Saviour of Souls

Seth

Jason was waiting in my room, apparently, and I began swearing internally, trying to hide the fact that I was panicking from Selphien, and I cast pleading looks back over at Merry and Emmett, who were doing their best to distract her, with little clue what to do once they did.

Would Jason be able to tell I’d slept with Destiny? Gulping, I waited in front of my tent while Selphien gave the boys the directions for how to find their respective family members, and then where they could find a fresh change of clothes, and then food, until, frustrated, Selphien sweetly offered, “Why don’t I just give you a tour once you’re done?”

‘A tour that would likely end in bloodshed’, I thought, as Emmett, with a sheepish look, asked, “Where do I find the main tent again?”

‘If it didn’t start in it.’

Selphien smiled, and promised to find them later for a full tour, before shoving me into the tent. I nearly stumbled right into Jason, who was admiring my work with the pillows on my bed, before eyeing me with an odd expression on his face, like he was supressing a smile.

“I know your secret!” He accused furiously, and I immediately saw my life flash before my eyes.

SHIT. SHIT. SHIT!

Then, bursting into laughter, he doubled over, clutching at his stomach.

“Did I scare you?!” He howled with laughter, and as I gaped at him, still horrified, he stood up straight, crossed his arms, and waggled his finger at me, “I hope I did, you stupid boy! Sneaking off! Merry, I would expect that behaviour from, but you? YOU? What the Hell were you doing in Ordeallan? You’re lucky I found you missing, and not Karla!”

‘Not what I was doing,’ I thought with a blush, ‘but who’. “I was… I don’t know, Jason!”

“And why are you wearing one of Merry’s shirts? Don’t give me that look of innocence, I can smell him on it, for one, and for two, you weren’t wearing it before. What were you doing?”

“Nothing! I got worried about Merry, so I went out looking for him! I found him, by the way! You’re welcome! I lost my shirt in the process, and he gave his to me!”

“Why is losing your shirt such a problem?” He asked, confused, and I shook my head. I just wanted to get some rest. I hadn’t exactly slept well the night before.

“You were missing all night. I know that, because I came in here to collect the jar of blood, and you weren’t here. I waited, and a team of Demonic-beings attacked us. We won. Barely, but the whole time all I could think was the fact that Karla was going to have a heart attack. You should know better!”

“Look, Jason, I’m sorry! I just wanted to find my brother!” I said, and Jason sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose, until I added, “I can’t lose another family member, Jason. I just can’t!” His face softened, before he realised that it was just a pity tactic. If only I could lie as well as Destiny. She’d made it perfectly clear that we couldn’t let anyone else in the camp know what had happened, since they would kill both of us, and that if even Merry or Emmett found out we were Connected, rather than just two strangers who’d decided to have a go at each other, we would likely be killed as well.

“Yeah, well Karla could have lost two when you decided to sneak out! You are aware that there is a manipulative, cunning Princess of Hell after your blood, yes?”

“Yes!” I’d saved her ass the night before, actually! I was perfectly damn aware! “And guess what, Jason, my time out in Ordeallan was perfectly normal! So clearly, she’s not as good an Assassin as everyone thinks!”

‘Ouch… Hold back on the insults there, would you? And just to make it clear, I very easily could have killed you.’

‘Sorry.’ I chose to ignore the last part, since it wasn’t exactly something I needed to hear right now, and Jason said, “If I catch you doing it again, Seth, I swear I’ll give you to her myself just to save myself from going grey! Look! I have to dye my hair now!” He plucked a perfectly normal piece of hair from his head, waving it in front of my face, and I muttered, “Not before you dye that Heaven-awful coat.”

He was wearing a green trench-coat today, and at the look I gave it, he swung it over his shoulder with a hand pressed to his heart, looking insulted, although I could see a small smirk on his face.

‘Tell Jason I say hello!’

‘I think that would be counterintuitive,’ I said, and Jason, having believed to have interrogated me successfully, let me pass. I sat down on my bed, yawning, and quietly asked my Connected, ‘Should I ask for a tonic?’

’If you want to be beat around the head by a Vampire, go ahead. Because I guarantee if you ask for a, and I quote, ‘tonic’, he’s going to know your bullshit excuse about finding Merry was, indeed, bullshit.’

I frowned deeply, suddenly feeling worried, ‘Well, one of us has to take one!’, I argued, and Destiny paused for a moment, before sarcastically replying, ‘Yeah, alright, I’ll just go back to the Caliem Manor and ask Zeella for one, while you ask Jason.’

‘Really?’

‘No, you idiot! I would be executed! You think Zeella will approve of me sleeping with a Nephilim?!’

‘Ow… That’s rude, you know.’

‘What?’

‘You know, calling me nasty insults.’

‘Fine. I’m sorry. There. That’s the only damn apology you’ll get from me, and just to make it up to you, I’ll find a tonic.’

She fell quiet, almost sounding embarrassed, and I zoned back into the world to notice Jason staring at me in disbelief, clicking his fingers in front of my face.

“Hello?! Dimension two to Seth! Did you hear a word I just said?”

“Sorry. I zoned out.”

“Zoned out alright,” he muttered, before adding, “Put on some better clothes. Tatiana is calling a meeting about the attack. Not that you’ll know anything about it, since you weren’t here!”

“Please don’t tell anyone!” I called after him, and he said, “I won’t, so long as you don’t tell anyone that I bought a pink and black shirt!”

What? Why would anyone care? I hadn’t even noticed he was wearing one, until he pointed it out. In fact, I’d thought it was blood at firs- He was trying to hide the fact that he’d killed people. I had kind of assumed he had, since the war camp had been attacked, but his shirt was pink, having stained it with blood, and then washed it out as best he could. Jason had killed people, and not just Demonic-beings.

Now that I thought about it, Selphien had been stained in black blood. How many people had she killed? I’d been so tied up in panicking that I hadn’t even noticed! I was going to have to ask if she was alright! She probably desperately wanted to talk to me!

Turning my back to Jason, I ripped Merry’s shirt off, and replaced it with one of my own, trying to rush around him, before the Vampire put his arm around my chest, stopping me dead in my tracks, his eyes wide.

“Woah! Slow down there! What was on your back? They looked like scratches!”

“Nothing! Jason, let me go!” I hissed when Jason spun me around, lifting the back of my shirt. I groaned, my face and neck burning, and Jason suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth and nose, snorting with laughter.

“You snuck out to sleep with a girl? Ha! Alright, you almost had me, Seth, with your story! No wonder you looked so frightened when I said I knew your secret! How long has this been happening?”

‘Seth!’ Destiny quipped in anger in the back of my mind, and I winced, wishing there was a solid wall to whack my head against. Groaning, seeing no way out of it, and praying Jason would keep my secret, I admitted, “A night. Last… Night… I haven’t done it before, I swear!”

“Wait, last night was your first- Holy shit, Seth! Look, come visit me later, and I’ll give you a tonic. You should have told me last night!”

“It wasn’t exactly my intention.”

“I can imagine not! Are you going to tell your pretty girlfriend?”

“Who?”

“Selphien? The Fae girl? Seth, I hate to break it to you, but girls don’t like that kind of thing. You should probably admit it, and move on.”

“I- We’re not dating? We’re just friends.”

“That’s a relief. Go see her, then, and yes, I’ll keep your dirty secret, but I meant it- don’t go out there again. Not for a while.”

I nodded, promising, and left, sighing to my Connected, ‘I got a tonic.’

‘…Seth…’ She sounded embarrassed, and for a moment, I felt sorry for her. This was new territory for her, too. Perhaps even more than it was for me. She had lived her life with the rules of Royalty. I hadn’t, and I’d learnt about the whole girlfriend thing from Merry, so it wasn’t that big of a surprise for me. For her, though? It was probably like getting slapped in the face.

‘Worse, actually, because Zeella’s going to kill me. Your family might be fine with it, but mine won’t be.’

‘Was it worth it, to you?’

A pause, and then, from the back of my mind came a quiet, ‘Yes. It was worth it.’

‘I can’t come back and see you. Jason’s onto me.’

‘It’s fine. I’m going to Silba with Lydiav in a bit anyway. Just don’t die.’ Destiny vanished from the back of my mind, clearly not wanting to talk anymore.

“Seth!” Selphien came running out from one of the other tents, her hair still in a messy braid, her clothes torn up, and a sword was tied to her back with a green slash, the fabric stained black. There were cuts up her arms and face, and I hugged her tightly. I had no words for how glad I was that she was alive.

“Selphien,” I breathed her name, and she wiped at her face, saying, “Sorry I’m covered in blood.”

“Don’t be sorry. You’re alive.”

“Yeah, and so are you! I honestly thought you were dead for a while, or kidnapped!”

I released her with a smile, and she said, “I was actually wondering… Look, thinking that you might be dead, while having to fight for my life… It kind of made me realise that I hadn’t taken you to a dinner yet. Do you want to go to a dinner with me in Ordeallan tonight?”

“Dinner? Sure, that’ll be fun! Is Syrphien coming?”

Selphien blushed, and said, “Oh, no. He’s not coming. The others are busy, so it’ll just be us. Is that okay?”

“Yeah! Let’s celebrate our victory! I’m sorry, but there’s really only one place in Ordeallan that’s still open, and that’s the Rusty Tin. Is that fine?”

“Yes! I’ll meet you in your tent in a few hours? Tiskial’s already promised to take us over there.”

Behind us, Tiskial began shouting for people to enter the main tent, where Tatiana and Lucifer were waiting to speak, and I watched as people entered the camp from all different angles, covered in blood and injuries. Selphien, taking my hand, led me across the bridge, and into the tent.

The main tent, which had once been piled high with pillows and tables, had been transformed seemingly in the few hours that I had been away. The tables had been pushed over to the sides, the pillows missing, and people stood in lines around Tatiana and Lucifer, who was holding his fiancée’s hand. They were both covered in blood, though Lucifer definitely had more coating him, and Tatiana looked exhausted, her hands a dull green.

“That’s a sign that she’s used too much magic. See how the skin of her hands are green? A Fae will show signs of using too much magic by having their skin turn the same colour as their magic,” Selphien said, and I looked down at her hands to find them normal.

“For me, magic is a last resort,” she explained, and then said, “Because Tatiana has a Seedling, she won’t be able to fight with a sword, not without risking damaging the connection between her and the little thing, so she has to fight with magic. Which is why Lucifer is covered in so much blood, from protecting her where her magic couldn’t, and also why their hands are linked- Because she’s used so much magic, and Seedlings need magic to grow, he’s feeding the Seedling using his magic.”

We took a spot amongst the others, Karla rushing up to hug me tightly from behind, while Lucy clung to Tarragon’s side. Neither of them were crying, and I noticed that Tarragon’s hands were a strange silver colour. Had he been using magic too?

I held my mother for a moment, before spotting Merry and Mira hugging tightly at the back of the tent, Mira crying her eyes out into his shoulder, while he clung to her, looking relieved, and overjoyed.

Emmett and Adriel seemed to have gotten over their reunion fairly quickly, and I saw that they stood closer together than they usually did, having missed each other enough to see around their arguments, at least for now.

Tatiana, looking exhausted, cleared her throat and called out across the room, “I’m sorry for calling you all in here on such short notice, but I have important news to announce!”

Her voice sounded so hoarse, and Selphien winced slightly, rubbing her own throat, recognising that pain. I turned to her, and she nodded, smiling.

“The attack on the war camp has shocked us all- so much so that not only have the cities promised to send more soldiers to defend us, but the Royals themselves are coming! More soldiers will be stationed near the Divider to prevent an attack from happening again, and-” I tuned out, wondering if Destiny would trust me enough to let me in on when attacks were planned, and then; the Royal families were coming from the other cities.

Just as Tatiana began announcing some form of counter-attack, a Fae servant, covered in dirt from rubble and tears, ran in, a scroll clenched in her hands. Oh no… I recognised this woman, Taylani, from the Sun Palace. She had been one of the Fae who served breakfast.

“Princess Tatiana! I have a message from Tarvenia.”

“I have to go!” I whispered to Selphien, who blinked at me, before nodding slightly, turning back to her Princess as Tatiana told the servant to read the scroll aloud.

I had been lucky in the fact that the battle had delayed the knowledge of the Sun Palace’s destruction from coming through, but that also meant that on top of whatever stress Tatiana was already feeling, Destiny and I’s rather murderous destruction of her home was going to add to that burden. Not to mention how guilty I was beginning to feel for playing a part in it.

Trying to push my way to the front of the tent, I realised a second before it was too late that Taylani would recognise me as the one who told them to evacuate, and shoved my way back through the crowd, toward Merry and Mira.

As I joined my sibling, I heard Taylani announce in a wobbling voice, “We regretfully inform you, Tatiana Sevenna, that your mother, the Queen of Tarvenia, has passed away earlier yesterday evening. We also regret to inform you that the recent attack on Tarvenia has caused the subsequent destruction of large portions of the Dimension, which will require-”

“Attack?” Lucifer demanded, “What attack?”

“You- You weren’t aware?” Taylani said, and Tatiana clapped a hand over her mouth, turning to Lucifer to hide her tears from the crowd. Tiskial and the others looked in sorrowful shock, while Selphien was crying, her brother comforting her.

“We sent a messenger to inform you an hour ago. They were meant to come from Ordeallan…” Taylani trailed off.

“We received no messenger.”

‘You’re welcome,’ Destiny sung in the back of my mind, and I hissed, ‘Did you kill the messenger?’

‘Maybe I did. So what? They were going to reveal you to them. I just saved your ass.’

‘At the cost of another life!’ I shouted, swamped with fresh guilt that was a hundred times worse than any guilt I’d felt over bringing the Palace down. At least only Demonic-beings, and Genevieve, had died during the Palace attack. Not an innocent person, or anybody who hadn’t wanted to die!

‘Welcome to the wonders of war, Connected,’ she said in a cheerful voice, and I snapped, ‘Why are you so happy about this?!’

‘I’m a trained killer. I don’t care about much else than saving my, and my friends, asses.’

’I am NOT your friend!’ I snarled, and Destiny replied, ‘Then have fun when the next messenger decides to reveal that you’re the one who told them to evacuate, Connected.’

‘That’s blackmail!’

‘No, I never said I would send the messenger, but the Fae will. You’ll be trialled for treason, not to mention as an accomplice to murder, destruction of property, destruction of Royal territory… The list goes on.’

‘I’ll hand you in!’

Her presence in the back of my mind turned deadly, shadows setting in, and her voice was low as she purred, ‘I dare you to do it. Go on. See what happens to your precious war camp then. Also, THAT is blackmail. Checkmate.’

‘I hate you. I regret sleeping with you! And helping you! You’re a terrible person!’

‘The feelings are mutual,’ she snapped coldly, and I sat down on one of the upturned tables, hiding from Taylani as the crowd began to whisper to each other in panic, Tatiana and the servant discussing what the message might have entailed, if they knew who had committed the attack, and by the end of the traumatic conversation, Tatiana had left at the urging of her fiancé to let him handle this, crying, and I was feeling guiltier than ever. Not to mention angry. I was angry at being duped by Destiny, when it was so obvious that she was a soulless brat, angry that I had fallen for such a simple trick, and angrier still that I had hurt Tatiana, my friend, in such a cruel and heartless way. I was no better than Destiny, but I knew how to start trying to make this right.

‘You know what, I’m handing myself in!’ I hissed, and she said, ‘Go ahead. See if I care.’

‘You cared last night. Maybe I’ll just let Zeella know of your antics if you care so little,’ I said cruelly, and Destiny fell silent for a moment.

‘Do it.’

It was just another dare, a challenge to take her up on, but I knew she would kill me before I got the chance if I even considered doing it.

‘Well, go on, Seth! Scream it out into that stupid tent right now what we did! If you think you’ve got the guts to threaten me about it, then live up to what you’re threatening! Tell everyone that you slept with me, and you helped me bring down the Sun Palace! And when you’re done telling them, waltz into the Caliem Manor and tell my court too! I won’t stop you if you want to get absolutely slaughtered by Tatiana right now!’

I opened my mouth, and then closed it again when I heard Tiskial and Kynal shouting for revenge. She had a point. Now was not the time to be bringing up the fact that I was a part of the destruction of the Sun Palace. When I remained silent, Destiny said, ‘That’s what I thought. If you want to survive, then learn to keep your mouth shut, and swallow your guilt. It’ll only get you killed.’

Selphien rushed back to me, grabbing my hand, and cried out, “Syrphien’s joined up to fight!”

“What?”

“Tiskial said he’s hunting down whoever broke into Tarvenia. The wards have a huge power print left behind on them, but it isn’t large enough to be Destiny’s. It’s smaller, likely a Lord of Hell, and a bunch of smaller prints, which I presume are soldiers. They’ve found bodies in the rubble, all of them Demonic-beings. Thankfully, none of the Fae have been killed, apart from Genevieve, but the Guards report that she died before the attack.”

‘See?’

“I’m so sorry, Selphien,” I hugged her tightly, and she said, “It’s fine, I’m okay. But I can’t let my brother fight alone.”

“You can’t join! You’ll be killed!” I said, and Selphien shook her head, wiping at her eyes, “No, we’ve had training. We work better together, anyway. But I need to know what you’re doing.”

“Why?”

“So I know where to be! I can’t leave you here if you stay here! You need to be protected!”

Tiskial was walking around with a piece of parchment and a pencil, visiting all the groups in the tent, and convincing people to sign. They were doing it, cheering each other on and singing, and very quickly, the sombre mood from Genevieve’s death shifted, the feeling of justice replacing it as people began to plan their revenge. Tiskial approached us, Merry and Mira standing up straight, and he asked, “Are any of you joining?”

Selphien looked over her shoulder at me, and signed her name. I could see Syrphien’s name above it, and with a wince, I watched as Merry signed up, which prompted Mira to do the same. With a grin, Tiskial turned to me.

Sign up, and fight my Connected’s court, or don’t sign up, and abandon the family I loved. Taking the pencil from Tiskial, I wrote my name on the paper, essentially signing my soul away.

Merry turned to me, shocked, and said, “You’re fighting? You aren’t eighteen- you don’t have to.”

“I know,” I said quietly, and Selphien slipped her hand into mine. She seemed to be doing that a lot more, now. Not that I minded. I was glad to be here for her.

“We’ll have to train all of you in fighting,” she said quietly, and Tiskial said, “I’m training Mira. Kynal has already volunteered to train Adriel and her sibling. Darcie is going to be training under Lucifer’s guidance. Would you like me to train you with your fiancée?” He asked Merry, and he nodded.

“Thank you.”

Tiskial shrugged awkwardly, and turned to me.

“Who’s training you?”

“I will,” Selphien said, and Syrphien, appearing from nowhere, said, “And I’ll train the both of them. Tarragon said he wants to join.”

“Ha! Tell him he can train, but his first mission is to protect Lucy,” Tiskial replied, and Merry grinned as Tarragon toddled up, clutching his head as if it was in pain.

“What is it, Prince?”

It was easy to forget that Tarragon was a Prince of Tarvenia, and now that Genevieve had died, making Tatiana Queen, he was, until the birth of Tatiana’s child, the next heir to the throne.

Not that there was much of a throne left… I grimaced, and Tarragon looked to Syrphien, babbling, “There’s a sickness growing.”

Okay… I had forgotten, just like the fact that Tarragon was a Prince, the fact that he was also a bit of a Seer, and that made his strange declaration all the scarier.

Syrphien turned to his sister, who looked deeply unnerved, and Tiskial said, “What are you on about now?”

“There’s a sickness growing that will send this world into flames. It will start with her.” He looked to me, “and end with the world that will come after us.”

We fell silent, unsure what to say in reply, and Tarragon shook his head to clear it, and walked off.

“We can safely declare that Tarragon’s just playing games,” Tiskial said, and Selphien whispered, “How so?”

“He called Seth a ‘her’.”

I didn’t think he was referring to me when he’d said that, though.

‘Are you sick?’

‘Are you drunk?’

‘There’s no need to be mean. I’m just checking in.’

‘Why would I be sick?’

’Tarragon looked at me, rambling on about illnesses, and said it would start with ‘her’. Considering I am a man, I don’t think it’s me he meant.’

She sighed deeply, and then replied, ‘I was injected with Henara in the dungeons of Ordeallan. But it’s not contagious until I die.’

“Guys,” I cut in, realising they were arguing over what Tarragon could have meant, “What if he was referring to my Connected?”

“Desterium? For what- Oh, I see what you mean. You think he can sense that connection?”

“Yes, but there’s also the fact that Desterium was injected with Henara in the dungeons,” Kynal reminded his friend, and Tiskial’s eyes widened. He turned to me frantically.

“Were you injected against it?”

“Yeah, Jason gave me the injection when I was first brought back.”

“Good. We need to find Desterium. Do you think you could do it for me? As your first mission?” Tiskial begged, and I blinked. Tiskial was begging for help! Shit. What did I do?!

‘Just say yes, and when you come looking for me, I’ll knock you out, and leave. There.’

“Yes, I can find her,” I blurted in panic, and then, ‘I don’t want to be knocked out!’

‘The alternative is killing you, so yes, you do want to be knocked out.’

‘Fine.’

‘Good. I look forward to seeing you again.’

‘Is that honesty, or do you just look forward to punching me the next time you see me?’

‘Take a wild guess.’

“Good. We’ll start training in an hour.”

“An hour!” I was still tired from yesterday nights… activities, and Syrphien wanted to start training me! I could hardly stand! I definitely didn’t know how Destiny could!

‘Training.’

I turned away, subtly rolling my eyes, ‘Yeah, because you were trained in the ways of the bedroom.’

‘I’m the daughter of the Sin of LUST. What do you think? I was trained to know how to kill subtly in a bedroom.’ A truly terrifying concept. Especially the ‘subtly’ part. I had known that Destiny had tucked Inferos under her pillow before we’d gone to bed, but I’d assumed it was for self-defence, not to kill people. Had she actually done the same thing before?

‘Wait, so have you slept with-’

‘No. No, I have not, and yes, this conversation is over.’

“Yes. An hour. Both of you, find some clothes suitable for fighting, and a weapon. Selphien, you can work with a sword, Seth, you can start with a stick.”

“Why? I know how to fight with a sword!”

“Not in close quarters, with others on either side of you.”

“Why would there be-”

“Syrphien is a Fae warrior. That means he leads soldiers. Anyone working with him is considered a part of Division Two. Tatiana and Lucifer lead Division One, I lead Division Three, Kynal leads Division Four, Myr Division Five, and Jane leads Division Six. Each Division has roughly one-hundred soldiers, or will, once the final few numbers arrive tomorrow with the Royals. There’s roughly twenty-five soldiers from each Super-Natural species. You’ll join the Nephilim part, obviously,” Tiskial explained, and I sat down heavily on an upturned crate, exhaling, running a hand through my hair.

Ooh boy.

How would I explain the fact that I had increased strength? Or speed? Or reflexes?

Maybe I didn’t need to. Maybe if I just explained that my memories of training in the Academy were coming back to me, then I could get away with having the extra strength and whatnot.

“So with training, are we practicing with others, or just you, me and Selphien?”

“Others. You’ll need to get used to fighting in close quarters with each other.”

“And you use swords to attack each other?”

“Nothing like tossing death at someone to get them to learn quicker,” Tiskial grinned, and I gaped at them, Selphien smiling slightly, whispering, “You won’t start with the others. You’ll train with Syr first, and then join me and the others once he’s satisfied you can wield a weapon.”

“And if I can’t?”

“Then you don’t fight with us. There’s others, though. You’re considered an important person of interest in this war, especially considering your connection with Desterium, so you’ll always have a place in the war camp, and you’re still useful even if you aren’t fighting.”

Not if I couldn’t protect Selphien! I would be useless! Not to mention what would happen to me if Destiny was killed in battle!

‘Ha!’

‘That’s not funny! Who am I meant to support?’

‘Both? Live a double life, and I’m not laughing at what would happen to you. I’m laughing at the fact that you think I could die in a battle.’

‘I can’t live a double life! That’s not honest! And what would I do if you and Selphien got into a fight? Who do I save? For the record, you could die in a battle!’

‘If it worries you that badly, then you have my word that I won’t kill her if we ever get into a brawl. Does that ease your worried heart?’

‘Yes. Thank you.’

‘Don’t thank me for helping my own Connected. It’s honestly insulting that you think so little of me.’

Wait, so did she acknowledge the fact that we were Connected now? It didn’t bother her as much as it once had? And she was… offended? Before I could ask her, Syrphien said, “Look, you better get going to change now. We need to talk to Lucifer.”

“What about Tatiana?” I asked, and Tiskial shook his head, “She’s not feeling the best right now. We’ll leave our Queen to mourn.”

“Does she get a coronation?”

“When we can figure out where and what to coronate her to, sure. I can’t believe they destroyed the Palace. Do you think your Connected was a part of it?” Merry’s eyes widened, and he turned to Mira.

“I… She… I don’t know. Maybe?” I didn’t want to lie, but if I admitted now that I knew it was her, they would kill her! Which meant they would kill me!

“Seth, it’s okay if you don’t know.”

I nodded, figuring silence was better than lying, and Tiskial said, “Go get changed and come back here to meet Syrphien. Mira, Merry, you both do the same. Wear something short-sleeved, and easy to move in. Better yet, actually, Merry, Seth, don’t wear a shirt. It’s a nice day out today.”

“Um… I would prefer if I did… Wear a shirt…” I glanced around nervously, trailing into silence, and Merry, seeing what I was trying to get across to him, piped up, “Let me guess, you’re nervous that I’ll look better than you, little brother? You don’t want to be undermined by me in front of your pretty friend? He never used to take his shirt off when we were kids, because our father always said I looked good enough to catch a girl, but Seth didn’t think he did!”

“Merry!” I hissed, hoping it was a realistic enough performance, knowing that my brother could see the thankful look in my eyes, and Selphien blushed, Syrphien biting down a smile, and clapping me on the shoulder.

“If everything goes to plan, then you’ll be toned enough to take on your brother.”

“Thanks…” I mumbled, my neck and face turning a genuine red, and Selphien pressed a kiss to my cheek, before following her brother out. Tiskial turned, following after her, and Merry looked over at me.

“Ooh, have you got another girl?”

“Lower your voice!” I snapped, “And no, we’re just friends.”

“Holding hands, kissing- That’s not friendship stuff.”

“The Fae have a different culture. That’s not romantic to them, it’s just friendly.”

Merry paused, thinking something over, and then said, “What was all that stuff about Connected?”

“He’s Connected with a Princess of Hell, our enemy,” Tiskial piped up from where he leaned back near the pole, half-hidden from our sight, and we flinched.

“Her name is Desterium Maladur. She’s an Assassin, and a very good one.”

“Could we not bring that up? Please?” I begged, and Tiskial reprimanded, “It doesn’t go away just because you don’t acknowledge it. Being Connected with her doesn’t make you a bad person. You didn’t choose the connection.”

Except I had. I had chosen to become a Demonic-being, knowing it would make me a fully Connected with her. I had chosen to sleep with her, and to help her kill those Demonic-beings, and I had chosen to continue visiting her so she could teach me about being a Demonic-being.

I had chosen her. That couldn’t be something that remained hidden forever. Perhaps for now, yes, but not forever. Eventually, someone was going to find out, just like Jason figuring out that I was a Demonic-being, and Merry knowing I had slept with someone- the secret would, eventually, come out.

“Just- Don’t bring it up!” I said, and Tiskial shrugged.

“If it makes you feel better.”

I nodded, and Tiskial said, “And for the love of the Heavens, go get changed!”

I ran, not wanting to be yelled at again, and into my tent. When I ran in, Selphien was sitting on the bed, waiting for me, a blanket wrapped around her body. I shouted in surprise, nearly falling over, and she stood, dropping the blanket in her fright. She was wearing a singlet and jeans, the sort of clothes she normally trained in, and no shoes, bandages wrapped around her fingers to shield them.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!” She said, thrusting two bandages toward me, her cheeks turning pink, the tips of her ears doing the same.

“I just wanted to give you these!”

I took the bandages, my fingers brushing up against hers, and her blush deepened. Sitting on my bed, I said, “Could you help me?”

“Sure!” She laughed shakily, sitting beside me, and she slowly began winding the bandage around my fingers, humming something to herself to try and calm the shaking, and I looked up to see she was closer than before, her face a few inches from mine, bowed in concentration. I turned away, blushing furiously, and Destiny said, ‘Could you not blush? You’re making me feel like I’ve got a fever.’

‘Have you gone to Silba?’

‘Yes. She isn’t sure whether Lydiav will recover or not, so I’ve left her there for now. She gave me a tonic, too.’

“You should get changed now,” Selphien murmured, and I lifted my head up, nodding.

“I’ll just… Go.”

I nodded again, speechless, and Selphien finished tying the bandages around my wrists, before rushing out. I could hear her waiting outside for me as I changed into a long-sleeved shirt, wanting to hide even the smallest hint of Destiny’s markings left behind on me, and a pair of jeans- not the most flexible clothes to wear, but they were the best I had. Destiny had gone quiet again in the back of my mind, and I got the distinct sense that she was sleeping. Good. She needed to rest.

Selphien smiled when she saw me, blushing once again, and led me across a few bridges I hadn’t travelled over before, toward a large tent that looked a lot like the main tent, except there were racks of weapons outside of it, and I could see Syrphien waiting for me. His wings were shining in the sunlight, and he was leaning on the hilt of a sword, the sharp end stuck into the wooden plank beneath him. Selphien rubbed at her lower back longingly, staring at her brother’s wings, and she hid the motion when I tried to catch her attention, mumbling, “It’s just a sore back.”

I nodded, understanding why she might not want to talk about it, and Syrphien tossed me a stick, handing the sword he leaned on, a long, polished and wickedly sharp blade, to Selphien, who grinned when she took it. He grabbed another stick from the box beside him, and motioned for us to go inside. The tent was huge, and divided into six different sections for training. Myr and Jane were training two people each that I didn’t recognise, calling directions and light-hearted jokes, and I could see through the silhouette of my brother and Mira through one of the drawn curtains, Tiskial going over the rules of their training session. Kynal was sitting on a box outside his own area, looking bored, and poking at the ground with his dagger.

“Right!” Syrphien said, leading us into the area, and closing the curtain behind us, plunging the space into darkness. The ground was covered in sawdust, and the walls were reinforced with wooden beams, lanterns hanging overhead. Selphien sat on a crate in the corner, and I sat beside her, Syrphien smiling.

“Selphien and I will go over a training routine first so that you can get the hang of things, but I’ll explain the rules now: There are no rules. Use whatever possible tool or movement necessary to keep alive, even if it’s not exactly morally right, and remember- Your enemy won’t pull a punch or a swing, so neither will we. Selph, you want to show him how it’s done?”

Selphien bowed her head, and Syrphien replaced his stick with a sword.

“Pay close attention to how we move.”

I nodded dutifully, gluing my eyes to them, and after a quick bow to each other, they began sparring.

This was different to the light-hearted training I had seen them do on the roof of the Sun Palace. This was dangerous, essential, and lifesaving. They moved not in unison, but against each other, and I quickly noticed that Syrphien was a better fighter than his sister. It wasn’t the way he moved; Selphien was much more light-footed than he was, but it was the fact that he had more control. She leapt at him whenever he gave the bait, but he held back, calculating every plan, no matter how cunning, seeing through it before he made a move, and after a few minutes, he knocked her off her feet, the sword pressed to her throat.

She landed on her back, swearing in pain, and Syrphien helped her to her feet, giving her an apologetic smile. He had forgotten about the injury- an injury that should be nearly healed by now. Yes, the scars would be tender, but I noticed green blood staining the back of her shirt when she stood, and began limping toward me.

Syrphien, seeing how in pain she was, lifted her singlet up, examining the wound.

She obviously hadn’t been taking the tonics Jason had been giving her, because the wound looked close to infection. It hadn’t been closing as it should have been, the part of her back where her wing had once laid torn apart, the skin peeled back, her veins turning dark green around the area, extending outward, and I winced. She must be in so much pain.

“Selph…” I whispered, seeing the tears that rolled down her cheeks, tears that she tried to hide from Syrphien, who looked equally in shock. He had assumed her wound had healed.

“Go see Jason, Selphien.”

“No, I need to train,” she choked out, wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand,

“You need to heal. Go see Jason, and get a tonic. You’ll get blood poisoning if you don’t treat that.”

Selphien broke down at that, and Syrphien pulled her into his arms as she said, “I tried! I tried so hard to get sick after Abel tore it out! I just wanted to die!”

Syrphien looked heartbroken at that, and shooting me an apologetic look, murmured, “I’ll be back, Seth. I’m just going to take Selphien to Jason.”

I nodded, and asked, “Do you want me to come with you?” Syrphien had always had a thing with protecting Selphien from danger, and once again, he couldn’t protect her. I hadn’t seen how Selphien had been after her parents had been murdered, but seeing her like this, I could understand why Syrphien blamed himself. If Lucy was hurt like that, and I hadn’t been there to stop it, I would have blamed myself too.

“No, I don’t want you to see me like this,” Selphien said, “Just wait here.”

I took my seat again, respecting her wishes, and waited.

They limped out, closing the curtain again, and I stood, pacing around the room. Without Syrphien, I couldn’t practice any of the moves I’d noticed him making, but I could test lifting the sword.

As it turns out, when you’re not racing with adrenaline and fighting to save you or your Demonic Connected’s life, a sword is much heavier than one would think. The weight of Syrphien’s steel blade was tremendous, and I needed to lift it with both arms to even get it half a foot off the ground. Hearing someone entering the tent again, I placed the sword down again, and picked up my stick.

“Finally!” I heard Kynal sigh in relieved desperation, “What took you so long?”

“Adriel had to get ready,” Emmett muttered, and Adriel replied something in a simpering voice, the three of them entering their own training area, where all sound was promptly cut off. From outside the areas, I could hear them clearly inside, but in here, it was silent in their respective areas. Pacing again, I pulled at the connection between Destiny and I. She was still asleep, dreaming of something peaceful, and I smiled. At least one of us was having a relaxing time.

‘Can you hear me?’ A dark voice begged in the back of my mind, and I struggled to remember the name of the male’s voice, the answer buried deeply in my memories.

‘Septem Peccatis?’

‘Yes,’ he sighed in relief, ‘You need to help me! I can’t get to her, but for some reason, I can reach you! Lilith has cut me off to her. I need to help her.’

‘How do I help you?’

‘Stones. You need the Witch. Kill Lilith. Her life is bound to my chains. Find the Prince of Demons. Take them to him.’

Stones? The Witch, I could understand, but what stones? And who was the Prince of Demons?

‘Septem, what happened?’

‘She’s being deceived. Her family will kill-’ He was cut off suddenly, my mind going quiet, and I wrenched on my connection with Destiny so hard that she sat up, the movement making me twitch.

‘What is it? Are you hurt?!’ She shrieked, and I shook my head.

‘The Septem Peccatis! He just spoke to me!’

‘Oh, goody. He’s been ignoring me. What did the asshole say?’

’That he was being bound by Lilith with chains that could only be broken by stones, a Witch, and the Prince of Demons, whoever that was. He said that ‘she’s being deceived. Her family will kill her’, and then disappeared, like someone cut him off.’

‘Lilith? Are you saying that Lilith is keeping my Demon Lord trapped?’

‘I think? I don’t know, that’s all he said!’

‘Cain is the Prince of Demons. I’ll write a letter to him, and then go back to the Caliem Manor and ask to see Lilith. I’ll be able to tell if she’s lying when I ask about the Septem Peccatis’ whereabouts.’

‘You can’t go back there, Zeella will kill you for what we did!’

‘I’ll just say it wasn’t me.’

‘Des, think this through! Send the letter to Cain, but don’t go back to the Manor. Please.’

‘Alright, alright!’

I sighed, and Tiskial walked in, making me jolt as he waved me over with a hand, and a stern, set-in-stone expression on his face. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his wings were raised slightly. Behind him, Merry and Mira were practically limping out of the room.

“Come on. Syrphien told me to train you, since he won’t be able to come back for a while.”

I gulped, but followed him out, knowing that Tiskial wouldn’t bother training me with a stick first like Syrphien did. He would toss me straight into using a sword.

“As I’ve told you before, the best way to learn is to be mentored in the face of death,” he began, tossing a sword to me. I leapt back, startled, and it clattered to the ground, Tiskial looking disappointed.

“Pick it up.”

I did as he asked, shuffling uneasily over to where he pointed in the dirt, large scuff marks surrounding my feet, like people had rolled in the dirt here.

Without warning, Tiskial ran at me, and in the back of my head, Destiny hissed, ‘Move to your left!’

I followed her instruction, nearly dropping onto my knees in my haste, and Tiskial skidded to a stop, looking impressed.

“I didn’t think you’d pass that,” he admitted, and threw his fist out at me, Destiny snapping, ‘Right, and then left!’

Narrowly avoiding the second punch Tiskial threw from his left, and then his right, arm, I panted, exhausted in the three small, but quick movements I’d needed to make just to avoid him. I couldn’t even imagine what fighting him would be like. Destiny gasped, and in a delighted, mischievous voice, dared, ‘Punch him. Oh, please punch him!’

‘Right or left?’

‘Uh… Both, if you can. Would you rather hit him once, or twice?’

‘I don’t want to hit him at al-’ “OW!” I clutched at my face, where Tiskial had slammed a wooden staff into it, and he snapped, “Is your mind elsewhere, Seth? Come on, focus! Or you’ll never catch Desterium.”

“I don’t want to catch her!” I replied, and Tiskial swung the staff at me again. I blocked it, feeling proud that I’d done it before Destiny could tell me what to do, until I realised why she hadn’t replied.

Tiskial had hit me hard enough that had I been a Nephilim, I would have been knocked out. Without her Demon Lord, Destiny wasn’t that far above being a human, let alone a Nephilim. He’d knocked her out.

Through me.

I could feel the ache of being knocked out through our connection, and the headache she was going to have when she woke- Maybe I should bring her something, or run a bath for her? I would have time, after the dinner Selphien and I were going on. She would come back here, and I could go to the house, claiming that I wanted to get some stuff.

Rubbing at my face, I groaned, “You certainly don’t pull punches.”

“Nope,” He said, and for the first time in a while, I saw a genuine grin on his face. He was probably enjoying this chance to hit me, “But you shouldn’t either. Why don’t you try to hit me?” Looking over his toned body, I was certain that wouldn’t go very well.

“I’d likely break my hand,” I sighed, and Tiskial mused, “Probably, but on a battlefield, learning to fight with painful injuries is half of what war is. There won’t ever be a battle that you’ll come away from unscathed, whether physical or not, you’re going to get some injuries.”

“I doubt you get injured on a battlefield,” I said, stalling, and Tiskial shook his head, “There’s not a single Super-Natural in any Dimension who won’t come away from war with an injury or pain of some sort, not even your Connected.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Seth. That’s why I was worried when your family said they were signing up- I know you’re remembering being a Demon-Hunter, but they aren’t. They don’t understand what they’re signing up for.”

“Have you fought in any wars?”

“Not particularly. In civil battles, yes, but not wars between Dimensions. The last war big enough to be classed as a war was the Legacy War on Earth, but I wasn’t alive for that. Your Connected was. She would have been a main player in it, actually, so was her cousin.” I couldn’t imagine Desterium, at the age she would have been at the time, killing people.

“She would have been thirteen. A grown man wouldn’t come away from war without scars, but a thirteen-year-old girl? Even a Demonic-being?”

“That’s why I can understand why she’s the way she is,” I admitted, and to my surprise, Tiskial didn’t shout at me, he just listened, a patient look on his face, “I know she’s our enemy, and she’s meant to be evil, but I know what it’s like to lose a parent that young, except I had a supportive family left behind. I had friends and family members to help continue to raise me. She didn’t. Now that I’m Connected to her, I get fragments of her memories when she dreams, and the shit they do to her, especially after her mother died… I can’t imagine going from having a loving family like she did, to having no one at all. Surely it would break you in some way?”

“It makes you feel sick,” Tiskial said quietly, and I lifted my head, not even realising I’d dropped it, to see him sitting on a crate, running a hand through his hair, and breathing heavily. This was a very different side of Tiskial, and one I wasn’t used to seeing at all.

“I know I hate on your Connected, Seth, and she IS our enemy, don’t forget that, but I know what you mean. I don’t like the idea of fighting a war against a sixteen-year-old kid any more than you or Tatiana do. She’s not even a young woman yet. She’s just a kid. A dangerous, brought up terribly, kid, and what makes it worse is that I know we’ll win the war. There’s no way we won’t, but winning means killing her. I’d respect anyone who could lay that killing blow, because I sure as Hell wouldn’t be able to.”

“I couldn’t,” I said, exhaling loudly, “I would never be able to hurt her, even though I know I should be able to.”

“No,” Tiskial said, “you shouldn’t. You were brought up to have empathy for those around you, to understand that killing people doesn’t solve the Dimension’s problems, but now you’re thrust into an entirely different scenario, where killing solves everything, and you can’t trust anyone, not even the people by your side. Even as I and Syrphien teach you all the ways to defend against and kill someone, I pray that you’ll never have to utilise those techniques.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t track her earlier, when you were angry about Selphien.”

“I’m not. Jason was right. I might hate Desterium, but I can’t lay someone else’s crimes on her head just because of that. Abel hurt Selphien. Not Desterium.”

Had Destiny been awake, she might have told me to punch Tiskial again, but as it was, despite knowing I would have to deal with her wrath later at being knocked out by a Fae, I would rather that than her hearing anything that had just been said.

Tiskial picked up the wooden staff again as someone entered the tent, and tossed it to me, grabbing another from an open barrel behind him, and sliding his feet into a defensive position.

“We’ll start slow. You seem to have good reflexes for a Nephilim, but against Desterium, they won’t be enough. You won’t survive with ‘good’. First, move your feet until you feel steady. You want to be able to move easily, but not be able to be pushed over.”

I copied his foot placement, and he walked over, whacking my back leg with the staff, pushing it back an inch.

“Then, you want to be able to swing the staff in any direction, which is why it’s important to have one hand on either side. Like this.” He moved his hands, the palm of one pointed toward him, the other pointing away. Again, I copied him, and again, he moved my hands into the right position. Pulling a knife from his back pocket, he carved a notch where my little finger rested for both my hands, saying, “Whenever we train, move your hands into those positions.”

I nodded, and he shuffled back a few steps, and said, “If you’re on a battlefield, then it’s likely your opponent has the same, if not better, training than you. If that’s the case, then survival falls down to how quickly you think and move. Take your Connected, for example. She’s tiny, and if Syrphien or I landed a punch on her, we would knock her out, but because of that, she’s cunning. She knows how to taunt an enemy.”

“You’re going to teach me how to piss someone off?” I grinned, and Tiskial shook his head, “You already know how to do that, but yes, I’ll teach you how to professionally piss someone off.”

‘SON OF A BITCH!’ Destiny screamed in the back of my mind, and I replied coolly, ‘Don’t break anything.’

‘Like Tiskial’s face?!’ She snarled, and I hid my grin, trying to keep a straight face as Tiskial began explaining the best ways to get around someone’s defences. Tiskial had no idea what was coming for him the next time Destiny managed to get captured, or fought us on a battlefield.

‘Exactly. Please do not break Tiskial’s face.’

“Alright, now try to sweep me off my feet.”

Sheepishly, I lifted my face to Tiskial’s, but before I could ask him to repeat it, Destiny said, ‘Swing the staff at his face, while bringing your foot around to hook the back of his leg, and drive your elbow into his side. The staff will distract him long enough that you’ll be able to knock him off balance, and when you do, you elbow him in the side hard enough to knock the air from him. When you do it, Tiskial will know this technique, but what he won’t expect from you is this- at the same time you elbow him, slam your entire side into his.’

‘Why are you helping me?’

‘Because you need to learn how to defend yourself, especially as my Connected. You are still a Prince of Hell, technically.’

I suppose I shouldn’t have asked. The day, or night, Destiny answered my questions with a ‘because I care’, I would drop dead in shock.

Lifting the staff, I waited until Tiskial stepped closer to me, and moved. The staff flew for Tiskial, my foot and elbow moving at the same time, and the world slowed, disorientating me. She really needed to start giving warnings before she did that.

‘Reni?’

‘What are you doing?’ She said it casually, but I could hear the worry in her voice, the panic that came with an adrenaline rush. Was she okay?

‘I’m just training.’

‘Your staff is too low! You’ll hit his neck! You’ll kill him! Lift the staff!’

I lifted it, and she said, ‘That’s too high up- Lower it by a few centimetres.’

I lowered the staff, and Reni vanished. My staff hit Tiskial square in the jaw at the same time my foot pulled his knee out from under him, my elbow slamming into his side, which was closely followed by my body, and the two of us crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

‘Don’t let him get atop you. He can kill you from that position.’

I kept him firmly beneath me, and the surprise on Tiskial’s face was worth the pain I could feel lancing up my elbow and the right side of my body as I pressed my weight into him, keeping him down.

‘I’m impressed. Maybe I should train you in combat as well as Demonic-being lore.’

‘Please do.’

‘You’re already being trained in combat. What if I train you to use your power?’

‘Sure! I’d love that!’

‘Don’t get too eager. Meet me tonight, whenever you can.’

She vanished again, leaving me with a stunned Tiskial, and the curtain was pulled back, Syrphien walking in, and whistling in appreciation.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see the day that Tiskial was taken down. Well done, Seth.”

“I… Thank you!” I said awkwardly, not wanting to seem stuck up, and Tiskial said, “Run back to your tent now. You have a dinner with Selphien, I hear. Go get ready for that.”

“How is she?” I asked Syrphien, and he nodded.

“She’s feeling better now. Look after her tonight.”

“I will,” I promised, and Destiny said, ‘Ooh, do you have a date? Do you want me to monitor the area for you?’

‘I think they meant to protect her from you, so that’s a bit counterintuitive, and it’s not a date- It’s just a dinner.’

‘You have more, worse enemies than me, Seth. Zeella, for one. Harva, Agron- Him especially. When he’s angry, he’s deadly. So, would you like for me to monitor the area, and then we can walk back to your place for training?’

‘Stay a few streets back. I don’t want Selphien noticing you. Are you well enough to monitor?’

‘Of course.’

She sounded so offended that I winced, and Tiskial said, “I’m moving the two of you in ten minutes. Be ready.”

‘Hey, when are you going to bring the mirage down?’

‘I can do it tonight, but be prepared for all Hell to break loose when I do. The mirage is what’s keeping the Demons away from Ordeallan. Once I bring it down, all of that comes back.’

‘Wait until I’m with you to bring it down.’ The flooding would kill most of the Demons, as it did every year, but what would Ordeallan do once the flooding was gone, when the water drained away and was replaced with muddy fields and the war camp was left unprotected? Outside the city walls, we would be easy pickings.

‘I’ll keep your stupid war camp safe. I’ll ask for Cain to come back. He can control Demons better than I can.’

‘You can control Demons?’

‘Some of them. I’m a Princess of Hell. I’m above them in status and power.’

I could remember an attack, the attack that had first brought Destiny Delance to our door, and opened the door to the events, and the consequences we were still feeling now. Destiny had been badly injured, nearly killed, by a Streaker Demon. If they feared her, why would they attack her?

‘I ordered it to attack me.’

‘Just so you could get to me?’ I said, leaving Tiskial and Syrphien in the tent. I entered mine, and began pulling clothes from the drawers, looking for something appropriate to wear to a dinner. It had to be nice, since Selphien was a Princess, and she deserved a nice night out, but it couldn’t be over the top, because the Rusty Tin bar was known to be a den for thieves and killers.

‘Why do you think it’s my favourite bar?’ Destiny purred, and pulling the suit jacket I’d been given by Destiny, I tried to match it with a shirt. Green, grey, black, blue, white- I didn’t know what Selphien would prefer, or what would look good. I wasn’t a fashionable person, I just wore whatever I felt like. Merry was the one who dressed to impress.

‘It’s a black suit jacket. Wear a colour other than black. Not green, it’ll be too garish. Try white or grey. Go for a long-sleeved shirt.’

I packed the others away, and said, ‘Giving me fashion advice as well?’

‘I can’t have my Connected dressing AND acting like an imbecile, can I?’ She said, and I felt her grinning through our connection as I scowled. I wasn’t an idiot. I just wasn’t used to this stuff.

‘I can’t believe you know how to dress nicely,’ I replied, grabbing a pair of jeans from the dresser, and Destiny snapped, ‘You can’t wear jeans with a suit jacket!’

‘I don’t want to look too rich!’

‘Luckily for you, you aren’t rich. At all. And whatever thieves you think will be in there are going to know that. We don’t pick people just by how they’re dressed, you know.’

‘I remember you pick-pocketing people.’

‘And you encouraged me. You’re such a little law-breaker.’

I swapped the jeans for a pair of simple black pants, and Destiny purred, ‘Bring a spare change of clothes. I can’t train you when you’re looking like that.’

‘Because you’ll get distracted by my charm and good looks?’ I said, taken aback with myself for the near-flirty line, and Destiny snickered.

‘No, because I’ll be too busy laughing at you. It’s good you have self-esteem, I suppose. If any of us are going to get distracted, it’s you. I can’t have you out-dressing me.’ An image of the dress she’d worn to the Caliem dance filled my vision, and blushing, I ran out of the tent, only to run into Selphien, all thoughts flooding from my brain in shock.

She was wearing a gentle orange gown that flowed to just above her ankles, stopping to reveal a pair of matching shoes, and her hair was pulled back into a braid that hung down her back, where I could see fresh bandages in place, hidden by the black cloak she wore. The tips of her ears were cusped by silver earrings, and while she wore no makeup, I could see that the stars across her cheeks were shining, just like her eyes. In the back of my head, Destiny mumbled something in shocked awe, before whispering a goodbye, promising to remain out of sight, and mind, for the night.

I’d decided to bring my satchel, as well as the few remaining coins I had brought with me from home, with me, so that I could at least continue with my running lie of going to visit the house to restock on gold coins, something I actually did need to do. With the money I had, about forty gold coins, I would be able to afford dinner at the Rusty Tin, and buy Selphien a thank-you gift on the way back after training with Destiny. Maybe I would buy something for Syrphien, Tiskial and Destiny too- for training me.

We were both blushing, studying each other and our choice of wear, when Tiskial emerged from the training tent, Syrphien hugging his sister.

“Stay safe,” I heard him whisper to her, and she nodded, taking my hand in hers. She was trembling slightly, as if afraid, and Tiskial shoved us through a portal. We landed on the wooden platform of the only bar in Ordeallan, and I saw a dark shadow take a seat on the roof of a house two streets back. Luckily, Selphien didn’t seem to notice it, and I asked, ‘Is that you?’

‘Yes. Don’t worry, I won’t spy on your date. I’m only here for ten or so minutes, and then I’m going to look for Bal’gag. I need to find him so he can help me heal Lydiav.’

‘How’s that going? Again, it’s not a date.’

‘Silba has given me items, but there’s something I need from Bal’gag, too, and yes, it is. No girl dresses like that for a night out with a friend. I guarantee you’ll be asked some sort of sappy question by her before the end of the night.’

‘I’d have thought you’d be jealous?’

‘Nope. I’m just enjoying the opportunity to see you make a fool of yourself. Front row seats.’ I felt her tug at my mind. Leading Selphien inside, I shepherded her into a seat in the corner of the bar, the best place to sit to avoid people pickpocketing, and a waitress ran over to greet us, something that I hadn’t remembered the last time I’d been here. Selphien sat down, still blushing, and I let her order what she wanted, promising to pay for it. I kept it simple, figuring I’d save more money by eating at my house, and ordered a bowl of Fell meat stew, and bread for dipping. I didn’t bother to order any drinks, and neither did Selphien. For one, we weren’t old enough, and for two, I had a feeling I might have spat it out, because Destiny walked in. Her disguise wasn’t exactly brilliant, just her hair tucked back into her cloak to make it look short, and the hood drawn to hide her features. She wore my clothes, which were too big on her, and paired with a pair of old work boots that she must have stolen from somewhere, she looked like a young, thin boy. She spoke to a few of the people at the bar, using a squeaky, but convincing voice that sounded a lot like a pre-teen, and pretended to flinch away from a group of thieves by the door, who ordered for her to empty her pockets. Selphien’s eyes were on the encounter as well, and she whispered, “Should we step in?”

Selphien didn’t know Destiny well enough to look down at her hands, but I did, just in time to see her click her fingers, and a second later, three of the men dropped to the ground, kneeling before her, the others scampering back into the shadows, frightened. It was just a display of arrogance, Destiny showing off because I was out for dinner with Selphien, but it served well to remind me of just how powerful she was.

She strolled around them, and Selphien whispered, “Who was that?”

‘Tell her it was Lord Ray’s son- Raymondo Eduardo Junior, a snivelling, idiotic boy who with a click of his fingers, could order people to drop to the floor, or risk execution.’

I relayed this to Selphien, whose eyes widened, and she gripped my knee under the table in fear, looking up at me.

“He won’t come back, will he?”

“No,” I assured, “He won’t.”

‘I think I prefer you as a girl.’

‘I figured that when you took me to bed.’

I blushed, and Selphien, thinking I was blushing at her touch, removed her hand, and said, “Thank you for the dinner. It was really nice of you to accept. To be honest, I didn’t expect it.”

“Why? I like spending time with you.”

The men who had ran from Destiny were now leaving the bar, their hands clenched in fists, and a second later, I heard the men shouting again. Selphien stood up, frightened, and coaxing her back into her seat, I said with a wince, “I’m sorry I couldn’t take you somewhere nicer.”

At this moment, the waitress returned with our food, and Selphien seemed to settle further, until I felt a bruise form across my face, and outside, there was a loud ‘THUMP!’

‘Please tell me you didn’t get knocked out,’ I groaned, and Destiny replied, ‘I’m fine… Shit… One of them got around me.’

“Are you okay?” Selphien said, and I nodded, feigning a wince of pain. In truth, I could barely feel it, a gift of being a Demonic-being.

“I guess Desterium is getting into trouble.” I tried to say it casually, like it didn’t bother me, but the urge to stand and run to help her was growing, and I picked up my spoon, digging into my food in an attempt to steer the conversation elsewhere. Slowly, Selphien relaxed again, and after a few minutes, she jokingly said, “When was the last time you ate?”

“Not that long, actually,” I admitted, and she said, “I guess training with Tiskial drained you a bit. Are you enjoying it? The training?”

“I guess so,” I shrugged, “I’ve only done one session, but it was fun. I learnt a lot.”

“From what I heard, you were quite good. Where did you learn to fight?”

“The Academy. We trained as-” I cut myself off, looking around the room, and Selphien nodded in understanding.

“Your memories are back.”

I nodded, and in an attempt to offer an explanation, I lied, saying, “Destiny removed the block in my mind.” The block was definitely gone, I could tell. No longer was there a pressure in my mind, like my skull was compressing my brain, and slowly, my memories were continuing to return to me, like they had never left. In truth, I wasn’t really sure what had removed the block. I could remember no circumstance that could have done it, or any event that would have, but Selphien looked relieved, admitting, “You had memory poisoning for a while. We were worried you were going to die. The only person who could remove it was Desterium. Do you know why she removed it?”

“To keep me alive, I guess.”

“Do you-” She began speaking, but cut herself off, blushing slightly, and I said, “You can ask me anything, Selph.”

“Do you remember anything specific? Like childhood memories, or the time you met Desterium?”

Childhood memories… My most cherished ones were of my father, my family whole again, and of holding Lucy for the first time. She had been so tiny.

Merry and I had loved her, this little sister of ours who already looked a lot like our father, at least in our eyes. To us, she was a final connection to him.

“I remember my family, and my childhood in Ordeallan. Selph, I don’t want to ruin the dinner, but-”

“You won’t ruin it.”

“I found out how my father died. In Hell.”

Selphien fell silent, and in a voice barely above a whisper, choking back tears, I said, “Cain killed him. I don’t even know why. Destiny wouldn’t tell me. Maybe she doesn’t even know, but I’m wondering if it was some sort of plan. My father was smart, and I remember he enjoyed studying Demons and their hierarchy. He might have recognised Destiny for what she was when I first met her, so they killed him.”

“Seth…” Selphien gripped my hand, and sliding from her seat, wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. I held her, still biting back tears. I couldn’t cry in an Ordeallan bar. I had more dignity than that. Since our father had died at sea, we had never been given a grave for him in the cemetery, and since headstones were expensive enough on their own, Karla had never bothered to buy one. We kept our own little memorial at our house, a simple statue that had been a wedding gift of theirs, which sat in Karla’s room at Darcie’s house.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed, and I shook my head. She had no reason to be sorry.

“What for? You didn’t play a part in it.”

“I know,” she said, and when she pulled back, she was wiping at her face, having cried into my shoulder, “but it’s still sad.”

“Don’t cry,” I begged, keeping my grip on her hand, like it was a lifeline for the both of us, and Selphien shook her head.

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to ruin the dinner.”

“You haven’t,” she said, and smiling through her tears, she added, “I’m glad I met you.”

Touched, I squeezed her hand, returning the sentiment, and offered, “How about I take you somewhere nicer than this? Karmona is lovely.”

I needed memories for Karmona other than Demonic-beings and crazed Commanders, and a dinner with Selphien in Karmona would be the perfect way to remember the city. If she accepted.

“Karmona? I would need to check with Syrphien. The Commander is still there. We’ve been tracking his movements.”

“What if we got rid of him?” I offered, and Selphien’s eyes widened in fright, “In what way?”

‘What would you say if I asked you to assassinate someone?’ I asked my Connected, and interest flared in the back of my mind, her excitement easily felt. Suddenly, having an Assassin for a Connected was mightily handy.

‘Who? When? Where? Or is your date just going that shit?’

‘The Commander. Whenever possible. Karmona. And no, it isn’t shit, and it isn’t a date,’ I answered equally as smoothly, and Destiny purred, ‘Do I get any form of payment? I don’t work for free, after all.’

‘You can keep whatever riches you find in the house. Keep the house itself, if you can. I don’t care. Just get rid of him.’ Aloud, I answered, “I don’t know, Selphien. What if he was killed?”

“Seth, I wish with my entire heart he was dead, but it’s not possible. None of us have the time to go and kill him. I could, but I don’t have the heart to do it. I can’t kill in cold-blood.”

‘Luckily for her, I can. I have a few lovely pieces of jewellery that I’ve had my eye on for a while in that house.’

‘If we were to go tonight-’

‘As much I’d love too, dearest Connected, I have one Guardian to look after, and another to find. If we find Bal’gag before midnight, then yes, I will gladly go to Silba and ask to be taken to Karmona.’

Selphien finished her meal shortly after I did, conversation continuing to flow fairly easily, but seeming tense, as if she was fighting to avoid asking me more about how we could kill the Commander, and before long, I was paying for the food we had eaten, and we were wandering away from the bar, my arm wrapped around her waist to prevent her from slipping into the muddy, watery field.

Tiskial was waiting on the other side of the field, although I had no idea when he’d gotten there, and I said, “I need to run back to the house to pick up some coins. Is it alright if you come back tomorrow? I’ll spend the night there.”

Tiskial hesitated, and I pleaded, “Please? My life has been insane since Desterium. I just need one night in my own bed. I promise I’ll be safe. The house is warded now.”

Selphien’s face softened, and she quietly said, “Let him stay, Tiskial. Thank you for the dinner, Seth.”

“It was my pleasure. It was nice to actually be able to sit down with a friend.”

Her face fell, and Tiskial winced slightly. What? Had I said something wrong? I looked to him for guidance, and he shook his head slightly, saying, “You look pretty tired, Selph. Here, I’ll take you back home. Do you want me to come back to walk you to the house?”

“No!” I blurted, and Tiskial raised an eyebrow, which only served to make me panic more, “Sorry, I’m just… On edge. I’m fine walking, thanks.”

‘Oh… No…’

‘What?’

‘You. Just… Just you.’

A dark shadow landed on the roof behind us, and I saw Destiny take a seat in front of a chimney, looking pained slightly, her hand covering her face in shame.

‘You’re not very smooth, are you?’

‘What did I do?’

’You said, ‘with a friend’. Wait! Were you aware that you were on a date?’

‘It wasn’t a date!’

‘SETH! She was asking you out earlier! As in, a date-date! You said yes, and now you’re calling her a friend! That’s why she looked upset!’

I didn’t want to know how close she’d been to Tiskial to see the expression on Selphien’s face, but seeing as she was blending quite well with the shadows, I didn’t bother to tell her to back up a bit. With luck, they wouldn’t notice her if she didn’t move.

“How about we go on another date?” I offered, feeling bad, and the corners of Selphien’s lips tugged up slightly, “To make up for my idiocy?”

She grinned, but I could still see the sadness in her eyes, “It better be a good date, then.”

‘Ha!’

‘Shut up.’

“Yeah. I promise it will be. I better get going now, the longer I stand around here, the more likely it is Desterium will find me.” Tiskial nodded, and a portal appeared behind him. Selphien, giving me a final smile, stepped through. Tiskial nodded once to me, promising to reassure my family of where I was, and disappeared.

‘I hope you plan to take her somewhere nicer than Ordeallan.’ She leapt down from the roof, joining my side, and linking her arm through mine as we began to stroll through the streets.

‘How about the Caliem Manor?’ I offered jokingly, and Destiny paused. She had a bruise forming across her cheek, and she kept the hood of her cloak flipped up, hiding it.

‘If you want to bury your shame six-feet-under, then yes, I would suggest bringing the Princess of Tarvenia to the Caliem Manor for a date.’

I turned to her, and saw that she was smirking. I pinched her side, and she batted my hand away, muttering, “You got a date with a Fae Princess, and managed to stuff it up. That’s just pitiful.”

“Like you would do any better!” I argued, and she shrugged.

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been on a date.”

“Really?”

She side-glanced me, an embarrassed look on her face, and threateningly said, “Don’t you dare bring that up with anyone else.”

“Why would I?” Were the people of her court so bad that she couldn’t trust anyone with so harmless a piece of information?

She fell silent, her head tilting, her ears pricking up, and without warning, wrenched me down an alleyway, pressing me into the brick with her body, her hand over my mouth and nose to silence me. Her cloak hid us, and she looked over her shoulder as the air chilled.

‘What is it?’

‘Satalari.’

The fear in her voice was evident, and I hissed, ‘How is she here?’

‘She must have come back from Korath. Nihila is with her. They’re walking by here. Stay still.’

As they walked by, the ground beneath Satalari’s feet cracking in the heat, the air around Nihila turning colder than death, their voices became more apparent, and I quickly realised that they were arguing.

“I’m blood bound to Desterium! I won’t abandon her plan!” Nihila snapped, and Satalari replied, “You will accompany me to the Palace of Ordeallan, where we will offer them a proposition- Abandon their allies, or we kill them. It’s a simple choice, and if the Queen of Ordeallan is smart, she’ll choose life. You’re still following your little Hellish Princess’s plan. In fact, you’re buying her more of a chance to win.”

“I’m not doing it.”

“You will, or I’ll send you back to the Void.”

They were in the mouth of the alleyway now, walking slowly in front of us, and I felt Destiny hold her breath, going stone-still. She closed her eyes, and I did the same, feeling like at any second, they might turn, and spot us in the darkness. Daring a peek, I opened my eyes, needing to know where they were, if Satalari was reaching for us, a devilish grin on her face. Nihila’s face was taunt, her powers darting around her in small, stressed motions, and Satalari was eerily blank-faced, staring at her younger sister, waiting for an answer. How were these two women related? They looked so different!

Destiny was still above me, not moving so much as an inch, and I brushed my thumb against her arm, trying to comfort her. What thoughts would be racing through her mind right now? Was she remembering Satalari’s warehouse, or trying to remind herself of the fact that we had escaped, that we were safe now?

Nihila had gone as silent as Destiny, and I felt something tap at my shoulder. It was one of Nihila’s dark strands of power, and I saw her eyes flick over to us, mouthing, “Move away.”

Satalari, luckily, had paused to look at the Ordeallan bar, half-sunken into the muddy field and covered in grime, and sneered at it.

Destiny hadn’t seen Nihila’s warning, and I pinched her, trying to catch her attention.

‘Nihila has told us to move.’

Destiny opened her eyes, looking over to Nihila, who was looking back at Satalari once again, and I felt another tug at my sleeve from Nihila’s power, trying to lead us down the alleyway. Destiny slowly peeled away from me, following the pull of power, and I kept a hand on her shoulder as we crouched behind a crate, the power still trying to move us forward. Nihila had to be aware of the chaos Satalari had caused on Destiny’s wellbeing the last time we’d been caught.

‘There’s water down here. Satalari will see the ripples.’

I looked around the alleyway for another way around, and shrugged. We had no other option.

“Well? What’s your decision, little sister?” Satalari dared, and I heard Nihila reply, “No. I’m not doing it. I have a better plan.”

Her power stretched across the mouth of the alleyway, cutting us from sight, and Destiny leapt into the water, taking the opportunity. I followed her, nearly falling over, and we darted for the end of the alleyway, where I could see the entrance to a tunnel poking up from under the water. It would be completely filled inside, but everywhere else was a dead end. The nearest windows were on the floor above us, and there were no doors down this alleyway, the walls smooth and untouched.

Destiny wrenched the tunnel entrance up, and dove in. The water was pitch-black, and deep enough that I couldn’t see the bottom of the tunnel, but I could see the pale smudge of Destiny’s skin against the darkness, and she looked up at me, holding onto one of the metal poles that supported the tunnels, and beckoning me in. The tunnel stretched into watery darkness, a tomb for anyone who couldn’t breathe underwater, but it was clean, and taking a deep breath, savouring the coolness of the air in case it was my last, I jumped in.

She darted out of the way to make room for me, and I felt my body freeze up. The water was as cold as the air above, but darker, and I felt lost as to which way was up immediately. I could no longer see Destiny in front of me.

She was sitting on the bottom of the tunnel, looking up at the moon, and I clung to the pole, not wanting to sink further down into the depths. Above us, the darkness of Nihila’s power peeled back, allowing for more light in, and Destiny swam away from the entrance, pulling me with her. We clung to the wall in the shadows as two silhouettes of shadow appeared above us, and then vanished, like a final warning from Nihila that they were gone.

Destiny swam up for the surface, breaking it with a shuddering breath, coughing, and I swam after her, inhaling deeply. The alleyway and the street beyond was empty, and Destiny stood, pulling her cloak off and wringing it out into the water. She was shivering, her veil-like dress reduced to strips of fabric that clung to her body, and I peeled my shirt and jacket off, handing them to her. They were just as soaked as her dress, but both were made of a thicker material. She wrung them out as well, and threw it on, her teeth chattering.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“I hate Satalari,” she muttered as we began walking through the streets once again, Darcie’s house coming into view. Around the porch, symbols had been painted into the floorboards and around the windowsills, the handiwork of Silba’s wards on full display. They glowed a deep red when we neared, lighting up the house, and we took a seat on the porch swing.

“This sucks.”

“I second that,” I said, standing to grab some food from the kitchen, but as I opened the front door, the lock swung into my hand, broken. Destiny heard the squeal of the broken metal, and looked over, swearing.

“Oh, for the love of Hell, what now?”

She stood, peering around my shoulder, and pulled Inferos from her shoes. It was stained with hopefully old blood, and not the blood of the thieves who had attacked her earlier. I grabbed the lantern off the porch, which was already lit, and held it up. The house looked fine, not a single piece of furniture out of place, but wet footprints led around the entire perimeter, before leading back out toward the back door.

“Someone’s been here,” I observed, and Destiny looked at me quizzically.

“Really? What gives it away? The broken lock? The footprints? The impending sense of doom?”

Ignoring her sarcasm for stress, I said, “All three, actually. Shouldn’t the wards have kept the intruder out?”

She shook her head, and I gaped at her. What the Hell were the point of the wards, then?

“They’re to stop people from tracking me, not to keep them out.”

“So you’re not safe here?”

“I am. I can still fight.”

I brushed a finger pointedly against the bruise on her face, and she slapped my hand away, muttering, “Just because I was punched doesn’t mean I can’t fight. Here.” She shoved Inferos into my hand.

“What am I meant to do with this?”

I felt like I wanted to toss the blade as far away from me as possible, and I said, “When was Inferos made?” It reminded me a lot of the Fae girl I had seen in a hallucination- Coppyrdeen. They had been making a blade with the same name, and a sister blade to it- Caelum.

“My mother said she made it, but the blade’s name isn’t new. Inferos was originally an Unseelie blade, or at least the original was, supposedly. My mother made this as a replica. The original blade was a pair. It was paired with Caelum.”

“I dreamt of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was having hallucinations, I dreamt of a girl called Coppyrdeen. Her and this blacksmith were making two blades- Inferos and Caelum. I saw the original blades.”

“That’s interesting. Do me a favour, and search the house.”

“For what?”

“Intruders. You want to protect me, have fun doing it.”

Sighing, I pushed the door open with my shoulder, the lantern held high, and began scouring the house from top to bottom, deliberately taking my time, Destiny tutting impatiently from the porch. Eventually, she grew bored, and wandered in after me, picking up books and other things left lying around at random, before placing them back in their positions, and moving onto the next room.

When I had cleared every room, I found Destiny waiting in the kitchen, slicing pieces of bread and holding them over the fire, melting the final few dregs of butter over them. I grabbed two plates, taking a seat at the table, and Destiny tossed the toasted bread onto the plate, which landed perfectly. I dug through the cupboards, looking for a drink, and found none. The juice Karla had made would have gone sour by now, and I wouldn’t trust any of the jars of milk that remained.

“There’s not a single sign of anyone aside from the lock and the footprints, and nothing’s been taken. What were they looking for?”

“Me, probably,” she said, taking a seat next to me, and dragging a piece of parchment, and a jar of ink toward her. She must have taken it from my room when I’d been looking for our mystery intruder.

“I’m going to write a letter to Cain asking him to come back to Ordeallan. He’ll be able to help me control some of the Demons when I remove the mirage tonight.”

“You’re still going to do that?”

“Yes.”

“What are we going to do about Nihila and Satalari?” I asked, and Destiny sighed heavily, still writing, “There isn’t much we can do. Luckily for us, Nihila is right. By removing Leena from the equation, my court will be more likely to survive, and it’ll hold off any attacks that your lovely war camp might be planning.”

“Why would they go after Leena?” It didn’t make sense. Satalari would want to ruin things for Destiny, not make life easier for her, and removing Leena would definitely make life easier. I would warn Tatiana of her presence, although they were probably already aware. They would have been able to sense Satalari’s power imprint when she entered the Dimension.

“Satalari probably has her own motives. I’ll find them out, eventually.”

She blew on the ink, placing it to the side to allow it time to dry, and finished off her food, turning to me with a small smile.

“What?” I said warily, and her smile widened into an impish smirk. Around me, her power tapped at my skin, pinching, and I tried to hit it away, snapping, “Stop that!”

“Block me.”

Oh… This was how we were going to train? Really?

‘I wouldn’t shit on my teaching methods if I were you.’

‘Or what?’ I challenged, and her power knocked me onto the floor, the chair toppling over. She caught the plate before it could break atop me, and sat on my chest, tugging at a strand of my hair, before pinning my arms beneath her body, effectively forcing me to still.

“Push me off.”

I tried to pull that strange, writhing power I could feel in the bottom of my gut upward, but it remained firmly where it was, and Destiny said, “You can’t try and pull it to the front of your mind. You have to wield it.”

“And if I can’t?” I groaned.

“Then I punch you.”

Hoping she wasn’t serious, I sat there another minute, trying to shove her off with that mysteriously missing power, and after a while, she punched me in the arm. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but it was motivating, because after a while, it was going to start hurting, especially if she kept punching in the same spot. The power flickered in response, and died out.

“Try again,” she said, and I once again pulled at the power, watching as she grew more and more amused. In order to wipe the smirk off her face, I sat up suddenly, wrapping my arms around her waist, and kissed her…