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Nyx hadn’t known the princess long, but she seemed smart, and she must have some survival skills to have lasted this long in Imperial custody, even if she did take stupid risks in the name of her duty. All of which meant she would be sticking to the more crowded paths out of the city to blend in. And going in the opposite direction of where he’d found Libertus.
By the time he’d backtracked and found the most likely path, it was dawn. He could feel the relief in the weary survivors around him as the sunlight eliminated the threat of daemons. Nyx couldn’t share in their relief. With the sun up and daemons gone, the Niffs were sure to increase their efforts to find the princess.
He picked up his pace, scanning the crowd for blonde hair. The first few he ran across were not who he was looking for. Oddly, that reassured him. It meant the princess wouldn’t stick out as much as he’d feared.
He heard raised voices ahead and he broke out into a jog. He had a sick feeling that whatever was going on involved the princess.
Sure enough, when he rounded the half wall blocking his view, he found Lady Lunafreya bracketed by two men looming over her as she knelt on the ground. Then he noticed the third man on the ground next to her and the golden glow around her hands.
“Nyx Ulric.” Lunafreya pushed herself up and inclined her head at him “I am pleased to see you in one piece.”
“Me, too, your highness,” Nyx said on autopilot. It seemed unlikely that these people would mean harm to the princess after she’d healed their comrade, but after the last day he wasn’t sure he knew what was likely or not anymore.
“Thank you, Lady Lunafreya!” The man on the ground said.
Lunafreya gave the man a small, tired smile. “It is my pleasure to be of service.”
“Will your friend be wanting a ride, too?” The man on the right was eyeing Nyx suspiciously.
Lunafreya turned her smile on Nyx. “These men have graciously offered to take me to the nearest hunter outpost in their truck.”
Well, maybe his luck was changing.
Nyx nodded. “I’m with you, your highness.”
The men brought their truck around, and Nyx helped Lunafreya into the truck bed. The ride was bumpy, and neither of them said anything until they reached the outpost.
They said a quick goodbye to their ride, and Nyx checked them in to the available caravan. Luckily, either this outpost was out of the way enough or the ride had put them ahead of the crowd, but this outpost was fairly quiet and the accommodations weren’t yet taken by other refugees.
Nyx left Lunafreya to clean up as best she could in the caravan’s facilities and went to the store to grab some food. He picked up some ingredients to throw together a simple meal, as well as what first aid supplies they had. Then he headed back to the caravan.
He froze with the door half open when he saw what awaited him. Lunafreya had washed off all the dust from their escape, and somehow found a more practical white dress. But what had stopped Nyx in his tracks was the tall, dark-haired woman next to her.
Where had she come from?
Nyx shook himself and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
“Nyx Ulric,” Lunafreya gestured to the woman beside her, “this is Gentiana.” A slight hesitation, then, “She is a messenger of the Astrals, and an old friend.”
A messenger of the gods? Nyx took a breath. Why not? Was that any weirder than talking to his dead half-brother in a ring?
Gentiana nodded at him. “Nyx Ulric.”
Nyx noticed she kept her eyes closed. Some messenger thing, maybe?
“Nyx Ulric...” Lunafreya clenched her fist around something, probably the ring.
“Only those of Lucian royal blood can wield the Ring of the Lucii without great sacrifice,” Gentiana said for her.
Nyx barked a laugh. “Oh, there was sacrifice, alright.”
He shook his head. “But I know what you mean.”
He ran his fingers through his hair, and desperately wished he’d been able to partake of the shower before having this conversation. Still, if anyone other than Prince Noctis deserved an explanation, it was his fiance.
“Mors,” Nyx spat, refusing to use an honorific. He shook his head, and tried again. “He got my mother pregnant during one of his trips to Galahd. She couldn’t exactly tell him no, but she hid my parentage from him and the Lucian court. So did I, until I couldn’t any more.”
Nyx grimaced. “That man may have fathered me, but he wasn’t my father, my family, in any way that mattered. I had a family, a real family, back in Galahd.”
He ran his fingers through his hair again. “When it came down to it, I couldn’t let my anger, no matter how deserved, stop me from doing my job.”
He met Lunafreya’s eyes. “I made a promise to King Regis to see you safe to Altissia, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Lunafreya gave him a small smile. “I welcome your assistance on my journey.”
She held out her hand, the ring laying in her palm looking deceptively innocent. “Perhaps this truly belongs in your keeping.”
Nyx shook his head and stepped back. “Once was plenty, your highness. That belongs with you, and Prince Noctis.”
She pulled her hand back with another smile. “Please, if we are to travel together, at least in private, call me Luna.”
“If you call me Nyx,” he shot back with a smile of his own.
He looked to see what Gentiana thought of this, only to notice she disappeared.
“She does that,” Luna said when he looked at her.
He saw a hint of mischief in her eyes, and suddenly remembered she was a younger sister.
What had he gotten himself into?
He shook his head and put bags in the small kitchen for later. “I’m gonna take a shower.”
He came out feeling much more human, in a spare uniform he’d kept in the armiger for emergencies. He hadn’t been sure he’d still be able to access it, but apparently his inherent magic was enough to get to what he’d stored there.
Eventually he was going to have to take the time to test what he could do now that he’d accepted the magic inherent in his bloodline.
Not right this second, though. Right now he was starving and ready for some actual food. Using magic always made him hungry, and he’d been using more magic in the last 24 hours than he’d ever used before, as his stomach was now helpfully reminding him.
Luna was going through the first aid supplies he’d managed to snag, frowning. “Some of these are expired.”
Nyx just raised an eyebrow and pulled down the bag of rice he’d bought to get it cooking on the stove. He couldn’t do anything fancy with what he’d picked up, but he could get a decent meal out of it.
“Out here, people take what they can get,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice neutral. The shitty state of things was in no way her fault.
He shot her a grin. “I’ve made do with worse. And I figured there’ll be people coming through who will need the better stuff more than us.”
She nodded thoughtfully, and continued packing the supplies in a bag she’d picked up from somewhere. The same place she’d got the dress, maybe?
Nyx shook his head. “Have a seat, princess. I’ll whip us up some grub and then we can crash for the night.”
“We talked about this, Nyx.” She grinned at him. “Luna, please.”
“Luna,” Nyx agreed and turned his attention to doing what he could with the food.
He felt even more human after they ate, and he didn’t do too bad with what he had to work with, if he did say so himself.
He stood up and stretched, feeling his back pop. “We’ll see what kind of ride we can hitch to Altissia in the morning. Worst case, maybe we can find some chocobos to rent.”
“We will not be going to Altissia immediately.”
Nyx froze, and lowered his arms to stare at Luna.
She looked back at him, looking every inch the royal.
Unfortunately for Luna, Nyx had spent enough time guarding Regis during council sessions that the regal look of command didn’t affect him.
“What in the Six do you mean?” He placed his hands on the table in front of him and leaned forward. “I promised Regis I would see you safely there and that’s what I intend to do.”
Luna raised a hand in a calming gesture. “And we will go there, eventually. But I must prepare the way for Noctis first. It is my duty to see his destiny fulfilled.”
Nyx scowled. He knew it made him an hypocrite considering he was following her out of his own sense of duty, but why couldn’t anything be straightforward for once in his life?
He never was that lucky.
“You know the Niffs will be looking for you, and that ring you’re carrying,” he said in what he hoped was a reasonable tone. “The longer we take to get to Altissia and meet up with Prince Noctis, the more vulnerable you’ll be.”
She grinned at him. “With such a valiant soldier at my side?”
Nyx snorted and sat back with a sigh. He’d been a soldier long enough to recognize an unwinnable battle when he saw one. Never say he couldn’t choose the better part of valor when necessary.
“So where are we going then?”