More Stories by Corinn Heathers

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Novels

Dawn of a New Astral Age

bound together

dimension fracture

rebirth disconnect

celestial paradigm

dawn integration

Binary System

Binary System: Deneb

Falling Colors

Amity

Short Works

The Dusty Man ~ K.J. Russell

“Tears”

Tides of Possibility ~ Edited by K.J. Russell

“Imaginary Numbers”

Tides of Impossibility ~ Edited by K.J. Russell & C. Stuart Hardwick

“Wind and Ash”

Midnight’s Blossom

The Queen of Ruin, Book One

Midnight’s Blossom

The Queen of Ruin, Book One

Copyright © 2018 by Corinn A. Heathers

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced without express written permission from the copyright holder, with the exception of short excerpts for review purposes.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and situations are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Prologue

Chapter 1: Arising Dreams

Chapter 2: The Crow and the Maiden

Part I – Flowers

Chapter 3: Two Shining Stars

Chapter 4: Rogue Hearts

Chapter 5: Azure Currents

Chapter 6: Entwined

Chapter 7: Union of Spirit

Chapter 8: Invitation to Darkness

Part II – Antilight

Chapter 9: Falling Petals

Chapter 10: Unity of Purpose

Chapter 11: Eternal Shadow

Chapter 12: The Mist

Chapter 13: Black Luminescence

Chapter 14: Forward Into Night

Part III – New Growth

Chapter 15: Across the Blue

Chapter 16: Acceptance

Chapter 17: Binding Force

Chapter 18: Girl of the Void

Chapter 19: Seeking Shadows

Chapter 20: Learning the Lies

Part IV – Malice

Chapter 21: Sense of Pain

Chapter 22: Fair Winds, Fair Waters

Chapter 23: Soft Engagement

Chapter 24: Echoes of the Soul

Chapter 25: Ebb and Flow

Part V – Depths

Chapter 26: Gray Radiance

Chapter 27: Glimpse of the End

Chapter 28: Accelerated Decay

Chapter 29: Reaching Into Light

Chapter 30: The Viridian Sea

Chapter 31: Execution

Chapter 32: Turn of the Wheel

Chapter 33: Measure of Control

Chapter 34: Divine Providence

Epilogue

Chapter 35: Homecoming

Chapter 36: Blue Awakening

Chapter 37: Unity of Soul and Mind

About the Author

Prologue

-

Chapter 1
Arising Dreams

“I'm going to miss you,” she said, her voice choking up just slightly.

“Mother, please.” I suppressed an exasperated sigh and tried not to roll my eyes. “It's not like I'm going away forever. I'll see you again during the break between terms.”

“That's half a year from now,” Mother complained.

“So?”

My mother scowled at me. “You've never been away from me this long before. I'm allowed to miss my little red lily when I won't see her for months.”

“Mother. I'm not a child any longer.”

“You are.”

“Oh, come on.” This time I did roll my eyes. “Mama, I'm almost twenty!”

A smug half-smile creased her face. “So?”

I met my mother's challenging stare with one of my own. I really hated it when she turned my own words against me, which she was extremely good at. Her eyes were narrowed still, but I could tell she was struggling with this far more than I was.

Even her magic seemed to be picking up on her anxious mood. Cerulean waters glimmered and pulsed within the small crystalline shard that sat proudly in the center of her forehead. My mother's connection to our family’s magic had always been strong, and in the traditional Solarian style, she chose to part her hair so that the light of her magic was visible to all.

I took after her in a lot of ways. Our eyes were the same cool blue, and our hair was just on the curly side of wavy, though she wore hers long. Unlike my mother's rich mahogany-brown, my hair was a striking deep red in color. I'd always cut it short and left it somewhat messy, with clusters of curls dropping across my forehead. I had a habit of brushing the ringlets out of my eyes, but I didn't care. It was better than drawing even more attention to myself.

My mother's shoulders squared and she leaned close to scoop me up in a tight embrace. She was much taller than me. I stood up on tiptoes, straining to return the hug without being lifted off the ground. I failed, and my feet left the hard stone path. I felt my cheeks grow hot.

“Mama!”

“What? Am I embarrassing you?” She laughed at my discomfiture and freed one arm, still easily holding me up with the other. “There's nobody else around, so you can relax.”

“It's going to be hard enough without you calling attention to it,” I countered.

“Oh, come on, it's not that obvious—”

“Yes, it is.” I wriggled my way out of her grasp and felt the soles of my boots touch the ground again. I gave her a look that told her in no uncertain terms that I did not want to discuss this, especially not here. “Are you going to stay for the orientation, too, or are you finished trying to make the color of my cheeks rival my hair?”

Her expression became more serious. “I'm sorry, little red lily. It's just… hard. I know this is best, but I can't help feeling… afraid.”

“I know.”

“I'm aware it'll be even harder for you,” she continued, doing her best to keep her voice even as she spoke. “If something happens? Well, we’ll figure things out. I'll make sure you don't lack for instruction, even if it isn't at the Academy.”

“You promised a lot of money so I could—”

My mother shrugged as if it didn't matter, even though it did. “Don't you go worrying about that, my dear. Your future is what matters to me, not the weight of coin in my coffers.”

I straightened my shoulders and drew myself up to my full height—which wasn't much. Mother still towered over me by more than twenty centimeters. I tried to meet her gaze squarely, but felt all kinds of unpleasant squirmy emotions building up inside and ended up looking away.

“It's okay to be nervous.”

“Y-yeah,” I mumbled. “I'll be fine, I think.”

My mother placed a hand on my shoulder. “I know. I know you'll do well.”

“I'll do my best, Mama.” I smiled at her. “Go on. I have to head to the main auditorium for orientation or I'll be late. We'll see each other again before you know it.”

Predictably, I was lifted off the ground again in another hug. This time, however, I didn't bother to protest.

*

I made my way into the auditorium with about ten minutes to spare; even so, the enormous gathering space was already filled to bursting with new students for the first term of the year. For once, my slight stature was proving to be a blessing. I was able to slip between my peers without much trouble or even notice.

I admit, I did feel intimidated. Every other person in the auditorium was much closer to my mother's height than mine, with many of the students even taller than she. The glimmer of dozens upon dozens of manashards, a riot of color signifying the Five Aspects, bothered me even more than the fact that I was the smallest person in the room.

When they looked down and noticed me, people would stare. I tried to ignore it, but I knew I was visually distinctive. Amidst a sea of brown, white, blonde and black hair, my vivid red curls stood out like a fiery beacon. The color of my hair was far less damning than my suspicious lack of height, however.

I chose not to acknowledge the looks I received.

The lectern at the front of the auditorium was no longer empty. An old woman stood behind the podium, knitting her fingers together. She had no notes or papers before her. The manashard in her forehead was a brilliant star of the purest emerald-green. That light faded to something more akin to the soft glow of my mother's manashard after a moment, and I realized the woman had cast some sort of spell—

“I bid you welcome to the Imperial Academy of Magic, young lords and ladies.”

Apparently it was some sort of wind magic that amplified the sound of her voice while also quieting the murmuring of the assembled students. I heard her clearly, while the low din of conversation around me seemed to cease entirely all at once.

The headmistress continued to speak, but I was only half paying attention. Probably less than that. With the magically enforced silence cutting off their own chatter, several of the nearby students chose to focus on something much more interesting than a long-winded speech about the well-known history of the Empire's oldest arcane college.

That something was me, of course. Unfortunately.

My peers couldn't say anything out loud, but their expressions spoke volumes. They knew, of course. There was no possible way I could hide it. I was too short, too small. My facial features were subtly divergent from the Solarians all around me. Worst of all, I didn't have a manashard, and hiding my forehead behind messy curls wouldn't stop people from realizing that.

I made a point to look away, to feign an empty expression of absolute disinterest, but I don't think it worked. There wasn't much else I could do about it, though, and so I tuned back into the orientation speech as well as I could. At least the boring history lesson was over and the headmistress had yielded the podium to one of the senior instructors.

Over the course of the next hour, my mind was filled with information concerning what would be expected of me as a student mage at the Academy. I made sure to focus all of my attention on this part of the orientation. After all, it was all but a certainty that I'd be scrutinized much more harshly than my peers.

When the orientation period ended, the magical silence collapsed. I darted between bodies, slipping quickly and carefully toward the exit. I didn't need to check the charts posted at the front of the room; Mother ensured I knew in advance where I had to go and when. Classes would start immediately after dorm assignments, and I had to get to my room. I wanted to be there before my assigned roommates showed up.

It was raining outside the auditorium. I dashed across the slick stone path, my boots clacking against the wet slate with each step. I'd only gotten a little damp before reaching the awning that covered the main thoroughfare through the campus that would take me to the dorms.

There weren't many other students on the path yet, and I adopted a brisk pace that didn't give anyone much time to stare at me. The girls' dorms were close by, nearer to the auditorium than the boys' dorms. I stopped at the double doors leading into the lobby and pushed them open.

The dorm mistress stared at me as I walked up to the front desk.

“Can I help you?”

“I'm here for my room assignment,” I said, even though it was obvious that I was a student. I was already dressed in the Solaris uniform. “My name is Lily Alcyone. I was placed in B-14.”

The woman's eyes widened at the mention of my family name.

“You're of House Alcyone?”

I expected that, too.

“Yes. Lady Juno Alcyone is my mother.”

The look I got was nothing I didn't expect. It was the same look I'd seen countless times before on a daily basis, only rather more severe now that the mistress knew who my mother was. I let my brows angle down into a deep scowl.

“Just give me my key and I'll be on my way.”

“Fine.” The dorm mistress's clipped tone suggested that she didn't want to argue. A moment later, the mistress turned around and handed me a metal key. “The door should open with this. If you have trouble getting in, please notify your floor's resident adviser in B-1. She'll be able to dismiss the wards for you.”

Inwardly I was fuming, but I didn't bother to respond. The fact that she gave me a physical key instead of an enchanted passward was an unsubtle insult, but I chose not to dwell upon it. It didn't matter; the key would still open the door and let me into my room. I didn't have time to bicker with this woman. My first class would be starting within the hour, and I wanted to get in and out before my roommates arrived.

With the key in hand I took up a rapid pace down the hallway leading to the stairs that would take me to the second floor, where the “B” rooms were located. Room fourteen was on the right side down the initial corridor, so it didn't take me long at all. I slipped the key into the lock and opened the door.

The room itself was small, as I knew it'd be. Much of the floor space was dominated by a large bunk and a somewhat smaller single bed, against the eastern and western walls respectively. The southern wall held a large window that looked out onto the gardens beyond the campus center, and a heavy desk was flanked on either side with tall shelves, crammed with textbooks on various arcane subject matter.

As I'd hoped, nobody was in the room yet. I was the first to arrive, and Mother’s seneschal ensured my belongings had already been delivered to the room. My travel satchel was set against the single bed on the western wall, along with a somewhat larger bag that was full of clothing appropriate for various occasions.

I shoved the duffel underneath the bed with my foot and turned my attention to the travel satchel. A few moments of rooting around yielded a smaller satchel that I carried with me daily, containing some basic useful items as well as a family insignia that marked me as a daughter of House Alcyone. The bag seemed a fair bit heavier than usual. I caught sight of two items that weren't in the bag when I packed them two nights before: a large coin purse, filled nearly to bursting with Solarian crowns, as well as the dagger Mother gifted to me on my twelfth birthday.

I smiled. Mama was always looking out for me.

The door lock clicked and I blew out a disappointed sigh. I'd taken too long and now one or both of my roommates were here.

Chapter 2
The Crow and the Maiden

The door opened and a tall, slender figure walked into the room. Her long hair was black as night and left unbound to flow around her shoulders like liquid shadow, contrasting sharply with her pale skin. Her eyebrows rose slightly as she fixed her deep violet eyes on me.

“Ah, you must be Lily Alcyone. Welcome to the Academy.”

“Yes, thank you.”

There was no change in her placid expression, though her tone was polite. “My name is Erika, of House Corvus. A pleasure, Lily of House Alcyone.” She dipped into a shallow bow of the type offered to those of equal social standing. I supposed she was going out of her way to make me feel comfortable, though I couldn't imagine why she'd even bother.

I managed to sketch a bow of my own. “Likewise.”

Erika offered a polite smile. Like the headmistress, the glow of her manashard was green in hue, signifying the Corvus mage's wind Aspect. She seemed to be studying me quite thoroughly, but I noticed her gaze did not linger on my forehead. I'm certain she noticed my lack, but clearly this Corvus was tactful enough not to bring up the dragon in the room.

“As a senior student at the Imperial Academy,” Erika went on, “I have been tasked with mentoring first-year students for their initial term. For the next six months, I will work together with you and another first-year mage.”

“That's why you've been assigned a room with me?” I guessed.

“Yes. Our third should arrive shortly, assuming she hasn't gotten lost.” Erika closed her eyes and the light in her manashard flickered. I sensed magic being worked and assumed she was using some sort of minor seeking spell to locate the wayward student—

I nearly jumped out of my own skin when the door was flung open, striking the limit of its hinges with a loud bang. Erika didn't flinch in the slightest, instead merely frowning as another girl dressed in the Academy uniform leaned heavily against the threshold. She was breathing hard, as if she'd ran flat-out from the auditorium without stopping.

There was something about this person that piqued my interest. I wasn't sure exactly what, however. She was clearly a foreigner, which was unusual in of itself. Her skin was a rich and dark brown in color, dotted with even darker freckles on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Thick waves of silvery-white hair cascaded down around her shoulders. Her brown eyes were large and expressive as she scanned the room. The manashard on her forehead, cut in a different sort of fashion than others I’d seen, pulsed irregularly with crimson light, signifying her fire Aspect.

“Hi,” the girl managed, somewhat breathlessly. “This is B-14, right?”

“Yes,” Erika confirmed. “You must be—”

“I'm Rose! Rose Merope.”

“I am Erika Corvus.” She paused and her brows knit together in contemplation. “I don't believe I've ever heard of a House Merope. Where is your family from?”

“Just Merope, not 'House Merope,'” Rose replied in a tone that was rather calm and even considering how out of breath she appeared only seconds before. “I'm not from the Empire, as I'm sure you've guessed. We don't really have the whole highborn and lowborn thing in Fialla.”

I tried not to look as stunned as I felt. A foreign student from Fialla, of all places? A thousand questions and musings bubbled up to the surface of my thoughts, but I didn't have time to think on it long before the newcomer focused her attention entirely upon me. The intensity of her gaze was more than a little intimidating, and I instinctively looked away.

“Hi!” Rose greeted in a cheerful tone. She didn't seem offended in the slightest that I refused to look her in the eye. “What's your name?”

I felt my cheeks warm as I realized Rose was not only focused entirely on me, but she had come very close, kneeling down in front of the bed so that she did not tower over me quite so badly. Only a dozen or so centimeters separated our faces, and her scent enveloped me. An odd sort of lightness built within my chest.

“Um, Lily Alcyone.”

Rose smiled widely and I felt my heart leap in my chest.

“I've never seen a Solarian as small as you.” Her expression was pensive for a moment and my breath caught in my throat. Seven Holy Stars, she was going to say it out loud. The heat in my cheeks only intensified. It was inevitable, after all. “You don't look like you're from anywhere else, though. You're fey-touched, aren't you?”

I suppressed a grimace but nodded in confirmation. “Yes, I am.”

Rose shrugged, picking up on my change in mood. “Well, I'm not Solarian, either. It's not a big deal to me.”

“You're still fully human, though.” I sighed and brushed a few errant curls out of my eyes. “I'm not, and in the Empire, having fey heritage isn’t exactly an honor.”

“Neither is hailing from a ‘barbarian land,’ but okay, I'll let it drop.” The Fiallan wrinkled her nose at that and changed the subject, though it was far too late at this point. She peered intently at my forehead and her eyebrows rose in query. “Why don't you have a manashard? I thought you had to get one to be accepted.”

Her question contained no hostility, only genuine curiosity, but something about the casual way in which it was delivered rubbed my already-frayed nerves raw. I’d spent most of my life trying to studiously ignore the sidelong glances and suspicious looks, and here this girl was calling attention to the five-hundred kilo dragon in the hall. I made a weak attempt to respond, but found that I couldn't form the words. Fortunately, Erika came to my rescue.

“Rose, please stop. You're upsetting Lily.”

The Merope daughter blinked, obviously confused. “Why?”

“I understand that in Fialla, a person's and family's standing in society is not determined by the strength of their magic and the purity of their bloodline,” Erika explained in a calm, soothing tone, but one that held a core of steel. “However, you should still know that these things are deadly serious within the Empire.”

“And as a Solarian mage, not having a manashard marks you as a failure in the making,” I added, having regained my composure largely due to Erika's impromptu defense. I turned away from both of them, gazing instead out the window at the rain that lashed against the panes of glass. “My soul rejected the bond. The aetherium crystal placed upon my forehead remained dull and lifeless.”

Rose frowned. “But why?”

“That is quite enough!” Erika snapped, clearly scandalized at the Fiallan’s curiosity. “You have taken this interrogation too far.”

I held a hand up to forestall argument. “No, it's okay. I'm fine, I just… I don’t know.” I turned away from the window and met Rose's eyes. There was no disgust in her eyes, no disdain, no disapproval whatsoever. She smiled at me again, and I felt a jolt of warmth surge up my spine. Seven Holy Stars, this girl was not at all what I'd expected.

“My other parent was miinari,” I said after a long pause. “I don't know much more than that. I never knew them… and…”

“And…?” Rose prompted.

“Manashards only bind to human souls, and only those with a strong enough affinity to form a foundation for the binding.” My cheeks warmed and I felt intensely self-conscious as I spoke. I knew it wouldn't be any easier to admit it to someone else than it had been to admit to myself. “My connection to the element of water is… tenuous, at best.”

“Oh,” Rose murmured. She sounded chagrined, but her cheeks were too dark for much of a flush to show up easily. “I'm sorry for being so pushy.”

It was well past time to change the subject. Frowning, I flicked my gaze to the red crystal on Rose's forehead. Judging by her insistence, I suspected she wouldn’t mind if I asked. “I’m surprised you have one.”

“Oh, I had to get one before I was accepted into the Academy,” Rose replied in a casual tone, as if it wasn't that big a deal. Maybe it wasn't in Fialla; I realized I didn't know nearly enough about the country as I would have liked. “Not too many people outside the Empire use them, and certainly not many back home. There aren't even that many mages in Fialla, after all.”

I didn't respond to that. I was still a little overwhelmed with the current circumstances. I hadn't expected to be shepherded by a senior student, nearly a full-fledged mage in her own right, and I especially hadn't expected to share a room with a foreigner who didn't seem to care one whit that I was a half-breed.

“Your family must be wealthy if they managed to commission one just for you,” Erika observed in a neutral tone.

Rose shrugged. “Yeah. Coin is one thing Merope has plenty of, and magical aptitude isn't. When I was a little girl, I started showing the signs. My parents were overjoyed at first, and took me directly to the Ministry of Magic for testing.” The girl paused for a moment, and her expression became troubled. “They discovered that I had the gift, one of the strongest ever to show up among the Merope line. After the testing we found out I had fire and dark affinities both. Bit of an embarrassment of riches, perhaps, but the politicized nature of necromancy being what it is, there was really only one option when it came to training.”

I stared at her in open-mouthed astonishment. It was shocking, almost scandalous, to hear this girl blithely speaking of the Forbidden Aspect as if it were a minor inconvenience at worst. I knew that it was different outside the Empire, but still…

“… and Dad's on the Governing Council, so we’re pretty tuned in to international politics. Not to mention how our family's business is so deeply entwined with trade between the kingdoms,” Rose went on. “One of his old friends in the Ministry thought it'd be a great opportunity to send me to study abroad at the Imperial Academy.”

My expression soured. “Best for you or best for the politicians?”

“Best for everyone.”

“You don't mind being used as a bargaining chip?”

“Not really.” Rose shrugged again, and I was somewhat awestruck at her ability to blithely disregard the way she was being used. “The Holy Solarian Empire loves to make a lot of angry political noises about Fialla's 'careless' attitude toward the dangers of necromancy.” She leaned closer to me and offered a small, curious little smile. “I'm okay with being a pawn if it'll deescalate the tensions between our nations. I may be too young to remember it myself, but Dad’s always filled my ears with countless stories about the last time our country was at war.”

I admit, I was a little surprised at her insight. She seemed to be a carefree and easygoing type from the surface, cheerful and not terribly prone to serious contemplation, but it was clear that there was more to Rose than her pretty face and happy smile. I was becoming much more intrigued than uncomfortable, despite the fact that Rose had no trouble at all speaking her mind. It seemed that Fiallans weren't nearly as aloof or distant as my mother's people.

“While I'm sure the two of you would love to chat all throughout the day, you still have classes to attend.” Erika's voice cut through my musings and brought me jolting back into reality. I blinked at her and glanced at the clock on the wall. We'd spent the past half-hour talking, and our first class of the term would begin soon.

“Shit,” Rose breathed. I somehow managed to suppress a giggle at her coarse language. She waved a sheet of paper in one hand and I recognized it as her class schedule. “I don't know where anything is in this place.”

I glanced at the list of courses printed on the slip and smiled. “We're in the same classes. I’ll show you where to go. We can walk together.”

Rose's eyes lit up like a star.

“Really? Thanks!”

Part I

-

Flowers

Chapter 3
Two Shining Stars

I frowned at the stacks of paper in front of me. I'd already filled many of them with rows of my small and neat handwriting, notes concerning the larger diagram drawn in the upper left corner of each page.

These particular formulae were tougher than I'd expected for my first term. For a brief moment, I wondered just how hard Master Vayna would try to set me up for failure—but that thought was quickly dispelled when I felt a soft tap on my leg, beneath the desk where neither Vayna nor his aide would be able to spot it.

I didn't look at the student next to me, because I didn't need to. Rose was doing her best to encourage me, but neither of us wanted to get caught talking in class, especially during an exercise like this. Especially when the two students in question were the two of us.

It had only been two months since classes began and somehow I'd managed to avoid handing the Academy staff a reason to make my life miserable. This was largely thanks to Erika Corvus's tempering influence, but even more than that, Rose's guidance.

I hazarded a quick sidelong glance at her. She was gazing intently at the page of intricately-designed spells, but for the briefest moment, our eyes met. Only for a moment, though. Vayna's teaching aide, a third-year student, was keeping watch over the class while the instructor himself was busy examining the diagrams we'd turned in from the first half of this exercise.

Rose surprised me in more ways than one. From the first time we met I had assumed she was a free spirit, relying more on heart than brain to make her way through life. I expected her to get into all sorts of trouble from the outset, but instead Rose proved to be one of the most dedicated, hardworking students in the class. Her personality that seemed better suited for wild misadventures was instead brought to bear on lifting up the tedium of procedural instruction.

She was no prodigy, that was certain. Rose's talents may have been the strongest in her line, but that didn't count for much in the Empire. The Merope girl did her best to make up for that lack with sheer grit and a strong determination to absorb the material we were assigned.

I, on the other hand, struggled to keep up with my assignments.

It wasn't because I lacked for power. Thanks to the nature of my soul, I was able to draw aether from the land with frightening ease. It was as if there was no resistance at all, no friction to slow it down. All it took for me to tap the font of the world's power was a thought, an intention. It felt astonishingly natural, like flexing a muscle, and that was part of the problem.

Humans weren't naturally inclined to magic. They had to work hard for it, to deconstruct and rebuild their minds and souls to convert the unformed energies into a form that could be more easily manipulated: elemental mana. The arcane arts of Solaria were heavily built upon a deep and fundamental understanding of mental disciplines, magical equations, axioms and algorithms. My magic required none of these things and they were not terribly interesting in their own right.

As I discovered rather quickly, interest was optional. Proficiency was mandatory. The masters of the Academy expected me to demonstrate my understanding of the theorems, just as they would any human student.

“Time,” called out the teaching assistant.

All of the students around me set their pens down on the desk. I kept my expression neutral, but inwardly I was nervous. I wasn't certain my understanding of the material was correct, and I would have liked to re-check the formulae… but it was too late for that.

I felt a tap on my leg again and turned toward Rose, who was smiling and offering just the tiniest, most imperceptible nod. The anxiety building up within me lessened significantly. She'd taken a look at my work and, judging by her expression, I'd somehow managed to get it right. I knew I had her to thank for that. Rose was very insistent that we study together often, right from the first day of class, because it was next to impossible to verify my calculations if I couldn’t test them myself.

The master’s assistant made her way up and down the aisles, collecting the finished (or perhaps not) assignments. My nerves were starting to cool a fair bit, not just because Rose had reassured me, but because our next task was a practical exercise.

I hazarded a glance over at Vayna's desk and found the old man staring at me with something that resembled a challenge in his eyes. I looked away quickly and suppressed a sigh. All of the masters of the Academy were wary of me, and more than a few were afraid, even if they'd never admit to it. My peers were no less unnerved, and again I had Rose to thank for the relative paucity of bullying I'd experienced as of late. The Fiallan girl had a fiery temper that seemed to ignite with frightening ease whenever I was the target of harassment, and she was tall and physically strong enough to intimidate just about any of the other students—and some of the instructors, too.

“Students, rise,” Vayna called out, his flat voice carrying throughout the auditorium. “We will be conducting this exercise outside, upon the practice field. You will work in teams of two. Select your partner for this exercise and attempt to break the others' barrier.” The man's scowl deepened and he looked directly at me. “You must break the barrier with materialized force. Any attempt to scatter the magic directly will result in failure of the assignment.”

I managed not to react to that, even though I felt like sliding beneath the desk to hide. I could hear faint snickering around me from my classmates. I’d already tried something similar in one of the previous week’s exercises, earning me a failing grade and a stern dressing-down.

It wasn’t fair. Manipulating existing arcane processes was much easier for me than trying to convert raw aether into water mana, much less the elements I didn't have an affinity for. But then again, I hadn’t expected to be treated fairly, and so I chose not to bother objecting.

The din of low conversation around me as my classmates selected their partners drew me out of my own bitter musings. None of them approached me and none would, something else I already knew to expect.

However, more than one approached Rose, despite her status as an outsider. Rose was rather attractive, and her “inferior” Fiallan lineage didn't seem to hinder the other students—especially the boys. I felt a stab of something I didn’t quite recognize as a crowd of them gathered around her. One by one, Rose turned down the various offers, and while a few dirty looks were sent my way, few of the rejected students would voice their displeasure aloud.

“No, I'm sorry, I already have a partner for this exercise,” Rose said, perhaps for the fourth time, and I could detect a hint of irritation in her tone.

“Hmph.” An accusatory voice answered her this time. “You always group with her.”

“That's because she's my friend,” Rose countered.

The girl she argued with let out a snort of mocking disbelief. “Ah, yes. Rose and Lily, the very best of friends. Practically inseparable, even.” Her tone went singsong with heavy sarcasm. It was obvious what she was insinuating, and I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

Thankfully, Rose refused to take the bait. “That's right. You have a problem with Lily, you have a problem with me.” The Fiallan's white eyebrows angled sharply at the other student. “It's not like any of the rest of you would voluntarily partner with her, anyway. You think Master Vanya would allow such a thing? There is an even number of students in this class.”

The girl's lips twisted into a sneer. “You are not from Solaria, so perhaps you do not know. It is unseemly to have such close relations with a dark—”

“Oh, just shut the fuck up,” Rose snapped, cutting her off before she could finish. “What Lily is or isn’t to me is none of your gods-damned business—but she isn’t a monster.” Her lips curved into a faint, mocking smirk. “You’re certainly an asshole, though.”

“Watch your tongue, commoner.” The Solarian girl smirked unpleasantly. “I am a daughter of House Eridani. Have a care how you speak to me.”

It was clear that Rose didn't recognize the family name, but I did. The Eridani clan was an influential military family, tapped by the Empress herself to aid in maintaining the Empire's border defenses. Many of the family's members were high-ranking officers, and they were considered to be among the most powerful earth mages in the Empire.

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” Rose scoffed. Her dark eyes smoldered dangerously. “Just try it, little miss priss. I'll knock that smug look off your face.”

“A commoner, a foreigner from a pathetic and powerless bloodline at that, challenging me to a mage duel? Oh, this is too good to believe. You'll become the laughingstock of the Academy—”

“Who said anything about a duel?”

I sensed the blow before it struck, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stop Rose. Her right hand lashed out and I watched, entranced, as she swung with enough power behind the punch to knock the Eridani tumbling across the floor—

And then she aborted the strike, halting her momentum half a dozen centimeters from her intended target. Her fingers uncurled as she followed through, delivering a stinging, open-palm slap. The girl's hand flew to the reddened spot on her cheek and she stared at Rose in pure, open-mouthed astonishment.

“Leave us alone,” Rose snarled. “I won't warn you again.”

“How… how dare you!” Eridani dropped her hand to her side. The shock in her expression transformed into molten fury, and I felt my heart catch in my throat as power woke to the slighted girl's desires. Golden light blazed within the manashard upon her forehead.

My eyes went wide and round and I felt aether surge forth, reformed into earth mana within the Eridani’s spirit. Was she actually going to attack Rose with magic?

“Merope, Eridani, that's enough!”

I blew out a sigh of relief as Master Vayna's aide approached the three of us. The third-year student's brow was angled down sharply in a disapproving scowl. Eridani's furious expression quickly melted and she backed off, but Rose still looked as if she wanted to go at her again.

“Physical violence is strictly prohibited at the Academy,” the aide snapped. “You, Merope, are not of Solaria, but you are in Solaria now. We are a civilized people; we do not engage in brawls to settle personal disputes.”

“I—fine,” Rose muttered, though it was obvious from her expression that she hadn't let the aide's insult pass without notice.

The aide fell silent and started to walk back toward the lectern. Was she seriously going to let the Eridani girl off without so much as a warning? I glanced at Rose. Her challenging expression was gone, replaced with something more subdued and thoughtful. The Eridani, on the other hand, was looking rather smug and pleased with herself. I couldn’t just let that stand.

“Physical violence isn't acceptable, but magical violence is?” I called out to the aide before she managed to get more than ten paces away. “You couldn't have possibly failed to sense the abrupt condensation of aether, hastily released.”

Eridani's eyes widened in embarrassment and anger, and the aide's smooth strides hitched, but neither of them said a word in response. Vayna's aide continued her path toward the front of the auditorium, and the Eridani simply walked away. I could almost hear mocking laughter in the way she sauntered down the aisle.

I felt a warmth encircle my shoulders and neck. Long arms draped over my chest from behind and I shivered involuntarily. I felt Rose's breath on my neck as she hugged me from behind, and the anger drained away from my heart, replaced with a delicious sort of weakness that threatened to turn my legs into jelly and drop me to the floor.

“Thanks, Lily,” she said softly, her voice just barely audible.

“They're just going to ignore it.” I tried not to think too hard about how angry I sounded. “Eridani will get away with it and you'll wind up with a mark on your disciplinary record.”

“I don't care. She shouldn't bother you anymore if she knows I can and will knock her scrawny ass to the ground, and that's what matters to me.” Rose drew away, but not before she took my hand in her own and squeezed it gently. I was dimly aware that half of the remaining students were staring at us, but I didn't care. “I won't let anyone hurt you, Lily.”

My cheeks grew hot and I nodded.

“You're so cute when you get embarrassed,” she murmured, her breath warm on my ear. A shudder ran through my shoulders, and I was almost certain I would have lost my balance had I not grasped the edge of the desk to support myself.

“Um, I—well, I… thank you,” I managed, somehow.

“Come on.” Rose tugged on my hand, leading me toward the exit. Her fingers were long and strong, smooth but still hardened from a very physically active childhood. Not at all like mine, which were soft and small. “We've got an important assignment to do.”

Chapter 4
Rogue Hearts

“Ready?” I asked.

Rose nodded.

The two of us stood upon one of the Academy's many practice fields, a very large and wide-open area carpeted with a low, blue-gray grass that needed minimal tending. It felt soft and spongy beneath my feet. I wasn’t a fraction of the herbalist my mother was, but I recalled this particular type of grass was bred specifically for its shock-absorbing properties and ease of maintenance.

I glanced up and spotted Vayna's aide, standing upon a hovering platform above the field. She was watching all of the students as they worked through the exercises, but I was keenly aware how often her eye settled on Rose and me.

Not wanting to get scolded again, I turned my attention back to Rose. For the first half of the exercise, she would form her own magical barrier to ward off attack, and I would attempt to break through it. Break through it, not starve it of energy or twist the aether into a useless form. To be honest, I was a little worried as to whether I could manage that or not. Though Rose's barrier wasn't especially strong, I was even less confident in my ability to wield the elements. I suspected most of the other students would have been able to batter their way through it without too much trouble, which could have explained why so many wanted to partner with her.

“Come on, Lily,” Rose called out from her position a few meters away. “Hit me with everything you've got!”

“If I did that I'd fail,” I retorted. “Or don't you remember how Master Vayna called me out in front of the whole class?”

“You can do it, even with that silly restriction. I know you can.”

My eyes narrowed. “You're not weakening it intentionally, are you?”

“I wouldn't do that to you.” Her expression softened a little, losing some of that enthusiastic edge that was doing more to increase my anxiety than my confidence. “You can do this. Just calm down and focus on your magic.”

“Okay, here goes.”

The practice field was covered in artificial ley lines, laid quite shallowly by the masters of the Academy to grant students more ready access to mana. We would have an easier time fueling our spells so that we could focus more on the process. It would become easier, they said, as we developed a greater intrinsic understanding of fundamental arcane formulae.

Well, it was already easy for me no matter where I happened to be. Out here on the field was like standing waist-deep in a sea of aether. The problem wasn't access, but in creating something with the materials available to me. The aether rushed into my soul, a torrent of power that I couldn't possibly keep up with. I tried to visualize the magic becoming streams of pure water, but nothing happened. Again and again, my mind's grasp seemed to slip just as the mana began to form.

I wanted to scream out of frustration. I couldn't have possibly been futilely struggling for more than a minute at most, but that was still far too long. It was already plain I wouldn't be able to gather together enough water mana in two hours, much less two minutes.

Letting out a resigned sigh, I opted to simply direct the energy without altering it, rather than enacting a true arcane process. I extended my hand, palm outward, and sent a blast of pure magical force slamming into the barrier. The raw aether twisted the air around it, manifesting as a hazy, blue-white pulse of distorted magic.

“Yes! Just like that!”

A smile threatened to take possession of my face as I struck Rose's shield with another fist of arcane force, then another. After the fourth strike, there was a sharp cracking sound, like breaking glass. Rose's eyes were squeezed shut in intense concentration as she attempted to reinforce her defenses, but it was too late.

The barrier shattered with a brilliant shower of red-orange sparks, intense enough that I had to look away from the explosion. I took a step back and blinked to clear the bright spots from my vision. When I could see well enough again, I noticed that Rose was grinning at me.

“Alcyone!”

I jerked backward and turned to face Master Vayna's aide. The hovering platform descended and touched down on the grass nearby. My smile faltered, and I didn't even have to look to know that Rose's congratulatory smile was gone. I'd been singled out. Again.

The aide walked off of her platform and stopped about a meter away from me. “You were not permitted to dispel the barrier! Master Vayna explicitly instructed you to—”

“She didn't,” Rose pointed out. “She broke it down from the outside, just as we were told.”

“What was that spell, then? There was no elemental mana present in her magic!”

“It wasn't a spell, exactly.”

A dubious expression formed on the aide’s face. “Explain.”

“Lady Merope possesses a fire affinity. My water affinity is weak, as you know,” I explained, not quite able to keep the bitterness out of my voice. “I judged that any conversion would have been insufficient to overwhelm her defenses. Without the option to modify the existing structure of the barrier itself, there was no other viable solution.”

The aide's disbelieving scowl fell, just for the barest of moments, and was replaced by something darker and more unsettling. “Very well. As… brutish as your method may have been, you have successfully completed the exercise,” she said in a grudging tone.

There was a rush of displaced air as the aide's platform ascended into the sky, the resulting blast of air blowing the curls back away from my empty forehead. It was a coincidence, of course, even if it felt like the aide's own magic had delivered a mocking little jab.

“Don't let them get to you, Lily.”

I turned toward Rose and shrugged weakly. “It's becoming more difficult. My nerves aren’t just frayed, they’re practically gone.”

“It's the same for both of us,” she pointed out. “They can't get rid of either of us openly, at least not unless we do something really stupid, but they can—they are trying to make us want to quit. The masters, the aides, the students—they all want us to go away.”

“Even Erika Corvus?”

Rose nodded. “Probably. I’d wager she's just better at hiding it than most. Whatever she did to get stuck mentoring us must've been bad by the Empire's standards. Your people sure like to get worked up over nothing.”

“I'm not arguing with that,” I agreed, my tone bone-dry.

“I wouldn't be surprised if that Eridani bitch goes crying to her father and causes some problems for your family.” Rose's expression hardened and her lips parted in a predatory grin. “I knew I should have laid her out on her pompous ass.”

“That really would have gotten you in trouble,” I retorted. “Don’t worry about that. Let's finish the assignment before Master Vayna's aide comes back to berate me some more.”

“Good idea.”

I walked over to the spot where Rose had been during the first half of the exercise, settling down into a defensive stance, both physically and mentally. The magic woke to my command and was shaped into a shimmering barrier of pure force. Like the blasts I'd flung at Rose's barrier, the aether held no elemental Aspect.

Ideally, I would have been able to form a barrier of wind, for wind magic would be the most effective at scattering her flames. I had a feeling, though, that Rose might try something a little more creative to break down my barrier, and something in the back of my mind told me that a vortex shield wouldn't be a good idea. Not that I'd be able to express wind mana in the first place, I reminded myself.

Rose grinned fiercely and the manashard in her forehead blazed with burning power. She took a heavy step forward and effortlessly conjured a fireball the size of my head. The speed at which she summoned the burning projectile nearly stole my breath. I tried to stay confident in my defenses. Bracing myself for the inevitable impact, I shifted weight to my right foot planted behind me, digging in for the explosion that would knock me to the ground if I wasn't prepared—

The fireball exploded, scattering motes of burning magic across the rim of the pale shield. The invisible barrier glowed faintly blue-white underneath the fiery assault. I could feel the power starting to waver, edging toward collapse, and I poured more magic into the shield in an attempt to reinforce it.

My eyes were closed to shield them from the brilliance of the exploding fireball, and that, unfortunately, was Rose's intent all along. By the time my vision cleared, Rose was already less than a meter away.

“Gotcha!”

Rose's rush directed all of her body's considerable momentum into the open-palm strike she delivered to the center of my barrier. I gasped and nearly fell to my backside from the physical blow alone, but Rose wasn't done yet. I threw up an arm to shield my eyes again as a sharp, sudden explosion blossomed from the point of impact.

I felt my barrier shatter—and after a moment I realized I had fallen to my backside, which was now rather sore.

Rose stood over me, a victorious grin parting her lips. She held a hand out to help me to my feet, and I gratefully accepted. The girl pulled me up as if I weighed nothing at all. Granted, I was much smaller than she was, but I still had mass, and she was able to pull me up without effort even after expending so much to take down my barrier.

“You okay, Lily?” She gave me a concerned look.

I glared at her peevishly. “My backside is going to turn purple, thanks to you.”

“I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd fall.”

“Try to remember that you're nearly twice my size,” I commented in a dry tone. “Is that common among your people?”

“It varies,” Rose replied. “My family has always tended toward tall, strong and a bit on the round side.” She grinned and crossed brawny arms beneath her rather ample chest. I tried very hard not to stare, though eliciting such a reaction was clearly her intent.

Rose was taller than my mother by a handful of centimeters, but her frame was not the willowy and slender build common to Solarians. She was solid and strong, and big. Everything about Rose was big. Her body, her personality, her words and laughter, her fire magic, her heart. It was strange that I didn't feel intimidated by her in the slightest, even though she was larger and more imposing than most Solarians. I'd always been the smallest, always felt physically inferior to my peers, and yet I was completely at ease with the biggest girl I'd ever met.

“Lily… are you really going to be okay?”

I blinked. “I… I think so.”

“You think so? How hard did you hit the ground?”

“Um, pretty hard.”

“Do you need to go to the infirmary?” Rose asked, a worried look in her eyes. “I can take you there.”

“N-no, I'll be okay, I don't want to be a burden—”

“You're not a burden, Lily.” She rolled her eyes and sighed in a theatrical manner. “You at least want me to take a look for you? See how bad it is?”

Though her tone was matter-of-fact and should have been taken at face value, I felt my cheeks grow hotter than ever before. I was certain the blush coloring my face was so visible even the relatively unsubtle Rose could recognize what was going through my mind at the moment.

“Oh,” she said after a moment's consideration. “Never mind, then. Forget I said anything.”

I felt a surge of disappointment and I wondered if that also reflected in my expression. Rose was still looking at me with a great deal of concern. I opened my mouth, not entirely sure what I was going to say, or why, but Master Vayna's aide returned to our circle, hovering above and watching us closely.

“You have successfully completed the exercise, Merope. Class is dismissed for the day.” The aide paused for a moment and glanced at me before continuing. “The dining hall will be serving the midday meal in half an hour. Merope will be permitted to bring your meals to your quarters.”

Rose nodded wordlessly, gesturing to the distant spires of the Academy in the distance. Vayna's aide descended to the ground and made a casual gesture with one hand. A second hovering platform appeared in a flash of verdant magical energy.

“This conveyance will take you to the healers. Ensuring health of body is equally important to health of mind and magic, Alcyone. See to it that you do not neglect your injury.”

“F-fine, I'll go to the infirmary,” I stammered.

Chapter 5
Azure Currents

I managed to make it to the infirmary without any trouble. The pain in my backside was steadily growing worse as the adrenaline rush of mock magical combat faded and my heart rate returned to a resting state. By the time I arrived, I was having trouble walking without wincing.

There was only one healer in the infirmary when I arrived; after all, it was nearly time for the midday meal, and most of the students serving in such a capacity would have already departed for the dining halls.

“Lily Alcyone?”

“Yes.”

“Come this way,” the healer instructed, gesturing toward one of the examination beds. She drew the curtain back as I stiffly made my way to the low, cushioned platform.

“Go ahead and undress, then lie face-down on the bed.”

I did as I was told without much feeling at all. When Rose had offered to examine my injury, I felt a surge of emotion that was now completely lacking. I realized I hadn't wanted Rose to look because I really did want her to. It was becoming painfully obvious to me that my heart had begun to turn toward her.

Inwardly I grimaced and tried to shake those thoughts off. Dwelling on such things now was pointless. Allowing the healer to tend to my aching backside was the more immediate concern. The cool air of the infirmary brushed against my bare skin as I laid down on the exam bed. “It's turned purple, hasn't it?” I asked.

“Quite.”

I grimaced. “Wonderful.”

“I'm going to perform a physical examination to ensure you haven't broken any bones,” the healer warned me. She made a disapproving clucking sound. “You were hit hard. Shouldn't your barrier have protected you against this?”

I laughed softly despite the painful situation. “Would have, if it hadn't been shattered.”

“You were doing barrier exercises, then.” The healer's voice was intentionally kept calm and soothing as I felt her fingertips start to poke and prod. I yelped in pain as she put pressure on the bones at the base of my spine, and she quickly withdrew.

“That's not good,” she murmured, almost to herself.

“Tell me about it.”

“I'm going to cast a spell to discern the severity of the fracture. Hold still.”

I could sense the working of magic in the room. Aether flowed from the ley lines imbued into the Academy grounds and into the healer, whereupon they were converted into water mana with scarcely any delay. The surge of magic felt like gentle waves lapping the beach as it washed over my body, but it was neither cold nor warm, nor did it leave my skin feeling damp afterward.

The healer clucked her tongue in disapproval. “You've got a cracked vertebra.”

“No wonder it hurts so much.”

“Hold still and I'll repair it. This will hurt.”

“It already hurts.”

The healer let out a sharp laugh, almost a cackle, and I turned my head slightly to see a bemused smirk on her face. “It's going to hurt a lot more, but just for a moment. Then it'll feel better, and you should be able to walk without trouble.”

“What about the bruising?”

“That, too.”

I sighed and turned to lay my head back upon the exam bed. Magic blossomed from within the healer again, but this time it was a torrent rather than a trickle. As she'd warned me, the pain in my lower back intensified threefold and I gasped, gritting my teeth, trying not to cry out—

And then, as quickly as it intensified, it was gone. I could feel no pain at all, not even any lingering soreness.

“There. All done. How does it feel?”

“Good. Better than good, actually.” I levered myself into a sitting position and slipped off the exam bed, experimentally letting my weight fall on my legs and feet. There was no pain at all. “Like it never even happened.”

The healer grinned. “You're welcome.”

I gazed at the girl for a long moment. Something about her magic was… familiar. Apparently my thoughts were plain upon my face, because she laughed again and reached up to touch the glimmering blue stone set in her forehead.

“Reminds you of someone, doesn't it?”

I nodded. “Your magic feels much like my mother's.”

“That would make sense. My maternal grandmother was a daughter of Alcyone, before she married my grandfather. The Alcyone line has always produced strong water Aspects.” There was a troubled look on the healer's face and she paused for a long moment. “That strength of magic was our families' saving graces, after the… the—” The healer broke off, refusing to meet my eyes.

“Don't worry about offending me,” I cut in, keeping my voice as apathetic as I could. “I've heard it all my life.”

“Sorry.”

“You don't have to apologize, Lady…?”

“Oria Aldebaran.”

I dressed myself quickly, leaning against the edge of the exam bed without any discomfort whatsoever. “I'm more surprised that you're not blaming me personally for all the misfortunes of House Alcyone and its allies.”

“I would never.” Oria shook her head. “It's not your fault, no matter what others may claim.” She paused self-consciously and added, “Though perhaps the words of a former commoner family don’t hold much weight.”

I didn't respond to that, instead sliding my boots back on and lacing them up tight before I stood and sketched an apprentice's bow to the healer. She offered a sad little smile and waved goodbye as I left the infirmary.

*

By the time I reached my quarters, it was already a half an hour into the next class. I'd been given permission to miss it due to my injury, so that I would have enough time to eat the midday meal. I opened the door using the key I'd been provided—though I was certain Rose would have given me a copy of her passward if I asked—and I was greeted with a tray containing my lunch. It was still steaming, which would have made no sense as quite a bit of time had passed, if not for the fact that Rose was the one who brought it here for me.

I was alone in the room, but I could feel Rose's presence in the air as if she were standing right next to me. The warmth of her magic kept the food piping-hot and delicious, and the small traces of her enveloped me.

I sat down at the desk and began to eat. Apparently my arrival had been set as the trigger condition to cancel the spell, and the magical heat faded away. I knew she'd done this so that I wouldn't burn my mouth while eating, but still, I felt disappointed that the departing magic took with it the warmth of Rose's phantom presence.

Like most everything provided by the Academy, the food was of excellent quality. I relished the grilled meats stacked upon my plate and wondered. Rose sought out significant sources of animal protein when choosing my meal for me, and I felt that warmth return to my chest. She was so thoughtful in these little ways. I hadn't even told her I preferred such foods; she knew already because we typically took our meals together.

Though I knew little of my fey forebears, I did know that the miinari were more carnivorous than omnivorous. All was built on rumor and myth, heavily slanted by the Empire’s religious opposition to the children of the land. My childhood had been rife with the whispered tales of the “dark fairies” dominating the souls of hapless humans and eating them, flesh and magic alike.

Those stories seemed silly to me. I'd certainly never looked upon another person with any desire to eat them. At least, not literally. My thoughts promptly drifted in a direction that was not fit for polite company, and I did my very best not to continue down that line of contemplation.

By the time I'd finished eating, it was already almost time for my last class of the day. I pushed the chair back from the desk and stood up. The tray and the empty dishes upon them vanished with a soft pop of displaced air, returning to the kitchens on their own. I retrieved my satchel containing my textbooks and notes and slung it over my shoulder as I walked out the door, shutting and locking it behind me.

The hallways of the dormitory were still empty, and would remain so for another few hours. I encountered no other students until I made my way back to the main campus. Even there, only a handful of Solarians were walking from class to class, most of them wearing silken sashes that marked them as teaching aides.

Of course, class was technically still in session, even though my absence had been excused by Master Vayna's aide. I walked alone and in silence up the stairs that would take me to my next class, which was perhaps my favorite class. I was thankful that my injury hadn't been serious enough to cause me to miss it.

My last class of the day, which I also shared with Rose, was a course on practical arcane engineering. It was an important subject for all Solarian mages to understand, we'd been told, because the world was in the midst of an industrial revolution. If the new generation of mages were to keep up with the pace of progress, we would need to understand technology and the places where it and magic could intersect.

The door to the classroom opened as the academy bells tolled. I walked through and picked my usual spot near the front of the class. It was only a few moments before other students began to file in. I didn't bother saving Rose a spot next to me, because none of the other students would come that close.

After about half the class filed in, I caught sight of Rose. She smiled as our eyes met and she pushed her way through the crush of students before plopping down next to me.

“Thanks for fetching my meal,” I said.

“Did you like what I picked?”

“It was delicious, thank you. And thank you for keeping it warm for me.”

“Of course.”

The last stragglers came into the room, followed by the instructor. Of all the masters at the Academy, the arcane engineering instructor was the only one who did not go by the title of “Master,” instead preferring to be addressed by her first name without title. I suspected this had to do with a lifetime of being referred to by rank and House name, for she was a veteran of the Forge War who had fought on the front lines.

She was also one of my harshest critics, which tended to put a damper on my enjoyment of the class material. I did my best not to let it get to me. Most Solarians could scarcely hide their distaste whenever I was present, anyway, so it was hardly different.

“We'll be continuing with the weekly project,” she called out from the lectern. “The first-year students will present their results when class reconvenes next week. This is your last day to work on the generators in class, so make good use of the resources available to you.”

I stood up. “Miss Ria?”

“Yes, Alcyone?”

“Rose and I have completed our generator.”

The instructor's expression didn't change. “Does it work?”

“Perfectly,” I replied in a confident tone. I had reason to be; Rose and I checked the generator over and over, running a dozen tests to ensure the purified aetherium crystal's mana was converting properly into ordinary electric current.

“You've tested it thoroughly?” The woman's eyes were entirely focused on Rose. I was ignored, as usual. Rose moved closer to me, fixing Ria with a challenging glare.

“Yeah. It works,” she bit out. “We checked everything, and it's producing the required power output. Lily just told you that.”

Ria crossed long arms over her chest as she regarded Rose. “Exactly what I would expect of someone like you, Merope.” Her gaze fell upon me and I could almost detect the faintest hint of a sneer in her expression. “Your arrogance is unbecoming, Alcyone. Remember where you are and what you are. It was your people who plagued the earth with the breadth of their hubris. I won't tolerate that attitude in my class.”

I let the insult pass without even acknowledging it. Ria—and many, many others at the Academy, students and masters alike—never missed a chance to needle me concerning the miinari's indirect role in causing the Forge War. I was so used to it by this point that I barely even parsed the words themselves.

Rose, however, didn't, and I realized this too late.

“You can't blame Lily for what her ancestors did before she was even born. It's not like she chose who her parents were.”

“That is quite enough, Merope,” Ria snapped. “I will not be corrected by a child who has never served their country on the battlefield.”

“Seven Holy Stars, did you forget that I'm from Fialla?” Rose's hands trembled as she clenched them into fists tightly enough to whiten her knuckles. “Or did you just choose not to acknowledge the fact that my homeland was nearly wiped out in that gods-forsaken war?”

Ria's scowl deepened even further. “Not another word, Merope, unless you wish to have another mark placed upon your disciplinary record. You aren't immune to punishment, no matter what protests your Ministry of State may offer.”

Rose opened her mouth to argue further, but I placed a hand on her shoulder. The physical contact attuned our emotions even more closely and I could feel the rage seething within her. She glanced at me from the corner of her eyes and I shook my head vigorously. With a sigh of defeat, Rose collapsed back into her seat.

“Alcyone, Merope, you will present your experiment with the rest of the first-year students next week,” Ria continued, changing the subject. “I suggest you take this time today to prepare your presentation.”

Obviously it wasn't a suggestion, but an order. I pulled a thick sheaf of notes from my satchel and managed a smile for Rose. I was quite eager to leave the drama behind and focus my attention on something that actually mattered to me.

She didn't smile back.

Chapter 6
Entwined

“I'm sorry, Lily.”

I blinked. “Why?”

“I shouldn't have gotten all worked up like that in Ria's class,” she explained. “She was baiting me and I bit down, hook and all.” Rose made a frustrated noise and looked toward the rain-lashed window overlooking the campus.

The two of us were alone in our quarters. Erika Corvus was gone, as usual—for someone who was assigned to mentor us, she certainly didn't spend much time mentoring us. The rain had started again, cutting our practice time short. We'd spent as much of the afternoon as we could on the dueling field, sparring together until we were soaked to the skin. Rose liked to teach me Fiallan martial arts, though the techniques seemed to be of questionable use to someone so small. Still, she didn't give up, and we worked out ways to augment my offensive magic with martial techniques.

“Don't worry about it,” I said as I ran my fingertips across the flat of the dagger's blade. The edge itself didn't actually dull, for the magic infused into the weapon kept it preternaturally sharp. It needed far less care than a mundane dagger, but I was still quite meticulous in making sure it was kept clean and well-oiled.

“You're really good with the blade,” Rose complimented, awkwardly changing the subject. “Have you ever considered training with a sword? You're already small with short arms—the extra reach would help offset some of your size disadvantage in a fight.”

“I've never held a sword in my life,” I admitted. “I wouldn't know where to begin.”

“Sure you would. You've already trained with the short blade.”

“For starters, I don't have a sword.”

Rose's grin appeared yet again. This worried me.

“We've no more classes for the next two days,” she noted. “We could… head into town, maybe get something to eat and stop by a swordsmith's shop. If you see anything you like, I'll buy it for you.”

My jaw dropped open in surprise. “But that would be so expensive! I couldn't possibly accept such a lavish gift—”

“I told you, my family is absurdly wealthy. Coin is one of the few things I have an abundance of, and I can think of far worse ways to squander it than spending it on you.” White lashes batted just slightly and something shifted in Rose's expression. Was the look she put upon me as avid and flirtatious as I thought? Rose was nearly as skilled at bringing a blush to my cheeks as she was at conjuring fire.

“I… thank you,” I managed after collecting my wits. “If you insist.”

“I do insist,” Rose said, and winked at me.

Warmth spread through my face. “Okay.”

“It's a date, then.”

My fingers stopped tracing down the spine of the knife. I took the weapon with trembling hands and set it aside on the bed, before I dropped it on my legs and wound up in the infirmary yet again. The rain continued to pour down from the storm outside, and a gust of wind would occasionally blow a few icy droplets into the room. A shiver ran through my shoulders and back, but the blustery weather was not to blame. The air felt strangely alive, and though that could have been explained by the charged nature of the air in the midst of the storm, I knew better.

“Are you cold? We can close the window.”

I shook my head. “N-no, I'm not cold.”

Rose was already up, though. She extended her long arms over her head and pushed up on the window, sliding it back into place. The intensity of the storm's cacophonous song was abruptly halved, and the air in the room was still. Rose got down off the chair at the desk and sat down on the edge of my bed next to me. I shivered again as she took my hands in hers. Rose’s skin was almost hot to the touch.

“You are cold,” Rose observed in a curious tone.

“Y-yeah. A little.”

Before I knew what was happening, I was drawn up into her arms. Her body was warm, and I could feel the heat of her body and magic together, burning pure and steady. She smelled and felt so good, and I couldn't move at all from the weakness that radiated out from my spine throughout my entire being. A hollow ache filled my chest as I looked up at her.

“Rose…”

Our faces were less than a centimeter apart. Rose took my chin between her thumb and forefinger and tilted my head upward. Her breath was hot on my cheeks and nose, and I noticed her dark, freckled cheeks were stained faintly pink. There was a longing, almost pleading sort of look in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“It's okay if I…?”

“Y-yeah. It's okay.”

Her lips pressed against mine. A rush of life and warmth and joy filled me the instant we made contact. My eyes closed of their own accord, and I felt myself become pliant in Rose's arms. Her kiss was gentle, tentative, almost experimental. I had no idea how long it went on, but when Rose drew away, that deep longing began to consume me from the inside out, and I looked up at her pleadingly. Unable to put my scrambled thoughts and runaway emotions into words, I was only able to manage something like a plaintive squeak.

“Was that good?” Rose asked, almost too quietly to hear.

I nodded emphatically. She kissed me again, this time with much more urgency. I couldn't hold my eyes open and I moaned involuntarily. I felt the fingers of Rose's left hand intertwine with my right. This time, she didn't break the kiss, but instead let her free hand rest upon my thigh. Her fingertips felt like fire that burned but didn't hurt.

Warm, velvety softness brushed past my mouth and I opened my eyes to Rose drawing back, her tongue tracing along my lips. Her hand slid along my inner thigh, slowly moving up the skirt of my uniform. Our gazes met and I found that I couldn't turn away from the avid, hungry look in Rose’s beautiful brown eyes.

“Do you want me to keep going?”

“P-please.” My voice was plaintive. “Don't stop.”

Rose smiled, but not her challenging grin or her impish smirk. This smile was something I hadn’t seen on her before, softer and more genuine. She started to rub softly against the softest parts of my thighs, between my legs, and let her fingertips drift further and further up my skirt—

The door latch clicked and it swung open.

“Oh, gods,” Erika Corvus blurted from the threshold. “I'm—I'm sorry, I didn't know—”

Rose had withdrawn her hand at this point, but it was rather obvious what we were on the verge of doing. Not to mention the both of us were beet-red and my skirt was still pushed up around my hips, revealing far more of my lower half than I wished the senior student to see.

“I'm—it's just—I mean, we were just—” My brain went into lock, and when I tried to continue speaking, I couldn't. Rose, for once, also seemed to be completely speechless. This sort of behavior wasn't permissible between students at the Academy even when they were between a young lord and lady… and our senior mentor just walked in on the two of us only moments before we… before we—

Erika offered us a tired smile. “It's okay. I'm not going to say anything.”

I was stunned. “W-what?”

“I'm not going to report it, nor will I tell anyone, nor will I attempt to use this as leverage for my  own benefit,” she explained. Then her expression became more stern. “I will, however, advise the two of you to be more… discreet, especially when on Academy grounds. You can be assured that anyone else in this school would be beside themselves with glee over the thought of using such information against the both of you.”

“I understand,” I squeaked.

“Got it,” Rose added.

Erika sat down on her bed and dropped her satchel to the ground next to it. “I know it can be hard to rein in these kinds of feelings, but try to remember how precarious your position here is, Lily Alcyone. Lady Juno must have moved the heavens and hells with her bare hands to obtain your appointment to the Academy.”

“She did,” I agreed, and I felt ashamed. I endangered my appointment to the Academy, and I didn't even realize just how close I'd come to having everything come crashing down. I knew Mother would never have blamed me, of course, but the last thing I wanted was to cause all of her effort to be for naught.

“As for you, Merope, you need to understand that the Empire does not approve of such clandestine dalliances,” Erika continued, gesturing toward me as she addressed the Fiallan. “Young ladies who engage in casual relations with young lords are frowned upon here. What you almost did, and what I can see in your eyes, could very seriously hurt you here.”

Rose made a disgusted noise. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I agree, but you are here in Solaria now. Bear that in mind.” There was a rather long, awkward pause before Erika continued, this time in a much lower tone. “If ever your longing for each other becomes too much to bear, please… let me know. I would have no problem retiring to the research library to study for a few hours in the evening, on occasion.”

*

The next morning was clear and cold, the storm having passed in the night. I felt dull and leaden, for I hadn't slept well at all. After last night, I was plagued with anxieties and chaotic emotions that I couldn't reconcile. I couldn't escape the fact that I'd desperately wanted—no, needed to fall asleep cradled in her arms.

Rose didn't look too much worse for wear, however, and I took some comfort in that. She spent the early morning fussing over me, which would have been annoying had it come from anyone else, for any other reason. My body may have been heavy and my mind muddled, but my heart felt lighter than it ever had before.

We sat in companionable silence on the electric train departing the Academy, heading for the heart of the city of Naara. Contrary to what most foreigners assumed, the Imperial Academy of Magic was not located in the capitol, but instead sat upon the western coast, just outside the largest port city in the country.

Rose and I kept a bit of distance between us on this conveyance, mindful of the presence of other students from the Academy who were also heading into the city. Like us, they were dressed in casual attire rather than the school's uniform.

The trip took only about ten minutes, and I spent the ride gazing out the window at the countryside passing by as the train sped down the tracks. The grind of steel wheels on steel rails covered up the quiet hum of the motors that powered them.

The Academy grounds themselves were self-sufficient, utilizing the easy aether drawn from the artificial ley lines for light and heat and the energy required for drift-platforms and other sundry magical devices. “Mundane” technology was largely absent from the school, and the students were kept isolated from outside communication networks. Ria's course and others like it were the only concessions granted to budding arcane engineers among the student body.

Even in the Empire, however, magic was not omnipotent that the kingdom could simply ignore technological advances, both those developed by Solarian engineers and those imported from other nations. By the time the train arrived at the station in Naara, I could feel the difference in the energies of the land.

The ley lines in Naara were natural tributaries of aether, harder to access and laid out in a random, haphazard manner that seemed to mock the needs of the humans who made this coastline their home. Gone was the carefully-designed network intended to yield up the land's power with remarkable ease. In its place were human-made networks of another sort entirely.

I could sense the flow of the electricity that surged through Naara's power grid. The current that ran through the copper wires may have been a natural phenomenon, a part of the universe that existed separate from magic, but it was being generated with magic. I closed my eyes and with little trouble located all eighteen of the power generators within Naara's walls. They were similar in principle, if not scale, to the generator we'd constructed for Ria’s class.

Like our generator, they used purified aetherium crystals, a materialized form of magic that steadily released mana over time. The similarities ended there, though. Rather than directly collecting a charge from the interaction of earth and wind mana, Naara's power plants leveraged fire mana from red aetherium to create steam. It was that steam that turned massive turbines and generated the electricity necessary to power the city's industry.

Not all of the lines carried high-current operating voltages. Some, the smaller cables laid out beneath the heavy ones meant for energy transmission, carried low-power signals used for electronic communications. For thousands of years, only mages had ever been able to communicate with each other at great distances, but thanks to technological advances made in the past century, this was no longer so. Even non-mages could speak with and send messages to their friends and loved ones over the datanet.

I peered out the train's window and caught a glimpse of one of Naara’s four wireless communications towers. It stood, partly anchored to a tall building, standing proudly above the downtown area. A multitude of specialized antenna panels jutted from the top. It was these devices that transmitted and received electromagnetic waves, allowing citizens to establish communication links and access network services from portable devices.

This sort of technology functioned just fine in the absence of magic, and did so in many other nations that were not so blessed with an abundance of aether in the land. All sorts of people, be they human or fey, were fiercely determined to survive and thrive. The necessities of survival bore fruits of innovation.

“What are you gawking at?”

I blinked and turned to see Rose regarding me, a bemused smile on her face. I gestured toward the tower.

“Oh, the comm tower? We have those all over Fialla. Even the little towns have at least one in range.”

“We only have them in the major cities,” I murmured. “A lot of the more rural areas have only wired comm service, if any at all. The oldest settlements still rely on magic for communication with the outside world.”

“You've never been outside of Solaria, have you?”

I shook my head. “No, never.”

Rose's worrisome grin returned. “Would you like to see my home? I can take you there when the term ends, if you'd like.”

“I would, but… House Alcyone will be expecting me to return home during the break.”

“I didn't mean for the whole break,” she amended, somewhat hastily. I suspected she actually did mean it, but having met with unexpected resistance, decided to negotiate. “Maybe for a week or two, a vacation just for us. By the way you talk about your mom, I don't think she'd stop you.”

“She wouldn't, if it was entirely up to her.”

“How the hell not? Besides, you're an adult. It should only be up to you.”

I shrugged but said nothing.

“Maybe there's a way to sell it that'll appear to work in their favor.” Rose's brow furrowed and she seemed to be lost in thought. I was not at all certain I wanted to know what sort of mischief she was plotting.

The tram jolted to a stop with a screech of steel against steel. Passengers began to stand, doffing their bags and purses, before filing out the open doors and onto the street. Rose got to her feet and took my hand, nearly dragging me out of the tram car.

“Come on, Lily! Let's go!”

Chapter 7
Union of Spirit

“Where are we going?” I called out over the sounds of the busy city.

“I don't know!” Rose answered with a cheerful grin. “Let's just go!”

I rolled my eyes and planted my feet against the stone, yanking back on the Fiallan as hard as I could. Even though she could have easily dragged me along, Rose halted in mid-stride and turned back to face me.

“Sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes.” Her grin seemed to only widen. “You're a lot stronger than I thought you'd be.”

“Yes, I know. I get that a lot.” I looked up at her and shook my head in exasperation. “You don't know where anything in Naara is, do you?”

“Nope,” was the immediate reply.

“I do. Follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

I chuckled at the echoed question. “There's a small café near the waterfront that has nice view of the breakers smashing against the rocks. It's also… rather private, and not a common gathering place for students. Which I think the both of us would appreciate.”

“I thought you weren't from here, either. How do you know where everything is?”

I rolled my eyes again. “My family wished for me to stay out of sight and out of mind, so I spent much of my childhood on the network, learning as much as I could about…” I trailed off and gestured toward the glimmering waters of Naara Bay.

“About?”

“About the Academy, about the Empire itself,” I finished. “My wean-lessons only barely scratched the surface. Since no one but Mother really cared what happened to me, and everyone else pretended I didn't exist more often than not, I was afforded an uncommon degree of freedom.”

“Don't highborn mages usually sequester their children from outside distractions such as games or stories? And you're telling me you were left alone with access to the datanet? Or whatever it is the Empire didn't censor, anyway?”

I snorted. “Like I said, they don't care. No one in House Alcyone ever had any expectations for me, except Mother.” I let a superior sort of look twist my features and I made a flicking, dismissive gesture. “They all assumed I was wasting my brain away on serials and games, songs and stories, but Mother knew better. I sought all the knowledge of her homeland I could absorb.”

Rose looked grim, and I knew she understood. “You were trying to stack the deck in your favor.”

“Yes.”

I reached into my satchel and drew out a black rectangle. This brought a curious look to Rose's face. I held one of the buttons along the side of the device to power it on. “You're staring like you've never seen a multicom before.”

“I just didn't expect you to have one. Aren't they forbidden at the Academy?”

“That's why I leave it turned off when I'm there,” I replied. I waited a moment while the device finished booting into the operating system, holding a fingertip against the unlock pad on the front. It had already connected to the comm network. Rose watched with interest as I navigated through the device's interface.

“I had no idea you were so handy with technology,” she said, obviously impressed. “Never would have guessed.”

“Solarians like to boast about the infinite strength of our magic and how our great nation is not so weak we must rely on gadgets and automata, but the reality is somewhat more complex than that.” I tapped against the multicom's screen and smiled as a message from my mother was brought to the foreground. “Also, Mother was insistent that I learn how to use technology like multicoms and computers.”

“Your mom is something else,” Rose said after a moment's silence.

“Mother is… different, than most people. Different than most of House Alcyone. You've been at the Academy long enough to have heard the rumors, I'm sure, but they aren't true. Mother was not taken against her will, and I was wanted.”

“That must have been an… interesting romance,” Rose said evasively.

“I'm sure it was.”

“Did you ever know your…” She trailed off and frowned. “Father?”

“My other parent,” I corrected. “They don't view gender the same way humans do, as far as I've been able to tell. It's difficult to find information regarding them that isn’t obvious propaganda.”

“I see.”

I didn't want to get into this conversation in public. I was plainly fey-touched, and if I were heard to be speaking positively of the miinari, I would find myself drawing far more attention than I wanted to deal with. It wouldn't be good if a bored IPSB officer happened to overhear us.

“The air smells salty,” Rose noted, picking up on my reluctance to continue.

“We're very close to the ocean. Come on, the café isn't far. Just follow this path up the stairs and onto the second-level street. It overhangs the edge of the cliff.” I pointed toward the west and north, and Rose's gaze followed.

She gawked at the old structure. “How is that building even standing?”

“Earth magic roots it to the cliff face. It's a very old, living enchantment that adapts to the changing conditions of the land.” I started to make my way up the stairs with Rose following close. “If erosion from the waves changes the cliff, the foundation will adapt. The building won't fail due to natural causes.”

“What about… artillery fire, explosions?”

“The magic is attuned to the slow rhythms of the earth,” I explained. “It can't adapt quickly enough to weather that sort of rapid destruction. There are different types of earth magic that can fortify structures against attack, though.”

Rose took two steps at a time easily, as if it were nothing to her, and quickly passed me on the path. She reached down to grasp my hand and pulled me up over the last few steps with her customary ease.

A few moments later the two of us were inside the cliff-side establishment. As I'd predicted, it was rather slow this time of day. There was a scattering of patrons inside the main taproom, most of them at the bar. Judging by their utilitarian jumpsuits, smudged with grease here and there, and smelling strongly of sweat, I suspected they were dockworkers.

None of the men turned to look at us as a waitress took us to the outdoor dining area. It was empty, as I'd hoped, and we were shown to a table near the railing, overlooking the sea sixty meters below.

“What'll you have, ladies?”

“Coffee for the both of us.”

“Anything to eat?”

I glanced at Rose and then back at the waitress. “Give us a bit to decide, if you don't mind.”

“Sure. I'll be back with your drinks.” She jerked a thumb at a small silver bell at the center of the table. “When you're ready to order just ring the bell and I'll be here.”

“Thanks.” I waited for the serving girl to depart before turning back to Rose. “We've got the whole day before we have to be back at the Academy. I don't think brunch and a trip to a swordsmith's shop will take all day. What else do you want to do?”

“I don't know, you think you could show me around town? Give me the grand tour?” Rose smiled and I felt heat return to my cheeks again.

“Well, Naara is not small… and neither of us can conjure a conveyance, but we could spend some time at the municipal gardens.” The thought of being surrounded by flowers filled me with a deep-rooted comfort. The gardens reminded me of Mother, who loved flowers so much she gave birth to their namesake. And here I was with a girl named Rose. The thought elicited a small gale of laughter.

“What're you laughing at?”

“N-nothing. It's silly.”

“Come on, tell me!”

I shook my head, trying to sublimate the expression of mirth.

“Do I have something on my face?” Rose demanded.

“No, it's just…”

She fixed me with an exasperated look.

“I was just thinking about… the gardens, Mother's flowers, and our names.” I pointed to myself and back to her. More giggles escaped my lips. “Flower girls.”

Rose blinked and stared at me for an uncomfortably long period of time.

“W-what?”

“Seven Holy Stars.” She groaned loudly and rolled her eyes. “Lily, that was awful. Just absolutely awful. The worst.”

“I told you it was silly,” I reminded her.

“It's not silly, it's awful. Do you hear me? A-w-f-u-l.”

We both started to laugh.

*

Our brunch was eaten largely in silence, for the roar of the breaking waves below was actually too loud to have any sort of conversation. The food was quite good, though Rose seemed to be disappointed in how mild the seasoning was.

“Fiallan food is very spicy?” I inquired as we walked along the upper level. I'd checked my multicom and found a swordsmith's shop that was relatively nearby, close enough that we didn't need to summon a conveyance or return to the tram station.

“Compared to what we just ate? Not even in the same class. Not even in the same galaxy.” Rose's lips twitched in feigned disgust. “Solarian food is so bland. Never enough heat, never enough savory bite, and it's like you've never heard of pickles!”

“That's sort of true,” I told her. “We've been a culture so steeped in magic that we never needed to use fermentation as a method of preservation.”

“You don't use it to make beer, either,” Rose complained. “All I can see is wine. Wine, wine and more wine. Even those dockworkers were drinking wine. What kind of fucked-up country doesn't even have beer?”

“This one. There are some taverns where you can get imported beers, but they tend only to be popular with foreigners.” I gave Rose a severe look out of the corner of my eyes. “Also, it doesn't even matter since, according to Imperial law, we're both too young to drink.”

Rose’s expression darkened with righteous indignation. “Too young?! That's ridiculous. I'm taking you home with me.” She crossed her arms over her chest, assuming a mock-stern posture and expression. “Solaria is clearly a place where people don't even know the definition of fun.”

My smile faltered. “I can't really argue.”

“Yeah, I know.” Rose looked away self-consciously. “I'm sorry.”

I turned and gestured to the left at the intersection, peering at the map displayed on my multicom. “The swordsmith should be right around here. I'm not sure if it's this building or the next one—”

“Maybe look up instead of at your multicom,” Rose muttered dryly.

“Huh?” I shoved the device into my pocket and followed her gesture. Hanging above us, about two meters over our heads, was a sign decorated with a pair of crossed swords over an anvil. “Oh. I guess we're here, then.”

Rose laughed and tugged on the door, making an exaggerated gallant gesture toward the open entryway. “After you, Lady Alcyone.”

I made a face. “I'm about as much of a proper 'lady' as you are.”

“Still better than 'flower girl,'” Rose shot back.

“I thought it was cute!”

“Of course you did.”

A snort of derision escaped my lips. “Come on. You were the one who insisted we do this, so get in here and help me pick out a blade.”

“Fine, fine.”

The interior of the swordsmith's shop was much cleaner than I'd anticipated. I wasn't entirely sure what I expected, but the storefront itself appeared to be more of a showroom than a workshop. Perhaps the actual forging of the weapons happened elsewhere, which would make sense, I suppose, as this particular block was close to one of the wealthier neighborhoods in Naara. I could easily imagine those stuffy highborn lords and ladies complaining about the smoke of a forge watering their eyes.

There was only one person behind the counter, and it wasn't the owner. It was an awkward-looking boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen, a bit younger than the two of us. His forehead was bare, and I could not sense any magic from him. A more careful examination suggested he was either the swordsmith's apprentice or his son, or both.

“Can I help you find something, miss?”

Rose stepped up to the counter. “We're looking for something small and light, suitable for her small frame.”

The boy glanced at me, then back to his wares, then back to me again. This time, he stared at me in slack-jawed astonishment, but only for a moment. He recovered quickly, and the muscles in his jaw bunched up. The boy's attempt at a neutral expression was unfortunately unsuccessful, and I could see the fear and distrust in his eyes.

“He figured it out,” Rose muttered dryly.

I didn't flinch under the apprentice's glare. “Most people do.”

A sigh from Rose was followed by a heavy thunk as she dropped a bulging pouch, filled to near bursting with Imperial currency, on the counter. “We're just here to make a purchase, nothing more. We don't want any trouble.”

The boy's dour look melted away into something more shrewd. “Fine, but don't think I won't tell IPSB that you were here if they come asking me.”

“It's not illegal to buy a sword,” I growled.

“As long as you've got the coin and you ain’t with Antilight, I can't turn you away,” the boy agreed, scratching the scraggly patch of beard he was attempting to grow. “Don't think you'll be able to find anything small enough here, though. Check the foreign blades in the case across the shop. Let me know if you want to take a look at any of them.”

Rose arched a white eyebrow. “What the hell is an Antilight?”

“Bunch of terrorists,” the boy spat, long before I could even think to formulate a more nuanced answer to her question. “Murderers and traitors to the Empire, all of them. If you don't know what they are, you must be a foreigner.”

“I'm from Fialla,” Rose replied.

“Yeah, I figured as much, seeing how you've got skin browner than dirt.”

Rose's eyes flashed with anger at the insult, but she said nothing and whirled around, grabbing me by the wrist and half-dragging me to the display case. I had never seen her this angry before, and it worried me. This was the sort of treatment we would both receive in the Empire every time we left the Academy grounds.

Not that the other students or even the masters were any less xenophobic and nationalistic, but the strict rules of the Academy prevented them from displaying it overtly. What influence Juno Alcyone still possessed was just barely enough to secure my appointment, but it wouldn't stop my peers and teachers from thinking what they would.

The foreign blade case was dusty enough that it was hard to see inside. I tried to peer through the grime. Rose pulled a cloth from her satchel and wiped away the obstruction, giving me a better look at the weapons on display.

“Those are Fiallan,” Rose observed, pointing toward the largest three swords. “They're nicely crafted, but too big and heavy for you.”

“Everything is bigger in Fialla, apparently,” I quipped.

Rose grinned. “It's the truth.”

I continued to look over the weapons in the case. There were ten swords in all, most of which I recognized. Four were of kanari manufacture, likely taken from slain bladeguards. Kanari weapons were intriguing but impractical, their presence here suggesting that the owner of the shop was a collector. The thin, straight blades were incredibly sharp and deadly, capable of cleaving right through magical armor, but were easily broken. Bladeguards were typically outfitted with wide scabbards containing a half-dozen replacement blades that could be exchanged quickly in the heat of battle.

Two were the gently curved slashing sabers from the Crimson Isles, a loose confederation of seafaring merchants and mercenaries who Solaria considered little more than pirates. They were smaller than Solarian weapons, intended for one-handed use on the rolling decks of ships on the high seas.

The final sword in the case, however, I didn't recognize at all, but my eyes fell upon it and I found I could not look away. It was the smallest and lightest sword in the display case, much more suited to a frame like mine than any Solarian sword. I placed my hand on the smudged glass in front of it and recoiled in sudden shock. As if I'd flipped a switch, warmth and life radiated from the slender, pattern-welded blade. This sword held magic, and strong magic at that! The weapon's power woke at my approach, and I could feel it calling to me, resonating with the very firmament of my soul.

“I want to look at this one,” I announced.

“Don't recommend touching that one,” the boy said, scratching his stubble and gazing at me warily. “It's got magic in it, and anyone who touches it directly gets a pretty nasty shock. I told my father he ought to hand it over to the Academy, but he won't hear of it. Said someone will eventually come along and buy it, a collector or something, but the blasted masters wouldn't give him a bent copper.”

“I still want to look at it.”

“All right, but don't say I didn't warn you.” The apprentice disappeared behind the display case and unlocked it with a small passward attached to his apron. I watched as he donned a heavy leather glove, stitched through with silver thread, and took the violet sword by the hilt. An indignant pulse of magic surged through the blade at his touch, but the glove appeared to have some sort of anti-magic warding placed upon it.

The boy set it down on the counter, along with another glove identical to the one he wore. “You might want to put this—”

I wrapped my bare fingers around the hilt and nearly gasped aloud. The power imbued in the weapon rushed forth, mingling with my own magic, forming an instantaneous bond. In my hand, the sword felt as if it were a physical part of me, an extension of my own body. I could feel something from the sword's imbued magic, some sort of oddly-familiar sense of belonging. Taking a step back, I made a few experimental swings with the blade and found that it had flawless balance and weight.

“I want this sword,” I said.

The apprentice's jaw had nearly dropped to the floor. “W-what… how can you—”

“Don't worry about that,” Rose interrupted, opening her sack of coins. “How much do you want for it?”

“Uh, since it seems that she's the only one who can hold the damn thing without losing a hand, consider it yours for six hundred.”

Rose didn't say a word but instead counted out six platinum Solarian crowns, setting them on the counter in a neat stack. The boy's eyes lit up, but I was too busy marveling at how well my new sword had integrated with my magic. It was as if it had been forged for me and me alone.

“Does it come with a scabbard?” Rose asked.

“We never had one to go with it, but if you want to wait a bit we can make one—”

“It's not necessary,” I said in a soft, dreamlike tone. Without knowing how I knew I could, I held the blade out and sent an entreaty to the magic within. In a flash of crackling purple light, the sword vanished as if it had never been.

The poor apprentice smith's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. “What in the Yawning Hells was that?! Where'd the sword go?” A shadow fell over his face. “You already paid, you're not getting a refund since it was in your hands when it disappeared!”

“It's not gone, but stored within an extra-dimensional space,” I explained. “That's why it never had a scabbard. It doesn't need one.”

“I guess that's it for us, then. Thank you for your assistance, sir.” Rose gave the apprentice one final scathing glare, completely at odds with the sincere tone of her voice. She tugged at my wrist with enough strength to drag me to the door. “Come on, Lily. Let's go.”

Chapter 8
Invitation to Darkness

“I wasn't expecting that to happen.”

I turned to face Rose and nodded. “Neither was I. I can't believe we found something like this, just collecting dust in a swordsmith's 'foreign junk' case.”

“The sword, it's—”

“It's of miinari make, yes,” I told her. “The magic in it recognized me when I came close. As soon as I picked it up, it bound itself to my magic. I'm still trying to feel out the extent of its power, but this sword is far from an ordinary weapon.”

Rose frowned. “I gathered that much. What do you think it is, then?”

“I don't know. I’m not sure if I'm strong enough to use it properly, much less puzzle out its history.” I sighed and nestled in closer to Rose. The two of us sat upon a bench overlooking the bay. The park was empty at this hour, for it was still only a bit after noon, and the Naaran workday started early and ended late. “I need to… I need to study it, to attune with its magic.”

“So do it, then.”

“I can't. At least, not at the Academy,” I pointed out. “The masters would confiscate it the moment they realized I had it.”

“Wouldn't it just zap them like it did all the fancy rich guys who wanted to put it on display?”

“Well, yes, but the masters would probably be able to suppress the defensive magic and dispel the binding between me and the sword. I can't risk taking it out of its pocket dimension when we're at the Academy. They'll sense the magic right away. It'll… stand out. A lot.”

“Why's that?”

I avoided Rose's gaze. “It’s filled to the brim with dark mana.”

“Isn't that—”

“Yes. Highly illegal in Solaria. I'm surprised they never realized what they had, but I guess it knows how to protect itself.” I stopped for a moment and looked at Rose with a curious gaze. “You seem a lot more casual about this than I would have thought.”

“I don't know anything about miinari magic, but I get the feeling that sword can take care of itself. It's like…” She trailed off and shrugged, not entirely sure how to express what she had felt when the blade's power woke.

“Like it has a will of its own,” I finished. “It's been subtly adjusting itself to fit me, ever since I laid my hand upon the hilt. Ordinary enchanted weapons don’t do that.”

Rose looked worried. She took my hand in hers and curled her fingers around mine. “I'll be with you, no matter what happens. Even if it gets dangerous.”

“I… I don't know what to say.”

“Will the masters be able to detect it?”

I looked away. “I don't know. I don't think so.”

“Maybe you should get rid of it, then.”

“No!” I blurted without thinking. “I could never!”

Rose blinked, taken aback by my sudden, vehement denial.

“I'm—I'm sorry, Rose,” I murmured, my tone becoming thick and childish. “As long as I keep it sealed, nothing should change, at least outwardly.” I tried to make my voice and expression seem as confident as I could, even if I was not. “When the term lets out, and I return to House Alcyone, I'll… ask Mother about it. She has to know something, or at the very least, knows someone who does.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll let it drop for now, then.” Rose let her arm drape over my shoulder and she pulled me close. “You're really something else, you know that?”

“Um, thank you.”

Her free hand grasped my chin and turned my face toward hers. I closed my eyes and felt her lips brush against mine with incredible tenderness. That delicious sensation of weakness filled me up from inside and I leaned into her, leaned into the kiss. After far too short a while, I drew away. Our faces were still less than a centimeter apart, and I looked into Rose's dark eyes. They were alight with passion and desire, sending a shiver of anticipation through my body.

“I know… I know Fiallans are more, um, casual about these sorts of things than I'm accustomed to,” I began, trying to choose my words carefully despite the mushy mess Rose's kiss made of my brain. “I want to know if… if…”

“If I'm serious about this?” Rose inquired. “About the two of us?”

I nodded.

“I wanted to make a clever joke, but I can't.” Rose's fingers brushed red curls from my forehead, and she leaned close to kiss it. “I like you, Lily. I like you a lot. You were the only one who genuinely wanted to be my friend at the Academy. The only one who didn't, who would never, look down on me as a foreigner, as a Fiallan whose skin is 'browner than dirt.'”

“I like you a lot, too, Rose.”

“I thought that might be the case,” she whispered with a small smile.

“Is that how you see me, though? As a… just a friend?”

Rose leaned closer to my ear, speaking so softly I could barely hear her. “A friend, a partner in crime, and more. Much, much more.”

Her breath tickled my ear. Gods, she was so warm.

“I love you, Rose,” I blurted, without thinking. “I've… I was drawn to you since the day we met. I knew there was something special about you, something amazing. I know it's only been a few months but I can't ignore—”

Warm fingertips touched my lips. “You don't need to explain yourself to me. I understand how serious this is to you.” I felt a soft, velvety heat envelop the lobe of my ear and I let out a low, hungry moan as she spoke. “I love you, too, Lily.”

“I want you.” I whispered. “Now.”

“Right now? Here, in the park?” Despite the incredulity in her tone, Rose sounded more intrigued than scandalized.

“It's… secluded enough. People on the path wouldn't be able to see us.” My voice was becoming husky and breaking slightly on the hard consonants. “N-nobody will bother us, I'm sure of it. We can be… discreet.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Rose leaned forward to kiss me again, but a sudden, shrill scream jolted us both into alertness. It sounded as if someone was in pain or in danger, and close.

“What in the Yawning Hells?” Rose swore.

“I don't know, but it sounds like someone's hurt or something.” I stood up, trying to subsume the sharp feeling of disappointment. The screams drifted through the air again, and I strained to hear which direction the terrified cries were coming from. “It sounds like it's coming from the street near the park's entrance!”

“Let's go check it out.”

I nodded, and the two of us broke into a run. Rose slowed her pace somewhat to match my shorter strides, but we quickly covered the distance between the location of our aborted tryst and the park gate.

“Rose, look out!”

A shimmering crimson barrier blazed into existence, just the barest fraction of a second before a furious explosion ripped through the air around us. Flames and heat expanded outward, riding a shockwave that flattened the greenery around us, but wrapped around Rose's magical shield, leaving the two of us unharmed.

Small fires had already started in the brush around our feet. I stepped back, away from the shield, prompting a concerned look from Rose. Water magic came sluggishly to my fingertips and I directed it at the ground, forming it into a thin, spreading aura of frost. Half-burned plants went white as the heat was stolen from the unfortunate bushes and grasses.

“I think we've got more to worry about than a brush fire,” Rose said.

I looked up at the street and was astonished to see a pair of men, dressed in the same jumpsuits as the dockworkers from earlier, standing over a richly-dressed woman. The woman was alive and still conscious, but blood and burned flesh marred her exposed right arm. Her jacket's sleeve had been incinerated during her unsuccessful attempt to parry the magical attack.

“Get away from her!” Rose shouted at the men.

“This doesn't concern you,” one of them sneered.

I was stunned that they would attack a highborn Solarian lady in broad daylight, but my shock only lasted an instant before I realized why they would be so bold. The space around us felt distorted in an odd way, and I noticed the street beyond the site of the explosion was completely devoid of people. Somehow we'd been displaced away from normal space, shifted just enough outside of our reality to preclude outside interference.

“We cannot leave witnesses,” the other man said to his companion.

“But—”

“No. They must not be left to carry tales to IPSB.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but Rose was faster. She rushed forward like a rifle-shot bullet, striking the more unsure of the two men with her whole body as her weapon. He was physically imposing, even for a Solarian, but Rose was larger and stronger still.

The Solarian mage was well-trained, for he managed to deflect her charge and sidestep away. Ice shards materialized in the air in front of him and streaked out toward Rose. I called power to my hands, trying to shape the earth into a physical barrier. An attack fueled by water mana would be weakest against an earth-based defense, but the element inevitably resisted me. The magic was unresponsive to my commands. The stone-paved walkway buckled in a few places but the earth beneath failed to surge forth.

Fear soured the saliva in my mouth. As much as I never wanted to admit it, I'd privately wondered how long it would be before my deficiencies put us in danger.

Fortunately, Rose was able to twist her body into an evasive roll that avoided the worst of the ice storm. Shards of glowing blue slashed frost-rimed gouges into her shoulder, and she hissed in pain, but I could tell she wasn't seriously hurt.

“Kill them quickly,” the smaller man hissed at his subordinate. “They are mere children.”

“No!” I cried.

A burst of sinister light split the air and the sword came to my grasp with an ease that stole my breath. It was as if the weapon itself was guiding me, pulling me toward those who threatened our lives and the lives of the injured woman.

Rose scrambled backwards as I swept out with a grand, sundering blow that missed completely, and the man hadn't even tried to dodge. His expression was predatory and smug as he drew a pair of daggers from hidden sheaths.

“You don't stand a chance against me,” he snarled. “Even with that.”

I didn't respond with words, but instead let the sword lead. The world around me seemed to crackle as time slowed down. The attacker's twin dagger style would normally have been lightning-fast and impossible to defend against considering my lack of skill with a sword, but the magic of this blade filled me with preternatural speed and lethality of intent.

There was no need to even attempt to parry; his strikes were oh-so-slow from my perspective. I stepped to one side, dimly aware of the air rushing past my body, and spun the blade around between the hole in his defenses. Had I not been accelerated by the magic of this sword, the hole would have lasted only a split-second. But I was, and the gap seemed to stretch into infinity.

Purple-black energies seethed from within the enchanted steel as it struck flesh. It was effortless, like cutting through a gossamer sheet. I followed the strike through and stepped beyond the dagger-wielder. Time seemed to snap back into place, and I heard a pair of wet, meaty thuds. The sword flared with dark energy, searing away the blood and leaving the purple-tinted steel bright and clean. With a flourish, I whirled around to face the remaining assailant.

“Seven Holy Stars!”

The larger man was staring at the two halves of his former companion. His face had gone absolutely white with horror, and his own daggers dropped from nerveless fingers, falling to the stone walkway with a muted clatter. “No… please, no…”

Rose was beside me, and she put the coldest glare on the terrified man. “Leave now and we'll let you live.”

“Quickly,” I insisted, punctuating Rose's ultimatum by turning the point of the sword in the direction of his chest.

With a wild shriek, the man fled without looking back, disappearing into the park.

“Are you okay, miss?” Rose asked the woman. The Fiallan knelt down beside her and called forth fire mana, drawing the heat from her burns. It wasn't quite as good as true healing magic, but it would help.

“It… it hurts, but I think I'll be fine,” she said, sighing in relief as Rose's spell began to soothe away the pain. She stared, wide-eyed, at the dead assailant, and then at me. I held my hand out and the sword withdrew into its pocket dimension.

“You're safe now. The other one fled.”

“N-no! Get away from me!” Fear and hatred warred for supremacy on her face, and she tried to scramble away from Rose—but mostly away from me. She made a warding gesture, a supplication to the Celestial One, and her crimson manashard glimmered in response to her sudden shift in emotional state.

“D-don't kill me, I swear I won't tell anyone,” the woman babbled. “I swear it on the souls of my ancestors and the altar of the Celestial One, I won't say a word!”

I shook my head. “I… I'm not going to hurt you. We're here to help you.”

“I—but you… necromancer…” The woman's eyes, wide and round with terror, fixated on my empty sword hand. “P-please.”

I didn't say anything else. There was nothing I could do against centuries of ingrained prejudices, not in such a short time. Instead, I turned toward the aetheric prominence that kept us shifted out of phase with the material world. With a subtle manipulation of the power already within, it was no great task to coax a few critical threads out, unraveling the entire spell. Sound, smells and color lost their muted quality, and the field that had pushed us outside of normal reality was gone.

The dead attacker's body was nowhere to be found. I suspected it somehow stayed in the phase-shifted space when it collapsed, some sort of contingency worked into the original spell to ensure their bodies would never be found if they were to fail.

I had no idea if the one who fled was still imprisoned inside that false space after I dispelled the magic sustaining it. I found that I didn't care. I didn't feel much of anything, even though I had just killed someone. It was frighteningly easy, and my heart was unburdened by the horror I expected to feel upon ending a sapient life.

Did I have the heart of a warrior? Or a killer?

I didn't like that thought. Not at all. But by the time I turned around, the woman was already gone, having fled herself down the street. I glanced at Rose and she looked back at me, a haunted expression on her face.

“I think we'll be okay,” she said after a moment. “Though we should get out of here before anyone figures out what happened.”

I could almost hear the words Rose didn't speak. Without a body, with the actual combat itself having taken place in an extra-dimensional sub-reality that had already collapsed, IPSB would be unable to find any incriminating evidence. The fear in the Solarian woman's eyes told me she would remain silent about what she'd seen and sensed, but I was still worried. Some traces of dark mana may have ended up on her, and there was always the possibility that she would be detained by IPSB before it dispersed. If she were stopped, the presence of dark mana would implicate her. It would only be a matter of time before she admitted everything and had her memories examined. I looked at Rose and was comforted to see concern for me in her eyes.

“I think she was clean,” Rose murmured in my ear. “I couldn't sense any on her.”

I blew a sigh of relief. I trembled, partly from the chill air and partly from a deep sense of foreboding. What in the Seven Holy Stars was this strange magic, and why had it called to me so strongly?

“Are you really going to be okay, Lily?”

“I'm fine.” I reached out and took Rose's hand in my own, knowing that she would feel how cold it had become. When her fingers closed around mine, I could barely feel them. “I think.”

“You don't look so good.”

“Don't feel great, either,” I mumbled, my voice barely audible. “Come on. We… we should get back to the Academy, and quickly…”

A fresh wave of nausea swept over me and I swayed on my feet. If not for Rose holding my hand as tightly as she did, I was certain I would have fallen. My skin felt cold and clammy, and copious amounts of icy sweat sprang from my palms. Everything started to become blurry and out of focus; I could scarcely make out the fearful expression on Rose's face.

“Lily!”

I could tell from the way her lips moved that she was shouting at me, but all I could hear was a dull ringing. Sound and light faded and red spots began to dance in my vision. My stomach lurched and I felt cold, far colder than I'd ever experienced, despite the relatively pleasant weather.

That coldness wasn't temperature. It wasn't natural or even external; it was something within me. It was as if all the light had left my spirit, leaving nothing behind but a frozen void. Sensation left my awareness only moments before my vision went black.

Part II

-

Antilight

Chapter 9
Falling Petals

The next few months of our first term at the Academy were unremarkable and, mercifully, passed quickly. Rose and I dedicated ourselves wholeheartedly to our studies and I did my best to curb her more mischievous impulses. Neither of us could afford heightened scrutiny right now, not with the new and dangerous secrets we had to keep.

After the battle with the would-be assassins, I'd dropped into a deep sleep for nearly a day. Rose filled me in after I finally woke up. As far as she could tell, I hadn't sustained so much as a scratch from the entire ordeal. Somehow we managed to keep the Academy from discovering what had happened. After a few weeks of nothing out of the ordinary, it became clear that none of the masters suspected anything was amiss.

Since the battle I'd gone into Naara multiple times, but I never saw the noblewoman again. I had no idea if she were even still alive, or if IPSB found traces of dark mana and the Church demanded her to be locked away in the mages' prison.

What in the Yawning Hells had we stumbled upon, anyway? It wasn't a question I could answer easily without talking to others, but a bit of clandestine research suggested that the man I killed was a member of the Antilight rebels. I had to know more about the terrorists, but information that wasn't obvious pro-Solaria propaganda was scarce.

“'They are vile and irredeemable, without a shred of conscience. The Antilight are naught more than terrorists who deny the legitimacy of the Imperial Court, denounce the Church of the Celestial Prophecy and reject the innate purity of His Light,'” I muttered aloud as I read. It was all that most Solarians knew of the organization, but I suspected there was a great deal more nuance to the rebels than was immediately apparent.

“You've been reading about them for hours, Lily,” Rose complained. “Stop. Please. We just finished our last exam and all you want to do is study even more?”

“I'm not going to have access to the Academy's archives after tomorrow.” I shrugged and closed the book. A deep sigh escaped my lips and I turned a plaintive look on Rose. “Though I suspect there's little else to find here. The data doesn't run especially deep, and it's…”

“One-sided?” Rose snorted loudly. “Of course it's one-sided. It's propaganda.”

“Don't say things like that here.”

“We're alone, if you hadn't noticed. Erika left us for the library—for a reason, remember? A very specific reason.”

“I'm sorry.” My cheeks grew hot and I averted my eyes. “I don't… I'm just not feeling up to it tonight. I'm really sorry.”

“You were the one who couldn't keep her hands off me.” Rose gave me a look that was filled with worry rather than disappointment. “Are you sure you're okay?”

“No, and I know, and I did, but… I don't now. I'm sorry.”

Had Rose been anyone else, I would have expected a negative reaction to my refusal. Instead, she leaned forward and lifted me up into a soothing embrace. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply of her. No matter how long she remained in the Empire, Rose somehow managed to avoid blending in with the Solarians. She always smelled of far-off shores and fragrant spices.

“I worry about you, Lily. All the time, as long as we're here in this place, I don't feel like I can keep you safe. Your people consider me inferior because I'm a foreigner, but they fear and hate you for your fey nature. I feel… helpless, and that scares me.” Rose shivered faintly, but it had little to do with the temperature.

“I know. It's not your fault.”

“I know.”

My silence stretched out, long and uncomfortable, but Rose wouldn't push me. She knew I wasn't in the right mindset for that sort of thing. Instead, she just held me in her long, strong arms, her breath warm against my neck.

“Rose?” I murmured, tentatively.

“What is it?”

“I want to go to Fialla with you.”

She stared at me, thunderstruck, for a second or two. Then her face split into the biggest, silliest grin I'd ever seen her wear. “Y-you do? Really?”

“Yes, really.” I smiled at her and held a fingertip against her lips, both to stop her from expressing her joy in a rush of babbling glee and to keep her from occupying my mouth with hers. “Though I have to spend at least some time with my mother before we depart. I couldn't just leave the country without visiting her first.”

“I guess that's fine. I'll miss you while you're at House Alcyone, of course.”

I smirked at her. “No, you won't, because you're coming with me.”

“W-what?”

“Mother wants to meet you.” The inevitable blush returned to my cheeks. “She was… overjoyed to discover that I'd, um, met someone. In that pile of mail you never bother to check, there should be a sealed envelope bearing her personal sigil.”

Her jaw dropped. “I've been officially invited?”

“Yes and no. You've been invited by Juno, not by House Alcyone. I doubt she bothered to tell them. Not everyone will be pleased,” I warned, crinkling my nose in disgust. “Just the fact that you're Fiallan is going to raise a lot of eyebrows, but no one should openly challenge Mother's decision.”

Rose's eyes narrowed. “She's not going to tell them anything, right? Like that we're, uh, dating, is she?”

“No. Mother won't let them hurt you, no matter what. She's the one who has to deal with their displeasure, not us. The various lords and ladies of Alcyone will likely try their best to pretend neither of us exist.” I leaned closer and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “The silly politics of highborn families won't get between us. By the Seven Holy Stars, I'll make sure they don't.”

“I'm happy I get to go with you and meet your mom, but I'm less so that we're going to have to keep our distance from each other for the duration of the visit.” Rose's expression was intensely sour and I knew it was the part of the arrangement she would tolerate the least.

“Yes, I'm sorry about that, but I have to think of my mother. If the rest of the family knew, they would not hesitate to use it against her…” I trailed off, unwilling to voice the possible consequences of our mutual romantic involvement. There were no official decrees on the books forbidding romance between two women, but that didn't matter. Scandal and innuendo would render a much more terrible punishment than any Imperial magistrate.

The nobility didn't care what the commoners did, and the highborn families would relentlessly watch each other for any sign of weakness or impropriety. Alcyone had already suffered tremendous loss of standing when Mother's love for my miinari parent was made public, not to mention my subsequent birth. I would not provide them with any more ammunition.

“It's okay. I know it's to protect your mom.”

“I'm sorry this is going to be… sub-optimal,” I said. “It'll only be for a few days, though, so we should be able to at least enjoy our time spent visiting Mother.” I nestled in closer to Rose and sighed in contentment. “If we find it too difficult to bear, there are… some options, though I still think we should be careful. It's not us that'll be hurt.”

“That's sensible.”

“Just remember,” I reminded her in a lofty tone, “once we depart House Alcyone for Fialla, there will be nothing at all to stop us.”

Rose's grin was rather lewd. “Ooh, I like the sound of that.”

“I thought you might.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back against Rose's warmth. Without even having to ask, she understood my desires. Strong arms lifted me out of the desk chair and carried me to the bed. I let out a slow breath as we nestled down into the soft mattress.

“I'm tired,” I murmured.

“I know. You've been pushing yourself too hard recently.”

“Have to.”

“I know.”

*

Thanks to Rose, I slept very well that night. When the two of us woke the next morning, Erika Corvus had already departed, leaving a note on the desk. The Academy maintenance crew would be coming to check over all the dorms while the students were away for the winter break. Our chronically absent mentor left instructions to ensure we either took our belongings with us or locked them away. It wasn't that the workers were untrustworthy, she reassured us in her flawless and beautiful handwriting, but that they needed to have the rooms free of obstructions.

We stepped off the tram to Naara once again, this time moving rather more slowly than our first visit to the city together. It was bitterly cold, but that was only a minor inconvenience when your girlfriend happened to be a pyromancer. Neither of us had to bury our bodies beneath heavy jackets, as the city's less fortunate inhabitants did.

The two of us leisurely made our way to Naara's Gate. Travel was one of those areas where technology lagged heavily behind magic, and the Empire was endlessly proud of its interconnected network of magical Gates, allowing anyone to travel nearly anywhere in the country in the blink of an eye. So long as they had the money and the authorization, of course. Passage through Gates wasn't for the bereft of coin or title.

I was in a better mood than I should have been, I suppose because I would soon get to see Mother for the first time in nearly half a year. I hadn't ever been away from her for longer than a few weeks at the most, and I missed her terribly.

Rose still seemed to be on edge, and I wondered how much of that had to do with her inclusion in my family visit. I suspected she was worried about something more immediate and potentially dangerous.

“Are you sure it'll be okay?”

I nodded. It was the fifth time she'd asked me this question, but I let no signs of irritation or annoyance show in my expression. It was natural to care about, worry about and fuss over a person you loved, after all.

“Yes. It's not going to cause a problem, I promise.”

She looked unconvinced. “Maybe we should've booked passage on an airship—”

“Calm down, love,” I implored. “There aren't any airship ports near House Alcyone. Unless you want to waste two and a half days each way traveling by train, this is the best method.”

Rose glared darkly at the Gate that loomed before us. “That might be preferable.”

“Please, Rose. There's nothing at all to worry about. I know you've never traveled by Gate before, but it's really not dangerous, I promise.”

“Yeah,” Rose breathed. “Okay. Sure. Why not?”

She didn't look convinced in the slightest.

“I've made use of them my whole life,” I said to her in a soothing tone. “The Gates are designed for use by mages. A little pocket like the one I have isn't going to cause dimensional collapse. People travel the Gates tethered to more expansive sub-realities all the time. Every head of every House has a permanent connection to the Imperial Court antechamber, remember?”

Rose's cheeks were stained pink, but she seemed to calm down a little as I reassured her.

“Y-yeah, I know. I'm just… anxious, is all.”

I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed her on the cheek. “You have every right to be anxious, but don't let it get to you. Mother isn't anything like the stereotypical highborn Head of House. You'll love her, I promise.”

She smiled at me, but I could tell it was forced. Apparently magical travel was not something that occurred in Fialla, and as the line began to grow progressively shorter, Rose seemed to be even more anxious.

I reached out and took her hand in mine. “I'm here. I won't let you go.”

Rose nodded without speaking. I noticed her complexion was a little ashen.

When it was our turn to depart, the two of us stepped upon the wide dais that supported the permanent structure containing the Gate itself. It was already active, having been woken by the Celestial Acolyte's magic. The woman gave us a look of faint disinterest as we walked past her. The argent flare of her manashard stood out prominently against a much dimmer sea of red, blue, gold and green stones.

Those Solarians who exhibited affinity for the rarest elemental aspect, light, were inevitably inducted into the priesthood. The Church of the Celestial Prophecy, the Imperial state religion, administrated the Gates. Light mages possessed powers that were uniquely suited to the magic of dimensional manipulation and travel. Maintaining the Empire's expansive portal network was one of the Church's most visible public duties.

The portal itself was a flat plane in the shape of a large circle, bound by a stone and iron ring that was engraved with countless runes and wards. Those inscribed spells were laid down over a period of years, even decades. It was the work of dozens of master astromancers, all pooling their talent and power together to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

As the two of us walked closer to the shimmering surface of the Gate, Rose squeezed her eyes shut. I kept my hand upon hers, twining my fingers between hers, as we took that final step and entered the Gate.

There was an abrupt sensation of weightlessness and timelessness that felt as if it stretched into infinity. Reality warped around us and we dropped through the bridge between two distant points, emerging from the other side the exact moment we entered.

We were no longer in Naara, on the western coast overlooking the great ocean, but in the hinterlands near the Crone's Cane mountain range that marked the Empire's northern border. The scent of salt and sea was gone, replaced with the astringency of pine pitch, loamy soil and the sweet undercurrent of clean, pure air.

I took a deep breath. I was home, if only for a short while.

“You can open your eyes now,” I said, reaching out to brush against Rose's cheek. Her anxious expression relaxed at my touch and she opened her eyes—

“Wow.”

“Beautiful, isn't it?”

“Understatement,” Rose breathed.

The two of us stood upon a small stone platform on a hill overlooking a verdant valley, filled with all manner of green life. Great forests extended outward in all directions, and on the northern border of the basin was what appeared to be a small mountain village. Clusters of buildings, all constructed with the same peculiar style, were arranged around a half-dozen main thoroughfares. A number of greenhouses stood near the dwellings, the glass panes fogged with condensation, suggesting a balmy environment inside.

“A town?” Rose guessed. “Is your family's manor down there?”

“In a sense.” I laughed. “That is House Alcyone. All of the structures there, and the surrounding land and forests, constitute the private 'manor' grounds. The dwellings are inhabited by members of the family and their servants.”

“I was expecting something else, I guess.”

“Like a single manor or keep?”

“Yeah.”

I jerked a thumb at the collection of small buildings. “This place was at one point a small village, a stopover for those merchant caravans crossing the border into Coalition outlands. But that was more than a hundred years ago, before the advent of powered flight and fast sea vessels rendered the old horse-path trade routes obsolete.”

“Did your family buy the land after the old trade route fell into disuse?”

“Yes. The roads to the Coalition outlands were destroyed by Alcyone mages thirty summers ago, blocking this area off from every foreign point of entry. As Solaria is… not on the friendliest of terms with the Coalition now, it was deemed prudent.” I started down the well-worn path that would take us to a secluded home on the outer edge of the manor grounds, where Mother lived and where I had grown up. “Follow me, and watch your footing. The trail can get a little steep.”

Chapter 10
Unity of Purpose

Rose was still rather subdued as we entered the grounds of House Alcyone. The narrow streets were fairly busy at this time of day, and many of the people we passed recognized me, though few bothered to greet me with anything more than an acknowledging nod. I caught sight of a cousin, Ian. He was only a decade or so older than me and was one of the few members of the family who didn't do his best to ignore me completely.

“Lily, you've returned,” Ian said with a thin, albeit genuine, smile. “Welcome home.”

“Thank you, Cousin, though I am only visiting during the winter break.” I returned his smile with one of my own, nearly as thin. Ian may have been relatively friendly with me, at least with respect to the rest of the House, but he was still an arrogant ass. “We'll be staying with Mother for the week.”

“Who is this with you?”

“Rose Merope,” Rose greeted him. Her right hand came out but halted in mid-motion as she remembered herself and sketched a respectful bow instead. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Alcyone.”

“I'm hardly a Lord of the House, I'm afraid. Ian will do nicely.” Ian's eyebrows rose slightly as he regarded her. “You're Fiallan, if I'm not mistaken?”

Rose didn't try to hide her annoyance. “I am.”

“And polite, too.” Ian laughed out loud, as if his own sarcasm was truly so amusing. “Don't mind the stares you get. The Alcyones are paler than snow and hardly any have set foot outside the Empire's borders.”

“You clearly aren't, though,” Rose observed in a dry tone.

“Ah, there's the Fiallan fire in you. You're right, of course. My mother's ancestors hailed from the Far East. She married into House Alcyone shortly before I was born.” Ian ran a hand through his short-cropped black hair favored Rose with a rakish grin. “I've been told that I inherited all the best traits of the Easterners, made all the better when mingled with Solarian blood.”

“Indeed?” Rose inquired, her tone tinged with sarcasm of her own, sarcasm that my cousin completely missed. I had to strain my willpower to prevent a chuckle escaping my lips.

“Ian's rather popular with the court ladies,” I added.

Ian's grin widened at the mock praise. He had never been especially clever.

“Tell Aunt Juno I said hello.”

“Of course, Cousin.”

Rose and I shared a look as Ian ambled off, likely in search of some other attractive young lady to pester. When Ian was well out of earshot, the two of us broke into a fit of laughter that lasted nearly half a minute.

“Is he for real?” Rose asked, her voice incredulous.

“It's not an act. He's never been strong of magic, and most of the family's elders views him as little more than a dandy, but he's good with numbers, and better at charming people into doing business with House Alcyone.” I took a deep breath to recover from my mirth and gestured for Rose to follow me up a wide path that led to a smallish house on a hill. “We're almost to my house.”

“It's that building up on the hill?”

“Yes. It doesn't meet with your expectations?”

“Not really, no.” Rose's expression was pensive. “Your mom's the head of your family, right? Why does she live in this tiny little cottage on the edge of the manor grounds?”

“Head in name only,” I said under my breath, but declined to explain further. It wasn't something I wanted to talk about out in the open. Rose didn't press the issue, and the two of us walked up to the front door leading into my home.

I placed my hand against the door and felt the magic of the wards flow forward. A gentle probe slipped into my conscious mind, forming a brief link between my magic and the wards. Less than a second later, the door vanished entirely, as if it had never been.

“So that's why it didn't have hinges, or a door knob,” Rose murmured. “Like the secure rooms in the Academy.”

“I'm assuming Fiallans don't use house wards.”

“You assume correctly,” Rose answered. “There's so much magic here it's almost… stifling, compared to back home.”

“It's that uncommon?”

She shrugged. “The Fiallan mage tradition is more… pragmatic. More subtle, less flashy. Why use magic when a machine will do the job just as well? Without draining the land of aether?” Rose paused for a moment and tucked a loose lock of white hair behind one ear.

“That's not something Solaria's ever worried about,” I admitted.

“I'm aware.”

There was something in Rose's voice that I couldn't quite place. It wasn't disapproval exactly, but it was close. I beckoned for Rose to follow. “Come on. Mother's likely in the garden behind the house. We should announce ourselves.”

The atrium gave way to a wide parlor containing comfortable furnishings and a small cabinet filled with various types of liquor. An enchanted hearth was situated in the center of the room, and it pulsed waves of soothing warmth throughout the house. I smiled as the little prominence of fire mana flared and grew a touch brighter as Rose passed by.

I stopped beside the door leading out to the veranda—this one was just an ordinary door set on oiled steel hinges—and pushed it open. Warm, humid air, filled with sweet floral scents, rushed into my nostrils as I took a step out onto the stone path.

Lady Juno Alcyone stood in front of a tall rosebush, her back to me. She seemed to be lost in thought, focused entirely on the task of pruning her beloved flowers. As I came closer, my mother snipped away at a few small bits of the plant before turning around.

“Hello, Mother.”

“Lily!”

A glad cry escaped her lips and she dashed toward me, her pruning tool clattering to the stones beneath her feet. She rushed forward and embraced me, lifting me off the ground in her strong arms as she clutched tightly.

“I missed you so much!” Mother gushed, after nearly squeezing the life from me. “Without the music of your voice filling the house, I've felt very lonely.”

I sniffled and wiped at the moisture gathering in my eyes. “I missed you, too, Mama.”

My mother set me down and turned to regard Rose. “And you must be Rose. Lily's told me so much about you. I can't tell you how glad I am to know that my daughter has such a wonderful friend.”

“N-nice to meet you,” Rose mumbled, her cheeks flushed faintly.

“Would you two like something to drink or eat? Let us retire to the kitchen.”

I didn't bother trying to argue with her. Rose glanced at me again, another odd look on her face, and I knew what she was thinking. Why hadn't my mother simply instructed a servant to prepare a meal and bring it out to us in the garden?

My mother continued to chatter brightly, flinging question after innocuous question about my life at the Academy, what I'd learned and how my studies were going. I twitched my fingers to signal Rose to wait, and dutifully replied to Mother's small talk with as much feigned enthusiasm as I could muster.

The three of us walked through the parlor and down a short corridor leading to the house's modest kitchen. It was large enough for two to work in comfortably, but certainly did not resemble what one might expect to find in the head of a highborn family's home. I gestured for Rose to enter ahead of me, and then shut the door behind us.

“It's safe to talk in here,” Mother said. “I've placed a strong ward over the kitchen that blocks most types of seeking spells.” Her voice subtly changed; no longer did she sound bright and cheerful, affecting a happiness that she didn't really feel. I could hear the exhaustion, the depression, in her words, and it tugged at my heart.

Rose stared at both of us blankly.

“What in the Yawning Hells is going on?”

I glanced at Rose and then back at Mother. “Do you—”

“I'll handle it,” the Alcyone matriarch interrupted. She opened a bottle sitting on the countertop nearby and poured a rather indecent amount of wine into a fluted glass. I didn't flinch, but Rose was clearly shocked to see my mother down half of the potent ruby-colored libation in one gulp. “How much has Lily told you about House Alcyone's troubles?”

“Not a whole lot, but I'm guessing you're about to fill me in on the rest,” Rose observed.

“An accurate assessment.” My mother drained the remainder of her glass before pouring a fresh one. “Would you like some wine?”

“I don't suppose you have any beer?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” she replied. My mother walked over to the large refrigerator and opened it, drawing out a dark bottle. It was printed with Avindran characters, but I found that I couldn't make any sense of the words themselves. Apparently Rose could, however, and her eyes lit up eagerly at the sight.

“Is that—”

“Kasi Fiallan bitter red ale,” my mother confirmed. She handed the bottle to Rose, who eagerly popped the cap against the edge of the stone countertop. A sharp smell, redolent of hops, rose from the open container, and Rose took a healthy swig.

“I feel a little less off-balance now. Thanks.”

My mother handed me a glass of the same ruby wine she was drinking, and I accepted without comment. Unlike her, though, I chose to sip at the strong drink slowly. Alcohol tended to get to me rather quickly, thanks to my small stature and light weight.

“The other lords and ladies are attempting to oust me as the head of House Alcyone,” my mother said without preamble. “They hold me responsible for the scandal that brought about Alcyone's fall from the Imperial Court's favor, and I'm sure you can guess why.”

“Lily,” Rose acknowledged in a grim tone.

“And her other parent, yes.”

“She told me that… that the rumors were you were taken without consent.” I could feel Rose's gaze on me, the look charged with worry and dread. “But then people found out that it was a lie, that you freely and willingly fell in love with one of the fey. And, um, that it got worse after Lily was born.”

Mother clucked her tongue in mild irritation. “Yes, Lord Cyrus was convinced that none of them could possibly believe that a highborn Solarian would ever fall in love, much less share passion, with one of the miinari. All sorts of ridiculous theories were tossed around—that I had been charmed by the fairy's dark magicks, that I'd been violently ravished against my will.”

“Sounds like bullshit to me,” Rose observed.

“Entirely.” My mother's tone soured and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. “The lords and ladies of Alcyone did their best to spread these rumors far and wide among our peers, to 'minimize the damage done to our House's reputation.' They were trying to buy time, to force me to terminate the pregnancy, but I refused. The truth came out shortly thereafter. House Alcyone have been working feverishly to replace me as Head of House.”

“What happened to your—um, other parent?”

Mother glanced at me, and then back at Rose.

“She was…” My mother trailed off, her expression becoming wistful. I knew she was looking back upon bittersweet memories. Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes, and moved closer to her, taking her free hand in my own.

“Thank you, Lily. The memories are… difficult to reflect upon.”

No one spoke for a long moment. This was all news to me, as well, for Mother had never told me much at all about my fey parent. I knew why this was so, for I was a child, too young to understand how the circumstances of my conception could be so dangerous. I was older now, but what was more surprising was how much Mother seemed to trust Rose, whom she barely knew. I suspected that it had to do with the fact that, other than her, I had no allies within House Alcyone, and if Mother were to lose her position…

A part of me suspected this had been her intent in sending me to the Academy, to get me away from the lords and ladies of Alcyone, to a place outside the sphere of the nobility, where I could make friends and find allies.

“So what happened to Lily's other mom, then?” Rose asked again.

My mother poured another glass of wine. This time she drained the entire vessel at once before she answered.

“My love, Eiri, was murdered.”

I stared at her incredulously.

“Why didn't you ever tell me this?”

“I needed to protect you. I know you would try to find out more, try to gather as much data as you could and analyze it. You would have tried to find her killer, and in doing so, you would have uncovered secrets House Alcyone wishes to remain hidden.”

“You don't think I still won't do that?” I felt my brows angle downward into a deep scowl as I regarded my mother. I'd never known my other parent, never even met her, but even so, Mother's intentional omission felt like a betrayal.

“I'm telling you now because it no longer matters.”

A cold chill crept up my spine. “Oh, no.”

“What are you two talking about?” Rose demanded. I turned to her and opened my mouth to respond, but Mother was quicker.

“My uncle, who always coveted the position of Head, has managed to gather enough supporters among the family to challenge my title. As the woman whose perverse dalliance tarnished the Alcyone name, I have few allies within the family. None are willing to jeopardize their own position by defending mine.”

“Seven Holy Stars,” I swore.

“Yes, that is an appropriate reaction.” Mother sighed and poured herself yet another glass of wine, her fourth one so far. She'd always been able to drink any two Alcyone men under the table, but I could tell that the stress was starting to wear her away. “I sent you away to the Academy so you wouldn't have to witness this, so you would be safely out of reach of my scheming uncle—”

“And so I could gather allies of my own?” I interjected.

Mother laughed, but it was not a happy sound. “You always were smarter than me. When you wrote to me about Rose, I was overjoyed. It will be very difficult, if not impossible, for House Alcyone to make any moves against a wealthy Fiallan citizen, and…”

Rose blinked. “So what will happen to you, then, Lady Alcyone?”

“It doesn't matter what happens to me, as long as Lily is safe. I can read your heart, Rose Merope, and I know that your love for my daughter is strong and true—”

“Of course it matters what happens to you!” I cried, cutting her off. My eyes stung and watered, but no tears would fall. I glared at my mother furiously. “I love you, Mama! I don't want anything bad to happen to you! I'll protect you!”

“I know you would, dear, but this isn't a battle you can fight. If you were to stand against Cyrus now, he would crush you. You wouldn't survive.” Mother paused for a moment to gulp down more wine and coughed, then cleared her throat. “As my beloved didn't survive.”

A peculiar coldness seemed to settle over my body.

“He killed her? Can you prove it?”

“Not directly, and it would not matter if I could,” Mother growled. “No magistrate in the Empire would even entertain condemning a highborn Solarian for killing one of the fey. All would take his lies at face value, though I doubt it would be any different if he told the unvarnished truth.”

The icy sensation continued to build within me, and I felt as if it would not stop until it had completely engulfed my entire being. My mother was gazing at me, worry evident in her expression, and so was Rose. I felt numb and clumsy as I was filled with that cold, dark sensation. A part of my mind recognized the soul-freezing chill and I knew what was about to happen, but that knowledge could do nothing to stop it.

Violet-black lightning tore at the fabric of reality as the sword of dark magic returned to the material world. I felt the weight of the miinari blade in my hand. Cold fury welled up from within the relic and poured into me—or perhaps the warmth was drawn out of me. I couldn't tell as I was gripped with icy shadow, suffusing my heart and encasing my soul in dark armor.

I knew, at that moment, that I did have the power to right this wrong, to exact retribution for the death of my miinari parent, to visit terrible death upon those who plotted against Mother. Without knowing how I knew, I intuitively understood that I would be capable of laying waste to any who opposed me, any who dared hurt the people I loved—

“Seven Holy Stars!” Mother exclaimed, falling back a step. “Rose! Pin her arms behind her back, but don't let that sword touch you!”

Rose hooker her arms beneath mine and pulled backward with all of her strength, levering my backside against her hip to lift my feet off the ground. Warmth from Rose's presence rushed into my heart, pushing against the soul-freezing desire for bloody vengeance.

The sword's magic seemed confused. It had eagerly responded to my wrath, granting me the immediate power of very direct redress, but now it was… unsure. It responded as if it were being given two logically contradictory commands. The burst of emotion that issued forth was filled with conflict and frustration, buried beneath a chaotic torrent of “sound” that was not any sound one could hear with their ears.

“Lily, please put it away. Please.”

I could scarcely make out Rose's voice over the garbled psychic noise. The part of me that was still rational screamed within my own mind, demanding the sword to withdraw. My body, still not entirely under my own control, struggled fiercely against Rose's iron grip, but she would not budge, would not let go of me.

Releasing an indignant spark of dark energy in protest, the sword finally obeyed my commands and vanished. The unintelligible noise in my mind was gone, disappearing at the same moment as the relic itself. With the miinari blade gone, that awful and cold feeling of emptiness returned, stronger than before.

“Hold her so she doesn't fall,” I heard Mother say, just as my vision started to go black.

Chapter 11
Eternal Shadow

Though I couldn't see anything, I heard Rose's voice.

“I think she's waking up.”

My eyelids felt incomparably heavy, as if the flesh had been replaced with solid lead. I fought to regain conscious awareness of the world around me, managing to pry my eyes open through sheer force of will.

I was no longer in the kitchen, but instead in my mother's workshop beneath the house. The presence of strong warding magic hummed faintly at the edge of my senses. I struggled to sit up, finding that while I felt a little weakened, my muscles would obey my commands. My vision swam slightly, but the brief episode of nausea passed.

“You nearly scared the life from me,” Mother said.

“W-what happened?”

“The sword, Lily.” My mother sat down in a rolling work chair nearby, handing me a glass phial filled with what looked like faintly-glowing water. “Drink. The sword depleted your body's aether enough to cause long-term damage.”

I nodded and downed the contents in a single gulp. It didn't taste like much of anything—in fact, it was actually just water that Mother infused with mana. The liquid itself washed the taint of bile from my tongue and my mother's magic absorbed even more rapidly into my body. The strange sensation of emptiness on the verge of collapse started to subside.

When I was finished, I set the phial down. “How long was I out?”

“Two days,” Rose replied. “Your mom and I have been trying to wake you, but nothing worked until today.”

“What?” I gawked at her. “I’ve been asleep for two days?”

Mother ignored my astonished outburst and instead lay a hand on one of mine. “Rose told me how you managed to acquire the relic. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have imagined. How could such a thing sit in a swordsmith's display case for so long and go unnoticed the whole time?”

“It looked like an ordinary sword until after Lily's presence woke its power,” Rose said. “I don't think anyone recognized it as anything other than just a weapon taken from the corpse of a slain dark fairy. And even then, the swordsmith's apprentice didn't seem to notice anything unusual about it.”

“He was magic-dead, though,” I reminded her. “You could sense the magic on it, right?”

“Yeah.” Rose's lips bent into a pensive frown. “What in the Yawning Hells is it, though? I mean, other than being made by the miinari and being obviously filled with necromancy.”

“You know I spent hours in the library trying to find out.” Frustration bunched the muscles of my jaw. “Nothing in the Academy's archives ever even mentioned something like this.”

“With good reason, I should think,” Mother said. “It's a miinari spirit blade.”

Both Rose and I gave her identical blank stares.

“How do you know what it is?” I asked.

“Because I've seen it before, many years ago, before Lily was born.”

Rose's head tilted curiously. “You've seen one?”

“Not 'one' of them, but this blade in particular.” My mother's shoulders shivered violently, even though it was far from cold in the pleasantly-cozy workshop. “The reason that it called out to you, Lily, was because it recognized you. Not because you have miinari heritage, but because you have specific miinari heritage.”

I found that I couldn't speak, couldn't respond to what she was saying.

“So they're… family heirlooms?” Rose guessed.

“Much more than that. Spirit blades are a physical manifestation of the magic that binds miinari parents and their children. They aren't ceremonial, but functional and very powerful tools of a peculiar sort of magic unique to the fey.” My mother turned to regard me, her expression a bittersweet mixture of sadness and joy. “This one belonged to Eiri. Now it is yours, Lily. It seems that your fate is to be entwined with her legacy rather than my own.”

“It's… then it's come home,” I murmured.

“Yes.” There was concern in Mother’s eyes, but also relief. “It has.”

We shared the next few moments in silence. I had never known who my other parent was, never known half of my heritage. I only knew hate and fear from House Alcyone, from other humans in the Empire who hated and feared the dark fairies, whose faith in the Celestial One demanded that they hate and fear the dark fairies.

“But why did a random swordsmith’s shop in Naara have your other mom's sword?” Rose asked, breaking both myself and my mother out of our ruminations.

“When they had Eiri killed, they must've sold it off. They probably didn't understand what it was, either, and just wanted to get rid of any evidence.” I laughed bitterly as the pieces began to slot into place, and I realized just how bleak the situation truly was. “We're going to have to leave House Alcyone now, aren't we, Mother?”

“I'm afraid so,” she replied. “I know you wanted to visit with me, but you have the relic. It's not safe for you here any longer. If Lord Cyrus finds out Eiri's spirit blade woke your Aspect, the manor grounds will soon be thick with IPSB agents.”

“She didn't steal it, though,” Rose objected. “I bought it for her, and it wasn't cheap, either.”

I shook my head. “It's not the relic that's the problem, but my true Aspect.”

“But you're a water mage… just, um, kind of a bad one. You're terrible at channeling elemental mana—” Rose broke off in mid-sentence, and realization dawned upon her face. “Oh. Oh. That… makes a lot of sense, actually.”

“All who worship the Celestial One abhor necromancy, but did you ever wonder what happened when someone tested as having an affinity for the Forbidden Aspect?” I let out a slow, ragged breath. “The lucky ones are those like us, who were born with more than one path to walk. Your connection to fire was stronger and so it was natural that you'd take that road.”

Rose said nothing.

“In Solaria, children who have been found to possess a weak affinity for dark magic undergo a ritual in which they have their powers taken from them,” Mother added, and she gazed upon me with eyes filled with an old pain that I didn't quite recognize. “Those with stronger affinities, strong enough to evolve into an Aspect, are… purged, for the safety of the Empire. Their official records are altered and their passing counted as childhood illnesses.”

My mother forced an unpleasant smile as she continued. “I know you're afraid, Lily, for me and for yourself, but you need to distance yourself from this. Your appointment to the Academy has been secured through my connections in the Imperial Court. No matter what becomes of me, your future is guaranteed. But if you stay here…” She trailed off and let out a sad sigh. “If IPSB discovers the color of your magic, you'll be executed.”

That cold fury blossomed in my heart once again. “Not if I kill them first.”

“Eiri's legacy seeks to manifest your desires, but you should take care. If you give in to the desire for vengeance, no matter how justified it may be, you will become an enemy of the state.” Mother pushed a lock of her hair behind one ear and leaned forward, kissing my cheek. “You are a child still, my little red lily. If you stand, Cyrus will ensure your end and mine. IPSB will hunt you down relentlessly, and the more you slay the more they will throw against you. Eiri's blade is powerful, but not that powerful, nor do you yet understand how to wield it properly.”

“But I—”

“Lily, I am not defenseless. Recall that the name of Juno Alcyone was once counted among the most respected, most promising master mages by the Imperial Court.” Mother held a fingertip to my lips, silencing my inevitable objections. “I've accepted the loss of standing, the imminent loss of my title and influence. Cyrus has already taken everything from me—except you, little red lily. I need you to be safely out of his reach.”

I sniffled and wiped at my eyes. “Will I ever see you again?”

“Of course you will. I have no intention of dying, though I doubt that Cyrus will be satisfied if I merely step down.” A flinty hardness entered my mother's eyes, and the azure manashard upon her forehead flared. “Trust me, Lily. I will not be so easily overcome. You might hear terrible things about me, but you shouldn't dwell on them. Cyrus and the lords and ladies of Alcyone are desperate to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Empress Altair and the Imperial Court. Don't underestimate what that means to them… and to us.”

I slid off the workshop cot and stood so that I was just above Mother's eye level. Rose was beside me, and she placed warm hands upon mine.

“We'll leave soon. I've already wasted two days being unconscious,” I said, nearly choking on the words. My voice was ragged and weary, as if I'd run for kilometers without end. “I'll miss you so much, Mama. I love you.”

My mother's sad smile returned.

“I love you, too, little red lily.”

*

“I was not expecting that.”

I glanced at Rose. Her features were illuminated by the moonlight, lending her hair an ethereal, silvery sheen. “Neither was I. I had no idea it had gotten so bad, that things were even remotely close to this. Mother downplayed everything.”

“So you wouldn't be distracted from your studies,” Rose reasoned. “So you would be happy.”

“I know, but I'm definitely not happy now!”

Rose gave me a stern glare. “Trust your mom. She's obviously someone to be reckoned with, capable of taking care of herself. I could sense the power of her magic. Any two masters of the Academy wouldn't last a minute in a fight against her.”

I knew it was true, but I was still afraid. Decades ago, before I was born, Juno Alcyone had been on the Empress's short list for the position of Grand Mage of Solaria. Her place in the running shocked everyone and brought House Alcyone to the attention of the highest families in the land. For the past three hundred years, every Grand Mage was a master astromancer, chosen from the ranks of the Celestial Acolytes. That my mother, a water mage, would have been considered over ranking members of the Church, ensured that Alcyone was a new star rising fast beyond families that spent decades, even centuries, courting the ruling House Altair's favor. With Juno poised to accept the duties of Grand Mage, House Alcyone could have very well found itself within a few generations' striking distance of the throne itself.

I told Rose all of this as we made our way through the woods. It would be impossible to use the Gate near the Alcyone manor without being noticed. Mother wanted us to slip out under the cover of darkness, to put as much distance between us and my childhood home as we possibly could before my great-uncle discovered we’d already departed.

We'd been traveling for three hours before we came upon a small clearing in the dense forests that surrounded the village-turned-manor. Despite having been unconscious for two days, I felt utterly exhausted. The ill-fated summoning of Eiri's blade affected my magic badly enough to stress my body beyond its limits.

“You think we're far enough away to stop?” Rose asked. I could tell she was relatively well-rested, having had plenty of time to sleep, but her concern for me was obvious.

“I don't know,” I mumbled, my voice slurring slightly, “but I'm so tired I can barely walk in a straight line. We… we should rest, at least for a little while.”

“Shouldn't we use that gem Juno gave us before we do that?”

I shook my head. “We're not far enough away. Alcyone mages will sense the magic, my mother's magic, and Cyrus will know something isn't right.”

“All right, we'll stop for a bit. I'll keep watch while you rest.”

I stifled a yawn. “Wake me if anything happens.”

“Of course.”

We had no real supplies for a long journey through the forest, because Mother had given us a charm that would teleport us back to Naara. From there, we would board an airship that would take us to Fialla, where I would be safe from the internal strife within House Alcyone. While I wished we could have made use of the Gates, Rose assured me that we'd be able to catch a ride on one of her family's fast merchant vessels.

I nestled in against the trunk of a large tree, cushioned by the moss that grew upon it. I closed my eyes and attempted to slow my breathing, but sleep proved elusive. I was too filled with worry for Mother, even though Rose was entirely correct in her assessment of Juno Alcyone's power.

As my eyes finally started to droop, inviting the restful embrace of sleep, I felt something.

“Lily?”

Sluggishly, I got to my feet. I was so tired, but Rose was tense, wary. Her eyes darted around the clearing, and she nodded to me wordlessly. I stood by her side, shaking off the lethargy I attempted to bring forth mere moments ago.

“Are they—?”

“Yes. I can feel my family's magic. They're… searching, but not for anyone in particular. Perhaps 'patrolling' would be a better description.” My brow furrowed as I concentrated on my sense of the mages that made their way through the forest. “I think they're checking the perimeter of the manor, looking for intruders or spies or seeking spells.”

“Should we make a run for it?”

I hesitated, but then shook my head. “They're too close. Mother's spell would take us, but then they would know what happened and where we went.”

“They would try to move against you there?” Rose's expression was dubious. “After the break, we'll be back at the Academy, and your family will be able to find you easily. It's not like they're going to be in the dark about your whereabouts.”

“It would be difficult for my great-uncle to move against me at the Academy, and as long as I avoid my family's holdings and… do as Mother told me, he should not bother with me. He never much cared before.” I grimaced and tilted my hair, listening hard for the sound of the patrol's approach. I couldn't hear anything yet, but the pulse of their magic was coming closer. They were indeed headed for this clearing.

“What are we going to do, then?”

I looked up at Rose. “We can't outrun them, and I don't think I can hide us from them. We don't have any other choice.”

“You mean… fight them?”

I didn't respond to that immediately. While taking out the patrol would be the simplest and most direct way of dealing with them, the loss of personnel would put my family on their guard. We would have even less time to escape before House Alcyone mobilized even more forces and sent them out into the woods.

“We need to… to make it look like something else. Incapacitate them, take them down without hurting them. I can—I should be able to alter their memories. With a little care, we can set them up to look like they stopped for a rest and a drink to ward off the chill…”

“And maybe overindulged a little,” Rose finished for me. The troubled expression was gone from her face, replaced with a wicked little urchin's grin. “Devious, clever and highly amusing. Oh, how I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they receive that dressing-down.”

Chapter 12
The Mist

Several minutes later, I crouched behind the same tree trunk I attempted to fall asleep against, trying to keep myself as hidden as I could while maintaining the shroud of misdirection over the both of us. This late in the evening, with the shadows long and the moon dim, it would be very difficult for the patrol to spot us.

It was far more important to make my power very small, to draw it inward and keep the magic locked away tightly within my soul. It was difficult, because I had little experience with this newly-awakened power. If even so much as a mote of dark mana escaped my grasp, the patrol would alert House Alcyone and a full contingent of House Guard would descend upon this spot.

Of course, they'd expect dark fairies or Antilight terrorists, not the half-breed daughter of Juno Alcyone and a student pyromancer from Fialla. Which hardly mattered, for the expected overwhelming response would seal our fates.

We had to do this just right, and fortunately, we had the tools necessary to pull it off. Mist rose from the ground, obscuring the clearing so thoroughly that I had trouble seeing what was only a meter or so in front of me. Rose's magic carefully directed heat into the sodden earth, creating a cloak of fog that would mask our ambush.

The mist wasn't solely a visual impediment. Keeping my presence as quiet as I could manage, I infused the vaporized water and steam with a sort of reflective meta-magic that I'd picked up from Ria's arcane engineering class. It would prevent magical communications from functioning properly within the clearing, reflecting the signals back inside to bounce around the fog.

This would have no effect on mundane electromagnetic signals, of course, but there were no comm towers in the area. House Alcyone had a wired connection to the network as a matter of necessity, but my family's pride in their magic invariably led them to eschew technologies used by their lessers.

With the field in place, the patrol would still be able to call for help, and surely would, but the sendings would never reach their destination. We had to take them out in the brief, minutes-long window the fog would last.

I couldn't see Rose from where I was, but I knew she waited behind another tree. We agreed that I would keep Eiri's blade hidden. Neither of us could afford to allow my inexperience to drain my power further. I held my dagger tightly, ready to strike from the shadows if I was discovered.

Rose's part of the plan was to set off a concussive blast that would knock the patrol senseless, and in order to accomplish that in a stealthy manner, I held ready to cast a spell that would shroud the clearing in magical silence. The timing was crucial; if I was too early, the patrol would be alerted to an impending ambush, but if I was too late the thunderous sound of Rose's shockwave spell would give away our position.

They were close now.

Three members of the House Guard, clothed in gray uniforms and light armor intended to block projectiles and turn aside blades, stepped out into the clearing. They had come through this area on foot, without vehicles or mounts, which seemed to perplex Rose. I'd explained to her that the forest was much too dense to ride through, and the patrols usually conjured magical conveyances when speed was necessary.

Each of the three young men were battle mages; I could feel them as well as catch sight of the glimmer of their manashards. Two were water mages, which was to be expected, and the remaining Guardsman appeared to be a wind mage. He would be the one who summoned the flying platform that carried them past the thickest parts of the forest.

None of them seemed tense, and it was clear that they had no idea they were being observed. At this distance it was simple enough to determine their relative arcane strength. All three were mages of modest skill.

I peered through the fog and strained to eavesdrop upon their conversation. As they came closer, I caught a frustrated, disgusted voice speaking.

“… this gods-cursed fog is impossible to see through. It's cold and wet and I'm cold and wet. I doubt there's anything here, Ryder.”

The wind mage snorted derisively. “It's not my fault we're out in this shit. It's orders, we take the patrol route we're given. Unless you want to explain to Lord Cyrus how you strayed from the patrol path because of a bunch of harmless fog.”

“Hells with that,” the first voice snapped back. “Can't you clear this up?”

“I'm not about to waste mana purely for your comfort, Kris. You're a man and a mage of House Alcyone, not a whimpering little girl. Stop your whining.”

“There's something odd about this mist,” a third voice floated out of the gloom, and the final mage of the patrol came forth. I recognized this one—it was one of Cyrus's grandchildren, and he took after his father's father. He even wore his hair in the same severe, militaristic crop. “I'm not entirely sure it's natural.”

“Don't put on airs just because your grandfather's going to become the next Head,” Ryder said, the Guardsman's voice sharp and chastising. “You know as well as I do that he doesn't respect a damn thing but strength. You've got a long way to go before Lord Cyrus acknowledges you, and part of that path is doing your damn job.”

“I am doing my 'damn job,'” the Alcyone youth retorted, “and I'm telling you, this fog doesn't feel like normal fog—”

There was a sharp, whistling call that sounded like a bird—but it was Rose, signaling that she was in position to strike. So closely did she mimic the call of a native forest falcon that all three of the Guardsmen relaxed, including the Alcyone.

“Hear the bird? It's fine. It's just fog. If it was a spell, they would have—”

I released the magic I'd been holding at the ready. The wind mage's words were swallowed up, even as his lips continued to move. Within the span of a few heartbeats, all three realized that they had walked right into an ambush, and magic roared through them. The ley lines sang with the flow of aether as Ryder prepared to cast whirling winds to clear the fog away.

It was too late, though.

Rose's magic thrummed, shoving tremendous heat into the water trapped beneath the ground. The subsequent detonation blasted plumes of pulverized dirt and super-heated steam into the air, setting up a series of shockwaves that parted the mist as they expanded outward.

None of the House Guard had time to react, much less defend against Rose's debilitating magic. When the dust-choked steam cleared away, I spotted two of the three mages lying on the ground, unconscious but seeming to be unharmed. I locked my gaze on the only one to weather the blast and remain conscious.

It was Cyrus's grandson, the water mage who was clearly the most skilled of the three here, even if Ryder the wind mage had been the patrol leader. With the fog no longer shrouding the clearing, displaced by Rose's incapacitating blast, the Alcyone mage found himself terribly exposed.

I came out of my hiding place and slashed at him, feeling the dagger's edge bite deeply into something invisible and intangible but resistant all the same. His barrier was still strong, even after the battering it took from Rose's spell. His eyes widened in astonished recognition as my face was limned in moonlight. The magical silence I'd laid was still in place, and prevented him from speaking, but it was clear he was much more interested in fighting than talking.

My cousin fixed me with a hate-filled glare as he advanced. Water mana burst from his right hand and instantly froze into a blade of impossibly-hard ice. The weapon he'd conjured was much longer than my dagger, and I quickly found myself set back on my heels, placed on the defensive and losing ground rapidly.

Blow after blow came and I struggled to parry and deflect as well as I could. The dagger's magic was more than up to the task of my cousin's frostbrand spell, but it wasn't strong enough to break the blade of ice, either.

I had other options, though. Out of the corner of my eye, as my cousin's strikes became harder and harder to defend against, I saw Rose creeping up behind him. I knew that if she came too much closer, my cousin would be able to fend her off with magic while also carving me up like a roast served with the evening meal.

If I would only call forth Eiri's sword…

No. The last time I'd summoned the spirit blade, I wound up unconscious for two days. I couldn't risk it. Instead, I fell back on my natural talent for meta-magic. I took another step back, and then another, intentionally giving ground to my cousin. His slashes and strikes were coming faster now as he attuned more closely with the magic of his frostbrand.

The conjured weapon lent its wielder enhanced strength and speed. He was getting more accustomed to it, and I was still exhausted. I fell back even further, feigning a stumble, and dropped to my backside. In a flash, my cousin stood over me, the icy tip of his blade mere millimeters from my throat—

Reaching out to seize the frostbrand in my psychic grip—or, rather, the water mana forming the conjured weapon—I gritted my teeth as I wrenched the magic out of alignment. Motes of blue-glowing power scattered far and wide, and the blade-like shard of ice in his hand shattered. The breaking of the enchantment was perhaps a bit overzealous, sending shards of ice peppering my face and hands. I felt a half-dozen minor cuts open up on my cheeks and neck, and a hot trickle of blood ran down my face, just past my left eye.

It worked, though. My cousin, taken aback by the abrupt loss of his weapon, tried to backpedal away from the lunging slash of my dagger. It was a feint, though; I never intended to let the knife touch his flesh, only push him back into Rose's reach. Her long, strong arms encircled my cousin's throat and squeezed, cutting off his air supply. He struggled and thrashed against her grip, but Rose was larger and taller and much stronger than he was.

Without the magic of his frostbrand granting him martial prowess, it took Rose only a few moments to send the young Alcyone into dreamland. The shroud of silence dissipated, and the howl of mountain wind through the treetops reached my ears once again.

“Well,” I said, my voice more than a little shaky, “it worked.”

“Yeah. It did.” Rose favored me with a proud smile. “We make a good team, Lily.”

“As much as I'd like to stand around congratulating ourselves on a job well done, I have to finish said job.” I walked, a touch unsteadily, over to where my cousin lay. He was groaning, and I knew it wouldn't be long before he regained consciousness. We had only a few minutes to spare. “You still have the flask Mother gave you?”

“Yeah. Can it be traced to her?”

“No, it's just a standard Alcyone flask, the same sort they would have had easy access to. Make certain you get a lot of it on their clothes, some in their mouths, too. Make it look good and sloppy.”

“Is this one flask enough to get three healthy young men that drunk?”

“It's magical,” I told her as I pressed my fingertips against my cousin's temples. There was a soft spark of violet-black, inviting a tiny sliver of the void into his memories. “The flask holds a lot more than you'd think.”

The two of us went to work, with Rose liberally splashing the brandy on each of the Guardsmen in such a way that they would positively reek of the stuff. I followed behind her, pushing a bit of the void into each of their minds in turn. If they were lucky, they would be able to remember what they ate for lunch earlier that day, but nothing after.

“Arrange them around that tree trunk,” I said in a dull, listless tone. Rose turned a worried glance upon me, and it was obvious that I was beyond exhaustion at this point. “Make it look like they sat down there on purpose.”

“You need to rest, Lily. You've used far too much, too quickly.”

“Can't. Not until we get away from here.”

Rose bit her lower lip and looked away. “I know, but you're making me worry.”

“S-sorry.”

With the extra-dimensional flask nearly emptied out, Rose set it between my cousin's awkwardly-bent legs. She strode over to me and gave me a look that suggested I was definitely not permitted to argue with what she was about to do.

“You need to sleep, but we need to leave. So I'll carry you.”

I found I was in no condition to argue, even if she hadn't turned a stern glare upon me.

*

When I awoke next, we were no longer in the forest, but on a breezy mountain trail. I stirred, and the motion I could just barely perceive halted. As my eyes worked their way back open, I was greeted by Rose's beautiful, smiling face.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

“How… how long was I…?”

“Can you stand?”

“Yes.”

Strong arms loosened their hold on me and I slid to the ground. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, and the early-morning chill sent shivers through my shoulders. I looked up at Rose, who looked remarkably bright and cheerful for someone who hadn't slept at all the night before.

“It's morning?”

“A little after six,” Rose confirmed. “You were asleep for about five hours.”

“Did you… did you seriously carry me the whole time?”

“I did. You're not very heavy.”

“But you carried me and walked all this distance—and I didn't even wake up?” I blinked, my expression likely reflecting the bewilderment I felt. “This… this is the Crone's Cane Pass, isn't it? We're already here?”

“That's what the map says.”

My jaw dropped in astonishment. “How in the Yawning Hells did you cover that distance while carrying me?”

“I told you, you aren't heavy. I've carried far more weight than that for much longer than five hours.”

Warmth spread through my cheeks. “I'm grateful for that.”

Rose affected a fox-like grin. “How grateful?”

“This grateful.”

I stretched out to my full height and onto my tiptoes, reaching up to tilt her chin down and toward me. Our lips met eagerly, desperately, and I let out an involuntary muffled moan as Rose's hand fell upon the small of my back, lifting me up into the kiss.

By the time she let me go, I gasped for breath—among other things.

“That's a nice thank-you,” Rose informed me. Her gaze lingered on my face for a moment longer before her expression became more serious and businesslike. “When can we use the recall stone?”

“If we're at Crone's Cane Pass, once we make it a few kilometers deeper into the mountains.” I felt my heart rate start to return to its normal rhythm, and I nudged my thoughts toward more immediate concerns than how lovely Rose looked with the rising sun casting gold and pink highlights on her white hair. “This place is riddled with enough aetherium ore to interfere with most forms of magical surveillance.”

“Will it interfere with Juno's magic?” Rose asked, a touch hesitantly, as if she didn't really want to know the answer.

“If it were an ordinary teleportation spell, it might, but the charm Mother gave us is a recall with only one set destination. The spell and the mana needed to power it is fully self-contained inside the crystal. It shouldn't be affected by environmental conditions.”

Rose still looked unsure about the prospect of more magical travel, but she nodded and held out a hand. I placed mine in hers and the two of us began to make our way through the narrow rocky paths of Crone's Cane Pass, side by side.

Chapter 13
Black Luminescence

We'd been walking for an hour already, and I could feel it all around us. Those strange disturbances were getting stronger and weirder. The flow of aetheric energy through the ley lines was oddly distorted in places, sluggish in spots while moving far too readily in others. We followed a path through a narrow crevasse between two enormous stones, and I marveled at the sparkling iridescent crystals visible in the rock walls.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Aetherium ore, yes,” I confirmed. “If these deposits weren't unstable, this whole mountain range would be swarming with mining companies.”

“What does 'unstable' mean, exactly?”

I shrugged. “Not what you think it does. It's not dangerous, at least no more than any other crystal of aetherium. 'Unstable' just means the radiant mana is unpredictable; you don't know what sort of element you'll get out of it, and there's no easy way to find out.”

“So a piece might yield fire mana, but another one water mana?”

“Worse than that, actually.” I gestured toward a particularly large band of aetherium visible in a deep crack in the rock wall to our right. “You might get fire mana or water mana, but you might also get both, or more besides. You could also get corrupted mana, which even a small amount will disrupt enchantments and poison spells.”

Rose looked pensive. “That doesn't seem useless to me. Isn't there a way to sift through the different types and refine it into what you want?”

“If you're willing to take the time and effort, I suppose. It'd take an awful lot of work to sort out the unstable ore. Not to mention the other reason why no one bothers with the unstable veins.” I gestured toward a particularly dully-colored vein of crystal, visible through a crack in the large boulder to our left. “The color isn't indicative of anything, and the potential for radiant dark mana isn't one most people want to risk. Would you like it if IPSB showed up at your doorstep and arrested you for illegal possession of forbidden magic?”

“Not like we need to mine aetherium for that,” she quipped.

My smile faltered and I fell into silence. It was obviously intended as a joke, but I felt a touch of fear reaching up into my heart. Rose's hand fell upon my shoulder, and I turned toward her, recognizing in her expression that she'd immediately regretted the flippant remark.

“I'm sorry, Lily. I just… was just trying to lighten the mood a bit, but I guess I failed pretty badly, didn't I?”

I sighed and did my best not to look her in the eye. “It's fine, Rose. It's just… I'm everything my people hate. I'm a half-breed. I'm descended from the dark fairies. My Aspect is considered 'evil magic' by everyone, even my own family.” I nestled in more closely against Rose's side, taking comfort from the warmth of her body and magic. I wasn't able to stop a bit of a smile when she draped her arm around my shoulders. “What am I going to do, Rose?”

“You mean what are we going to do,” Rose corrected.

My eyes widened in chagrin. “Y-yeah. I'm sorry you've become tangled up in this. I promised you that I wouldn't let you get caught up in highborn family nonsense and the politics of the Empire and I spectacularly failed at that.”

“No, you kept that promise brilliantly,” Rose assured me with a soft smile. “You did all you could for me. This isn't your fault.”

I blinked the stubborn moisture out of my eyes. “It is true that dark Aspects are tolerated in Fialla, isn't it?”

“Yes, but not for the reason you might think. Fialla isn't a country ruled by mages, but by elected representatives of the people. Our ley lines are weaker and harder to access than in this country, so policy doesn't follow the whims of magic-users. Magic is uncommon and largely absent from the day-to-day lives of most Fiallans.”

“I see.”

“Trust me. You don't have a thing to worry about,” Rose stressed, obviously not convinced that I really believed her. “The average citizen back home isn't going to know one type of magic from the next, and wouldn't care even if he did.” She paused for a moment before a sly smirk passed over her face. “Unless you made his dick rot off or something, I suppose.”

I couldn't help but giggle at her crude joke. “I'll keep that in mind.”

“How much farther do you think we have to go?”

“I'm not sure, but I'd feel better if we could keep heading down the pass for a bit. I'm already starting to have trouble sensing other sources of magic outside of my body.”

“I know what you mean. It's like there's some kind of impenetrable haze that's constricting my senses inward. I think we should be vigilant, just in case someone tries to—”

A gunshot rang out, deafening in the narrow rock passage, and I nearly jumped out of my own boots. The bullet struck the rock less than a meter from my head, splattering the ground with shards of pulverized rock.

“—ambush us,” Rose muttered, letting out a deep sigh.

“Stay where you are,” a rough voice called out. “Drop any weapons you might be carrying.”

I glanced at Rose and saw the affirmative gleam in her eyes. Whoever was holding us up would have no way of detecting Eiri's spirit blade, safely stored in an extra-dimensional space. Not to mention the fact that Rose used no weapons and needed none, either.

“Okay, I'm putting it down,” I replied.

I unhooked the sheath from my belt and dropped my dagger to the dusty rock of the path. The moment the weapon hit the ground, three figures surged out of cracks in the stone that I'd completely missed. Each one of our assailants was armed with a battered and much-repaired automatic rifle, which surprised me more than a little.

Firearms were rare weapons in a nation where even those of modest talent could forge a barrier impenetrable to bullets. Solaria had so many magic-users, and such readily-accessible ley lines that any bandit would find even a casual dabbler a difficult target indeed. Judging by their arms and the type of clothing they wore, I guessed that these bandits were from the Coalition to the north, but something told me that wasn't quite right. There was something unusual about these people and I couldn't quite place it.

The man who'd spoken came forward, letting his rifle hang on its sling as he collected our daggers. His two companions kept their weapons trained on us, but they seemed oddly anxious, as if they knew that the weapons pointed at us were an empty threat.

“You're traveling the pass with only a knife?” The alleged bandit's voice was scornful and disbelieving. “When I said drop your weapons I meant all of them.”

“We're mages,” I said. “We don't need to carry an arsenal with us.”

I expected an angry response, and the man swung the buttstock of his rifle toward my gut, but I took a casual step backwards, avoiding the blow easily. Rose's scowl transformed into an expression of molten fury. Her hand came out, snatching the rifle up and yanking hard on the weapon still secured to the man's shoulder.

He yelped in surprise and then wheezed as Rose's knee drove upward into his groin. The man stumbled, nearly falling to the ground, and glared at the both of us with hate-filled eyes. I noticed, however, that his companions didn't even flinch, nor did they move their fingers closer to the triggers of their rifles.

“You're going to pay for that—”

“No, they aren't,” a new voice, lilting and soft and seemingly formed of smoke and honey, came from behind. “Stand down. This is no way to greet our honored guests, after all. I'll handle it from here. Go take a break, William.”

The one Rose had nearly incapacitated made a strangled sound of agreement and turned to march away, vanishing into the rocks as if he'd never even been there.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

“Who I am, Lily Alcyone, is not as important as who—and what—you are.” The woman, closer to my mother's age than mine, offered a grim smile. “Yes, I know who you are, and the Fiallan, Rose Merope, who travels with you. Come with me, and you'll learn more.”

“I haven't heard a good reason why we should,” Rose growled.

The woman seemed unperturbed. “Well, if you don't come voluntarily, we'll have little choice but to convince you otherwise.” She held out a hand. Roiling violet-black arcs of arcane energies crackled to life. The sudden surge of dark mana from within her was so intense that I shrank back involuntarily.

She possessed a dark Aspect, and a powerful one at that. I could tell just by standing near her that her capacity for magic was at least as great as mine, perhaps even greater, but her practical ability was vastly more than my own. It was hard to tell how old she was at a glance, but the ease at which she manipulated her magic spoke of decades of experience.

“Seven Holy Stars,” I swore under my breath.

The woman chuckled softly.

“I would advise you accept my invitation, child. Trust me when I say you will not regret it.”

*

We were blindfolded and led into the mountains. I could feel the heat of Rose's anger, both from her shallow breath and the magic within her. Neither of us had much of a choice at this point, however, with three high-powered rifles at our back. Not to mention the mage who wielded magic I definitely didn't want to try my luck against. This woman would have had to spend years, decades even, training and learning and honing her craft. It was obvious she was a force to be reckoned with, capable of evading any and all scrutiny from the Academy, the Imperial Court and the Imperial Public Safety Bureau.

I understood why she'd been in these mountains. The presence of so much unstable aetherium ore made detection spells nearly worthless, permitting her to make use of her power without fear of discovery. It was the same reason Rose and I attempted to travel down Crone's Cane Pass in the first place, to use the aetherium's properties to prevent the lords and ladies of Alcyone from detecting Mother's recall spell.

We traveled for what seemed like hours, but I suspected it was less than that. From behind the blindfold, I couldn't see, and surrounded by all of this aetherium, I couldn't sense, but I could still hear and, more importantly, smell. A rusty iron gate ground its way ponderously open, and a rush of scents flooded out. Sweat, bodies. Oil and steel. Gunpowder. Dried flower petals and incense. A faint and spicy scent of goat meat stewed in rich gravy.

“Move,” the mage commanded.

I started to walk forward, still unable to see, but the scent of acrid sweat was intensifying. I'd always found the musky stink of human men to be unbearable, and here I was in an enclosed space occupied by at least a dozen, probably more. None of them had bathed recently.

The mysterious mage smelled clean, of soap and fragrant floral perfume, seeming wholly out of place amidst the rough, grimy surroundings. If I'd met her on the streets of the Holy Spire, I would have dismissed her as yet another highborn Solarian lady.

I was starting to understand.

As we were led deeper into the “bandit” hideout—though I did not believe they were bandits, at least not in the usual sense—the smells became stronger and more pronounced. After less than a few minutes, we were pulled to a halt by the callused hands of our escorts.

“Leave us.”

Three sets of heavy boots rhythmically struck the stone as the guards turned and marched off. I strained to track their footfalls, but found it impossible after only a few seconds. The tunnels must've had muffling enchantments laid down into the rock.

“This is far enough.”

I heard fingers snapping and there was a whisper of black fabric across my face. The blindfold drew itself away from my eyes and combined with the one Rose had been made to wear. Dark energies seethed within the cloth and it appeared to melt into shadow before reabsorbing itself into the mage's black, gown-like robe.

“Who are you?” I asked again.

“I am called Willow, a lady of House Corvus.” Her grin seemed to widen at our recognition of the name. I imagined the look on Rose's face was identical to my own. “I believe the two of you are acquainted with my niece.”

“Our mentor at the Academy,” Rose said, looking dazed.

“Erika is a sweet girl. I'm happy that she was able to help the two of you avoid expulsion despite the fact that every master in the tower would dearly love to see you back to your homeland—” Willow jabbed a long-nailed finger at Rose, then at me, “—and you to vanish forever.”

I stared at her. “But how… how do you… what in the Yawning Hells is going on?!”

“Very well.” Willow shrugged. “You have questions. Ask them.”

“I think the most important one should come first. Why did you bring us here?”

“Ah, yes, the most important question. This fortress, hidden deep within the Crone's Cane, is the home of a cell of the Antilight. I am its leader.”

“You're a terrorist?” I gasped.

“I am a necromancer,” Willow corrected, her tone more amused than angry. “The Holy Solarian Empire would call me a terrorist and worse things besides. However, I can't entirely argue with the description. The Antilight stands in opposition to the restrictive and unjust laws imposed upon us by the Celestial Prophecy. We fight for the fundamental rights of necromancers to live and to practice their craft, unimpeded by the silly superstitious nonsense of a state-sponsored cult that worships a dead god.”

Rose arched a white eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“As I'm sure you've learned at the Academy, the gods have been dead or gone for longer than the Empire has existed,” Willow replied, her tone still light. “They passed from this universe into the next after the great divine war known as the Sundering. It was their deaths or departures that unshackled the wills of all People, human and fey alike, and brought about a world where People make their own way. We are no longer pawns placed upon a divine chess board.”

“Yet we remain pawns placed upon the board by mortals,” I observed.

“Indeed. This is why Antilight exists—to remind all People that the gods are gone. Those who claim to speak for them are charlatans and liars, leveraging superstition and fear in a mad quest to eradicate those whose power unnerves them.”

I glanced at Rose, and the look in her eyes was telling. She was skeptical, as I should have been as well, but what Willow Corvus said was intriguing. I was like her, and until now, nobody but Rose and Mother had ever pledged to support me. Here was a tremendously powerful master mage, proclaiming that everyone with dark magic should be treated fairly and definitely not stripped of their talent or put to death for existing.

Rose shook her head, almost imperceptibly, but I caught the gesture. Unfortunately, so did Willow.

“You have something to say, pyromancer?”

“Rose.”

“Very well, Rose. Speak.”

“You never answered Lily's question. Why, specifically, did you bring us to this place?”

The Corvus mage acknowledged the hit with a nod. “My source within House Alcyone reported that trouble is brewing within the family and a coup to depose the current Head is underway. I knew Juno Alcyone would have urged the two of you to leave before you could be caught up in it.”

“So you had us followed?”

“Not at first. I likely never would have found you had you not ambushed the House Guard patrol that nearly stumbled upon you. While it was unsubtle, the skill and precision of the deception was still… impressive, for mages of your limited experience.” Willow stopped and picked up a glass of the same ruby wine Mother was so fond of, and took a long sip. “Our perimeter forces detected the battle and I instructed them to keep an eye on you. When it became clear you were heading into the mountains, it was not difficult to deduce your intent. Juno Alcyone provided you with some sort of teleportation magic, and you planned to use it once the two of you were deep enough into the mountains to conceal its use.”

“So you had your people stop us in the Pass,” I reasoned.

“Yes, and I know you want to know why.” Willow narrowed her eyes at me, and I felt as if she was reading my very soul. “You have come into possession of something very dangerous, Lily Alcyone. I can feel its presence, even through the veil it was buried so deeply behind.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. How did she know?!

“How do you know what Lily has?” Rose growled.

“How I know is irrelevant, but if I know, it will only be a matter of time before others find out. The relic's bond to her will continue to strengthen, and the stronger the bond, the more obvious the changes to Lily's Aspect will become. Even if the so-called masters of the Academy never detect the artifact, they will inevitably sense the threads of shadow within her soul.”

Rose glared at the Corvus mage. “I can protect her.”

“Oh? And how would you do that, fledgling pyromancer? Your fire Aspect is a known quantity; the Empire already has your measure. IPSB would brush you aside effortlessly, as if you were nothing more than a bothersome gnat. Lily herself may prove a challenge for their agents, but she would eventually be overwhelmed.”

The implication was starting to become clear. “You're going to help us?”

“Neither of you are strong enough to weather the storm that will come if the Empire discovers your true nature.” Willow's expression was neutral and she was no longer smiling. “You've been caught within a struggle that you have no part of, and for that I am sorry. However, we must play the hand we are dealt. Perhaps we can help each other, increasing all of our chances of survival.”

Chapter 14
Forward Into Night

I sat on the edge of the bed in the small room—really, more of a hollowed-out space inside the caves that served as the Antilight cell's headquarters—and gazed at my toes. Rose sat down beside me and draped an arm over my shoulder.

“I'm so sorry,” I murmured. “This is such a mess, and I dragged you right into it. I just… I just wanted you to meet Mother. I didn't… I never even imagined that we would wind up caught up in this…” I trailed off, unable to finish the thought. I felt the warmth of Rose's breath on my ear, and she kissed my cheek.

“It's not you fault, Lily. Things just… somehow ended up this way. Everyone fucked up a little, except you. Your mom didn't tell you about the coup, it was just queer luck that we alerted Willow to our presence. If we'd known, things would have been different.”

“Y-yeah.”

“Hey, I was the one who convinced you to get the damn sword in the first place,” Rose reminded me, kissing the shell of my ear tenderly. “Not to mention buying it for you. It was my fault, too.”

“I don't regret that for even a second, and neither should you.” I looked up from my toes and into her eyes, offering a reassuring smile. “I never knew my miinari parent. I never got to speak with her, I never even saw her. She was murdered by Mother's rivals before I was even born. Reuniting with Eiri's legacy was the closest I've ever been to her. I wouldn't ever part with it.”

Neither of us wanted to voice our concerns that I might not be given a choice.

“So,” Rose muttered after a moment of silence, “here we are, right in the viper's nest.”

“You don't trust Willow,” I said.

“No, and neither should you. The Antilight have their own agenda, their own motives. They want to use us for something, that much is obvious.”

“I don't trust anyone except you and Mother,” I pointed out. “Whatever Willow wants from us, I think we can get something of equal value in exchange. She all but said as much herself.”

“That's why—well, it's one of the reasons I don't trust her. She has us in the palm of her hand, and yet she's offering to aid us as well? That doesn't follow. If she wanted to force us to fight for her, she would have little trouble. This place is filled with warriors and gods-only-know how many other 'necromancers.'”

“None,” I murmured.

“Huh?”

“Willow is the only magic-user here.”

“How can you tell with all the aetherium interfering with your senses?”

“Deductive reasoning.” I frowned, glancing away from Rose's eyes. “It'd be dangerous for them to keep more than one illegal mage in a single cell. Someone with as much power as Willow would have a hard time hiding the prominence of dark mana in her soul.” I stopped and returned to look at my toes. “It'll be that way for me, too, eventually.”

Rose leaned close enough that I could feel her breath on my neck, and she kissed it. “What do we do, then?”

I took a deep, ragged breath. “I'm guessing she'll explain it to us.”

“What?”

The door opened and Willow Corvus walked into the small room. She was dressed much more plainly now, wearing simple clothing that would serve her well through an expedition into the wilderness. The exotic robe of shadow she'd worn the previous night had given way to simple trousers and a duelist's tunic. If it hadn't been for the magic burning darkly within her, she would have been unremarkable.

“You look different,” Rose observed.

“This is how I usually dress,” Willow stated. “You managed to catch me in more formal attire this morning because I had just returned from a meeting with members of House Corvus. Rather less impressive, no?”

The Corvus mage's elaborate makeup and hairstyle was likewise gone, and the long, jeweled false nails had also been removed. Willow's black hair was pulled back into a tightly-braided bun, and she wore no jewelry save for a plain silver ring and a red stone in her right ear, both of which radiated some sort of defensive enchantment.

More telling than all of this was the holster at her waist. I'd never in my life seen a Solarian highborn lady mage carry a firearm, and the one Willow carried seemed as much a part of her as her own hand. The revolver-type pistol was obviously old and well-used; I noticed the grips had several spots where the wood had been smoothed shiny by countless hours in hand.

“Your gun,” I blurted. “I can feel… refined corrupted aetherium.”

“Very good. Your senses are strong if you're able to get an accurate read like that this deep inside the distorted field. This cell conceals a mining operation—a small one, done entirely without magic, so that the government will not detect us. We take the mined unstable aetherium and refine it into corrupted crystals.” The necromancer absently tapped the pistol on her hip. “We make blades and forge barrels that are alloyed with aetherium.”

Rose's eyebrow arched. “Anti-barrier weapons?”

“Yes, hardly enough to put a magic-dead soldier on par with a master mage, but they do lower the odds against us, just a little. Even a dabbler's barrier can deflect pistol shots. These weapons undermine the magic that sustains that barrier.”

“Why are you telling us all of this?” Rose demanded. “How do you know we won't tell anyone? Or won't be taken by IPSB and interrogated?”

“There's not much you can tell them that they don't already know. IPSB knows we have a base in the Crone's Cane, but they know not where. Nor do you, for you were blindfolded and your senses were muted as we approached. And of course they know about disrupting weapons, because it was they who invented the metallurgical processes in the first place.”

Her implication was clear. “Then the Antilight has—”

“Agents within IPSB, among other fixtures of the Imperial government,” Willow finished for me, then cast a cool glare at Rose. “Speak freely, Rose Merope. You want to know what we want of you and Lily, yes?”

“Finally,” Rose grumbled.

“You could have just asked, you know.”

Rose scowled at the Corvus mage, but I held up a hand to stop her from getting any angrier than she already was. “I'm asking now. What do you want with us?”

“The two of you are traveling to Fialla for the rest of your term break. I would ask that you make contact with the Cabal.”

I wasn't familiar with the term, but Rose clearly was. She stiffened next to me and stared at the necromancer curiously. A moment passed in uncomfortable silence before anyone spoke.

“To what end?” Rose asked. Her tone was less hostile.

“If Lily wishes to make it to your graduation ceremony alive,” Willow said, a grim look entering her dark eyes, “she need to learn how to control her Aspect and how to hide it. Her power is raw and unformed, and with Solarian law as it is, she will not learn anything of use at the Academy.”

“I do have a water affinity,” I pointed out, grimacing as I felt compelled to add, “though it's not… exactly very strong.”

Willow shook her head. “It will only be a matter of time before the masters discern the true nature of your magic.” Willow sighed and took a step closer to me, placing her hand on my head with such gentleness that I felt a tingle run up my spine. “Your water affinity may grow into an Aspect eventually, but it won't be enough. You won't be able to hide what you are.”

Rose glowered fiercely. “What are you—”

“Calm yourself, young one,” Willow cut her off, laughing. “You certainly are a territorial lioness, aren't you? I am an old and married woman who loves her husband, even if he only halfheartedly returns my affections and spends his evenings in the arms of servant girls. I have no interest in stealing your lover away from you.”

I tried not to laugh as a very dark blush appeared on Rose's cheeks.

“F-fine.”

“As your lioness can no doubt assure you, the Celestial Prophecy has no influence in Fialla.” The woman chuckled and drew her hand back away from my head. “If you hadn't been chosen as a political tool, Rose Merope, perhaps your dark affinity would have been honed into a true Aspect by the masters of the Cabal.”

There was that term again. I frowned at Willow, unwilling to let it pass this time without some sort of explanation. “What's the Cabal?”

“They're a—”

Rose held a hand up to cut her off. “All right, all right. The Shadow Cabal is a circle of… well, I suppose 'circle' might be overstating the matter. They're a nominally secret organization dedicated to the research, study and training of necromancy, funded by several of Fialla's more influential families.”

“Including Merope?”

“Primarily Merope,” Rose replied. “I had no idea they were in contact with rebels in Solaria, though. The Ministry of Magic pretends to ignore them, for they serve a useful purpose. The Cabal teaches people with dark affinities to control and hide their powers, partly so that the Holy Solarian Empire doesn't decide to declare a divine crusade against Fialla and conquer the nation 'for our own good.'”

I stared at her.

“Willow is exactly correct. If Minister Valen and I hadn't pressured my father into setting me up to show Solaria how concerned Fialla is about necromancy, I could have been sent to train with their masters, too.”

I wanted to ask her more of what led to her being used as a bargaining chip, but I could tell she was agitated at having to talk about these things with Willow present. Rose trusted me, but it was clear she did not trust Willow Corvus at all, no matter who her niece was. And no matter who she was talking to, it was beyond obvious that she was afraid of what my country would do to hers. I shivered, and cast a guilty look in her direction. The look she returned was meant to be comforting, but anxiety radiated off of Rose in waves.

Changing the subject, I fixed my attention on Willow. “So you want me to go to Fialla and learn how to use my power. Why, though? What do you get out of it? What does the Antilight get out of it? Do you mean to have us join your rebellion?”

“I'm not permitted to tell all,” Willow admitted.

“Isn't that convenient,” Rose muttered sardonically.

“The answer to your question is no, we don't wish to force you to join Antilight. You, your lost fey parent, your mother who fell in love with a miinari—all of you are the very people we risk our lives fighting to protect. You are all those that the Celestial Prophecy wishes to purge from this world, simply for being different than they.”

Rose and I exchanged looks and we both knew. What Willow was saying without words came clearly to us—that eventually, we were both fated to fight the Empire, because we would have no other choice.

*

“Are you sure you don't just want us to use what Mother gave me?”

Willow shook her head. “No, you keep that. You might need it later. I can open a temporary rift from here to a small cliffside park in Naara.” The necromancer's lips twitched in something that looked like amusement. “A localized spatial distortion still exists there, which will serve to cloak your approach from IPSB. Incidentally, it was also where the two of you inadvertently foiled one of our operations.”

I stared at her. “Wait, those men were yours?”

“Not of this cell, but another,” Willow clarified. “The woman you rescued was a lady of House Naos. Her family's Head, Lady Kleine Naos, is a Celestial Acolyte and one of the Imperial Court's most hawkish members. She continually submits proposals for aggressive military action against nations that reject the divinity of the Celestial One.”

Rose's jaw fell open. “I saved a woman whose family wants to go to war with my home?!”

“You couldn't have known, and take heart—the second team sent was successful.”

“Do I even want to know what happened?”

“I couldn't tell you even if I knew,” Willow replied. “I only know that the Naara cell got to her before IPSB.”

I didn't respond, and Rose seemed uninterested in continuing further conversation. Taking our silence as an indication that we were finished with our questions, Willow Corvus began to cast a powerful spell.

The green manashard in her forehead darkened completely, emitting no light whatsoever, and I realized that it was a cleverly-designed fake. That made sense; in order to move openly in this country, she posed as yet another Corvus aeromancer, while hiding her true talents. This was what she wanted me to learn from the Shadow Cabal.

How to pretend, in order to survive.

I moved closer to Rose and encircled an arm around her waist, holding her close. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut—her fear of travel magic hadn't appeared to wane at all, and I suspect it was stronger still when the spell in question was cast by a necromancer terrorist/revolutionary that Rose trusted not at all.

“Be a dear and distract her while I finish the casting,” Willow said to me. “She's going to hurt herself if she keeps resisting.”

I grinned and leaned up on my tiptoes. I kissed Rose, hard, and the unexpected and enthusiastic gesture of affection sent a shiver running up her spine. I squeezed my body against her as hard as I could, shoving my thigh between her legs, and felt her muscles loosen as—

A wild sensation of darkness and falling surged through me, but I ignored it and continued to focus on Rose. It lasted only a fraction of an instant before the strange disorientation passed. The cold coastal breeze, redolent with the scent of salt and sea, brushed familiarly against my body.

When I pulled away, we were in the cliffside park in Naara, standing near a bench overlooking the ocean. The same place we had confessed to each other. That afternoon felt like something from a different lifetime, not an event merely a few months in the past.

“W-wow,” Rose managed after recovering a few moments later.

“You okay?”

“I'm… fine. Better than fine, actually.” She was blushing, and a content smile curved her lips. “I don't suppose you can do that every time we use magic to travel somewhere, can you?”

I giggled. “I don't mind.”

Part III

-

New Growth

Chapter 15
Across the Blue

In Rose's opinion, traveling by air was vastly preferable to traveling via magic. In mine, though, the tables were turned. I clutched the arms of the airship's seat and wrinkled my nose at the scent of my own anxious sweat.

“We're thousands of meters above the ground,” I muttered, “in a flying contraption that could fall out of the sky at any minute.”

“Do I need to do what you did to keep you calm?”

I blinked at Rose. “Um, I don't think the other passengers would approve of that. And besides, this isn't something you can use a single kiss to distract me, since the flight will take—”

“I wasn't thinking of just a kiss,” she whispered into my ear before scraping her teeth across the lobe.

My cheeks, predictably, went hot. “The other passengers really wouldn't approve of that.”

“I know.” Rose laughed a little too loudly. “I didn't know you were afraid of heights.”

“Should have told you sooner. I'm sorry.” I tried and failed to suppress a violent shiver that ran through my entire body. “I never thought I'd have to travel on an airship before.”

“I never thought I'd have to be teleported all over the place by mages, either,” Rose countered.

I took a deep breath, trying to force myself to calm down. If I closed my eyes, I couldn't feel anything. It was barely even apparent that we were so far off the ground that even the birds would think us mad.

“Tell me how the airships work,” I managed, desperate for some kind of distraction. My eyes were still squeezed shut, but I could feel Rose's arm encircling my shoulders as she drew me in. Her hair had been let down from its usual ponytail, and I let myself sink into the soft snowy strands. “I know they were invented by your people.”

“Fiallan arcane engineering at its finest.” Rose's voice was close and quiet, but I caught the pride in her words and couldn't help but smile. “You remember when we were boarding earlier, the circular panels lining the underside of the hull?”

“Y-yeah.”

“If you reach out, you can probably sense the aetherium inside them.” I felt Rose's fingertips run through my sweat-damp hair as she continued. “They emit a magical field that lets the vessel slide through the air like a seagoing ship through the waves. The first airships used a series of narrow sails to catch the wind, but they weren't very fast thanks to the field effect interfering with the natural air currents. Newer models, like this one, have a cluster of propeller engines mounted on the stern to provide thrust.”

“Oh, I read about that.” I peeked out from behind my eyelids and saw nothing but white hair and tawny skin. I closed them again and sighed. “Your people make some foul-smelling liquid out of steppe grasses that burns and can be used to power machines.” I shivered involuntarily as Rose's lips moved to the line of my jaw. “It's still weird.”

“Not really. Your country is the only one that doesn't make use of Fialla's biggest export product to any significant degree. If we end up traveling elsewhere in the world, you'll likely always be near something that runs on it in some way or another.”

“Kanamiina doesn't, either,” I muttered.

“Well, no, but who actually wants to trade with the kanari?” Rose's expression soured. “Actually, don't answer that—half of the merchant families in Fialla would give their firstborn sons to establish trade with Kanamiina.”

I snorted. “That'd really start a war. With everybody.”

“And that's one reason why it doesn't happen. The other reason, of course, is that they'd kill any traders that came close to their territory.”

As far as I knew, nobody had made peaceful contact with the kanari since the end of the Forge War, or even managed to get close without being blasted to pieces. Solaria didn't seem to mind much, as long as the kanari stayed put and continued to occupy their creator race's ancient homeland. It suited the Celestial Prophecy's purposes perfectly for the miinari to remain scattered and hidden, too weak to resist the Church's ever-expanding power.

The airship lurched violently and my heart leaped into my throat. Rose leaned against me, holding me as best she could from the seat beside mine, and kissed the crown of my head. “Don't worry, we're just descending. The airship isn't crashing, I promise. It'll just set down in the water like an ordinary ship.”

Now it was my turn to squeeze my eyes shut, even if it didn't do anything as I'd already closed the window shade before we even took off. I could feel Rose's grip on me and her warmth, sending a soothing calm through my mind.

A few anxiety-filled minutes later, the whole vessel's superstructure jolted as the underside of the hull kissed the sea's surface. Everything trembled violently as the airship blasted through the water, losing speed as it roared toward the docks. I squeezed my eyes shut and did my best to wait until the commotion stopped. An awful screeching noise reached my ears and made me wince, but of course Rose was right there, supporting me.

The screeching sound stopped abruptly, and then, silence. A chime sounded, indicating that we could unbuckle our safety harnesses. Attendants on the flight quickly organized the passengers to file off the airship and across the wide gangplank that linked it to the dock itself. Since the two of us were closer to the middle of the vessel, it took a few minutes before it was our turn to leave.

Rose took my hand and led me down the ramp. I was still a bit shaky, but feeling considerably better to be out of the airship and on solid ground once again. By the time we made it into the port's main concourse, I was feeling reasonably hale again.

I blinked in confusion, which Rose caught.

“I told you,” she said.

The sea of people that filled the concourse, moving from place to place, seemed to be… oddly empty, as if there was some fundamental part of them missing. I stared at them, at the sheer variety of colors and faces, and realized I could see no manashards. Nor could I feel the presence of strong magic.

“There are no mages here,” I blurted, as if it was the strangest thing.

“Oh, there's probably some people out there with an undeveloped Aspect, but for the most part, you're right.”

“I can barely even sense the ley lines here.” I closed my eyes and reached down with my senses, though not literally beneath the ground, for the conduits that carried aetheric energies did not exist in physical reality. “They're so thin, and buried so deeply.”

“That's right. Will it affect your abilities?”

I shook my head. “No… the distance won't hinder me.”

“Must be nice,” Rose grunted. “Being back home is like… it was so easy at the Academy, and even in Naara or at your mom's place. Here, it takes a lot more effort.”

I must've looked worried, because Rose offered a reassuring smile.

“It won't matter. The state of the ley lines affects everyone the same way, so even if I have to work twice as hard, so does everyone else.” Except you, she didn't say. For once, my mixed heritage wasn't a curse. She kissed my forehead lightly and tapped the tip of my nose. “Don't worry so much, little red lily.”

“What did you say?”

Rose blinked. “I said it won't matter since—”

“No, I mean, what did you call me?”

“Oh.” She looked faintly alarmed. “Your mom called you 'little red lily' and it seemed to make you happy, so I thought—should I not do that? Is it something that's just between you and—mmph!”

Apparently, kissing Rose was a good way to make her stop apologizing when no apology was necessary. I drew back after lingering for just a moment, not wishing to be any more indecent than that in the middle of this very public place.

“I guess that means it's okay,” Rose managed after she recovered a moment later.

“Very okay,” I agreed.

She reached out and fluffed my red hair. “I can see where the name comes from.”

“My mother's favorite flower, lycoris radiata. The red spider lily. You recall how many of them were blooming in her garden?”

“I remember.”

“She once told me that the Easterners had their own name for it: higanbana. The blossom of death, guiding souls freed from their mortal shells into the afterlife.” I smiled despite the rather sinister symbolism. “When she found out, she was mortified, but I thought it was beautiful. It turned out to be… apt, considering what I am.”

Rose frowned. “The color of your magic doesn't determine your—”

“I know. The Church, and my people, believe otherwise, however. Death is not evil, but a natural part of life. All that lives must eventually die.” My expression became distant as I considered the words that came to mind. “Their obsessive search for immortality through magic will cause great suffering.”

“You say that like… like you know.”

I shivered. “It's already caused suffering, but I get the feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better.”

*

Despite the crush of people crammed into every corner and corridor of Fialla's largest and busiest shipping port, Rose was able to navigate through the dizzyingly complex structure and get us outside at the correct loading zone to find the car her family sent for us.

There were so many cars, as well. I'd never seen so many vehicles. So much travel in the Empire was facilitated by magic that most of the streets in cities, even those as large as Naara or as important as Solaris or the Citadel, were designed for foot traffic and public rail. Most people with even a modest magical talent could conjure a conveyance with wind mana. It was such a simple spell, and so commonly used, that it was rare to see any Solarian traveling between nearby towns without taking to the air. In Fialla, cars and other, larger vehicles, were everywhere. Unlike the occasional powered vehicle in Solaria, these all appeared to run on that smelly flammable liquid that had made this aether-poor nation wealthy beyond compare.

This country was so different. The shipping port itself was the size of a small city and sat on the edge of a gargantuan sprawling metropolis. I could see dozens upon dozens of tall buildings, spires of concrete, granite and glass that soared high into the sky. They were packed so closely together that it lent the city the appearance of a monstrous artificial forest. The smells were incredible, as well—and not necessarily in a good way. The dominant scent was that awful fuel; fortunately, it smelled of nothing after it was burned, but that didn't help to keep that sickly-sweet chemical scent from irritating my sinuses.

“It's only this strong near the port,” Rose said, apparently catching onto the fact that I was wrinkling my nose in disgust. “You're catching so much of it because we happened to land right in the middle of a half-dozen refueling cycles.”

A car pulled up to the edge of the curb we stood upon, and Rose straightened up, waving wildly at the driver to catch their attention. The car stopped its slow roll, and one of the rear doors opened automatically.

“Your family's car?” I guessed.

“Yeah, they sent one of their drivers to pick us up. Come on, get in.”

I slid into the back of the vehicle, followed by Rose. The door sealed itself after she'd settled into her seat, and the driver glanced back from his position behind the steering column. “Welcome home, Miss Rose. And welcome, too, honored guest Lily Alcyone.”

It wasn't possible to bow in the back of the car, but I remembered that Fiallans didn't bow and so I nodded to him politely. “Thank you.”

“Your father wishes to speak with you once we arrive at the manor,” the driver said to Rose.

“Of course he does. I'm supposed to be on break. Is this about business?”

“Since when is anything not business where he is concerned?”

Rose let out a snort of unamused laughter. “You get me, Devon.”

“Indeed, Miss Rose.”

The car accelerated, pushing me back into my seat. I was a little surprised at how aggressively the driver, Devon, was maneuvering his vehicle, but I suspected Rose's presence had something to do with that. The two of them appeared to be friends outside of their respective roles within the larger Merope trading organization.

As a result of Devon's enthusiastic efforts, we reached our destination in less than twenty minutes. I wasn't able to open the door to my side of the car before Devon had already opened it for me, offering a gallant gesture with a rough, callused hand. I detected more than a little irony in the formality of his movements and wondered if this was some private joke between Devon and Rose.

“I won't forgive you if you try to charm my girlfriend away from me, Devon,” Rose quipped, and yet again my cheeks grew hot. I avoided their eyes and calmly accepted the gentle teasing.

Devon laughed. “As if any woman, even one as lovely as Miss Alcyone, could draw my eyes.”

“I've seen rainbows arc straighter than you, Devon.”

“I could say the same of you, Miss Rose.”

“Don't let my father hear you say that,” Rose muttered in a bone-dry tone. “Every so often I catch him wishing against wishes and stars that I'll give him grandchildren someday.”

“Give him time. He will accept the woman his little girl has become. Perhaps Miss Alcyone's visit will accelerate this process.”

Rose shrugged. “Maybe. I hope so, anyway.”

“He will come around. After all, I've known your father for longer than you've been alive.” Devon tipped his short-brimmed hat and smiled at me. “Alas, I have much to do today, so I must take my leave. Good evening, young misses.”

Devon returned to his vehicle and drove away, this time much more sedately than when Rose and I had been his passengers. I turned to Rose and looked up at her, unsure of what to do next. Neither of us had much in the way of personal effects, save for our usual small satchels. The unexpected early departure from House Alcyone meant we hadn't the time to return to the Academy and pack. I had no changes of clothing, and only one spare pair of undergarments and an Eastern style sarashi wrap stuffed at the bottom of my bag.

Rose, of course, assured me it wouldn't be a problem.

“Come on, let's go talk to my dad and get it over with.”

“Should I be with you?” I asked.

“Absolutely. If you're with me, he wont go on for hours about Merope business garbage.” Rose smirked and snaked a hand around to squeeze my backside in such a way that pulled a soft squeak from my lips. “You don't have to say anything outside of the basic greeting. Just nestle in close to me, give me adoring looks and be as cute as possible. Dad will figure it out.”

I chose not to respond to her teasing. “Does he know I'm with you?” I asked after a moment

“Yeah, I told him, but he's not going to really 'get' it until he meets you.”

I didn't respond to that as Rose led me through the atrium of her family's manor. It was a huge, ornate structure, the kind of building that screamed wealth and luxury. While House Alcyone likely contained far more raw value in the form of rare arcane items and artifacts, House Merope just oozed the sort of obvious hallmarks of nobility that Rose had expected from Mother's home.

“How many bedrooms does this manor have?”

“I don't know, like twenty or something?” Rose shrugged. “I don't actually live here when I'm at home. I have a private apartment closer to the downtown area. We're just here to talk to Dad, who will probably try to feed us a ridiculous lunch which I'll have to talk him out of.”

I must've looked extremely relieved to hear that we would not be staying in this manor crawling with dozens of servants and Merope relatives, because Rose gave me a look that could only be described as “coquettish.”

“You thought we were going to stay here?”

“Y-yes.”

“The hells with that.” Rose chortled and jerked a thumb toward the door at the end of the corridor. “If we did that you'd never see me, Dad would be sending me all over the damn city to meet with his suppliers and permit clerks and proctors and gods-only-know who else.”

“Your father sounds very… dedicated,” I hedged.

“He's a fucking workaholic. At least he doesn't think every other Merope should be just as addicted to the job as he is.” She sighed heavily and walked up to the door, pressing the button mounted in the doorframe. “Come on, let's fend Dad off and then we can get out of here.”

Chapter 16
Acceptance

The door opened into what appeared to be a combination private parlor and office. I felt instantly uncomfortable, because the man sitting behind the desk was obviously Rose's father. He was dressed impeccably in a suit that accentuated his height, broad shoulders and wasp-waist. Though he had to be at least thrice as old as Rose, he looked far younger.

“Hi Dad,” Rose said by way of greeting.

The Merope patriarch grunted. “Is this the one you were telling me about?”

“Greetings,” I introduced myself. “I'm Lily Alcyone.”

Rose's father stood up from his desk and strode over to me. He was so tall, and I was forced to tilt my head back to look up into his eyes. I'd thought Rose to be statuesque, but her father had to have been two meters in height, if not more.

He stuck his hand out for a wrist-clasp, and I recalled the Fiallan greeting. His huge, dark hands could have wrapped around my wrist twice. My small fingers could not hope to close around his hand, but I managed, and he didn't seem to mind.

“Cassius Merope. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Alcyone.”

“L-Lily is fine,” I mumbled. “I do not have any standing among House Alcyone.”

“Not surprised they don't like you. Your family's people are a noble pain in the ass, and I mean that in the most insulting way possible. Use your imagination to fill in the blanks.”

I was too surprised to suppress my laughter.

“Dad, don't embarrass her,” Rose chided.

“I'm not embarrassing her. I'm sure she knows better than we do that the Empire is full of a bunch of racist shitbags.” Cassius Merope grinned, the same sort of worrisome expression that I'd seen on Rose's face so often, and it was even more clear how much of her father's spirit she had inherited. “You've got miinari heritage? Fuck. No wonder they treat you like shit.”

I stiffened, unsure of how to respond, and Rose started to laugh. “That is the opposite of 'not embarrassing her,' Dad.”

“That won't cause you any issue here in Fialla,” Cassius assured me, ignoring Rose's cheeky objections. “We don't let a thrice-damned Church make the laws. In this nation, the People do.”

He said nothing more, but I knew from the way he stressed the word that he was referring to all sapient beings and not simply humans. It aligned with what I knew of this country, what Rose had told me and what truth I'd picked out of the various bits of rumors and gossip I'd heard at the Academy.

“I'm gratified to hear that, Lord Merope.”

“If you don't want me to call you 'Lady,' then don't call me 'Lord,'” Cassius rumbled. “Cassius is fine, Councilor Merope if you want to be formal.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Don't call him that, either. It goes to his head.”

“O-okay—”

There was a sudden chime as Cassius's desk phone rang. He glared at it balefully and held up a hand for quiet. A button press and a handful of terse words to his receptionist later, and the interruption was dismissed.

“Sorry about that, but I'm a busy man,” the Merope patriarch said. “I can only keep the wolves at bay for so long. So you're dating my daughter, then, Lily?”

I somehow managed not to let my jaw hit the floor, instead just nodding. Cassius's face crinkled up in concentration as he regarded me critically. His gaze traveled over my body, but the examination did not feel uncomfortable in the slightest. He was gauging my stance, the way I held myself and how I reacted to his scrutiny. So I did my best to respond confidently.

“I am.”

Cassius looked pensive and remained silent in his consideration. Then he turned to look at Rose, his expression shifting subtly. “I like her.”

“Oh?” Rose arched a white eyebrow.

“She's… strong.”

“You can feel that, then?”

That time I did gasp. “Y-you're a mage?”

Cassius shook his head. “Hardly, but I've dabbled in the past. Unfortunately, I was never able to manage much beyond the simplest of spells, but I can still sense magic. Your soul burns so fiercely, it's a bit hard to miss.”

He gazed past me, back to his daughter. “You're going to have to keep her safe, Rose.”

“I know.”

“I understand you were given an invitation before you came here,” Cassius continued, his tone dropping and his words becoming more cautious. “I was informed that the arrangements were already made. All you have to do is meet with their agent. I'll cover the cost.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Rose looked as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Her relief was plain on her face. “I know Lily and I haven't been together very long… but I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her.”

I could not even begin to formulate a response to such a blatant declaration, but apparently Cassius understood his daughter's feelings, because he nodded solemnly and brushed a finger across the thick gold band he wore.

“Time doesn't always move at the same speed for everyone.”

*

Rose was uncharacteristically silent on the trip to her apartment.

“Are you okay?”

She blinked and shrugged. “More or less.”

“You don't look okay.”

There was a long pause, then a sigh. “I'm not okay. I'm scared.”

“Because of what your father said? About needing to keep me safe?”

“That, and what he didn't say,” she replied without looking at me. Rose seemed to be a natural behind the controls of her car, even more adept at sending the little vehicle careening down the busy streets of the big city than the driver Devon. “The people at the Academy, your family's people, they don't get how it works in Fialla. They think my family's low-class, that we're just money-grubbing merchants, dishonest and conniving profiteers, but the Merope family is influential. We're pretty involved in Fiallan politics.”

“I don't understand.”

“Solaria is ruled by the Empress, along with the Imperial Council, highborn Heads of Household chosen from the most noble and powerful mage families, right?”

I nodded. It was a little more complicated than that, but not by much. The Empire was technically a monarchy, but it functioned more like an oligarchy, for the Imperial Court normally held a considerable amount of influence and was granted veto power over royal decrees. The Royal Family, House Altair, was also heavily invested in the Church of the Celestial Prophecy. In recent years the Church itself had begun to assume an increasing amount of authority over the governing of the Empire.

The current state of affairs meant that Solaria's throne held much more power than it had in a very long time. Rose's abbreviated understanding was perhaps more true than she realized.

“In Fialla, our rulers are chosen by the People,” Rose continued. “Representatives are taken from every stratum of society, and they are required to serve as recompense to the nation that gave them life. It's a responsibility that everyone takes very seriously, my father included.” Her eyes remained on the road, and she canted the wheel slightly to pass a particularly slow-moving freight vehicle.

“Ah, yes. 'Councilor' Merope.” I glanced out the window at the city lights flashing past as the car sped down an elevated roadway. “I wouldn't have guessed he was a politician.”

“We don't think of them as politicians,” Rose corrected, wagging a finger at me. “It's not a career, but a civic duty. Everyone who serves on the Council does so in addition to their family's business or individual profession. My father's involvement is somewhat more… personal than most, as so many of our family serve in the Fiallan Defense Corps.”

An icy void formed in my gut. “Is he—”

“Worried about war? Yes. Always. My father is very vocal about maintaining Fialla's border defenses, because he remembers the Forge War. Seven Holy Stars, he nearly died during that awful season. He does what he can to prevent such horrors from ever reaching our lands again.”

It was obvious what Rose was alluding to.

“He's helping the rebels, isn't he?” I ventured.

“How else would he know about Willow's recommendation? It's not exactly a smoking gun—or rather, a smoking stack of invoices and correspondence, but he couldn't have known about it otherwise. I know he doesn't want to involve me in dangerous things, so he doesn't talk to me about it, but—”

“But you are involved, through your connection to me,” I mumbled. “Rose…”

“True. It's obvious the rebels are interested in you. Because we're, well, together, it means I'm a part of all of this mess, too.” Rose's tone sharpened as she continued, fixing me with a sidelong glare. “Don't you even dare tell me you're going to step back, Lily. I know you're thinking it. So don't even. Just don't. We're in this together, no matter what.”

I wasn't able to stop the tears. Rose's admonishment was forceful, but it wasn't the vehemence of her sudden outburst that made me start to cry.

“I'm so sorry,” I blurted. “I don't… why am I—”

“You drive me crazy, you adorable little pixie. I'd hug you and kiss away your tears if I wasn't driving.”

I sniffled and wiped my eyes, but didn't respond with words. No further conversation took place until Rose pulled the car into a small parking lot underneath a rather ordinary-looking apartment complex. It looked similar in design to the communal boarding houses for commoners I'd seen all across the Empire, but a fair bit nicer.

I opened the door and stepped out onto the smooth concrete of the underground garage. Rose beckoned for me to follow her into a nearby elevator. Once inside, she depressed a button that would take us to the third floor.

The elevator rose slowly and again I found myself somewhat nervous in the presence of more machines that did not depend on magic to function. I hoped that I would get used to it, as we would be spending the remainder of our term break in Fialla before returning to the Academy.

Rose led me through the corridors on the third floor to a nondescript door set adjacent to a floor-to-ceiling window at the end of the hall, overlooking the complex's small central courtyard. I watched as she tapped her multicom against a flat rectangle mounted in the door. The metallic click of a disengaging lock reached my ears.

“Come on in.”

I stepped through the threshold of Rose's apartment. The lights came on as we entered, illuminating a small but comfortable dwelling. It was a fair bit larger than the dorm room we'd shared with Erika Corvus at the Academy, and far more modern-looking. Electrical outlets studded the walls in various places, and a sleek computer terminal with multiple display monitors sat on a desk near the sliding door to the balcony.

“It's like being in another world,” I observed.

“Think of how I felt, coming to Solaria.” Rose laughed softly. “Like going halfway back in time a hundred years. The Empire hasn't really brought themselves into the new century with any real enthusiasm.”

“True, I mean, the whole nation runs on the idea that blood holds the magic and the magic equals power. They're not very fond of advancements that democratize other sorts of power.” I paused for a moment as Rose pulled out a chair at her dining table and sat down. I followed suit, watching with wary interest as she poured us both a glass of some sort of fizzy pink liquid.

“That's not some sort of beer, is it?”

“Sort of. It's a fruity thing I stole from Dad. I think he keeps it around for visiting dignitaries who can't handle bitter brews. Try it and tell me what you think.”

I took the glass and sipped at it experimentally. It was very good, crisp and sour and just sweet enough. I took another, much larger swallow. Rose grinned at my favorable reaction and tapped the bottle with a fingernail.

“Help yourself,” she said. “If we run out, I can always get more.”

“You're trying to get me drunk,” I accused.

“Who, me? Perish the thought.”

I gave her a look that was intended to be suggestive. “You don't need to do that. After all, we're here, just the two of us, in a place where the Academy masters can't possibly see us…”

“You need to work on your subtlety, Lily.”

“I wasn't trying to be subtle,” I retorted, scowling. “I want you, right now.”

Rose laughed. “Oh, my! Has it really been that difficult to wait?”

“Yes, it has!”

Chagrined, I clapped my hand over my own mouth. Inadvertently, I'd almost shouted the words, which of course just caused Rose to laugh even harder.

“Aren't you hungry, though? We haven't eaten since before the flight.”

“Later,” I insisted, leaving little room for discussion.

“Gods, Lily, I had no idea you'd be this… forceful.”

My expression fell a bit. “You don't like it?”

“It's hot.” Rose's eyes smoldered as she gazed at me with unabashed desire. “Can you make it to the bedroom, at least?”

I stood up abruptly enough that I knocked the chair over as I slid off. I expected her to laugh at that, too, but she was already moving toward the door on the other side of the room. We barely even made it two steps inside before she drew me into her arms and kissed me so hard I let out an involuntary moan.

The two of us, caught up together in desperate embrace, fell against the yielding softness of Rose's bed. She absorbed the gentle impact and smiled at me as I lay atop her. I loved to look at her smile, but I wanted her to kiss me again.

“I love you, little red lily,” she whispered as she reached out to run warm fingertips through my hair. “No matter what happens, I'm glad we met. I'm so glad I fell in love with you. I'm so happy you love me back.”

I somehow managed to get my shirt off, tossing it in some random direction. Rose's hands were on me, on my sides, sliding up toward my chest. I felt the calluses, the roughness that was also very soft, as she slid upward to squeeze my breasts through the bra I wore.

That, too, was discarded, and I gasped out loud as her hands returned but without woven fibers to impede them. I tried desperately to keep my eyes open, to watch her as she let her fingertips play along my body.

“Close your eyes if you want to, love,” Rose murmured. “You don't need to see, just feel.”

I wanted to keep them open, but then I couldn't. Velvety softness engulfed one of my rapidly-stiffening nipples and my back arched of its own accord. The movements of Rose's tongue and lips managed to elicit a chorus of plaintive noises in response.

My skin was aflame with sensations that reduced the feeling of her kisses to a bare whisper. My whole body tingled as Rose's hand started to drift down to the hem of my skirt, sliding her fingers between my thighs. It was as if the past months hadn't even taken place, and it was as if we went right back to that stormy night in the dorm room, the first time I offered myself to her.

Those rough-but-gentle fingertips brushed against something very sensitive that was most certainly not covered by fabric, and I squeaked loudly. I forced my eyes open through sheer exertion of will and saw the curious expression on my lover's freckle-dotted face. Her white eyebrow was arched quizzically.

“You didn't wear any.”

I bit my lower lip and nodded.

“Gods, Lily, how can you be so perfect?”

Rose went inside, and it became impossible to respond with words.

Chapter 17
Binding Force

I awoke some time later, though I wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed between when Rose and I had… started. Or finished, for that matter. I blinked the blurry remains of sleep from my eyes and smiled as I realized I was resting my head against Rose's chest.

She was still asleep, her arms and legs sprawled out in every direction. At some point during our activities, all of our clothing had become scattered around the room. A cascade of white hair was everywhere, half-entangled with my red curls, brushing against my cheek.

I did my best to stay still, to simply drink up the warmth from my lover's body and soul, but it was clear that Rose was a light sleeper. She stirred a moment later, and opened one of her big, beautiful brown eyes.

“Sleep well?”

My cheeks went warm and I nodded vigorously.

“Me, too.” Rose yawned and opened her other eye, glancing at something off to the side that I couldn't see. Her body stiffened and she turned her gaze back to me. “It's almost eight. We sort of spent the whole afternoon having sex and sleeping.”

“I don't see anything wrong with that,” I said, somewhat defensively.

Rose laughed. “We're on vacation, right?”

“Allegedly, anyway.”

I levered myself up into a sitting position on the bed, drawing away from Rose so she could get up as well. My hair was disheveled, my muscles loose and relaxed, and my skin was… well, sticky, in a lot of places. I made a face, one that only seemed to make Rose laugh harder.

“Shower,” I mumbled.

“Yeah.” Rose licked her lips and winked at me. “Want to take one together?”

“Okay.”

After a moment's work spent untangling our limbs from the sheets of Rose's bed, we made it to the apartment's fairly spacious bathroom. I was gratified to see that the apartment had been fitted with a larger shower stall than I expected, with more than enough room for the two of us.

The cascade of hot water filled the room with steam and washed the mixture of sweat and… other things from my skin. I closed my eyes and leaned against Rose, just enjoying the various sensations of warmth that sank into my body and soul. We remained like this for a time before I heard a rather loud and urgent gurgling sound quite close to my ear. As the top of my head only came up to about the level of Rose's chest, it was clear where the sound originated.

“Someone's hungry,” I observed, dragging a fingertip across the glistening brown skin of Rose's tummy.

“I'm wishing Dad did try to feed us now.”

“Let's finish up and go find something to eat, then?”

Rose nodded and the two of us worked quickly to wash up. Fresh towels hung nearby, and I took hold of one as I stepped out of the shower. My hair dried quickly, but it would be something of a mess if it wasn't touched up with a bit of oil to keep the curls from drying out.

Unfortunately, I could barely see the top of my head in Rose's bathroom mirror.

“Want me to do your hair?”

I bit my lower lip. “Don't have a choice.”

My lover laughed one of her wonderful laughs and she dispensed a small amount of some sort of sweet-smelling oil into her palm. With dexterous movements, Rose worked it into my curls, teasing them out between her fingers. It only took her a minute before she was finished, and I leaned up on my tiptoes, straining to see how it looked in the mirror. As before, I could only just barely see the top of my head.

“I'm too short,” I wailed.

“Here.”

Rose's hands slid under my arms and she lifted me up with a fluid, effortless motion. My feet left the ground as she picked me up enough that I could see my reflection unobstructed.

Red curls were perfectly arranged and drawn out to accentuate the style I usually wore, but it looked even more professionally done than any I'd ever been able to manage myself. The conditioning serum Rose used was scented lightly of young cherry blossoms, thin enough that it didn't look greasy but still enough to hold the curls in perfect loose ringlets.

“Wow,” I mumbled.

“You look stunning,” Rose agreed. Gently, she set me back down and my feet touched the floor again. “Wait here, and close your eyes. I have a surprise for you.”

I gave her a suspicious, sidelong glance.

“Close those eyes! No peeking, now.”

Letting out a small, amused sigh, I closed my eyes and waited. I heard Rose's bare feet padding against the stained-wood floor of her apartment, then the sound of rustling fabric and sliding drawers as she rooted around in her wardrobe. A few moments later, her footsteps came closer again and I could just barely hear the whisper of fabric.

“Okay, open!”

I opened my eyes and let out a gasp as I saw what Rose had brought.

It was a dress, made from expensive watered silk and dyed a deep, shimmering black that was so perfectly dark it seemed to drink up the light in the room. The fabric was studded with tiny sparkling motes, arranged in a spray that looked random at first, but after a moment of study, I realized what I was seeing.

“Seven Holy Stars, Rose,” I breathed as I stared at the intricate patterning worked into the dress, of each of the constellations in the night sky. “Literally, even. This is the most beautiful dress I've ever seen.”

“It's yours, little red lily. I had it made specifically for you.”

Tears filled my eyes as I hesitantly accepted the gorgeous gift. “This… this had to have cost a small fortune—”

“Lily, you're my girlfriend. I'm required to spoil you. It's in the rules.”

“T-thank you.” I sniffled and wiped at my eyes with my free hand. “I don't deserve you.”

Rose snorted. “Put it on, you brat. We're going to a nice restaurant for dinner and we should look like we belong there. Our travel clothes are not appropriate, and I've been waiting weeks to see you in that dress.”

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just nodded. Rose brought me a set of undergarments that would not show up beneath the dress and I understood why she hadn't been more upset about our lack of supplies. As I pulled the dress up and slipped my arms through the shoulder straps, Rose let out a grunt of approval.

“I'll zip the back for you,” she offered.

I turned and shivered as Rose's fingertips brushed against my back. The dress was designed with a low, open back and the zipper only went up a handful of centimeters. I could have easily fastened it myself, but I knew she just wanted to touch me. I was certainly not opposed.

With the dress securely fastened, I turned and did a bit of a spin, feeling the playfully-short skirt fan out slightly as I did so. I looked up at Rose and smiled.

“How does it look?”

“Gods, Lily, it's just unreal,” she replied in a husky tone. “You're like a goddess made flesh, and I'm the luckiest girl alive.”

I giggled at that, and was surprised that for once I didn't feel overwhelmed by Rose's rather exaggerated compliments. I slipped past her out of the bathroom and into the apartment's common area, where I noticed a pair of black, low-heeled shoes that would have been small enough for a Fiallan child… or a half-human, half-fey Solarian.

“How did you figure out my measurements?” I asked, amused.

“Magic,” Rose said with a grin.

“Now I know you're lying.”

“Okay, okay, I measured your Academy uniform and shoes. The tailor and I discussed taking a little off because they always seemed slightly too large for you. We had a little back and forth for a bit and I sent him a few photos for reference.”

“They better not have been embarrassing ones,” I growled.

“Just our class photos, for scale.”

I put on an expression of mock anger. “Those were the embarrassing ones!”

“I mean, I could have sent him these other ones I have on my multicom—”

“Rose!”

She danced just outside my reach as I swatted at her, and she laughed before scooping me up and planting my backside on the divan near the coffee table that bore my new shoes.

“Damn these short arms.” I tried, unsuccessfully, not to grin at Rose's teasing as I slipped the shoes onto my feet. They fit perfectly, and I took an experimental step. I wasn't used to wearing heels of any sort higher than my usual pair of soft leather boots, but these felt solid and comfortable, with no wobble or give that made me unsteady on my feet.

While I finished adjusting the straps, Rose had vanished back into the bedroom for a moment before returning. She was dressed in a white, loose-fitting duelist's tunic under a bosom-enhancing vest of a lovely powder-blue. Her lower half was clothed in pair of stone-washed gray cloth leggings that clung to her like a second skin, and her feet were encased in a pair of ankle-high brown leather boots. Rose's voluminous white hair had been pulled back into a loose tail that draped rakishly over her left shoulder.

“You look so beautiful, so dashing,” I managed while attempting to recover my wits. “Like a fairy princess-knight. All you need is a silver mythril rapier with a jeweled hilt.”

Rose fairly beamed at the compliment. “Fiallans don't carry weapons out in the open. Not the best dinner etiquette, I'm afraid. Also against the law.”

That was a little surprising to me, as nearly everyone in Solaria carried some sort of knife or sword at their waist. I hadn't been deprived of my dagger, for no one at the port seemed to notice its presence. This was not surprising, for a part of the magic placed on the weapon made it unnoticeable to those who intended to take it from me.

I could feel it inside my satchel, pulsing with magic that bore Mother's touch. Like Eiri's legacy, it was linked to my soul as a talisman of protection.

“I'm guessing the magic is why you didn't get stopped by security,” Rose said, picking up the thread my thoughts were following. “That's handy for you, but a pretty big security risk for Fialla. I'll have to talk to Dad about that.”

“It's not something you have to worry about,” I assured her. “The magic Mother placed on my blade isn't something that can just be produced on a whim. It takes much more than a master mage's power to create such a powerful protection charm.”

Rose glanced at my satchel. “You're sure about that?”

“It's not on the same level as… as the spirit blade, but it's close.” I forced a casual shrug as I spoke. “Besides, the way the magic works, no one else would be able to draw out its power if they used it to strike with ill intent. It exists to protect me, and only me.”

“Still, though.”

“Yes, I know. Other, more sinister magic might slip through. Your father should be told. Will the Council listen to him?”

“Maybe, though a lot of current Council members don't see magic as much of a threat. Most of them aren't old enough to have fought in the Forge War, and human magic seems quaint, old-fashioned, outdated. The weakening of Fiallan ley lines is viewed as an advantage against a magical invasion.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “That's rank foolishness.”

“It's politics.”

“My comment still stands,” I remarked sourly. “Ley lines aren't the only source of mana. If the Imperial Court approves a holy crusade against Fialla, they'll bring with them enough aetherium to fuel war-spells capable of destroying entire cities.”

“Yeah, I know that, you know that, and Dad knows that. That's why the Merope family is supporting anti-government groups in the Empire, giving them funds and weapons and matériel so they can keep the Celestial Prophecy's attention turned inward.” Her expression was both thoughtful and grim. “And who knows? Maybe the rebels will win, defang the Church, topple the monarchy and maybe things will get better for everyone who isn't highborn Solarian.”

From the way our eyes met as Rose spoke, I knew neither of us thought that was very likely.

I turned toward my satchel and picked it up. A whisper-current of magic flowed out of my body and into the bag, manipulating the spell it held in order to alter its physical appearance. The well-worn leather travel sack shrank down—at least, on the outside—and the material transmuted from leather into silk, darkening until it resembled a star-studded, velvety night sky.

“Cute trick,” Rose quipped.

“We've nattered on long enough about how dangerous everything is.” I sighed and held a hand out and up, which Rose took without hesitation. “Let's go get something to eat. We're supposed to be on vacation.”

*

The restaurant Rose had chosen was small and intimate, apparently having been designed with romantic evenings in mind. Our serving girl brought us through the main lobby and into a secluded back room for VIP guests, which I suppose Rose was, being Cassius Merope's daughter and all.

As we made our way through the crowded dining room, I noticed how many people stared. At first I felt uncomfortable, because I was used to stares, but I realized after a moment that they were not scandalized by the presence of a half-breed, but marveling at the beautiful couple that passed through.

I suppose it helped that I looked more miinari than Solarian, and that put me closer to the Fiallan standard than anyone else from my birthplace. My skin was a bit darker than Mother's, but still pale compared to most Fiallans. While I'd never seen Eiri before in person, I suspected that she and I shared a similar complexion. I had to have inherited my fiery curls from her, after all, as every other Alcyone possessed straight, smooth brown or black hair.

We were seated at a table near voluminous bolts of cloth draping the walls, intended to absorb the sound of conversation and maintain some degree of privacy. In the Empire, the tables would have simply had voids of silence cast between them, but this mundane solution seemed to work just as well.

“How do you feel?” Rose asked as we sat down, the din of conversation around us muted by the draped fabric. She didn't even have to raise her voice at all, and I was glad that we'd be able to have an intimate conversation even in this crowded establishment.

“Like I'm in a dream.”

Her grin was impish. “Don't wake up, then, or you'll find out that you're dozing off in the middle of one of Master Ghora's arcane theory lectures.”

I made a very sour face. “Don't even joke about that. I can scarcely believe this is happening to me at all in the first place.”

“Sorry.”

I reached over the table and placed my hand upon hers. “You are real, aren't you? This isn't a dream, right?”

“It's not a dream, Lily.”

The corner of my mouth twitched slightly. “How can I be sure, though?”

“I'll prove it to you.”

Feeling Rose's lips brush against mine sent electric currents through my whole body. A part of me wondered at what point I would stop reacting this way to her kisses. The rest of me hoped it would be never.

When she drew back, a satisfied sort of catlike smile on her face, I just found myself wishing she hadn't stopped. I could have stayed there in that moment for centuries and been content. It was clear she could see the expressions working their way across my face, because she squeezed my hand gently.

“I don't know if I'll be able to keep my hands off of you after the new term starts,” Rose said, idly twirling the tip of her bound hair between thumb and forefinger. There was a hot, aching need in her gaze that affected me physically more than I thought possible. I felt lighter than a cloud, drifting lazily across the sky.

I wagged a finger at her. “You better figure out a way. If we get caught in the act by the wrong person, we're not going to graduate.”

“Well, they can't censure us for what they don't know, right? So… we just spend some time at a cozy little Naara inn on the weekends.” Rose winked at me and I rolled my eyes. Then her voice became low and much more serious. “And even if we are expelled, I promise it won't affect your magical training or mine. Dad will make sure we never lack for competent instruction.”

I blinked, taken aback. “He would do that for me?”

“Well, he'd do it for me,” she hedged, lips twisting into an impish smirk, “but I would make it clear it's in his best interests to extend the same courtesy to his daughter's girlfriend.”

Judging by the annoyed glance Rose gave me, I must've looked dubious. “To do that, I would have to… to defect, to swear allegiance to Fialla.”

“Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you'd get approved. And by 'pretty sure' I mean 'absolutely positive,' because the Ministry of State will do what Dad wants.”

I shook my head. “That's not the problem.”

“What is, then?”

“I would have to relinquish any claim to the Alcyone name.”

“Haven't you already, though? Isn't everything that's happening with your family drama going to result in you being disowned? If your great-uncle hates your mom that much for who she fell in love with, wouldn't it follow that he'd hate the result of that union even more?”

Hearing it said out loud pulled a grimace out of me. “Yes, but that's a legal process that I could fight. If Lord Cyrus attempted to petition for separation, I could challenge it.”

“Could you, really?” Rose pressed.

“Of course I—”

“No, Lily, that's not what I mean. I mean, you would be permitted to appeal, sure, but would you ever have even the slightest chance of winning that appeal?”

I stiffened. She was right, of course. No magistrate in the Empire would find in my favor. Seven Holy Stars, my great-uncle could probably put a dagger through my heart right in the middle of the Victory Square in Solaris itself, and never spend even so much as a day in prison.

“I don't—I mean…”

“Shh. You don't need to think about this too hard right now.” Rose smiled and gave a little wave to the serving girl as she returned with a tray laden with various small plates. “Now it's time to stuff our faces.”

“But we didn't order yet,” I objected.

“I called ahead. How do you think we got this table? Besides, would you have even known what to order in the first place?”

Chapter 18
Girl of the Void

My first taste of Fiallan cuisine was an experience I'd never, ever forget. Everything was delicious beyond compare. It appeared as if Rose had just asked them to prepare a little bit of everything, because the serving girl returned a few times with additional trays bearing a seemingly-endless procession of dishes that had my mouth watering.

After eating only about a third of what Rose had consumed, I felt sated. The fiery burn of the omnipresent Fiallan sauce made from pickled chilies was curbed by garlicky yogurt and clean, tart sips of more of that pink fizzy drink I'd had at Rose's apartment.

Rose leaned back in her chair, taking healthy swigs from her tall glass of bitter dark ale. I could smell the hop-heavy scent as a cloud that hung around our table. While I wasn't a fan of the beverage myself, the smell mingled with Rose's own scent in such a natural way.

“This is the best meal I've ever had in my life,” I murmured.

“Not surprised. Your family's people don't know how to cook worth a shit.”

I favored Rose with an adoring smile. “Thank you.”

“Don't thank me yet. There's more to come.”

“I couldn't eat another bite if I tried,” I objected.

“Oh, I wasn't talking about more food, but about our third dinner guest. They should be here… ah, there they are now.”

An androgynous-seeming young man—or at least I suspected he was a man—of obvious Far Eastern descent slipped through the restaurant. Effortlessly he worked his way back to the VIP area, his movements fluid and graceful. I found him pleasing to watch as he moved through the crowds.

The man offered us a shy smile and a bow that was rather different than those I'd been taught growing up in Solaria. I recalled that the Eastern nations were also big on bowing as a culture, and I stood up to return his gesture. This seemed to please him.

“I should have known you would schedule this meeting at a fancy restaurant with a beautiful girl on your arm,” the newcomer said to Rose with an amused half-smile. “Is this who I think it is?”

“I'm Lily Alcyone,” I said, joining Rose's nod.

“Shion Aoki, though I could also be considered a ward of the Merope family, as well.” The newcomer flashed a toothy grin and gestured toward the third chair at our table. “My apologies for interrupting your romantic dinner, but there are things we need to talk about.”

Rose laughed. “I told you to meet us here.”

“You didn't tell me I'd be interrupting couple-time, though,” Shion remarked. He glanced at me and shook his head apologetically. “Your girlfriend doesn't seem to be terribly thrilled about my presence, here, either.”

“I-I'm fine,” I stammered.

“Lily, they're a member of a particular organization. You know, the one we're supposed to meet with so you can learn certain things. That one.”

My eyes widened and I stared at Shion. “Oh! I'm terribly sorry, Mister—”

“Not 'mister,'” Rose corrected. “Shion is not a man.”

“Nor am I a woman,” Shion added with a smile. “I'm both and neither.”

I felt my cheeks grow hot and apparently my expression was rather alarmed, because Shion started to laugh. I had forgotten that Fiallan culture viewed gender very differently than the Empire, where it was strictly defined as two binary categories, male and female, assigned in respect to reproductive roles. Logically I knew that other cultures considered the concept to be more nuanced and complex than a mere method of breeding categorization, but it was something entirely different to experience this difference in person.

“Seven Holy Stars, I'm so sorry,” I blurted, feeling mortified.

“You shouldn't be sorry. If anything, it's us who ought to apologize.” Shion jerked a thumb at my rather suspicious-looking partner. “I just wanted to test you a little bit. Solarians are so fucking uptight, filled up with holier-than-thou nonsense. I wanted to see how you'd react without time to prepare. She agreed to it because she thought it'd be funny.”

I fixed an annoyed glare on Rose.

“Let me guess—she always teases you?” The Easterner laughed at my red-faced nod, but their expression became a great deal more genuine. “Good. She teases people she loves, and the more she teases, the more she loves.”

“Rose must love me a lot, then,” I grumbled. “She never seems to stop teasing me.”

My girlfriend nodded solemnly. “It's true.”

“While I'd love nothing more than to continue this friendly banter,” Shion said, apparently attempting to steer the conversation back on course, “I did come here for a reason. Rose told me some of the situation concerning your particular abilities. My masters also spoke with Cassius, and all of the details have been handled.”

I frowned. “Which means?”

“We can teach you the basics while you're in Fialla. Not enough, in my opinion, not nearly enough, but what you'll learn from the masters should keep you out of trouble when you return to the Academy.”

“You don't sound very confident,” I observed.

“I'm not.” Shion grimaced and picked up a glass of chilled water from the table, taking a long swallow that drained half the vessel. “There isn't enough time to make me confident, but any training is better than none. Without our help, it'll only be a matter of time before the masters of the Academy take notice.”

I didn't respond to that. Shion was right; I knew it as surely as I knew my own name. The rate at which my Aspect was evolving had increased sharply after I obtained Eiri's spirit blade. I could feel the miinari relic's power even through the layers of reality-fabric that separated me from its pocket dimension.

“I don't know if it'll be enough,” Rose said, picking up the thread of conversation, “which is why I suggested what I did earlier. I still think it would be a better option, but I know why you can't make that decision.”

“I can't.”

“I know. You have your mom to worry about.”

I bit my lower lip and avoided Rose's gaze. “It's not just that, but… what Willow said, what your father said. I've been thinking about all of that.” I didn't want to talk about it openly in this public place, even buried back here in the VIP area where it would be unlikely for anyone to hear. I would be very surprised if there were no spies on IPSB's payroll within Fialla.

There was no need to explain. Rose understood, and apparently so did Shion, because neither of them attempted to argue. Too many Solarian mages in the Imperial Court, especially those families heavily involved in the Church, were pushing for more aggressive action against Fialla. They wanted a holy war, a crusade to force the unfaithful barbarians of this country to bow before the image of the god they worshiped.

The rumors of the existence of miinari refugee settlements in Fialla only drove the Solarian hawks harder. If those were confirmed, it would be even easier for the Church and the highborn Houses to convince the citizens that war was not only inevitable but necessary. The Celestial Prophecy demanded its faithful to rid the world of dark magic, to cleanse the impurity within all mortal souls. Miinari were fey, creatures of magic, and the church taught that their very existence was an affront to all that was good in the world. I knew it wouldn't end with them if the Church was successful.

After the silence began to grow increasingly uncomfortable, Shion cleared their throat and fixed me with a steady gaze. “I don't want to rush you, but time is short. I would like it if you could meet with the masters tonight.”

I blinked. “That quickly?”

“I don't anticipate we'll start your training right away,” Shion conceded, “but it would be good for you to present yourself to them so they can decide how to proceed.”

Rose and I shared a meaningful look for just a moment before I turned back to Shion and nodded wordlessly.

*

I entered the nondescript building from the front, with Shion and Rose at my side. Through the glass double-doors, the interior lobby looked unassuming and unremarkable. There was nothing to indicate this building's true purpose; from the outside and in, it appeared to be nothing but another office building in the Eastgate district of Fialla's capital city.

The interior of the lobby was warm and pleasant, if a little small, with several chairs and a divan set around the room for the comfort of those who waited to be seen. A security desk dominated the northern wall and disrupted access to a long corridor that stretched out behind the bored-looking young woman receptionist.

We hadn't bothered to return to Rose's apartment to change clothing, as the Cabal headquarters was not far from the restaurant. I felt a little out of place in the star-studded cocktail dress and heels, but this was just a courtesy call on the masters. I wouldn't be expected to begin my training this very night.

Rose plopped down on one of the overstuffed chairs and dug her multicom out of a pocket. She glanced up at me and shrugged. “I'll wait out here until the two of you finish up.”

I frowned. “You're not coming with us?”

“I'm not going to be with you, either,” Shion explained. “At least, not after I escort you through security. Meeting the masters is something you have to do on your own, and the presence of other mages could interfere with their appraisal of your abilities.”

“I understand.”

Shion approached the reception desk and spoke with the woman in tones low enough that I couldn't catch what they were discussing. A curious sensation ran through me when the receptionist arched an eyebrow at me, her gaze even and cool but respectful.

“You're cleared through the outer ring,” the receptionist said, now speaking loudly enough for me to hear. “Adept Aoki will guide you to Master Shimizu's office. You will meet with her alone.”

“Only one?” Shion inquired.

The receptionist made a sour face. “You realize it's almost midnight, right?”

“I would have waited until tomorrow, but time is short. Miss Alcyone will only be in Fialla for a few weeks during her winter break. I thought it was prudent to bring her here as soon as possible so that—”

“Fair enough,” the woman said. “You should get moving, though. I don't expect Master Shimizu to tarry too much longer. She's been here since early this morning.”

I sketched a hasty bow to the receptionist and followed Shion as they strode down the corridor behind the security desk. It wasn't easy to keep up with the Easterner's rapid stride, especially considering how much shorter my legs were, and I was momentarily afraid of losing them in the maze-like interior of this building.

All the corridors looked identical, and none of the doors had labels—at least, none had labels that I could see. It was like traveling through an endless, sterile white and dove-gray tunnel that branched off in places seemingly at random.

“What's the purpose of this layout?” I asked.

“The building's interior spaces are folded,” Shion explained, chuckling softly. “It's a security measure. If the desk girl hadn't cleared us through, we'd be walking around a much more ordinary office building right now and we'd never run into a single master, no matter how many happened to be here. What you're seeing now isn't entirely real, but an artifice of magic.”

It made sense. The confusing maze of folded spaces and sub-realities within the Cabal building would offer a potent defense against anyone trying to infiltrate the premises. I found that it was more difficult to sense the magic at work, and I suspected that in of itself was likely part of the security. Non-detection spells had been woven into the boundaries of the extra-dimensional spaces, making it nearly impossible to discern the fundamental arcane forces at work.

Perhaps appropriately, those who possessed a dark Aspect could excel at spells to hide, confuse or obscure a true nature. Knowing what to look for made it easier to pick out the individual weavings, drawn off of a small set of artificial ley lines laid down in this building's foundation.

The Cabal's wards also distorted my sense of time in a way that was familiar; Willow Corvus had cast this spell on Rose and I when we were taken to the Antilight base. It felt like it took over an hour, but I suspect that Shion had only been leading me through the seemingly-endless corridors for a few minutes at most.

We stopped at the end of a branching hallway, ending in a single door. This door was marked, unlike the others, with a set of Eastern kanji characters that I couldn't read. Shion walked up to the door and knocked on it three times, sharply and in rapid succession.

A second later, the door opened. I couldn't see anything beyond the threshold; it was as if the door had opened up into a featureless black portal to the abyss. I knew it wasn't real, just another illusion, and that beyond the vertigo-inducing hell-gate was likely just a small, comfortable, utterly ordinary office.

“It won't be like this after tonight,” Shion told me, picking up on my musings.

“These illusions are incredible. I've never seen any this potent, this well-crafted.” I turned to glance at Shion as they started to head back to the lobby. “Thank you, Shion.”

“Don't thank me. I haven't done anything.”

Before I could respond, they were already gone, and I was left alone at the entrance to Master Shimizu's office. There was nothing else to do but continue on. Without Shion's guidance, I never would have found my way back through the shadow maze.

I closed my eyes and walked through the pane of smooth darkness. When I opened them again, I was greeted with my expectations. The office itself was rather small and cozy, though a bit warmer than I would have preferred. A little space heater sat on the floor next to a desk scattered with papers. A computer terminal with three display panels dominated much of the desk, and behind those displays hunched a bespectacled, tired-looking woman.

“Master Shimizu?”

The woman didn't seem to hear me, instead continuing to stare intently at whatever was on her workstation. I waited, allowing her to finish whatever it was that she was so focused upon. Her fingertips flew over the keyboard and she typed at a speed that spoke of a lifetime of familiarity with technology.

After another minute or so, Shimizu looked up and fixed me with a curious gaze. Her eyes were striking—large and ruby-colored and expressive behind the huge round lenses of her glasses. Like Shion, her hair was straight and smooth and very black, though this woman wore her hair in a chin-length bob with an asymmetric part. Though I suspected she was older than me, she looked very young and rather cute. Maybe even a little childish and immature.

Shimizu wore no makeup save for some faintly pink-tinted balm on her lips, likely more to keep the cold from cracking them than anything else. Her attire was casual in the extreme: a utilitarian black tunic with a zip front over a faded pink shirt, and an old and obviously well-worn pair of heavy denim pants.

“You must be Lily Alcyone,” Shimizu stated. She grunted approvingly. “Thank you for waiting for me to finish. There seems to be a never-ending pile of work these days. Don't call me 'Master Shimizu,' I despise titles. Yukari is acceptable.”

I nodded. “As you like.”

The master pushed her chair back out from under the desk and got up. I noticed then that she wore the same sort of ordinary boots that I did. Master Shimizu—Yukari, rather, had a comfortable presence that was neither intimidating nor frightening. If anything, it was a little flustered, a little distracted. Her casual awkwardness was something I could relate to.

I suppose it also helped that she was a centimeter or two shorter than me. I knew she was an Easterner, and that they typically ran shorter and smaller than Solarians and Fiallans, but Yukari was so uncannily close to my height and build that—

I stiffened as she closed the distance between us. The way she felt was more familiar to me than anyone save for Mother, and I knew why.

“You're half-fey, too,” I blurted.

“Oh, so you noticed?”

I nodded. “Y-yeah. I've… never met any others like me before.”

“It is a fair bit more common in my homeland than where you're from. Honestly, I'm more surprised that you're even alive.” Yukari leaned even closer to me, and I felt my cheeks grow hot. Her sweet-blossom scent enveloped me, and I felt a stirring of attraction to this woman that was nearly as strong as what I remember feeling for Rose.

Yukari seemed affected by this, too, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. She quickly backed away and the heady perfume of her scent weakened somewhat, lessening the effect on me. I still found it a bit difficult to avoid stealing glances at her.

The bespectacled mage cleared her throat. “I apologize for the delay. I don't want to keep you from your time with your partner.”

I really didn't know what to say to her blunt self-admonishment, so I just nodded and waited. Yukari started to walk around me, slowly, and I felt the power of her magic as she began the examination process.

Tendrils of seeking energies slipped into my consciousness, riding through the psychic links to the intangible center of my existence where a small but fiercely-bright prominence of dark mana roiled and churned. I knew what Yukari would see: a newly-awakened Aspect, powerful but lacking in capacity and complexity. Eiri's legacy was the catalyst that evolved my latent dark affinity, but without specific training it would stay underdeveloped.

A moment later, Yukari let out a wordless noise of approval. She drew her seeking spells back and dispelled the magic that sustained them. Small, slender fingers adjusted her glasses and her eyes locked onto mine.

“The wards should recognize you now, so you won't need a guide to get back to the lobby. I have a pretty good idea of how to proceed with your training.” Yukari took another step closer to me and reached out to clasp my hand in the Fiallan style. “You are to return here tomorrow, no later than noon. We don't have a whole lot of time to work with, but we'll do the best we can.”

Chapter 19
Seeking Shadows

I left Yukari's office through the same door I came in, but the building was different. Normal. The strange, confusing endless hallways and unmarked doors that led to nowhere had vanished, replacing the interior with a simple and easy to navigate series of well-lit hallways. I was able to follow the hall back to an unlocked door that took me back into the lobby.

The receptionist ignored me as I passed by. Rose and Shion sat together, talking in low tones to pass the time. When they spotted me, both stood up.

“Done already?” Shion asked.

“Yes. I was instructed to return tomorrow.”

Shion nodded. “I know. I've been tasked with your training.”

“Not Yukari?”

“I can see you're disappointed, but Master Shimizu isn't a teacher. She's a researcher, and while she's great at crafting new spells, she's not very good at imparting that knowledge to others.” The necromancer offered a toothy grin and their eyebrows danced in mild amusement. “Besides, it would be a little, ah, awkward for her to take you on as a student, considering the look on your face right now.”

I gawked at Shion. “W-what look?”

“Gods, Lily, you're so bad at hiding your feelings,” Rose complained. “I sure hope you're better at hiding your magic.”

“H-hey!”

“Couldn't be more obvious.” She seemed far more amused than upset, and I was unable to detect even a hint of jealousy or possessiveness in her demeanor. A rather lewd grin blossomed on Rose's face as she eyed me. “Hey, I'm not opposed to sharing. After all, at the end of the day it's still me you'll be coming home to.”

I tried to respond to that in a coherent fashion, but all I managed was wordless sputtering. From the way both Rose and Shion burst into laughter, I suspected my face had gone even redder. I tried to lay a harsh glare on them, but that didn't help my position at all.

“Careful, Rose,” Shion warned after having recovered from their fit of mirth. “She's going to explode if we keep teasing her.”

“I was serious. I love Lily more than anything, but I don't own her.” Rose's laughter had faded away and her expression became more serious and earnest. “I'd never even think of forbidding her from following the leanings of her heart.”

My jaw dropped. “W-what?”

“Oh, my,” Shion quipped.

“Yep.” Rose nodded solemnly.

“This is all so different than… than what I'm used to.” I felt a little dizzy, a little lightheaded, and somewhere in the back of my mind, relieved. “I'm not—I mean, I'm trying to—um…” I trailed off as Rose took hold of my chin and tilted my head up.

“You starting to understand now? Why so many of your people hate and fear the world outside the Empire?” Rose leaned in closer, placing a quick kiss on the corner of my mouth. “The people in power want to expand their power and influence, surely, but why do you think the average Solarian is so opposed to peace?”

“Because it's so different here?” I hazarded a guess. “So alien to them that they can't understand it, they can't accept it.”

“Worse than that,” Rose interjected. “The Imperial Court restricted emigration to Fialla for a reason, and hinted that aggressive retaliation would result if our government continued to offer amnesty to your people.” She sighed and took me by the hand. The three of us walked out of the lobby and into the cold midnight air. “I don't think it'll be very long at all before they pass a travel ban to keep most Solarians out of Fialla entirely.”

It made sense. Fialla was not perfect—of course, no nation was—but its laws and culture offered a much better deal for lowborn families, and especially for the magic-dead bottom-most classes of Solaria. For all their power of magic, the sorcerous nobility could not maintain their status and influence without the labors of those beneath them. It greatly benefited the highborn Solarians to ensure that the common people had no other options.

So they filled the minds of the average citizen with zealous hatred and religious conviction, preaching their propaganda from the pulpit. Fialla's government chose not to further inflame the tensions between the two nations by limiting their policy of unconditional amnesty. If what Rose had told me earlier was true, Fialla still continued to accept defectors, and I doubted the Imperial Court would continue to tolerate that.

Unless something drastic changed within the Empire, war seemed almost inevitable.

*

When I awoke the next morning, I felt lethargic, my limbs leaden. I slept rather well, all things considered, but I hadn't slept enough. After we left the secret headquarters of the Shadow Cabal, Rose and I returned to her apartment. Neither of us were able to keep our hands off the other. The heavy subject matter of the evening led us to seek comfort in each other's arms.

Rose was already up and heading for the shower by the time I was ready to head out. I wasn't all that enthusiastic about the thought of not being with her, but this was something I had to do. If we were to return to the Academy, I had to know how to hide my Aspect from the masters and, perhaps worse, the other students.

As she had promised, Rose supplied me with all manner of clothing suitable for various different environments. Today I opted to wear a simple, dark gray tunic-style dress, my legs left bare for freedom of movement. Soft leather boots of the type I usually preferred encased my feet. My dagger was secured to a quick-release sheath on my thigh, where it would be covered by the hem of my dress. The magic placed on the blade would prevent people from noticing it so long as I didn't display it openly.

I wondered how many other Fiallans carried concealed weapons. I suspected that the number would begin to increase sharply as rumors of possible war spread throughout the country. In the country of my birth, carrying weapons openly was tied to one's station. Mages were permitted to display all manner of arcane weaponry as a visible display of their power and relative importance to society, but things were rather less permissive for the lower classes.

Rose stopped me as she emerged from the shower, her hair still damp and hanging around her shoulders in messy tendrils. The look on her face was one of disappointment.

“I wish I could go with you,” she said.

“I'm sure Shion would let you if you asked.”

Rose shook her head. “Did ask. They said no, because my presence would be a distraction for you. I understand, it makes sense, but I'm not terribly thrilled about it.”

I smiled up at her and poked her in the tummy. “It's not like I'll be training all night.”

“I know. I'm just being selfish. I want you all to myself.”

My lips twitched into a smirk. “Oh? That's not what you said last night… whatever happened to your willingness to share?”

“I was teasing.” Rose made a sour face. “You know it's not the same thing at all.”

“You're worried about me, then.”

“Of course I am. No magical training is what you could call 'safe,' and from what Shion told me, you're going through a dangerous time right now. Your Aspect is growing stronger every day, but you have no training at all with dark magic. All you know is what that damned sword imparted, which is by no means a substitute for actual knowledge.”

I didn't respond to that.

“I'm not worried, Lily. I'm scared,” Rose clarified. Her still-damp arms encircled me, drawing me close for a hug. Almost involuntarily, I nestled in closer to her. “I would feel a lot better if you'd talk to Dad about… about what we can do if things go badly at the Academy.”

“You really think that's going to be necessary?”

Rose's expression was grim. “I do. I don't know why, but I can't… I can't shake the feeling that something is not right. I have no idea what, and I don't even have anything close to proof, but I…” She trailed off and sighed in frustration.

My hand brushed against Rose's cheek and I turned her head to look at me. “You want to protect me. I know. Was I your… your first?”

Her sudden blush told me that my guess was correct.

“That explains some things,” I murmured.

“What about you?”

I looked away for a moment. “Not the first, but the first that truly meant something. There was a girl whose parents worked at House Alcyone, when I was about thirteen—”

“Ah.”

“When Lord Cyrus discovered what was happening, she and her entire family were discharged from our service. They were just a commoner family that worked the fields.” I drew away from Rose's dewy embrace and let out my own frustrated vocalization. “My great-uncle confronted Mother about my 'degenerate behavior' and how I was a bad influence on the girl. I don't know what she said to him that night, but the rumor was their argument could have leveled the entire estate, had they resorted to spells rather than merely sharp words.”

“That sounds like your mom, all right,” Rose agreed.

“I'm afraid for her. That's why I have to… to go back.” My voice dropped, becoming thick and childish as the words spilled out. “I know Mama is powerful, but this battle isn't a duel between mages. It's a dirty, backstabbing political brawl. It won't matter that she has might of magic. Cyrus isn't half the mage Mama is, but he won't fight with spells, he'll fight with the law…” I let my voice fall and gave Rose a helpless look.

“… and the law is twisted,” she finished for me.

“Yes.” I sighed and turned toward the door. “Still, though, I promise I'll talk to Cassius about your suggestion—but only if there are no other options.”

Rose's relief was plain in her tone. “That's all I ask. Good luck with the training, and tell Shion I said hi. Tell them to convince Yukari to come out drinking with us this weekend.”

“I will.” I smiled as I shut the door behind me.

It took only a few more minutes before my ride arrived—Rose had called Devon to pick me up and take me to the Cabal building. I waited, gazing at my reflection in the darkly-tinted glass of the car's windows, as the older man popped open the passenger-side door.

“Miss Alcyone,” he greeted me in warm tones.

I slid into the seat, tucking the skirt beneath me as I did so, and buckled the safety strap. Devon expertly manipulated the vehicle's steering column as he accelerated back into traffic. At this hour, the number of cars on the highways were somewhat lessened, as the Fiallan workday typically started early.

“Thank you for the ride,” I told him.

Devon chuckled. “It's my pleasure, Miss.”

“You've known Cassius for a long time, haven't you?”

“Yes. We fought together in the same unit, during the Forge War.” A faraway look entered his eyes, and I could tell that he did not relish the thought of traversing memory's paths. I chose to swiftly proceed with my intended question.

“So you know him very well, then.” I gazed out the windshield of the car as we drove down an elevated highway structure that cut through the heart of the city. “What do you think he thinks of me?”

Devon didn't seem to be surprised by the question. “Rose loves you dearly, and that counts for much in his estimation. Her mother passed away some time ago. With Lailah's soul departed into the void, Rose is the person that matters to him most.”

“I suspected as much.”

“Why do you ask?” Devon inquired.

“Rose wants me to… to defect.” The word sounded strange when I said it out loud. “Because she's afraid I'll be in danger if I stay in the Empire.”

The weathered old man's face twisted into a grimace. “I begin to see your dilemma. Rose is willful and headstrong and blunt and… well, you know all of this already. She needs to act, to do something to protect you. This is the clearest solution she can think of.”

“But why?”

Devon's expression was grim. “With the potential for conflict brewing ever stronger, Cassius will pull her out of the Academy and recall her to Fialla. He was never very enthusiastic about her idea to study abroad in the Empire, even as she argued passionately for the chance to show the Solarians that Fialla is not their enemy. Unless something significant changes, and soon, tensions between our nations will continue to rise. Already there are many Fiallans who are angry at how the Governing Council and Ministry of State continue to bend to the Empire's whims.”

My heart seemed to vanish from my chest. There it was, the reason for Rose's strident and continual insistence. I knew it had to have been something like this, but I found myself refusing to accept it until someone else spoke the words plainly.

“Nobody in Fialla wants war, but there are many of my people who refuse to tolerate the Empire's aggressive foreign policy. People are upset, and rightly so, that the people they chose to represent them at the Council table appear unwilling to fight to protect the people.” Devon sighed as he cut the wheel sharply to the left to avoid a slow-moving freight vehicle. Almost casually, he sent the car weaving through the slowing traffic around the exit to the downtown surface streets.

“It's inevitable, then,” I murmured, and shivered.

“Barring some great catastrophe within Solaria itself, I cannot see another future. We've all heard the reports of the rebel faction within the Empire, but information is scarce. Our military commanders do not believe the Solarian rebels have enough strength to act. The current theory is that the rebels will lie in wait while the war rages on; they will allow the Empire to expend their forces upon conquering us, then strike at the heart of the Empire after it has committed forces to occupying Fialla.”

As much as I didn't want to ascribe such cold pragmatism to someone like Willow Corvus, I saw the strategic value in the decision to wait. It was at that moment that I understood the conditions that would cause Rose to return to Fialla forever. It didn't matter what happened. If the Antilight struck before the Celestial Prophecy could convince the Empire to go to war, Cassius would recall his daughter. If the rebels chose not to strike and war between Fialla and Solaria became a certainty, he would likewise recall her.

I fought away the stinging in my eyes, not wanting to start crying yet again. This was supposed to be our vacation, a break from our studies at the Academy. For most ordinary students from ordinary families, it would have been nothing more than that.

But it was not to be; neither Rose nor I were ordinary children of ordinary families. Both Alcyone and Merope were deeply entrenched in the politics of our respective nations. This inevitably introduced complications.

A handkerchief appeared in my lap.

“T-thanks,” I murmured to Devon, wiping my damp eyes. “I'm sorry.”

“No need to apologize, my lady. You've been through a lot of changes as of late. I imagine it's been a bit overwhelming.”

“Rose has, too.” I sighed and gazed out the window at the blur of buildings and other vehicles passing by as the car sped down the highway.

“Miss Rose has her father to confide in,” Devon pointed out. “Fialla is also her home. I may not understand your situation entirely, but I do know what it feels like to be an outsider.” He paused for a moment, as if he were trying to carefully choose his words. “Rose wants her home to become your home, as well.”

I ground my teeth in frustration. “I know, it's just—” I broke off and shrugged. “I don't know. I don't know what to do.”

“Consider it from her perspective. For months, Rose was forced to watch while your people treated you as if you were less than a person—and she was unable to do anything to stop it from happening. She wasn't prepared for that, and she doesn't understand why you would go back.”

“I told her why,” I murmured. “I can't—I can't just abandon Mother. Rose lost her mother. How could she not understand how scared I am?”

Devon's features were dragged down into a frown. “Rose was very young when Lailah died. She has few memories of her mother, and I'm sure you understand how she views Cassius.”

I sighed and leaned my forehead against the window. He was right. Rose had met my mother, saw the strong and confident Juno Alcyone, one of the most powerful mages in a nation filled with powerful mages. Mother insisted that she could take care of herself… and Rose accepted that. Rose trusted in my mother and her abilities.

By the Seven Holy Stars, if Rose could trust Juno Alcyone at her word… why couldn't I?

Chapter 20
Learning the Lies

Over the next few days, I pushed my fears aside and focused on the magic. Trying to reconcile with the prospect of returning to Solaria without her—or forsaking the Empire entirely—filled me with far too many conflicted emotions to process. Instead, I did everything I could to avoid the thoughts entirely, falling back upon the concentration and breathing exercises that Mother had taught me when I was just a child.

Magic was wild and unpredictable by nature, loathe to follow the order imposed upon it by people who wished to make use of it. Without calm, careful contemplation, it could easily rage out of control. Some Aspects were more prone to this than others.

Light was pure and strong, and it crystallized into a natural structure that made those with the rarest Aspect incredibly powerful. Affinity for light mana sought out souls that innately rejected chaos and unpredictability. Water moved rapidly, but was endlessly mutable, changing its shape to fit the path it was directed through. Earth was ponderous, slow and cautious; hard and unyielding, but could be wielded by those souls blessed with patient deliberation.

Fire and wind were forces that defied order by their nature, but they could be tamed by mages with aggressive and forceful natures. From the Academy masters I'd learned that mastering one's fire Aspect was much like saddle-breaking a wild horse. Wind was harder to hold onto, but less likely to fight back. It sought to escape, to flee, to reject confinement and required a stern, authoritative disposition to master.

I'd learned all of this at the Academy, and from Mother before that, and the House Alcyone tutors who helped word-wean the young prospective mages of the family. The Five Aspects was a book every Solarian child was made to read, and I could almost recite passages from memory.

Nobody ever taught me anything about the sixth Aspect. Even asking questions would have cast suspicion. Yukari's surprise at my continued survival was understandable; it was only through Mother's machinations that I'd been able to enroll into the Academy at all. She sent me to the Academy to learn as much as I could, to strengthen my tenuous link to my mother's magic, and to make friends and allies outside of House Alcyone. That method would have held, I'm sure, had I not stumbled upon the relic.

Mother was trying to protect me, but she couldn't have possibly predicted that I would find my fey parent's spirit blade. Eiri's legacy had touched my soul from beyond the void through the magic she'd left behind, and… unknowingly put me in great danger. Now I had little choice but to learn how to master it, if I wanted to survive.

Shion placed another series of targets before me. I knew what I had to do to complete the exercise; Yukari's seeking spells had discerned the nature of my magic. The power of a necromancer was rooted in three areas—control, deception and corruption. These exercises would determine the length and breadth of my magic and give me a starting point upon which to build a foundation of knowledge.

“Go again,” Shion ordered.

I nodded and focused on the first target Shion had put down. It was a brand-new sword blade, cold and hard and very sharp. The steel was in flawless condition, the flat of the blade polished to a mirror-bright finish. It was my task to destroy it with my magic, to corrupt the purity of the work and cause it to fall into ruin.

Mana surged from within my body and welled up in the palm of my right hand. The crackling violet-black prominence was a deadly contradiction; a chaotic, entropic energy that brought eternal equilibrium. With a thought, I sent the clot of darkness deep into the sword blade.

For a brief moment, the steel glowed purple as it was suffused with crawling arcs of violet-black lightning—

Then abruptly dissolved into useless black dust, as if centuries of decay had been imparted in a single, terrible instant.

Shion nodded approvingly. “Good. Move on to the next target.”

The second item Shion placed on the training room floor was a piece of green wood, freshly cut from a young and strong tree. Necromantic enervation of nonliving materials was easier than corrupting something that still held the whisper of life's energies. The piece of wood was cut from a living tree, and it was physically dead, but the echo of aether still clung to it.

As before, I conjured an orb of dark magic. The shape in which the spell was woven needed to be adjusted for the difference in material. Wood was structurally weaker than a forged blade, of course, and a physical blow could have splintered it easily. My task was more difficult; I was not to strike it with force, but with death.

The bolt of darkness struck the split log and, once again, the object was enshrouded in negative brilliance. A moment passed, less than a second, before the fragment of wood began to dissolve into that same fine, uniformly black ash.

“I'm impressed,” Shion muttered. “It took a moment longer than the steel, but you still managed it handily. Good work, Lily.”

I wiped sweat from my brow and nodded. It was hard on the body and the mind to focus the magic, even though my fey-touched soul granted me a measure of innate efficiency when it came to converting raw aether into dark mana.

“How are you feeling?”

“A little weak, but still good to go,” I replied.

“Let me know if you start feeling faint. Your Aspect is powerful and your body lacks capacity, which is not an ideal combination. Necromancy is inextricably tied to the concept of death. If you overextend yourself, the magic will take the fuel it needs from your life essence.”

That was a sobering thought, and one that had been well-drilled into me by Shion. Yukari warned me, as well, that the unconventional way in which my Aspect rapidly evolved meant that my body's ability to contain aether hadn't kept pace. Had I been permitted to grow my nascent affinity into an Aspect the usual way, that capacity would have grown along with it.

“I wish there was an easier way to do this,” I grumbled. “If only I could use the spirit blade properly…” I threw up my hands and made a disgusted sound. “Sorry.”

Shion clucked their tongue in disapproval. “I know you're impatient, and I know we have little time, but that would be exceptionally dangerous. Rose already told me how it affected you the last time you tried to use it. The relic drained you so badly you were unconscious for two days. Until you've mastered the basics of necromancy, you shouldn't try to wield the spirit blade.”

“That's why I said 'properly,'” I snapped, feeling a little defensive and more than a little annoyed at Rose for revealing that incident. “If I knew how to—”

“It's not just a matter of knowing. You need to be strong enough to wield the relic.” Shion's arms crossed in front of their slim torso, the adept's face adopting a stern expression. “This is why we train, little by little, so you can control your Aspect and harden your body against aether. Once you can do that, then you can focus on training to use the relic without placing yourself at risk.”

I ground my teeth in frustration, but said nothing. Shion was right, of course, and I knew what I had to do. I had to keep using my magic, little by little, gradually working through these small spells until I could cast them without feeling any physical strain. I would only be in Fialla for a few weeks before the new term at the Academy began again. This was the only chance I'd be able to practice my necromancy safely, well out of reach of the Church and its inquisitors in IPSB.

Letting my thoughts still and my mind become calm, I focused my attention on the third and last target of the exercise. I'd been given metal and wood, neither of which were particularly easy to deal with, but the final task was worse still.

Resting quiescent upon the floor of the training hall was a small silver pendant in the shape of a four-pointed star, a symbol that was as familiar to me as my own family name. It was the holy symbol of the Celestial One and the insignia of the Church of the Celestial Prophecy. Far from being an ordinary piece of religious jewelry, it was an amulet of protection, specifically warded against necromancy.

I wasn't even going to ask where Shion had procured the amulet. I'd never seen one before that wasn't hanging around the neck of a Celestial Acolyte or IPSB officer. They weren't rare, of course, but their distribution was heavily restricted in Solaria. The fact that one was here in Fialla, in the possession of a secret guild of necromancers, suggested that its original owner was no longer among the living.

“It belonged to a spy,” Shion said, apparently picking up on my surprise. “We caught him sniffing around one of our other operations. I don't know the particulars, but office gossip suggests Master Shimizu left a bit of a mess for the disposal team to deal with.”

My eyes widened slightly at the mention of Yukari. So she had killed the spy and recovered his amulet. I imagined the Cabal would have tasked her with studying the device to determine how its protections could be circumvented.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the fruits of that research, and I had no idea how to get around the amulet's wards. I closed my eyes and thought back to the barrier exercise at the Academy, the one that had ended with Rose inadvertently sending me to the infirmary. As with that assignment, I couldn't go around; I had to go through.

“Give it a try,” Shion instructed.

I took a deep breath. “Okay.”

My spirit reached intangible hands into the aether of the land, drawing power from the ley lines into my body. I felt the odd tingle/warmth of unformed arcane energies soak into my being, and then the sudden, abrupt coldness as the shapeless ore was refined.

Once again, the sphere of violet-black materialized in my hand. This time, to overcome a much tougher obstacle, I'd poured considerably more power into the spell. My mind's eye beheld my spirit weaving the umbral threads of death, building up the magic over and over again until it reached a critical mass. It was a painstaking process that dilated my perception of time; though less than a few seconds had passed, it felt like an endless eternity.

I locked my gaze on the warding amulet and, with a simple act of will, released a long line of entropic destruction that struck the amulet directly. The perfect, crystalline order of the Light was painstakingly woven to resist the Dark. But it wasn't designed to handle this much pressure, this directed on such a tiny spot.

Rather than shattering the barrier with brute force, I chose to pierce it. The slender arrow of shadow met with a counter-force designed specifically to resist it—

And exploded.

I shielded my eyes from the weird, reality-distorting detonation. The air around the amulet rippled and twisted for a brief moment before snapping back into place. Both arcane forces, warring for supremacy, sent sympathetic shockwaves cascading through the material world.

When the dust cloud settled, I felt my heart sink.

The amulet was undamaged—but the training room floor around it wasn't.

My attempt to pierce the ward failed, the amulet's magic proving stronger. With nowhere else to go, the energies contained within the broken spell lost their cohesion and erupted into a chaotic blast. I strained my arcane sight, trying to see if my attempt had done any damage at all to the amulet, but I couldn't see any change in the pendant's enchantment.

“Are you hurt?”

I turned to Shion and grimaced. “Only my pride. And… the floor.” I avoided their eyes self-consciously and felt my cheeks start to warm. “I'm sorry about that.”

My teacher laughed.

“What's so funny?”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Shion informed me. “You performed exactly as expected, and better than I hoped.”

Irritation and embarrassment washed through me. “I was set up to fail?”

“None of the masters of the Cabal, not Master Shimizu or anyone else, were able to forcefully shatter the warding on that amulet. You had no reasonable chance of destroying it.” Shion stifled further laughter and fixed me with an approving gaze. “This exercise was meant to test your ability to contain the backlash of a broken spell.”

“I didn't contain it, though,” I growled. “Your floor has a crater in it.”

“Oh, you did—at least, as well as you could. If you hadn't reflexively held onto the pieces, the blast would have done a lot more than just putting a little divot in the concrete.”

It was then that I noticed the faintly dark haze of a potent magical barrier, a flat plane of near-invisible darkness that was set up between us and the target. An obvious precaution intended to protect us from the explosion, had I not been able to contain it.

A peevish expression twisted my features as I set a sidelong glare upon my teacher.

Predictably, they ignored my irate look. “All things considered, you pass this examination with flying colors.”

My shoulders sagged with relief and not a little exhaustion. “What's the next task?”

“We're done for today,” Shion said. “I can see the fatigue in your stance, and your soul's radiance has dimmed rather noticeably. Your homework is to rest and regain your strength for tomorrow's exercises.” A sly, teasing grin split my teacher's lips. “Don't let Rose keep you up all night… but make sure you spend some time with her.”

“Should I do my exercises?”

Shion shook their head. “Avoid using any magic if at all possible. Holding back the broken spell took a lot more out of you than you realize.”

“Giving me the night off, then?”

Their wry laughter reached my ears. “Rose would do terrible things to me if I kept you too busy in the evenings.”

*

I was not really surprised that the person who came to pick me up wasn't Devon, but Rose. I could tell from her restless movements and the avid look in her eyes that she wasn't especially happy that I would be spending all of my days in Fialla training with Shion. I was kept so busy, leaving Rose unoccupied during the days. Predictably, her father took advantage of my absence by filling her morning schedule with family business.

I opened the passenger door and settled down in the seat beside her. Rose glanced at me and her expression instantly softened. Both her mundane and arcane sight could clearly discern just how bone-weary I was.

“Shion's been working you hard,” she observed. “Every evening you come home looking utterly drained.”

“I thought it would get easier, but every time it feels like I'm starting to make progress, they just give me even more difficult tasks. I feel like I'm running uphill, and the hill just keeps growing steeper with every stride.”

Rose flicked her gaze back to the road as she drove. “It's the time problem. You've got to mash months, possibly even years of training into just a few weeks. I know the masters and Shion figured out a way to distill the curriculum down to make it fit, but even so…”

“I spend two hours training,” I muttered, “and every day is like working a week without sleep, then there's the drills during my off-hours, and when I'm not doing that…”

“You're sleeping like the dead all day,” Rose finished for me.

“I'm sorry.”

“You don't need to apologize, love. This is something you have to do, for your own sake.”

“But if I did what you want me to do—”

Rose held a hand up to stop me, but didn't take her eyes off the road. “Gods, Lily, I'm the one who should be sorry. It was a selfish thing to ask of you, especially considering the turmoil in your family right now and the danger to your mom.”

I was certain I looked absolutely miserable, so I turned to stare out the window. “Devon told me why you were so insistent.”

“Did he?” I caught a faint creaking sound and knew that Rose's hands had subconsciously tightened on the steering column. She sighed. “Well, that spares me the hurt of having to tell you myself.”

“Will Cassius force you to stay in Fialla?”

Rose was silent for a long moment as she descended from the highway to the surface streets near her apartment. “I know he wants to. It took a lot of convincing to get him to agree to the Ministry of State's plan in the first place, and his agreement was conditional. Obviously, things aren't getting better between Fialla and the Empire.”

“I know.”

“I don't think Dad is wrong,” Rose continued, though her tone suggested otherwise. “I don't think it'll take much longer for Solaria to move against my homeland. My attempt to ease tensions between our nations—by showing the faithful how Fialla shepherds a dark soul toward a more righteous path—failed. It was doomed to failure from the start. If I was smart, I'd do exactly as he said.”

I blinked, confused. “Are you saying you're not going to listen to him?”

“I'm going to go back to Solaria.” The car's engine died as Rose switched off the ignition. She turned to me, her brown eyes round and wide and achingly beautiful. “Not to try and stop the Empire from hating my people, nor to finish my studies, nor to stop a war.”

My chest felt tight and I strained to breathe. “Then why go back?”

“For you, Lily. So I can keep you safe.”

The tightness became a crushing vise that squeezed my heart. Rose unbuckled her restraints and leaned closer to me. Her lips were only millimeters away from mine, and her eyes drank up all of my heart and soul.

“Because I love you more than anything in the world.” Rose's lips pressed against mine, softly, just for a moment, before she drew back. “And I have to protect you.”

Part IV

-

Malice

Chapter 21
Sense of Pain

My days settled into a numbing cycle of brutally difficult training, at the end of which Rose would pick me up from the Cabal building and take me home. I gave her as much affection as I was able, but I was frequently so exhausted I did little but eat before dropping off into a deep sleep.

As it would likely be today. I could barely keep my eyes open as I sat in the lobby of the building, watching the rain trace patterns down the plate-glass windows. The desk clerk walked over to me a few moments after I sat down, bearing a hot cup of coffee. Gratefully, I accepted, and sipped the bitter brew while I waited for Rose's arrival.

“Thank you.”

The clerk nodded. “You've been the talk of the office recently.”

“Oh?”

“No one's ever done what you've done in such a short period of time,” the clerk—a different one than I'd initially met; this receptionist was older and male, with a neatly trimmed gray-streaked black beard. I could tell by his dark complexion and heavier features that he was Fiallan rather than descended from Far Eastern refugees, like Yukari and Shion.

“I feel like I'm struggling just to keep my head above water.”

He grunted. “The masters are impressed with your potential. Rumor has it that more than a few of them are both furious and terrified at the prospect of you returning to the Empire.”

My eyes narrowed at that. It was the same sort of thing I'd grown used to hearing, and I didn't like it this time any more than the first. I'd been given more in Rose's homeland than Mother's people had ever even considered, and I'd only been in Fialla for a few weeks. In this land, I was accepted, acknowledged… and loved.

Rose stopped bringing the subject up, but I knew she was only keeping silent for my sake. She still wanted me to defect, to forsake the land of my birth and my family's name for a chance at a new life with her. I would not lie to myself, either; I wanted it desperately. I wanted to stay with her in Fialla, this place where I was not treated as less than any other person.

But every time I tried to imagine it, every time I felt that impulse to present a request for asylum to Cassius Merope, I felt a stab of irrational guilt that pierced my heart. How could I think of running away, when Mother was in danger, when my great-uncle was poised to usurp control of House Alcyone? How could I be so cowardly and craven, when the man who murdered Eiri would soon be a strong voice on the Imperial Court, replacing Mother's desire for progressive reform with more of the same conservative orthodoxy that pushed Solaria closer and closer to the conquest of Fialla?

A more disturbing thought filled my mind as I sipped at my coffee. Would there be any neutral nations if the Celestial Prophecy drove the Empire's arcane might into violent holy conquest? Would other nations who did not worship the Celestial One be forced to at the point of a sword?

Thunder boomed outside, muffled only faintly by the walls and windows of the building. The storm had already begun to get bad, and Rose still wasn't here yet. I suspected she was working late with her father, though usually he was good about letting her come pick me up. A late lunch with Cassius earlier this week convinced him that my training was demanding every last gram of energy I possessed, whether it be physical, mental or magical.

As much as I longed to pledge myself to Fialla, this nation that treated me, a stranger from a hostile foreign power, as if I were one of her own children… I couldn't. No matter how subtly Cassius manipulated records, there were ears that would hear and mouths that would whisper.

If Lord Cyrus were to hear of my defection, he would undoubtedly use it to his advantage.

The door to the lobby opened and a tall figure walked inside. My eyes shot up eagerly, but it wasn't Rose. It was one of the Cabal masters, Michael, a quiet and introspective man who served as one of Shion's teachers when they studied several years ago.

“Miss Alcyone, may I have a word in private?”

I blinked, setting my nearly-empty cup down. “Yes, of course, Master.”

“Come. We can use the conference room.”

I stood and fell into step behind Michael. I didn't know him very well, only having met him once or twice since I'd been training at the Cabal. He was much older than either of us, older than Yukari, the only other master I knew reasonably well. Despite that, Michael wore his winters well, even if they'd been hard and left him with many scars.

Michael opened the conference room door and gestured for me to enter. I stepped through the threshold; I'd been in this room before, a few times, and it was just as ordinary as ever. A table was ringed with chairs, and in the corner was a small counter with an electric tea kettle joined by several tins of loose-leaf tea.

The master of the Cabal shut the door behind him and sealed the lock. I watched somewhat anxiously as he drew magic into himself and wove a potent ward against surveillance. This was cause for some degree of consternation, because the Cabal building was already warded heavily against such intrusions.

Whatever Michael had to tell me must have been very important, indeed.

And it was.

“There is no other way to say this,” the master began, staring at me with his piercing gray eyes. In that dark face, his eyes seemed to glow with their own inner light. “We've received word that Juno Alcyone has been taken into custody by the Imperial Public Safety Bureau.”

I didn't respond immediately, because it was everything I'd feared. There was no doubt; Cyrus's coup had been successful. My great-uncle had usurped control from Mother, but that wasn't enough for him. She had to be punished, and so she was.

My voice was hoarse. “What… what were the charges?”

“Our source was unable to obtain that information,” Master Michael said. “You know that your country's state security apparatus is loathe to share the particulars of their operations. All that we know was that it happened shortly after Juno Alcyone stepped down as Head of House Alcyone, abdicating her position to Lord Cyrus Alcyone.”

It had happened, and I felt my mouth go dry. My gut was clenched in an icy fist, and I struggled to keep that familiar cold fury from engulfing my soul. The link to Eiri's spirit blade seemed to throb sympathetically with my emotions. Hatred took root, deep within my heart, and my soul's black radiance seemed to double and redouble in intensity.

Why wasn't it enough for Cyrus to take over the family? What could he have possibly said—or more likely, bribed—to convince IPSB to arrest my mother on trumped-up charges? Her love for Eiri was a scandal, to be sure, but not a crime. Eiri's murder had been the crime, and yet Solaria would do nothing. The fey had no legal rights in the Empire.

“They… this is a farce,” I managed. “My great-uncle's long-desired vengeance against Mother for her shameful dalliance with a dark fairy.”

Michael nodded solemnly. “Perhaps. Perhaps he has grander designs.”

I looked away. “I don't know. Cyrus has always hated her. Her voice on the Imperial Court was one of progressivism and pacifism, and House Alcyone's influence was… was such that she was able to keep the more hawkish lords and ladies in check. With Lord Cyrus at the head of Alcyone, the Empire has lost its loudest critic of the Celestial Prophecy's holy crusade.”

It was becoming difficult to fight back tears. Mother warned me that I might hear of her death, but not her imprisonment. I'd taken that to mean she had some grand stratagem involving fabricating her own demise to keep Lord Cyrus from interfering with her actions. If she had been taken by IPSB, she would be trapped… and ultimately at my great-uncle's mercy.

“What do you intend to do?” Michael asked.

I wiped the tears from my eyes. “I… I don't know.”

“Will you return to the Empire still?”

I knew what he was insinuating. Were I to return to Solaria, Lord Cyrus as the new Head of House would ensure that my actions were scrutinized to a heretofore unseen degree. My appointment to the Academy was made through Mother's connections with the masters. Despite the fact that I had little to no standing within the family, it would take him months of petitioning, at the very least, to revoke my appointment.

At the Academy, I would be reasonably safe. IPSB had no jurisdiction on the college grounds and was not permitted to interfere with Academy business, instead forced to work through the Academy Guard. It was well-known that the masters would always favor their students and maintain strict neutrality in any political battle between Houses. But would they risk their positions and reputations for my sake?

Doubtful.

“I have to go back,” I said, quelling my own pessimistic thoughts. “I'm grateful to Rose and her father for all they have already done and likely will do in the future, but…” I trailed off, meeting Michael's eyes with my own reddened, tear-dampened gaze. “It's more complicated than it seems at first glance.”

“You believe Cyrus Alcyone will use your defection to further his goals.”

I nodded. The Cabal master understood immediately in a way that had taken me days to explain to Rose, and I was grateful that I didn't have to argue my case.

“Reasonable, but then again, what other option do you have?” Michael's expression was grim and he scratched the salt-and-pepper beard adorning his chin. “Fey-touched are afforded little respect and much suspicion in the Empire, as you should know.”

“Yes, I'm not pure-blood, but I have some legal recourse. I'm still a lady of Alcyone.” I sighed and glanced down at my small, fairy-like hands. They felt cold and stiff, despite the conference room's comfortable temperature. “I have to help Mother. So long as she remains in IPSB custody, she's in danger. Cyrus couldn't possibly hope to kill her in a stand-up fight, so he's made her vulnerable to an unseen blade.”

Master Michael's frown deepened. “It is possible.”

“Not just possible. Likely. The Panopticon was constructed upon blighted land, virtually devoid of aether. There are no functional ley lines within, and the prison's walls are protected by countless aetherium-powered wards. No one can replenish their soul's aether inside.” I took a deep, steadying breath and let it out slowly, counting the seconds as I did so. The calming technique was not working. “Mother will be stripped of her magic and made defenseless. She is not a warrior.”

“If you choose to return to the Empire and oppose Cyrus Alcyone, you will place yourself in grave danger,” Michael observed, his voice sharpening slightly. “You also place Rose in danger. Even Cassius has accepted that she intends to return with you.”

I felt a searing jab of hot guilt—which the master had obviously intended. Fury filled my heart and narrowed my eyes.

“How do you know that?”

Michael ignored my question and responded with one of his own. “Why risk yourself? Why risk the one you love? It is an inevitability that the Empire will declare a holy crusade against Fialla—”

“You think I'm not aware?” I growled, cutting him off. “As much as I'd love to stop the war from happening, I can't. All I'm trying to do is save my mother's life. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Even at the cost of your own life? And that of your beloved? Surely any mother would willingly give their own life, so that their child may yet live—”

“Stop.”

His words were callous, almost unfeeling. I knew what he was trying to do. I knew what he wanted me to say. I wanted to save Mother, of course, but I also wanted to… to…

I wanted to…

Michael's gaze softened. “You must admit it to yourself. And to Rose. She cannot make an informed decision otherwise.”

I shook my head violently.

“It's not like that!”

The Cabal master said nothing.

“I'm telling you it's—”

The door to the conference room opened. I whirled toward the sound, and was not terribly surprised to see Rose, standing there in the threshold. The expression on her face told me that she had heard everything we discussed. It was then that I realized Michael's spell wasn't intended to strengthen the wards, but weaken them, so that Rose would be able to hear.

“It's okay, Lily,” Rose said. “I understand.”

“Do you?” Michael demanded.

“Of course I do. It's not as if it hasn't been completely fucking obvious.” Rose's warm smile drove some of the emotional turmoil out of my heart. She turned toward the Cabal master and fixed him with a withering stare. “I'm furious that you pulled something like this on Lily, and I don't give a shit that you're a master mage.”

“I offer no apologies,” Michael said.

“Did the Ministry of Magic put you up to this?”

“No. I act on behalf of the Cabal.”

Rose let out a derisive snort. “Afraid of losing your most promising student, are you?”

“Yes,” the Cabal master responded, ignoring the unsubtle insult in the question. “It would be a tremendous loss to the world if someone of Lady Alcyone's ability was lost to the Empire's bizarre, nonsensical prejudices.”

I took a step toward Rose and glared at the Cabal master. “You'll forgive me if my priorities are not the same as yours.”

Michael's expression was unreadable. “You are free to do as you wish, of course. I will advise you to be wary of your emotions… and how the relic can pull at them. To be willfully ignorant of your true feelings is to put yourself in danger.”

“Trust me,” I snapped, trying hard to keep my words from being choked off, “I damn well know what I want, Master. I'm grateful to the Cabal's masters, and to Adept Aoki for training me, but I am the one who makes decisions for myself.”

Rose draped an arm over my shoulders and nodded her agreement. “If you say anything to Dad about this, I'm going to come back in here and kick your ass.”

“Lord Merope must be informed,” Michael insisted. His brows angled down in a sharp V. “This is beyond you and Lady Alcyone. The lives of millions of People could hang in the balance.”

“Oh, please, give me some credit. I'll tell him. Directly.” She sighed and turned her gaze back to me. “Come on, Lily. Let's get out of here and go get something to eat.”

*

“I'm sorry you had to deal with that.”

I shrugged at Rose from across the table. We'd stopped at a small, somewhat run-down restaurant serving greasy Fiallan comfort food. The fragrant scents of pungent spices and fiery chilies were already starting to calm us both down, and I felt as if I hadn't eaten in a week.

Pausing in my goal to shovel as much of the pork curry into my mouth as possible, I set my spoon down on the table and took a deep swallow from my glass of water. “The master's goals are selfish, but what he said was sensible. Until I can learn how to really control Eiri's legacy, I have to be… careful.”

“For what it's worth, I can't blame you. You have good reason to want to kill him.”

Rose knew, of course. She always knew, and she was versed in enough arcane lore to know that the desire was my own, not something created by the spirit blade. I wanted to save Mother, but I also wanted to…

I never liked Lord Cyrus growing up, even before I knew his was the hand that killed my miinari parent. His hatred for Mother extended to her child, and I'd learned only recently that my great-uncle had sought to legally force my mother to abort her pregnancy. This information gave justification for the animosity I'd felt toward Cyrus my entire life. He made no pretense that he considered me to be an abomination, a tainted soul borne from the union of a traitor to her people and a being he considered a monster.

Understanding my desires brought little peace, however. With Lord Cyrus as the new Head, I had little doubt that he would eventually attempt to petition the Imperial Court to strip me of the Alcyone name. That he chose not to do so yet did not make me feel any better. As long as I was in Fialla, I was a more useful tool as a member of the family. It made sense that Cyrus believed I would defect in order to flee his dominion. It would quickly become public knowledge that the “degenerate” Juno Alcyone's half-fey daughter was greeted with open arms by Fialla. He would use that to bring more members of the family into the pro-crusade camp, and both Mother and I would be portrayed as traitors and heretics.

“Lily, don't overthink this. I know you're overthinking it, so stop.”

I blinked, brought out of my thoughts by Rose's voice and the warmth of her hand placed upon mine. “What am I supposed to do, though? I can't see a way out of this… this trap. I might as well be in prison with Mother. I don't—I don't know what to do, Rose.”

“Shh. Calm down, little red lily.”

“How? How can you be so calm, too?”

“Because you're not going about this the right way,” she replied, her lips twisting into a sinister little smile. I regarded her warily, for she was plotting something. “You keep thinking of this as a binary choice between either running away and being used to further his goals, or being forced to return home and fight an unwinnable legal battle. You know it's not winnable; you know damn well he'll petition to have you disowned the moment you submit a claim for redress.”

I flinched from the blunt observation. Rose was right, and more than that, she was definitely plotting something.

“There's another option, though,” Rose murmured slyly as she sipped at her ale. “I'm sure you remember our trip through Crone's Cane Pass.”

I stared at her in astonishment. Was I hearing her clearly? Did she truly intend for us to approach the Antilight and somehow convince them to free Mother from IPSB custody?

“What? It's an option, and one that has a hell of a lot more chance of working than the others. If you want to save her and deal with him, we don't have much of a choice but to work with those people.”

“What—why would they even agree to such a thing?” I demanded.

“If we asked her, she'd make it happen. Probably.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

Rose laughed. “I don't know it, but it's still our best shot. Are you afraid of them?”

“N-no,” I murmured, feeling my cheeks warm in mild embarrassment. “I wouldn't say 'afraid,' exactly. More like… wary. Of what they'll ask of us in return.”

“Oh, I'm sure I can make certain they'll be happy to help.”

I wasn't so sure about that. I didn't doubt that Rose could and would offer the Antilight extended support from the Merope coffers, but I suspected they would want more than mere money or matériel. Willow Corvus's words still rang through my mind, and I suspected that were I to come to her with this request, she would require I lend my magic to their cause.

“What will your father do if he discovered this plan of yours?” I asked.

“Not if, but when. He always manages to find out, somehow. I gave up trying to hide things from him years ago.” Rose shrugged as if it didn't matter. “He'll try to talk me out of it, of course, but I can be rather persuasive when I want to be.” Her worrisome grin reappeared, wider this time, and a soft gasp was pulled from my lips as I felt fingertips trace the line of my jaw.

“I'm… well aware of your powers of persuasion,” I murmured, nearly losing myself in the delicious warmth that curled around my insides.

Chapter 22
Fair Winds, Fair Waters

I awoke the next morning to the sound of two voices shouting. I blinked, trying to clear my vision enough to figure out what in the Yawning Hells was going on, but as I came more into wakefulness, I recognized both voices.

Rose's father was here, and he was angry. So was Rose.

I couldn't tell exactly what they were saying to each other through the closed bedroom door; I knew Rose must have done that, because we'd left it open the night before. Half-stumbling, half-sliding out of the decidedly not fairy-sized bed, I frantically searched around the floor of Rose's bedroom, seeking my clothing. We hadn't had much “couple time” with how hard the Cabal had been working me, and our garments ended up flung in random directions in our haste to undress.

I was able to find the thin dress I wore on the rare chance Rose and I lazed around her apartment, but I had no idea where my pants and shirt from yesterday had gone. My partner's room certainly qualified as “messy,” and she must have buried my clothes in the scattered mound of her own discarded articles.

It was good enough, though I did feel a little self-conscious about having Cassius see me in what amounted to little more than a nightgown. That became rather less important to me as the sharpness of Rose's tone increased. I threw open the bedroom door and stalked into the common room.

“—what you're doing here, Rose. You have no idea how bad it can get,” Cassius was saying, his voice having softened somewhat and adopting a more reasonable, but still angry, tone. “This is war we're talking about! It isn't a game, and you're still a child.”

“I'm twenty-two, Dad,” Rose snapped. “The age of majority in Fialla is sixteen. I've been an adult for six years!”

Cassius snorted loudly. “That doesn't mean you're mature enough to make this decision—”

“Dad. How old would you say the average—”

“Stop, don't, I already know what you're going to say.” The Merope patriarch began to pace around the common area, and still neither of them had acknowledged my presence. “You know I've always argued that the Defense Force's minimum age is far too young. Wars should not be fought period, and especially not by children! Seven Holy Stars, Rose. The both of you are so young to be risking throwing away decades—and in Lily's case, centuries—on such a reckless course! This is ridiculous.”

“You were younger when you enlisted!” Rose accused, jabbing a fingertip at his chest. “And Lily's age is irrelevant. She's one of the most mature, level-headed people I've ever met.

“Not to mention my heritage has little to do with such things,” I put in.

Both Rose and Cassius started at the sound of my voice. They looked down to see me standing before them in the common area, no doubt noting the extremely annoyed expression I was currently wearing.

“But I thought—”

“A lot of humans think that,” I said, waving my hand to dismiss his objection. “Just because I'll see centuries come and go doesn't mean I matured more slowly than a human. I'm not any less of an adult than Rose.” I shrugged and adjusted my loose shoulder strap. “I'm guessing you found out that my mother was arrested by IPSB.”

Cassius's expression was sour. “Hard to not hear it. It's reached the ear of every spy from damn near every other nation by now. House Alcyone is putting on a show of contrition for the former Head's dishonor. Every conservative, traditionalist and reactionary in the Empire seems thrilled to have caught the Antilight's most prominent agent inside the Imperial Court—”

My eyes went wide and round as saucers.

“That's what she's been detained for?”

“Didn't you know? Rose told me the both of you were informed by one of the Cabal masters.”

I shook my head several times. “No, no, he said he didn't know why she was arrested. I thought that it was just Lord Cyrus trumping up charges to complete his takeover of the House. The charges themselves didn't seem… important, at the time, but now? I don't know.”

Rose gawked at me. “Wait, you think the accusations might be true?”

“I don't know, but… it isn't outside the realm of possibility.” I went into the kitchen to retrieve a glass of water. My mouth had gone completely dry. I filled a glass from the pitcher sitting on the counter and took a long swallow before turning back to Rose. “It's possible that Lord Cyrus fabricated evidence to make it look as if Mother was a spy for the rebels, but I don't see how that would benefit him.”

“Would it not raise him in the estimation of the other high Houses if his efforts led to the capture of an Antilight agent?” Cassius queried.

“Yes, but also no. It's possible he's masterminded a false scandal against Mother, but that would place House Alcyone as a whole under suspicion. A brand-new Head of House, no matter where they fell upon the political spectrum, is already vulnerable to begin with. Accusing Mother of espionage and treason doesn't make House Alcyone look any better.”

“So… he's telling the truth, then?” Rose scowled as she regarded me. “Your mom really is a spy for the Antilight?”

I drained the rest of my glass and set it back upon the wooden countertop with a thunk. “He would try to hide it if he could. More likely some other House is blackmailing him, placing him in a position where he can't very well deny it without appearing to be complicit, or at least dangerously negligent. No doubt he's trying to make the best use of the crisis he can.”

Neither Rose nor Cassius said anything for a long stretch. I was feeling exhausted already, despite having just awoken from an afterglow-induced slumber that should have been eminently restful. The silence itself seemed to sink into me, deepening my emotional fatigue.

“Not to mention a lot of things would… make a lot of sense, if she was of the Antilight.”

“That doesn't necessarily mean it's true, though,” Rose pointed out.

“How did Willow Corvus know where to find us in Crone's Cane Pass?” I stared hard into her eyes, trying not to sound accusatory but knowing I was probably failing. “Mother set us on that route when we left.”

Rose frowned. “She claimed it was our ambush and diversion of the House Guard that alerted her cell to our presence.”

“And she helped us reach Naara without my family's knowledge, and directed me to receive training in necromancy from the Cabal. All without asking for anything of us in return.” My tone was growing much more rapid-fire and heated, but I didn't care. “There's far too much unstable aetherium ore in the Crone's Cane for any kind of accurate reading. Willow Corvus knew we were coming because she was told, and the only person who could have done so was Mother. No one else knew the route we would take.”

“It is plausible,” Cassius agreed.

“Not you, too, Dad.” Rose angrily blew an errant lock of white hair from her face. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him an exasperated look. “You're not really helping your case here if you start agreeing with Lily, you know.”

“If Lily is right, it only helps my argument.” Cassius sighed and turned to regard me, his dark eyes shadowed and grim. “All the pieces do fit into place rather nicely. Juno Alcyone leaned on her contacts within the Antilight organization to ensure you would receive training, would be safe in Fialla while House Alcyone was turned upside-down in the aftermath of her abdication.”

That icy sensation clenching my gut returned and redoubled. “You mean… she intended for me to stay in Fialla? But… but that's absurd! If I defected, it would play right into the hands of the crusader faction! They would gain even more popular support in favor of war!”

“Maybe your mom doesn't care,” Rose murmured.

I blinked and stared at her.

“Maybe she knows the war is inevitable. Or maybe she cares more about you than the war, than the Empire, than House Alcyone.” Rose paused for a long moment, biting her lower lip, as if she needed to say something but desperately wished she did not. “It seems to me that your mother is sacrificing herself to save her child.”

The tears came now and there was little I could do to stop them.

“Oh, little red lily,” Rose murmured in broken tones. “Don't worry. We're going to save her, no matter what.”

A choking sob escaped my lips and I nodded. I felt a huge and strong but infinitely gentle hand rest upon my shoulder, and the grinding sigh that escaped Cassius's lips told me that he couldn't argue with us any longer.

“I'm going to regret this.”

Rose shook her head at her father. “Dad, you know how it was. I may have been young, but I saw how you felt when Mom died. It hurt me, too. I want to spare Lily that terrible pain we had no choice but to endure. If Juno Alcyone is a spy for the rebels, the Empire will execute her.”

Cassius drew his hand away from me and clasped them behind his back as he turned away from the both of us. “You know it's because I'm afraid you won't come back—”

“I know I'm all you have left in the world, Dad.”

“No, Rose,” Cassius corrected. “I have both of you.”

I blinked through my tears and stared up at the elder Merope. I opened my mouth to inquire, to object, to wonder aloud, and he cut me off before I could begin to formulate a response. I was stunned when he knelt down before me so that I could look at him without looking up at him.

“Ever since you came into Rose's life, my daughter has been happier than I've seen her in over a decade. I feel blessed by the gods that you've given her your heart. Lailah died when Rose was young. It tore us apart inside.” He stopped, clearing his throat self-consciously, and I could tell he, too, was fighting back tears. “When you fell in love with my daughter and she with you, you became part of the family.”

“As far as I'm concerned, you're just as much a Merope as I am,” Rose added with a brave smile that made my heart feel lighter. She winked at me. “Seems like Dad feels the same.”

*

“That was not what I expected.”

Rose shrugged and let out an affirmative hum. “I have to hand it to you, Lily. Your tears managed to convince my legendarily-stubborn father to aid us in our risky and foolhardy quest, and in record time to boot.”

I scowled at her. “I wasn't trying to—”

“I know, I'm sorry for teasing you at a time like this.” She sighed heavily and leaned her head against her left hand, propped up on the interior of the driver's side door. Though it appeared she was paying scant attention to the road, Rose drove as she usually did when I was in the car with her: with the utmost care. She made a disgusted noise and glared at the slowing traffic. “It would have been so much easier if we could have just gotten away without telling him at all.”

“There wasn't anything we could have done about that,” I reminded her. “Master Michael made it sound like Mother had been quietly detained. We didn't think anyone else knew, that her arrest was just another step in my great-uncle's takeover of the House.”

“So what do we do, then? How are we supposed to break into the Panopticon, the most feared detention facility in the Empire, and rescue an incredibly high-profile political prisoner right from the condemnation chamber?” Rose let out a sharp burst of unamused laughter. “It's a bit of a tall order for two not-quite mages, don't you think?”

I winced inwardly but didn't respond right away. The question of exactly how we were going to rescue Mother was so daunting my mind attempted to slide away from it at every opportunity. There really was only one answer, of course—we needed the rebels, which meant we had to convince them that it would work in their advantage to strike now, rather than waiting until Solaria's holy crusaders descended upon Fialla.

“At least it should be easier to convince them to save one of their own, though spies do tend to be disavowed when no longer viable—”

“We have to sell it to them,” I interrupted, unwilling to follow Rose's thoughts down that particular dark path. “All of it. Not just breaking Mother out of prison. We have to convince them, somehow, to begin operations immediately, before the conservatives on the Court get enough votes to declare war.”

Rose's eyes went wide and round. “How the fuck are we supposed to do all of that?”

“I don't know, but we have to do it. I know someone who might be willing to help.”

“Is that why you asked me to drive you to the Cabal building?”

I nodded.

“You're going to talk to Master Shimizu?”

“How'd you guess?”

“You don't make it very challenging, Lily.” Rose's giggles were far more genuine this time. “Shion told me all about how aloof and distant you are with every other master. Then Yukari comes walking by and you follow her around like a lost puppy and can't tear your eyes off her.”

I scarcely noticed the heat suffusing my cheeks. Rose was too good at making me blush. “That… I mean, it really doesn't bother you? I feel kind of… guilty. I, um, try to keep things between us from getting inappropriate, but—”

“Gods, Lily, you're so adorably dense sometimes.” She shook her head slowly, apparently trying to keep from bursting into distracting gales of laughter. “I already told you it doesn't bother me. More than once.”

“But—”

“But nothing. There's nothing to be guilty for.” She shot me a sidelong glance as she sent the car down the ramp that would take us to the surface streets near the Cabal building. Slowly, a sinister expression began to creep across her face and I was instantly on my guard.

“What are you plotting?” I demanded, suddenly wary.

“Oh, nothing, really. Just a fun little wager, is all.”

I sank lower into my seat. “You're not going to—”

“Oh, yes, I am.” Rose cackled like a forest witch who had just obtained a rare mushroom. “If you ask Yukari out on a date tonight, I'll cook anything you want for the rest of the week. Romantic dinners until Monday. How's that sound?”

I had to admit, that did sound rather enticing…

“What if I can't?”

Rose's grin was excessively smug. “Then you have to help me and Dad with paperwork this weekend. It'll be the most boring thing you've ever done in your life, trust me.”

“You're making this too easy on me,” I retorted, narrowing my eyes at her. “Suspiciously easy, I might add.”

“Oh, but there's more.” The smirk became predatory. “You have to kiss her, too.”

“W-what if she doesn't want to?”

The way Rose rolled her eyes at my feeble objection spoke volumes.

“I'm starting to think you're enjoying this,” I grumbled.

“Oh no!” My partner covered her mouth in mock surprise. “Could it be that she's discovered my true motives? I've been found out! Whatever shall I do?” Rose's tone shifted, becoming less teasing and more earnest. “I don't want you to feel guilty for the leanings of your heart, my adorably awkward little red lily. I trust you implicitly. I know you won't forsake me.”

Chapter 23
Soft Engagement

Later that afternoon, we arrived at the Cabal building. I found Yukari in her office. The lights were dim, as usual, and it seemed that more illumination was emanating from the flat-panel displays than the overhead panels. She stared into her screens with her peculiar absentminded intensity. Her knee bounced up and down underneath the desk, the heel of her shoe tapping out an unfamiliar rhythm.

Rose and I approached the desk and Yukari glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. Her lips twitched just faintly, as if she had stopped an involuntary smile before it could begin. The staccato clicking of the keys ceased immediately and she pushed the chair out.

“Lily,” the master mage stated, not quite able to keep her tone from sounding pleased. Her lips pursed as she noticed Rose. “And Rose Merope. What are you two doing here?”

“Your office is warded, right?”

Yukari nodded. “Better than the rest of the building.”

“I take it you've heard that my mother, Juno Alcyone, was arrested by IPSB and is being charged with espionage and treason.” I kept my voice under control as best I could, but the sympathy-filled look Yukari gave me made it clear I didn't do a very good job of it.

“Yes. Ordinarily I would find this unusual, as the Empire's security force is notoriously tight-lipped.”

“Not when it'll help them gain the popular support necessary to start a war,” I mumbled, almost under my breath. “I think… no, I'm almost positive that my great-uncle, Lord Cyrus Alcyone, is one of the driving forces behind all of this. It's my belief that he is attempting to use Mother's connection to the anti-government faction as a way to achieve his goals.”

Yukari arched a dark eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Normally he'd try to hide something like this, especially so soon after taking over the Alcyone headship. Another scandal involving his niece would only present rival families with a target of opportunity. The nascent House Alcyone under Lord Cyrus's leadership is in a terribly vulnerable position. Other highborn families will be watching closely for any misstep they can exploit.”

“So why isn't he trying to hide it, then?”

Like with Rose, I found it very easy to look into Yukari's eyes. I had a habit of avoiding the gaze of most people, even those I knew very well. I'd spent hours nearly every day training with Shion, and considered them a friend, but it was still uncomfortable to hold their gaze for longer than a few moments.

“I don't think he has a choice. I think someone's already gotten to him. There has to be another House involved, an influential family with the resources to have uncovered Mother's clandestine activities. It's likely they approached Cyrus with this damning information and coerced him into striking a deal.”

Yukari drummed her fingertips on the desk's surface. “Blackmail?”

I nodded.

“What else?”

“The punishment for treason is death,” I said in a low voice just above a whisper. “Mother will be executed for her crimes against the Empire. She's the only family I have that cares for me, that loves me. I have to… I have to save her!”

Putting it into words, saying it out loud—somehow the impact was just so much greater than merely thinking about it. And I had been thinking about it almost continuously after Cassius told us of the charges.

“But… I can't do it alone,” I blurted. “I need help.”

The master mage looked surprised. “My help?”

“Y-yeah. I don't… I didn't know who else to ask. It's a lot to ask—far too much, in fact, especially since we've only known each other for a short time, but if Rose's idea works then we may be able to stop the war from happening, or at the very least delay it enough so that Fialla has more time to prepare—”

“I'll help.”

“—and though it's certainly a remote chance, I think we should…” I trailed off abruptly and regarded Yukari in disbelief. “W-what?”

“I said I'll help.”

Rose gawked at her. “Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“Not that I'm complaining or anything, but may I ask why?”

I glared up at Rose and opened my mouth to object to her interrogation, but Yukari held a hand up to stop me.

“It's a reasonable question.” The master mage shrugged and adjusted her glasses. “The safety of miinari refugees in Fialla would be severely compromised if the Empire's forces were successful in occupying the country. I, and every other master and adept of the Cabal, would have our lives forfeit under Solarian theocratic rule.”

“I see,” Rose observed. “What will your order think of this decision? Will the other masters attempt to stop you?”

“Doubtful, but even if they do, they do not control me. On the contrary, I suspect many of the Cabal will likewise attempt to defend the order in their own way, though I doubt the others will seek to treat directly with Solaria's anti-government faction.”

“A pragmatic mindset.”

“Yes. However…” Yukari's cool demeanor seemed to crack, just a little. “It would be dishonest not to admit that there are… other factors in my decision. It would not do to hide the leanings of my heart.” A faint blush appeared on her cheeks and this time she looked away. “I trust the both of you understand what I am saying.”

I wiped the moisture from my eyes and stiffened as I heard Rose's smug snickering.

“I'm starting to think your tears have magical mind-controlling powers,” she quipped. “First Dad and now Yukari. Can we bottle some of those, send them to the Solarian empress maybe? Would probably stop their crusade dead in its tracks.”

I scowled at her. “Rose! This isn't the time for jokes.”

“You've got to ease the tension a little,” Rose retorted, “or you're going to break down from the stress. You're already under a tremendous amount, what with the training and everything.” She put a finger against my lips to silence any potential arguments. “Speaking of easing the tension a little, don't you have something else to ask Yukari?”

“I—I'm getting to that!” I waved my hands frantically before me. “I expected this discussion to take a lot longer!”

“Hmm?” The half-fey master's head tilted in query. “There's something else?”

“Y-yeah,” I mumbled. I met her eyes and did my best not to let my nervousness show. It was undoubtedly unsuccessful. “Do you want to… go out to dinner with me?”

Yukari blinked. “Pardon?”

I could almost feel Rose's suppressed laughter.

“Tonight, I mean. Would you like to?”

Those huge ruby eyes glimmered in the dim glow of the small office, but Yukari didn't respond right away. That momentary pause couldn't have taken more than a few seconds, but it felt as if time had stretched into infinity. Behind me, Rose snickered. I suppressed a sudden intense desire to swat at her.

“Lily,” Yukari began, in a soft and dulcet voice that was quite different from any I'd ever heard her use, “are you asking me out on a date?”

I knew I'd turned beet-red by this point, but it was far too late to stop now. “Yeah, a date.”

“Truly?”

I nodded several times.

The joy that flooded Yukari's face was palpable, and it instantly dispelled the anxiety I'd felt up until this point. I'd never seen her look so happy in the entire time I'd known her. The half-fey woman's usual cool aloofness vanished without a trace.

“I'd been hoping you'd ask me,” she said in that same soft, dreamy tone. “For a while. I just didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable since you're from the Empire and they have such an, um, restrictive outlook on such things…” She trailed off and favored me with a sweet smile. “I'm very happy you asked me, and even happier to accept!”

*

“See,” Rose gloated from the driver's seat, “I told you so.”

For once, I was not sitting next to her. Instead, I shared the car's back seat with Yukari. Over the course of the past few minutes, she'd edged closer to me until we were comfortably nestled together, her head resting on my shoulder.

“What did I do to deserve you, Rose?”

“Hmm… well, let's see.” She started to count off with her fingers. “You're smart and tough, loyal and kind. You're also the cutest girl I've ever met in my life, and you're so much fun to tease.”

I glared at her through the rear-view mirror. “It was a rhetorical question.”

“I'm teasing you, of course.”

“What, you weren't serious about all of that?”

Yukari's muffled laughter reached my ear and I turned toward her. Behind the enormous round lenses of her glasses, her ruby-colored eyes sparkled. It was obvious she was still giddy with joy at the prospect of a date with me.

“I can still scarcely believe it,” she gushed, her smile stretched from ear to ear. “It's been such a long time since I last went on a date!”

“How long?” I asked.

“Oh my, I should think about sixty years.”

My mouth dropped open. “That long? B-but how…?”

“I tend to get rather wrapped up in my work.” Yukari glanced away from me self-consciously for a moment. “It demands much of my focus and energy, and I often ignore my, um, other desires in favor of arcane research. My fellow masters of the Cabal have had to remind me to take my meals on many occasions.”

“Yeah, but sixty years? You're not fucking with me, are you?” Rose demanded, and I bit off a chuckle at her incredulous expression in the mirror. “Just how old are you, anyway?”

“Assuming I do not expire from unnatural means, I'll be nearing my second century upon this world in the next few years.”

“You're seriously almost two hundred years old?”

The half-fey woman chuckled. “Is it truly so hard to believe?”

“I knew the fey races weren't exactly 'mortal' in the temporal sense,” Rose continued, slowing the car down as she pulled into a subterranean parking garage beneath our destination. “I just wasn't sure how much of that transferred when you're, uh, half human.”

“Don't think of it as a dilution, or even a mixing, of bloodlines. The legacy of a union between fey and human is… different. More magic than science.”

“Weird.”

“It truly is.” Yukari drew back away from me as the car slowed and approached a free parking spot. The engine's rhythmic combustion ceased as we stopped. “Is this our destination?”

Rose turned gave us a nod and a grin. “It is. You two have a good time together. I'll come pick you up whenever you're ready.”

Yukari's head tilted. “You aren't coming with us?”

“Nope, and you can't convince me to stay, either—so don't try, Lily. I know you're thinking it. I have my own plans tonight.” Rose's grin widened. “Shion and I are for the gym. You're not the only one who desperately needs to let off some steam—we're just going to do it by beating each other senseless.” She cracked her knuckles with a great deal of relish. “And I can't wait.”

I rolled my eyes. “You two better not hurt each other.”

“Oh, I'm sure we will, but don't worry. You won't have to clean up any blood, I promise.”

“That's not what I'm worried about!” I groaned in exaggerated frustration. “I'm worried about you, silly girl.”

“Like I said, you're so much fun to tease. Now get out of my car or you'll be going on your date in the locker room.”

Spurred into action by Rose's threat, which was most certainly not an idle one, I opened the door and stepped out onto the concrete surface. Yukari followed suit, and Rose grinned at us through the windshield before peeling out of the garage with reckless abandon. The tires squealed as she took a turn faster than I felt prudent, and the car was gone.

“She seems quite pleased with the course the evening has taken,” Yukari observed.

“Yeah. It's a little overwhelming, to be honest.”

My date for the evening reached out and took my hand. “I will endeavor to ensure you have a good time.”

Our height was close enough that I did not have to lift my arm to hold her hand, a marked and, I must admit, welcome change from when I was with Rose. We were both dressed casually and so Rose picked a place for us that our attire wouldn't cause us to stand out.

Yukari and I ascended via the elevator to street level. Through the large windows, I could see a lively, bustling public house filled with various people from all over the world. They were all human, however, but I'd been in Fialla long enough at this point to know that our obvious fey-touched nature wouldn't result in any sort of ill treatment.

We were greeted by a short—at least by Fiallan standards, and thus she still towered over Yukari and me—young woman with a complexion far darker than Rose, indicating that her family hailed from the country's southernmost province, nearest to the western Coalition borderlands. Despite how busy the pub appeared, we were seated quickly in a secluded booth near the kitchen entrance, a fair distance from the noisy bar section.

“Something smells delicious,” Yukari noted, and she sniffed at the air. A faint growling sound emanated from her midsection. “It seems I'm feeling much more peckish than I anticipated.”

“Did you remember to eat today?”

“N-no.” Yukari's cheeks reddened visibly and she adjusted her glasses again. It appeared to be a nervous tic of hers, and it was adorable. “I started working on an analysis this morning and the time just slipped away from me.”

I winked at her. “Then we're in the right place.”

We spent the next several minutes deciding on what to order and ultimately agreed upon sharing a large platter of marinated and grilled meats with a pickled chili salad. One of the waitstaff happened by a moment later and took our order.

“Anything to drink with that, or is water fine?”

Yukari raised a hand. “I would like a sparkling berry sour.”

“Got it.” The man turned to gaze at me expectantly. “And for you?”

“Is that the pink fizzy stuff?”

“Well, it is sort of pink, and fizzy. Pretty tart, not too sweet.”

“That sounds like the stuff Rose swiped from her father,” I commented with a smile. “I'll take one of those, also.”

The waiter arched an eyebrow. “Rose sent you here, did she?”

“You know her?”

“Everybody knows Rose. Everybody loves Rose.” His expression became pensive as he scribbled on his notepad. “At least, everybody who works for Merope Consortium interests.”

“This public house is one such interest?” Yukari inquired.

“That's right.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Of course she would recommend us a place her family's company owns.”

“Free food and drink is a pretty good incentive,” the waiter pointed out and sent the both of us a conspiratorial look. “We were given a personal request to make sure the two of you were well taken care of. But if you want to give me the money as a tip, I promise I won't tell her.”

Yukari favored the young man with a sly wink. “Worry not, for neither will we.”

“Appreciate it. It'll be about twenty minutes or so. I'll have your drinks out shortly.”

With that, he was gone, leaving the two of us in our somewhat secluded little niche. I felt Yukari's gaze upon me, which ordinarily would have made me self-conscious, if not for the fact that her mere presence was just so soothing.

“It's been so long,” she murmured. “I'd almost forgotten what the resonance was like.”

I gave her a querying look.

“You feel… calm around me, do you not? As if the strain of all that has happened was slowly drained away.”

“I do, I just thought it was—was because I, um—” I broke off my sputtering response, though I did feel as if my ever-present anxiety was greatly weakened. My cheeks warmed, but the sudden urge to avoid Yukari's gaze never came. “I just thought it was because…”

“You never knew your miinari parent,” Yukari stated. It was not a question. “That explains a great deal.”

“Yes! How did you know?”

She giggled softly. “You don't know what aetheric resonance is.”

The waiter returned before I could reply, bearing a pair of bulbous glasses filled to the very brim with the same pale pink, fizzy libation that Rose had introduced me to weeks ago. Without saying anything, he set the drinks before us and took his leave, apparently understanding perfectly our desire for privacy.

I lifted my glass and took a sip. It was exactly as I'd expected it to be, bright and tart with a medley of sweet and fruity flavors that covered up the taste of alcohol. The wines of Mother's homeland were harsher, stronger, much more astringent. I'd never had much of a desire to drink in the past, nor did I expect Fialla's famous reputation for rich and bitter brews to influence my opinion on the matter.

“This is very good,” Yukari observed, taking an inelegant gulp.

“Mm.” I had no faith in my own ability to tolerate alcohol, and so I sipped infrequently. “Tell me more about… about people like us.”

Chapter 24
Echoes of the Soul

Yukari spoke at length concerning the nature of the fey, particularly that of the miinari. From the very beginning, she neatly countered nearly every prejudice I'd learned as a child in Solaria. I was so engrossed in her words that the time seemed to slip away like water. Our waiter came bearing the meal we ordered and was gone again just as quickly as he appeared.

The tale of the miinari eventually came to rest upon magic, a topic that was much more deeply entwined with fey peoples than with humans. Much of this I knew, for Solaria had so vilified dark magic that they needed only to tell the truth in order to achieve their aims—that the miinari were inextricably linked to the Forbidden Aspect.

“What is the 'aetheric resonance' you were talking about before?” I asked, speaking up for the first time since Yukari began.

The question brought a faint blush to her face. “It is… a sort of communication between like souls. If you had been raised by both of your parents, you would have felt it from the start. She would have taught you how to hear the words on the aetherial winds.” Yukari's expression became sad as she regarded me. “Your childhood circumstances ensured you were isolated from others of your kind, and so your resonance never developed.”

“Is that… bad?”

Yukari frowned. “Fey children typically learn to hear the soul's whispers at a very young age. It is akin to being a human who cannot read or write.”

I suppressed a desire to sink deeper into my chair. “So my soul is… scribbling nonsense on the page?”

“That is an apt description.” Yukari immediately noticed the change in my mood. Her lips curved into that wonderfully sweet smile of hers. “You shouldn't blame yourself, Lily. You were raised by humans in a nation that views fey peoples as dangerous evil spirits.”

“I know, but I still feel bad,” I mumbled.

“Oh, it is hardly unpleasant for me, if that's what you're concerned about.” Red eyes glimmered in the soft lighting of the pub. “Your resonance is honest and beautiful. If anyone should apologize, it should be me.”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“Your heart is an open book,” Yukari explained, a look of chagrin washing over her face. “There are no words but there is boundless emotion. I can't help but know how you… feel, with regards to me, because you never learned to hold yourself in.”

I didn't even need to see myself to know how intensely I was blushing.

“Y-you could, um, hear what I was thinking about?”

She shook her head. “Not your thoughts, but the ripples your emotional state sends through the aether in your soul. I felt just the slightest whisper of it when we first met, but it is so much stronger now.”

I made no effort to hide my relief. Yukari would have just sensed it anyway.

“If you wish to step back… away from me, I won't be offended. As strong as it—no, even then, your well-being is more important to me. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, Lily.”

I waved my hands in front of me in frantic denial. “N-no! I don't care about all of that!”

“But I—”

“I don't want you to go,” I protested, shaking my head vehemently. “I really don't want that.”

This time, it was she who refused to meet my gaze. “You're certain? Even though I—”

“It's not your fault, and I don't care. I'm anxious all the time and shy, sure, but it's… it's fine. It's not like you're doing it on purpose. It saves me from having to put my feelings into words.” My voice was still low, so that we would not be overheard, but it gained strength and confidence as I continued. “I'm not upset. You can't be blamed for hearing what was shouted at you.”

Yukari didn't respond to that.

“I may not know how to whisper into the aetherial winds,” I went on, “but that doesn't mean I'm not an adult. I can and have made my own decisions. Mother raised me well, even if Eiri couldn't be there to help.”

Nearly a minute of silence passed before Yukari spoke again.

“I can teach you, if you'd like.”

I blinked.

“Teach you to speak through the resonance,” she clarified. A strange expression crossed her face and she added, “After all, there is no one else who can, and it's an important skill to have, for not all fey peoples are able or willing to speak as humans do. Would you like to learn?”

“Of course!”

“Then I will teach you.”

Our food had cooled enough at that point for us to eat. I felt famished, as if I hadn't eaten in days, and it was only after I had begun to tear into the grilled meat that I stopped in mid-chew. It was as if all the formal table manners Mother had meticulously instilled into me at a young age vanished entirely.

It was then I realized Yukari wasn't eating any more “politely” than I was. Less, actually. Her lips were smeared with salty, savory grease. She seemed completely unperturbed by the indecent haste at which I was stuffing myself.

Her head tilted to one side. “Something wrong?”

“N-no, I just… I should be using my utensils, right? I grew up in a highborn House, I spent endless hours learning proper dining etiquette; I don't know why I just started grabbing the food and—”

Understanding dawned on Yukari's face and she smiled. “It's okay, Lily. You don't have to pretend to be something you aren't. You don't have to be ashamed of what you are.”

“I don't know what's wrong with me.”

“Nothing is wrong with you. You've just been made to act like a human when you aren't. It feels rather burdensome, does it not? All of the rules they create, all of the 'do this, don't do that, think this, don't think that.' It's very difficult to hide behind their pretty lies.”

“Is it really so different for the fey?” I asked.

Yukari licked the grease from her lips in the same manner a cat might. “Humans have trouble understanding their own hearts, much less those of others. They're incapable of feeling others' pain and joy as if it were their own. This is why their history is so stained with blood.”

“Why do Mother's people hate me so much?”

The question came unbidden, drawn out of me of its own accord. It was not just a desperate, frustrated entreaty, but also an admission to myself. Thanks to Yukari, the human self-image I held onto for my entire life was rapidly fraying, the tattered edges fluttering in the wind.

“I don't know,” Yukari admitted. “Perhaps they are afraid of those they don't understand, but I doubt it's that simple.”

“Why is it different in Fialla? Why do the humans here seem to care so little?”

“You'd do better to ask Rose about the history of her people.” Yukari reached for her glass and drained nearly half of it in a single long pull. She sighed in contentment. “My knowledge on the subject is fairly limited. From what I've heard, the people of this land were often oppressed by foreign powers built upon the strength of their magic. It was ever so, until Fialla's technological advances lessened the imbalance of power.”

“That doesn't answer my question, though,” I pointed out.

“Fialla has served as a refuge of sorts for people fleeing the persecution of the Empire. Those who seek asylum, fleeing the inquisitors that hunt them for the color of their magic.” Her expression was pensive as she regarded me. “Clergy of the Celestial Prophecy have never been especially welcome in this country. What Fiallan would welcome a hierarchical rule by powerful mages, when they had spent much of their history subjugated by the arcane empires of old? Why would they welcome adherents of a faith that declares their fey friends and neighbors as dangerous monsters, a faith that unilaterally declares any who are too dark of skin or soul to be embodiment of evil?”

Despite Yukari's protestations to lacking knowledge of Fiallan lore, her explanation made a great many things more clear to me. The history of humanity was soaked with blood and death. They struggled and fought among themselves, fearing their rivals would stand above them. So many of them could be made to do anything, if those commandments were handed down by the priests who spoke for the gods. Humanity's defining characteristic was fear, and it tainted everything they were and everything they would be.

It all seemed so pointless. So much blood was and would be spilled, and for what?

“I'm sorry, Lily.”

“What for?”

“Somehow the conversation has turned rather grim,” Yukari said, and I could sense a bit of a sympathetic echo from within her. “I wanted to enjoy this night, as I fear it'll be our last bit of respite before…”

I gave her a reassuring smile. “It's okay. I asked, after all, and you've taught me so many things that I never knew. So many things that I believed to be true that were not.”

*

We spoke of lighter subjects until our meal was gone, the plates and glasses whisked away by our efficient and taciturn waiter. The hour began to grow later, and I suppressed a yawn. My “vacation” between Academy terms had become far more grueling than the term itself, and not simply because Shion worked me to exhaustion on a daily basis.

Yukari gazed at me with concern. “You seem to be getting sleepy.”

“Shion is a tough taskmaster,” I mumbled.

“They're worried about you. I'm worried about you. Even the other masters are worried, though the source of their concern varies.” The half-fey mage reached out and wiped a spot of grease from my lips. She licked it from her fingers, slowly and deliberately. My cheeks grew hot, and the surge of desire that sent a tingle up my spine seemed to push my exhaustion back.

“Mm.”

“Do you feel safe with me, Lily?”

I blinked at the question, spoken in an odd, plaintive sort of tone. “W-why do you ask?”

“I care about you,” she replied, swallowing hard. “A lot. But I don't want to push you. I don't want to make you feel unsafe or afraid. It's been so long since I last felt so drawn to another, and I have never been terribly adept at this sort of thing.”

Her ruby eyes sparkled, and I could feel a strange sort of tugging on the firmament of my spirit. I'd never experienced such a thing before, but I understood it to be the resonance that Yukari had described.

“Me, neither,” I admitted. “It's always so, um…” I trailed off into silence, trying to think of a good way to put it into words. “Humans make it so complicated. Especially in Solaria. Especially the highborn mages.”

Yukari burst into laughter. “Yes, exactly that!”

“Rose was different, though.”

“I'm not surprised. She, as Shion was wont to say, 'lives to cut through the bullshit.' It's an apt description, yes?”

“That definitely sounds like Rose,” I agreed. “Her father is the same way. It's clear where she gets it from.” I tried, but failed, to suppress another yawn. No matter how much I was enjoying the company, my body and my magic felt dull and listless. I was tired, and no amount of interesting conversation would continue to hold my attention for long.

“Perhaps you should ask Rose to come pick us up?” Yukari suggested.

“I don't want to, but I do.” I bit my lower lip. I didn't want to leave. Being around Yukari was not the same as being around Rose. It was different, as her personality and demeanor was nearly as opposite as it could be, but equally as wonderful. Withdrawing my multicom from a pocket, I woke the device and tapped out a short message to Rose.

The multicom chimed with her response almost immediately. I read over her reply with wide eyes, which apparently caused me to blush so darkly that Yukari noticed. She tilted her head in a wordless query.

“Um,” I mumbled.

“Is everything okay?”

“Y-yeah, everything is fine.”

“Will she be coming to take us home soon?”

I bit my lip again. “Um, not exactly.”

“Pardon?”

“She said she's um, still busy with Shion,” I explained, trying to keep my tone as even as I could, which was quite difficult, “and that I should just um… go home with you for tonight, and she'll come pick me up in the morning…”

Yukari said nothing, but her ruby eyes glittered in the dim light. My multicom chimed again, the sound jolting me out of my daze. I read the next message, which brought a smile to my face. I held the device with the screen facing Yukari so she could read the second missive from Rose.

“Oh.” A deeply hopeful look blossomed over Yukari's face. “That is… I mean—”

“It's just Rose.” I shook my head in exasperated wonderment. “It's just how she is.”

The new message made it clear that Rose was not so busy she couldn't come to pick me up if I really wanted to return to her apartment for the night, and that it was entirely up to me who I spent the night with.

I tapped out a reply, and received Rose's brief answer within thirty seconds. Again, I held the screen toward Yukari so she could read. It was difficult to describe exactly the expression she made upon reading it, but it was less difficult to interpret the sudden haste in which she sprang to her feet and dropped a scattering of Fiallan currency notes upon the table.

Yukari held a hand out for me, which I took without hesitation. She pulled me through the still quite busy dining room and toward the nearest exit. I glanced at my multicom's screen one last time before putting the device to sleep and shoving it back in my pocket.

See you tomorrow morning, my message read.

Have fun, Rose had replied, with a small red heart at the end.

Chapter 25
Ebb and Flow

Yukari sent a message on her multicom as we left the pub, and within minutes a driver had appeared. The two of us sat side-by-side in the back seat of the small vehicle. We didn't speak at all on the drive, which took only a few minutes, and she tipped the driver far beyond what they would have expected for so short a distance.

The building where Yukari lived was scarcely even a kilometer from the pub. We could have walked easily, but the urgency at which she tugged on my hand suggested that Yukari was far more concerned with haste than thrift. We took the elevator to the fourth floor, and she led me down the corridors toward a door that opened up into a small but elegant corner apartment. It was much, much smaller than Rose's place, though I suspected the monthly rent was similar due to its proximity to the heart of the city.

There was little furniture and no bedrooms, only a small kitchenette in an alcove off to one side and a narrow open doorway that led to the bathroom. Yukari had no couch or tables, no decorative touches whatsoever. Her apartment was almost empty, save for a bed with plain gray blankets, and a wide desk with a computer workstation that looked just as impressive as the one she used at her office in the Cabal building.

I couldn't see any closets or wardrobes, but a stack of haphazardly folded clothing—mostly black shirts and denim pants—was piled up near the foot of the bed. A large plastic bin held what looked like a tangle of socks and underwear, simply dropped inside after washing.

“Um, welcome to my place,” Yukari said, more than a little self-consciously. Her tone became more apologetic as she rambled on. “I don't ever have guests so it's not exactly well-furnished or decorated and I don't really have time to do any of that sort of thing because I'm always so busy with research and work for the Cabal and trying to help the refugee settlements so it's never been much of a priority—”

“It's okay, Yukari,” I assured her.

“I'm—I'm nervous, of course, but I'm sure you can tell.”

I smiled at her. “Me, too.”

“Um, do you want something to drink? I mean, all I have is water but—”

Doing my best to learn from Rose's example, I put a finger to her lips. Yukari shivered at my touch, and I moved closer to her. She was just the slightest bit shorter than me, just barely a centimeter at most. From behind her large round-rimmed glasses, her eyes were dreamy and half-lidded.

“I…” Yukari attempted, but words quickly failed her. Something that I couldn't quite interpret issued forth from her, but soon her ability to form discrete concepts via the resonance gave way to a pure ebb and flow of emotion. It was unlike anything else I'd ever experienced. Yukari's feelings became almost a tangible thing, enveloping me in warmth equivalent to that which I felt from Rose, but markedly different in nature.

“I… I…”

“It's okay,” I murmured. “Really. I wouldn't say so if it wasn't.”

Yukari's lips pressed against mine, and my breath caught in my chest. The way she kissed was so very different than how Rose did. There was just as much urgency, but it was clumsier, less assured and a little awkward. The fierce heat that seethed at Rose's core was not present; instead, it was a warm and soothing embrace of entwining shadows that felt just as good, just as right.

My eyes closed of their own accord, and I could feel Yukari's hands on me. Her excitement, radiating in waves from her soul, was nearly overwhelming, but there was little of Rose's aggressive confidence in her movements. Delicate fingertips brushed against my sides, the small of my back, and the two of us teetered off-balance before we collapsed to Yukari's bed.

It felt like such a long time had passed when Yukari drew away from me. Her lovely eyes gazed deeply into mine and her head tilted to one side, just slightly. She was lying on top of me, her slight frame pressing me down into the soft mattress.

“Lily… I want you. So much.”

I smiled at her. “Were you hoping things would lead to this?”

She nodded several times.

It did not take long before we'd scattered our clothing across the polished wood floor. Without her loose-fitting hooded jacket and denim pants, I could see she was very slim and straight. From a purely physical standpoint, I suspected Yukari would have gone unnoticed by most. Her most notable feature was her brilliant red irises, a gift from her miinari parent.

I let my hands settle on the small of her back and kissed her again. I was more used to being the one on top, as Rose was so much larger and heavier than me. Yukari weighed less than I did, and her chest was even more abbreviated than mine. Her skin was smooth and clear, without the freckles that were scattered all over Rose's body, and much fairer in complexion.

Her scars, however…

Yukari's body was covered in scars. So many scars, in so many places, that I was momentarily shocked she was even still alive. The pale lines traced into the tan cream of her flesh marked countless old wounds, nearly all of which appeared to have been made by blade or bullet. I lost count of the sheer number of scars, each one clearly the result of an attempt to take her life.

“W-well, now you know why I c-cover up all the time,” Yukari stammered, blushing fiercely. “I'm sorry I'm not p-pretty like Rose.”

I shook my head adamantly. “No, you're beautiful, Yukari.”

“Yuka,” she said, low and breathlessly. “I want you to call me that.”

“Okay, Yuka.”

“I've fought. In wars, I mean. And outside of them. The s-scars you can accumulate over the centuries…” She went silent for a moment, and I kissed the corner of her mouth to encourage her. Yuka managed a sweet smile. “I w-was just a child of thirteen summers in Kanamiina, before humans and miinari alike were forced to abandon their homeland, when the kanari turned against their creators and all other races.”

She leaned on me, her face so near to mine, and she put her lips to my cheek. “I fought for survival. We all did. We only survived because the kanari were content to drive us out of Kanamiina, but did not give chase.

“I fought and bled and nearly died many times over. I fought against humans, paladins of the Celestial Prophecy. The crusaders were more widespread then, the Church not quite so confined to the Empire. Their holy warriors would be sent to hunt anyone with any trace of miinari magicks. Even half-fey. Even those necromancers who were not miinari at all, but 'tainted' by the dark fairies' all the same.”

I wasn't surprised to hear that the Empire's crusaders had been successful at killing most of the miinari. Driven out of their ancestral home by the kanari, the dark fairies were forced to seek refuge and succor from nations of humans, humans who despised them and considered their inherent Aspect as a sign of evil. Such was the word of the Celestial One, the divine patron of the Holy Solarian Empire.

But it wasn't, because there were no gods left. They had all passed into the void or departed this universe for another well over a thousand years ago, according to Willow Corvus. I didn't know what to believe, though. If the Celestial One truly was among His children… why was I still here? Why was Yuka still here? Why would a divine power suffer His greatest enemy to exist?

There was no way to answer that question. Willow Corvus may have scornfully laughed off the existence of a deity called the Celestial One, but I was unwilling to be so incredulous. There was power behind the Church, power that couldn't be explained simply by the scheming of the mages of the Celestial Acolytes.

“You are troubled by your thoughts,” Yuka observed.

“I wish I could just… not think of anything, for a while.”

Yuka's shy smile didn't match the desire in her ruby-colored eyes. “I believe I can help you with ceasing to think of such things.”

I giggled. “I would appreciate that.”

I felt her fingertips on my thighs, drifting inward, moving between them. Yuka's thumb brushed against something that sent jolts of euphoria racing up my spine and I moaned involuntarily. My whole body tensed up as Yuka let her fingers slowly trace around, around, around—

A loud, ragged gasp was torn from my lips as I felt her go inside me. The heat of our shared desire filled my core to bursting and I found myself gripping the plain gray blankets so tightly that my knuckles turned white.

The sounds I was making became muffled as Yuka kissed me. Even so filled with that hot hunger, Yuka lacked aggression. She was the very definition of gentleness. My mind's eye gazed upon her heart, filled to bursting with love that sprang forth from a person who had endured so much violence, who had held hands with death for over a hundred years.

She pulled away, sucking in deep breaths, and I forced my eyes open with great difficulty. Yuka wore a faint smile. Her lovely face captured every last bit of my attention and she kissed me again, and again, and again.

It did not take long at all before Yuka was able to grant my wish.

*

I awoke some time later. Judging by the dim light filtering in through the drawn blinds, it was morning, but still rather early. I blinked to clear the blurriness from my vision, and I noticed that Yuka was already up. The scent hit me next—the earthy smell of coffee. I sat up on Yuka's bed, the blanket falling away from my bare chest, and spotted her at the counter near the stove.

She was already dressed, apparently having stepped out to the greengrocer's and come back while I still slept. I watched as she poured hot water from a kettle over a filter full of freshly-ground coffee. A small carton of cream sat nearby, and after a few moments of waiting, Yuka removed the filter apparatus and poured a fair bit of cream into the mug.

“Morning,” I mumbled.

“Oh, did I wake you?”

“No, the coffee did,” I replied.

Yuka smiled as she came toward me, bearing a steaming mug. I accepted gratefully and took a slow sip, feeling the bitter brew clear away some of the fuzziness and bring me into full awareness. She sat down on the edge of the bed, too, with a mug of her own.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Very.”

She sipped at her coffee. “Thank you.”

“What for?”

“For spending the night with me.”

My cheeks warmed and I laughed nervously. “You should probably thank Rose.”

“I intend to,” Yuka agreed. She leaned against me and we drank our coffee. Words became unnecessary; as I'd become closer to Yuka and as she opened up to me, the entangled emotions of our resonance was vastly more appropriate to communicate our feelings.

“You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?” I asked after a while.

“I am.” Yuka grinned at me around the edge of her mug. “The closer we are, the easier it is to understand each other's resonance. I am not the best teacher, of course, but… I hope this closeness will help you to learn.”

“It's weird… I don't feel anything like this with Rose, but that's because she's human. I don't clearly sense her emotions reaching out to me. I pick them up through her voice, her movements, her expression.”

Yuka brushed her nose against mine. “It won't always be like that. Human souls still echo the voices of their hearts, and we can still hear those whispers on the wind, if we know to listen closely enough.”

Click.

It was as if a piece I hadn't even known was missing had just slid into place. I stared at Yuka, my eyes wide. She tilted her head to one side, as was her habit, and gazed back at me curiously.

“You are thinking of something,” she observed. “Something important.”

“I just thought that—that maybe that's why the Empire is so afraid of the fey.” My expression was pensive as I considered the thought. I had no proof, but it seemed plausible. The way in which humans hid behind lies was telling—and Mother's people hid behind so many of them that it made a disturbing amount of sense.

“Pardon?”

“The resonance!” I blurted excitedly. “They're afraid of us because they think we can push past the lies they build up around themselves and delve into their hearts.”

Yuka gave me a dubious look. “It's not that simple, though.”

“Yes, but ordinary humans can't control their resonance. You said that yourself.” My mind began to race at the grim possibilities, the likely outcomes of this revelation. “No matter how skilled they are at crafting lies with words, if they can't close the gates to their heart…” I trailed off, fixing her with a meaningful look.

Yuka met my gaze squarely and nodded a confirmation. “The resonance, in conjunction with certain spells of necromancy, could permit a fey mage access to the primordial essence of another.” Yuka's shoulders shuddered briefly at the thought, and she turned a worried look upon me. “Not only to read what is written… but—”

“To rewrite it as they saw fit,” I finished for her.

The ripples of Yuka's heart were momentarily drowned out by what felt oddly like a confirmation from another, older resonant connection. Eiri's legacy was trying to tell me something, but my inability to decipher the language of the soul made it difficult to understand. I didn't know what the relic was saying, but its tone was unmistakable.

It appeared as if at least some of the Empire's anti-miinari propaganda contained a kernel of truth. The ability to forcefully dominate the will of another sapient being, to alter and reshape another person against their will, was a terrible and monstrous thing. Stories I'd grown up hearing, whispered tales of dark fairies enthralling hapless humans, flooded into my mind. I'd always assumed those tales were fanciful bits of fear-mongering, whispered lies intended to stoke the hatred of Solaria's people, but now I wasn't so sure.

Yuka and I both exchanged looks. I suspected my expression mirrored hers; the both of us looked sickened by the very concept. There was no way the miinari would have done such a thing, even if they could. Was there? It was not a comfortable thought.

“Lily,” Yuka said in a tone I could not ignore.

“Um?”

She kissed my cheek. We were so very close, and her scent soothed me. “You can't assume responsibility for something our ancestors might have done. Would you willingly accept judgment for the Empire's crimes? For the crimes of your own family?”

“No,” I conceded.

“Were you not forced to bear the burden for the actions of the kanari, simply because they were created by those who came before us?”

I hesitated for a moment, but nodded. Memories of the Academy, of the time I spent in Naara, came flooding into my thoughts. Yuka knew, just as I knew, that the human nations of this world blamed the miinari for the Forge War. In Solaria, that sentiment was latched upon by the Church and by the conservative Houses, a narrative pushed to remind each and every Solarian citizen of the miinari’s inherent evil.

They are vile monsters with no chance for redemption. In their unending hubris, they created a mockery of life, brazenly attempting to touch the shadow of the gods, and the whole of the world was punished.

To the Empire, the Forge War was a penance, a price paid for humanity's refusal to follow the Celestial One's divine law. It was almost too easy for the citizens of Solaria to accept this; after all, it had been Fialla that offered succor to the refugee fey, and Fialla that suffered the worst damage in that terrible conflict. What comparatively minor damage that had been done to Solaria was interpreted as the Celestial One's protection rescinded, to deliver a stern warning. To remind His children to abide by His directive:

Exterminate the evil that is necromancy. Punish all who offered the dark fairies succor. Cleanse the world of the taint of dark magic.

Part V

-

Depths

Chapter 26
Gray Radiance

I felt more than a little uncomfortable waiting in the Merope family manor while Rose spoke with her father. Fortunately, I was not alone; Yuka slouched on the divan next to me, her attention divided between staring into the screen of her multicom and sending me occasional adoring looks.

Cassius had all four of us—Rose, myself, Yuka and Shion—in conference for the past several hours. After much heated discussion, all but Rose were dismissed. Shion had wandered in the direction of the manor dining room, seeking something to eat, leaving Yuka and myself to while away the minutes on our own.

“You are thinking troubled thoughts,” Yuka observed.

I blinked, momentarily surprised she'd spoken to me out loud. Over the past week, since that wonderful evening together, Yuka and I worked to hone my ability to understand resonance. At first I'd been rather dubious about the whole prospect, but quickly I realized that learning to listen to the soul's whispers was vastly easier and much more intuitive than learning a spoken language.

For five days, neither of us uttered a single audible word to the other. I found the muffled, not-quite-intelligible impressions and sensations frustrating, at least at first. Contrary to what Shion had told me and her own protestations to the contrary, Yuka was a fine teacher. As time went by, the indistinct murmurings began to crystallize into discrete concepts. It was still difficult, as I'd been taught to think as humans do. Separating the “words” of the resonance from the physical concept of language would take time.

Yuka was attentive, caring, dedicated to teaching me and infinitely patient to an awe-inspiring degree. Though I supposed one had to learn patience after living for nearly two centuries.

“I am,” I admitted, likewise speaking aloud. “I don't know about this plan.”

“I, too, have reservations.” Yuka nestled closer to me on the divan, leaning her head against my shoulder. I could feel her breath, warm against the flesh of my throat. “Still, it's the surest way, and the one that exposes you and Rose to the least amount of danger.”

“That's not what I—”

Yuka kissed the corner of my mouth and smiled. “You knew it would be like this.”

“I know, I know, it's not like two random Fiallan necromancers can just wander around the Academy,” I allowed, frowning. “I know it makes sense, but I still don't like it.”

“Rose will be with you,” Yuka reminded me, “and I will always be listening to the words you whisper into the aetherial winds.” [It's not quite the same, true, but know that we will only be parted for a short time.]

I closed my eyes. [I'm sorry. I'm being selfish and immature.]

[It's okay to feel this way, Lily,] she replied. Her eyes sparkled like crimson jewels. [As I'm also feeling rather selfish and immature.]

I grinned at that. Sometimes it was hard to remember which of us was older. Yuka's social skills were poor, the result of a life spent largely isolated from others and focused entirely upon singular goals. Before it had been arcane research for the Cabal, it was war. Unwillingly thrust into a world of conflict as a child, she was made to fight in order to survive, and her battle had lasted far longer than most.

The mission plan so far had been devised by Cassius, with Rose and Shion's input. Neither Yuka nor myself had much of a head for this sort of thing, and so we deferred to those who did. It called for Rose and me to return to the Academy as if nothing had ever happened, as if neither of us knew of the impending conflict on the horizon. Shion and Yukari would then travel to Solaria, under the pretense of Merope business interests, in order to make contact with Willow Corvus and, through her, the larger Antilight organization.

My return to the Academy would distract Lord Cyrus. We all assumed he expected me to hide away in Fialla, but he couldn't discount the slim possibility of my return. It was my job to do exactly that, while Yuka and Shion made contact with the rebels. What protection I could glean as a student at the Academy would make it exceptionally difficult for House Alcyone to interfere outside the normal legal channels. He would be forced to proceed through the bureaucracy, and it would be time-consuming, no matter what sort of agents he had within IPSB.

Ultimately, it wasn't all that different from what I'd originally intended to do. I was worried for Rose, though, as the tensions between the two nations grew ever more dangerous. From what Cassius informed us, the Imperial Court would be able to pass a resolution declaring war if they managed to obtain a two-thirds majority of Heads of House. At the moment, they didn't have the votes. Yet. The Merope patriarch was watching the Empire closely, his associates and contacts within Solaria keeping a close watch on the direction the winds were blowing.

Shion and Yuka both weighed in on the subject from the perspective of a Fiallan citizen. The people of this nation were rapidly growing frustrated with their Governing Council's behavior regarding the demands of the Empire. While Cassius and his fellows on the Council pushed to deescalate, attempt to defuse the situation, he had his own detractors who believed that it was time for Fialla to stand up to the Empire and refuse to be cowed.

I hadn't been here long enough, or seen enough to know for certain that Fialla would be able to win such a war. The country was still working to recover from the damage it sustained during the Forge War, but it hardly mattered if they were ready or not. The Celestial Prophecy had far too much power in the Empire, and Fialla's Council could no longer ignore the justified anger of the people. It would only take time and some moderate persuasion for the few remaining holdouts among Heads to change their stances and vote in favor of military action. Fialla's Governing Council would be unable to quell their citizens' desire to stand and fight.

Empress Altair was young and inexperienced, and I wondered just how many of her words were dictated by the Church. No one could quite tell who held the Empress's strings. Was it the Court itself, or was it the Church? Was it both, or neither? The concept of a decorative monarch wasn't new to Solaria, but there was always a great deal of interest in discovering exactly which hands guided their actions.

At some point I realized Yuka was looking at me expectantly. There was no hint of impatience in her ruby eyes. She knew I was attempting to make sense out of this, and chose not to intrude upon my thoughts.

“I wish we could stay together,” I said out loud. “I wish I could… just stay here. With Rose, with you, with Shion and Cassius and all the people of this country who don't hate and fear me for what I might be capable of doing.”

Yuka's lips brushed against mine, briefly, and all I could see was her beautiful scarlet irises.

“We all wish that for you, Lily,” she murmured, “but we know why it's not possible.”

I closed my eyes. “If…”

“If?”

“I was just imagining that if things somehow managed to work out, that I would like to… to try and learn more of my forebears.” I opened my eyes again and saw that Yuka had tilted her head to one side, as she typically did when she felt curious. “I would like to try and find Eiri's family.”

“Ah,” Yuka stated, her expression becoming intrigued. “You wish to speak with the refugees in Fialla, then? You should speak with Cassius about that, though I would not expect that path to be an easy one.”

“What?”

“All of the fey are distrustful of humans as a rule, and generally speaking, they don't quite know what to make of children of mixed unions.” Yuka paused for a moment and sat up straighter. “The fact that you are from the Empire, that you are the daughter of the Head of a High House—”

“Former Head,” I corrected.

Yuka shrugged. “It won't matter to them. Not every miinari refugee was a survivor of the exodus from our homeland. Others—perhaps even most—are much younger and never lived in our ancestral homeland. They fled the depredations of the Celestial paladins.”

“Then it would be reasonable to conclude some of them might be refugees from lands the Empire conquered.”

“True, though there is no functional difference between lacking knowledge and refusing to share it. Either way you won't find what you need to know. If they are to help you, their trust will have to be earned.”

The words seemed to echo within my soul. I could sense the resonance of Eiri's spirit blade, as if the relic's magic attempted to respond to Yuka's words, but it was still muddled and incoherent. I could hear the whispers, but they formed nonsense syllables that held no meaning to me. Despite the training that further developed my Aspect and Yuka's tutelage regarding the resonance, I was still no closer to properly wielding Eiri's legacy than I had been when I first acquired the sword.

Wincing, I attenuated the link to the relic and the confusing babble ceased. It was only a few seconds later when the door to Cassius's study opened and Rose came walking toward me. She looked about as grim as I felt.

“Is that it, then?” Yuka inquired.

Rose nodded. “Dad isn't happy about any of this… but he's at least willing to work with us as best he can to keep us safe. Though he was also perfectly willing to remind me just how reckless and stupid we're acting.”

“Multiple times, I'm sure,” I muttered.

“Oh, I got to half a dozen before I stopped counting.”

“Your father is worried,” Yuka pointed out. “As he should be.”

“We're all worried,” Rose countered. “We're on the brink of war, and there's obnoxious fucking idiots on both sides that want nothing more than to kill each other. I'm terrified, and not just for myself or my family, but for what the Empire is doing to Lily's mom, how her own family is exploiting the situation for personal gain.”

I visibly flinched at the mention of Mother, and Rose sent me an apologetic look.

“Look,” she continued, trying to keep the frustration from her tone with only partial success, “if we can pull this off and get out with our heads still attached, your mom will be safe here. Dad will make sure of it, I promise.”

*

“This is not how I imagined my term break playing out,” Rose grumbled.

“Yet you knew more about what was going on than I did.”

I was trying hard not to think about the airship flight as we made our way through the port at Naara. To avoid complications, we'd taken a longer trip that first diverted to the Coalition, where we boarded another airship before heading south to the Empire.

It might not have been entirely necessary, as it seemed Fiallan vessels of both sea and air were still docking. It didn't escape our notice that such ships were garnering a truly excessive amount of scrutiny from IPSB. Fortunately, the Coalition-registered airship was of little interest to the security forces that swarmed over much of the city.

“Bribes,” Rose said just under her breath.

I shrugged. Whatever the Coalitionist were smuggling into the Empire, it wasn't any of our business. We benefited from their willingness to grease the right palms, so that IPSB would turn a blind eye to whatever contraband they'd come to sell on the black market.

We managed to make it out of the port without trouble, even though Rose was very obviously not Solarian. The presence of her manashard and the uniform, though, tempered what responses she received to the usual furtive glances and wary looks. The sky looked about as grim as we felt, and I was worried it would open up soon. The prospect of being rained upon wasn't one I relished, and both Rose and I made our way to the tram station with a fair bit of haste.

I checked the schedule posted to the wall. It felt… strange, being back in Solaria after having spent weeks in a much more technologically advanced nation. It should have felt like coming home, but what little welcome the familiar surroundings would have granted was dashed by the constant refrain echoing over and over again in my mind.

This wasn't my home. It had never been my home. It was a place filled with people who hated what I was, with people who believed with all of their heart that imprisoning and executing my mother was a just course of action.

By the time the tram arrived, I was already deep within my dark thoughts. Rose sat next to me, and she reached out to take my hand. Her warmth seeped into my body and soul, but did little to improve my mood.

“You miss her already,” Rose murmured.

I felt my cheeks warm and I nodded.

“I know it's not the same, but I'm here with you, little red lily.” Rose offered a reassuring smile and leaned in to kiss my cheek.

“You're not… jealous of Yuka, are you?”

Rose laughed, as if the question was absurd. “Of course not. I don't resent the time you spend with her or how you feel about her in the slightest. I'm not jealous, but I admit I'm… a little envious of her.”

“Oh?”

“I wish I could do what she does for you,” Rose clarified. “It makes me feel a little inadequate, like I'm not good enough. I know you're about to tell me 'that's nonsense, you're wonderful' and yes, I am wonderful, thank you for noticing, but I still wish we could connect on that level.” She huffed a little. “Sorry, I'm just feeling cranky about being a mere human.”

“You're not a 'mere' human. You're someone I love dearly.”

“Also, I'm wonderful,” she added with a grin.

“Oh, yes. Can't forget that.”

The remainder of the tram ride went by in silence. At each stop, more and more young Solarians wearing the uniform of the Academy boarded, until the tram was crowded and private conversation became impossible.

At the end of the line, we managed to slip through the knots of students and made our way across the outer gardens. The Academy looked exactly as it did when we left. Nothing had changed, the buildings were all the same, but I was different. I didn't look upon this institution of arcane learning with the same hope and excitement as I once had.

I knew that the path we'd chosen would take this future, along with the hope and excitement it had granted, away from us forever. My dream of finally achieving status and security in the Empire as a recognized water mage of House Alcyone was gone, blanketed beneath the impenetrable shadows of my true magic. I'd learned enough from the Cabal to hide my Aspect from casual observance, to stabilize the way my powers developed.

I expected that old and tenuous, barely perceptible affinity for water to be smothered by the darkness. It was the way of things. Possessing multiple, fully-evolved Aspects was exceptionally rare, even for those born with more than one path to walk. What was strange was I could still feel the waters within my soul. My connection to the magic of Alcyone should have withered and died, but somehow it was still there. I could still sense a kinship, albeit faint, with the power that was steeped into the storm clouds, the rain yet to fall, and the fanciful ponds and water features of the Academy gardens.

And yet, the link felt stronger than ever. I had just been so focused on honing my necromancy in Fialla that I hadn't noticed. Now that I had no choice but to draw the strands of death inside to keep them hidden, it was impossible to ignore.

Rose seemed intent on getting into our dorm room as soon as possible. I wished desperately that I could speak to her, soul-to-soul, as I did with Yuka. I wanted to tell her what I was feeling, but I couldn't form the words. I couldn't say these things aloud without increasing the risk to us both. We weren't safe any longer.

Chapter 27
Glimpse of the End

It was the first night I'd slept alone in weeks, and I wasn't prepared for how it would affect me. I opened my eyes slowly and immediately glanced at Rose, who slumbered rather peacefully in the bunk across from mine. It was the sixth time I'd been unwillingly pulled from sleep that night, and I felt as if I'd gotten no rest at all. The sun was already beginning to edge over the horizon; through the window, a sliver of early-morning light stabbed into the room.

I chose not to try and sleep again. The wall clock told me it was a little after seven, and my first class of the new term was in two hours. I was certain Rose would take all the sleep she could get, but Erika Corvus would soon awaken.

Shrugging off the blankets, I stood barefoot upon the hardwood floor and moved over to the corner of the desk. A small teapot sat nearby, the same one Rose had enchanted with a minor heat-metal spell so many months ago. It seemed so quaint and old-fashioned, even something of a waste, to use magic for something so mundane as heating water for tea.

The realities of being back in Solaria felt uncomfortable when I barely noticed them before. How could a half-dozen weeks spent in another nation affect me so? How had I changed so much in such a short period of time? My relationship with Rose surely contributed, as did my bond with Yuka. I'd spent my entire twenty years of life without ever encountering another of the fey. I grew up, raised as a human with an unfortunate lack of purity of blood, never felt a lack, and so I never suspected that anything was missing.

“Good morning, Lily.”

I nodded toward Erika Corvus as she stood beside me to prepare her own cup of tea. The tin filled with fragrant leaves was the same as it had been before I left. It still held the same aromatic blend. The room was the same. My bed felt the same. Erika Corvus looked the same—that is to say, she always looked elegant and dignified no matter what, despite having just awoken from eight hours of slumber.

Nothing was different, yet everything had changed.

There was a sharp rap on the door to our room. Erika's gaze flicked toward the door, an irritated expression twisting her features. Who would be knocking on our door this early? The dorms would not be open to just anyone, so it had to have been one of the faculty or staff.

I was wearing a bit more than Erika, and not fiddling with a cup of tea, so I walked over and opened the door. I looked up to see a middle-aged man I'd never met before—which wasn't all that surprising, as the Academy was quite large—dressed in the robe-like uniform of a master mage.

“Miss Lily Alcyone, I presume?”

“Yes.”

The master nodded. “Your presence is required in the headmistress's office.”

“What, right now?” I scowled at the master and plucked at the thin fabric of my nightgown. “Can I at least get dressed first?”

“Of course. I will wait outside.”

I shut the door and turned to see Rose still sound asleep despite all the noise, and Erika Corvus giving me a peculiar look.

“You are summoned?”

“No idea why, and the one they sent didn't seem interested in telling me why,” I murmured. I felt a slight quickening of my pulse and had to take a moment to push back against rising paranoia. I knew it would happen, but I didn't think it would happen so quickly.

Lord Cyrus was likely already attempting to undermine my position at the Academy, and I hadn't even been back for a full day yet. If my return to Solaria surprised him at all, he apparently didn't let it slow him down in the slightest.

Quickly, for I knew the master wouldn't wait for me forever, I dressed in the Academy's winter uniform. It was cold, but the skirt was reasonably long and made of a heavy enough material. We were permitted to wear leggings during the colder months, and I opted to take advantage of this. My old, familiar soft leather boots went on easily as well-broken boots should.

I straightened the collar of my shirt before stepping out into the hallway, shutting the door behind me. Through all of that, Rose hadn't woken up, and I wanted to let her sleep as much as she wished.

The master gave me an expectant look. “You are ready?”

“Yes. Let's go.”

I walked beside the master as we left the dorm building and headed across the inner garden paths, leading toward the administration building. Iron-gray clouds hung overhead in a great blanket, smothering the blue sky above. I sniffed the air and the scent of damp was strong; it would start raining soon.

The master stopped at the administration building's doors and muttered a passward. With an obliging click, the enchanted locks opened. Again, what should have been normal and natural to me felt ostentatious and wasteful. Did the locks need to function via magic? Was it truly so insulting for a mage to use a metal key, or gods forbid, an electronic keycard?

How much of Solaria's culture was built upon putting forth an unnecessary magical solution for problems that did not truly exist? I spent the past month and a half in a country where magic was uncommon, rare and quaint, where those who did possess magic often went for days or weeks or even months without evoking arcane forces.

If I hadn't trained with the Cabal, I would not have used magic at all while in Fialla. I wouldn't have needed to, but here in the Empire, I felt an oppressive tug against my soul. It was as if everything around me demanded payment, an invisible tithe rendered in mana's coin.

It was unpleasant, to say the least.

“Enter,” the master instructed.

I didn't bother to respond to him and walked into the admin building. I knew where the headmistress's office was, though I'd never had cause to go there before. One of the first things I did at the Academy was memorize the layout of the entire school. Passing through a half-dozen faculty and staff members performing their early-morning tasks, I opened the door—this one with a simple turning handle, thankfully—and walked into the outer office where the headmistress's secretary waited.

“Miss Alcyone, you are expected,” the woman told me. “Go on ahead.”

“Thank you,” I said, and stiffly bowed low in the Solarian style. It felt like a lifetime ago, the last time I'd bowed like that. It didn't feel natural any longer.

*

I was not surprised by what I would hear from the headmistress of the Academy.

“I'll get directly to the point. Lord Cyrus Alcyone, Head of the High House Alcyone of Solaria, has challenged the validity of your appointment to the Academy.”

I snorted. “On what grounds?”

“Your appointment was secured by Juno Alcyone, the former Head. An internal investigation by IPSB has discovered evidence that Juno Alcyone's Headship was obtained through fraudulent acts. Records obtained by IPSB indicate that the order of succession as laid down by Torin Alcyone had been violated by his son Janus—”

“That's nonsense,” I interrupted. My scowl deepened as I regarded the headmistress. “It was within Grandfather's power to change the order of succession if he wished!”

The headmistress sighed and sipped at a mug of tea. “Unfortunately, that is not correct. Janus Alcyone was only the acting Head of Household in the wake of Torin's untimely death, and thus would have had to bring the issue to table with all representatives of the House. From what I've been told, this didn't happen, and Lord Janus had the documents altered without consulting the lords and ladies of Alcyone.”

I hadn't anticipated this. If it was true, it gave Cyrus leverage I didn't think he had. Of course, Mother never told me about this. It was possible she didn't even know that her father altered records in order to elevate his daughter to lead the family.

“The agreement with your House to cover the cost of your tuition is now in question,” the old woman continued, mistaking my silent contemplation for stunned shock. “The first and second terms have already been attended to, but if your House refuses to continue to pay…”

“Do I even want to know how much it is?”

The headmistress cackled without humor. “It would not cheer you in the slightest to know the exact number. Suffice to say it is considerable, and vastly beyond the breadth of your personal coffers, Miss Alcyone.”

I wasn't going to let that deter me. “What if I found another sponsor?”

“You speak of the Fiallan merchant house, Merope?”

“What?” My eyes narrowed dangerously. “How did you know that?”

“Your… less than proper relationship with Cassius Merope's daughter, Rose, is not unknown to us. Because the two of you have been unfailingly discreet in the past, we chose not to interfere. It is not the Academy's business to intrude into the personal lives of our students—”

“You're intruding now!” I snapped, my hands shaking with fury. “What Rose is to me is none of your business or anyone else's.”

The headmistress's glare went cold. “Our students' behavior is our business, as it reflects upon the Academy as a whole. However, I chose not to pursue disciplinary action. The Celestial Prophecy does not need our help enforcing their reactionary viewpoints.” She made a harsh spitting sound as she spoke the name of the Church. “So long as I did not receive complaints from scandalized young lords and ladies concerning steamy afternoon trysts deep in the library's reference section, I was content to let the issue pass.”

I didn't feel my face heat up at the rather pithy remark, which I took as a sign I was learning to keep my head in stressful situations. “If you're not going to do anything, why bring it up?”

“Because I would caution you strongly against requesting sponsorship from the Merope family, especially in light of your relationship with Rose Merope. In the current political climate, it has become quite difficult for business concerns to deal with the Fiallans, even when profit for the Empire is their only goal.”

I snarled inwardly, but kept my expression as neutral as I could. If public opinion was already turning against any association with Fiallan interests, even for the purposes of trade, a huge and seemingly arbitrary gift of coin from the Merope coffers would look extremely suspicious.

Closer scrutiny was the very last thing I needed, since in truth I'd come back to the Empire with the express purpose of breaking into the Panopticon. Until Yuka and Shion could make contact with the Antilight and convince them to help us, I had to keep up the charade. I had to act like I knew nothing, which meant I had no choice but to confront my great-uncle directly.

“Very well,” I said at last. “I will speak with Lord Cyrus on this matter.”

“The term has just begun, so you have some time, but I would not dawdle.” The headmistress fixed me with a piercing stare. “I am sure you understand that your chances of success are—”

“Nearly nonexistent, yes,” I cut her off.

“Indeed.”

“There's nothing I can do about who my parents are.” I held out a small, slender hand, looking upon it as if it were the first time. “I know that I don't have the same rights as a human citizen of Solaria. I know that every magistrate in the Empire will look more favorably upon Lord Cyrus than me, for no other reason than the tainted blood in my veins.”

“Yet you will do It regardless.”

“I don't have a choice.” My tone was blunt and forceful. “My fey parent was killed before I was born. House Alcyone has all but disowned me. Mother is the only family I have left.”

The headmistress's stare became quizzical. “Your quest is doomed to failure. Why did you not request asylum in Fialla? You were already there.”

I turned away and began to walk toward the door. Right as I started to open it, I turned and fixed the old woman with a cool, deliberate glare. “Headmistress, I just told you. Mother is all I have left. I have to help her. I have to try, even if it's futile. I'd never be able to forgive myself otherwise.”

“Then I wish you luck, for you will need it.”

The door shut behind me of its own accord.

More magic used for no good reason. The thought of it actually made me angry, and I was already feeling rather heated after my conversation with the headmistress. I held onto that anger; it was far more useful to galvanize me into action than despair, and action was desperately needed.

Cyrus was moving fast, adapting to my unexpected return to the Empire. He would, of course, eventually try to strip me of the Alcyone name, but if his lackeys in the IPSB presented the evidence of Grandfather's tampering with the order of succession, House Alcyone would have no legal obligation to continue paying my tuition. I would have to leave the Academy and return to the Alcyone manor, where I would be much more vulnerable. Of course at this point, that didn't matter. I had to put up a pretense of fighting him as if my future depended upon it—at least until the operation to liberate Mother began.

By the time I was outside, I glanced at the clock tower and made a note of the time. I almost tried to pull the multicom from my pocket, but recalled that it was turned off and sealed away in an enchanted pouch at the bottom of my travel satchel. I couldn't contact Rose… but there was someone else I could confide in.

I let my consciousness drift into the currents of magic that flowed through the land, reaching out for that familiar echo. It didn't take long to find it.

[Lily? Is everything okay?] Yuka's soul whispered.

[Lord Cyrus is challenging Mother's claim to her previous position,] I sent back, frowning as I opened my eyes and gazed out over the Academy gardens. Here, in this place of learning that was relatively removed from daily life in the Empire, I felt a degree of safety. Cyrus was going to do everything he could to strip that from me. [IPSB discovered—or fabricated, though it doesn't matter which—evidence that my grandfather tampered with the order of succession.]

[Oh, no.]

[How is everything on your end?]

I felt a ripple of frustration from Yuka's spirit. [Progress has been slow. We've made contact with the Antilight cell in the Crone's Cane, but…]

[What is it?]

[Willow Corvus has pledged her forces to our cause,] Yuka continued, [but her messages to the command structure have gone unanswered. She has done her best to keep this information a secret from her people.]

A cold sensation of bleakness descended upon me. If the leadership of the Antilight was not responding to her messages, it could mean any number of things, none of which were good. If only Willow's cell were to come to our call, we would barely have enough forces to take the prison.

There's… another… way.

The soul-freezing chill… Eiri's legacy was tugging at my emotions again. The spirit blade ached to grant my wishes, no matter how impossible they were. I could almost understand the relic's murmurings, and sitting just beyond the cusp of comprehension was maddening. I wondered, briefly, if I should put aside my misgivings and trust in what she left behind.

Yes.

[Keep trying to contact the rebel leadership,] I responded after a long pause. [If we can't get more, we'll just have to make do with what we have.]

[Understood.] There was something in the resonance that was akin to a smile, but it was a little bit sad. [I miss you, Lily.]

[I miss you, too.]

Yuka's soul sent ripples of paired amusement and longing. [I love you. Stay safe.]

The connection receded, and I was left in the gardens of the Academy once again, alone. My shoulders trembled, but not from the temperature. It was cold outside, but the garden paths were edged with hearth blossoms. The pretty reddish-orange flowers looked like large candle flames, and they radiated enough heat to keep the gardens pleasantly balmy.

I recalled a class from the previous term, focused on the intersection of magic and nature. The two forces existed alongside one another, and occasionally their paths would converge. Hearth blossoms were a common example of such things in Solaria. Commoner and highborn families alike often kept them in earthenware pots, to keep their homes heated in the winter.

Standing here on the path, gazing at the hearth blossoms, I felt an odd kinship with these little flowers.

Chapter 28
Accelerated Decay

The exhaustion I remembered after spending days in classes at the Academy seemed to be so far away, as if it had happened to someone else and not me. I allowed myself a small, satisfied smile; apparently my training at the Cabal had toughened me up in a number of ways.

Rose noticed my apparently good mood and batted white lashes at me. We'd left the Academy grounds for the first time since the new term began. I suppose I should have felt nervous at stepping outside of the Academy's protective sphere of influence, but I didn't think Lord Cyrus would try anything particularly devious in Naara.

“Can't you just, like—” Rose paused to take a huge bite of her savory pasty and made a face. I'd already made my way through half of mine, and it tasted fine to me, if a little bit mild. My Fiallan partner seemed to be offended at the fact that it wasn't even the slightest bit spicy. “—I dunno, take him out during this meeting and be done with it? Would make everything a lot easier.”

“No, it wouldn't,” I ground out. “As I've already told you, my great-uncle is a master hydromancer. Not nearly as powerful as Mother, but enough that I know I'd be badly outmatched even if he were my only opponent.” I cast Rose a sidelong glare and sipped at my coffee. “He's not going to come to this meeting alone. He'll have guards with him, and there's no way I can—”

“Not even with…?” Rose hinted, tracing the outline of a sword with her fingertips.

I sighed. “I don't… I still can't understand how to use it properly. Yuka said it would… take more time, because I never knew Eiri. I was able to understand Yuka so quickly because… because, um, well, you know—” I broke off, feeling my cheeks grow hot.

Rose snorted with laughter at my discomfiture.

“I'm trying,” I said defensively. “It's… confusing, sometimes.”

“I know, and I'm sorry. It's hard to resist teasing you, though. You're so cute when you get flustered.”

I sighed again. “Will I ever get used to this? To any of this?”

“Yes,” Rose said without any hesitation whatsoever. “You've already changed so much and you know it. I can see it in your eyes, in the way you walk, the way you speak.” A proud expression dominated her features as she regarded me. “My homeland gave you a precious gift and I'm so happy to see how you've made the best use of it you can.”

Unwilling to let Rose see how her unabashed praise was affecting me, I made a show of being very interested in my pasty. The food was good, and it was one of the few things about returning to Solaria that actually did make me feel less out-of-sorts. Mother had never been a good cook, but she made a point to learn how to make the small, self-contained sandwiches because I loved them so much.

Mother would take the scraps that nobody wanted, because nobody would notice. The amount of meat I seemed to require had been something of a minor scandal within the family—proof of my inhuman nature, they claimed—so Mother would do her best to feed me herself. I grew up on pasties filled with belly of pork and shin of beef, slow-roasted and covered in a dark and salty, garlicky glaze that was so wildly different from Solarian food that she likely picked it up from Eiri.

“This would be good filled with Fiallan goat curry, I think,” I murmured absently as I chewed.

Rose blinked, then a grin spread across her face. “That's brilliant. I'll have to tell Dad. Think this place would give me the recipe for the crust?”

“It's Solarian food,” I reminded her. “The crust is probably just wheat flour and water and butter, kneaded and folded over and over.”

“Good point. No wonder your mom's people are such assholes. I'd be angry all the time, too, if I had to eat food this bland day in and day out.”

“You're already angry about it,” I pointed out.

“This country sucks, and not just because it's full of pricks who want to conquer mine.”

I gave Rose a warning look. “Be careful what you say. There are ears everywhere, and they're already going to be paying you special attention.”

“Right. Sorry.” Her expression shifted subtly and I could tell that her mild annoyance with the Empire's culinary deficiencies had been replaced with concern for me. “I wish I could be in there with you.”

“He'd never allow it,” I murmured. “You wouldn't make it two steps in the door before he'd have you thrown out.”

“I know. I'll be in the taproom. If anything suspicious happens, I'm going to—”

“Rose. Please. Calm down, relax. I have to talk to him, keep him focused on me. Our mission depends on it.” I leaned closer to her, suppressing the very real desire to kiss her, and spoke very softly into her ear. “If anything goes wrong, I trust you'll do what you do best.”

A wicked little grin that would ordinarily be concerning spread across Rose's face.

“Oh, I will.”

*

The meeting room was warded against seeking spells and other forms of magical surveillance, but I couldn't tell how complete or secure the protections truly were. I didn't have time to check, either, because the door opened and four men walked into the room. All wore very fine clothing, emblazoned with the seal of House Alcyone.

The last person to enter was my great-uncle himself, Lord Cyrus. He looked far older than I remembered, though it had only been a few years since I saw him last. He looked nothing at all like Mother, who had taken after my grandmother. There was only a slight resemblance between Cyrus and his brother Janus, my grandfather. His height was somewhat less than the Alcyone average and he possessed finer, more aristocratic features. Though he was quite old for a Solarian, having lived through at least seventy summers, he maintained an impressive level of physical fitness.

Cyrus could not quite keep the sneer off his face when he laid eyes upon me, but it was only visible for a fraction of a second before he managed to control his expression. He had the same blue eyes as Mother, but his burned with a cold, cruel fire. Unlike most of my male family members, Cyrus chose to grow a meticulously-groomed beard, heavily streaked with gray.

My great-uncle lifted his hand in a silent command. The three House Guard mages moved to take up defensive positions near the door.

“Lord Cyrus,” I greeted in a neutral tone.

“I must say, I am surprised that you have returned,” Cyrus observed, skipping the usual sort of pleasantries that should have been second nature to the Head of a high House. He didn't try to hide his distaste for me, despite his bland expression. “I fully expected you to take advantage of the opportunity to distance yourself from House Alcyone, but… here you are.”

“It was just a vacation,” I replied, trying to keep my voice earnest. “I wished to see more of the world outside the Empire. Of course I would return to continue my education.”

“Do not insult my intelligence.” Cyrus's expression darkened. “You've always been a terrible liar, Lily. Just like your mother.” He placed his fingertips together upon the table and fixed me with a piercing glare. “Tell me why you've returned.”

I met his glare with one of my own. “You know why.”

“You had to have known that returning would make no difference whatsoever,” Cyrus continued without missing a beat. “You are the daughter of an accused traitor to the Empire, a woman who profited from my dear brother's felonious conspiracy to deny me the position I had been raised to inherit. All of that would be more than enough for the Imperial Court to view your position with a jaundiced eye, but of course, there's more.”

“You thought I would abandon Mother to her death and hide from you in Fialla?” I countered with a great deal of scorn in my voice.

“I thought you would have been intelligent enough to realize it was your only chance of survival, but perhaps I overestimated you.” The coldness in Cyrus's eyes doubled and redoubled and he glared at me with unrestrained enmity. “There is nothing you can do to save her. My dear niece has sealed her own fate. Now that you've returned, there's nothing you can do to save yourself—or that debased Fiallan whore you gave yourself to.”

My lips curled into a snarl. “Don't.”

“'Don't?' My dear, it's already done. I did not come here today to argue with you about your appointment to the Academy or your tuition payments. I came here to lure you into the open… and you took the bait oh-so-eagerly.”

Cyrus raised a hand. The three House Guard mages came forward, and it was at that moment that I realized they weren't just some of the family's hired soldiers. All three men cast aside their blue over-robes emblazoned with the Alcyone sigil, and two of them drew short blades that glinted with the telltale watery pattern of corrupted aetherium.

They were IPSB agents. I was in trouble.

“Lily Alcyone, daughter of Juno Alcyone, you are hereby placed under arrest for the crimes of attempted defection, attempted espionage and aiding an enemy of the Empire,” one of the IPSB agents informed me. The one who hadn't drawn a blade took a step closer. “Stand. Place your hands behind your back and prepare to receive restraints.”

I didn't move.

“Lily, you really should cooperate,” Cyrus said in an airy, self-satisfied tone. “If you resist, they will ensure you are no longer capable of resistance. It will not be comfortable, I assure you. Your paltry barrier won't last five seconds against disrupting blades.”

I stood up, pushing the chair out from behind me.

“Look on the bright side, my dear.” A smug smile wormed its way across his face as he continued to speak. “You will soon be reunited with your beloved mother—though it will be through the bars of your cell, of course.”

The unarmed IPSB agent drew a pair of metal shackles from his satchel. I could sense the magic throbbing through them; if they were placed on my wrists, I would be unable to so much as speak without receiving a debilitating jolt.

He wasn't going to get close.

I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath, and opened myself up fully to Eiri's legacy.

Violet-black flames erupted from my right hand and the sword came to my call. To the IPSB agent's credit, he immediately backpedaled and drew his own blade, dropping into a defensive stance with the practiced ease of the well-trained.

It wasn't sufficient.

The blade's potent necromantic energies split his body in twain as I swept it around in a vicious flat arc. The man's expression didn't even have time to change before he was dead, the two halves of his corpse falling to the ground with a muffled thud.

“Th-that—that power!” Cyrus gasped, features twisted with horrified astonishment. He fell back a step, his face having gone absolutely white. “No. How can this be possible?! You… you should be dead!”

I swept the spirit blade around and jabbed the tip toward him.

“I told you to stop.” Gritting my teeth, I prepared to drive the preternaturally-keen point of the sword through his heart. “You didn't listen.”

The shock on my great-uncle's face was replaced with black fury so deep that I was momentarily taken aback. His fingers twitched and I felt magic at work; thick, conjured mist rose up around him, enveloping his body, and the contingency spell activated. There was a flash of brilliant arcane energies and Cyrus was gone, whisked away from danger through the flow of the ley lines.

The two remaining IPSB agents didn't let the death of their fellow or the sudden departure of the Lord of House Alcyone slow them down. I adjusted and parried one, two, three rapid strikes, one after another. Both men danced back out of the range of my counters, then charged forward again to deliver another flurry of easily-deflected blows.

They weren't trying to hit me; they were trying to use the magic-disrupting properties of their swords to drain me of energy. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't working.

A prominence of enervation crackled in my free hand and I sent the seething orb of shadowy death directly toward the agent furthest from me. His training kicked in, and he switched stances rapidly to use his disrupting blade to block the spell, to cause it to fail before it could drain his life-force from his body.

The agent's surprise was total when his blade crumbled into useless black dust—and the spell, albeit diminished somewhat by his attempt to deflect, slammed into his midsection. Crawling arcs of violet-black erupted over his entire body. The thread of his life was abruptly severed and the corpse fell heavily to the floor.

Horror distorted the features of the last living IPSB agent. He knew now what he faced, what he was up against. Cyrus had undoubtedly told his pets that I had miinari heritage, but Cyrus did not know how much I'd learned from Shion and the Cabal, nor did he know that I possessed Eiri's spirit blade. He had no idea he was facing a true necromancer.

Now I'd been forced to tip my hand. Cyrus knew enough of what I was to give him all of the justification he needed to destroy me. For a moment I wondered if I hadn't erred in defending myself. It was too late to speculate, though. The die was cast and I had no choice but to keep moving forward.

“N-necromancer,” the man whimpered, stepping back. He was too frightened to comprehend the conflicted emotions warring for supremacy on my face. The disrupting blade fell from nerveless fingers. “S-stay away from me, monster!” With violently-trembling hands, he made a warding sign signifying the sigil of Light. “B-b-back! I-in the holy name of the One True God, the Celestial One, I r-rebuke you!”

The deity of Solaria either could not hear or chose to ignore his plea. I sighed with more weariness than I thought possible. Just a flick of the wrist and the spirit blade swept out, slashing the agent's throat. With an act of will, I dismissed the miinari relic, sending it back into the tiny sub-reality in which it existed. The tugging I felt upon my soul lessened with the “distance,” but I could still sense the murmured whispering I didn't quite understand.

They felt… oddly apologetic. As if the relic itself felt responsible for Cyrus's escape. Beyond that sensation of disappointment, I could feel a deep, dark hatred and desire for vengeance that was not my own.

I glanced at my hands and winced. Using my magic openly like that had released the dark mana within my soul, and small residual motes clung to my body. I had to disperse it, else I'd become a beacon for every IPSB agent in Naara.

There was a sudden, violent impact against the door and I flinched, backpedaling slightly. Magic came to my fingertips easily, but as the door itself was destroyed in a tremendous concussion, I realized I had nothing to worry about.

It was Rose.

“Lily, what in the Yawning Hells—?” She broke off and stared at the dead IPSB agents, already rapidly deteriorating from the corruption. Her eyes were wide. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you at all?”

“N-no,” I mumbled.

Darkness was creeping around the edges of my vision. A wave of dizziness slammed into me with enough metaphorical force to cause a stumble. Before I could fall, Rose was beside me, supporting me with her strong arms.

“You used it again, didn't you,” she noted.

I nodded weakly. “Had no choice.”

“We need to get out of here. Come on.” Rose's eyes narrowed and she shook my shoulder. I barely felt it through the endless shadows that seemed to pour out, enveloping my awareness in a velvety blackness. “Lily, hello? Stay with me, please! Don't pass out on me yet—”

“S-sorry,” I managed only seconds before the darkness overtook me.

Chapter 29
Reaching Into Light

The first sensation I recognized was pain. My head ached abominably. As my eyes opened, slowly, struggling to pull my consciousness back into the world, agony blossomed bright at my temples and I groaned aloud. My surroundings were a dark, indistinct blur, and all I could smell was an odd sort of cool and dry stagnation.

“You're awake.”

That voice!

“Um… I am. I think.”

I blinked away the bleariness in my eyes—or at least attempted to—and my vision cleared enough to see Yuka's face. She wasn't smiling. Her expression had relaxed, but I could tell she had been extremely distraught. Her ruby eyes glimmered with unshed tears.

“I was so worried,” Yuka mumbled, her voice cracking slightly with emotion. “When Rose brought you here, you were so deeply comatose that we… we feared you wouldn't wake up.” She managed a brave smile and ran her fingertip across my cheek. “I can't even describe how relieved I feel.”

I tried to sit up, but realized my muscles felt incredibly stiff, and ended up doing little but falling back into Yuka's lap. My whole body ached as if it hadn't been used in ages. Even my voice sounded scratchy and hollow in my own ears.

“How long was I unconscious?”

“Four days,” Yuka replied.

“What?!” I recoiled in shock. I suspected I'd been out of it for a while, I knew wielding the spirit blade like that would drain me, but four days? “What happened after I lost consciousness? Where even is this place? Where's Rose?”

Yuka didn't seem perturbed by my rapid-fire demands. She pursed her lips and shook her head slowly. “Lily, you need to eat and drink something. Now. You've not had any water or food for nearly a week. I'll answer your questions after you attend to your needs.”

I opened my mouth to object, but the expression on Yuka's face told me I should not push my luck. She eased my head out of her lap and lay me back upon the bedroll I'd apparently been occupying for days.

“I'll be right back with something for you,” Yuka promised.

I nodded slowly and watched as she made her way across the dimly-lit cellar—for now that I could see well enough, I could tell we were in some sort of underground bunker or basement. There was an angled set of steps affixed to one of the stone walls, and Yuka went up, out of the cellar and into… whatever was above.

While Yuka was gone, I took a moment to study my surroundings. It was not especially easy to process information after going four days without food or water, but I had little else to occupy myself until Yuka returned.

The cellar was filled with wooden racks containing bottle after bottle of wines. Nearly all were expensive Solarian vintages. I couldn't see the labels from here, but judging by the presence of so much wine and the way the stone walls around us felt almost alive…

Of course! We were in the wine cellar of the cliffside café. The stonework foundation was fairly saturated with earth mana, components of the spells that protected the building from erosion and other natural forces.

How we managed to end up down here was another story entirely, and one I would have to hear from Yuka when she returned. I didn't have long to wait, for within a few minutes the hatch leading to the cellar opened and Yuka descended the wooden staircase.

I sniffed the air, catching a deliciously savory scent, and my stomach growled in response. She was carrying a rather weighty cloth bundle, and her other hand held a clear glass bottle filled with water. Before I could ask what she'd brought, Yuka unwrapped the bundle and set it down in front of me. Inside was three meat-filled pasties, the crisp crust of each glistening with a liberal dousing of butter.

“Eat,” Yuka ordered.

She did not have to tell me twice. I picked up one of the pasties and took as big a bite as I dared from the corner. It was pleasantly warm, but not so hot it would burn my mouth. The sweet, savory flavor of onions browned in butter mingled with slow-cooked shin of beef. I felt ravenous and begun to tear into the meal with a complete lack of table manners.

Yuka watched in silence as I ate. Each bite brought me closer to renewed strength, and after I'd polished off two of the pasties and begun to work on the third, the dizziness was passed. I paused long enough to gulp down a third of the water bottle in one long swallow.

“Thank you,” I said.

“None are necessary. I'm just so glad you're okay, Lily.”

I took a bite from my pasty, chewed and swallowed. “Want to fill me in on what happened?”

“Of course.” Yuka brushed a lock of hair from her face. I noticed for the first time that she was not very clean, and her face was smudged in places with dirt and dried blood.

“You were down here with me the whole time, weren't you?”

She nodded. The dark circles under her eyes became more visible. “Someone needed to watch over you, someone strong enough to protect you if we were found. Rose was… too restless, so I sent her away with Shion to find us a way out of Naara.”

“Weren't you and Shion meeting with—”

“Were. The conversation was… not especially fruitful,” Yuka interrupted. “Willow Corvus remains willing to work with us—from what I gather, several of her own people are being held in the same prison as your mother.” She frowned and adjusted her glasses again, though they hadn't been moved out of place. “Unfortunately, we were not able to secure further support.”

I shivered and bit off another chunk of pasty. I couldn't say I was terribly shocked. The rebels hadn't gotten as far as they had by taking chances. They were content to wait until the war against Fialla began and much of the Empire's forces were pulled away from home.

“The good news is that Willow Corvus hasn't been barred from assisting us,” Yuka continued. I popped the last bit of buttery crust into my mouth and she smiled, wiping a crumb off the corner of my lips. “Her forces have already been deployed for the operation on the prison and are awaiting our arrival.”

“They're testing us?” I muttered with a scowl. “Trying to determine if we're useful enough to bother with as allies, then?”

Yuka frowned. “It seems that way.”

“Lord Cyrus knows what I'm capable of now. He… tried to have me taken into custody by his people in IPSB, but I killed them.” I shivered, pausing just long enough to take several long swallows of water. “I don't know what he'll do now that he knows.”

“Do you think he knows of our plans?”

I shook my head. “No, I think… I think he thinks I'm here to kill him. He knows I have Eiri's spirit blade, but he doesn't know what it is or how it works. He doesn't know I trained with the Cabal in Fialla, but he saw me use necromancy that I shouldn't have been able to use. It must have felt the same as Eiri's.”

Yuka's head tilted to one side in query.

“I think he's afraid the enmity of Eiri's dead soul has filled me, that I have become an instrument of her vengeance.”

My companion looked baffled. “Why would he believe such a thing?”

“He doesn't know anything but the same fanciful taproom tales of dark fairies that we all grew up hearing.” I waved a hand vaguely and pressed my fingers to my throbbing temples. It hurt quite a bit less now that I'd eaten, but I still felt awful. Drained. Every time I used the spirit blade, it drank deeply of the aether inside me. “He doesn't know anything about the miinari, and like most Solarians, he was taught his whole life to fear their power. As soon as he recognized Eiri's power, he fled.”

Yuka didn't respond to that.

“I can't say for certain he hasn't anticipated our plans,” I mused, more to fill the silence than anything else. “I do know he won't be able to interfere with us again for some time. The matter of the dead IPSB agents isn't something he can so easily cover up.”

“Would he not simply tell them the truth?”

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “No. What he tried to do today was just on the cusp of illegality. If I'd cooperated and surrendered myself, or the agents detained me through force, Lord Cyrus could have smoothed things over without too much trouble.”

“Lord Cyrus witnessed you kill them,” Yuka objected. “Could he not say as much?”

“Not without revealing his part in their deaths. The IPSB is supposed to be impartial, at least in theory. In actual practice, House loyalties are strong. Much of the IPSB cadre is made up of sons and daughters of high Houses. So long as these arrangements are kept hidden, the Imperial Court turns a blind eye.”

“The men you killed…”

I nodded. “They were either family members or wards of House Alcyone. My great-uncle will be busy for a time, trying to come up with a more plausible explanation for their deaths.” My lips twisted into a strange sort of half-smile, half-grimace. “Not to mention always peering over one shoulder and paying very close attention to strange shadows.”

Yuka's features twisted with worry. “I hope you're right.”

“With luck,” I said, attempting to sound more confident than I felt, “we will have taken the prison and rescued Mother before he finds his courage again.”

There was a sound of boots scuffing overhead and the hatch leading to the cellar opened. Both Yuka and I peered from our shadowed corner as a tall figure descended the wooden stairs. The shock of wavy white curls and the sensation of warmth put me on ease immediately.

“Rose!”

Shutting the cellar hatch behind her, Rose fairly leaped from the stairs and nearly bowled me over with a hug that was more akin to a tackle than anything else. I yelped, partly from surprise and partly from the pain of my sore muscles.

“Gods, Lily,” Rose breathed, “you're okay. You're okay.”

“Y-yeah, I'm fine.”

“We all thought you were… that you might—” She broke off and her eyes were filled with tears that quickly streaked unheeded down her cheeks. “I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried when you passed out and didn't wake up.”

I shrugged helplessly. “I still can't seem to use the sword without draining my soul of every last mote of aether. I thought that… the training would have helped more than that, but I guess I'm still not strong enough.”

“You reckless, stupid girl,” Rose blubbered, sniffling loudly as she buried her face in my neck. “I was so scared, terrified that I'd lose you forever.” She took a deep breath, and I could feel the dampness of her tears on my skin. “I can't believe I let you walk into a trap like that. I should have been with you, should have stayed closer so I could have protected you!”

I brushed my fingertips through her hair, which was much cleaner than either Yuka's or mine, and did not smell of stale sweat and dust. But then again, Rose hadn't been locked in a wine cellar for four days.

“It's not your fault, love. I should have guessed Cyrus would try something like that.”

“I don't wish to rush either of you,” Yuka interjected, “but we must consider our next move, now that Lily has awakened.”

“Yeah.” Rose nodded and reluctantly pulled herself away from me, but not too far. She let a trembling hand rest upon my thigh. “Shion and I made arrangements with the Coalition smugglers, the same ones who brought us here. We've got to get to their airship tonight, and we've got to do it without being spotted.”

“What good will that do us?” I asked. “Aren't they returning to the Coalition?”

“Yes, but we can get off before they cross the border. With the proper inducements, the captain was perfectly willing to make some minor adjustments to his flight path. Judging by the maps it'll put us about a kilometer or so away from where Willow's forces are mustered.”

My eyes widened in horror. “By 'get off' you mean—jump? From a f-flying airship?!”

“Yes,” Rose answered, “but just remember that we're all mages. It's not like we're going to get hurt or anything.”

“B-but—”

“Lily, what's wrong?” Yuka's slender arms encircled my waist and she leaned against my back. I felt myself go limp, as if I were a kitten grabbed by the scruff of my neck. “Could it be that you're afraid of heights?”

I tried to sink into the floor as I nodded. No use in hiding it at this point.

“I know it's scary,” she crooned into my ear, “but just remember that you won't be alone. Rose will be with you and I will be with you. Shion will also be with us. No matter what happens, we won't let anything happen to you.”

I shook my head vehemently. “No. I'm not going to jump out of an airship.”

“We don't have a choice if we want to rescue your mom,” Rose said. “It's the only way we can get out of Naara without having to go through IPSB checkpoints—and they'll sense the dark mana in your body the minute you come close.”

“You can close your eyes and hold onto me,” Yuka added. “I'll make sure we reach the ground safely. I promise.”

Trembling like a leaf caught in gale-force winds, I tried to nod and look confident, but I'm certain I failed. Rose and Yuka both brought themselves close to me, kissing each of my cheeks at the same time. It was as if a sort of magic had been worked, one that had nothing at all to do with aether, and I felt the dread lessen just slightly.

“I—I don't deserve either of you,” I blurted. “Why would you go so far for my sake? Risking your lives like this—”

“Because we love you,” Rose interrupted.

“Very much,” Yuka added.

My cheeks grew warm as both of them broke out into a fit of giggles.

“H-hey!”

Rose was the first to recover from the much-needed easing of tension, and a sly smile crossed her face. “Go upstairs, both of you. The room on the north corner is Shion's; it's unlocked. There's a bath ready and waiting for the both of you. Fresh change of clothes, too.”

An indignant expression crinkled Yuka's features. “Are you trying to tell us that we are not fit to be seen in public?”

“Smelled, more likely. Sticking to the shadows won't do us much good if they catch a whiff of the two of you slipping past,” Rose quipped, and hastily ducked to avoid a wadded-up tissue thrown by Yuka.

Chapter 30
The Viridian Sea

Rose's snark notwithstanding, I did feel a lot more like myself after a hot soak to wash away the days of sweat and grime. My hair, fortunately, avoided sustaining too much damage as I kept it cut fairly short. A quick rinse and wash, plus a few drops of scented oils had it back to normal.

Yuka's hair took a bit more doing, but after giving it the same sort of treatment it was back to its usual glossy black shimmer. The two of us wore similar clothing: dark gray pants made from heavy cloth paired with long-sleeved charcoal half-tunics that would help us vanish into the shadows more easily. Both articles were studded with pockets both large and small, and were fitted close to our bodies to lessen the chance of snagging on anything we brushed past.

I made the observation that they looked like thieves' garments, and Shion confirmed that my suspicions were entirely correct.

“I look like a second-story artist,” I grumbled.

Shion plucked at my sleeve. “Better than looking like terrorists, right?”

“Not that it'll matter. Once we breach the outer wall, the guards aren't going to care what we're dressed like. They'll try to kill us regardless.” Rose offered me a smile that put me a little more at ease. She, too, wore the same sort of clothing designed with concealment in mind. Her white hair was a little obvious, so she secured it into a tight bun and plopped a rather drab, if somewhat rakish-looking, hat upon her head.

“Well? How do I look?”

“Like a depressed, poverty-stricken bard,” I said in a deadpan tone.

Rose laughed.

The hold of the airship was not especially cold or quiet, but fortunately it was private, as our hosts opted not to disturb us once we were in the air. The four of us sat upon crates that were lashed down tightly to the deck.

With little else to pass the time, we went over the plan to make absolutely certain we all understood our part in it. Willow Corvus's forces would assault the guardhouse directly, breach the outer defenses and give us an opening with which to slip inside. Her part in the assault hinged greatly on her magic and a stockpile of contraband aetherium to fuel it.

While the Panopticon stood upon a patch of blighted land, the aetherium would allow Willow and her people to continually cast spells even in the absence of ley lines. The Antilight assault on the exterior of the gates would draw the prison's defenders to that point. Willow would use her magic to raise the corpses from the old catacombs beneath the prison, hitting the guards from behind with undying warriors.

The psychological impact of facing a force of zombies, signifying the presence of a powerful necromancer, would weaken the defenders' resolve as they fought against rebel fighters equipped with disrupting weapons. The prison's own supply of aetherium would be strained trying to defend against the rebels and Willow's zombie army.

During the confusion, the four of us would play our role in the attack. We would find Mother and rescue her, then retreat as quickly and stealthily as we could. Willow had no intention of holding the prison, but she would free every last rebel that was held there before retreating into the thick forests surrounding the facility.

“Just remember,” Shion said to Rose directly, “the fear you feel when facing zombies isn't anything to worry about. You have to push through it, past it. They're on our side, but you'll still feel unnerved.”

“I feel somewhat singled out,” Rose joked.

“Singled out?” I echoed.

Shion nodded. “Neither you nor Master Shimizu—”

Yuka scowled. “Yukari. I told you I hate that title.”

“As you wish.” Their lips split into a wide grin, baring rows of perfect white teeth. “Those of us with a dark Aspect will be unaffected by the unsettling aura produced by undead. This is something Rose has to deal with. We can't ward her against it with our magic.”

I didn't like that, and I was certain my expression reflected that. It was going to be difficult enough to face the Panopticon's defenders without Rose having to worry about necromantic auras distracting her.

A stray memory occurred to me. Maybe we did have something that could help. “What about that warding amulet you carry?”

Shion gave me a blank look.

“The one you set me up to break a spell on,” I clarified. “Do you still have it?”

“Shit. I'd forgotten about that.” The other mage shook their head in wonderment and reached into their satchel. A moment later, Shion withdrew the light-infused pendant and held it out for Rose to see.

“That's the emblem of the Celestial Prophecy,” Rose observed, studying the insignia with a marked amount of trepidation.

“We took it off of one of their spies sent to infiltrate the Cabal.” Shion handed the amulet to Rose. Unlike the rest of us, Rose had no real connection to dark mana, and so the ward's magic woke at her touch. “If you wear it, it'll protect you from most types of dark magic. It should also keep the necromantic aura from reaching your heart.”

I could see an uncertain look in Shion's eyes, and apparently Rose noticed it, too. She held the ward, but didn't slip it over her head just yet.

“There's a catch, isn't there?”

“It doesn't discriminate,” Yuka explained. “The ward will 'protect' you from dark magic. All dark magic, even that which could be beneficial. If you wear the amulet, none of us will be able to use our spells to aid you directly.”

Rose frowned at that, but I placed a hand on hers and nodded. “I think you should.”

“But then none of you can—”

“I know, but it feels… right. Your Aspect is strong, and you can wield other types of mana well enough to make up for the lack.”

Yuka and Shion were both regarding me curiously, but I ignored them and kept my focus on Rose, who seemed somewhat less reluctant now. After a moment's additional consideration, she nodded and slipped the pendant over her head. The piece of enchanted jewelry came to rest against her collarbone, and I abruptly lost all sense of her flame. If I hadn't been sitting next to her on the crate, I would have thought she vanished into thin air.

“Did it work?” Rose's brow furrowed and her nose crinkled. “I don't feel different.”

I nodded. “It worked. I can't sense your magic any longer.”

Rose's fingertips ran across the amulet's surface and she shrugged. I offered her a comforting smile, but it quickly turned alarmed as the floor seemed to drop out from under me. My stomach lurched, and for a terrible moment I thought we were falling out of the sky.

“Relax, little red lily. We're just descending.” Neither Rose nor any of my other companions looked as if anything out of the ordinary had happened. “It means we're coming up on the drop zone. The cargo bay door will open soon, and then we jump.”

I swallowed hard and tried not to imagine how high off the ground we currently were.

Shion and Yuka both slipped off the crate they sat upon. I watched as Rose and her old friend spent a few moments checking their gear. When Yuka sidled up next to me and wrapped her arms around me, I nearly sagged to the deck with relief.

“Door is opening,” a scratchy, metallic voice called over the intercom.

“I've got you, Lily,” Yuka murmured into my ear. “I won't let you go.”

There was a loud whirring sound as the airship's cargo door servos began to actuate. A great rush of wind filled the interior of the cargo bay as the hatch lowered, and a klaxon began to blare as it did so. It was far too noisy for further conversation.

Shion went first. They strode out to the edge of the open hatch and dropped out of the airship with a casual ease that told me this wasn't their first experience with such things. Rose followed suit, stepping out into the sky as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I squeezed my eyes shut and desperately tried to arrest my out-of-control heartbeat. It was our turn. Yuka released me from the embrace and clasped my hand tightly.

One step, one more step. One step after another. Yuka guided me to the edge—

We were falling.

My heart skipped a beat, and then another. Terror and panic gripped me. My arms and legs flailed uselessly, desperately trying to claw for purchase and I opened my mouth to scream… and found that I couldn't.

Wonderful warmth and softness forced my eyes open. I couldn't see the airship. I couldn't see the dark sky as we plummeted toward the ground. All I could see were Yuka's eyes gazing into mine, glimmering like twin rubies. All I could smell was her scent, and all I could feel was her embrace as she held me close and kissed me.

I shut my eyes again and kissed back, urgently. Yuka's lips smothered the fear and the panic. I was dimly aware that we seemed to be falling more slowly, but I didn't or couldn't care. There was only Yuka's kiss. Time lost meaning, and even the banshee shriek of the wind in my ears died away. I was transfixed.

When she finally pulled away from me, I stared at her in wide-eyed astonishment. We were on the ground, in a small clearing lined with weathered old stones. I could feel the earth beneath my feet, see the tall trees of the forest stretching out around us. My legs collapsed from under me, but strong, tawny arms caught me. I realized that we were all on the ground now. Shion stood some distance away, scanning our surroundings, but Rose was right beside me.

“See? You made it down in one piece,” she said.

“H-how did—” I blinked and stared at Yuka as she crowded in next to Rose. “What in the Yawning Hells g-gave you the idea to kiss me as we jumped from a flying airship?!”

Rose grinned impishly. “Guilty as charged, little red lily.”

“I wasn't entirely certain it would work, either,” Yuka admitted, biting her lower lip, “but Rose insisted that you were, um, prone to losing yourself within such moments.”

My cheeks warmed sharply. “You should know that already.”

“Um, well, there does seem to be a correlation here.” Now it was Yuka's turn to blush, and she adjusted her spectacles anxiously. Her gaze flicking to settle on Rose, who laughed uproariously and slapped the half-fey woman across the shoulders.

“When we get back to civilization, I'm taking you out for drinks.” Her lascivious expression only deepened Yuka's—and my—blush. “Do some girl-bonding, compare notes, maybe talk about all the cute noises she makes when you lick—”

I clapped my hands over my mouth in shock. “Rose, please!”

“Quiet down!” Shion hissed. “The three of you are loud enough to wake the dead—and Willow doesn't need your help!”

The reminder of where we were and what we were here to do put a very effective damper on the mood. Rose winked at me, but said nothing else, and Yuka did her best to assume a businesslike expression, even if she was still a little flushed.

“How long will we have to wait?” I asked.

Shion shrugged.

“No longer,” a familiar voice said from behind us.

All four of us turned at once, toward the southern edge of the clearing. As if stepping out of shadow itself, a tall and elegant lady mage with raven-black hair came into the moonlight. I couldn't see anyone else, but the rustling from behind—and the sharp, glimmering sense of refined aetherium—told me the rest of our forces had likewise arrived.

“Well met, Lily Alcyone.”

“It's good to see you again, Willow,” I said, smiling at her.

Willow Corvus looked rather different than the image I held in my mind. She was neither dressed in her beautiful archmage's gown, nor was she disguised as a simple peasant. This time, her torso and limbs were encased in a suit of lightweight half-plate armor that was so heavily enchanted it seemed less like metal and more like an extension of her body. At her left hip rode the hilt and pommel of a finely-crafted arming sword, and at her right hip was a holster containing a long-barreled revolver.

“Everything is in place?” Shion asked.

A not-so-distant rumble came from the west. I nearly jumped out of my skin as a series of blasts followed quickly after the first. It was not thunder. I tilted my head toward the sound, toward the direction of the prison.

The operation was underway.

“The defenders have already been engaged,” Willow confirmed. “From this clearing I will command the dead to fight at my side. Your route to the east wall should be clear.” She gestured toward a partially-obscured dirt path at the edge of the clearing's west side. “Follow the trail and you'll be able to slip in through the breach.”

My heart swelled with gratitude as I nodded to the necromancer. Thanks to her and her forces, I would be able to rescue my mother. I understood that we were being used the same way we used them, but the coldly pragmatic nature of our relationship couldn't dampen my mood now.

Soon, I would be able to see my mother again.

“Thank you.”

*

It didn't take us long to find the breach in the Panopticon's eastern wall. It wasn't large, and it had been intentionally created to look incidental, as if the fire spells launched at the prison's exterior were not so precisely aimed. I peered out from the edge of the forest. Yuka and Rose were beside me; none of us spoke, and none of us needed to.

Shion had split off a few minutes ago, heading for a small hillock near the northeastern “corner” of the Panopticon's circular outer wall. From there, they would weave spells of shadow into illusory soldiers massing on the prison's northern side. I felt a slight pang of worry, as they were alone, but Rose seemed plenty confident in her friend's abilities.

“It's clear,” Yuka whispered. Her eyes were half-closed as she focused her magic upon the section of the breached wall. “Let's go.”

With a swift, sure motion, I drew my dagger from its scabbard at the small of my back. During the planning phases, Rose and Yuka both insisted that I was not to wield Eiri's spirit blade unless there was absolutely no other options. I had to agree; while the relic was incredibly deadly and powerful, it drained my reserves of mana so quickly that I would become a liability shortly after using it.

The dagger Mother gave me was a potent weapon in its own right, and I felt comfortable relying upon it and my magic to protect me and to save her. I held my dagger in my left hand, the blade extending from the bottom of my fist in a reverse grip. It was a more defensive style that left my dominant hand free to wield my most potent weapon: my magic.

Yuka was armed, too—it was the first time I'd ever seen her wield a weapon. At her waist was sheathed an Eastern-style sword of a type I'd never seen until now. It was single-edged, longer than Eiri's spirit blade, with a gently curving blade that swept upward into a stout, chisel-like point perfect for penetrating armor. I frowned at her; she hadn't drawn the sword yet, even though we could be attacked at any moment.

“Aren't you going to ready your arms?” I asked, puzzled.

She chuckled and patted the hilt. “It is readied. My sword style centers on the art of unsheathing and attacking all in one motion.”

“Huh. I never would have guessed you were a swordswoman,” Rose murmured. “You didn't exactly strike me as the type.”

“I'll take that as a compliment,” Yuka replied graciously. Her eyes sharpened and she motioned toward the breach in the wall. “Enough chit-chat. Let's get moving.”

Rose went first, followed by me, with Yuka bringing up the rear. The three of us had worked out this order during the planning phase; it made the most sense for Rose to be up front, as she was the biggest and strongest, and her skills in weaponless hand-to-hand combat meant she had to get in close to be effective. When it came to close-quarters combat, I was the least of us, and once inside the prison proper, the magic available to me would be very limited. Without accessible ley lines present to replenish ourselves, we had to be careful.

The hole in the wall was not very large; it was a tight fit for Rose, but those of us with fey heritage found our small stature useful. After Rose squeezed her way through the breach, I followed, and Yuka slipped through a moment later.

And just like that, we were inside Panopticon.

“It's quiet,” Yuka observed, and I frowned. “I can't hear any footsteps.”

Rose shrugged. “The prison's big, and the assault on the main gates had to have drawn every defender they could possibly spare.” Another low rumble sounded in the distance, followed by several smaller detonations, shaking the ground beneath our feet. “Things are still exploding. The fighting must be getting intense.”

“Let's go find Mother,” I said, not quite able to keep the urgency out of my tone. I glanced at Yuka and Rose. I desperately wanted to seek her out, to let my soul drift through the concentric terraces of cells until I could sense her, but I dared not. The absence of ley lines was keenly felt; every mote of mana within my body was precious and could not be used lightly.

Besides, we already knew where she would be held. The Panopticon was arranged in such a way that all cells were visible from a single observation tower in the center of the amphitheater-shaped depression. There was a special cell in the center—the condemnation chamber, situated inside the central tower, directly beneath the observation platform. While the overseer could watch one side of every other cell in the prison from their tower, the prisoners did have a small measure of privacy behind the low wall in front of the toilet. The condemnation chamber was set up so that nothing could be hidden from sight.

Those who had been sentenced to death would spend their final days in that bleak, empty circular room, left with nothing but to contemplate the depth of their crimes against the Empire.

Chapter 31
Execution

The breach opened directly into a set of service tunnels underneath the prison. With the Antilight assault on the main gate underway, all non-essential personnel would have been evacuated to a safe fallback position. Our route to the central column should have been clear of non-combatants. We had no idea what sort of opposition we'd face; the informant was able to get Willow Corvus a map of the facility and pinpoint the location of the Antilight agents being held there, as well as the locations of aetherium reservoirs scattered throughout the complex.

Once inside the prison proper, it was eerily quiet. I found this a little strange, as I suspected the prisoners would have noticed the assault. It was hard not to hear the low rumblings of explosions in the distance. Had we been closer to the fighting, I imagined the air would be filled with the screams of the dying, the sharply-barked commands of squad leaders…

I shook my head, as if to physically clear it of distracting thoughts. That didn't matter. The Antilight was here for their own reasons, as were we. If everything went according to plan, none of us would even so much as encounter the rebel forces.

The tunnels underneath were cramped and narrow, lined with pipes carrying water and waste, as well as fat conduit lines filled with electrical cables. It was one of the most technologically-advanced facilities in the Empire more by necessity than choice. As the prison was constructed upon a swath of blighted land, non-magical methods were required. The Empire's technical expertise was limited, however, and the Panopticon's infrastructure systems seemed antiquated compared to what little I'd seen in Fialla.

Those members of IPSB's enforcement division who displayed mediocre or no magical talent were invariably sent to work the prison, where their lack would not be felt. Only a small handful of skilled mages were assigned to this place, acting as overseers. Like us, they would be limited to the magic they carried and forced to draw energy from portable aetherium reservoirs when the mana within their bodies was depleted.

It was difficult to suppress my arcane sight. Had I not spent weeks training with the Cabal, I would have had a much harder time of it. Judging by the way Rose and Yuka looked, they were experiencing similar trouble with keeping as much magic as possible tightly locked inside. On the upside, our parsimony also made it difficult for the prison mages to detect us through their own seeking spells.

“I don't like this at all,” Rose murmured.

I grimaced. “Who would?”

“That's not what I mean.” She gestured vaguely toward the corridor we just passed through, toward the branching tunnels ahead of us. “We haven't encountered a soul since we entered the prison. Surely they should have some guards remain behind to maintain order, right? They couldn't have possibly kept the entire prison population in the dark about being attacked.”

“It just means the plan worked,” I pointed out. “Remember, it's not just the rebels assaulting the gate, but also the false army from the north… and the zombies, too. Faced with such opposition, it's entirely possible the warden will order his forces to retreat through the south gate.”

Rose's dubious expression didn't change. “I still think something isn't right. This feels… too easy. Way too easy.”

“Just because things are going well doesn't automatically mean disaster will strike.” I shrugged and pointed toward the end of the tunnel, where it terminated in a heavy metal security door. “Let's stay focused on our objective. We need to get through this door; it opens up into a stairwell that leads to the fourth tier of the prison. There's a narrow retractable catwalk that leads from the mid-level security checkpoint to the inner wall.”

I'd studied the map of this facility until each line, each level, every hallway and cell was etched into my memory. The central column was encircled with a meter-thick, aetherium-infused stone wall that extended upward to the fourth tier, connecting to the catwalk in such a way that the guards would need to walk the wall's perimeter in order to reach the column. The inner wall had no gates or points of entry. The only way to make it in or out of the central tower was to use the catwalks, which were typically kept retracted when the prisoner inside was present. Surrounding the column itself, contained within the inner wall, was a very different sort of cell.

Rose stopped as we came to the door and eyed our newest obstacle critically. It was thick and armored, secured with a lock and three heavy steel bolts. Without the sort of magic available to us, this would have been nearly impossible to breach, short of setting high explosives.

“That is one solid door.” She frowned at the offending obstruction and glanced back at me before stepping aside. “Okay, Lily, time to earn your pay.”

“But I'm not getting paid,” I complained.

“No big deal,” Rose quipped. “None of us are.”

I suppressed a snicker and stepped up to the door itself. To a mage of any other Aspect, knocking this door down would be an exercise in truly awesome brute force. Not only was the door armored, but it was warded against impact, heat and cold. None of that mattered to me, however, and I reached within myself to draw forth a slender thread of darkness.

Violet-black lightning shot from my palm and struck the door. Closing my eyes, I carefully modulated the spell, feeling it out, increasing the energy just slightly. I could sense the necromantic energies suffusing the metal, undermining its structure, corrupting the fundamental forces that arranged themselves to form physical matter.

There was no great ringing clang of heavy steel collapsing, nor was there any rending shatter of hardened metal falling to pieces. When I opened my eyes, there was simply no door at all. A deep pile of fine black dust had buried the toes of my boots. Beyond the threshold was a stairwell that led up and one that led down, as well as a painted mark denoting the current floor on the opposing wall: B1.

Further conversation was suspended. Rose started up the stairs first and I followed not too closely behind, with Yuka hanging back about a meter or so. If we did encounter resistance at the security checkpoint, both Yuka and Rose would need room to fight without risking hitting each other or me.

I gripped Mother's dagger more tightly as the three of us ascended upward to the fourth tier of the prison. My soul felt strangely hollow, as if a portion of it had been excised and discarded. The degree to which a single spell had drained me of mana was deeply unsettling. I hoped that I wouldn't need to use any more magic, but I doubted that we would be so lucky.

*

The mid-level security checkpoint was abandoned, and it appeared to have happened abruptly, with little time to prepare. Chairs were left haphazardly pulled out, and a half-eaten but still warm pasty sat upon its wrapper, next to a messy stack of forms. Someone had left their jacket hanging on a peg near the wall, and the checkpoint's weapons locker had been opened and emptied out.

“They sure left in a hurry,” Rose observed as we looked around the small room. “The defenders must be in a bad way if they had to pull guards from the checkpoints.”

The checkpoint's weapons locker looked to have held four pistols and several magazines of spare ammunition. I traced a fingertip across the niches where the guns had been stored and felt the odd, fraying sensation left behind by traces of corrupted aetherium.

Yuka hung back near the door, her hand hovering near the hilt of her sword. I worried that she wouldn't have enough room to properly fight inside this cramped office, but it was probably an empty concern. There just wasn't anyone anywhere around here.

Rose busied herself examining the control panel set in front of a trio of bulky monitors that looked far older than the slim and elegant type I'd seen everywhere in Fialla. She frowned at the display and tapped a series of commands into the yellowed plastic of the keyboard. I caught the not-so-faint whirr-click of some mechanical contrivance inside the computer.

“This stuff is older than I am,” Rose muttered.

“Can you extend the catwalk?”

“I'm working on it,” she grumbled, casting an irritated glare at Yuka. “I haven't seen a terminal with a mechanical hard drive in forever. Where the hell did the Empire dig this shit up, I wonder… a Fiallan junkyard?” A few more taps and Rose bit her lower lip in frustration. “Damn it, you colossal piece of shit, work.”

I fixed her with a dubious look. “If you don't know how to use it, just say so.”

“I do know how to use it, thank you very much—it's just old. And slow. And terrible.” Rose glowered at the screen and slammed on the “enter” key with far more force than was truly necessary. “There we go.”

There was loud grinding sound, and then a much more audible whirring as a large and powerful electric motor kicked in. Rose turned toward me with a smug smile and pointed out the window just as a metal walkway began to extend from within a hidden compartment beneath the fourth tier's concrete floor.

“That was it?” Yuka inquired.

“Yeah. Both catwalks are extended. Whoever called these guys out of here, they didn't have time to lock down the system, so it was just a matter of flipping the switch.” With a hateful glare at the ancient terminal, Rose crossed the small office and opened the access door leading to the catwalk itself. A moment later there was a resounding thunk as the opposing end of the extended catwalk locked into place, fitting snugly into a steel collar mounted against the top of the inner wall.

“Let's move.”

“Be very careful once we get to the inner wall,” I warned, my tone becoming deadly serious. “You do not want to fall into what's down there.”

Rose's nod of agreement was uncharacteristically lacking in quips or sarcastic remarks, and it was easy to figure out why. As the three of us stepped out onto the catwalk and began to slowly make our way closer to the inner wall, it would start to become visible over the edge.

“Seven Holy Stars,” Rose breathed as she stepped onto the ramparts… and looked down.

Contained between the inner wall and the central column of the Panopticon was a seething, roiling mass of what looked like a moat of viscous, oily black liquid, but upon closer inspection was something different. Something far worse.

“So the rumors were true, then,” Yuka mused, and she peered down at the mass with what seemed like professional interest. “I didn't expect any mages in the Empire capable of containing them, but clearly I was mistaken.”

I stood by the edge of the wall, mindful of the handrails, and gazed down into the pit. The interior of the aetherium-infused walls were etched with countless intricate binding diagrams that glowed a faint silvery-white in the gloom, but didn't appear to provide any real illumination. It was the overhead electrical lights that revealed the truth of the pit. Constrained into this “moat,” kept as eternal prisoners by powerful astromantic bindings, were billions of black insect-like creatures known as legion, otherworldly creatures summoned to our world from a distant and terrible reality.

“Demons,” Rose growled, her tone filled with hatred and foreboding.

We'd learned about such entities at the Academy: creatures from an adjacent reality to ours, a plane of existence colloquially referred to as the Yawning Hells. Much like the entities that existed in our reality, the abyssal world was itself filled with all manner of creatures. These legion were the least of all demons; mindless, non-sapient magical creatures that ravenously hungered, rending life and aether from anything unlucky enough to get too close.

“Did the Empire summon them?” Rose demanded.

“No.” Yuka shook her head. “Summoning is one of the Divine Aspects, lost to the People when the gods departed. The Empire could not have summoned or banished the swarm of legion. It's likely that this facility was originally constructed to seal these abyssals away where they could not harm anyone.”

“Unless they toss you down there on purpose,” Rose said acidly.

Neither Yuka nor I responded to that. A person that was eaten by a demon would not simply die; their soul would be torn apart, its energies consumed and absorbed to strengthen the demon's vile essence. The energies of their spirit would be unable to return to the soul of the world, effectively erasing them from existence.

I felt a violent shudder run through my shoulders. My composure nearly shattered as I imagined the executioners lowering my mother into the swarm of legion below.

“Don't think about it,” Yuka said. “It's not going to happen. We're here to stop it.”

“Yeah.” I tore my gaze away from the roiling mass of demons contained within the wards, scant meters below our feet. “Okay. Let's go get Mama out.”

Chapter 32
Turn of the Wheel

Our harrowing journey across the inner catwalk was thankfully short. We stood upon a wide balcony affixed to the central column's exterior, containing the mechanism for extending and retracting the catwalk we'd just crossed.

From this side, there were no controls whatsoever. No panel, no switches and certainly no terminals with which to manipulate. The balcony itself was sturdy and wide, perhaps six meters across, and jutted out another six meters from the west side of the pillar. I glanced up, my eyes following the spire at the center of the Panopticon, until my gaze reached the observation platform at the very top. From underneath I could see the same sort of retractable catwalk mechanism connecting it to a series of walkways that extended from two checkpoints on the tenth tier.

The balcony we stood upon was dominated by a sealed gate. Behind this final obstacle, Mother awaited the date of her death sentence. A death beyond all other deaths; the executioner would cast her into the legion pit alive, with her soul still anchored to her body. The insect-like demons would shred flesh and shear bone, then devour the leavings and drain every mote of aether from the soul within.

A person devoured by an abyssal could not be returned to life, no matter how powerful the magic used to repair or rebuild their mortal frame. The soul itself would be digested, consumed, made into food for demons. There would be no chance of resurrection, no hope for the soul's light to return to the waking world or to pass into the spirit of the earth.

I tried to block the incessant metallic chittering sound from my awareness. The legion below could smell the magic in us and it inflamed their hunger. The chittering grew deeper, seeming frustrated and angry. Sparks of white light flashed from the warding diagrams as the demons tested the strength of their magical prison.

“There's no way to open the door from this side,” Rose mused aloud as she studied our surroundings. “Looks like you're up again, Lily—though this particular gate seems to be warded against magic of all types.”

“All?” I queried, half to myself, and closed my eyes. I laid my palm against the cold black iron of the gate and felt a strange and intensely unpleasant sort of weakness. A queasy sensation formed in my gut and I backed away a little more quickly than I intended.

“What's wrong?” Rose asked.

“I don't know. It does seem like some kind of warding, though.”

Yuka stepped forward and examined the door for a long moment before she slowly began to move her hand closer and closer, not quite touching it. A hairsbreadth before her fingers could brush the metal, her face paled noticeably and she stepped back.

“It's not a spell,” she explained. As Yuka moved away from the door, the color rapidly returned to her face. She scowled at the gate in frustration and loathing. “It's the metal—the door is iron, not steel, and it's been… blessed.”

I blinked in confusion, then glanced at Rose to see an identical expression on her face. Yuka looked only slightly less shocked than we did.

“I have no idea how that would be possible,” Yuka continued, her ruby eyes wide, “but the sense I get of the magic is unmistakable. This gate is blessed with divine protection against the children of the land—the fey.”

But that made no sense. The gods were gone, or dead, or left this world for others. Even the Celestial Prophecy didn't try to hide that fact; the priests of the Church were simply mages, never once claiming that their power was granted to them by their god. The fact that a blessed gate warded against fey beings existed today, and inside the Empire's prison for criminal mages, simply made no sense at all.

Rose tapped me on the shoulder. “Can you tell how old the blessing is?”

“I wouldn't even know where to begin.” I glanced to my left, at Yuka. “What about you?”

“I know of no spells that would yield up the relevant information.” She gestured to the door, paying close attention to the contact surfaces that would show the most wear over time. “However, the iron of the door itself appears to be of recent manufacture. It's possible the Empire located some ancient blessed iron and used it to construct this door, though I have no idea where they would have obtained such a thing.”

“What's more interesting is why they'd need it,” I murmured.

Rose shrugged, still gazing at the gate. “The obvious answer is they had a fey prisoner at some point who managed to escape, so they put this thing up to keep it from happening again.”

My lips parted as I began to speak, but the words died on my tongue as the air was split by a deep, throaty grinding sound. All three pairs of our eyes went directly to the gate. Yuka's hand went instinctively to the hilt of her sword, and Rose's stance shifted slightly.

Slow and ponderous, the gate began to swing open, splitting down the middle in a jagged sort of pattern that locked together when it was closed. The seconds felt as years while the unwilling iron gate was forced open from the inside.

Through the wide opening, I saw her. The blood surged through my veins and I felt my heart rate rise at the same time as the organ seemingly tried to escape my body through my throat. My fingers went weak, and I almost dropped the dagger to the stone beneath my feet.

In the center of the wide condemnation chamber was my mother. Her arms were drawn up behind her, chained to a rough-hewn wooden beam supported by equally stout posts. They'd stripped her of clothing and jewelry, wards and charms. Her naked body was covered in bruises, abrasions and other minor injuries seemingly inflicted for no other reason than to cause pain. Dried blood streaked her limbs.

I couldn't stop myself. I broke into a run, dodging Rose and Yuka's attempts to stop me. I was dimly aware they were shouting at me, saying something to me so very urgently, but I couldn't hear them at all. How could they be so cruel? She was the most wonderful person in the world. Mother loved everyone, unreservedly. And they'd hurt her so much, left her here to hang from her wrists in iron chains. She'd been beaten… tortured, there was no doubt.

“Mama!”

She wasn't moving. She didn't lift her head. It was as if she hadn't heard me at all.

“Mama…?”

Nothing.

I kept running toward her, closer, and the closer I got, the worse it looked. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be dead already. There was no way. Something like this wouldn't—couldn't—possibly have killed Juno Alcyone, my mother. Even I could tell the wounds were superficial, meant to inflict agony but not fatal—

“Lily!” Yuka's voice split the queerly-still air. “Above you!”

A brilliant beam of silvery-white magic scythed from above and nearly incinerated me in the span of a heartbeat. Despite my last-second evasion, the beam still came close enough to draw a blistering line across my left arm. The pain was excruciating and intense. I saw black spots on the edge of my vision, but fought it. Rising red torrents of agony flooded into my mind, but I ignored them. Then Yuka and Rose were beside me. I caught no judgment in their eyes, no reproach for my reckless dash toward Mother that nearly cost me my life.

Another shaft of Light descended from above, and then another, and another, but this time it was the three of us, and we were forewarned. Instead of scattering and trying to dodge the lighting-quick blasts, Rose let out a wordless roar, channeling the aether within and shaping it. Our bodies were limned with golden light as the earth mana sank into our flesh, hardening it against attack. This time, when the magical projectiles struck, I felt no heat at all. There was a loud crack like a bullet hitting stone, and the lances of silvery light were redirected back to their origin.

“Rose!” Yuka shouted in warning.

I whirled around just in time to see a figure drop down from above with such brutal velocity that they would have killed Rose with a single kick—except for the fact that Rose had already stepped back and took full advantage of our assailant's momentary overbalanced state.

A blazing fist hammered into the figure's barrier. Rose loosed blow after blow against the enemy mage's defenses, though it appeared as if her strikes were ineffective. I caught the hint of a contemptuous smirk form underneath the blank white half-mask the stranger wore.

Then I smiled, because I knew how this would end.

Rose landed a final, devastatingly powerful punch, putting every last gram of her body's not-inconsiderable weight and momentum behind the strike. The masked mage's barrier didn't budge, and the smirk became a cruel grin.

“You have no hope,” the mage taunted in a flat, lifeless tone that seemed to be a product of the mask they wore. It was devoid of inflection and identity. “You can’t win.”

Rose offered a smirk of her own. “That so?”

I shielded my face with my arm the exact instant Rose's fist exploded into fiery pandemonium, concentrating the full force of the explosion directly into the weakest point of her opponent's barrier. I felt a ripple of shock from the masked mage, followed by anger as their barrier cracked like shattered glass and vanished.

Just as she'd done the very first time we trained together, Rose combined fist and spell to devastating effect. The masked mage growled in frustration and fell back, raising a gauntlet-encased arm up in a defensive stance, while their free hand snaked around their back to draw a weapon.

I blinked as a shadow flitted behind. There was a sharp hiss of a sword clearing its scabbard and splitting the air as Yuka struck. The ringing song of steel on steel was accompanied by a shower of sparks. Somehow, the mage managed to draw their own sword before Yuka's slash could sever their spine in two.

The lips beneath the half-mask compressed into a tight line. “Hmph.”

With a great somersaulting leap, the masked mage shot up into the air and over Yuka's head, landing behind her. In the same impossibly-fluid motion, the mage's short sword extended outward in a low thrust. Yuka propelled herself into a spinning slash that sent the mage's blade wide, then darted forward to deliver a fourfold series of strikes with such alacrity I could scarcely track her movements.

Our opponent, however, was more than up to the task of defending against even someone of Yuka's skill and speed. With precise, abrupt movements, much like the strike of a snake, the masked mage parried, deflected and dodged backward to avoid the deadly Eastern sword-work.

Yuka pressed her opponent, giving them no time at all to do anything but react, placing them solely on the defensive. The exchange of blows had only gone on for a handful of seconds, half a minute at the very most, but I knew Yuka wouldn't be able to keep up this pace for long. Like me, she was small and slight. The masked mage was obviously Solarian and towered over us both; I wouldn’t have been surprised if they weighed nearly as much as Yuka and me put together.

I cast a hooded glance at Rose, who nodded. Whoever this person was, they fought brilliantly, and individually we would be outmatched. We had to fight together, though just by watching the masked mage, I knew that the three of us would be hard-pressed to win even then.

I closed my eyes and sank deep within myself, drawing forth strands of shadow from the magic that still glowed within my soul. I didn't know exactly how many more spells I would be able to cast inside the blighted land, but if I didn't do something, the masked mage would kill us one by one.

Necromancy answered my call, if a bit sluggishly. There was no ambient mana in this place, no residual pieces I could salvage to supplement the energies I'd brought with me. I hoped what I had would be enough.

An act of will sent an arc of violet-black lighting toward the masked mage. Yuka, having sensed my intent from the shift in my soul's resonance, was already moving out of the way. Her blade cut out in a wide, easily-parried horizontal cleave. It was bait, and the masked mage undoubtedly knew that, but they couldn't ignore it without being split in half at the waist.

In a brilliant move that combined defenses against two attacks at once, the mage's short sword swept up, deflecting Yuka's strike and sweeping upward to catch the bolt of dark magic I flung directly at his head. The short sword was briefly wreathed in sinister purple light before it faded away, and the masked mage smirked again.

Then their sword crumbled into useless black dust.

Rose wasted no time at all. Not bothering to expend more magic—I suspected that Rose's mana reserves were even lower than my own at this point—she closed the distance between her and the stunned Solarian mage. Without their weapon and unable to reform their kinetic barrier in time, the mage managed to bring up an armored forearm in an attempt to ward off the attack.

It was insufficient. An instant before her fist collided with metal plates, she swung her body around, opening her palm to grasp the mage's wrist with her right hand, and then her left. All of the momentum she'd thrown into the punch was redirected into a brutal lift. Pivoting to present her left side, Rose levered the mage up upon her hip and slammed the astonished fighter to the ground with enough force to knock the breath from their body.

The mask fell away from the mage's face. I felt my body go rigid as I recognized the features, if not the person they belonged to, beneath the magical shroud.

Before the mage could scramble to their feet, Yuka was there, the curved chisel-like tip of her sword mere millimeters from the Solarian's throat. Cold blue eyes stared out of that face, filled with hatred and the promise of violence, but the mage did not look at Yuka or Rose.

They stared directly at me, and I knew that our opponent was part of my family. It was then that I realized this child of Alcyone, dressed in the raiments of the Celestial Prophecy, had no manashard set into their forehead.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

The mage snarled without words and was violently jerked backwards, as if an invisible hand had grasped their collar and pulled them away. Yuka drove the point of her sword down, but it was too late, and the tip struck stone with a loud scraping sound.

Without hesitation, the unknown Alcyone mage soared into the air, flipping over their back to plant their feet firmly against the inner walls of the condemnation chamber. My eyes widened in alarm as the mage's soul flared with brilliant aether—that was abruptly darkened, plunging into deep shadow.

Violet-black lightning shot from the mage's outstretched hands. Death magic bore down upon me, aimed directly for my heart.

I was spent. I couldn't raise a barrier, and though I had a natural inclination toward the Forbidden Aspect, I was hardly immune to it. I leaped away to one side, but the arcs of crawling dark energy caught me on the same side that I'd been burned by the light beam earlier.

Pain shot through my body and I stumbled halfway through my evasion, tumbling to the floor and skidding to a stop near the gibbet Mother was chained to. I gasped, sucking down air rapidly, but was otherwise unable to move. The blast the mage hit me with had sapped what little strength I had left, leaving me weakened and paralyzed. Merely keeping my eyes open was a terrible struggle, and my heart withered as the Alcyone mage loosed a stream of the same black lightning at Yuka. To her credit, she managed to bring up a defensive barrier. Her reluctance to cast any spells since we'd entered the prison paid off.

“… Lily.”

My heart caught in my throat. That was Mother's voice!

She was still alive!

I couldn't move my arms or legs, and so I couldn't turn to look at her. I did my best to block out the sounds of the battle still raging on. Yuka and Rose seemed to be holding their own, but this mage was clearly a master of the arcane and the martial arts. Yuka had seen war and fought throughout her life, but she spent far more time with her nose in a book than a sword in her hand and a spell on her lips.

Worse still, this Alcyone mage seemed to possess a contradictory dual Aspect. They wielded both Light and Dark with an ease that confounded and terrified me all at once. It shouldn’t have been possible.

“Lily,” Mother said again.

“Mama, I can't… I can't move,” I mumbled.

Steel shrieked against steel and sparks flew as Yuka's blade met the enemy mage's armored gauntlets. She was tiring, and Rose wasn't having an easy time of it, either. The Alcyone sent terrible paralyzing blasts of Darkness toward Yuka, but struck at Rose with only piercing beams of Light, as if they knew of Rose’s twice-borrowed ward against necromancy.

Rose's cry of pain slashed through me and I would have flinched. I felt her pain as if it were my own, searing through my awareness and biting deeply into my heart. I couldn't watch any longer, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Lily, you need to… to get up,” Mother insisted.

I choked back a sob. “I can't.”

“You… you can.” I couldn't see her, couldn't see anything with my eyes shut, but I could hear her voice strengthening. “I'm here with you, Lily, and so is… so is Eiri.”

“No… it's no use.” I willed myself to shake my head, but all that happened was a twitch of my neck muscles. “Mama, I can't…. it drains me of everything I have every time I use it. The last time… the last time I was unconscious for four days!”

Though I couldn't see her, I knew she was smiling through the pain. My own pain began to recede, slowly, as if it were trickling out of me. I could feel the soothing cool flow of Mother's magic as she poured a tremendous volume of aether into healing my wounds. Strength flowed through my limbs. The prickly, pins-and-needles sensation came first, and then I found that I could move again. In what felt like an eternity, but was likely only a handful of seconds, my mind regained control of my body.

I tilted my head to gaze up at my mother, and was not surprised to see her smiling. There was a twinkle in her beautiful eyes, the same eyes she'd gifted me when I was born. That glimmer filled me with confidence, and I nodded to her with fierce determination.

“It will be different this time, my little red lily.”

Chapter 33
Measure of Control

As it had always done before, Eiri's legacy answered my call.

The flames of Darkness roared out of my soul as the spirit blade forged itself from the seething font of sinister purple energies. I gasped from the sudden rush of power as aether poured into my soul, filling the gaps that I'd expended in our infiltration, the depletion I'd been unable to address while standing within the blighted land.

Mother had been right; it was different this time. Instead of drinking from the essence of my life, the spirit blade infused magic into me—so much of it that it was nearly painful. My soul felt as if it were stretching, and my capacity doubled and redoubled. The relic of Eiri's magic spilled forth such power that my fingertips tingled with the magic at my disposal.

I didn't have time to wonder why the spirit blade chose this particular occasion to give rather than take. Rose was in trouble, and I had to act now.

The Alcyone mage slipped past Yuka effortlessly, and I could tell from the trembling in her arms and the halting nature of her strikes that she was too tired to keep fighting. The mage knew it, too, and turned her full attention to Rose. Shafts of piercing Light lanced out from the mage's outstretched palm. Rose grimaced and twisted away, attempting to dodge, but the shafts of deadly magic struck, quick as thought. The violent wrenching of her body managed to spoil the mage's aim slightly, and the searing energies only glanced her right hip and thigh.

Blood spurted from the deep slashes burned through her clothing and flesh. The hit may have been shallow, but the power behind the spell was tremendous. Rose's evasion faltered and she stumbled, collapsing to one knee on the stone floor of the condemnation chamber. The mage's eyes burned with triumph and they collected more Light in their hand, preparing to finish the job.

I moved.

Silvery brilliance flashed against Eiri's sword, but only for a moment. The seething shadow-flame licking at the pattern-welded blade swallowed up the Light—and I felt a subtle surge of strength and vitality pour into my body. The spirit blade throbbed with life and magic as it devoured the spell, consuming the aether that fueled it.

“Do not touch her again,” I snarled.

The mage’s eyes widened in horror as they locked upon the spirit blade, but quickly mastered their emotions. A prodigious backward leap sent them soaring away, narrowly avoiding the deadly blade as I swept it out in a wide horizontal slash.

“Lily!” Rose gasped. “You can't—”

“She can.”

Both Rose and I whirled at the voice behind us. Mother stood, if a bit unsteadily, leaning upon Yuka's shoulder. My half-fey partner offered me an exhausted smile. Having already pushed herself beyond her physical limits, Yuka apparently decided to contribute to the battle by freeing Mother from her restraints.

“Meaningless,” the mysterious mage spat, glaring directly at Mother. “You are empty, and your bastard is a child playing with forces beyond her understanding. None of you will leave this chamber alive.”

“You'd do well not to underestimate her, Claire. I know you can sense the extent of her power.”

The mage's face twisted into a hate-filled scowl. “You dare speak my name, traitor?! Filth! Whore! It was you who dishonored our family! House Alcyone was tainted in the eyes of the Empire because you couldn't keep your legs closed!”

“Who are you to talk to Mother like that?” Still holding Eiri's sword in a defensive stance, I stared at the mage in shock and disbelief.

The mage—Claire—sneered in contempt, but said nothing.

“She's my firstborn child,” my mother stated, clearly and without the barest hint of emotion in her voice, “who was taken from me by the Celestial Prophecy when she was barely old enough to speak.”

My jaw dropped and I nearly lost my grip on Eiri's sword.

“W-what? I have a sister?”

“Half-sister,” Mother corrected, “as I'm sure you can tell.”

“You are not my mother!” Pure hatred blossomed in Claire's sapphire eyes. “You forfeited that title when you chose to lie with darkness.” Her gaze flicked toward me and she glowered with an even greater amount of enmity. “That thing is no sibling of mine! It is a monster, an abomination, a living embodiment of your sin, traitor!”

My mother's expression was pained. “Claire—”

Tendrils of energy, both Light and Darkness, entwined within Claire's palms.

“Do not say my name again!”

Without thinking, I swept the spirit blade out and struck the magic from the air the instant Claire unleashed it. Again, the miinari relic drank deeply of the power, siphoning the aether away from the magic and digesting it before presenting it to me. Claire's features twisted with fury and frustration, and she began another spell, one I didn't recognize. I tensed, ready to snatch the magic away again, but then realized the spell wasn't directed at me, or even anyone at all in this room.

“You aren't going to win,” Claire hissed from between clenched teeth. “You can't stop us. Lord Cyrus will lead our House and the Empire into the future, and I will restore our honor by excising the taint that brought us crashing down.”

The spell was completed with a final twisting of mana that birthed a brilliant prominence of silvery radiance. From within that shining orb, tendrils of magic tore a hole into the fabric of reality, and I realized that Claire had cast some sort of teleportation spell. Not to flee; it wasn't directed at her, but at some distant location.

From within the warped shimmer of the gate, a familiar figure stepped out.

It was Willow Corvus.

“Seven Holy Stars,” Rose breathed. “What the fuck is going—”

The dark-haired necromancer fixed a dead-eyed gaze on Rose and raised a hand. Strands of death poured from her outstretched fingertips and streaked toward her, much too far away for me to catch them on the spirit blade—

Rose’s pendant glowed with argent fire as the warding within proved to be more than a match for the fearsome necromantic magic. There was no change in Willow's expression, no frustration or even acknowledgment that her spell had no effect. She only continued to stare unblinkingly with those empty eyes, the sense of death's touch still clinging to her fingers.

“Where did you get that ward?” Claire demanded of Rose.

“Oh, this?” Rose held up the pendant and grinned. “My best friend took it off the corpse of one of your spies sent to infiltrate the Cabal.” She let the ward fall back down against her collarbone. “I have to say, it sure is handy, especially against hypocritical Acolytes.”

“You understand nothing,” Claire growled.

Her fingertips waggled, and Willow Corvus was limned with sinister light. The necromancer shuddered violently as she began to haltingly advance on Rose. I darted forward, with Eiri's sword leading, but my interception was cut short by a blast of silvery magic from Claire.

My half-sister's laugh was mocking as she flung bolt after bolt at me. I was pushed back on my heels by the withering barrage. Though none of the fiercely-burning spheres of light mana actually struck me, it took every ounce of my focus to keep one from slipping past my guard.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Willow Corvus raising her hands to cast a spell of wind magic. Rose was warded against necromancy, and while wind would be less effective against a fire Aspect, the sheer power of the spell Willow prepared turned my blood to ice.

“No!” I cried, desperately trying to cut away from where Claire had me pinned with her continual barrage. Rose was in trouble. I had to protect her!

It was a mistake.

Three spheres of Light slammed into my right thigh, one right after another, and I screamed. The blasts burned flesh and rent sinew; nausea swept over me with enough force that I nearly fell to the ground. The tip of my sword was planted into the stone at my feet, and I somehow managed to stay upright. I couldn't put weight on my right leg, and when I glanced down at the injury, I instantly regretted it. Claire's magic had blasted a massive crater in the front of my thigh, so deeply that I could see the white of splintered bone through the mess of charred and bleeding flesh.

“My penance will be complete,” Claire hissed with obvious satisfaction, “after I offer up your head at the altar to the Celestial One.”

Spikes of agony chewed away at the edge of my awareness. The pain in my ruined leg seemed to numb as my body flooded with adrenaline and endorphins. I shivered, feeling the icy ribbons of darkness start to encircle my mind, and knew it wouldn't be long before I lost consciousness—

A tremendous, thundering sound like the world itself breaking apart sliced through the air. I tried to blink, tried to focus on what was happening around me. The numbness was rapidly spreading through my body.

“No!”

I was dimly aware of Claire's vehement denial.

Then I felt the faint sensation of soothing cool waters. Slowly, oblivion receded, dropping away and taking the nausea and dizziness with it.

“I didn't know,” I heard my mother say. “I couldn’t have possibly known.”

She was speaking to Claire. I blinked again, and my vision sharpened—and my jaw dropped. The condemnation chamber was filled with beautifully-chaotic formations of ice. The thick rime of frost had expanded outward from Mother's body and swept across both Claire and Willow Corvus, encasing their bodies up to their necks in its unbreakable embrace.

Unsteadily, I got to my feet just in time for Rose and Yuka to nearly knock me down again. The feel of their weary, battered arms embracing me filled my heart with resolve, and tears ran down my cheeks as I gazed at them.

“Lily, I—”

I smiled at Rose and pressed my lips to hers briefly. “Later. This isn't over.”

The two of them nodded, and I turned around. I could walk, but my right leg felt very weak. I glanced down at the place where Claire's magic struck. The gaping crater had been filled with faintly-glowing water mana, seeming to defy gravity as it clung to my ruined flesh. Mother's healing magic would take more time to fully repair the terrible wound.

“—never knew what happened to you,” Mother was saying, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears that would not fall. “They took you from me, Claire. You were only two years old when you were tested. You were just a baby! So much Darkness within her, they'd said. They told me you would become a danger to the Empire, a danger to the family and a danger to yourself, and I… I still couldn't believe it. I couldn't let you go. I wouldn't let you go, but they tore you from my arms!”

“Of course you didn't know,” Claire snarled, even more angry now that she had been trapped within Mother's ice magic. “It was not for you to know the designs of the Celestial One. There are forces at work beyond mortal comprehension.”

Mother's bottom lip trembled. “Claire, please. I'm your mother. I loved—”

“Shut up! You are nothing to me!”

I caught the glimmer of my mother's tears out of the corner of my eye, and something inside of me snapped. Ignoring the pain and weakness in my leg, I stalked over to where Claire was imprisoned. I swept Eiri's sword out and held the tip poised mere millimeters from my half-sister's throat.

“Hmph,” Claire spat. “I know an idle threat when I see one.”

“It's only for Mama's sake that I haven't killed you—yet.”

She laughed in my face.

Cold fury blossomed within my heart and I tensed, preparing to lean forward into a thrust that would tear through Claire's windpipe as if it were nothing but tissue paper.

“Lily, no.”

I turned toward the voice—it was Rose. She gazed at me, not with judgment or consternation, but with worry. She shook her head and gestured toward the yawning gate. “That’s enough. We've got your mom. We need to get out of here, now. The ice won't hold them forever, and we need to go before reinforcements show up.”

Yuka was beside me, and she glared at Claire with a look of pure disgust. The trapped woman sneered at her, apparently recognizing Yuka as half-fey as well. Without even acknowledging the look, she moved on and stopped in front of Willow Corvus.

“We can't leave her here.”

Rose grimaced. “We also can't let her go. Remember how she attacked us? She's under some kind of magical compulsion or geas or something.”

“That is precisely why we can't leave her here,” Yuka insisted.

“Yes, but—”

Claire's harsh laughter cut Rose's objection short. “You really don't understand anything. You can't 'save' her. The sinner has been reforged into a divine blade to strike down the enemy. Her mind, body and soul belongs to the Celestial One now.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Rose demanded.

Claire's only response was a haughty snort.

“Lily…” Yuka glanced at me with a knowing look. “The resonance.”

I frowned. “But I can't feel her at all.”

Yuka gestured toward the spirit blade still in my hand. “It's too loud; you can't hear the whispers through the relic's song. Send it away, and touch your fingers to her forehead.”

With a thought, I dismissed the spirit blade. Eiri's legacy receded into the tiny sub-reality and I felt the connection weaken considerably. Despite that, the flow of aether into my soul continued unabated.

I took a step closer to Willow Corvus. She was so much taller than me that I had to climb up on the ice a bit to reach her forehead. With trembling fingers, I reached out to touch her and closed my eyes, attuning my awareness to the resonance, the whispers of the soul. For a brief moment I could only sense Yuka's resonance, but she quickly quieted the voice of her spirit so that I could hear the whispers around me. My head began to throb with a low, dull ache as I focused more and more on the faintest murmurings.

Human souls were so quiet compared to the fey, but after a moment to adjust, I could just barely sense the emotional states of all the people around me. From Rose I felt worry and fear. Claire's soul radiated seething hatred, as well as frustration and a deep, hot hurt. Mother was a font of sadness and loss, directed at her long-lost firstborn child.

Willow Corvus's soul was strangely still, even more so than Yuka's. That shouldn't have been possible, for humans had no control over their own resonance. Yuka was holding herself in on purpose, as the two of us were attuned closely to each other, and she didn't want her resonance to interfere with my senses.

I concentrated on that stillness. It only took a brief moment to find the source.

“There's a yoke of shadows and light woven around her consciousness,” I said, opening my eyes and frowning at Willow Corvus's blank expression. “It's not just a geas or a charm. It's total domination, a complete enslavement of the soul. I can feel it through the resonance.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Claire's incredulous expression. I turned toward her and met her gaze with a cold one of my own. For the first time since we met in battle and beyond, I saw fear and uncertainty in her eyes.

“This is why the Church wants to exterminate the miinari, isn't it?” I demanded.

Claire said nothing, but the slight widening of her eyes and the way her face drained of color told me all I needed to know.

“What in the Yawning Hells are you talking about?” Rose gawked at me and glanced back at the imprisoned necromancer-turned-puppet.

I didn't bother answering Rose just yet. Instead, I closed off my external senses and attuned to the resonance once again. Deeper and deeper I probed into Willow Corvus's soul, until I found where the chains of domination had been anchored. The sheer power and complexity of the spell was awesome to behold. I knew just by perceiving this small portion of the magic that it had been cast by someone far more powerful than Claire. She couldn't have done this; she was only handed the leash after someone else slipped on the collar.

The question of who could cast such a spell would have to wait for later. We had to escape quickly if we wanted to make it out alive. Determination filled me and I forged the magic into a keen blade of decisive intent.

With a thought, I severed those bonds.

Chapter 34
Divine Providence

My mother gestured dismissively and the ice around Willow Corvus shattered. Life seemed to return to her eyes, and she moaned wordlessly before collapsing to the stone floor. I was too weak to pick her up, but Rose was there, smiling at me, and she bent down to help the woman up.

“What… where am I?”

Willow looked as if she'd just awoken from a long sleep. Her expression was oddly serene, but she seemed hale enough to walk on her own, if a bit unsteadily.

“No time to explain now,” my mother said in a firm tone. She placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. “Lily, I know you still have the recall I gave you. We can use that to escape this place before her masters realize she failed.”

I blinked and nodded. “How did you—”

“My people,” Willow gasped, and the reality of the situation hit her. “I can't leave. I have to get them out—I have to—”

My mother gazed at her sadly. “I'm so sorry, Willow. It's much too late.”

“N-no… it can't be.”

Claire's mocking laughter came again, wild with desperation. “It is too late! For all of you! You fell right into our trap. The Antilight has been utterly annihilated, and the Imperial Court is subject to the will of the Celestial One. There's nothing you can do to stop our advance.” Her lips spread wide in a death's-head grin. “Fialla will fall beneath the Empire's might.”

I barely saw Rose's fist flash past, it moved so fast. The punch connected with Claire's jaw with such force that I heard the wet crack of bone shattering. With a faint whimper, the Celestial Acolyte, my half-sister, fell into unconsciousness. A bit of blood leaked from her open mouth, but I knew the blow wasn't fatal.

“Rose!”

“What?” My partner shrugged innocently. “I got tired of hearing her monologue like that.” She glanced at Yuka and the still-unsteady Willow Corvus. “We need to get out of here. We're all hurt, tired, and save for Lily, out of magic.”

I nodded and reached into a hidden pocket in my jacket, drawing out a small jewel about the size of a Solarian crown. It was an aquamarine, perfectly deep blue and beautiful, painstakingly crafted, with an intricate rune graven into the widest facet.

“Everyone needs to be close for this to work.”

Rose and Yuka were beside me instantly, dragging Willow Corvus along with them. My mother hesitated for a moment, lingering near Claire's unconscious, trapped form. She snapped her fingers and the ice imprisoning her firstborn child shattered into motes of blue-glowing mana before dissipating into nothingness.

“Claire,” Mother murmured, catching her daughter's limp body before it could drop to the stone at our feet. “I'm so sorry. I love you.”

She lowered the unconscious woman to the ground and ran a trembling finger across her broken jaw. Healing magic, likely the last Mother had left within her, trickled into Claire's wounds. The sparkling motes of water magic shimmered as they sank into bruised flesh.

“We must leave now, Lady Alcyone,” Yuka insisted.

My mother rose without a word and strode over to where everyone had gathered around me. One after another, we all placed our hands upon the jewel containing the recall spell. It had been prepared by Mother so that Rose and I could have quickly returned to Naara after our visit to House Alcyone. It was a self-contained magic that required no arcane talent at all to use, and would work without issue even within the blighted lands.

As soon as my mother's hand touched the stone, I woke its power. Shimmering light rose from within the jewel's heart and spread outward, growing brighter and brighter until it had completely blotted out the condemnation chamber.

The light of Mother's magic stole through our bodies and souls, spiriting us away from danger.

*

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by trees—but they were very different trees than that of the forest surrounding the Panopticon. I could smell the scent of salt and sea on the breeze, and my ears caught the faint sound of the horns of the ships in the Naara harbor.

The five of us stood in a small meadow near a small, swift-running stream. From here, I could see the tallest spire of the Academy rising high above the trees, silhouetted by moonlight. We were all here, safe at least for the moment, just outside the city limits.

“So… that worked,” Rose muttered in disbelief.

Willow Corvus blinked. “This is Naara, isn't it?”

“Right outside it, yes,” I confirmed.

“Let's not relax just yet,” Rose said, frowning. “We may be out of immediate danger, but you heard what Claire said—the rebels were routed and the Imperial Court will be officially declaring war any time now.”

The Corvus necromancer blanched. “They can't be all gone.”

“I don't think she was bluffing.” I let out a slow breath and turned to gaze down the gently-descending hillside toward the port city. “It doesn't seem like anything is out of the ordinary in Naara, but I doubt that'll last.”

“We’ll take one of my family's airships,” Rose suggested. “I don't think the Empire will bar them entirely until the official declaration is signed.”

Yuka glanced at her sharply. “Aren't you forgetting about someone? We can't just leave without them.”

“You mean Shion?” Rose made a casually dismissive gesture with one hand. “They'll be fine.”

“That's rather cold, don't you think?”

“I trust Shion's skills implicitly,” Rose said with a grin. “I've known them for most of my life. Don't be surprised if they manage to make it back to Fialla before we do. I just hope they manage to avoid Dad long enough for me to get back. No sense in worrying him more than necessary.”

I scowled at her. “He was right to worry.”

“Oh, are you admitting this whole rescue mission was really reckless and stupid and we walked right into a trap?”

My cheeks warmed and I looked away. “M-maybe.”

“Not to worry, Rose Merope,” my mother said, her tone ominous, “I will be having a very long talk with my daughter, once we're out of danger.”

I swallowed hard. “Mama—”

“Later, my little red lily. You will have plenty of opportunity to explain yourself.”

That did not reassure me in the slightest.

Without further discussion, the five of us set off for Naara, trying to draw as little attention as possible. Now that we were hundreds of kilometers away from the Panopticon, the magic of the land once again filled our souls with aether. Mother's strength returned quickly and it took only a little time for her to set the worst of our wounds on the way to recovery.

Willow Corvus was able to fashion a cloak of wind around us that made us invisible to the unaided eye. It was actually a better spell than the illusions Shion had used to hide us before, as it bent the light around us rather than simply clouding the minds of those who came near. Even cameras and animals would be unable to see us, and the obscuring winds kept our scent from escaping the bounds of the spell.

Once we were within a few dozen meters of the city gates, we were forced to move slowly and keep away from other people, for the magical winds would be far more obvious if we were blowing up skirts and robes wherever we went.

Fortunately, the streets were all but empty at this late hour. I kept close to Rose and Yuka as we followed just behind Willow. Through the gently-swirling cloak of wind, I caught sight of the airship docks. Naara's port was predominately set up for seafaring vessels, but a small and recent addition offered a handful of docks to airships. Freighters from Fialla, the Coalition and the Aserian Confederation lined the platform.

The smallest of the seven airships currently moored belonged to the Merope family; I recognized the crest emblazoned on the vessel's fluttering pennant. Rose tapped Willow on the shoulder and pointed toward the little craft. It was a bit smaller than the smuggler airship we'd caught a ride on for the assault on the prison, and though I was no expert on these things, appeared to be designed for speed and maneuverability above all other considerations.

“Are you certain?” Willow queried. “That vessel doesn't appear to be an ordinary freight-hauler; it looks as if it were designed for combat.”

“Yeah. Dad wanted to be sure we'd have a way out, even if the Empire's forces took exception to our departure. Let's go before the port authorities realize the cargo they unloaded was a ruse.”

Willow nodded silently and continued to move slowly toward the airship dock. Anxiety crawled up my spine as we came closer, and I spotted a pair of men dressed in IPSB uniforms. Both carried short, agile swords sheathed at the small of their backs and automatic pistols holstered within easy reach at their hips. Each of the agents looked alert and attentive, their eyes scanning the streets nearest the docks with disciplined vigilance.

“Can we get past them without them noticing?” I whispered.

“They'll feel the winds—and the magic creating them—if we get too close.” Willow turned toward the rest of us. The expression on her face was unreadable, but for a split second I felt a hint of her true feelings through the resonance. “We can't take them out without alerting the port authority and locking down the docks.”

My eyes went wide. “What are you going to do?”

“Distract them so that you can reach the airship and escape.”

I shook my head. “What? No! That's a terrible idea.”

“I… I thank you for returning my will to me, Lily,” Willow murmured softly, so softly that I could barely hear it above the whistling of the magical winds. “But I cannot go with you to Fialla.”

“Why not?”

“I have a responsibility to my people—and to my family.” The necromancer's tone was filled with concern.. and guilt. Her soul whispered wordless cries of agony, and I could see images, snippets of memory as Willow thought of her family, of her comrades she led to fight against the oppressive grip of the Empire upon its people.

“It was my weakness that led them to ruin. I have to atone for that… and I have to protect my family. My choice to fight has placed them all in danger.” Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears and she looked away. “I wouldn't be able to go on if something happened to Erika.”

I opened my mouth to respond, to argue, to convince her of the folly of her course, but then felt a cool hand touch my forearm. I looked up at Mother, who gave me a sad smile and shook her head slowly.

“But Mama—”

“Shh, little red lily,” my mother murmured. She reached out and smoothed some of the tangles from my hair, having become rather disheveled in the fighting. “You, of all people, are in no position to judge Willow for risking her life to keep her family safe.”

My cheeks warmed under her gentle chastisement. “I guess not.”

“What is your plan, Lady Corvus?” Yuka asked, putting the conversation back on track. I gave her a grateful glance out of the corner of my eye and she smiled at me.

“The four of you will remain here, near the docks. I will move away some distance and cause a commotion, drawing the IPSB men toward me. Once they've scrambled to deal with the, ah, situation, you should have time to make it to the airship.”

Rose looked dubious. “That seems rather simple.”

“There's no need to complicate matters.” Willow's lips twisted into a wry little smirk and she tucked a lock of black hair behind one ear. “They won't be able to ignore my little display, trust me; even the port authority clerk should be thoroughly captivated.”

I gawked at her. “I'm not sure I even want to know what you're going to do.”

“It's best that you don't.”

I glanced at Rose and Yuka, and received nods from each of them in turn. I didn't need to look to Mother for confirmation; I could already sense her magic rising to her will. The swell of mana was so subtle I knew that nobody else would be able to detect it. It was only because I stood next to her that I was able to perceive the magic at all. The effects of Mother's spell were neither dramatic nor flashy: a simple mist began to rise as her power cautiously converted dew and moisture into a thin fog that gradually grew more and more dense over the course of a few minutes.

I glanced back at the IPSB agents standing guard. From this distance, with these humans I knew nothing of, the resonance would be of no help in determining their emotional state. Their posture didn't seem to change much, and as far as I could tell, the arrival of the fog hadn't aroused their suspicions.

“Thank you, Juno.” Willow glanced at my mother and nodded. “That'll do nicely.”

My mother offered a wry smile. “I suspected a little assistance wouldn't be unwelcome.”

“It's now or never, then.” I couldn't keep my voice from quavering as I regarded the tall, elegant woman, who still cut a dashing figure despite her torn and bloodied clothes. “Good luck… and try to stay safe.”

“I have no intention of dying,” she assured me. “We'll meet again, I'm sure of it.”

Without another word, the Corvus necromancer was gone, disappearing into one of the side streets and seeming to fade into the fog-shrouded gloom. I knew they wouldn't be able to see her until she wanted to be seen. Like Shion, Yuka and myself, Willow had a natural gift for slipping into the shadows.

Now that she was gone, our cloak of wind was rapidly dissipating. Yuka and I would have little trouble remaining out of sight so long as we kept away from the light, but Rose and Mother were far more exposed. We couldn't wait here for long, even blanketed by the mists.

I heard Rose's whisper into my ear. “What do you think she's going to do?”

“Um, probably—”

A shrill, piercing scream cut off my response.

“Seven Holy Stars,” came a terrified oath from about two blocks to the south. The air thrummed with potent magic and a vicious surge of death tore through the streets. I could hear multiple voices crying out in terror and pain.

“Gods, what is that thing?!”

“Zombie! It's a zombie!”

Unearthly snarls rose from the throat of something and I flinched reflexively. There was a loud, splintering crash, followed by more phlegmy growls. I nearly retched at the stench of whatever patchwork undead creature Willow had conjured.

The two IPSB agents were already moving toward the cacophony of impact and screams, their weapons drawn. In a matter of seconds, the archway leading to the airship dock was deserted.

I glanced back at Rose. “That.”

Gunfire rang out, and the undead abomination snarled in rage and pain. Indecipherable shouts were followed by more roars from Willow's pet. The smell of burning wood soon overpowered the stench of the monster, and a dim reddish glow blossomed above the buildings. Without any further exchange of words, the four of us dashed from our hiding place. Rose and Mother ducked down low as they ran, keeping beneath the roiling mass of artificial fog. Yuka and I were fortunately short enough to remain concealed even stretched at our full height.

My feet left the concrete and stone of the streets and struck the metal decking of the airship dock. Our destination was on the far side of the dock, nearly a hundred meters distant. Through the fog, I could just make out a figure standing on the vessel's top deck. They clutched a long, slender object in their hands, cradled and firmly planted against their shoulder.

We ran, but we did not go unnoticed. Lights from the observation tower snapped on and shined down onto the docks. Though the mist was thick enough to hide us in the dark, the searchlights burned through it and revealed us as we were about to reach the halfway point.

“Halt!”

I glanced at Rose and she nodded. Focusing the magic within me, I prepared to release a surge of disintegrating power that would undermine the structural integrity of the control tower. Rose would follow it up with an explosion and the whole thing would collapse.

“No, wait!” Yuka hissed, grabbing my arm. “Look!”

The figure on the airship's deck raised their long object—a rifle, I recognized as the figure loosed a torrent of high-velocity rounds at the control tower's apex. The spray of bullets tore through the searchlights, plunging the docks back into darkness.

We needed no further encouragement. I let the magic dissipate back into my soul and ran the last handful of meters, turning sharply to leap up the gangplank leading into the airship's interior hold. Yuka was right behind me, and then Mother, then Rose. The instant her feet touched the floor of the airship's cabin, the gangplank began to withdraw and the door sealed shut behind us.

A violent tremor rocked the airship and I nearly fell. Yuka reached out and steadied me, pulling me over near her to sit in one of the folding seats that lined the interior of the vessel's cabin.

“Thanks,” I managed.

Mother was already seated as well, but Rose stood, gripping a hanging strap from the ceiling as she mashed a button on a speaker-adorned panel. “We're all inside. Get us the fuck out of here before reinforcements arrive!”

A familiar voice answered, “What do you think I'm doing?”

“Shion!” I gasped.

“I told you they'd be one step ahead of us.” Rose grinned at me as she dashed for a seat next to mine. “Strap in and hold on tight—this isn't going to be a leisurely flight!”

I fumbled with my restraints for a few seconds before Yuka decided to help. She fastened the harness over my thighs, waist and shoulders, ensuring I was securely strapped in before slipping into her own. The adrenaline of all the fighting and running was starting to fade, and my heart began to thump wildly as the airship lurched up out of the dock with terrifying velocity.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Oh, no. No, no, no.”

“Shh… calm down. Breathe in and out.” Yuka's lovely voice wafted into my ears. “I'm here, Lily. Rose is here. We're right here with you.”

The Fiallan airship cut a hard bank that sent my stomach hurtling in the opposite direction. A sickening wave of nausea descended over me. My breathing began to come faster and more shallowly as the panic took hold. Acceleration shoved me against Rose's shoulder.

“No, no, no,” I mumbled, shaking my head.

“Lily.”

Yuka's fingertips caught my chin and turned my head toward her. Soft lips pressed to mine, and that delicious tingly weakness stole over me, just as it always did when she or Rose kissed me. The panic warred with these other sensations for a moment before it began to recede. My breathing slowed and became more even as Yuka pulled away.

“Feel better?”

“Y-yeah.” The runaway thump of my heart beating was slowing down. I was probably blushing fiercely, especially since Yuka had kissed me like that in front of Mother. “Thank you. It's… not so bad now.”

Rose blew into my other ear, and a shiver ran through my body. “Don't worry. We'll keep you distracted for the whole trip if we need to.”

“Rose!” I yelped in alarm.

A snowy brow arched in query. “What?”

“Please don't!” I gestured wildly toward Mother, who was unsuccessfully attempting to stifle a fit of awkward laughter at my expense. “I mean, not in front of my mother!”

Rose and Yuka shared a knowing look before both of them burst into laughter.

Epilogue

-

Chapter 35
Homecoming

“Hi, Dad.”

Cassius Merope's smile was as wide as I'd ever seen it. He surged from behind his desk, moving with such speed as he engulfed his daughter in a crushing bear hug. Not one to be outdone, Rose returned the embrace with just as much rib-cracking force, slapping his back a few times for good measure.

Tears gathered in the elder Merope's eyes. “Thank the gods you're home safe, Rose.”

“Home, yes. Safe, I'm not so sure.” She drew back away from his arms and fixed him with a grim look. “The Empire will march on Fialla. The Antilight is… if not wiped out, at least taken off the board. There's nothing left to stop the crusade.”

“I've heard the reports,” Cassius agreed. “Over the past week I've been pulling our people back home. Those that are left have been instructed to seek refuge in the Coalition until we can arrange for their transport back to Fialla.”

“You've always been one step ahead of the competition,” Rose remarked.

“Barely, this time. IPSB has begun to clandestinely seize our assets in the Empire. Fortunately, I didn't leave them much to take, and what's left our friends in the Coalition will handle.” Cassius paused for a moment and then his eyes traveled the room, falling over Yuka and myself before settling on my mother.

Rose blinked. “Oh, I suppose I should introduce you.” She gestured toward Mother and beckoned for her to come closer. “This is Juno Alcyone, former head of House Alcyone of the Holy Solarian Empire, and—”

“Traitor to the same, fugitive from the same,” Mother finished with a wry smile. “Cassius Merope, I presume?”

Cassius regarded my mother critically for a moment before responding. “The same. Welcome to Fialla, and my apologies that your presence here has been necessitated by such… unfortunate circumstances.”

“No apologies are necessary, Lord Merope.”

He winked at her. “Cassius, if you please.”

“Very well, Cassius. I must thank you for your hospitality, and for hosting my daughter while she was here during her first visit.” Mother's expression swelled with gratitude. “It's clear that kindness and honor runs in the family.”

“You're quite welcome, though I'd be remiss if I didn't admit that it was Rose who took such good care of Lily and offered her a place to call home.”

Mother's eyebrows rose sharply. “Oh?” She turned to gaze at me knowingly, and I felt my cheeks grow warm. The faintest hint of a teasing smile played across her lips. “I suppose I should offer my thanks to her, then.”

“Mama, please!” I sputtered in protest.

Cassius came to my defense. “They've been good for each other, Lady Alcyone. I've never seen Rose happier than these past months spent with Lily at her side.” The Merope patriarch grinned and reached out to pat my head affectionately. “Lily's time in Fialla opened her heart and drew another to her as well.”

I glanced anxiously at Yuka, who had drifted over nearby. The bespectacled half-fey woman reached out to take my hand and squeezed it gently. It was as good a time as any to explain the situation to Mother, now that we weren't being hunted.

Yuka turned toward my mother and bowed in the Eastern style. “My name is Yukari Shimizu, a Master of the Shadow Cabal and a child of the miinari.” The corner of her mouth twitched with amusement as she regarded Mother's puzzled expression. “I apologize for the delayed introduction, but we were rather preoccupied at the time.”

“Ah, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mother said as her eyes moved between my two partners, who had both nestled in rather close to me. “So you and Rose are both…? At the same time?” Her expression became both incredulous and bemused at once. “A-and that doesn't bother either of you or make you jealous?”

“Nope!” Rose replied cheerily.

“Not at all,” Yuka added.

Cassius stepped back and glanced back at Mother. “This sort of union is hardly unusual in these lands. I trust Rose implicitly, of course, and I can tell simply by looking that the bonds between them are strong and true.”

Mother's gaze flicked back to me. “Lily.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I should have taken you away from the Empire long ago,” she said after a long moment, her tone soft and regretful. “It was my own selfish desire to stay, to try and lead the family even though it was clear they held nothing but contempt for Eiri and for you. I couldn't let go, until circumstances forced my hand. I'm so sorry, little red lily. I should have cast it all aside for your sake.”

I shook my head. “Mama, it's okay.”

“No, it's not okay.” Mother took a deep breath and exhaled. Her shoulders slumped and her face seemed much more haggard than it was before. It was as if all the pride built up over the decades as a master mage of the Empire and a highborn lady had been expelled along with that breath. “I failed you and in failing you, I failed the memory of my beloved.”

Rose was there to back me up, of course. “We all make mistakes. What's important is how we handle the outcome.”

“Indeed.” Another deep breath and Mother's eyes closed before she turned back to face Cassius Merope. “My homeland is poised to launch a terrible crusade upon your shores. I offer myself in service of the land that welcomed my daughter with open arms.”

Cassius seemed surprised by this. “You want to fight? Against your own countrymen?”

“Yes.” Mother's eyes burned with a cold sort of wrath that I'd never seen before. “There was a time when I was considered one of the most powerful mages in the Empire, when House Alcyone was one of the most influential and well-respected among the Imperial Court. Years ago, I very nearly became the Grand Mage of Solaria.”

“I begin to understand your position,” Cassius mused. The enormity of what my mother had lost, simply for following the leanings of her heart and joining in union with one of the fey, seemed to reassure any lingering doubts he might have had.

“Will you accept my offer?”

“It's not entirely up to me,” he hedged, but gestured toward the mess that was his desk. “I can make some calls, talk to my friends in the Ministry of Magic. Fialla as a rule doesn't rely upon magic-users in a military sense.”

“What about the Cabal?” I suggested. “Wouldn't it be easier all around to have Mother work with them?”

Cassius shrugged. “That would be something your Master Shimizu—”

“Yukari,” Yuka cut in, making a face. “I hate my title, and yes, I can speak with the other masters about finding a place for someone of Lady Alcyone's talents. A healer of her power would be a boon in the coming days. The Cabal will care little for the problem of politics.”

At her words, my mother's expression seemed to relax considerably.

“Thank you, Yukari.”

“Don't thank me just yet.” Yuka adjusted her glasses and grinned. “My fellow masters of the Cabal are bothersome and obnoxious. I hope your patience is long and your tolerance for frustration is high.”

Mother rolled her eyes. “Do recall that I've lived in the Empire my whole life, all while dealing with the Solarian nobility on a daily basis.”

“Point taken.”

“For the interim,” Cassius said, gesturing toward the door leading back out of his office, “you're welcome to avail yourself of one of our guest suites. Once the paperwork has all been taken care of, we'll be able to help you find a place of your own in the city.”

My mother nodded and glanced at me. “What about you? Will you continue to stay with Rose?”

“Do you really have to ask?”

“I suppose that's a 'yes,' then.” Mother gave me a very specific look, unique to mothers perhaps, and I wilted under her gaze. She held it for a moment before letting her eyes drift toward Rose, then Yuka. “Take care of her, both of you. I can tell she means the world to you both. Trust that she means even more to me.”

The implied threat wasn't lost on either of them. Both Yuka and Rose voiced their solemn agreement, and I nearly groaned aloud.

“Mama, you're embarrassing me.”

“I know. It's part of the job,” she retorted, casting an imperious look my way.

*

After Cassius and his people arranged for Mother's quarters, Rose, Yuka and I bade her goodbye and left the Merope family manor in Rose's car. As was our usual habit, Rose was behind the wheel with Shion in the passenger seat. Yuka and I sat together in the back seat, curled around each other contentedly.

“You sure you don't want me to drive so you can be back there with your girlfriend?” Shion offered.

Rose let out a snort of laughter. “You realize how long my legs are, right? I'd have to fold myself in half to fit. Besides—” Her eyes caught mine through the rear-view mirror, “—those two have no concept of 'personal space' whatsoever. Must be a fairy thing.”

“Hey!” I objected. “You don't seem to mind too much when we're in bed together!”

“That's because we're in bed together,” Rose retorted, bemused. Her eyes went back to the road as she sent the car swerving around a slow-moving cargo vehicle. “Ordinary humans like me like to have a little bit of a break from constant physical contact, you know.”

I kicked playfully at the back of her seat. “We're part human, too, you know.”

“Really? I hadn't noticed.”

“Rose!”

“To be fair, she does have a point.” Yuka's lips were warm on my neck and I groaned as her teeth scraped against me. My cheeks went hot, and I sank down a little in the seat so Rose couldn't see the scarlet staining my face.

“Aaah—”

My retort was lost to muffled and wordless sounds as Yuka kissed me, effectively preventing any further argument. My awareness fogged over from the sensations pouring through my body and my soul, and I while I could hear Rose say something that was probably rather sarcastic, I couldn't parse the words themselves.

A moment later, Yuka drew back and adjusted her glasses. To Rose, she said, “I'm happy to meet Lily's needs whenever I can.”

“Good.” Rose nodded as the car pulled into the underground parking garage beneath her apartment complex. “You mind staying over at my place and sleeping with her tonight? Shion and I would like to go to the gym and punch each other in peace.”

Yuka failed to suppress a giggle. “Of course. I am at your service.”

“ROSE!”

Those two very cruel women burst into peals of laughter at my expense, and I sighed in exasperation. The car came to a stop in Rose's customary parking spot. Yuka and I stepped out onto the concrete flooring. Rose and Shion remained in the car, but as I approached the driver's side of the vehicle, the window rolled down.

“Have fun, little red lily,” Rose insisted.

I was certain my blush hadn't disappeared yet. “You'll come home soon, right?”

“In the morning, probably.”

My expression must've fallen, because she reached out and took hold of my chin. “I'm too wound-up right now, and not in the right way for what you need. I need to go work off some of my less pleasant emotions.” She leaned out the open window and dropped a quick kiss on my lips. “I'm so glad that Yukari will be with you tonight. I'm just not in the right head space for that sort of thing right now, you know?”

“Tomorrow, though?” I fixed her with a hopeful look. “When you get home?”

“After I sleep the hangover off.” Rose placed a hand to her forehead in mock exasperation. “I swear, Lily, you're insatiable.”

“Oh? It must be a 'fairy thing,'” I shot back, my voice heavy with sarcasm. I stepped back and waved goodbye to her as Yuka moved closer to nestle in against my side. “Have fun beating each other up and getting extremely drunk afterward. Don't bleed all over the place when you come back in the morning.”

Rose waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, yes, I won't. I'll make sure to do all the bleeding at the gym, don't worry.”

The window rolled back up before I could respond with more sarcasm. Rose dropped the car into gear and pulled back away from the elevator that would take Yuka and me up to Rose's apartment.

Well, it was my home now, too.

I felt fingertips brush against my cheek as I watched Rose pull out of the parking lot with an unnecessary amount of acceleration. Turning toward Yuka, I gave her a tired smile. We'd all slept on the airship flight across the sea, but I still felt incredibly weary. Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

I still hadn't had time to properly figure out why I was able to draw power from the spirit blade as opposed to the inverse. Every other time I'd drawn Eiri's sword, it drained every last drop of aether it could, but it had been completely different when fighting against Claire inside the condemnation chamber.

Yuka tapped the button on the elevator and the doors retracted. We stepped inside and waited in silence as the lift ascended. Neither of us seemed to be overly tightly-wound on the surface, but the gravity of Yuka's soul had caught me in its inexorable pull. It was all I could do to keep my hands off of her until, fumbling with the keypad, I opened the door to Rose's apartment.

“It's a nice place,” Yuka observed. “Much larger than mine.”

I shut the door and turned to her. I was sure the avid look on Yuka's face was mirrored in my own. After all the fighting, all the stress and strain of encountering a sibling I didn't even know I had, one who hated me simply for existing… I was spent. My emotional reserves had been completely tapped, and I understood now why Rose had retreated with Shion.

All I wanted was to fall into a warm, gentle embrace, to feel her fingertips on my body, to lose myself in the echoes of hearts filled with love. I suspected that if I had been fully human, I would have slept, as Mother did, or become driven to work through my emotional turmoil through violence, as Rose did.

“Lily,” Yuka murmured, biting her lower lip.

“What is it?”

She adjusted her glasses and glanced away from me. “I'm afraid.”

“Me, too.”

Yuka's body felt as if it were melting into mine, and when she spoke, it was in a small voice I never heard her use. “I'm afraid for you. You've never seen war… as it should be. No one should ever have to.”

“I'm sure Mother and Cassius will try to keep me out of it.” I chewed my lower lip, nearly losing myself in her scent. “But I get the feeling that won't work. Claire, and Cyrus—the rest of House Alcyone seem to be exploiting the crusade for their own gain, of course.”

Yuka turned back and gazed into my eyes with such an intense focus. It was so unlike her, so unlike me; we both found it difficult to meet the eyes of others. It felt… too intimate, too revealing, leaving our hearts open and vulnerable. As Rose would have said, “it's probably a fairy thing.” Even having grown up surrounded by only humans, I never was able to feel comfortable looking them directly in the eye.

Well, except Rose, but just as it was with Yuka, I was not afraid to bare my soul before her; I had already done so quite literally.

“They're going to come after us,” I murmured. “The hatred in Claire's heart is too deep, and my great-uncle won't consider his vengeance sated until he presents the Empress Altair with Mother's and my heads.”

“I know.” Yuka smoothed my hair with her fingertips and kissed the crown of my head. Those fingers traced down the line of my jaw and beyond my collarbone, trailing gentle heat down my left arm until her fingers interlaced with mine. “You know that I'll protect you. So will Rose.”

I managed a small smile as she pulled me toward the bedroom.

“I'll protect you both, too.”

Chapter 36
Blue Awakening

The next morning, I felt rested and my heart was at peace—at least, as much as it could have been with war looming on the horizon. I strode through the Merope manor's halls with purpose, slipping past crowds of people that suddenly filled the corridors. Cassius and his people were preparing for a sharp increase in their workloads. The Merope consortium would undoubtedly be called upon by the Governing Council to handle logistics for the military, and ever since we'd returned, Rose's childhood home had been overrun with strangers.

As I pushed past a knot of Fiallans, I was acutely aware of the respectful distance they kept. Word had already gotten out about our “daring” assault on the Panopticon, though the rumor mill seemed to not have realized it had all been a trap.

More than just a trap, but a test—for Claire. She'd been given no forces to command, save for the leash placed upon Willow Corvus. When we encountered her and her alone in the condemnation chamber, I knew that there was more at play than simply crushing the rebel forces.

A small part of me wondered what her masters in the Celestial Prophecy would do with her after her failure to kill me, but it was of little use to speculate on such matters.

More importantly, we now knew why the Empire sought so fervently to exterminate all who possessed miinari blood. The peculiar combination of abilities—the fey's deep understanding of resonance of soul coupled with a strong dark Aspect—permitted me to reach into the minds of those shackled to another's will and shatter their yoke.

I couldn't help but think of Claire. It was impossible, logically contradictory even, for a person to possess both a light and dark Aspect simultaneously. Dual Aspects were uncommon to begin with, and such an adversarial blend of magicks seemed somehow wrong.

And that was why I was in the Merope manor today, even though Rose was not. Mother was still staying in one of the guest rooms, and I had to talk to her. About Claire. About my elder sister that I never knew I had.

I nearly ran headlong into the ample waist of Devon as I rounded a corner.

“Lily,” the seneschal greeted with a pleased smile.

“Hello, Devon.”

Cassius's old friend and longtime right-hand man was no longer content to spend his days chauffeuring Rose and her father around. With the mobilization of the family's resources and personnel, Devon was now rarely far from Cassius's side, acting as his adviser and handling much of the administrative tasks that continued to pile up exponentially.

“What brings you here today? As far as I know, Rose is not here.”

“I came to talk to Mother,” I explained. Truthfully I didn't owe him anything further, but he was wise and insightful. I'd already unburdened myself to him once before, and his counsel then proved to be invaluable. “About… what happened in the Panopticon, with my sister.”

A look of understanding entered Devon's eyes. “Ah, yes. Cassius told me what transpired in the Imperial prison. What a dreadful experience.”

“She never told me I had a sister,” I mumbled.

“I suspected as much.” Devon paused for a moment, searching my eyes. A pensive look spread across his face. “You are upset by this.”

I scowled. “Wouldn't you be? I had a sister all this time and I never even knew. Mother never told me. I never knew she even had a pa—a husband before she was… with Eiri. I never knew any of this, and now…” I trailed off, unwilling to finish the thought, but it echoed within my mind all the same. I have a sister, and she hates me. She tried to murder me and offer my head to her god.

“Have you considered why Lady Alcyone would not wish to discuss this?”

“I suppose.” My tone was thoughtful, and he had a point, but I still felt sharp twinges of rather unpleasant emotions carom around in my heart. “I don't know all the particulars, but Claire has a strong dark Aspect—not an undeveloped affinity, either. It's almost as strong as mine. She's been trained.”

“Under the Empire's laws against necromancy, she should have been purged immediately after testing,” Devon noted. His voice was gentle and reassuring, and I felt much of the hostility start to drain out of me. “It appears as if these laws are selectively enforced, and that the Celestial Prophecy is clandestinely training dark Aspects that are believed to be dead. Very troubling.”

“I know, but even if Mother thought Claire was dead all this time, she still should have at least told me I had a sister!”

“Losing a child, especially one so young, would break a mother's heart. It was a wound that couldn't heal, so Lady Alcyone chose to conceal it, push it from her mind. She chose to forget, to leave the pain behind so that she could move forward.”

Devon didn't try to look me in the eye, for which I was grateful. I don't know how he knew, but it was a relief nonetheless.

“Thank you, Devon,” I said in a small voice. “I… need to go now.”

He offered a sad smile as the distance between us widened.

*

The door to Mother's quarters opened after a few seconds.

“Lily? I wasn't expecting to see you here so early.” Her face was haggard and weary, but she managed to smooth some of that exhaustion away upon the sight of me.

“I needed to talk to you.”

“Of course. Come on in.”

I stepped into the small but elegantly-appointed bedroom that Cassius had given my mother. It was one of the several guest rooms within the Merope family manor. Unlike the others, it was much smaller and located nearer to the kitchens, away from the nigh-constant flow of people that poured in and out of the compound.

I knew Mother had chosen it for a degree of privacy and anonymity, especially since she was very obviously Solarian. My reputation was quite good in Fialla, as a ward of Merope and Rose's beloved, not to mention my fey blood marked me as a symbol of everything the Empire despised. Few people knew anything of Juno Alcyone, however, and the presence of a highborn Solarian lady would be awkward in these circumstances, to say the least.

Closing the door behind me, I walked across the room and sat down on the divan. Mother was sitting on the mattress of her loaned bed. For a long moment I just took in the sight of her, studying the way her limbs drooped, the dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was disheveled, something I'd never seen in my entire life. Mother was always beautiful, but now she seemed to be consumed by pain and grief.

What little was left of the petulant anger in my heart withered at the undeniable proof of my mother's suffering.

“You want to know why I didn't tell you about Claire, about her father.” It was not a question, but I nodded without speaking all the same. The words seemed to contort Mother's features with remembered agony, but the moment passed quickly.

“I'm sure you've managed to put some of the pieces together already,” she continued.

“They—the Celestial Acolytes took her from you when she was a baby.” I didn't meet her eyes. Even my mother's eyes were difficult to look into. “You thought she had been purged for her strong dark affinity.”

“Not thought; knew,” Mother corrected. Her expression softened slightly. “Or rather, we'd been made to believe that. It was the law, after all. One of the gravest laws of the Empire. Every legend, every story, every history we learned—all proclaimed that the Forbidden Aspect is the manifestation of evil, and that those with a strong connection to it are too dangerous to let live.”

“That doesn't explain why you never told me,” I choked, feeling my throat grow so tight I could scarcely breathe. “About my sister, about her father. You never even intended to tell me about Eiri, either? Not until I obtained her spirit blade and you had no choice.”

“I'm sorry, little red lily.” Out of the corner of my eyes, I could tell that she dropped her hands into her lap and was now staring at them nearly as intently as I was at my toes. “I wanted to protect you from all of this. I wanted… I tried so hard to make sure you would escape this.” Tears dropped from her eyes onto her hands, clenching the thin dressing gown she wore. “You were supposed to stay here. Stay with Rose… a-and Yuka. Finish your training with the Shadow Cabal. I did everything I could to atone for my selfishness. Everything I could to keep you safe.”

I stared at her incredulously. “You think I would have just left you to be executed?!”

“Hoped you would.”

“Mama, why? Why didn't you—”

“Because I failed you.”

“That's not an answer.”

She sniffled loudly and wiped at her eyes. “When you were no more than a mote inside my womb, Eiri came to me late one night. I stood on the balcony as she slipped from the forests. It had become dangerous for her to be seen around House Alcyone, and I was worried that something terrible may have happened.” My mother paused and inhaled deeply, slowly, before letting the breath flow out of her in a ragged gust. “She knew that I was with child, of course. We both knew what that would mean for us—and for you. Eiri insisted that we flee the Empire as soon as possible, before my pregnancy became difficult to conceal.”

“You refused,” I said, and the mists began to clear away.

“I couldn't leave House Alcyone like that. I had been chosen as its Head, and if I were to disappear, the position would have passed to Lord Cyrus. I couldn't… I couldn't let my family, my own flesh and blood, be used to fuel that man's selfish ambitions.” A deep sigh pushed itself from my mother's lips. “Eiri and I argued long into the night. I said… things to her that I did not mean, hurtful things. She cared nothing for House Alcyone's fate; she only wanted to keep me and our legacy safe. I railed at her, accusing her of maligning my honor and duty.”

“What did you think would happen once I was born?” I demanded, scowling.

“I—I hoped that I would be able to nurture your water affinity, to strengthen it through infusions of my own mana as you grew.” Mother's fingers knitted together in her lap and a fresh tear rolled off of her cheek. “If you could have claimed your water Aspect, you would have been safe, even in the Empire.”

“It didn't seem to make a difference,” I muttered. “My water affinity is so weak it will likely never evolve into a true Aspect.”

Mother's head shot up and our eyes met. She shook her head. “It's stronger than you think it is, Lily. It would have worked, eventually, had you not stumbled upon the relic.” A shiver wracked her shoulders and back as she gazed at me. “House Alcyone perfected mana infusion techniques from parent to child centuries ago. It's how our family maintained such consistent strength of magic over countless generations.”

I frowned. “What does the sword have to do with it?”

“You had no inkling of how to wield its power. It continually drained your soul of aether to sustain itself—even when you weren't using it. Your connection to the darkness was always very strong, and so that part of your power was only temporarily affected, but your fledgling water affinity was all but blotted out by the shadow of Eiri's legacy.”

I didn't respond to that immediately. I wanted to argue, to yell at her, to feel the anger that I'd felt before, but it wouldn't come. I knew the rightness of what she said. Had I never found the spirit blade in the first place, I could have developed my water affinity into an Aspect. It wouldn't have been anywhere nearly as strong as Mother's, but it would have been enough to keep me safe until I was old enough to leave the Empire on my own.

“Then, shortly after our argument, Eiri was murdered,” she continued in a voice just barely above a whisper. “The grief, the rage, the frustration all focused my will on maintaining control of my family. I couldn't let Cyrus become the Head. I couldn't let him gain a seat on the Imperial Court. Not after he killed my beloved. I felt as if I had no choice. He was vicious. Relentless. He cares nothing for the family, only for power, and when you were born, his hatred for us both only intensified.”

I stared at her, wide-eyed. “You were supposed to be his path to power, a springboard to send House Alcyone soaring to new heights.”

“Yes. If I had accepted the mantle of Grand Mage, he would have become the Head by default, and House Alcyone's influence would have vastly increased.” My mother let out a bitter laugh, one that held no amusement whatsoever. “Eventually, his machinations would have given an Alcyone scion a credible claim to the imperial throne.”

I snorted. “The irony of this situation hasn't escaped me.”

“Word spread throughout the Court shortly after you were born. The matriarch of House Alcyone had perversely lain beside a dark fairy and bore a tainted, half-breed child!” Mother shook her head slowly. “Oh, how the people delighted in this scandal. Houses that had coveted our positions were quick to add fuel to the fire. It was not difficult to do. Solarians don't understand the fey peoples' views on gender, and simply the idea of a babe born from the union of two 'females' was enough to evoke disgust and fear of evil, demonic magicks at work.”

“No wonder Cyrus hates me so,” I quipped, trying my best to sound lighthearted. “I crushed his ambitions before I was even old enough to be taken off the teat.”

Mother's chuckle was more genuine this time. “Indeed. Oh, how it infuriated him as you grew and he could do nothing but watch, grinding his teeth in impotent fury!” Her expression became more serious and she paused. I stood up and moved off of the divan, sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed. Our fingers entwined together and I leaned against my mother's shoulder.

“Mama.”

“I did fail you, Lily. I failed Eiri, too. I should have… I should have gone with her, ran away in the middle of the night, left the Empire behind forever. If I hadn't been selfish, stubborn, so very arrogant and sure of myself…” Her voice broke and she trailed off. “I'm so sorry, little red lily. I made a terrible, terrible mistake and I compounded that mistake in trying to atone. If you had stayed in Fialla, Cyrus's rage may have been expended upon me. My life would have been forfeit, but in exchange for your freedom and happiness. I would have gladly made that bargain.”

“I wouldn't have been happy if you died, Mama,” I pointed out.

“I know. I'm grateful you came and pulled me out of the darkness. I don't deserve you, Lily. I'm a failure of a mother and you still risked everything to save me.” I felt her free hand start to smooth my deep red curls. “You look so much like her. I know she would be so proud of you if she were here today. I know I am.”

I blinked tears from my eyes and nestled in closer to Mother's shoulder. As always, she felt cool and soothing, her heart and magic both like the calming waters of the sea. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply of her scent.

“Tell me about my sister, Mama.”

I heard her soft hum of approval and felt gentle fingers upon my head.

“Claire was a beautiful, innocent child. She laughed when she gripped my fingers, and she would smile every time she could sense my magic. Alexander and I felt as if we were the luckiest people alive, to be so blessed…”

Chapter 37
Unity of Soul and Mind

I closed my eyes and focused on the magic within. Not the shadow; I pushed past that, letting my consciousness slip beyond the inky-black threads that linked my spirit with the Dark. Down, down into my soul's depths I descended, until I came to a sparkling spring of pure blue waters. It felt a little unfamiliar, but somehow right. It was just as natural to tap this font of power as it was to draw out a tendril of darkness.

I opened my eyes and held out my right hand, snapping my thumb and forefinger.

With a brilliant flash of cerulean light, magic surged from my body and out into the world. The target in front of me, a plastic jug filled with water, was enveloped in shimmering mystic light for a split second—

Then it burst outward, the water inside flash-freezing into beautiful spikes of frigid crystal. I wasn't done, though, and my gaze hardened. I stared at the chunk of ice, the shredded remains of the plastic container hanging limply from the needle-like shards, and issued a silent command to the magic I'd just worked.

With a thunderous crack, the mass of ice shards violently detonated. Deadly spears and daggers of frost exploded outward from the center. Most of them buried themselves deeply into the walls and ceiling of the training room, but others—those that flew toward me—disintegrated against a barrier of translucent shadow.

“Seven Holy Stars,” Rose swore, blinking repeatedly in astonishment.

Shion grinned next to the two of us and released the barrier they'd raised. “Juno Alcyone was right, it seems.”

“How in the Yawning Hells did you catch up so fast?”

I shrugged. “According to Mother, the spirit blade isn't draining me anymore. Now that I've learned how to use my necromancy, I can focus on honing my water affinity.”

“That's not just an affinity, Lily,” Rose retorted, gesturing sharply toward all the ice shards still deeply embedded into the walls, ceiling and floor of the training hall. “You've got a genuine dual Aspect. This is proof of that.”

“What do you mean?”

Rose rolled her eyes and jerked a thumb at the ice shards. “They're not melting. You haven't released the magic yet, and you didn't even notice.”

I turned to gaze upon the ruined training hall, filled with dozens of deep punctures in the wood paneling. If Rose were right, I was still instinctively maintaining the materialized water mana that kept the shards from fading away. They weren't so much pieces of frozen water, but of the idea of ice, and the form and state they assumed was entirely a result of my power.

I released the magic. The effect was instantaneous. Each individual shard crumbled into wet slush and pooled on the floor of the training hall. As I watched, the water mana began to dissolve into nothingness. Within a few seconds, there was no indication at all as to what had caused all of the damage.

“I still don't understand why I can do this so easily,” I murmured. “It was always difficult at the Academy. Drawing forth water mana felt as if I were trying to move the foundations of the world with my bare hands.”

Rose cocked a white eyebrow. “Didn't you just say your mom explained it to you?”

“She gave me an explanation, but it was light on details.” I sat down on a nearby stool and sighed, reaching over to the table where we'd set our drinks. The bottle I'd been given by Shion was filled with some sort of citrus-tasting cloudy liquid that made my blood sing as I drank. It was some kind of energy supplement, no doubt. “Why did the spirit blade offer power rather than consuming it? I still don't know very much about it. Certainly not enough to qualify as competence.”

Rose glanced at Shion, and then back at me. “Well, what was different about the last time?”

I'd thought about this before, but it didn't make any more sense to me now than it did at the time, when we were fighting with Claire—with my sister. Caustic emotions threatened to bubble up to the surface and I shoved them back down, angry with myself. This wasn't about Claire, it was about me.

“Let's consider the differences,” Rose continued. She began counting off her long fingers as she gazed at me. “One, you were smack in the middle of blighted land and you'd already cast a handful of powerful spells. Your soul was about as close to empty as it could get, so there wasn't much for it to take. Two, you'd already wielded the sword a few times before, and each time you did so, your level of control increased. Three, your mom was right there with you, and she specifically told you to draw it…”

I closed my eyes and pressed my palms to them until I saw starbursts. Of course it had been so simple. The answer had been staring me in the face the whole time, and I'd missed it. I chalked it up to the sheer overwhelming nature of the events that had taken place over the past week.

“My body was infused with Mother's mana only moments before I called on it, but she'd been in that prison so long she couldn't possibly have had any free aether.” I opened my eyes again and took a long gulp from my bottle of whatever-it-was, sighing as the sweet-salty-sour liquid traced an icy line down my throat. “She didn't just heal me, but… more. It’s like she broke off parts of herself and pushed them into me.”

“Seems a little far-fetched to me,” Shion mused.

Rose shook her head. “No, Lily's exactly right. I remember how Juno's magic felt the first time I met her at House Alcyone. It feels somewhat less now, like it's missing something fundamental. A lot of that something, whatever it is.” My partner walked around behind me and leaned forward to draw me up into a warm embrace. “Conversely, Lily's magic feels… larger, for lack of a better word, than it did before. I'm sure you can sense it, too, Adept Aoki.”

My former magic instructor snorted at Rose's mention of their title. “I did notice a change, but I had suspected it was caused by the spirit blade itself.”

I raised my hand out and called forth the relic. Violet-black flames burst from my outstretched palm and coalesced into the slender, lethally-sharp sword. It was so much easier now; drawing the sword felt as natural as moving my arm or taking a step.

For a long moment I just studied the weapon and marveled at its intricate, seemingly impossible design. No mortal swordsmith crafted the relic, no hammer or anvil had ever touched the dark metal of the sword's blade. It was a construct entirely formed of magic; the mind had been the steel, the soul the forge.

Rose eyed the spirit blade with more than a little trepidation. “I know you can now draw it without so much as blinking, but it's still a bit, um…” She trailed off, her brows knitting together as she tried to put her emotions to words.

“Unnerving,” Shion supplied. “The relic's power is… dangerous.”

“Yeah. And as you already said, you still don't really know how to use it.” Rose took a step back from me, and not wanting her to feel anxious, I sent the spirit blade back into its little sub-reality, folded adjacent to normal space. The spirit blade's intense aura winked out as soon as it vanished.

“Don't worry,” I told her, a serious look on my face. “I don't plan on just waving it around like an ordinary sword. I'll be careful. I promised Mother I'd only use it in emergencies, and I extend the same vow to you.”

Rose nodded in obvious approval. “Going to stick with your mom's dagger, then?”

“It does have a name, you know.” I smiled and nodded, patting the sheathed blade at the small of my back. “But yes. It doesn't interact with my magic and it's what I know best. I trained for most of my life with the short blade.”

“You never told me it had a name,” Rose complained.

“I didn't think I needed to, since it's inscribed near the maker's mark.” I pulled the knife out and laid it on my lap so that Rose could see the small runes etched into the flat of the blade near the hilt and guard. Her face scrunched up in confusion, and I frowned. “What's wrong?”

“I can't read that chicken-scratch. It doesn't look anything like any Solarian I've ever seen.”

I chuckled and put the dagger away. “It's Old Solarian script, from before we adopted the new Avindran alphabet. Solarian master smiths still use it for makers' marks as a sort of… certificate of authenticity, I suppose.”

“So what does it say?”

I smiled. “Starshard.”

“Really?” Rose sighed and shook her head. “That's rather on-the-nose, isn't it? For a blade forged from steel containing celestial iron.”

“You could tell by looking?”

“The wavy grain structure is a dead giveaway,” Shion interjected, snickering. “Remember who you're talking to; the daughter of Fialla's most accomplished trading magnate. Rose has an eye for quality goods.”

“It'd be impossible to slave away for Dad all these years without picking something up along the way.” Rose's lips brushed against my ear and I shivered from her touch. She kissed my cheek, and then the line of my jaw. “Can you be done with training already? I want to go out.”

“I suppose,” I began, glancing at the mess I'd made of the training room. “The Cabal will need time to um, make the necessary repairs, after all.” I sent an apologetic look at Shion and they shrugged.

“Don't worry about it, Lily. The training hall has seen worse in the past.” They waved a hand at Rose and me, shooing us away. “Go on, you two, get out of here and go spend some time together. We all know it's going to get a lot more hectic soon enough.”

*

Rose and I left the Cabal building and headed north down one of the lesser-used highways that spiderwebbed their way across the Fiallan mainland—and also to several of the outlying islands, as well. This far toward the undeveloped part of the country made it feel more open, more quiet and peaceful.

Fialla was a large country in both land area and population, but the northern reaches of the nation were a far cry from the bustling metropolis of the capital. The city of Fialla comprised nearly all of my experience with the nation of Fialla, and Rose liked to take me places outside the city from time to time, to show me more of her homeland.

Not to mention get me alone more often, of course.

“Where are we going?” I asked, perhaps for the fourth time. I was wondering when Rose would grow tired of deflecting and finally give me an answer.

“You'll see,” she replied, just as she had on each previous occasion.

I scowled at her. “I'd like to know.”

“It'd hardly be a surprise if I just told you. We're almost there, I promise. I know it's been a long drive.”

We'd been on the road for maybe two hours at this point, and I was starting to get more than a little restless. I wasn't used to sitting down in a mechanical conveyance for hours on end to get from place to place. As a daughter of a highborn House, even one who was barely considered a real person, I always traveled throughout the Empire via Gates. There was just something odd about having to rely upon machines.

At least we weren't flying, however, so I suppose I should have counted my blessings.

Rose manipulated the steering wheel and sent the car hurtling toward a ramp that would take us off the dusty highway and onto the a much narrower street below. I frowned as I looked out the window and realized that this small road had no branching paths or turns, and was interrupted a few hundred meters away by a stone wall with a heavy steel gate.

“The wall looks like the one around the Merope manor,” I observed.

“Good eye. Dad’s people helped build this place.”

We slowed as the car approached the gate. A guard, dressed in a plain khaki-colored uniform and armed with a well-worn rifle, marched up to the driver's side of the car. Rose rolled the window down and leaned closer to him, whispering something I couldn't quite catch.

“You're cleared to enter, Miss Merope,” the man said in a louder voice. He stepped back and the gate began to open. Once it'd cleared enough distance for Rose's car to fit, she hit the accelerator and sent us smoothly cruising through the opening.

Behind the wall and the gate was a small settlement—little more than a village, really, and I blinked in confusion as I realized I didn't recognize any of the architecture. The way the buildings seemed to flow out of the ground, almost as if they were grown rather than constructed, told me that this was the work of magic. Strong magic, at that.

Rose slowed and stopped the car right outside the village square, killing the engine before turning to me with a grin. “Come on. Let's go.”

I opened my door and stepped out onto the ground. Unlike the barren lands surrounding the walled settlement, inside was blanketed in vibrant green. Clusters of fruit trees grew between structures that were likely homes. Grasses and wildflowers carpeted the earth between the carefully-maintained paths of shaped stone.

I took a deep breath and inhaled the scents of dozens of different plants. I recognized many of them from Mother's garden at House Alcyone, but others were unfamiliar. The air fairly thrummed with more ambient magic than anywhere else I'd been in Fialla. My legs and feet tingled with each step. The land beneath me was so rich with aether, so abundant with ley lines that I knew it had to have been done intentionally.

“Does anyone live here?” I asked. “I don't see anyone.”

“Yes, but they're understandably a bit anxious, as they don't know us.” Rose shrugged and gestured toward the village square's beautifully landscaped flowerbeds. “I've never been here before, never had a reason to come here before. Not until you became a part of my life, anyway.”

I blinked. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Rose nudged my side, pushing me toward the square. “Go on and you'll find out.”

At this point I realized Rose wasn't going to tell me anything useful. It would be up to me to figure out why I'd been brought here. As I took slow, deliberate steps toward the garden, I closed my eyes and let the magic of this place sing through my body. There was something about the power of this tiny patch of land that echoed back the whispers of my soul.

Here, more than any place I'd ever been, I felt at peace.

I felt the barest ghost of a touch upon my hand, and I opened my eyes.

They who stood before me was shorter than I was by perhaps half a dozen centimeters, but they were even more slender and ethereal in build. Their snowy features were delicate and angular, but the proportions were subtly inhuman. Wide-eyed, I stared at this beautiful and otherworldly being in awe and wonder. It was as if I were peering into a strange sort of mirror.

“You are Eiri's,” the fey stated.

Never had I heard such a musical voice. It seemed to echo within itself, but it wasn't a quality of the physical sound. Rather the fey's words were formed by the soul and spoken through resonance; a small part of me was dimly aware that the fey wasn't speaking Common at all.

“How do you know?”

The fey tilted their head and I noticed an odd pair of amorphous shadows spread from their back. A tremor ran through them and the shadows flexed, spreading outward like a bird's feathers before taking to the air.

Wings. They were wings.

“How could I not know? You're of the same spirit.” The miinari sniffed and their lips curved into a pleased smile. Their wings folded back down and appeared to vanish into their body, and they held out a petite hand toward me. “Also you smell very much like her.”

Trembling, I reached out to take the fey's outstretched hand. The pale flesh was far smoother and softer than that of any I'd ever felt, even Yuka's or my own. I could feel the fey's magic through our shared contact, and they could feel mine as well.

“Who are you?”

The miinari didn't let go of my hand. “I am called Maiya.”

“Lily. That's my name, I mean.”

Maiya nodded. “I know.”

“How?”

The skies, already rather grim, began to darken further. Drops of rain began to pelt the ground around us. I felt the cold droplets strike my head, but I barely noticed. Strands of shadow entwined themselves around Maiya's arm and spread outward over us both, forming a barrier of wispy darkness that warded off the rain.

“Resonance,” Maiya answered.

“But I didn't—”

The miinari's laughter sounded like fairy bells chiming. “You didn't need to. Your mind may not have recognized me, but your heart did, and it spoke to me through the soul-whispers.”

“Plus Dad told her we were coming.”

I whirled around toward that voice. “Rose!”

“Greetings, child of Lailah,” Maiya said to Rose as she stood next to me. Her height was so much greater than Maiya's and even mine that she didn't even try to step beneath the shadowy canopy. Instead, she'd unfolded an umbrella and held it over her head to keep dry. “Please offer your… father… our thanks for all they've done for us.”

“I will,” Rose promised. She turned toward me and gestured toward the structures that rose from the land around us. “After the miinari were forced out of their homeland in the Far East, many of them crossed the sea to settle in Fialla's northern lands. The Governing Council accepted them with open arms as refugees, and things were peaceful for many years. Until the Forge War happened, anyway.”

Maiya's expression dropped at the mention of the war. “They sought to punish Fialla for offering us succor.”

“You mean the kanari,” I murmured.

“Yes. The sacred servants.” Maiya looked as if she were on the verge of tears, but instead of dwelling on such things, she changed the subject. A fork of jagged lightning split the sky some dozen or so kilometers away. “Come, come, child of Eiri, child of Lailah. Let's get out of the rain before it starts to get worse, yes?”

Maiya turned and strode purposefully toward the closest dwelling, not waiting for either the human or the half-fey to respond. I marveled at the wispy shadows still suspended over my head, the mystic threads of Maiya's wings remaining behind to shelter me from the water and the wind.

“Rose… I don't know what to say.”

“You don't need to say anything, little red lily. I can see how much this means to you just by looking at you.”

My partner's arm encircled my shoulders and she drew me close. Together, the two of us walked through the garden and into the open door of Maiya's home.

~to be continued

About the Author

Hi there! My name is Corinn Heathers, and I'm the author!

Most about-the-author blurbs are written in the third person, but I find it tiresome and dull to do so. So here it is, from the top: I'm a queer trans woman, a low-level femme, a gigantic nerd who loves role-playing games, MMOs and visual novels… oh, and I'm an author of speculative fiction based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I love to write science fiction and fantasy, or science fantasy fiction, or science fiction masquerading as fantasy and everything in between. As you might have noticed, I write stories with predominately female and queer casts.

Readers can connect with me through my Twitter account, @syn010110, or by following my Facebook author page (facebook.com/corinn.writes.stuff), though I'm not the most active social-media butterfly. I also maintain a public email account that readers can use to contact me if they wish (corinn.writes.stuff@gmail.com), which I check reasonably often.