The Princess of Light and The Knight of Shadow

Homecoming

The towering spires, the white walls that gleamed even in dusk, and the sweeping fragrant gardens were just as Estella had remembered since she left three years ago.

She inhaled the fresh scent of flowers, then grabbed her bag and strode to the bronze entrance, a pair of doors twelve feet high. A dozen guards stood at attention, hundreds more on the walls and the palace grounds, but none gave her a passing glance save for the guard captain escorting her to the entrance.

Nothing new, Estella thought in amusement. And honestly, she preferred it that way. Grand welcome parties were overrated anyways.

The hall was silent after the soft boom of the doors as they closed. She looked around, but no one was in sight—not even a maid. She stood alone on a marble floor polished so bright that it was almost painful to look at, her only companion the line of statues behind tall pillars.

"Well, are you just going to stand there like one of our ancestors' boring statues?"

The voice echoed in the vast chamber, and Estella grinned as she glanced up the broad staircase in the middle. At the top stood Lucia, hands on her hips, a very unladylike gesture for a Crown Princess.

She descended the stairs with deliberate slowness, her golden locks almost glowing in the light cast by the chandeliers. Estella watched until only a few feet separated them and bowed, her eyes never leaving her elder sister. "I'm back, my Queen."

Luciana saluted in the fashion of the Royal Army. "Welcome back, High General."

Luciana's lips twitched, and Estella kept her face neutral despite her own bubbling mirth. It was a running joke between them, born out of their respective dreams.

It was Estella who broke first, a grin splitting her face. Soon their laughter filled the chamber. Estella dropped her bag and engulfed her sister in a tight embrace. "I've missed you, Lucy."

"And I've missed you so much, Ella."

They separated a moment later. Luciana was taller than she, more elegant, but with steel in her that Estella knew would have a place in a battlefield if she had been allowed to.

"You seem lively," Luciana noted.

"You mean I've never been lively?"

"You are. But you look livelier. And lovelier."

Estella arched an eyebrow at the way Luciana was grinning. She had sent monthly letters, but she made sure to keep most of her school life a private matter, only telling her family the bare minimum of information.

Her sister's expression, then, was suspicious. "I'm just happy to be back," she said.

Luciana's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Oh? Isn't it because of your Squire?"

Of course she knew about it. Estella sighed. "Let me guess. Aldros told you?" It was no secret that Luciana had been exchanging letters with him; they had known each other before Estella had even befriended him.

"Our friend was most reliable." She glanced around furtively, an odd action considering the emptiness of the hall, then leaned forward and whispered, "Was he good?"

What? Estella blinked in confusion even though a part of her mind already had an inkling of what her sister meant. "As a Squire? Of course! I was even commended for training him and I got an award."

Luciana's grin spread wider. "Come on, Ella. You know what I mean."

"I don't," Estella firmly said despite her futile attempt to remember that night with Nox. She could still feel the scorching kisses that was forever burned in her skin, the way her throat had gone almost raw from the emotions pouring from it, the traces of his tongue in her—