ariabella cut in, stepping from the illusionary wall to clear a path for Phantom. "You are free to pass.""Try to leave and I shoot again." Mr. Rudas eyed Samanthra, trying to hide his rage that so many people were trying to heal the downed representative all at once. "Call a damned nurse, I need as many bodies as I can get to bring this demon down."Ronan tried to swallow the sick lump that came with watching Mr. Rudas, going for a better distraction when he heard Puff warble at Phantom."Don't, you'll get in trouble... Or seriously wounded," Phantom muttered.Ronan tried to turn his head a little to see what his guardian was doing, but the only clues he could gather were on Mr. Rudas' dipping expression. Then he heard the ear piercing roar, Puff blasting by him full sized and scaled up with Zalius rid

"It appears the Novan is not a fan of words. The six person party sent to peacefully speak with the creature were found three days ago at the meeting point they had established, butchered."The word echoed in the room, made even louder by the silence that ensued.His uncle didn't even have a remark."Knowledge of the meeting point was something only the peaceful party, the Novan, and the Grand Chancellor himself had knowledge of. Their deaths have been dated to the exact day of the meeting, but of course an investigation has been launched to figure out what happened." His gaze wandered to catch Ronan's. "After all, who could have committed such a horrific act?""Warlord's call for comment."Ronan looked for the voice that had called from the second level of seats, staring in confusion at Cilvren as the hulking man stood to spotlight himself."Granted," the judge spoke."I hold theory on this matter," Cilvren announced, rubbing at his wiry beard as he stared down at Ronan in ponderment