Cordia (Final Fantasy XV fanfiction)

Chapter VII

Well here's that chapter I forgot. Oops.

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Cordia took in a breath, her hand shakily reaching for the door handle. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she slowly eased it down and pushed the door forwards.

She immediately regretted stepping inside. There was shouting in the study, namely Noctis', and she very much wanted to turn around straight away and leave. She felt like she was intruding- no one else was present in the expansive room, but King Regis and his son. 

"Lower your voice and speak to me properly, boy, or I swear-" Regis began, but he cut himself short. His eyes landed on her, specifically pinpointing her in the darkness, and she almost jumped. "We have company, Noctis. Behave."

Even from here, she heard his growl.

"Cordia? You can come forward, now."

At the sound of her name, Noctis had an instant reaction. He turned, to check, and then as soon as she stepped out of the darkness in the far corners of the room, his jaw set, and he headed straight for her. Except, he continued straight past her, and right out the door.

When the heavy doors slammed behind him, Regis sighed.

"That... That wasn't my fault, was it?" she asked nervously, slowly stepping forwards. "Because I lied to him?"

"You didn't lie, Cordia," Regis reassured, "You did what I asked, and you did it well. My son simply feels a little betrayed because he wasn't let in on the big secret."

"He sounded quite angry," she mumbled, "Maybe we should have told him."

"That would have only increased the chance of him rejecting you when he reached the age where he could choose," he said with a sigh, "My son has the ego of fifteen elephants, maybe more. If I had of told him that his maid was a final line of defence, he would have disowned me and never spoke to me again."

Cordia found herself letting out a small laugh. Regis joined her, until their laugher died out into silence, and Cordia felt her worry building up again.

Regis looked up at her. "What is the matter, Cordia? There's something you want to ask me."

Of course he already knew. Even if he didn't know exactly what question she wanted to ask, the fact that he could tell she had one to ask had always been something about him.

"Well..." she began, twisting her hands together. "I was wondering if... Well... Do you have any idea who could have sent those gifts to me?"

"You mean to ask me about the lance specifically, I hope," he joked, "For I don't think I could do much to discover the origins of a collection of flowers."

"There is that, as well," she admitted, genuinely serious, "None of those flowers are like any I've seen before."

She saw Regis' face curl into a frown from where she stood. He hummed in thought, before gesturing her forwards.

"Let us see this weapon, Cordia. I might be able to recognise some quirk or some similar marking."

"That's the thing, your majesty," she mumbled. How on earth would she explain this? "I... I don't know where it is."

"You've lost it?"

"No! No, of course not, it's just that..." Cordia let out a sigh, "Noctis said I... Inherited it, somehow."

"Ah." Regis chuckled, "It's not as worrying as I'd thought, then. Watch me."

She did, eyes trained on him as he lifted a hand to the side, casually, almost, till it was high enough that it could reach at least a foot away from his body. She wasn't really sure what happened next, since the sudden clamour broke the silence in the study and made her jump out of her skin. It sounded like dozens of crystals were shattering, and then meshing back together again, the light of them visible but not truly there, before Regis took a grip, and in his hand, he held a sword.