Inside the courtyard, a group of young soldiers was carting off large pieces of bent and broken iron—the remains of his box no doubt. Chains rattled in their carts as they wheeled over crossed roots and small stones.

Sizal sat on a thick tree trunk near a large pile of ash with a scorch mark around it. He was fiddling with a small cube, some kind of relic, sending mana into it and watching how it responded. I couldn’t get a view of the thing, not that I was really trying.

A woman, wearing what was basically a string bikini, pranced out of the castle. Her tan flesh drawing stares from every direction. It seemed as if all eyes, both male and female, were on her as she sashayed to Sizal.

“Liriel won’t be pleased when he learns what you’ve done,” she said.

Sizal didn’t look up from his cube, but replied simply, “If our Lord was here, I wouldn’t have needed to do it.” Glancing up at the woman, he added,“If Kinzla had helped, then maybe we could’ve restrained him, but Kinzla is ever dutiful—fulfilling his orders to the letter. If anyone’s to blame it’s him.”

“Kinzla follows orders at least.” The woman said flippantly. “But you always just do as you please.”

Sizal smiled. Then his lips parted and he let out a chortle. He said something, but I could only make out one word. “…simple.”

“What?” The woman asked.

“I can’t believe I missed it all this time. It’s so simple.”

“What are you talking about? Aren’t you worried he’ll punish you?”

Sizal scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Punish me? I am not you, Melinda. Even if he doesn’t know exactly what I’ll do, Liriel knows what to expect of me. It’s why he left Kinzla with his precious, and gave me free reign.” Looking at the woman with a serious expression, Sizal sneered, “I don’t need rearing, child. Now get out of my face.”

Melinda raised a hand to slap Sizal, but dropped it just a moment later. Pivoting on her heel, her gaze swept around the courtyard. I noticed others looking away, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from her.

I must’ve caught her eye because her gaze settled on me.

‘Shit’ I thought. ‘I blew it already.’

I turned away, walking hastily along the perimeter of the courtyard. I looked at the ground as I made my way toward the door.

“Siz,” she practically squealed, “who is he?”

“How should I know, Melinda? Just do your thing if you’re interested, I don’t care.”

Giddy with joy, the woman called across the courtyard. “Come here, darling. We’re going to have some fun.”

I froze.

A gut feeling told me only one of us would enjoy what she had in mind and it wasn’t going to be me. I hoped and prayed she wasn’t talking to me because given how she interacted with Sizal, it was clear I wouldn’t be able to refuse her.

Slowly, I turned in her direction. My prayers went unanswered as she was already walking toward me, her eyes devouring me like candy. I could see her excitement intensifying with each bouncy step.

Despite being held tightly in a strapless bra, her breast jiggled so much I thought they might just slip into the open. I tried hard not to focus on her body, but I was also avoiding eye contact so I couldn’t help but look lower.

Her curvy figure was exactly the sort of appearance that would excite most guys. She was beautiful, and apparently quite proud and confident. Under different circumstances I might’ve been excited, but I only felt more anxious the closer she came.

She leaned forward as she reached me, flicking her finger once under my chin. “You want to look at me don’t you, baby?” She forced me to make eye contact, putting her face in mine. “That defiant look in your eyes only makes me more excited,” she whispered.

Grabbing my arm, she hurriedly pulled me into the palace. Her grip, both firm and gentle, was stronger than it should’ve been. Breaking free would be impossible; even if I could break her grip, I wasn’t confident I could get away from her.

She pulled me through familiar halls, now taken by corruption, and past hundreds of people—a mix of cursed mages, servants, and maids. Some faces I recognized, but most I didn’t. Unlike before when there were only Elves in Faerelle, there were humans, elves, and some people with animalistic features—I hadn’t seen anyone like them before.

I was curious about the beast-humans, but I didn’t have time to ask questions.

Melinda hurried towards the end of a hall on the second floor of the palace, a hall more familiar to me than the others. She pulled me into the room then shut the double doors, locked them, and slowly turned around.

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“Do you like what I’ve done with the place?” She asked opening her arms toward the room. “It’s not too much is it?”

I was both surprised and relieved as I looked around. My room remained largely as I’d left it.

Melinda had brought in assortments of flowers and placed them all around, but she hadn’t changed anything else. The flowers were vibrant and colorful. Likely, they were the only living plants in all of Faerelle, but they would die soon.

Melinda had seemed dominating before, but if this was truly her doing it showed that she was also gentle.

As I opened my mouth to answer her I realized something about her question and instead asked, “do you know who I am?”

“Nope, not a clue…” Melinda said, smiling coyly. “…have we done this before? Maybe a kiss would help me remember.”

I rolled my eyes. She was bluffing.

“What’s your game? Weren’t you just scolding that other guy for not following orders?” I asked. "Shouldn’t you be bringing me to Liriel, or the vessel, or whatever you guys are calling my uncle these days?"

"I should, shouldn’t I," she teased, "but if I did that, then i couldn’t do this." She pressed her chest against me, stood up on her toes and kissed me.

For several moments, her lips pressed against mine while I stood frozen, unsure how to react. She held onto me tightly, kissing with such passion that I felt compelled to respond. There was emotion in her touch, like we were lovers and not strangers just meeting.

She clung to me dearly. Then slowly she peeled herself away. I had never experienced anything like this. When she released me, I felt weak in the knees and disoriented. I stepped backwards until I hit a wall.

“Lord Liriel isn’t here right now, and that lazy bastard Sizal didn’t notice you.” Melinda smiled as she walked two fingers up my chest. “That means, I can keep you to myself.” With those words spoken, another pair of soft kisses landed on my cheeks. Next her warm breath touched the side of my face as she whispered into my ear. "You're almost perfect…"

Then without warning, she spun me around and pushed me down on the bed. “Your resemblance is uncanny, but your tenacity is lacking.” She said, her tone harsher than before.

With a sigh, she sat beside me. We stared at each other a moment, then she groaned as she let herself fall into the mattress.

After a moment, she rolled over to lay flat on her stomach, resting her face atop folded arms. Lifting her legs, she started kicking her feet above her butt; it was round, supple, and fully exposed as her tan cheeks devoured her thong.

I stood, looking away, and walked to an open window.

There were two sets in my room, making four windows total. Two of them overlooked the courtyard while the other two offered a view of the garden beside the castle. In the adjoining bath chamber there was one large window on the back wall, but it was frosted so that you couldn’t see in or out.

I stood by a window over the garden as I considered my options in this situation. I could indulge the woman's fantasy; I wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking for, but it seemed like maybe she wanted to be dominated. I quickly ruled this out since I wasn’t interested in her at all and I didn’t like the idea of being used simply because I resemble someone—also, Lumia would never forgive me.

I was certain Melinda knew who I was—that her leader had some interest in me. I could try to use that, but based on her earlier remarks, I didn’t think this approach would be wise. If anything it might end in her actually taking me to him.

Finally I settled on the simplest of options.

“I’m here to rescue Lila,” I said, then looked to see how she reacted.

She didn’t really, just kept kicking her feet. She did look over her shoulder at me, but her expression was neutral, betraying nothing.

She didn’t speak so I added, “You don’t seem to care much what happens here, so will you help me?”

This time instead of answering right away, she stopped moving all together. Eventually, she turned onto her back, and laid against the pillows. Putting her knees up, she crossed one leg on top of the other and bounced her foot slowly. Finally she crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “You want me to betray Liriel—help you whisk away his prize?”

I nodded with a shrug. “If you’re willing.”

Melinda frowned. “Do you even know what she is? Calling her by name suggests that you don’t.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant by that. Maybe it had something to do with the ritual that changed Lila, enlightened her as Amara said. I nodded despite feeling my understanding was still a bit lacking.

“Supposing I did help you, how would you stop him from simply taking her back? He still needs her, you know.” She spoke placidly, maintaining neutrality and not giving much in her tone.

She must have been considering helping me. If not then why would she ask such a question. I thought about it briefly, then answered honestly. “I can’t…not yet, but I’ll get stronger. Eventually I’ll come back here and take this whole place from him like he took it from me.”

Melinda leaned forward, her eyes glowing. “There’s the fire. I knew you had it.”

I wasn’t about to get sucked back into her game. Making eye contact with her, I asked, “Will you help me or not?”

Her lips curved upward slightly, revealing small pointed teeth. Then after several seconds passed she finally answered, "I will."

"Thank y—."

“But only in exchange for an equivalent favor.”

I pondered for a moment. Unsure what I could possibly do for her. Coming up with nothing, I asked, “What favor?”

Hopping up from the bed Melinda stretched and flexed then said, “I’ll cash it in when the time comes.”

I wasn’t exactly sure how she planned on doing that since we would probably never see each other again after today.

Moving swiftly, Melinda took a black silk dress from the wardrobe and slipped it on, then she withdrew a black helmet from her storage and handed it to me.

“Put that on and stay exactly three steps behind me. If you screw up and get caught, I’ll have to kill you.”

“You couldn’t just make me your prisoner?”

She shook her head. “If I did that, someone else would get my reward.”

She didn’t make much sense, but I didn’t have another option so I nodded and put the helmet on.