Noah woke up beside Moxie, the Mind Meld potion’s effects expired – much to his disappointment. He sat upright, wiping his eyes and grimacing at a slight crick in his back. The floor wasn’t a particularly comfortable medium to lie down on.

Even as Moxie started to sit as well, Lee poked her head through the door. She had several pieces of jerky sticking out of one hand that she used to wave a greeting. “Did it work?”

“Perfectly,” Moxie confirmed as she stood. “We’ve figured it all out.”

The next few minutes were spent filling Lee in on all the observations they’d made on the proper method to perfect a Rune. Noah was practically beside himself with excitement.

I want to get to Rank 4. The more I know about what I need to do, the more I just want to get it over with so I can keep moving. As soon as we get our hands on this book, I’m going to go hunt or buy the Runes I need.

“I need more Runes before we fix anything,” Lee said, rubbing her chin. “I don’t want to have to fix things a bunch of times because it’s going to hurt, so if we could do it all at once, that would be the best. Noah is going to go collect Runes after we get the artifact thing, so I can get them when he does.”

“How’d you know?” Noah asked. “Did I say that already? I can’t remember.”

“Me neither.” Lee took a bite out of several pieces of jerky at the same time. “But I figured that was what you were going to do either way. Good job for not running off to do it immediately.”

Moxie nodded in agreement. “You’re getting better.”

“Hey! I wouldn’t do that. This is unfair. You’re teaming up on me.”

That earned him one of Moxie’s patented arched eyebrows. Then she rolled her eyes. “Okay, it was a bit of an exaggeration, but you can’t tell me the thought wouldn’t have crossed if all this had happened a month or two ago.”

Noah thought for a moment. “Okay, I probably would have. If the artifact was a more pressing issue then I’d say that you were spouting slander, but none of us are going to die if we can’t get our hands on it.”

“Except for Karina,” Lee put in.

“She’s not dying,” Moxie said.

“Probably wishes she was, though. She smells depressed.”

“Not that I disagree with you, but I am baffled by your nose every day,” Noah said. “How does someone smell depressed?”

Lee shrugged. “She does. It wasn’t there the last time we met her, so she’s probably sadder about her leg than she’s letting on.”

I suspect it’s probably more that she’s realizing she can’t save herself. She’s waiting for mercy from either me or Father, and neither of us are planning to give it to her. When there’s nothing you can do to control your own situation… I can’t blame her at all.

Moxie caught the slight frown on Noah’s face. “Are you concerned about her?”

He waggled a hand in the air. “Honestly? It’s hard to answer that. I don’t like Karina. She’s not trustworthy, and she’s proven multiple times that the only person she looks out for is herself. But… I can’t help but sympathize at least a bit with her situation.”

“Then maybe the best move would be to rectify it. Don’t have to like her to fix things,” Moxie said. “We’ll keep a close eye on her to make sure the fixing doesn’t result with a knife in any of our backs.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Noah said. He stretched his arms above his head, then cracked his neck and gave them a nod. “I’m going to go talk with Father. After that, we should grab Karina and head over to the catacombs to get that artifact.”

“We should probably go talk to Karina, then,” Moxie said as she made for the exit of the room. “The less Father sees us, the better. He might already be thinking about how to leverage me, considering what happened the last time we met with him.”

Noah grimaced. “Yeah. It isn’t a risk I regret taking, but it might cause some trouble. I think I can handle Father, though. He’s going to want to know what happened to Evergreen far more than he’ll care about you.”

“Just be careful,” Moxie said. She and Lee headed out of the room, closing the door behind them and leaving Noah alone. As soon as they had left, he sent out a mental call to the white-furred cat.

There was no response. He still wasn’t exactly sure how to summon the cat – or if it could even be summoned. It had come when he’d called before, but that might have just been because it was lurking around.

Noah cleared his throat. “Er… are you around? I need your help.”

Still, he received nothing in response. Noah’s brow furrowed. “Come on. You’ve been following me around for a while. You can’t tell me that you suddenly left now.”

A tiny prickle of pressure pushed against Noah’s chest, as if acknowledging his statement – and refusing to respond to it. Noah pursed his lips in confusion. The cat had never flat out refused to show up before.

What the hell is going – oh, you’re kidding me. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Mascot?” Noah tried.

Something brushed against his leg. He looked down as Mascot padded out before him, vibrant red antlers glittering with energy. The cat turned around and sat on its haunches, licking a paw as it looked up at Noah.

“Okay, noted. You like the name. Definitely sapient, then.”

Mascot’s eyes narrowed. Noah raised his hands defensively.

“And you don’t like me implying that I didn’t think you were sapient. Fair enough. Can’t blame you for that. Am I meant to think of you as a male or female cat, though? If you’re smart enough to get pissed when I don’t use your name, I imagine you don’t want to be referred to as it.”

Noah received a very convincing recreation of Moxie’s eyebrow raise. Mascot didn’t even have eyebrows to raise, but the cat still somehow managed to do it. Clearly, it wasn’t too pleased with Noah’s question.

He heaved a sigh. “Male it is. If you don’t like that, feel free to let me know. I really need to spend some time with you and figure out exactly what you can do, though.”

That got him a remarkably expressive – and sarcastic – nod. Noah could practically feel the annoyance rolling off Mascot, as if he were saying no shit, idiot. I’ve been around for a while. Why did it take you this long?

Noah opened his mouth, then paused again.

You know, that was a remarkably detailed thing to randomly decide Mascot was thinking.

The cat licked its paw again. Then it stood, walking in a circle before vanishing in a ripple of reddish-purple energy. Noah stared at where Mascot had been moments before. He was pretty sure that the cat had just left to find Father.

Pretty sure.

A few minutes passed. Noah stood, his fingers interlaced, and waited. It wasn’t like there was much more he could do. Mercifully, he didn’t have to wait much longer. A ripple of purple passed through the air before him, splitting open to reveal Father’s office. Father sat behind his desk, his face the same expressionless mask that it always was.

“Vermil,” Father said. “You seem to have taken to bothering me as of late.”

“Are you telling me that you don’t enjoy my company, Father?” Noah put on an affronted look. “After all we’ve done together? I thought you’d be thanking me.”

“Why would I do that?”

Noah studied the portal for a moment. He wasn’t desperate anymore. Entering Father’s domain wasn’t the safest decision. There was no guarantee that Father would let him out again, so he chose to remain where he was standing instead of walking inside.

“I think we both know, but if you want to play dumb, then I won’t complain. I just thought you might have been interested.”

Father spayed his fingers out over the top of his table. “Interested? Bold of you to assume that anything you are capable of doing is truly of interest to me. Passing fancy, perhaps. But I am busy – today more than most days. What do you want, Vermil?”

To Noah’s surprise, there actually seemed to be a note of truth to Father’s words. He sounded slightly pressed for time and off balance – which was likely just a front, but it had to be for a reason.

Why would he be pretending to be off balance? Evergreen’s death should be something he’s thrilled about. There’s no way he’d bother faking a reaction like this about that. So what’s this about?

Father pursed his lips and took his glass of wine, pouring some into a glass before holding it out. “A drink?”

“Not today, Father.” A small grin slipped across Noah’s lips as he realized what Father was annoyed about. It wasn’t fake at all, and it also had absolutely nothing to do with Evergreen.

It was Mascot. The cat had breached Father’s inner sanctum twice now. For a man as paranoid as Father, finding out that something could waltz right into the saftest part of his home without even the slightest trouble was probably infuriating.

“Then out with it,” Father said.

“I want you to dissolve the marriage between me and Karina.”

Father tilted his head to the side. “Why? She’s a fine woman. Decently powerful. Shapeshifting. What is there to complain about?”

“Personality, mostly. Let’s cut the banter, though. You’re busy. I’m busy. Time to make a decision, Father. Are you going to keep picking small, worthless fights with me? This isn’t some major favor. It won’t cost you anything.”

“Is that what you think?” Father took a sip of wine before setting his goblet down on the desk. “You are incorrect.”

“How so?”

“Karina is worthless to me. You are correct on that front,” Father said. He stood, walking around the side of his desk and stopping directly before the portal, his hands crossed behind his back. “But, while we have made great progress, our branch is not yet part of the Main Branch. All the pieces are lined up with Dayton’s failure, but I still gain political power from the linking of Karina’s branch and mine through you.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “As if you need that leverage. Does anyone really stand in your way?”

“No,” Father said. “They do not. You are correct. I do not need this advantage, but why would I give it up for nothing?”

Noah chewed his inner cheek. Father, to his annoyance, actually had a point. From his perspective, there really wasn’t any benefit in letting Karina out of anything.

“I think you’re coming at this from the wrong perspective,” Noah said. “You don’t want to lose the implied power of being tied to Karina’s branch, right?”

Father didn’t respond. That was the equivalent of a resounding yes from him.

“Then I think you should be more concerned about the fallout of what will happen when her branch finds her body ripped to shreds and scattered through the Linwick estate.”

Father tilted his head to the side. “You threaten to murder her?”

“Not just that,” Noah said. “Everyone will know. It doesn’t matter if you tell everyone I did it. Nobody would believe that I would do anything against your will. That’s the problem with being as infamous as you are. It’s ludicrous to believe that I’d act on my own. All of Father’s family follow his orders perfectly.”

Father pursed his lips. Then, to Noah’s shock, they pulled apart in the faintest hint of a smile. It was fake, of course, but even a fake smile looked unsettling on Father’s face. “Very well.”

Noah blinked. “What?”

“I will release Karina. You have made a good point. The effort to keep her would be greater than what it would take to release her. I am not an unreasonable man, so consider your request granted.”

Just like that?

“I would say one thing in return, though.”

Of course.

Father reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. He flicked it, sending the paper flying through the portal and to the ground at Noah’s feet.

“I haven’t agreed to anything,” Noah said.

“This isn’t a request,” Father said. “You will not send your beast to infiltrate my room again. I have not fought against it because these conversations have benefitted me, but I will permit it no longer. If you wish to speak with me again, you will use the proper channels.”

Noah looked down at the paper, then inclined his head. “Fair enough.”

Father said nothing more. The portal snapped shut.

I really expected him to ask how Mascot was getting into his room, but I guess that would have put him at too much of a verbal disadvantage. Can’t complain about how that turned out, though.

Noah picked the slip of paper up and unfolded it. It had a complex Imbuement on it. There wasn’t any power coming off the paper, so it was dormant. Noah presumed it would let him send Father a mental ping of some sort.

He slipped the piece of paper into his bag.

“As far as things could have gone, that wasn’t bad,” Noah mused as he pulled the guest house door open and headed out to get the others. “Not bad at all.”

Now, to kill that Frost Wight and get my artifact.