Reign of Embers

Chapter 21 - Crazy cat lord

Elide

1 week later

It's been weird here in Orythn since we said goodbye to some of our friends a few days ago, but it's not an unusual occurrence for members of our court to have to leave for a bit, even while taking a break from their usual lives . Lysandra should of reached the ghost leopards and be well on her way to finding out the source of their disappearance, Dorian should be in Ardalan, Manon should be in the wastes, Fenrys and Lorcan will be on their way around Terassen performing their respective jobs.

After Locan left, I did some baking with all the kids to help clear our minds. It was a complete mess, and the kitchen looked like a battle ground, but it was great fun. Although most of us are still here in Orynth, we hardly ever see each other as we are always busy helping run the kingdom and prepare for any future attacks that may occur, or looking after and training the children. I have been making sure that all the citizens are aware of the threat and ensuring they know what to do if they see anything suspicious. As well as this I have been entertaining the kids whenever possible as lots of them have parents on missions.

So far nothing much has happened to cause suspicion other than animals being found dead in the same state that Josie described her guard in, but people still report small things that would usually be dismissed. Right now I'm in the royal study, Aelin is sat behind her huge oak wood desk with gold embellishments in traditional Terrasen styles. Rowan is perched on the corner of his mate's desk, and just past him you can see through glass doors that lead off into his equally as luxurious adjoining study. Behind me is a huge window framed in gold that looks out onto the town below, the florine river glittering in the distance. The walls are painted white with gold framed paintings and artwork scattered around the room. In front of Aelin's desk are two green velvet sofas that are designed to look formal yet welcoming. I'm sat on one of these sofas with Aedion, Yrene and Chaol on the other.

"So we are no closer to discovering...well anything." Aelin sighs, slouching back in her grand chair.

" Excuse me cousin but we know that people seem to be losing their cats. " Aedion jokes.

The only thing that has been reported are that lots of cats are going missing. We've had this from lots of people, yet we have no clue whether or not this has anything to do with the shadow creatures seeing as none have yet been found dead.

"It's been a week since Lysandra and the others left and we have discovered absolutely nothing new. Nothing at all other than that the cats don't like Orythn anymore, and seem to be slowly disappearing. And that helps us with what exactly?" She snaps back.

" Ummm our mystery shadow Lord likes cats? " I suggest, half joking.

"How do we know it's even related. How do we know that all the cats aren't leaving because some random fae creature in the South has enchanted them?" Yrene points out. Me, Aelin and Yrene giggle at this.

" Hang on Elide... Did you say 'shadow lord'? " Rowan asks

"Yes? Well I just kind of assumed that these creatures have to come from somewhere, they can't just appear. It's like the valg, they had to be summoned by someone who usually had some form of power or reason to want power." I reply cautiously .

"That's a good point actually, why didn't we think of that sooner? We were so focused on figuring out what the creatures are and where they came from, that we never stopped to consider why they are here in the first place, and how they came to be here." Aelin admits.

" Ok so now we have a 'shadow lord' who's obsessed with cats? " Aedion says laughing. "Doesn't sound like a very formidable enemy."

"All I can think of now is a creepy dude covered in shadows surrounded by hundreds of adoring kittens." Aelin replies, we all start laughing.

"Now add in some of those shadow creatures looming in the background looking very sad and left out." Yrene contributes.

" No, even better, the shadow creatures playing with the cats with very happy faces, while the shadow Lord sulks in the middle trying to be very annoyed, but looks more like a toddler having a tantrum." I suggest.

"Put a cat on their head and it's perfect." Aelin gasps out.

"A cat in a bowtie!" I squeal excitedly.

"A glittery gold bowtie!" Yrene squeals back.

By this point we are all doubled over clutching our stomachs from laughing so much. Aedion, Rowan, and Chaol look on with confused looks on their faces, and those faces make us laugh even more.

After ages of laughter, not helped by the fact that a servant came in with yet another missing cat report, we all manage to settle down.

"Where's Evangeline?" Rowan asks.

" I think she's in town with her friends or something, I obviously made her promise to not do anything stupid and report any mysterious activity. " Aedion replies, blatantly worried about his adopted daughter going out and sad about her no longer being a child, even if it has been 4 years.

"Cool. I was just wondering because she usually likes to be in these meetings."

"Yeah she was going to but she hasn't seen them in a while." He says shrugging .

"I was wondering if we should offer the children of Orynth to come and join the kids training sessions. Our children will make friends, there will be more in each age group so they can test their abilities, and they can all compete in the competition. " I suggest.

"I think that's a brilliant idea. I'm guessing you'd like to help run and organise them? " Aelin replies.

"Yes that would be good. I can start advertising it after this."

"No need to wait, we can start now, I have a book including all the households, so we can see where there are children, and we can make a formal announcement this evening when we have the weekly summit for citizens to submit any complaints."

"Cool."

"Feel free to do whatever, me and Elide are going to do some advertisement... And shopping. Yrene are you coming? " Aelin states, standing up and placing her hands on her slightly swollen belly.

"Always." Yrene relies grinning.

After swift farewells we head off to find this book of citizens.