Chapter Text
There was someone in the house.
This was odd because Aelwyn had gone 'to study' or whatever dumb excuse she had this time to go party until she stunk of alcohol and sex. Mother and Father never seeming to notice.
Mother and Father had also left, a few dozen minutes ago. Rushing out of the house after a rather frantic sounding phone call.
They hadn't bothered telling Adaine what was going on, of course. No one ever bothered telling Adaine anything.
But now Adaine could hear someone moving around outside her door, near Aelwyn's room, and a quick glance outside confirmed that neither her parents' nor Aelwyn's car was outside. Though there was a... flaming motorcycle.
Okay, so a lone biker decided to come and rob her house while it was empty? Or, since it was coming from her room, maybe one of Aelwyn's 'friends' had decided to come steal her underwear or something else disgusting. Either way it certainly wasn't Adaine's problem.
Unless the intruder broke something, made a mess. Adaine would certainly get blamed for it, any evidence of a break in dismissed.
...fuck.
Adaine threw her bedroom door open, a spell ready at her fingertips. "What the fuck are you doing in my house?"
The intruders, two of them, froze. They were two teenage boys, a half elf and a goblin. Adaine's face screwed up in disgust. Looked like her second theory was correct.
"I thought you said no one was home!" The half elf boy snapped at the goblin, his hand hovering over his sword handle, as if unsure if he should grab it or not. Aguefort students then, it had to be.
"I didn't think anyone else lived here," the goblin defended himself. He was holding something, not Aelwyn's undergarments as Adaine would have guessed. Instead it was her spell book, open to a page that Adaine recognized as Aelwyn's attempts to engineer her own spells. This one was labeled Detect Maidens and right next to it was extensive notes on the Modify Memory spell.
Ew. What was Aelwyn doing with spells like that ?
Ignoring that for a moment Adaine snorted and raised her hand threateningly. "Yes, despite how much my parents would love it to not be true they do indeed have two daughters. Now what are you doing here?"
The boys glanced at each other for a beat before the half elf blurted out, "your sister's been arrested."
The magic in Adaine's hand snuffed out as her mind felt like it skipped a track. "W-what?"
"It's true." The goblin took a step forward, looking up at Adaine cautiously. "She's been kidnapping girls. Or helping someone kidnap girls. We caught her in the act today but came here to find more clues. We don't know where the rest are being kept."
The boys were tense, watching her wearily, obviously unsure if Adaine was about to turn on them for finding out one of her family member's secrets. Maybe she too was in on it for all they knew.
"Yes!" Adaine cried, pumping a fist in celebration. "Oh I knew it! I knew she was up to something, that bitch. No one ever believed me but she's been so suspicious lately. And now she's... HA! Take that you stupid golden child."
Both boys watched as Adaine jumped around in excitement, uncaring about her audience.
"Well," the half-elf said with a chuckle, " not the reaction I was expecting."
"I hate her so much," Adaine told him with a beam, "her getting arrested is sweet poetic justice."
"Will you help us then?" The goblin asked, wide eyes eager as he took another step forward, holding out the spell book to her. "The girls would be in crystal palimpsests. If you've seen anything like that..."
Adaine's joy at finally finally having Aelwyn be in trouble for once dimmed slightly at the desperation in the boy's voice. "No, I haven't seen anything like that, though Aelwyn doesn't let me go in her room. And this..." She reached out and brushed a hand across the pages, brow furrowed at the spell and the lingering traces of her sister's magic around the ink. A sure sign Aelwyn had cast from it, and recently. "Whatever spell this was, it's already done. It would probably be good evidence for the police but no way to track who she used it on, unfortunately."
The goblin nodded, obviously disappointed, and Adaine genuinely felt bad she couldn't help him more.
"Look," she started, chewing on her lip in thought, "take the spell book. And whatever else you need. I'll clean up after so it's like you were never here.”
”Why would you help us?” The half elf asked with a tilt of his head. “When your parents showed up to the crime scene they were trying everything in their power to stop your sister being arrested.”
Adaine snorted. “That’s because they’re the worst. They wouldn’t believe Aelwyn was kidnapping girls if they found one tied up in her closet.” Her ears perked straight up as the familiar sound of the car rolling into the driveway just barely reached them. Adaine shoved both boys back the way they came. “Go, Aelwyn’s window is the easiest place to slip out of. Trust me, she’s done it enough times.”
They stumbled back, the goblin clutching Aelwyn’s spell book to his chest as the two of them turned away. “O-okay, thank you again uh…”
”Adaine,” she said curtly, waving them off, “now shoo! They cannot find you in here.”
The front door slammed open on the floor below them, making Adaine flinch and the boys bolt.
”Adaine!” Her father bellowed, of all things . “Get down here now.”
Ah, yes, it would piss him off that Aelwyn actually got in trouble for something, wouldn’t it?
Adaine took a deep breath and smoothed out her skirt. It would be worth it. Aelwyn was getting in trouble in a way her parents had to acknowledge. Finally things were going to be fair.
That would make it worth it.
***
Adaine stared in horror through the window of a thick iron door.
On the other side was her sister that Adaine had not seen for over a month.
Aelwyn was in a magic orb suspended in the middle of the room at the top of this accursed tower. The orb was ever spinning, forcing Aelwyn to crawl forward constantly. Instead of the traditional Fallinel garb that Adaine had been wearing since her parents had dragged her back to live in Fallinel a few weeks ago, Aelwyn was in the exact same outfit Adaine remembered her wearing when she was first arrested.
Which means for over a month Aelwyn had been in that orb. In constant motion.
Adaine had wanted to see her get in trouble, had wanted her punished, but not like this.
“Adaine!”
She hadn’t even realized she was reaching towards the door until her father grabbed her wrist and wrenched her away, making her stumble back to where her parents had been arguing.
“Father, they’re torturing her,” Adaine cried, gesturing back towards the room Aelwyn was being kept in. She couldn’t see her anymore, from this angle. Did Aelwyn even know she was here? Adaine hadn’t been able to see her face clearly. “We have to get her out!”
The grip around Adaine’s wrist tightened painfully as her father glared. Her mother was standing a few feet away, looking impassively at them. They were the only ones in this hallway, somehow Angwyn had managed to get them a brief moment of privacy without the guards or whoever it was that operated this prison watching them.
“What do you think we’re trying to do? We aren’t here on vacation, Adaine, stop being an idiot.” He shoved Adaine into the wall as he released her arm. “Now do not speak and do not touch anything for the rest of the time we are here, do you understand me?”
Normally Adaine would protest such an annoying order but… she did want to hear what their plan to help Aelwyn was, and as she rubbed her wrist with a wince she was sure it was going to bruise later.
Besides, her father had already turned away, dismissive.
“I have been trying to get back into good social standing with the Court of Stars,” Angwyn told Arianwen, looking more stressed than Adaine had ever seen him, “it has been slow with this… disappointment to the family name-” It was slightly surreal to hear those words not directed at Adaine. “-but it has been working. As evident in that we were even allowed this time at all.”
“We are never going to regain the social position we once had,” Arianwen said with a scoff. Adaine had also never seen her parents argue before. For all their flaws they were usually on the same vile side. “It took decades to climb the first time and that wasn’t with the-” A side glance towards Adaine. “-obstacles that we now have. Plus, there is the matter of pride.”
Angwyn’s brow furrowed, his lip twitching towards the beginning of a scowl though not quite getting there. “Do you not think I am also thinking of our pride? Our reputation has been tarnished and I am scrambling to try and repair it.”
Arianwen snorted, actually snorted, as she raised one brow above her glasses. “And then where will we be? Continuing to beg at the heels of those who’ve insulted us by stripping our titles? Do you think they’ll be kinder the next time some tiny fuck up happens?” At this she fully gestured to Adaine. Which felt completely uncalled for. “Do you really want to be beholden to their whims?”
Now Angwyn was scowling, though Adaine couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be directed at his wife or the point she was making. “These are allies and colleagues I have spent years cultivating. We are having a setback, yes, but that doesn’t mean we should flush everything we’ve achieved until now down the drain.”
“Do you not want more than this pathetic dance?” Arianwen snapped, “We could claw and climb for centuries more and barely make an inch. Or… we could work with someone much more powerful.”
“No,” Angwyn immediately shot down, “that… that’s too much of a risk. You can’t trust that feline, who knows if anything she’s said is the truth.”
Adaine… didn’t know what they were talking about. She had been following the conversation until now, even if she didn’t know the details about her family’s political dealings she at least understood it was happening. And that they were disgustingly concerned with it.
But this… Adaine didn’t know what this was. What feline?
“I’m not a fool, Angwyn.” Arianwen’s eyes flashed with that familiar passion that was almost exclusively for her work. “Of course I’ve been doing my own research and what I’ve found has proven-” She stopped suddenly, looking around like someone was going to pop out of the wall to spy on them. Though they were in a Fallinel prison, it wasn’t unlikely there might be clairvoyance spells lingering around.
Adaine’s mother grabbed her father’s arm, pulling him in close and whispering in his ear.
Now that she couldn’t hear their conversation Adaine’s mind, and eyes, began to wonder. She turned back to the door that her sister was behind. Why were they even arguing this? They were all wizards, though in this family that mostly skewed towards academia and research. But certainly the three of them were powerful enough to rip Aelwyn out of there and run. They were hurting her, nothing else should matter but making that stop.
But unfortunately, Adaine knew her parents. Knew that even Aelwyn’s life was not worth more to them than their reputation.
Adaine peered through the window again, catching another glance at her battered and exhausted sister. Her fingers twitched around the message cantrip, ready to at the very least offer some words of comfort, if not to try and make the beginnings of an escape plan.
“ Fine. ”
Adaine jumped as her mother snapped and roughly grabbed her arm, dragging her down the hall and away from her sister and father.
“When you get betrayed by your colleagues once again you are free to join me in finding a real solution,” Arianwen called back to her husband. Adaine glanced between her two parents as she stumbled after her mother, unsure how this development had happened.
Angwyn scoffed but did not follow after. Holding his ground with a high head, like he was trying to project an air of confidence. “And when this ridiculous scheme blows up in your face you’re welcome to come crawling back to sense. ”
“Uh, mother?” Adaine tried, attempting to ignore her mother’s nails digging into her arm as the two of them began to descend the tower. “W-what are we-”
“Not now, Adaine,” her mother hissed, not even glancing at her, “I’m going to need you to do exactly what I say and not ask any questions from now on. Understand?”
No. No, she didn’t understand. Why the fuck would Adaine do that? “But-”
Arianwen yanked on Adaine’s arm, almost causing her to stumble down the stairs. “Are you truely so selfish that you want to keep your sister here?”
“N-no, I just-”
“Then just follow along and let your mother fix this.”
And what other choice did Adaine have?
***
Being back in Elmville after months away was strange.
Adaine’s mother had teleported both of them back to their old house very suddenly one day, the only explanation given that their ‘timeline’ had been moved up. Adaine still wasn’t aware of the details of her mother’s plan but had managed to piece together the broad strokes of it.
They were going to resurrect a dead god. To get revenge on the Fallinel government for embarrassing the family.
Jeeze, her mom was a sicko.
But Adaine helped, in any way her mother let her, because at the very least it was a plan that would stop getting Aelwyn tortured and that was better than what Adaine had. Maybe she could… steal the power from her mother at the last minute or something, free Aelwyn, not cause the collapse of an entire country over a petty grudge, disappear somewhere safe.
Maybe.
Adaine would figure it out.
But she really didn’t know what Aguefort Adventuring Academy had to do with any of it.
They were in the empty school hallways, trying to quietly break into what appeared to be the principal office. There was commotion, coming from what Adaine could only assume was the auditorium, but her mother was completely ignoring it in pursuit of breaking every ward on this office.
Adaine caught a glimpse of a half orcish face peeking behind a door before it was quickly pulled away.
Hmm, that probably wasn’t good. “Mother-”
“Quiet,” Arianwen scolded immediately, not looking up from her work. Fine, if she didn’t want to know then she didn’t have to. Let them be caught, see if Adaine cared.
The final lock on the door clicked open and Arianwen slipped inside without a word, Adaine quickly following after.
“Ah, there it is,” Arianwen said with a relieved sigh, “the intel was correct after all.”
What she was looking at was a pretty gnarly looking crown. Black and jagged with cracks running through it, looking to be ancient at the very youngest. Power radiated from the crown. Dark, corrupted power.
Definitely cursed, though. So not really a viable option to save Aelwyn with.
“Alright,” Arianwen said, gesturing towards the crown, “Adaine, grab it.”
Adaine stared at her in dumbfounded confusion. “What?”
“That’s what we came for.” Arianwen nodded again to the crown, like somehow Adaine hadn’t spotted it yet. “Grab it and let us leave.”
Adaine scoffed and took a step back. “No. That thing is a radiating curse. I wouldn’t poke it with a stick, let alone carry it out of here.”
That was the wrong thing to say. Of course, of course that was the wrong thing to say. Why did Adaine keep thinking her parents were ever going to be reasonable? Why was she always so stupid?
Arianwen’s face hardened into that cool calculated look that Adaine knew meant she was furious. It was always more intimidating than Angwyn’s loud and hot anger.
Adaine took another step back as her mother approached, but there was no place to go in this small office. Her back hit the wall and her mother’s hand reached out to grip Adaine’s hair by the roots, yanking up and causing a sharp pain in Adaine’s head.
Adaine yelped and scrambled to grab at her mother’s hand, trying to ease the pressure even slightly.
“I have been a good mother,” Arianwen lied, her voice flat and her gaze cold as it felt like she was ripping the hair right out of Adaine’s head, “even through all of this I have kept you safe and cared for. I could have left you with your father. Would you have liked that? To be right where Aelwyn is?”
“N-no.” Adaine’s heart leapt into her throat as she squirmed in her mother's grip. Don’t cry. She couldn’t cry. That would certainly only make mother angrier if she threw one of her fits now.
“I do not ask much of you,” Arianwen continued, still not even a change in inflection, “and yet somehow you manage to disappoint me everytime. If you do not do this one simple thing for me, this one thing Adaine, then I will have no choice but to conclude you are as simplistic as you act, a complete waste of time, and leave you here. Would you like to take the blame for this thievery for me? Because if you can’t even pick up a simple crown that seems to be the only thing you’re good for, you ungrateful child.”
Adaine bit the inside of her cheek to try and keep back the panic attack. A few tears fell from her eyes but that was fine as long as she didn’t start freaking out.
Not trusting herself to speak, Adaine shook her head as much as she could, swallowing back the terrified whimper that tried to rise in her throat.
“Good.” Arianwen let go and Adaine had to catch herself on her wall to not crumple to her knees. “I’m glad you’re finally seeing reason. Now be quick about it, I’d like to get out of this accursed country as quickly as possible.”
She was doing this for Aelwyn. Adaine had to remember she was going along with this because Aelwyn was suffering and no one else was going to help her. She had to remember that.
She had to remember that because the other option was admitting she had no idea what else to do. No other options.
Blinking the tears out of her eyes, Adaine approached the dark crown. It seemed like it was practically pulsing with malevolence, like an animal snarling to warn a step closer would bring out the teeth.
Before she could completely lose her nerve, Adaine ignored the warning signs yelling at her and snatched the crown from its display.
Her mother must have cast Silence or some similar spell. There wasn’t any other way everyone in that school didn’t hear Adaine’s screams.
***
Adaine wasn’t particularly impressed by Leviathan.
They had been in the pirate city for a while now and it was mostly just crowded and rowdy and unpleasant. Her mother obviously agreed as she had sent Adaine out to run any errands while she herself stayed comfortable in their rented room ‘researching’ or whatever.
Adaine didn’t particularly enjoy being her mother’s pack mule but supposed it was preferable to the alternative of spending any more time than was necessary around the woman.
Adaine’s parents had always been horrible, had always treated her poorly. But in the past that had manifested in neglect and dismissals, never bothering to care about Adaine in any way and trying to get her out of their sight as often as possible especially when she needed attention the most. That had hurt, certainly, had always made Adaine feel horrible and probably had messed her up psychologically even more than she already was.
But ever since Aelwyn had been arrested and their family name dragged through the dirt her mother had been much more… attentive in all the worst ways. Instead of being ignored Adaine was now corrected, instead of being excluded she was made to do the most agonizing of tasks.
Her now constantly gloved arms- the scars running up them too unsightly to be shown the light of day- were certainly a testament of that.
So, no, Adaine did not mind being away from her mother and her research for as long as possible. Honestly, she might have run away by now if that wouldn’t just get her gutted by a pirate or worse.
Plus the chance, however small, that her mother would actually care that she had left and try to hunt her down was too much of a horror scenario to risk.
Currently, Adaine was out gathering supplies for the next leg of their journey. Apparently they needed to head to some place called Arborly back in the mainland to complete a ritual of some sort. The details were still vague to Adaine.
She was weaving her way through the crowd of pirates, bag of holding full of resources, when something caught her attention and made her slow her steps.
Goblins were rare here on Leviathan- they were rare everywhere that wasn’t the mountain of chaos or, like, Bastian City- so seeing one at all was worthy of a second glance.
Then there was also the fact that Adaine was sure she recognized him.
She hadn’t seen that many goblins in her life, to be fair, but it was hard to forget the newsboy cap, pressed vest, and giant gun of that boy who had snuck into her house all those months ago. Adaine was fairly certain that was not standard goblin attire.
He was surrounded by a group of other teenagers that were very obviously Solician by the way they were dressing and interacting with each other. Jeans and tee-shirts, a few red and gold sports jackets, and an incredible range of different weapons. A quintessential Aguefort Adventuring Party if Adaine had ever seen one.
An… Aguefort adventuring party… in Leviathan for some reason.
With someone Adaine knew had been poking into what Aelwyn had been doing to get arrested.
From Aguefort, the school where they had stolen the crown from.
Adaine had been staring so long that the goblin boy had turned in her direction, their eyes briefly locking before he looked away.
Only to do an immediate double take and focus wide eyes on her, recognition shining in his expression.
Shit.
“Hey!”
Fuck.
Adaine spun on her heel and took off directly away from the group of trained fighters. A commotion immediately started up behind her and she didn’t have to look to guess that the Solace kids had given chase.
Adaine wove and duck through the crowd, trying to keep as many people between her and her new pursuers, ignoring the shouts and angry glares she got from pirates. Unfortunately, the crowd was rapidly thinning as she headed towards more of the housing area of Leviathan and she was almost certain at least one of those teens were going to be faster than her in a dead sprint.
A familiar prickle of divination magic tingled Adaine’s senses and without thought she dove to the side, falling into a messy roll as a net soared over her head and slammed into a few pirates, tangling them up instantly.
Adaine glanced over her shoulder, panting heavily, to see the goblin visibly hiss and start to reload his smoking gun.
Oh this was very bad.
Scrambling back upright, Adaine continued to run but let magic flow out of her as her feet hit the ground. She cast Misty Step, jumping forward and around a corner into an alleyway where she continued to run without missing a step. They shouldn’t have been able to see where she went. She should have more of a head start now, should be able to lose them and circle back around to the Gold Gardens.
Where… she would have to tell her mother that she had drawn unwanted attention. That they probably had to leave immediately or risk getting caught. That Adaine hadn’t even been able to do something as simple as gathering supplies.
Adaine was fucking dead.
Okay, okay, don’t think about that now. Adaine was also dead if these adventurers caught her so get away from them first and figure out how to deal with mother after. Keep breathing, keep running, keep focused.
Adaine was pulled out of her thoughts and her random ducking and turning in the twisting alleys by a steady thunk thunk thunk sound from behind growing increasingly louder.
Not slowly down, Adaine turned her head to gawk at the tiefling dressed like a wannabe rockstar that was skateboarding down the wooden planks of the Leviathan streets. The wheels bouncing wildly on the gaps and the tiefling somehow managing to not fall off.
“Oh come on, ” Adaine bemoaned, more at the universe than the other girl, “that’s just not fair.”
The girl brought a cigarette to her lips, like that made her look cool. “Pull over.”
Adaine rolled her eyes and let more magic gather in her finger tips, ready to Misty Step onto a roof or throw a small cantrip and make this girl crash or something.
The tiefling saw the sparks starting to form and darted out her non cigarette holding hand to snag Adaine’s wrist.
In any other circumstance this would mean nothing. Adaine had more than enough movement still to make somatic components and Misty Step only needed verbal.
But Adaine had been carrying around that accursed crown for weeks now and the damage the curse had done to her arms was drastic. They were sensitive, and even through the gloves the pressure of a hand around her wrist sent a sharp pain through Adaine’s body and she instinctively tried to physically wrench herself away.
The tiefling obviously was not expecting her target to stop running and just start flailing wildly. The skateboard shot out from under her feet and the resulting loss of balance caused both of them to crash to the floor, the bard dragging Adaine down with her.
Who made the unfortunate mistake of trying to catch herself with her hands.
Pain. Pain pain pain pain. Adaine took in a shuddering breath as she tried to make her brain stay focused. She was still in danger. The tiefling was groaning next to her but the rest of them certainly weren’t far behind.
Adaine had just gotten her aching hands under her when something grabbed the hood of her robe and wrenched upwards.
Adaine shrieked in surprise and fear as she was hauled to her feet and thrown into a nearby wall, just barely managing to catch herself from falling to the ground again.
A raging half-orc glowered at her and Adaine had a vague sense of seeing him before though for the life of her she could not identify where.
Another half-orc was helping the tiefling to her feet much more gently as the rest of the adventuring party caught up with them. Surrounding Adaine, pinning her to this wall she was backed up against.
She bit back the terrified whimper rising in her throat.
The goblin boy came to stand right in front of Adaine. He raised his gun again and pointed it directly at her head so she was staring down the depth of the barrel. “Talk.”
Adaine tried. She really really did. But the words caught in her throat along with her breath so all that came out was a wheezing gasp and choked sobs. No, not now. She had been holding it back all day and now was when her mind decided to break?
Instead of shooting her in the face for failing to comply with his demands, the goblin actually lowered the gun, his glare faltering and his voice softening. “Wha- hey, are you okay?”
Adaine certainly was not okay. Her hands moved to tug at her neckline, as if that would do anything. As if there was some real reason she was feeling this way.
“Is she choking?” Someone asked, Adaine unable to tell who passed the sound of blood rushing through her ears.
Movement, out of the corner of her eye, caused Adaine to hunch in on herself. Trying to shield her vulnerable parts, trying to make herself as small and easy to ignore as possible.
A brunette human girl came into her field of vision, hand reaching out towards Adaine’s face.
Adaine braced herself, knowing what was to come next. What the punishment was for being so pathetic.
But the strike never came.
Instead, soft fingers gently touched Adaine’s throat, tracing the fingertip bruises that hadn’t healed from the last time she had thrown such a fit.
Adaine swallowed instinctively, still unable to force more than a whistle of air into her lungs. She shuddered at the contact and screwed her eyes shut. Just get it over with. The sooner it was over the sooner she could get back to breathing.
The hand left her neck and she vaguely heard the girl in front of her say, “she isn’t choking. I think… honestly, I think she’s having a panic attack.”
Ridiculous attention grabbing melodramatic idiot, her mother’s voice seemed to echo in her head . Adaine wasn’t doing it on purpose, she knew, but that didn’t make it any better. She was just too weak to stop it.
The adventuring students began to talk more among themselves but Adaine couldn’t catch a word anymore. She was too dizzy, in too much pain, too frightened and pathetic to do anything but wheeze and cry and try to stay standing as she slumped against the wall.
After perhaps forever but also probably just a few seconds, Adaine felt a hand lay over her head and carefully guild it until it was laying against something warm and soft instead of the wet wood of the alley wall.
“Hey, can you feel that?”
Adaine’s eyes snapped open at the voice- not that it did much, her vision was already going dark around the edges- and she craned her head up to glimpse the face of the half-orc she currently had her face pressed against.
“My heartbeat,” he said, tone devoid of anger or disgust or contempt or or, “can you hear it? Try to breathe in time with it.”
She could hear his heartbeat. A steady drum that sounded miles away even with her ear pressed into his chest. It was there but it was impossible to focus on past her own wildly fluttering heart and the growing grayness to her vision.
“You’re okay,” the half-orc attempted to sooth as Adaine rapidly lost consciousness, “we aren’t going to hurt you.”
***
When Adaine awoke she had no idea where she was.
It wasn’t even just the initial disorientation of waking up where one didn’t fall asleep. As Adaine blinked the sleep out of her eyes- actually sleep, because of course she couldn’t even rest right- she had literally no fucking clue where in the nine realms she could be.
There were blankets above her and to the sides. Blankets and pillows piled up and draped around to make a sort of room and Adaine couldn’t even tell if there were actual walls behind them. But despite being a cozy little nook the area had a distinct smell of motor oil to it, like Adaine had somehow gotten into a car as well.
There were no sounds that Adaine now associated with the Gold Gardens, though whispered conversation did drift towards her. As Adaine looked around and propped herself on her elbows she spotted the goblin boy and a half-elf quickly cut off their conversation.
Oh, it was the other boy from her house so long ago. He had gained an eyepatch in some time between then and now.
“Good, you're awake,” he said, leaning back against a wall of blankets. His posture was relaxed, almost purposeful looking, but Adaine still tensed as she was acknowledged.
The goblin looked less relaxed, his tail twitching and his fingers drumming on a notebook. But still, when he spoke it was soft. ”How are you feeling?” And then after a beat. “Don’t worry, she can’t hear us in here.”
Adaine cleared her throat and cringed when her voice still came out hoarse and shaky. “F-fine. I’m not injured.” Who couldn’t hear them? Had her mother been spying her this whole time?
“Do you need water?” The eyepatch kid asked, head tilting to better regard her.
Adaine quickly shook her head, staring down at her lap. Don’t be greedy. Especially not to people who had essentially just kidnapped her.
Out of the corner of her eye, the boys exchanged concerned glances.
”We’re not… we’re not going to hurt you, Adaine.”
Adaine’s head snapped up to gawk at the goblin. “You… you remember my name?”
He looked confused by that. “Yeah, of course. The last time we met you were pretty eager to help us arrest your sister.”
“Which was a mistake,” eye-patch kid huffed, getting a dreamy look on his face, “oh Aelwyn, how we will rescue you from whatever elven jail has hidden away your beauty.”
”What?” Adaine practically yelped, leaning forward in a desperate lunge. “You… you’re going to… you’re going to rescue Aelwyn?”
”We thought she might have some useful information,” the goblin answered carefully, “since we knew we’ve been chasing you and your mom this whole time.”
”And I’m in love with her!”
The goblin sighed. “Yeah, and Fabian’s in love with her.” He cleared his throat and sat up straighter, notebook poised in hand. “Why did you and your mom take the nightmare crown? What’s your plan?”
Adaine couldn’t help but laugh. Mostly because she was going to start sobbing if she didn’t. “I just want to save my sister. Please, I just… my mother has this whole take over the world plan but I- I need to help Aelwyn. She’s hurting and I’m… I’m too weak and useless and I can’t help her by myself. So I helped my mom get the crown and- and-“
“Whoa, whoa, hey, it’s okay,” the goblin said, holding his hands up passively though he made no move to touch her, “just breathe, alright?”
Adaine took in some shaky breaths, concentrating hard on not slipping fully into an attack again. When she had stabilized enough that she felt confident talking she gave both boys a wide pleading look. “I just want to save Aelwyn. If you save her I’ll tell you whatever you want, I’ll turn on my stupid mother in an instant. Please. ”
”Worry not,” Fabian said, flashing a grin, “that was already on the to-do list. Welcome to the team.