Work Text:
Crowe almost ran into Luche on her way out of the Captain’s office, lost in her thoughts. “Shit! Sorry, Luche.”
Luche just raised his eyebrows and moved aside, gesturing for Crowe to move past him. Crowe snorted and shook her head as she continued down the hall. Jerk. He could have at least said something to her. Then again, they’d all been under a lot of pressure since the latest clusterfuck. And now this bullshit with the treaty. No one was in a real chatty mood, and with Luche as second-in-command, he had to be getting the worst of it. She almost felt sorry for him.
Then her thoughts were dragged back to her new mission. She was a mage, not a combat specialist. She didn’t usually work alone, behind enemy lines. She wasn’t sneaky. She prefered explosive frontal assaults to undercover. Nyx or Libertus would really be better suited to this kind of mission. But Libertus has his bum leg, and the Captain believed the princess would be more comfortable with another woman. Apparently, they were close in age, and her grounding in both magic and history, thanks to Nyx’s history nerd of a husband, made her the best candidate. She had her doubts as she felt the box in her pocket containing the tracking device.
Luche watched Crowe leave, before entering Drautos’ office. What could the Captain want with her?
Drautos was staring at the papers on his desk when Luche entered, and he waited until Luche had sat down across from his desk before acknowledging him.
“How are the others taking the news?” Drautos’ eyes were assessing as he looked at Luche.
Even after all this time, after being taken into Drautos’ confidence, becoming an integral part of his plans, he still wasn’t able to tell what Drautos was thinking most of the time. All those years playing both sides had made Drautos opaque, but at times like these, Luche wished he could get a better read on the man.
“They’re angry, upset. Betrayed. Ulric is doing his best to remind everyone of their oaths to the king, but less people are listening to him this time. It looks like there’s a limit to Ulric’s influence, after all.” Luche didn’t bother keeping the sneer off his face. Drautos knew his opinion on Nyx.
They had been friends once, had grown up together. But even then, Nyx had needed to be the one saving people. He was an idealistic idiot, not even losing Galahd could change that. There had been a time when he’d thought Nyx would come to his senses, be more realistic, but it hadn’t lasted. He’d thrown himself into defending people who resented his very presence in their city. He’d even married one of them. It wouldn’t have been quite so annoying if his heroics hadn’t encouraged other people to follow his example and throw their lives away for a lost cause. It was truly infuriating.
“Good. Do what you can to sow dissent. We still have a few days until we make our move, everyone we can turn to our side or get to desert will make our jobs easier.” Drautos tapped his fingers on his desk as he looked at Luche. “We are reaching the final stage, and we’ve all worked too hard to fuck it up now. We will get our homes back from the weak-willed Lucians who couldn’t be bothered to fight for them.”
“Yes, sir.” Luche nodded. He hated it here, with looks of contempt on the faces of everyone in the street, who had never had to fight for anything. Never had to lose anything, and thought it made them better. At least the Niffs weren’t afraid to fight. He was more than ready to get behind the winning side.
“King Regis has declared that one of the glaive retrieve Lady Lunafreya from Tenebrae and escort her to Altissia to meet Prince Noctis. We can’t allow this to happen. Lunafreya must stay in the custody of Niflheim. You and Arra will follow Altius out beyond the wall and end her.”
Luche wasn’t quite able to keep the shock from his face. “Kill her, sir?”
Drautos’ eyes narrowed. “Was I not clear?”
“Is that really necessary?” Luche leaned forward. “Surely there’s some other way to prevent Lady Lunafreya from being taken? Someone else you could send?”
“Is this going to be a problem, Lazarus?” Drautos’ voice was mild, but a shiver ran down Luche’s spine. He was at his most dangerous when he was calm.
When Luche didn’t say anything, Drautos continued. “Altius is one of our best mages, and one the other mages look to. She’s too dangerous to have loose during the attack, and you’re the one who told me she wasn’t a candidate for recruitment. Losing her on the king’s mission will be just the blow we need to demoralize the glaive. But if you don’t think you can handle it, I can assign someone else.”
“No, no. I understand, sir. I’ll see it done.” Luche sat up straight, pushing everything to the side but the details of the mission.
Later, Luche pulled out the special bottle of old Galahdan whiskey he kept stashed at his desk and took a drink straight out the bottle. He sat it down and stared at the amber liquid, not really seeing it. He had his problems with Nyx and Libertus, but he and Crowe had always gotten along. She wasn’t afraid to call them on their bullshit. If only she hadn’t been so emotionally attached, she could have been an invaluable asset to their cause. She was smart, determined, and ruthless when necessary. She wasn’t a stranger to the practical realities.
But Libertus had saved her, raised her together with Nyx, and she was absolutely loyal to them. She didn’t have any other family, so she held close to the one she’d found. She’d told him as much during late night watches in the field. She was willing to listen to him complain about Nyx’s stupid, reckless stunts, but she would always stop him before he got too far. It was a godsdamn waste, is what it was.
Even Furia, the troublemaker, liked her. He’d wanted to steal her for his unit after her training was complete, hoping he could turn her like he’d turned Axis and Sonitus. She’d shown so much promise. But she’d wanted to be on the front lines with Libertus and Nyx. Then her aptitude with magic had become apparent and she’d risen through the ranks of the mages. If only she hadn’t spent so much time around Libertus and Nyx, corrupting her with their propaganda about fighting the good fight.
What a waste.
Luche took another drink from the bottle. If only she could be made to see sense, get her out from under Libertus and Nyx. Then maybe she could be talked around, shown the practicality in joining the stronger side. But orders were orders, and Drautos ordered her out of the way.
Wait.
Luche froze as the thought hit him with the force of one of Tredd’s explosions. Drautos needed her out of the way during the attack because she was too dangerous to be a part of it. He agreed with that part. But maybe she didn’t need to be dead to be out of the way. It was reckless and dangerous to go against Drautos’ orders. He’d seen Drautos kill to protect his plan. But Crowe could be an asset, he knew it. And once Insomnia fell, she’d have to see he was right, and join him. He just needed to keep her out of the way until then. Then, she’d see sense, and Drautos would have to agree that she was worth more alive than dead.
Crowe shook her head as she shut the van door, and settled in for the drive out of Insomnia. She loved those two idiots, she did, but sometimes they still wanted to treat her like she was 15 again. Just because Libertus had gotten himself injured didn’t mean that she couldn’t handle herself just fine. He worried too much.
She went over the info she’d managed to get about Lady Lunafreya as the van drove. The publicly available information stank of Empire propaganda, but the basics were probably true, more or less. She was a good speaker from the few speeches Crowe had managed to skim. Cor had given her a few more details, having met her once when she was a child. Apparently she and Noctis were close, and had some oracle way to communicate that the Empire couldn’t hack. Maybe that would come in handy later. Nyx marrying up had its perks.
She still wasn’t sure she was the best person for this job. Protocol had never been her strong suit. She didn’t know how to act around a princess, much less the Oracle. Noctis had always been surprisingly casual the few times she’d interacted with him, but there was no guarantee Lunafreya would be the same. And she’d been in the Empire’s control for years. Who knew what kind of effect that would have on her? Crowe hoped she didn’t say something stupid and offend the gods or something.
Crowe felt the van slowing and hopped up to check her supplies and the bike on last time. She was going incognito, which meant no magic if she could help it, so all her supplies had to be on her. The bike was glaive issue, though all glaive insignia had been removed, so it should hold up to a long trek. She did a thorough check anyway. She was going to be alone out there, she wanted to be prepared.
“We’re nearly there!” A voice called up from the front, and Crowe was surprised to find it was Luche. They hadn’t spoken much since that time in the hallway. She’d figured the Captain was keeping him busy preparing for the treaty signing. She was a little surprised he was the one dropping her off.
“No warnings to take care of myself?” She called back as she finished prepping the back.
The van slowed to halt, and Luche turned around to look at her. “You can take care of yourself just fine.”
Crowe smirked back at him. At least someone acknowledged her competence. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
She put the kickstand up and started rolling the bike towards the van doors.
There was a rustling behind, then a pop as something stabbed her in the neck. She swatted at it, and found a syringe sticking out from her exposed neck. She whirled around to find Luche holding a tranq gun, watching her.
“What the hell?” She reached for a weapon, but the whatever he’d given her had already taken effect and she was falling to her knees.
“I’m sorry, this is for the best. You’ll be somewhere safe until it’s all over, and you’ll come to your senses.”
The world was going gray, but she could just make out Luche kneeling next to her. She reached out, trying to hit him, but her arms wouldn’t cooperate. Luche grabbed her flailing hand and snapped a metal cuff on it, pulling her other arm forward to cuff her hands in front of her. She tried a fire spell since physical attacks weren’t working, but she couldn’t reach her magic. A chill ran through her as she realized the cuffs were colder than they should be. Magic-suppressing cuffs. What was Luche planning? What was going on? No answers came to her as the darkness finally dragged her under.
“Luche, report.” Drautos’ voice was terse over the phone.
“It’s done. She’s out of the way.” Luche kept his voice as even as possible. It was risky lying to Drautos, but years of subterfuge had made him a good liar. And it would be worth it, once Crowe realized she was on the wrong side and joined him.
He took one last look at Crowe lying on the bed, and shut the door. He made sure the lock was solid, even though she was still cuffed and had chains preventing her from reaching the door. She couldn’t get loose until everything was handled, too much was at stake. He nodded at one of the lower level glaives he’d set to guarding her. He’d told them the Captain wanted her alive and out of the way, so they were to stay here and guard her. Drautos didn’t bother keeping track of low level flunkies when he was as busy as he was, so it should be fine. Long enough for things to work out anyway.
He slipped back into the van, and signaled for Axis to drive them back to Insomnia. Getting Axis on board had been easier than he’d thought, but it had taken some doing to get him to agree to not tell anyone else. But he had, and Crowe was as safe as he could make her. Now it was a waiting game for all the pieces to line up in place.
Luche knocked on the door and entered Drautos’ office. “I hear Ostium left.”
“Yes, that worked out better than I expected. It was too much to expect we’d lose Ulric, too, but he’ll still serve a purpose for our plan. And our assets in the city have a role for Ostium, now that he’s unaffiliated. There’s a chance we can even bring Ostium to our side now.” Drautos looked pleased, in as much as the man ever looked pleased.
“I heard they saw Altius’ body.” Luche made sure to keep his voice even. It wouldn’t do to show weakness now. He’d been too busy to check on Crowe recently, but he believed she was still safe. Drautos looked too pleased to have discovered his deception.
Irritation flashed across Drautos’ face. “Inconvenient as it was that no one was able to find a body, I called in a favor to fake it. The real thing would have been preferable, but it did the job. I knew Ulric and Ostium would never give up hope until they saw the body. And the break was more effective than I thought, so it was worth the extra effort.”
Drautos’ eyes narrowed. “It’s unlike you to be so sloppy as to lose track of the body.”
Luche carefully did not react. “In the chaos of preparing for the signing, it must have slipped through the cracks.”
Drautos stared at him a moment longer, then looked down at the papers. “Make sure everything is in place for tomorrow.”
“Can we count on Ulric to figure it out?” Luche was eager to change the subject.
Drautos snorted. “I have faith in Ulric’s ability to put himself in the middle of everything.”
Luche grimaced. There was so much depending on things coming together. Nyx better do his part.
Crowe lay on the bed and stewed in her thoughts. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been here, but she didn’t think it was more than a couple of days. She’d tested the cuffs, but even if she had something to pick the locks, she wasn’t sure she could. That was more Nyx’s area than hers. There were no windows and the walls were solid. The chain tied to her ankle didn’t reach the door, though it did allow her to reach the small attached bathroom. So she supposed it could be worse.
Who was she kidding? It was worse. Luche had been the one to trap her here. Luche. She’d never been as close to him as she was to Nyx and Libertus, but they’d been friends. She’d thought. Though he’d pulled away from everyone as he took on more command. What she really wanted to know was how many glaives were traitors? How deep did this go? She’d hear one of the people watching her mention Niflheim. She recognized them, too, even if she couldn’t remember names. They were part of Sonitus’ unit, which meant whatever was going on, Tredd and Axis were involved, too. Those three were always together. And she hated to admit it, but the Captain was probably in on it, too. Dammit, she knew the mission had sounded suspicious!
She kicked the wall in her frustration. Godsdammit! She needed to get out of here, warn the others. She wasn’t sure who she could trust other than Libertus and Nyx. Pelna, probably. She refused to believe Pelna was in on it, too. Whatever Niflheim was planning, whatever Luche wanted her for, she needed to stop it. She couldn’t lose another family.
She just wasn’t sure how to get out of here. Her captors were too smart to get close to her when giving her food and water, they just slid it across the floor. And the cuffs meant she couldn’t use magic. She hadn’t realized how dependent she’d become on magic until she couldn’t use it. Her wrists were rubbed raw from her attempts to get free, and they were still on. She kicked the wall again.
Raised voices were the only warning Crowe got before the door slammed open. She sat up, hands in front of her. The two people who were watching her stomped in, and the older one glared as he pulled his dagger.
Zimia, whose name Crowe finally remembered, walked towards her. “It’s time to come with us so you can be useful to the Captain.”
“Fuck off! I’m not going anywhere with you!” Crowe scrambled off the bed and planted her feet.
“Don’t make this harder than necessary,” Zimia sneered as he got closer.
“We need you alive, not necessarily in one piece.” The other one, whose name Crowe still didn’t remember, smiled nastily as he moved to flank her.
Crowe bared her teeth and waited. As soon as Zimia got within reach, she lunged for his dagger. He slashed at her and twisted to kick at her, but she managed to dodge. His friend moved to grab her, but he tripped on the chain attached to her ankle. She grabbed Zimia’s hand and used her body weight to turn him around to throw him into his friend, twisting to take his dagger from him.
Zimia came up snarling and lunged for her, but Crowe dropped, tugging on the chain on the floor to trip him. He fell back with a grunt into his friend, and they went down again. Blood pooled on the floor from under Zimia, and his friend pushed him to the side to reveal his dagger in Zimia’s back. The other glaive and Crowe stared at each other for a moment, then he pulled his dagger out with a growl and pushed himself up. He rushed her, anger making his movements predictable. She moved to the side to avoid his dagger, and plunged her own into his neck. He collapsed and she searched him for the keys to the chain and the cuffs, ignoring the blood. He didn’t have anything so she moved to Zimia.
Success! She found a set of keys and tried them on her cuffs. She went nearly weak with relief as they popped off. Then she worked on the manacle around her ankle until she was able to remove that, too. She stood up, careful not to slip on the blood and walked out of the room, dagger at the ready. If there was anyone else here, they should have shown up during the fight, but better safe than sorry.
She searched the rest of the small house she was in, but it was empty. There wasn’t much here, no signs of what they were planning or who they were working with. Disappointing. She stopped in the larger bathroom downstairs to clean herself up, and filled a bag with some rations before stepping outside. She blinked at the bright sun after days in a dim room. Shading her eyes, she surveyed the area, not seeing another structure within eyesight. Dammit.
She reached for the emergency comm device she kept in the armiger. She’d have to be careful who she contacted but hopefully she could get some idea of what was going on. Only she couldn’t reach it. She frowned. She wasn’t wearing the cuffs anymore. She reached for a low level fire spell, something she could do practically in her sleep. Nothing. Her heart started racing, and she forced herself to take a deep breath and focus. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The spot where she kept her magic ever since the king gave it to her when she joined the glaive was gone. Empty. Her eyes burned as she realized what that meant. Whatever had happened, she was too late. The king was dead, and his magic along with him.
She took a deep breath and pushed the grief aside. She needed to know what happened. She needed to find Libertus and Nyx. Maybe there was still something she could do. She wouldn’t know until she made it back to Insomnia, and that’s what she was going to do.
There was an old car in front of the house, and she still had the keys she’d taken off Zimia. She followed the dirt path until she made it to a main road and she was able to orient herself. She turned towards Insomnia and started driving. The closer she got, the more Imperial dropships she started seeing, and the more traffic she found going the other way.
Eventually, she pulled over. There were families on foot traveling along the side of the road, and Crowe stopped to check on some of them, and they told her horror stories of Insomnia being attacked by demons and giant statues. MTs coming out of the sky after the Wall fell, shooting people indiscriminately. Crowe grit her teeth at not being there, and offered her car to a mother with five small children.
She ran into more and more survivors fleeing the city the closer she got. She stopped to help where she could, but eventually there were too many. It reminded her too much of the evacuation of Galahd, especially the lost looks on the people coming out. She knew what it was like to lose your home in an attack of violence by the Empire, and she hated that she had been prevented from trying to stop it.
She had started being able to see the walls of Insomnia in the distance when she heard a commotion off to the side, behind some rocks.
“Come on, you must have something, fancy dress like that!”
“I’m afraid I do not.”
Crowe rounded the corner to see two men threatening a blond woman in a silver dress. They all turned to look at her as she stepped out, and her eyes widened as she recognized the woman.
“This isn’t any business of yours. Step away!” One of the men stepped closer to Crowe, glaring and brandishing a pipe.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll walk away.” Crowe set her feet and glared back.
The man sneered and swung at her. Crowe ducked the blow, grabbed his wrist and used his momentum to throw him on the ground. With a twist of her wrist, the pipe was in her possession.
“You should leave while you still can.” She stepped towards the man still too close to Lady Lunafreya, holding the pipe in front of her.
He looked at her, and then at his friend on the ground and ran, pausing only to haul his friend along with him.
“Thank you for your help.” Lady Lunafreya smiled at her, tired and dirty, but still regal.
“Of course. Are you alright, Lady Lunafreya?” Crowe bowed her head a little, unsure of the protocol.
Alarm flashed in Lunafreya’s eyes, and she looked behind Crowe.
Crowe raised her hands. “I just want to help. Are you injured?”
Lunafreya shook her head slightly. “They did not hurt me.”
Crowe gestured to a low rock and Lunafreya sat down, still watching her warily.
“I’m guessing the Niffs are looking for you.” Crowe crouched down in front of Lunafreya so she could keep an eye on both her and the road.
Lunafreya nodded.
Crowe sighed. “I’m Crowe Altius, and I was the Kingsglaive sent to escort you by King Regis, but I got waylaid by the Niffs. Sorry.”
She looked away and sat back on her heels. None of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for that bastard Luche!
“Nyx Ulric said you were dead. I’m glad to see he was mistaken.”
Crowe looked up to see Lunafreya smiling, posture more relaxed. “You know Nyx? What happened? Where is he?”
Lunafreya’s smile dropped, and it was her turn to look away. “I am sorry. He was a good and brave man who sacrificed himself to help distract the Empire so Libertus and I could escape the city.”
Crowe’s chest squeezed, and she sat on the ground hard. Fuck. She knew he was a self-sacrificing idiot, but he always seemed to pull off his reckless stunts. Her eyes burned.
She looked at Lunafreya. “Libertus? He was there, too? What happened to him?” She could feel desperation in her voice. Please, don’t let her lose Libertus, too.
Lunafreya looked at her with sympathy. “He is alive. We went our separate ways after the gates. He is on his way back to Galahd.”
Crowe frowned. What the hell was he doing going back to Galahd when there was still so much work to do here? Just leaving the princess like that? What had happened while she was gone?
“I’m sorry. You were close with them?” Lunafreya’s voice was gentle.
“Yeah.” Crowe rubbed at her eyes, shaking her head to clear it. “We grew up together.”
Lunafreya nodded. “Perhaps, if you leave now, you can catch up with Libertus.”
Crowe shook her head. She didn’t know what Libertus was thinking, the idiot. She knew he was angry and bitter about the treaty, but surely things were different now? He might want to go home, but she was still a glaive, dammit, and she had a job to do.
“I wasn’t able to fulfill my duty to escort you safely to the city, so please let me escort you now. The Niffs will be everywhere looking for you, and you could use someone watching your back. Please, Lady Lunafreya, let me see you safely to wherever you need to go.” Crowe kneeled in front of Lunafreya, and put her fist to her chest.
Lunafreya looked her over with an intense expression, and Crowe shivered as she felt the regard of the Oracle. Then Lunafreya smiled.
“I would be honored to have your assistance, Crowe Altius. Please, if we are to travel together, call me Luna.”
Crowe felt her face grow hot at the thought of being so familiar with the princess of Tenebrae, but she bowed her head in acknowledgement. “Then call me Crowe, please.”
She stood up, and brushed off her pants. “So, where to, princess? Ah, Luna.”
“I must make my way to Duscae to prepare the way for Noctis.”
Crowe looked at Luna as she stood up, and shook her head. “First things first, we need to get you some new clothes. Those stand out too much.”
Luna huffed but tilted her head in acknowledgement.
“Here, this will do until we find something better.” Crowe shrugged out of her jacket and handed it over.
Luna slipped it on as they started walking back towards the road, Crowe scanning the area for any Imperials.
A few weeks later, they had just made it into Duscae. Between ducking Imperial patrols, and stopping to allow Luna to heal those who needed it, it had taken them a long time to make it this far. Crowe had tried to discourage Luna from healing people they ran across, since it made them a bigger target, but it was a lost cause. Not that Crowe didn’t understand the desire to help, but she needed to think of Luna’s safety, too.
The MT patrols were getting more and more frequent the closer they got to Lestallum, and they spent more and more time hiding. Crowe would have fought more, she certainly wanted to give the Niffs a piece of her mind, but she couldn’t afford to have the Empire confirm Luna’s location. Crowe could handle a patrol or two, but she knew she couldn’t fight off a full on attack, especially without her magic.
She pulled Luna to the side as another drop ship went overhead. They crouched behind an old shed of some kind, and stayed quiet. But the drop ship dropped a platoon of MTs anyway. Crowe cursed and grabbed her dagger. This shed was the only real cover in the area, so there was no way she was going to be able to avoid a fight this time. She gestured to Luna to stay in cover and slipped out, trying to sneak up on them.
Before she got within reach of the MTs, they started firing. She ducked and rolled to avoid the fire, wishing desperately she still had access to magic. She came up to dash at the nearest MT, knowing her best shot was to take them down as quick as possible. But there was someone else there, cutting through them almost too fast to see.
In minutes, all the MTs were down, and Crowe lowered her knife, smile on her face. As Luna stepped out from cover, Crowe called out, “Fancy meeting you here, Marshal.”
Cor turned, katana still at the ready position. “You’re dead, Altius. Nyx saw your body.”
Crowe’s eyes went wide, and she stepped back. Cor was looking at her with narrowed eyes, suspicion clear. She shivered. What was going on?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Crowe put her hands up in a placating gesture. “Luche, the bastard, ambushed me and kept me locked away. I didn’t manage to get out until after Insomnia fell. I don't know anything about a body, but I’m not dead.”
“Marshal, please.” Luna walked up to stand next to Crowe, placing a hand on her arm. “I don’t know what lies the Empire told you, but Crowe is who she says she is. She saved my life.”
Cor lowered his katana slowly, and resheathed it with a sigh. “Stranger things have happened, I suppose.”
His lips twitched up in a smile. “It’s good to see you, Crowe. I know Nyx will be happy, too. I should actually give him a call so he doesn’t hurt himself with the shock.”
“Wait!” Crowe stepped forward. “Nyx is alive?”
Cor stopped in the middle of pulling out his phone. “Yeah, he’s recovering back in Hammerhead.” His lips thinned. “It was close, but he’s alive.”
Crowe’s eyes burned, and she closed them in an effort to hold back the tears. Nyx was alive.
Cor checked his phone, then put it back in his pocket. He turned to Luna and bowed. “Lady Lunafreya, I’ve been looking for you, to escort you to safety.”
“It is good to see you, Marshal. But I have a duty to prepare the way for Noctis, and I must see that fulfilled.” Luna smiled at Cor but her mouth was set in a way Crowe had become familiar with in their travels together.
Cor shook his head. “The Empire is doubling their efforts to find you. You can’t fulfill your duty if they catch you. And surely, reuniting with Noctis can only make your duty easier to fulfill. Come back with me, rest, reunite with Noctis. Then we can come up with a plan to see both your duties done, together.”
Luna lost her smile as she considered.
“I have my own duty, to see you and Noctis safe, as Regis wanted.” A shadow passed over Cor’s face as he mentioned Regis.
Luna sighed. “As you say, Marshal. It will be good to see Noctis again.”
Cor nodded and motioned for them to start moving. As they walked, Cor pulled out his phone once more and made a phone call. Crowe could hear the fondness in his voice as he talked, and smiled to herself. Nyx was the only one who could make Cor sound like that.
Cor handed her the phone.
“Crowe?” Nyx’s voice sounded quiet and unsure, like after one of his nightmares.
“Yeah, it’s me. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. And we are going to talk about the stupid decisions you make without me around.” Crowe made sure her voice came out firm.
Nyx laughed, though Crowe could still hear the tears in it. “I already got the lecture from Cor, thanks.”
“And you’ll get it from me, too. When I see you again.” Crowe couldn’t quite hide the tears in her own voice.
“I’ll look forward to it.” Nyx sounded better already.
Crowe handed the phone back to Cor with a grateful look. She couldn’t wait to smack Nyx for scaring her like that. As they made their way back down the road, Crowe breathed a sigh of relief. With the Marshal with them, she didn’t have to worry about the Niffs as much. And part of her family had been returned to her. Things were looking up.