The dim light of street nterns flickered as the gentle night breeze swept through the streets. With the curfew in pce, the streets of Lucetta emptied, the bustling sounds of its citizens everyday hurdles repced by the rhythmic click of military boots of the guards.

  Caius sighed heavily and shook his head to his own thoughts.

  "Are you alright? You’ve been sighing all evening," Valeria walking next to him gave him a side eye.

  "Oh. I’m sorry, Commander… I just can’t believe that idiot just ran away without talking to anyone," his jaw clenched under the repressed frustration. "Pure imbecile."

  Valeria quickly figured out that the subject of Caius’ anger must’ve been Felix.

  From what she knew, both of them came from simir environments and circumstances, so it didn’t take long for them to became friends.

  Caius, despite being slightly older, was always following Felix’s lead, and he would always end up just a step behind on all of the training curriculum. Always just a step.

  At first, Valeria offered him a help in fixing his weak spots, seeing that the boy clearly had a knack for swordsmanship and leadership. To her surprise, he refused every time.

  It was only then that she realized that his weaknesses didn’t come from inadequate training, but were intentional instead.

  Caius simply chose to stay behind Felix and let him shine.

  "We don’t know exactly what happened. Maybe he had his reasons," Valeria didn’t want to say it to not worsen his worries, but there was a part of her that felt that Felix was in danger. Being completely out of any leads, however, there wasn’t much she could do.

  The best option she had, was to ask Captain Abner to be on a look out for him.

  "But why wouldn’t he come to us," Caius couldn’t let go. "He said I’m like a brother to him. You’d think that meant something. You’d think that would mean he would come to me first, if he was in some kind of trouble." He gritted his teeth. "He better not turn up dead in one of the alleys or I’ll kill him myself."

  A silence befell them once more, as each of them tried to stifle the bad feeling sprouting in their hearts.

  After a while, Caius spoke again, this time changing the subject to a much lighter matter.

  "How about you, Commander?" he asked. "How are things going with… erm… Her Highness?"

  With Oriana being mentioned out of the blue, Valeria didn’t have the time to properly keep her face straight. The corner of her lips twitched ever so slightly, and that alone was quite telling from Caius’ perspective.

  Valeria quickly forced herself into the same old unreadable expression she always wore.

  "I have no idea what you’re talking about," she answered nonchantly.

  Sure you don’t, he thought.

  "Well… you looked quite giddy when you left the Princess’ chambers today. I thought maybe there was some progress…" her companion clearly wasn’t pnning to let go of this subject easily.

  "It’s… She… I…" Valeria, shockingly, fumbled for words. "We know each other for a long time. It’s natural that we are on a friendly terms."

  Caius raised his eyebrows at the unexpected reaction coming from usually stoic and seemingly emotionless Commander.

  "Friendly? Then I guess you should tell that to the Princess, Commander, because she clearly has a different idea about the nature of your retionship."

  Valeria was taken aback by this sudden statement.

  "What do you mean? What different nature?"

  Caius looked at her in disbelief.

  "You really didn’t notice, did you?" He asked.

  "Notice what?"

  "That she fancies you, Commander."

  Valeria wasn’t sure what to say.

  Did she notice how Oriana reacts to her sometimes? The sudden blush, eyes cast down, sudden inability to find the right words… She noticed, of course she did.

  That being said, the Commander never thought about this anything other than just the Princess being the Princess. Because, this is how she acted around her since as far as she could remember.

  "Could it be that she really has feelings for me?" Valeria wondered out loud.

  Caius snorted.

  "Seriously, Commander. Everyone in the Pace knows that. At this point you’re simply refusing to see it."

  The two of them continued their patrol in silence for a good while. At some point, however, they noticed a distant sound of footsteps following them.

  Every time they turned around there was nobody there and the sound stopped, but the moment they resumed their walk, it returned.

  They tried taking different turns, speeding up, slowing down, but the footsteps seemed to never leave them.

  After yet another turn, Valeria and Caius found themselves in the in the warehouse district. The area where the most victims of recent attacks were found.

  That’s when they noticed that the footsteps getting louder, closer.

  Click. Click. Click. The steps resounded in the dead of night on the cobblestone.

  Valeria and Caius exchanged looks, hands wrapping around the handle of their sabers.

  Click.

  Click.

  "Stop right there!" They snapped around, the bdes stopping mere inches from a stranger’s face.

  "Oh, by the Ten!" The person forced themselves to stop mid-stride, their head recoiling backwards to avoid being impaled on the unsheathed sabers right in front of them.

  The force of the motion caused the hood covering the stranger to slid down, revealing a young woman under it.

  "Who are you? Why are you following us?" Caius yelled, the bde in his hand unwavering.

  The woman… completely ignored him.

  Her gaze focused on the Commander, as if she was the only person around.

  "Are you Commander Valeria of the Golden Pace?" She asked, her green eyes wide open, filled with a mixture of hope and desperation.

  "That’s me. Who’s asking?"

  "Oh, oh thank the Ten! I finally found you!" The woman squealed, then took a deep breath to compose herself and expined. "My name is Emily, I’m Felix’s fiancée."

  "What were you thinking following us like that. We could’ve hurt you on accident," Caius scolded the woman, still shaken by being sneaked upon. Though he didn’t want to admit that out loud.

  "I’m so sorry, I just wasn’t sure if I had the right person. With the curfew I was afraid of approaching before I was certain in case I get arrested," Emily expined, nervously gncing between Caius and the Commander, sitting on the sofa in front of her.

  After her shocking admission, the three of them decided to relocate so they can have a proper conversation. As it happened Emily’s house was nearby, so she invited the two of them in.

  "You said you are Felix’s fiancée?" Valeria asked.

  The woman nodded.

  "Yes. We were pnning to get married once Felix saves enough money…"

  "How come he never told us about it? I’m his best friend and he always greatly respected the Commander, so there was no reason to be hiding it," Caius inquired. The thought that Felix didn’t want to share something so big with him, clearly weighted on him.

  "I was telling him, that we don’t have to hide it, that he should tell his close ones about us… But Felix…" Emily shifted in her seat, as she was looking for the right words. "He experienced a lot of things in life. Mostly bad things. He didn’t want to tell anyone about us, because he was afraid he would jinx it." She cast her gaze down to the mug with a hot tea she was holding, squeezing it as if the heat could somehow make everything better. "He’s such a dummy sometimes…"

  "Why were you looking for me?" Valeria asked. So far, nothing what the woman said shed any light on why could she want from her.

  "I was hoping that you know where he is. A few days ago he told me you assigned some task to him and he may be busy because of that. But it’s been days and he never came to me, didn’t even leave a message. I… I don’t know what is happening." Emily looked at Valeria with pleading eyes. "Please, do you know where Felix is?"

  The guilt shook the Commander’s heart even though she didn’t let it show. It was her, who gave him a task that got him into so much trouble. Even worse, a task that may ultimately cost him his life.

  She took a deep breath and begun expining to Emily everything that happened and everything she managed to learn. Seeing the tears welling up in the woman’s eyes made her feel even worse.

  "He’s missing?!" Emily jolted from her seat and started pacing around the room, trying to put everything she heard from the Commander in order.

  "Yes. To be honest, I was hoping you had any ideas where he could’ve gone?" Valeria admitted. Since both her and Caius were just now learning about Felix having someone so close in his life, chances were that Emily knew more than them.

  "No… I mean, the only people he ever talked about was you, Commander, and Caius." The woman tried to recall anything that Felix could’ve said that could be any lead, but her mind was flooded with the disturbing thoughts of what fate could’ve befallen her lover. "What if… What if he’ll get attacked like those other people? What if something happens to him? What if he never comes back?!"

  Seeing that Emily was spiraling into a panic attack, Valeria quickly approached her and tried calming her down.

  "Felix is very capable. He can defend himself. And I asked Captain Abner of the City Guard to look for him. The whole city is looking for him. We will find him sooner or ter."

  Heavy tears rolled down Emily’s cheeks. The pain in her heart was unbearable.

  "Please, Commander, promise me you’ll do everything you can to find him. Please… I don’t know how I’m supposed to live without him," she begged.

  Valeria’s gaze softened, her voice filled with remorse and guilt and honesty.

  "I promise."

  The Commander and Caius stayed with Emily for a short while longer, until she was calm again.

  Before leaving Valeria instructed her to make sure to only ever talk to her or Caius in case she has any new information regarding Felix. With what she learned earlier, she didn’t want to risk the information being lost again, just like it happened with the attacks.

  Until she found whoever was responsible for not reying the information, she fully intended to personally receive anyone who had any messages about the current case or Felix. It was the only thing she could do at a moment, and while it lowered the risk of missing on important information, it didn’t do anything to dispel the foreboding feeling in her heart.

  With every day, she felt like there are less and less people at the Pace she could trust.

  However, there was one person—aside from her sister—she had complete faith in.

  Oriana.