Chapter 6

A loud sound at her door woke her up, but she refused to open her eyes yet. Her body felt weak, as if its whole energy had been drained. The inside of her mouth tasted disgusting, and for the first time in her life her stomach told her to decline any sorts of sweets.

"Edea, get out of bed. Now!" A merciless someone ripped the curtains beneath her bed open.

"Please no", she murmured and tried to hide her face underneath her pillow. The swift movement sent a stinging pain through her head, and it didn't get better when the pillow was taken away from her.

"If you stay awake for too long, you have to bear the consequences. You are my daughter, one day you will have to represent the duchy of Eternia. I won't allow you to sleep until noon. I hope travelling around with your homeless friends did not change anything about your good education."

They were not homeless, Edea wanted to object, but her headache got worse and worse.

"I am sick", she told her father.

"You haven't been sick for years."

"Well, now I am, thanks for the concern." Her voice sounded awfully rough, and talking didn't really help easing the pain.

"Whatever it is that caused your sickness", Braev Lee said before leaving her room, "I hope you will avoid it in the future." One last, criticising look and he was gone.

You can bet on it, she bitterly thought before rolling herself out of bed. When she got out of her clothes, memories of the previous evening came rushing back at her.

"Oh god, why?" She buried her face in her hands. She couldn't remember every single word but had vivid pieces of her last conversation infront of her eyes. Self-pity and regrets surrounded her until another knock on the door ripped her out of it. She angrily shouted: "Can you please stop the big noise? It hurts."

"Sorry, I should have thought of that." The least person she wanted to see strolled into her room. Luckily she had managed to wrap her blanked around her body fast enough.

"You also should have thought about not walking into a lady's room without permission", she growled, then she furrowed her brows at the sight of Ringabel being in his Dark Knight armor, helmet in his hands. "Why are you wearing this?"

"I like the asterisk, it is pretty strong. Anyway, I wanted to bid farewell to you."

"Wow. You won't go without telling anyone this time. That's incredible." Her headache made her really angry, plus she didn't want Ringabel to think she liked him or something. But then the meanings of his words reached her. "Wait. Where are you going?"

"To Florem, but no worries, I won't be gone for too long. You can invite me into your bed soon again."

"I didn't invite you into my bed!" She clenched her fists. "More importantly, why do you leave? Father just came back from Florem."

"That is exactly why they sent him a note, asking for help. Rumours about women misteriously disappearing from the streets of Florem are spreading, and the Matriarch asked the Grand Marshal to help investigating the issue."

"This sounds like Fiore DeRosa has a hand in it, but it can't be. The Bloodrose Legion is gone ...", Edea mused, pulling the blanket closer to her body. Thinking about the creepy, red man and his sick techniques made her shiver. "When do we leave?"

"We?", Ringabel asked, looking uncomfortable."I fear I will go alone. I won't be in danger if only women are the targets, but you won't be safe in Florem."

"Seriously?" If it weren't for her missing clothes, she would have jumped up in anger. "I helped you before in a similar matter. You can't and you won't make me stay."

"It wasn't me who decided this", he answered, sounding too much like Alternis. "It was your father's instruction. I'll be gone in half an hour; the airship is already waiting at the back of Central Command." He gave her a strange look, then left her room.

Half an hour, she thought, forgetting about her hangover. There wasn't much time left, but she somehow managed to pack her things. Thanks to an asterisk she quickly changed into the spellfencer's outfit and dashed through Central Command's corridors without being seen by anyone.

The airship, looking like a smaller version of the Eschalot, was standing on snowy ground, unguarded. Cold wind blew around the thin fabrics that covered Edea's legs. She shivered, then made a run for the airship.

Only when she felt that the ship was finally liftig up into the air, she dared to leave her hiding place in the stockroom where she was covered by bags full of potatoes and corn.

"I knew you'd come", Ringabel smiled when she climbed on deck and moved towards the wheel from where he was navigating the ship.

"I won't let anyone exclude me from adventures like this", she declared, putting her hands to her hips. The cold wind made it hard for her to keep her stubborn posture.

"Aren't you cold?", he asked as if reading her mind.

"No", she lied. "And you? You are not mad about me hiding below deck?"

"Mad? If anything, I am quite happy about being able to enjoy your lovely company. If the Grand Marshal thinks he can lock you up, he doesn't know you very well. But I couldn't say that back at Grand Central. Your father would have me thrown out of his house for putting you up to go against his orders."

"I hope he won't be too angry at me", she sighed. The cold air made her shiver.

"Go to the sleeping cabin, it's much warmer there", he suggested. "You'll notice when we reach Florem, and you'll have more time to admire me and my awesome looks in the capital."

Just because you enjoy my presence doesn't mean I enjoy yours, perv, she thought and went to hide from the cold inside of the airship.