Nothing But Lies

Longing.

I long for you.

I ache for you.

—Not one more moment can I wait.

With a rumbling shudder at her feet—zzz—Noi felt the ground sway and stopped.

“Hm? Did it shake?”

The word earthquake flashed through her mind, but they were up in the sky. That shouldn’t be possible.

“…What was that?”

Tilting her head, she looked around—and there, a beast was crossing the sky.

It was a Zephyrai.

Because of their intelligence and rarity, Zephyrai were classed as sacred beasts. They did not understand human speech, yet they were very clever, brave, and gentle. Lions whose backs bore splendid eagle-like wings, they bore people and raced through the heavens.

They chose a human as their finest partner and would share a lifespan far longer than a human’s.

Zephyrai were a familiar sight to Noi.

Ever since Fengalow had contracted one in his youth, he had flaunted it often.

He had bragged about it at every turn, and with a patronizing air said he’d let her ride on its back; so resolved never to ride it, Noi had in the end never once done so.

The Zephyrai that had been swimming so merrily through the sky swooped down and alighted on the floating isle. On its back sat a single human.

The Zephyrai—tut-tut-tut—galloped over to where Noi stood, blank and rooted in place.

“Hey—Luxe! What’s gotten into you!?”

(Luxe!)

Noi flung both arms wide.

In that instant, the Zephyrai—Luxe—kicked off the ground with all four feet.

“Guah!”

“Whoa—haha!”

The man riding Luxe—Panselinos—tumbled to the ground, and Noi was bowled over by Luxe.

Luxe, who slobbered all over Noi’s cheeks with his big, long tongue, was the very Zephyrai contracted to Fengalow. He had known Noi since she was a child. Seeing a familiar face, he’d likely forgotten he even had his master on his back and charged over.

“Good boy, good boy, Luxe! Settle down!”

“Hey, Luxe! No biting—no biting! Off!”

Startled to see Noi knocked flat, Panselinos hastily seized Luxe’s reins.

At the command, Luxe seemed to come to himself; looking abashed, he drooped and nudged his muzzle against Panselinos’s waist.

“My apologies, Kardia’s bride. He never does this—ordinarily…”

Wearing a troubled look, Panselinos glanced between Luxe and Noi. Smiling, Noi shook her head.

“It’s fine. He only came to say hello. It made me very happy, so please don’t scold him.”

Panselinos looked down at Luxe with a face that said, Even so… Luxe hung his head and lay down on the spot—as if to declare, I won’t do it again.

With a sigh, Panselinos patted Luxe’s back twice, then turned to Noi.

“It’s a hurried visit, but might you receive me?”

Panselinos—the man who had reigned as king of the Esria Kingdom for fifty years—addressed Noi in a resonant voice.

—Ka-pop-pop…

From the teapot Ornis held, a fragrant tea was poured. Tea that smelled this fine never even came out for Kardia; it was surely the most expensive tea in the house.

Noi sat on the living-room sofa, shoulders hunched.

“Um… Kardia is in the mausoleum today—”

He had gone there less and less of late, but today he had shut himself in since morning.

What timing. As Noi confessed this timidly, Panselinos dipped his chin in a nod.

“I know. That is precisely why I came.”

Ornis poured two cups of tea—one for Panselinos seated before Noi, and one for Noi herself.

Noi shot Ornis a pleading look.

But with a calm face, he retreated to the kitchen with the teapot.

Despite Noi’s silent appeal, the living room was left to only two people: the king, and the apprentice bride.

Noi might have been the greatest mage in the realm, but she wasn’t so stout-hearted as to lord it over someone called “Your Majesty.”

When she sat, Noi’s feet dangled in the air. She put her feet together and reached for the teacup.

But she didn’t know how to hold a teacup properly.

Long ago—before apprenticing to her grandfather—her nanny had gone on and on with blah-blah etiquette this-and-that, or so she dimly recalled, but now she couldn’t remember a thing.

Seeing Noi freeze with both hands hovering before the cup and her eyes spinning in indecision, Panselinos took up his cup with grace and said gently,

“Drink as you please. If the cup is heavy, you may hold it with both hands.”

“Th—thank you very much.”

Taking him at his word, Noi held the cup in both hands and took a sip. She was so nervous she almost dropped it. Her parched mouth moistened a little.

“I came to speak with you.”

Just as Noi finished her sip and caught her breath, Panselinos began.

“I’ll be brief—I wish to finish before Lord Kardia returns.”

Unconsciously, Noi straightened her back.

“Flee from here.”

Noi’s mouth fell open.

“If you’ve nowhere to go, I’ll shelter you. I’ll take you somewhere far—beyond Lord Kardia’s reach.”

Noi tilted her head faintly, unable to see why this had become talk of fleeing.

“Even if you are a vessel beyond price, Lord Kardia is in too great a hurry. In a few years he should be calm. He and you both still have time in plenty. To Lord Kardia you will one day surely become irreplaceable—precious beyond any substitute. I can tell. All the more reason it would be a waste to lose you here.”

Noi had no idea what he was talking about.

Only a ragged whisper escaped her lips.

“…Lose me—what do you mean?”

Panselinos’s face tightened into a grimace, and he spoke in a voice heavy as lead.

“Lord Kardia means to—”

—to kill you.