“I have already found the perfect opportunity, but I need to work with a commanding officer I can trust. You.” Phloria said while looking at him straight in the eyes.Â
“I’m so proud of you, my little Flower. It will be an honor for me to help you defend our country and our household.” Orion was overjoyed at the idea of working with his daughter.
Phloria had worked hard every day since she was six years old to become a Mage Knight good enough to join the Knight’s Guard and work with her old man. She had given up on everything to pursue that dream, only for it to be crushed by Deirus’ schemes.
Orion hoped that the mission would give Phloria the opportunity to reconsider her decision of quitting the army and to him a way to spend some time with his family without having to think about Jirni.
***
Valeron, Royal Constable’s Headquarters. At the same time.
After staging Quylla’s death and being served divorce papers, it had taken a short while for Lady Ernas to go back to her usual self.
Or at least to pretend to.
Under her impeccable manners, her perfect hair, and pristine uniform Jirni was still as shocked as the day Orion had kicked her out of their house. She had built her whole life around the family she had raised and without it, there was only a void inside of her.
She had thought of countless schemes that would give her old life back to her. Yet they were all based on deception and manipulation. Those schemes would give her what she wanted but not the way she wanted it.
The love and trust of her family would hang by a web of lies that if discovered, would cost her everything and this time for good.
Her mood was terrible, but aside from those unlucky enough to end up with her inside an interrogation room, no one had noticed it. Jirni’s spirit may have been bent, but her discipline was as adamant as always.
She had stopped drinking a week before going back to work and she hadn’t touched a drop ever since. Whenever she felt the need to drink or to hit someone, she hit the gym instead.
Yet she refused to be called with her maiden’s name, Myrok, until the divorce was officially concluded.
Archon Jirni Ernas was a petite woman, barely 1.52 cm (5′) tall. She was wearing her dark blue military uniform that emphasized blonde hair that extended mid-way down her back and her sapphire blue eyes.
She was in her early forties, but thanks to Manohar’s rejuvenation and good genes it was hard to think her a day past thirty. Her hair was perfectly curled, framing her face like she had been taken out of a painting and giving her the allure of a mature yet youthful woman.
Many had mistaken her lovely appearance for her real self and most of them had died for it.
“What’s next on the agenda, Captain Yehval?” Due to her role as Archon and the crises affecting the Kingdom, Jirni was forced to spend most of her time in the office instead of on the field.
 She supervised the work of the other Royal Constables, helping them to follow their leads or to find new ones when they were slumped in a case.
“Next you have lunch, sir.” Kamila replied. “I already filled your morning report and revised for you those that were still on your desk while you debriefed the Royals about the famine investigation.”
She was a woman in her late twenties, about 1.74 meters (5’9″) tall with long black hair held up in a ponytail and almond shaped brown eyes. Before her break up with Lith she had a slender figure that made her deep-blue Constable uniform look a bit loose.
Yet now she hit the gym with Jirni so often that her clothes had become tight fitting.
“You are a gift from the gods, Kamila.” Lady Ernas said after making sure that they were alone. “I don’t mind the paperwork but these days it’s all I do. If I keep being stuck inside this office for one more week, I’ll escape like a Manohar just to feel the thrill of the chase again.”
“If that’s how you feel, then you are going to like your next scheduled meeting.” Kamila said.
“Didn’t you just say that I’m free for lunch?” Jirni was about to question Kamila more when she opened the door of the office, letting their guest in.
“I’m your next appointment. I hope that you don’t mind having lunch with me, Mom.” Quylla said. “Please, don’t get angry with Kamila. I asked her to surprise you and she had to jump through several loops to buy us a few hours.”
After not seeing nor hearing from her daughter for months, the sight of her smile made Jirni’s heart skip a beat. Quylla wasn’t angry at her, quite the contrary she seemed genuinely happy.
Jirni felt her eyes become watery but she suppressed it before anyone could notice.
“I’d love to have lunch with you.” She offered Quylla her hand but she walked past it and hugged Jirni instead.
“I missed you, Mom. We all did.”
Jirni froze up for a second before finding the strength to return the embrace without her voice cracking.
“Thank you for this magnificent present, Kamila. Lith was an asshole for keeping secrets with you. He doesn’t deserve someone as special as you.”Â
‘I guess Jirni/Mom must be out of her mind from joy to say such a thing since she did exactly the same thing.’ Quylla and Kamila thought in unison.
Quylla brought Jirni to the Griffon Peak, one of the best restaurants in Valeron. It was located atop one of the highest buildings of the city and it was famous both for the food and its panoramic veranda.
Jirni couldn’t talk about her work just like Quylla couldn’t tell her about Faluel’s lessons and her studies to become an Awakened despite her violet mana core. Yet they had so much to say to each other that by the end of the lunch they had barely scraped the surface.
“I’m glad to hear that you and your sisters are alright.” After calming down, Jirni had noticed that something was off with Quylla, but she didn’t mention it to not ruin the moment.
“Well, it would be strange otherwise. Phloria trains all day, Friya is under the roof of a huge-ass Phoenix, and Dad freaks out the moment I try to step out of the protective arrays of house Ernas.” Quylla sighed.
“What about your second date with that Moron Eari?” Jirni inhaled sharply while pronouncing that name wrong on purpose, to make the ex-Ranger sound as dumb as he looked.
“It’s Morok, Mom.” Quylla chuckled. “And it went well, thank you. So did the third and the fourth.”
“The fourth?” Jirni tried to sound casual, yet her voice came out as a death rattle at the thought of what that number might imply.
“With you gone and Dad out of the house, I just asked Morok to come over. The Ernas Mansion is so big that even I don’t know most of it. We explored it together during our dates.” Quylla said.
