Annan was the Oddities' leader, and they had once been fellow prisoners... They didn't mind him being the Warden.
The six Oddities who stayed were Slug, Candle Head, Painting Person, Lanky Dancing Shadow, Humanoid, and an Invisible Man wearing the wide-brimmed hat that was his true form.
They followed Annan toward the city gates. The fat Noble looked out of place among them, but he had never felt safer.
It was like being a child again, with his mother tucking him in at night.
The fat Noble sidled up to Annan and pointed toward the intersection ahead. "The storage site is just up ahead, on the right..."
"Leave it there for now. We don't have much time to waste."
Two of the Princess's three Seals were gone. Only the last one seemed to remain. But something in her manner made Annan feel as if she were... saying goodbye.
Since becoming an Elite, Annan's gift for catching subtle emotions had never failed him. The Princess was definitely hiding something else from him.
The fat Noble knew nothing of this. He lowered his voice. "Where did you catch these mon—these fellows?"
“I didn't. Baron Valencia did...”
"His Excellency the Bishop is still alive?!"
"He's dead. I just handed his true form over to the Princess..."
Annan found it hard to grieve Baron Valencia's death. What he felt instead was regret... Perhaps that was because the Archbishop Baron Valencia he had known was only the one from "January Seventeenth," who had realized the error of his ways.
The fat Noble seized the chance to ask, "Are you really going to kill the Princess?"
"Isn't that what you want?" Annan asked deliberately.
"I don't!" the fat Noble blurted, then hurriedly lowered his voice. "They said it, and I had no choice but to agree..."