The Legend of Baltia

Alpha

Antonia's POV:

"What should I do?"

This was a question I asked myself when I trained and had time to think before my sparring partner hit me, though there often wasn't time for that.

It was a question I asked myself when Armani hit on me.

It was a question I asked when playing chess with my grandmother.

It was an eternal burning question, and one I found myself asking at that precise moment, as dust flew around me and struggled to settle.

I hung my head but faced curious stares once I looked back up.

Eris' sister would be transported to the castle infirmary, and would almost certainly face danger. I could only hope my mother, father or Aiden would intervene in time.

I stood up and motioned with my two fingers for Kali to follow me.

"Wait here a second," I told the others.

They seemed about to protest but Griffin motioned for them to be silent, despite the burning questions I knew he had himself.

He seemed to trust I knew what I was doing, even though I wasn't quite sure I was. Or maybe he felt like pushing for more honesty was asking a lot.

We'd all been trained to be silent and yet there we were, forced to overshare.

This moment couldn't be one of them.

This was between Kali and I.

"We need to contact the castle," I told her.

"Who was that?" she asked and wasted no time pulling out a messenger scroll as soon as I told her.

I chose to contact my mother, as she was the best choice for this particular task.

As the queen, she could go in and out of the infirmary in a more undetected manner than if the king did it. She often went there anyway, using her herbs to help people heal.

I admired her for that and so much more.

And suddenly, reminding myself of just how powerful my mother was, I felt like everything would be alright in the castle. I could trust, I had to.

And I just had to fight my battles here.

By the time we made it back to the crew, they'd set up for the night.

A sand colored piece of fabric was raised above us, pushed towards the sky by four tall wooden spikes.

That's it.

No fire.

No blankets.

Just us, our own body heat, water and simple provisions.

The group was talking, laughing, getting more relaxed with each other to fight off the anxiety we were all feeling.

I stood on my own watching the faintest of glows in the distance.

Griffin eventually stood next to me. I knew because of his energy.

But it was stronger than normal.

One rustling sound later and I felt my heart drop as I turned to see him.

The laughter behind us quieted.

He had shifted.

His hybrid form was new to my eyes, like nothing I'd ever seen before.

It thrilled Titania like nothing had so far.

His nightmarish eyes seemed to see right through me.