Chapter 320: Officers Who Definitely Weren’t Dreaming
Chapter 320: Officers Who Definitely Weren’t Dreaming
Elyn’s POV
I blinked.
The officers blinked at me.
Then they turned to Zorathys, who stared at them with an expression that was somewhere between bored and mildly irritated. His shadows curled lazily around his feet, but he didn’t say a word. He just stood there, watching them like they were insects that had wandered into his home uninvited and were now regretting every life choice that had led them to this moment.
The officers turned back to me.
I waved at them with an awkward smile.
"Hi," I said.
They chuckled nervously, their eyes still wide with disbelief.
"Surely this is a dream," one of them said.
"Definitely a dream," another agreed.
"We must have fallen asleep at our desks. That’s the only explanation."
"Yes, that’s it. A dream. A very strange, very terrifying dream."
They backed away slowly, their eyes moving between Zorathys and me. Then they closed the door with a soft click that seemed to echo in the sudden silence of the office.
I stared at the closed door.
Then I turned to Zorathys.
"What just happened?" I asked, my voice carrying a note of genuine confusion.
Zorathys gave a lazy shrug in reply, but just then, the door burst open... again.
The officers rushed back in, their expressions no longer nervous but frantic. They moved with such speed that the wind from their sudden entrance sent my hair flying across my face. I didn’t understand how it happened — they weren’t that large, they weren’t moving that fast — but somehow, my hair was suddenly everywhere, whipping across my eyes and mouth like it had a mind of its own.
I blinked again, pushing the strands away from my face.
And then they dropped to their knees.
All of them at once.
The sound of their knees hitting the floor was loud and synchronized, like they had practiced this exact moment for years. It was almost impressive, if it weren’t so absurd.
"We greet Your Majesties!" they said in unison, their voices carrying a note of desperate reverence.
I stared at them.
Then I turned to Zorathys, who was staring at me and not at the officers.
I signaled at him frantically with my eyes, trying to convey a message without words:
Do something about this.
He made a face at that, and then one of his shadows formed into a scythe.
I shook my head violently.
"No," I hissed. "I didn’t tell you to kill them."
Zorathys raised an eyebrow, his expression carrying a note of genuine confusion.
"They arrested you," he said, as if that explained everything.
"They were doing their jobs," I said. "And if you had been here in the first place, I wouldn’t have been arrested at all."
Zorathys’s eyes narrowed slightly at that. His shadows stilled around him.
"They should have done their jobs before taking you in," he said, his voice dropping into that dangerous calm that I had come to recognize. "They should have investigated first. They should have known you weren’t a criminal. They should have—"
Aquaria spoke up from the floor, where she was still sitting.
"We were actually investigating," she said, her voice small but steady. "Right now, we’re asking the children questions. We’re trying to get to the bottom of this. We’re following protocol."
One of the officers raised his hand nervously, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke.
"Um... the children refuse to answer us," he said. "The smallest one is crying. He won’t stop. He just keeps saying he wants the Queen and..."
He turned to me.
"We didn’t know he was right and that you were present, Your Majesty."
I felt my heart clench at that.
"And one of them tried to eat one of my colleagues," the officer continued.
I blinked at that, wondering who it could be.
"And the others are standing guard," the officer added. "They won’t let us near them. They’ve barricaded themselves in the corner of the room."
Zorathys sighed.
It was a long, deep sigh, the kind that carried the weight of a thousand years of dealing with incompetence.
"You are all fools," he said.
He snapped his fingers, and the children appeared in the office.
The disguise was gone, and they looked like themselves... at least I thought they did, given the look on the officers’ faces.
"She wasn’t lying," Aquaria muttered.
Aziren had tears on his face, his cheeks streaked with moisture, his flames low and subdued. The moment he saw me, his face crumpled, and he rushed toward me, his small arms outstretched, his body moving with desperate urgency.
I crouched down just in time to catch him.
"Your Majesty!" he sobbed, burying his face in my shoulder.
The others rushed toward me too, surrounding me like a wall of protective chaos.
"Are you okay?" Zayrion asked, his voice carrying genuine concern.
I nodded, still holding Aziren.
"Did they hurt you?" Velira demanded, her eyes scanning me for injuries. "Did they hurt your hands from the chains? Were they too tight?"
"They didn’t hurt me," I said. "I’m fine."
Brixton stepped closer, his eyes searching my face.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "You’re not injured? Not even a little bit?"
Azerion stepped forward, his eyes narrowed, his voice carrying that familiar note of defiance.
"Do you want me to kill them?" he asked. "I can kill them. I’ll bite their ankles. I’ll make them regret ever touching you."
Retheris and Thalira nodded in agreement, their expressions serious.
"We’ll help," they said in unison.
I exhaled. I knew if this continued, it would likely turn into a disaster.
"No one is killing anyone," I said firmly. "I’m fine. Zorathys came in time."
The children turned to look at Zorathys, who was glaring at them.
Aziren’s flames danced higher at the sight of him, his tears still wet on his cheeks but his expression brightening.
Zayrion’s tails swept across the floor in a slow, deliberate motion.
Azerion rolled his eyes so hard I was surprised they didn’t get stuck.
Meanwhile, Zorathys just moved toward me, his shadows curling around him like a dark cloak.
And then, without a word, he reached down and lifted Aziren from my arms.