Chapter 12 Preview, Part 3: Opening Scene, Friendship Scenes and R Romance

Back for another one!!

Note that this spoils the opening scene of the chapter, which I've been leaving blank for a while since I couldn't come up with a good way to continue from all the deliberations and plot-heavy planning from the previous chapter. In the end, I decided to give the Crown a little friendship moment with a chosen character!

Technically this snippet involves X, but they're talking to the Crown about R on R's romance route, so... yeah lol.

It has become rare for you find time to yourself, nowadays.

Between all your responsibilities as the Crown, the plans and preparations for the expedition to the mountains, everything that happened with [R], and now this whole ordeal with Kham you have had scarcely any time to simply sit with yourself alone. Or, as alone you can be with invisible guards near you at all times.

You asked them to grant you some space to yourself as you decided to take refuge in a gazebo in the royal gardens, though you’re certain the guards still keep you within their line of sight even if they keep their distance now. The knowledge is not as disturbing to you as it once was: you have grown accustomed to it, and the guards do their best to be as unobtrusive as possible. In a way, it’s a sense of safety you have sorely missed during all your years on the run, to know there are people nearby who would risk their lives to protect you at the slightest sign of danger.

The roof of the gazebo casts a soft shadow over you, protecting against the sun’s overbearing warmth. Even near the end of the season, a wave of heat clings to Marabad as if summer itself were reluctant to bid its goodbyes.

Your mind is blissfully empty as you watch a butterfly hover around one of the rosebushes surrounding your gazebo. Its brilliantly blue wings flicker and reflect light with every beat, flashing so brightly it’s almost blinding to look at. Eventually, it settles down on top of a pale white rose, allowing you to think of nothing as you simply admire its wings.

You’d almost forgotten what it was like to have silence in your head. A sense of much needed peace settles over you as you inhale a breath, then slowly exhale, knowing how fortunate you are to be able to enjoy this. A year ago you would have been constantly glancing over your shoulder, hidden somewhere quiet and dark in the hopes of escaping attention.

How unfathomably far you’ve come.

Footsteps approach from the stone path to break your solitude, drawing your attention, though you are not upset by the intrusion when you see who it is:

[Azad/Ashti]
[Dara/Delal]
>>[Xelara/Xelef]

[...]

“I didn’t get to ask before, with everything going on, but how are you feeling about this expedition we’re planning?”

X tilts their head slightly at you in consideration. “Well, you’re paying us good coin. The Blades certainly aren’t complaining.”

“I am?” you say, more as a confirmation than out of surprise. You know it has been handled by the others.

“R and I haggled over it.” $xname’s lips lift with amusement. “They drive a tough bargain, your little Sorcerer.”

“Don’t call R little, they’ll skin you alive if they hear that.”

IF R ROMANCE IS STEADY

“You look like you want to skin me alive already,” X says with a laugh, and you lift your brows from the scowl you hadn’t even noticed you were making.

“I only want you to show them the respect they deserve,” you defend, but it only makes X grin wider.

“Oh, I respect them plenty.” Mischief gleams in their eyes. “Not quite like you do, of course, but…”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t pretend,” X teases, reaching across the couch to elbow you in the side. “We’ve all seen how the two of you act around each other. A Crown and their Sorcerer, how scandalous!”

“Shut up,” you say reflexively, embarrassed at being so easily caught out, but then you frown. “Wait. Is it? Scandalous, I mean?”

“Not really.” X shrugs. “I don’t think anyone would care if you decided to court each other. Unless the two of you decide to desecrate the throne room together, that is.”

“Skies above, X, shut your mouth!”

IF R ROMANCE IS UNSTEADY

For some reason, your remark has X sobering, their gaze weighted with something more serious. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”

Your brows furrow with some confusion, though you can’t help your wry remark. “About R skinning you alive?”

X rolls their eyes. “Funny. No, be serious for a moment—I meant about R in general. Don’t you think they have been behaving a little oddly?”

“Not that I’ve noticed,” you say slowly, trying to think back to all of R’s behaviors ever since awakening from their coma. “Why? What have you noticed?”

X's lips tense into a thin line for a moment. “It might be nothing—”

“X.”

In the end, they blurt it out...

Yeah, I'm not spoiling the low romance route that much yet. Sorry for the cliffhanger lol!

I think I'll post another variation of this for A's romance route and D's romance route in the weekend as well with different 'friend' characters, so you'll have that to look forward to in a few days!