The five of us followed Celeste through the seldom-used alleys of the city to avoid the busier paths back to the plaza. For someone who I had assumed would spend all their time in the castle, Celeste seemed to know the entire city like the back of her hand. We took a bit of an odd roundabout path to get there, but we only crossed paths with a few people who knew better than to bother us on our way.

  Celeste's anger hadn't cooled much and her long draconic tail swayed in irritation as she silently led us through the city. The situation didn't feel like it called for levity or pleasant chatter, so we quietly made our way behind her without a word. I could feel the tension from my friends as well. They all held onto the hilts of their weapons. There was even the telltale prickle of magic around Luna from her fire shield as she walked next to me. None of us knew when this would turn into a fight, but we'd be silly not to expect it to end up that way.

  "The plaza is just around this bend," Celeste growled out. Any kindness in her voice that had been there in the presence of her brother was gone now. She seemed to be barely suppressing her anger now, and we haven't even seen Saiph's body yet.

  The plaza was still crowded when we reached it, and Saiph's gutted body was still where it had been, hanging from pikes in front of the entranced throng of people. When her eyes looked on it, I could smell the small pricks of blood coming from her palm as she clenched her claws against it. Celeste froze in place as she looked at her brother's corpse for several long minutes that kept stretching on.

  "Follow," she growled out as she shoved her way through the crowd. People were initially angry when she pushed them out of her way, but once they began to recognize her, the crowd began to part for us. I saw her face for a brief moment when she turned to yell at one of the people she was jerking out of her way, and her face was streaming with tears. I had never seen her so emotional, so sad. Eventually we made it to the base of the pikes, where a group of soldiers was protecting the grim display.

  "You, take his body down immediately. I will not stand for the debasement of a dragon prince." Celeste pointed a clawed finger at one of the guards, who jumped in surprise from the sudden command.

  "I- I cannot do that, Your Highness Celeste," the guard sputtered out.

  "Take him down!" Celeste shouted at him.

  "But ma'am, we were ordered to make sure no one took him down until Her Royal Majesty Ganymede ordered us to," he argued.

  "Do it now, or I'll put you up on pikes in his place! I will speak to Ganymede about this insult after," Celeste yelled.

  The guard looked at the other guards hesitantly before he and four others began to move the pikes and pull Saiph's body down. The guards took care not to damage the body more than it already was, but the sight was still gruesome. A fifth guard came over with a canvas tarp and covered his body the moment his organs were gathered up and hastily pushed back into his stomach cavity. Up close the smell was horrible, and I guessed the reason there were only human soldiers protecting the body was because their senses weren't as sharp as some of the other races. I had been able to smell the stench from blocks away, and I was sure that the smell was horrible even for the humans at the edge of the plaza.

  Celeste snapped and pointed at one of the other guards who was standing around. "You, bring me a coffin to transport him."

  The man bowed low. "Yes, Your Highness." Without another word, the man ran off.

  Celeste continued to stare at the canvas tarp covering Saiph's body. I felt a bit numb to everything. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to see a sibling's body so disrespected like this. I had been an only child growing up, so I couldn't quite relate to the feeling, but picturing someone like my mom or my dad up there filled my throat with bile. I never got along with my mom, so it may have been the best comparison to what Celeste must have been feeling seeing Saiph up there, and I would be just as angry as she clearly was.

  A group of soldiers ran through the crowds until they stopped on the other side of where the pikes had been. Their eyes went wide when they looked at Celeste, likely not anticipating the reason why Saiph's body was let down early.

  "Your Highness Celeste! If you are back, then Her Majesty Ganymede will need to speak with you. Especially if these soldiers removed the traitor by your order," the lead soldier, a draco this time, said.

  A growl rumbled in Celeste's throat when she turned to look at the man. The soldier unconsciously took a step back at her glare. "I will go see my sister once my brother has been properly tended to."

  "Celeste, ma'am. With all due respect, you cannot keep the Queen waiting. Her Majesty will be angry if she is made to wait," the soldier replied.

  "Then she will be angry," Celeste said before returning her focus to the canvas tarp.

  The soldiers all looked at each other in confusion, but decided not to argue with her. It wasn't as if they would be able to do much to her if they wanted to. Celeste's body had grown both in height and in her draconic visage. Her tail had lengthened, and scales were now covering more of her body. It reminded me of when her body had changed during the assassination attempt, but it was happening much more slowly this time.

  Soon, four guards returned with a black box that had silver trim. It wasn't the most expensive looking coffin I had ever seen, but it was more than just a plain wooden box. The soldiers gently set the box down next to the body and opened the lid. Before the soldiers could move it, Celeste waved them away, obviously intending to move his corpse herself. Tears dripped from her otherwise stoic face as she gingerly lifted the body and settled it down in the coffin with the canvas tarp still covering him. Once his body was lying inside, she pulled back the tarp for a moment to get one last look at his face. It looked horrible, disfigured from where his horns had been removed from his skull. Celeste's sadness finally cracked her stoic demeanor, and she let out a single choked sob before pulling the tarp back over his face and stepping away. Without having to ask, the soldiers gently closed the lid on Saiph's body and sealed the coffin.

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  "Take him to the cemetery where he can be buried near our father," she said in a weak voice.

  The guards looked at each other awkwardly. One of them gathered the bravery to reply to her. "Ma'am... Her Majesty said that he was to be stripped of all honors in death. That he was a traitor and wouldn't be allowed a resting spot with his family..."

  Celeste turned and glared at the man. "Take him to the cemetery. I will speak with my sister and have this wrong corrected. Do as I say."

  The man looked cowed and nodded. "Of course, your highness. I will have his body stored there right away until things can be... cleared up."

  She huffed and turned away from him before taking a moment to wipe the tears from her face. The guards quietly lifted the coffin and carried it away without any further argument.

  Once Celeste had recomposed herself, her barely unchecked anger retook the forefront of her body language. She turned to one of the soldiers. "My honor guards and I will go to the castle now to speak with my sister. Clear a path," she ordered.

  The guards quickly nodded and began clearing a path through the crowd, and Celeste once again led us through the city with a procession of soldiers. There were hushed whispers from the people of Ironcastle as we passed. I had never thought much about what kind of reputation Celeste might have had, but from what I was hearing from the crowd, they were expecting violence from her. Most of the people knew of her as a kind of war hero. She was known to have a vicious temper, and the way she looked as she walked through the streets gave credence to that theory. Her body had grown even more in height and muscle. Her scales covered most of her body now and only stopped at her collarbone. The only part of her that looked mostly the same was her face.

  "We'll have to ask for your guards to be disarmed before entering the castle," one of the guards said.

  "No. They are my honor guard, and they will remain armed," Celeste said with annoyance.

  "The Queen gave us explicit orders not to allow anyone to bring weapons into the throne room any longer, even honor guards," he insisted.

  Celeste shoved the guard from the procession, and he crashed into a brick wall several feet away. "My guards will remain armed," she growled.

  The remaining guards looked at each other warily but didn't argue. It was obvious they really didn't know what to do about the situation, and Celeste was so angry that she didn't seem like she would be reasonable. Not that I agreed we should be disarmed when walking into this situation, of course.

  We were ferried through an open gatehouse, and the large metal gate slammed shut behind us. I was a bit alarmed by the noise, but Celeste didn't seem to mind. The number of soldiers grew as we walked through the castle. There was clear confusion and indecision as our group made our way through the halls, and our procession vanished into the crowd shortly after we entered. It seemed no one wanted to be responsible for letting us in, though no one tried to stop us either.

  "Are we sure this is a good idea? Now that we're here, I'm not sure we should be doing this," Aria said quietly.

  "Do not worry. Everything will be fine," Celeste said with a growl.

  Aria shared a worried look with me as we passed another large group of soldiers on our way to the throne room. I looked at Maxwell, and he seemed to be uncomfortable with the situation as well, but hadn't voiced any complaints yet. Piper looked a bit more reserved, though her hand was still placed on the pommel of her sword. Luna looked determined rather than afraid. I wasn't sure if that was trust in me or trust in Celeste, but it worried me a little. I didn't even think that I would be able to protect all of us if we were forced to flee in this situation, and I'd really rather not have to kill any soldiers that were ordered to hold us.

  There was a large group of soldiers wearing fancier looking armor near the entrance to the throne room. Oddly, they were all women, female draco and drakken. There wasn't a single human or beastkin among them. I hadn't been to the throne room before, but it struck me as odd. There were plenty of female soldiers among the guards here and the private army Celeste had at the Oasis dungeon, but they tended to be few in number relative to the men. The ability for anyone to become empowered through the dungeon meant that anyone could become a soldier if they wanted to, but that didn't mean that all women wanted to fight. It must have been intentional for the throne's guard to all be women.

  "Your Highness Celeste," one of the female guards said. "Your people will disarm if you wish to enter the throne room. We do not allow any guards to bring weapons into the throne room any longer, unless Her Majesty Ganymede personally approves them."

  Rather than reply, magic quickly came to Celeste's hand, and a violent wave of force shoved all of the guards off their feet and out of our path. In only a split second, Celeste completely threw the entire room to the floor, other than the six of us. The guard who had been speaking to us looked up in fear as Celeste walked past. She had been holding back. Magic can be destructive pretty easily. It takes a lot more control to do what she had done without hurting anyone, rather than simply killing them all. I don't think I really appreciated just how powerful Celeste must be.

  Celeste shoved open the doors to the throne room, and all of the guards inside began to panic as we entered unannounced. There had been more guards outside the doors than inside, but again, all of the guards inside were women. There was no way that it wasn't intentional.

  Ganymede stood up on the throne. Her short drakken body looked small on the large chair built for her father. The nearby guards broke from their stupor and drew their weapons to point them at Celeste. There were two dozen soldiers, but excluding a few, they didn't seem all that strong relative to us, and certainly not relative to Celeste or Ganymede. Bellatrix was also sitting on a smaller throne nearby, but her body language told me that she clearly didn't want to be there right now. She was sitting against one armrest as far away from Ganymede as possible, as if she were trying to keep her distance from the queen despite sitting in her usual spot.

  "Ganymede! You killed our brother and disrespected his body. I will not stand for this!" Celeste called out.

  A sneer flashed across Ganymede's face for a moment before it settled back into a fake smile. "Saiph was a traitor, sister. Let's talk about this like adults. Put down your weapons." She gestured to the guards, who immediately lowered their weapons and took a few steps back. "Let's be civil about this. Allow me to explain myself."

  Hello! Don't piss off big sister Celeste. She's not a happy camper. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, thanks for reading!

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