I might not have been close to Nethissis, but her loss caused me so much grief. We protected one another in this crew, and when a team member perished, I couldn’t help but feel partially responsible. Maybe I could’ve done more to make sure she came back to us alive… but what could I have done?
In the end, the cruel reality stared us right in the face.
We’d lost Nethissis, and we had to find out what had really happened. Despite Corbin and even Valaine’s knowledge about the phillim foxes on palace grounds, I still found it hard to believe that Nethissis would’ve gotten herself killed like that.
I’d seen her in snake form before. She was fierce and deadly. I doubted a fox, even a venomous, alien one, could take her down. The dead fox didn’t do anything to soothe me, either. In fact, it reeked of staging—as in, a staged crime scene, with the creature left there to basically provide us with what the culprits must’ve thought was a reasonable explanation. Only, they didn’t know Nethissis as well as us. Otherwise, they would’ve gone about things differently.
The more I thought about all this, the angrier I got.
Telling Lumi had not been an easy feat. Derek had been the one to do it on our comms channel, and I could still hear her crying, her pain surging through me like a forest blaze, burning and destroying everything in its path. I’d listened to her being given the official explanation while watching Amal oversee the process of removing Nethissis’s body from the garden.
She’d had Nethissis and the phillim fox taken to one of the study rooms so she could perform a proper, in-depth analysis. None of the Aeternae had protested, but it had been obvious that they weren’t comfortable with it.
Derek and Sofia had spent the better part of the hour after the discovery talking to the golden guards, kindly assisted by Corbin himself. Kalon checked every single speck of dirt around the flower bush, while Valaine called for all the gardeners to be rounded up later for interviews.
My heart ached, but I had to admit, the Aeternae weren’t giving me much reason to doubt them. Well, at least not all of them. There had to be at least one among their ranks who bore responsibility for this heinous crime, and I’d just made it my mission to find out who it was.
Petra and Zoltan kept a certain distance from the scene, occasionally exchanging glances and short words. They watched me while I spoke to Lumi.
“I don’t believe a fox would’ve killed Nethissis,” the swamp witch finally said after a long and heavy pause. “I just don’t.”
“I’m with you there,” I replied, while my gaze wandered across the garden.
Its lushness and beauty no longer appealed to me. The red and orange blossoms no longer made my heart flutter. The smell of freshly cut grass no longer made me want to smile. I would forever associate this place with the murder of Nethissis…
“Do any of them seem deceitful to you?” she asked.
“You mean, among the Aeternae? Honestly, no. In the absence of hard, opposing evidence, I can’t really blame them for actually buying the phillim fox angle. They didn’t know Nethi like we did,” I replied. “Hell, in their minds, anyone who isn’t an Aeternae is somewhat inferior. Death by venomous critter isn’t exactly abnormal in these parts.”
“But someone did this to her, Esme. Someone conspired and got to her.”
“Yes. And I promise you, I’ll find out who’s behind this. I doubt we’ll get much help from the Aeternae, though. This is a diplomatic mess, and they will not take kindly to having one of their own accused of murder,” I said.
“You know, she didn’t have any family,” Lumi replied, her voice uneven.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I tried to picture Nethissis as a child, with copper-red hair and curious yellow eyes. “What happened to them?”
“Her mother died. She never knew her father.” Lumi sighed. “It was during a time when the Lamias and the Druids didn’t exactly get along.”
I felt sorry for Nethissis. She didn’t have anyone to bury her. “She’s got plenty of people who will mourn for her, though,” I said, thinking out loud. “Amal will preserve her body. We’ll bring her home to Calliope. We’ll bury her there, where she belongs.”
“Before that happens, I need you to dig deep into that world. Turn over every damn pebble, if you have to, Esme.”
“I will. I promise you, Lumi: Nethissis will be avenged.”
“I’ll speak to Taeral, in the meantime. Maybe he still has some Reaper connections he hasn’t told us about. Or maybe he can reach out to one of them,” Lumi said, her tone dropping to ice-cold levels. “One of Death’s people can go to Visio and find out what happened. Someone must’ve reaped her by now.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Perhaps we can get some answers.”
It pained me to hear Lumi like this, but I knew it was her way of coping. She had a tendency to detach herself from a situation in order to look at it from the outside, with a clear head. I wasn’t sure she’d be able to pull it off this time, but she was definitely trying. Her focus on speaking with Taeral seemed like the best she could do, given the circumstances.
I watched quietly as the golden guards placed Nethissis’s body on a gurney and carried her into the palace. Amal, Derek, and Sofia followed them, forming a quiet procession through the garden.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about what happened,” Kalon said, coming closer. He seemed cautious in his approach, as if fearing an outburst on my part—not that he was wrong. I was a bomb waiting to explode at this point.
I briefly glanced at him, noticing the warmth in his otherwise cold blue eyes. “Thank you,” I whispered. Behind him, Valaine and Tristan exchanged opinions and scenarios, neither of them convinced that Nethissis’s death had been an accident. At least I wasn’t the only one in our crew thinking that—though Amal had already voiced her own suspicions about this.
Petra, Corbin, and Zoltan made their way back inside the palace. I kept my gaze fixed on them, temporarily hypnotized by the shimmering folds of black velvet that poured down Petra’s back, undulating like a stream under the midnight moon.
“I know you can’t be convinced that what happened to Nethissis was an accident,” Kalon said slowly. “And I don’t wish to change your mind. I trust your instincts. You knew Nethissis better than any of us.”
I looked at him, surprised by his softness and his sincerity. After all the back-and-forths we’d had, I would’ve expected a darker, perhaps more mysterious version of him to present itself, but… Kalon was genuine in his remarks. I needed that. Badly.
“You do realize we’re going to investigate this?” I asked.
He shrugged. “You do what you have to do. But you can count on me, Esme. I’ll support your every endeavor, until the truth comes to light. You must be willing to accept said truth, though, regardless of where it leads you.”
The intensity of his stare made my skin tingle. There was kindness in his half-smile. Compassion. Emotions I had yet to observe in him. “Whatever the truth may reveal, I will accept it. I’m not looking to be reckless or to stir some kind of conflict with your people. That’s not what this is about,” I said. “I simply believe, with all my heart, that Nethissis was murdered. For what? I’m not sure. But I do know she was out exploring, in snake form. She did that when she didn’t want to draw any attention.”
I embellished the truth a little bit. Kalon didn’t need to know exactly what Nethissis had been up to when she’d gotten attacked. He didn’t need to know we’d been sneaking around, invisible, trying to see if they were all keeping secrets from us.
“You think she saw something she shouldn’t have?” Kalon asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
“I cannot exclude that possibility.”
Tristan walked up to us, joined by Valaine. “Derek and Sofia have given us full authority to investigate,” he said.
“And my father has authorized me to assist you with whatever resources we can spare,” Valaine added. “Whatever happened to your friend, we’ll figure it out.”
