The Tale of the Huntress

17. Preparations

Nova and Iridian left soon after with the child and Axius in tow. They had been given a luxurious room in the Eastern wing of the estate where she could easily access the forest to go hunting at night. It was a large and spacious room which was very kind of the family to offer though she had to share it with a stranger. Perrice had also assigned her the two maids from earlier for the duration of their stay at the estate.

"Iridian, I have a question," Nova stated and he turned to her while unpacking Robin and throwing things every which way into the room to organize. He nodded for her to go on and she cut off eye contact to brush Lilium's hair. "You said your siblings all inherited their own temples. How is it that they are all here right now? That seems too convenient." The huntress was naturally suspicious because of the way her life had unfolded and trust was hard to give for her. She hoped that it wouldn't sound too rude of her to ask but when no reply came and all shuffling on his end stopped, she glanced back. He looked completely confused and then his face whitened. Without a word, he blinked out of the room in a shine of gold and Nova instinctively gathered her daughter in her arms. Iridian had vanished in a split second with a wide eyed woman staring at the spot he had previously occupied.

"Marissia!?" Iridian shouted down the hall of the Western wing. He knew it to be the hall where all of their rooms used to be and had no doubt that she still lived there when she came to visit. A door creaked open and he rushed inside, slamming it frantically behind him. "Marissia," he wheezed before putting his hands on his knees to take a breath. Short distance teleportation was easy but wore it's user out quickly and a headache was beginning to form because of his recklessness.

"I wonder, did she figure it out or did you somehow put two and two together?" The elven woman questioned and spun around to give him a knowing look. He fiddled with his hands for a second before moving one to his hair where his fingers began to untangle his mane.

"She-she mentioned something and-"

"Well she is a very perceptive one that huntress," Marissia stated with a smile. His face paled more in response as he realized that she knew everything. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your false romance or anything. I want to help you if anything."

"Help us? But how could you-"

She rose her hand to pause his speaking and approached to pull Iridian into a hug. He returned it after a brief second of awkward tension and then she spoke. "You're going to be hunted."

"Wha-" He began to yell but she hushed him with a hand over his mouth.

"Do you want everyone to hear you idiot?" She chastised and he shut up instantly. "I saw Nova in the forest with a Nocturnus. The one ounce of Seer magic that I inherited was set off by it's power and the creature was the one that told her the same thing. Then the vision skipped ahead to when you told her of your plan to lie to mother. Clever but you'll need help to pull it off."

Iridian let out a breath of relief before slumping his head onto her shoulder. "So who really is she?" Came the very expected question. He rose his head to look into her eyes before his hand wandered back to his hair.

"She rescued my daughter from a bad situation when I left my real wife to attend to some other business," he replied, keeping as many details to himself as possible. Marissia was the most trustworthy one of the siblings but still he didn't see a reason to let her in on every secret. She picked up on it and nodded once in affirmation.

"I see. Well then I will protect you all as best I can but you need to help me. I heard that there is a whisperer and-"

"Lilium," Iridian interrupted with one word.

"What?"

"Lilium is the whisperer. She is the one that everyone is looking for so no doubt she is who the Nocturnus was concerned with," he took a raggedy breath before massaging his temple where the headache was forming. Marissia was in complete shock and the new information was spinning around in her mind trying to formulate a response. Suddenly a knock on the door interrupted their little meeting and Marissia shoved Iridian towards her closet with a strict nod. He fled to the double doors and silently closed himself in the darkness.