Duchess Aureline had experienced many humiliations during her reign.
She had endured nobles questioning her authority.
She had survived assassination attempts, political sabotage, magical catastrophes, and the ongoing indignity of having Halvren romantically interested in her.
None of those had prepared her for the sentence she was currently reading.
FORMAL PETITION FOR PROTECTIVE CUSTODY
Applicant: Lord Varros.
Threatening Party: Lord Halvren.
Aureline read it again.
Perhaps repetition would make it less offensive.
It did not.
Across the chamber, Varros sat comfortably beneath the watch of six ducal guards.
His weapons had been confiscated.
His rings had been removed.
Two separate mages had checked him for concealed enchantments.
Inkaris had personally inspected the chair.
Nobody knew why.
Nobody had asked.
Halvren stood on the opposite side of the room looking as though fury alone was keeping him alive.
Seris remained near Aureline. Aiden and Liora stood beside Inkaris, while several palace officials occupied the edges of the chamber.
Aureline lowered the petition.
"You are requesting that I protect you."
Varros nodded.
"Yes, Your Grace."
"From Halvren."
"Yes."
Halvren made a noise.
Aureline raised one finger without looking at him.
"Don't."
"I haven't said anything!"
"You were about to."
"I was about to say this is absurd!"
"Which is something."
Halvren folded his arms.
Varros looked toward him.
The movement was small.
But Liora noticed it.
Not fear.
Assessment.
Then Varros looked back to Aureline.
"I understand how difficult this situation must be."
Aureline stared at him.
"Do you?"
"Of course."
"You attempted to overthrow my government."
Varros' expression tightened with carefully measured regret.
"I participated in actions that I deeply regret."
Halvren's mouth fell open.
Seris slowly rubbed her forehead.
Aureline leaned forward.
"You declared yourself sovereign."
"I did."
"In my city."
"Yes."
"While my government was still functioning."
Varros hesitated.
"Functioning may be somewhat generous."
Aureline's stare sharpened.
"Choose your next words with extraordinary care."
Varros wisely reconsidered.
"I was under considerable pressure."
"From him."
Aureline pointed toward Halvren.
Varros looked uncomfortable.
"Yes."
Halvren exploded.
"YOU LYING, PERFUMED WEASEL!"
Two guards immediately moved.
"Don't touch me!" Halvren snapped. "I'm the victim!"
Varros quietly said, "That's precisely what someone attempting to silence me would claim."
Halvren stopped.
His face went through several emotions.
Confusion.
Outrage.
Recognition.
Then an almost spiritual level of hatred.
"You planned that."
Varros said nothing.
"You knew I would react like this!"
Again, nothing.
Halvren pointed furiously.
"He's using my personality as evidence!"
Inkaris finally spoke.
"Yes."
Halvren whirled.
"Whose side are you on?"
"Reality's."
"That isn't a side!"
"It is remarkably lonely."
Liora almost laughed.
Almost.
Because she had been watching Varros.
Inkaris' lesson remained fresh.
Truth was not honesty.
A statement could contain nothing false and still guide someone toward exactly the conclusion the speaker wanted.
Varros had admitted participation.
He had admitted declaring sovereignty.
He hadn't denied benefiting from the coup.
He wasn't fighting the facts.
He was changing what they meant.
Liora leaned toward Inkaris.
"He isn't trying to convince us."
Inkaris glanced at her.
"Explain."
"Everyone here already knows him."
Aureline heard that and looked toward them.
Liora continued.
"He knows the Duchess won't believe him. Seris won't. You won't."
She looked toward Halvren.
"And Halvren definitely won't."
"Finally, someone sensible."
Nobody acknowledged him.
Liora looked back at Varros.
"He's performing for whoever hears about this afterward."
A faint smile touched Inkaris' face.
"Good."
Varros' eyes shifted toward her.
Only briefly.
But Liora caught it.
Something changed in his expression.
Interest.
Not personal.
Strategic.
He had noticed her.
Liora immediately disliked that.
Aureline placed the petition down.
"Inkaris."
"Yes?"
"Does he qualify?"
Halvren turned.
"For what?"
Aureline ignored him.
Inkaris stepped forward and picked up the document.
He had already read it twice.
Everyone knew that.
He apparently intended to make them suffer anyway.
"Under the Ducal Preservation Statutes, an individual providing material testimony regarding an ongoing act of treason may request temporary protective custody if credible fear of retaliation exists."
Aureline's jaw tightened.
Halvren looked horrified.
"You cannot possibly believe he has credible fear of me."
Every person in the room looked at him.
Halvren slowly lowered his hands.
"That came out poorly."
"Yes," Seris said.
Varros looked appropriately nervous.
Halvren saw it.
"STOP DOING THAT!"
Varros flinched.
Actually flinched.
Halvren stared.
Then looked around the chamber.
"He did that deliberately!"
Aiden whispered to Liora, "I almost feel bad for him."
"Halvren?"
"Yes."
"Me too."
They both looked disturbed by the realization.
Aureline returned her attention to Inkaris.
"So?"
Inkaris sighed.
"Temporarily, yes."
Aureline closed her eyes.
"Wonderful."
Halvren stepped forward.
"No."
Aureline opened one eye.
"No?"
"I refuse."
"You don't have a vote."
"I am apparently the mastermind of a coup. Surely that gives me some authority."
"No."
"This entire system is inconsistent."
Varros cleared his throat.
"Your Grace, I merely ask that your laws be followed."
Aureline stared at him.
"You attempted to overthrow those laws."
Varros lowered his eyes.
"And recent events have given me a profound appreciation for them."
Silence.
Liora turned away.
Aiden covered his mouth.
Seris stared at the ceiling.
Inkaris appeared to experience a moment of spiritual exhaustion despite being a demon.
Halvren whispered:
"I hate him."
Aureline pointed toward Varros.
"Protective custody. Temporary. You remain under investigation for treason. You surrender all correspondence, financial records, contacts, properties relevant to the investigation, and anything else Inkaris requests."
Varros nodded.
"Of course."
"And if I discover you've lied to me—"
"Your Grace."
Aureline stopped.
Inkaris looked at her.
"Do not phrase it that way."
Aureline understood immediately.
Varros smiled.
Very slightly.
Aureline changed course.
"If I discover you've intentionally misrepresented material facts, omitted relevant information, manipulated testimony, arranged false evidence, or otherwise attempted to obstruct this investigation, I will personally ensure every applicable charge is pursued."
Varros' smile disappeared.
Liora looked at Inkaris.
That had been deliberate.
Don't ask whether Varros lied.
Define the behavior.
Inkaris noticed her understanding.
Lesson two, apparently.
Aureline gestured toward the guards.
"Take him to the secured east wing."
Halvren raised a hand.
"Can I object?"
"No."
"Can I insult him?"
"No."
"Can I—"
"No."
"You don't even know what I was going to ask!"
"Experience."
The guards moved toward Varros.
Then the western windows exploded.
Glass tore through the chamber.
Seris moved before the sound finished.
She slammed into Aiden and dragged him down as a bolt of green light crossed exactly where his head had been.
Liora dropped behind the table.
Inkaris turned.
A second projectile entered through the broken window.
It wasn't aimed at Aureline.
It wasn't aimed at Aiden.
It struck the guard beside Varros.
The man collapsed.
"Attack!" someone shouted.
Three figures came through the windows.
Black clothing.
Masked faces.
No insignia.
One carried a curved blade glowing with red enchantment.
The second landed with a short staff already crackling with magic.
The third pointed directly at Varros.
"TRAITOR!"
Halvren blinked.
"Which one?"
The assassin fired.
Varros threw himself aside.
Aureline drew her sword.
"Protect Varros!"
Everyone froze.
Even the assassins seemed briefly confused.
Aureline's expression became murderous.
"I KNOW HOW THAT SOUNDS! MOVE!"
Seris was already moving.
The staff-wielding attacker swept his weapon toward Varros.
Seris intercepted.
Steel met magic.
The impact threw sparks across the chamber.
Aiden rose.
The second assassin rushed Varros from the side.
Aiden's hand lifted.
"Don't kill him," Seris shouted.
"I know!"
Aiden's magic twisted.
The assassin suddenly stumbled as the distance between himself and Varros seemed to stretch impossibly.
Three steps became ten.
Ten became twenty.
The man kept running without getting any closer.
Aiden stared.
"That worked."
"Focus!"
"Right!"
The blade-wielding attacker reached Aureline.
That proved unfortunate.
Aureline caught the first strike against her sword, twisted beneath the second, and drove her elbow into the attacker's jaw.
He staggered.
She kicked his knee.
Something cracked.
The assassin collapsed.
Aureline brought her sword to his throat.
"Stay."
He stayed.
Halvren had taken cover behind a marble column.
He leaned out.
"Can I help?"
"No!" Aureline shouted.
"Can I let Varros get slightly injured?"
"NO!"
"This government has become completely unreasonable!"
A fourth assassin appeared in the shattered window.
Liora saw him first.
"Above!"
Seris turned too late.
The attacker didn't aim at her.
Again—
Varros.
A thin silver projectile left his hand.
Liora reacted instinctively.
"No."
The word carried more than sound.
The projectile stopped.
Not in the air.
It simply ceased moving.
Liora felt the wish catch.
Tiny.
Immediate.
Dangerous.
She had wanted it to stop.
Reality obliged.
Then came the whisper of consequence.
Something reached for her.
Liora felt it this time.
Cold.
Not pain.
Possibility.
A debt searching for somewhere to settle.
And then—
gone.
Liora's eyes widened.
Somewhere she couldn't see, someone had caught it.
Caelum.
No time.
The assassin stared at the suspended projectile.
Liora pointed.
"Stay down."
"I don't think that's how—" Aiden began.
Seris tackled the man through the window frame before he could finish.
Aiden winced.
"That works too."
Inkaris had not moved from beside the table.
His eyes were tracking everything.
Not combatants.
Patterns.
The assassins' movements.
Their targets.
Their refusal to attack Aureline unless she interfered.
Their repeated attempts to reach Varros.
"Alive!" Inkaris called.
Seris understood.
She changed the angle of her strike and smashed the pommel of her weapon into her opponent's temple instead of opening his throat.
Aiden released the spatial distortion.
The trapped assassin stumbled forward.
Directly into Halvren.
They stared at each other.
Halvren punched him.
The assassin collapsed.
Halvren stared at his fist.
Then at everyone else.
"I helped."
Nobody had time to respond.
The last attacker reached Varros.
A knife flashed.
Varros backed against the wall.
For the first time all day, he looked genuinely afraid.
The blade descended.
Aureline intercepted it.
Steel screamed against steel.
She shoved the assassin backward.
"Do you have any idea," she snarled, "how much I resent having to do this?"
The attacker lunged.
Aureline parried.
"Your Grace—"
Varros ducked another strike.
"Not now!"
Seris arrived from the side.
One strike.
The assassin hit the floor.
Silence followed.
Broken glass covered the chamber.
One guard was wounded.
Five assassins lay unconscious or restrained.
Varros remained alive.
Aureline looked at him.
He looked at her.
Aureline lowered her sword.
"You're welcome."
Varros straightened his coat.
"My deepest gratitude."
"I dislike you more now."
"Understandable."
Halvren emerged from behind the column.
"I would like it formally recorded that I did not send those people."
Varros looked toward him.
Halvren pointed.
"Don't."
Varros closed his mouth.
Inkaris crouched beside one of the captured attackers.
"Who hired you?"
The assassin glared.
Inkaris sighed.
"This is not an interrogation yet. I am asking whether you know."
Silence.
Liora approached.
She could feel something strange.
Not magic.
Structure.
The same thing she'd noticed while reading Varros' evidence.
Intent.
Assumption.
Truth.
The assassin looked toward Varros.
"He deserves to die."
Varros said nothing.
"Who paid you?" Seris asked.
The assassin hesitated.
"A broker."
"Name?"
"Didn't give one."
Inkaris studied him.
"Were you told to fail?"
The assassin's expression changed.
Anger.
"No."
"Were you instructed to frighten him?"
"No."
"Were you instructed to wound rather than kill?"
"No."
The assassin strained against the guards holding him.
"We were paid to kill Varros."
Liora looked toward the others.
Aureline's expression hardened.
Halvren immediately raised both hands.
"Again: not me."
Inkaris asked several more questions.
Payment route.
Meeting location.
Description of the broker.
Weapons.
Timing.
Everything aligned.
The assassins believed their mission was real.
No staged blades.
No deliberately weakened spells.
No instructions to miss.
They had genuinely tried to kill Varros.
Seris looked toward the man himself.
For the first time since arriving at the palace, Varros wasn't smiling.
That should have reassured Liora.
It didn't.
She remembered the documents.
The lesson.
The most dangerous deception is not a lie.
It is truth arranged so someone else constructs the lie.
Liora looked at the shattered windows.
At the wounded guard.
At the assassin who had nearly put a knife through Varros' chest.
Then at Varros.
He had been afraid.
She believed that.
Which meant nothing.
Because fear didn't prove innocence.
Something clicked.
Liora turned toward Inkaris.
"You asked whether they were told to fail."
"Yes."
"They weren't."
"No."
"But they didn't need to be."
Inkaris went still.
Seris looked between them.
"What?"
Liora's stomach tightened.
"If someone wanted an assassination attempt to look real, telling the assassins it was fake would create another person who knew the truth."
Aiden understood.
"Oh."
Aureline slowly turned toward Varros.
Halvren's mouth fell open.
Liora continued.
"So you hire people who genuinely want the target dead."
Inkaris' expression had become very serious.
"Then ensure circumstances make success unlikely."
"Palace guards," Liora said.
"Seris."
"Aiden."
"Aureline."
Inkaris nodded.
"And protective custody."
Silence.
Varros looked at them.
No smile.
No confession.
Nothing.
Liora couldn't prove it.
That was the worst part.
She looked at Inkaris.
"We can't say he arranged this."
"No."
"But it's possible."
"Yes."
Halvren stared at Varros.
"You hired assassins to kill yourself?"
Varros looked offended.
"That would be insane."
Halvren pointed wildly.
"THAT IS NOT A DENIAL!"
Inkaris' eyes narrowed.
Liora almost smiled despite herself.
There.
Another lesson.
Varros looked around the room.
Aureline suspicious.
Seris watching.
Inkaris calculating.
Aiden unsettled.
Halvren approximately three seconds from attempting murder himself.
And Liora—
Varros' gaze stopped on her.
She had seen it.
Not the proof.
The shape.
For the first time, his expression toward her wasn't amused.
Liora realized something.
Varros had noticed her before.
Now he was reevaluating her.
That felt considerably worse.
Aureline sheathed her sword.
"Move Varros somewhere without windows."
Halvren immediately said, "I know several excellent dungeons."
"Not helping."
"I am trying very hard."
The guards escorted Varros toward the door.
He stopped beside Liora.
Only briefly.
"You learn quickly."
Liora looked at him.
"Apparently."
Varros smiled.
This one wasn't theatrical.
It was small.
Careful.
"That's dangerous."
Liora returned the smile.
"So I'm learning."
The guards moved him onward.
Inkaris watched Liora.
For just a moment, pride overcame concern.
Then he looked toward Varros.
And the concern won.
Because Varros had just discovered something important.
Liora was no longer merely another wish granter standing near Aiden.
She was learning how people constructed wishes.
Contracts.
Stories.
Lies made from truth.
And somewhere high above the palace, unseen by everyone below, Caelum opened his hand.
A thin fracture of strange light ran across his palm.
The consequence from Liora's small wish disappeared beneath his skin.
He looked at the mark.
It faded.
Slowly.
Much more slowly than the others had.
Caelum's expression didn't change.
But his eyes did.
The cost was still being paid.
Liora remained untouched.
That arrangement had not changed.
Yet something about the bill had.
Caelum closed his hand.
"Interesting."
Below him, the palace erupted into arguments over whether Varros had attempted to assassinate himself.
Caelum glanced downward.
Then toward his palm.
Of the two problems—
the political one seemed considerably less concerning.