Lee’s shoulders slumped in relief and she flopped back to the grass, too tired to stay standing any longer. Brayden wasn’t going to try to kill them. At least, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t. He’d been pretty mad the last time they’d spoken, but he’d also given her some Space Runes.

“You’re late,” Moxie said, letting out an explosive sigh and letting the vines sink back into the ground around her. “And I don’t think my heart is going to be able to take another surprise today. Why are you here? And I swear, if you tell me someone important is dead, I’m going to lose my shit.”

“Why would someone important be dead?” Brayden asked, baffled and still glancing around in search of the blood mage. “The transport cannon operator ran me down while I was knocking on the door of Vermil’s room, yelling about some blood mage attacking you.”

Tim’s alive. That’s good. He smells nice. Did he really run all the way over to Noah’s room to find Brayden, though? That’s a bit much, isn’t it? There had to be someone strong closer. I’m glad he got Brayden, though. He also smells good.

Moxie studied Brayden for a few seconds, likely trying to figure out how much she could safely share with him. Lee wasn’t so sure on the answer to that herself. Brayden liked them, and he’d clearly rushed over to help, but telling him everything could be risky.

He should already either know or very strongly suspect I’m a demon, though. Noah called me in to the room with Father when we first met him, so it’s not a big reach to make that the Inquisition would be after me.

“It was the Inquisition,” Lee said finally. There was no point trying to hide it from Brayden, considering he’d probably piece everything together pretty soon.

“Was?” Brayden asked, blinking. “You managed to kill an Inquisitor with a domain? I was told they were probably a high Rank 4 or Rank 5. I don’t feel a domain from either you or Moxie.”

“We caught him off guard,” Lee said. She didn’t have a domain because she was a demon, not because she wasn’t a Rank 4. And talking about Azel… she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it.

Not yet.

It wasn’t like Azel’s existence would change anything for Brayden. All that mattered now was that Rafael had come for them and that they’d managed to defeat him. Everything else was just extra detail.

“This gives me a sense of familiarity that I really don’t want to be feeling,” Brayden said, drumming his fingers on his thigh. “Where’s the Inquisitor?”

“Buried about sixty feet beneath the dirt,” Moxie replied. “Along with everything that was around him. I don’t know how they managed to track us all the way over here, but I didn’t want to take any risks.”

“Smart,” Brayden said, lowering his sword and driving it into the ground. He crossed his arms over the hilt and leaned on it, letting out a sigh. “They likely tracked you with blood magic. From what I heard, there was only one of them. That’s a bit odd, as Inquisitors usually travel in pairs.”

“You think another one of those guys is going to show up?” Emily asked, her eyes widening in terror.

“Unlikely. They would have shown up by now,” Brayden replied, not even looking back at her. His brow furrowed in deep thought, but he gave up after a few seconds and shook his head. “Must have been an Inquisitor acting on their own volition. Maybe a friend of the ones that showed up the last time. Either way, if you really got rid of the blood, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to track you this easily again. I didn’t think they’d be tracking you at all. Father said he’d handled it.”

“Evidently not,” Moxie said, her voice going cold. “And we all nearly got killed because of it.”

“I’d offer to pass your complaints along to him, but I think we both know how that would go – especially coming from a Torrin.”

“Do you have a problem with Moxie?” Emily asked, her eyes narrowing.

Brayden let out a bark of laughter. He straightened up and pulled his sword from the ground. A ripple of purple passed over the blade and it vanished from his grip. “Surprisingly, no. My broth – ah, Vermil likes her. That’s enough to vouch for her character, even if she is a Torrin.”

“Relax, Emily,” Moxie said, walking over to the girl and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Brayden did literally just come running to help us.”

“He was late.”

“The thought was there.”

“Did you say that Vermil was your brother?” Alexandra asked, squinting at Brayden. Lee didn’t see what the confusion was. Noah and Brayden smelled pretty similar at first take. It was easy to tell them apart, of course, but the matching blood was there.

“Yes,” Brayden said after a moment of hesitation. “We share the same father.”

“Capital or lowercase f?” Alexandra asked.

Brayden chuckled. “Both. And who would be asking? I don’t believe I properly recognize you.”

“I’m Alexandra. One of Vermil’s students.”

“A new one?” Brayden asked.This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Alexandra nodded. “Yes. As of this year.”

“I see,” Brayden said. He glanced at the tilled earth, then back to Alexandra. “And you aren’t perturbed by the Inquisitor?”

Alexandra didn’t respond immediately. She was silent for a few seconds, her features unreadable. Then she inclined her head. “I don’t suppose I am. I had a pretty bad reaction at first, but I think he had it coming, even if his original intentions might have been good. To be honest, I just want to get stronger. I don’t care what I have to do to achieve that.”

“Interesting,” Brayden said. “I can see why you chose Vermil as your teacher.”

“What’s that mean?” Alexandra asked, but Brayden had already turned away from her. He walked over to Moxie, pulling out a healing potion from a pouch at his waist and handing it to her.

“Here. Drink.”

“I’m not that wounded,” Moxie said.

“Vermil is going to lose his shit if he sees you hurt,” Brayden said, turning away before Moxie could respond. “Drink the potion.”

Moxie scrunched her nose, then did as Brayden asked. By the time she’d drained it, Brayden had handed a matching potion to Lee. She threw it into her mouth without a word of complaint – healing potions tasted like cherries, and the glass added a nice, spicy texture.

“What are you–” Brayden raised a hand, then let it lower and shook his head. “Why do I even bother?”

“With what?” Lee asked, swallowing the mouthful of glass and potion. “Oh. Did you want to eat the vial? Sorry. I didn’t realize. I could probably throw some of it up for you. It might be a bit digested by now, but–”

“I’m quite all right, thank you,” Brayden said hurriedly. “I’m here for twelve hours, because I had no idea how long it would take me to find you guys and fight off the Inquisitor. Evidently, you’ve already handled that. How much longer until you’re pulled back?”

“Probably a few hours,” Moxie replied.

Brayden nodded. “Then sit down and relax. I’ll watch over you, and we can all speak once we return to Arbitage and can get in contact with Vermil. I doubt I even have to say this, but if you want to remain alive, I strongly recommend nobody shares a single breath of what happened here. If the Inquisitors find out you’ve gone and killed one of their own – again – you’ll never live in peace again.”

***

“That,” Renewal said, leaning forward in her chair to stare at the shimmering image in the air before her, “was not at all what I was expecting.”

“It took me by some surprise as well,” Decras admitted from the chair beside her. He reached over to the box of chocolates on the table between them, and Renewal smacked his hand away. She took one of them for herself, throwing it into her mouth without letting her eyes leave the scene playing out before her. “Have you ever seen a demon kill itself for someone else?”

“No, I don’t believe I have. I didn’t think they had the capacity to feel like that,” Renewal admitted. “Not with the damage their Runes do to their psyche. Honestly, I feel bad for the poor creatures. Failed experiments.”

“Nothing great can come without failure,” Decras said. He snagged a chocolate before Renewal could stop him and threw it into his mouth to keep her from reclaiming it. “The girl… interesting. I didn’t think there would be two people in the same group that caught my attention.”

“Hands off,” Renewal warned. “I refuse to let your stupid acolytes destroy my only good source of entertainment in years.”

“I thought you were only keeping the thief around to study his Runes once you caught him,” Decras said with a wry smile.

“Oh, stuff it,” Renewal muttered. “I do what I want. I’m a goddess.”

“A very humble one,” Decras said with a snort of laughter. “You think the little demon will actually manage to repair her flawed Demon Rune? I don’t know if her body would even be able to handle such a change.”

Renewal shrugged. “Noah has both of our Runes. He has the power to do it, if the demon can live for long enough to survive the change. Why do you ask? Feeling threatened?”

Decras let out a low laugh. “They’ve got a long way to go before they could come anywhere near threatening me. And I can’t believe you bothered to actually remember any of their names. They’re a bunch of mortals, Renewal.”

“We’ve been watching them for some time,” Renewal said defensively. “And that mortal stole more of your Rune than he stole of mine. I’d think you’d be smart enough to remember his name before he steals even more of your power from right under your nose.”

Decras narrowed his eyes. “We’ll see about that. My little surprise should still be on the way. The Inquisitor was interesting, but I want to see what the thief can do, not just the demon girl.”

“Your surprise isn’t going to make it until they’re all two hundred at this rate,” Renewal said, eating another chocolate. “Can’t you move faster?”

“You’ve gotten impatient,” Decras said. “Better work on that if you don’t want to go insane.”

“Bah. It’s not impatience. Have you seen how fast they’re growing? By the time you actually get around to doing anything, they’ll be ten times stronger than what you guessed they would be and the threat won’t even bother them.”

“Do you really think I didn’t account for that?” Decras rolled his eyes. “They’ve got their hands full already. If my surprise showed up anytime soon, it would be too much for them to handle. I’ve already accounted for their growth and the time it’ll take them to deal with that Rune Hoarder.”

“You’re sure they’ll beat him?” Renewal raised an eyebrow. “For his Rank, he’s quite the menace. He might win, and then we’re going to lose everything. I’m not going to watch him for fun. He’s just a scurrying rat dragging around something he stole.”

“Is our own target really any different?”

“Yes,” Renewal looked away from the screen to glare at Decras. “He’s actually comprehended what he took and improved upon it. Wizen is just a power-hungry man with a Rune too dangerous for him to handle properly.”

“And now you’re remembering the names of the unimportant roadblocks.” Decras crossed his arms. “Did you get hit on the head, Renewal? How much attention are you spending on these mortals?”

“Oh, get over it. You’re doing the same thing, just making up your own names for everyone. If you ask me, that’s even more effort just to pretend to be more mysterious than I am.”

Decras cleared his throat, immediately telling Renewal that she’d been right on the money. “Either way, I suspect we’ll have quite the show. And, if not, I’m sure we’ll get our entertainment soon enough. The pieces are already moving, Renewal. Maybe you should focus on getting your Church closer to the scene. Right now, they couldn’t be farther from actually finding the thief.”

“And whose fault is that?” Renewal asked. “Your little temptress got in Ferdinand’s way.”

“I’d argue the opposite. Garina would have captured the little shit by now if the stupid baldy didn’t get in her way and start waving those damn sandwiches around. I swear, when I next talk to her–”

“Interfere and I’ll rip your throat out,” Renewal growled. “I want to see this play out.”

“You’ll try,” Decras said with a wry smile. “Relax, would you? Garina might not listen to me now, even if I asked her to do something. She’s always been rebellious. We’ll just let things play out and see what happens. Either way, I think we’ll have more than enough entertainment for quite some time.”

Renewal couldn’t help but agree.

She hoped Noah would find a way to get out of the situation closing in around him in a way that would keep his companions alive. She’d never admit it to Decras, but she was actually starting to get somewhat invested.

It would be a shame if Wizen killed them all.