IV
“What’re you two doing here?”
“I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but I needed to talk to you...” Claudia peered through the crack in the door into the room. “Do you mind if we come in?”
“Sure, I guess...” Olivia replied. Ashton was looking at her searchingly. Bemused, she let the two of them in. As she did so, she noticed that Tabitha was sitting in her chair, just as she’d promised.
Once inside, Claudia cast her gaze over every corner of the room. “This is very spacious,” she said. It seemed to Olivia as though she were on watch for something.
“Who’s the servant in the corridor?”
“Apparently she’s sitting there so if I ring the bell she can come right away.”
“There? All night?” Ashton glared at the patch of wall behind which Tabitha sat.
“I guess. I did tell her she should go back to her own room and sleep...” Olivia looked at the other two. “They didn’t send someone for you?”
Ashton and Claudia both shook their heads in silence. Olivia was the only one receiving this service, then.
“They’ve really thought of everything.”
“Yeah...”
The other two both looked grim as Olivia showed them to the sofa, then sat herself down with the table in between them.
“Want something to drink?” she asked.
“I’d appreciate something warm, if you don’t mind. I’m freezing,” Claudia said, then looked over at the window. Engrossed in her thoughts, Olivia had totally failed to notice that it had started to rain.
“What about you, Ashton?”
“Oh, something warm for me too.”
“Got it.” Olivia promptly rang the bell, there was a knock at the door, and Tabitha appeared. It really was a tough job, Olivia thought.
“Lady Olivia, you called?”
“Can you bring something warm to drink for the three of us?”
“Of course, my lady. Will Mekian leygrantz do?”
“Well, I like it, so it’s fine by me...” Olivia looked over at Claudia and Ashton to confirm. They both nodded their agreement. “I guess that’s fine, then.”
“Very good, my lady. I’ll put a pot on at once.”
Olivia watched Tabitha leave, then turned back to the other two. “Is something wrong?” she asked.
“That,” Claudia replied, “is precisely the question I wanted to ask you. Did Seraph Sofitia say something to you?”
“Huh? How’d you know?” Olivia was taken completely by surprise, for the simple reason that she thought she’d acted completely normal around the others.
“Because we’ve known you long enough by now, Olivia,” Ashton said. “Colonel Claudia will tell you I’m not exactly perceptive, but even I can tell when you’re not yourself.”
Ashton looked more serious than Olivia had ever seen him. Claudia smiled dryly and nodded. Olivia’s initial surprise was fading, and happiness was bubbling up to take its place. Why, she couldn’t have said. But right now, she felt happy.
“You look pleased about something,” Ashton said dubiously.
“Yep, I am.”
“You’re so weird.”
As Ashton frowned, Claudia cleared her throat and asked, “So just what did the seraph say to you, General?”
“Well...” Olivia got no further.
“Is it something you can’t even tell us?”
For a moment, Olivia wavered on whether she ought to tell them. But in the end, she confessed that Sofitia had asked her to join the Winged Crusaders, and that she’d offered to help Olivia search for Z in exchange. Ashton and Claudia were shocked, but they listened in silence until she was finished.
“I guess you’re surprised?” Olivia had an uncharacteristically searching look in her eyes.
“Well, I knew she was scheming something,” Claudia began slowly, “but this is certainly beyond anything I expected.”
“So she wants her in the Winged Crusaders...” Ashton said. “Perfectly believable, when you consider Olivia’s military potential.” He broke off as a halting, bitter laugh burst out of him. Despite everyone lately who had lauded him as some sort of genius tactician, he hadn’t been able to deduce anything of Sofitia’s intentions. Who wouldn’t laugh at you? he thought, disgusted with himself.
“So how, ah...” Claudia began, looking down at the cup in her hand to avoid looking at Olivia. “How are you thinking of responding, General?”
Ashton of course knew how much Olivia adored Z, who had raised her like a parent. She’d also told him, long ago, that the whole reason she’d enlisted in the Royal Army was to help her find Z. It was this, he was sure, that made Claudia too afraid to look Olivia in the eye and ask. Ashton felt the same way himself.
Olivia was silent for a long time. At last, she smiled unhappily at them. Had she already decided to join the Winged Crusaders? From that smile, it was impossible to tell.
I never even imagined that she’d come at us from this angle... Monarch or not, Ashton had been prepared to do whatever it took to stand in her way if Sofitia had seemed like she might try to do Olivia harm. But really, she was after something else.
Though it was only to bribe Olivia into joining the Winged Crusaders, Sofitia was offering Olivia help. The greatest error Ashton had made in his calculations was to underestimate the depths of Olivia’s devotion to Z. Sofitia had done no such thing.
The result was that now, the Royal Army was going to lose Olivia—Ashton was going to lose her. How could you have gotten this so wrong, you colossal moron? Olivia had always been there at his side, and he had simply assumed that she always would be. But that had never been anything more than an illusion.
Ashton was unable to bring himself to be the next to speak, and sat in silence.
Then, Claudia, her face drawn tight in a pained expression, faced Olivia and bowed her head low.
“General, I never realized the true depths of your feelings,” she said. “I have failed as your aide.” That sounded to Ashton like Claudia had arrived at the same conclusion as himself.
Olivia stared at Claudia, who didn’t rise from her bow. She looked shaken.
“Z was always my problem to deal with. There’s no reason you should worry about it,” she said.
“No, General. Personal matter or not, after you’ve done so much in service of the Royal Army, I could have mobilized our intelligence division to search for Z. Instead, I was focused solely on discipline and order...” Claudia’s voice caught, and she broke off, her eyes shining.
Ashton was thrown entirely off guard by the sight of Claudia in such a vulnerable state, but Olivia’s reaction eclipsed his entirely. Stammering nervously, she tugged a pink handkerchief out of her pocket and started dabbing at Claudia’s eyes.
“I’m sorry...” Claudia said.
“N-No, don’t be!” Olivia replied in a slightly hysterical tone, fervently rubbing Claudia’s back.
Ashton waited until Claudia had regained her composure before asking, “Couldn’t you try to ask them now?”
Claudia shook her head. “Right now, everyone in Fernest is committed to carrying out the Twin Lions at Dawn strategy...”
“So it’s impossible? But if you explained the situation to Field Marshal Cornelius, or General Paul, surely they’d lend us a hand?”
The outcome of the war wasn’t going to be decided by Olivia alone. Having said that, Ashton knew that without Olivia, the Royal Army would never have been able to regain as much ground as it had. Paul doted on Olivia as though she were his own grandchild. He’d never sit back and do nothing if he knew about this.
“Like I said,” Claudia replied, “everyone is committed. That includes everyone in the intelligence division.”
“But—”
“Besides, Ashton, you must have heard of the owls. Mekia’s master intelligence agents. They’re supposed to outclass even the empire’s shimmers when it comes to getting their hands on information.” Claudia said nothing more. It was clear that she didn’t believe the Royal Army’s intelligence division to be any match for the owls, even if they could have relied on its assistance.
Which means we have nothing to make Olivia stay. We’ve exhausted all our options. Ashton looked over at the grandfather clock that reached almost to the ceiling and saw that it was almost midnight. Olivia didn’t say a word, and without her usual exuberance, the room felt forlorn and empty. Wasting away the hours like this isn’t going to make Olivia change her mind, he thought. He was afraid to ask, but unless he did, they couldn’t move forward.
Ashton looked Olivia straight in the eyes and gave voice to the question neither of them had been able to speak.
“Olivia, are you going to join the Winged Crusaders?”
Olivia took a moment, then, worrying at the ends of her hair, said, “I’m still not sure. Z is important to me, but...” She trailed off. The sound of the rain lashing the window panes was deafening to Ashton. Beside him, Claudia leaned in to catch every word. He exerted all his patience in waiting. Then, at last, as though time had resumed its flow, Olivia’s lips moved once more. “But you’re important to me too, Ashton.”
“What...?” At this unexpected declaration, Ashton felt his heart start to race.
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