ログインSERAPHINA"Hey!!" Marda snapped at me, "Come over here?"I looked around and pointed at myself, "me?""Yes, you." She snapped, wriggling her fingers fast."Hurry up, will you?"I internally rolled my eyes and went over to her."I'm proud of you?" She smiled, showing all her teeth.I narrowed my eyes at her, What's she on now?"You've made quite an impression on the Luna. I would no longer have to supervise you. This is a rare opportunity and make sure not to fuck it up.""What are you talking about?" I questioned. "You've been promoted. You'll wait on the Luna and Lycan King this evening for dinner, and you'll also prepare the food. I'll have another maid bring the list of His Highness allergies to you. I'll be counting on you." She gave me a stern smile and disappeared. My heart sank, wait on both of them? What if Elias recognizes me? How do I get myself out of this impossible situation. Or... I might as well just get this over with as soon as possible. Even if either of them
LUCIAN "Marda?" I called the head of maids as she walked past. "Yes, Your Highness?" She replied, entering the room.I honestly blanched. "Did Elias put you up to this?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes at her, I wouldn't put it past him even though he has been nothing but sweet these days."Luna..." Yvonne walked in, "or Lucian. Even before his memory loss, he didn't like being titled.""Oh.. I'm sorry your... Luna." Marda apologized."Thank you..." I mouthed at Yvonne. "What do you need, Luna? Or do you need me to do anything for you?""No— uh, yes, please," I stuttered, "The maid that served me tea. I like her, is she new here?""Yes, Luna. She started here a few days ago, along with some other maids.""Make her my personal maid and have her wait on Elias and I for dinner.""Really?" Maria's eyes lit up, "I'm so glad you found her to your taste, Luna. I'll be sure to tell her the good news."I nodded, a smile on my face, "Thank you."Marda bowed and left.Yvonne stared at m
SERAPHINA The tray was heavier than she imagined Seraphina had not carried anything with her own hands in years, not since she had learned that the most dangerous thing a woman could do was let others forget she had them. But today she carried the tray herself, dismissing the servant girl in her shadows with a look that required no words, and walked the long corridor to the east wing with the careful, unhurried steps of someone who owned every stone beneath her feet.She did.She reminded herself of that.The door to Lucian's chambers was already ajar. She pushed it open with her shoulder, arranging her face into something mild and solicitous, the expression of a maid performing a kindness rather than an inspection.He was seated by the window.For a moment, she simply looked at him, as she always did, the way time and suffering had arranged themselves on a person. Lucian was a bit thinner than she'd expected. His hair fell loose around his shoulders. He did not turn when she entere
***** Kingdom of Kuragari ****Cael turned.His expression went through several things quickly. Recognition. Edyrm looked at him for a moment.Then he looked at the delegation members. The younger one was still doing the thing with his face, that tight, practiced neutral expression of someone who has learned to wait out this type of encounter. Edyrm met his eyes for a second and gave him the small nod that communicated, as briefly as possible, that this was being handled.He looked back at Cael."Walk with me," he said.He did not walk far.Just to the side of the courtyard, out of the direct line of the archway, not private but not performing either. He stopped and turned and looked at Cael with the expression he had been developing over nine days of similar encounters, not anger, because anger gave people something to push against and he had found that removing the resistance changed the dynamic more effectively than providing it."Tell me," Edyrm said.Cael blinked. He had been, c
****Kingdom of Kuragari *****The delegation had been in Kuragari for four days.Four days was long enough for the initial strangeness of their presence to settle into something more workable, and not long enough for the deeper frictions to fully surface. Edyrm was aware that they were in a particular window a grace period of sorts, the diplomatic equivalent of a held breath and he was working it with everything he had.Which was, currently, quite a lot, because he had not slept sufficiently in four days either.He met with the delegation lead every morning.Her name was Saoirse, and she was, Edyrm had concluded by the second morning, exactly the kind of person you wanted across the table from you when the thing being negotiated was genuinely difficult. Not because she was easy, she was precise and patient and had a quality of returning to a point she hadn't finished making with the calm persistence of water finding its way through stone. But because she was honest. She said what she
SERAPHINA She prepared the tea in the small side kitchen adjacent to the main household kitchen.This was standard practice, the Luna's evening tea was prepared separately from the main kitchen activity, a small private ritual of the palace that had its own space and its own careful routine. Seraphina had walked past this kitchen twice in her days here and had noted its location with the particular attention she gave to things that might matter later.She worked carefully and methodically.The tea itself first, the right leaves, the right temperature, and the right steep time. She had watched how things were done here closely enough to replicate it without asking questions, and she did so now without deviation. She had never been sloppy.Then she was alone in the small kitchen for a window of time that was not long but was sufficient.She looked at the cup.She looked at what she had with her, had been carrying for several days now in the small concealed pocket she had sewn into the
LUCIAN I stared in horror as Sterling stared down at me with lust, his eyes roaming my body hungrily. I wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face, push him away, and keep as much distance as I could from him, but I couldn't.All I could do was stare. My limbs felt too heavy to lift.My eyes fo
LUCIAN He looked calm, not angry, and that scared me even more.The light Elf shrank back, shaking vigorously as it regarded Elias. Although Elias had killed the guard while he was on top of the Elf, there was no speck of blood on his body. A big difference to what that masked person did earlier
LUCIAN Seraphina might be happy at my failure and mock me again. "This time, the voice continued, I'll be calling names and points randomly, then move to the first three."I groaned in pain as I put one foot over the other, pushing myself to the nearest large tree for shelter. I tuned out the vo
LUCIANBlood filled my mouth. Thick. Metallic. My heart slammed against my ribs, threatening to burst. My lungs felt like they would explode at any moment. No. I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not yet. Rest was a luxury I couldn’t afford. I had to move. Faster. Faster.A cliff rose before me, sudden and m







