Liliana blinked, stumbling before falling to the ground as she looked around in mild confusion. Teleportation, of any kind, was quickly becoming her least favorite mode of transport. It was incredibly disorientating to be somewhere one second and the next to be somewhere else. It left her frighteningly vulnerable during the few seconds it took her brain to catch up and understand the shift in reality. Teleportation more than most forms of magic was inherently unnatural and the human brain wasn’t built to understand such swift changes easily.

It didn’t help that Minori had dropped them off, not where she’d found them, but at the very edge of the Frost Fang Mountains territory. A neigh alerted her to the fact that their ponies were there, though where they’d been this entire time Liliana hadn’t the slightest clue. Looking over at them she saw they were piled high with their equipment, and how that had happened was a conundrum Liliana wasn’t going to waste her brain power deducing. Powerful beasts were gods filled with black magic and chaos. Packing equipment simply fell under that chaotic black magic fuckery.

“Wha-?” a groan drew Liliana’s attention to Silas, who was sitting up, rubbing at his head and looking around in confusion.

“We got kidnapped by a Kitsune. I got the last ingredient, a new Bond, and she gave us a taxi ride to the edge of the mountains,” Liliana rattled off the facts as Silas blinked owlishly at her, obviously trying to comprehend just what in the ever loving hell had happened.

“Taxi?” Silas seemed to fixate on a single word out of everything she’d said and Liliana sighed.

“Teenager slang. She portaled us here with her nightmare inducing shadow movement skill bullshit,” Liliana clarified, and she paused. She was cursing a lot, even in her mind. Was this what it felt like to go into shock? Was she in shock? Yea. Maybe. That felt like a realistic thing to go through after meeting a Rank 1 beast.

“What happened to your hair?” Silas asked next, and Liliana wanted to huff. In fact, she indulged that wish. There were far more important questions to be asking right now. Was Silas going through shock too? Yea. Probably. Fuck, they were both going to need so much therapy after this trip. Did that exist in this world? Hadn’t she wondered that before? Why hadn’t she looked into th-Wait. Her hair?

Liliana grabbed her braid and yanked it over her shoulder, nearly dropping it in shock. Well, more shock than she was apparently experiencing right now. Twined through the dark black-blue locks were silvery streaks that shimmered like trapped moon beams under the rising dawn sunlight. Liliana blinked at it, mouth opening and closing a few times as she tried to connect whatever dots were necessary to explain how she had gained a new hairstyle in the past twenty-four hours. Actually, the silver looked suspiciously similar to the silver markings on Polaris…

‘Took you awhile to notice that,’ Polaris’ voice rang out, full of amusement and a twinge of… pride. Yes, that was accurate, she decided as she felt out their connection. He was proud that their Bond left such an obvious marker on her. Liliana didn’t even have to wonder why it had made such a distinct change, and she suspected it wasn’t the only one. Their Bond was different from her other two, closer, stronger, deeper. They were two halves of one whole now, as if they’d ripped their souls in half and traded the pieces.

“You know what? It’s fine. This is fine. As long as I don’t grow tails and fluffy ears, it fine.” Liliana breathed, feeling manic laughter bubbling up in her chest.

It was so absurd. All of this, everything. She’d met a Rank 1 beast and been sort of adopted into Minori’s family, like a cousin-in-law that the matriarch didn’t really like, but dealt with because she loved her kid. She’d gotten the last thing she needed for her plan. Which meant everything from this point on was going to be laughably easy and in a week’s time she could sip tea while watching Imogen being taken out in chains. In light of all these facts, getting some new physical changes wasn’t that big of a deal.

She could consider it magical puberty. Growing pains. Some kids got body hair and pimples, she got silver hair and… fangs? Her tongue traced her teeth again as her Vitality quickly healed the cut on her lip she’d caused biting into it, not expecting her canines to be bigger and sharper than they’d been six hours ago. Two canines on the top, two on the bottom, were much larger than they’d been before, and razor sharp. Well, that would be useful if she ever needed to bite someone in a fight. Probably good for intimidation, and dammit, she was getting distracted again.

“We need to get home. I have no idea what day it is,” Liliana stated, standing, finally, as she realized that fact. She did not know how long they’d been in that odd ever spring space.

“We were there for two days,” Silas said immediately and Liliana paused, tilting her head in confusion as she looked at him.

“Time keeper skill, I’ll get you a scroll,” Silas said with a wave of his hand and Liliana sighed, tilting her head back.

“Fucking thank you.” She kept telling herself she’d get a time skill and continuously forgetting to do exactly that.

“Can we get back in less time than it took to get here?” she asked next and Silas brushed off his pants as he stood, he seemed to find his balance, physically and mentally, and he was settling back into the man she knew. Coldly, frighteningly, comfortingly efficient and competent. She needed one of them to have their head on straight, and it wasn’t her. That manic laughter was still bubbling in her throat and she was vaguely worried she might be going insane. Just a bit.

“How long can you go without sleep?” Silas asked her, serious, and Liliana didn’t think.

“However long it takes,” she told him, meaning it. She’d tie herself to the saddle if she needed to.

“Then let’s get our horses back. We’ll probably need to swap them out half-way but I know somewhere we can stop,” Silas told her and he swung himself onto his pony, Liliana mirroring his movements.

Polaris had stayed remarkably silent, but she had sensed him rummaging through her memories, getting himself up-to-date with what was going on. He’d gotten the abridged version earlier, but he was looking for the detailed version now and she let him. She knew instinctively if she didn’t want him to see something, he wouldn’t. She also knew he could keep up with them easily. Liliana hadn’t even checked his sheet yet, but she didn’t entirely feel a pressing need to. She had an understanding through their Bond of his power and limits. Which was scary, if she was being honest.

He was now her strongest Bond, far stronger than her. It was a power imbalance that would unsettle any other tamer. There was a reason many didn’t tame more than a Rank above themselves besides the fact many such beasts wouldn’t give a tamer so far beneath them the time of day. It was because of the blatant power imbalance. Bonding too powerful a beast could twist the tamer into the servant if they weren’t careful. But Liliana knew Polaris wouldn’t take advantage of his greater position, didn’t think he could. It would be like hurting himself. Their contract notwithstanding. They were so tightly bound anything he did to her would be like he was doing it to himself.

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As they set off, Polaris took to the sky and Liliana let the sight take her breath away for a moment, enjoying the beauty of it. His wings were huge, a necessity to carry his weight, though Liliana didn’t doubt there was some magic helping keep him airborne. His tails worked like the tail feathers on a bird, helping to steer him in the sky. She sensed him using a Wind skill of some kind to aid his speed and she marked it down mentally. Wind, Dark, Light, Chaos. He had four affinities she knew. She also knew he focused mostly on Chaos and Wind, and she noted down to check out his sheets eventually during this ride back to the manor. Or when they got there.

For now, Liliana was trying to get her scattered thoughts in some sort of order. As it was, she was struggling to keep one train of thought going. Her thoughts felt flimsy, as if a single sigh would scatter them to the four winds.

It took an embarrassing long time for her shock to fade; they had changed back to their original horses, and the sun had shifted to late afternoon by the time she felt her thoughts solidly enough for her to grasp onto and for the manic laughter to stop bubbling. It had slipped out several times, causing Silas to look at her with growing concern. Which was fair. If she thought to the person who she’d thrown her chips in with suddenly went off her rocker, she’d be a smidgen worried as well. But it was fine. She was fine.

When her mind felt like it could actually handle higher thought processes, Liliana began to plot. She already had plans in place, of course. But she needed to be sure, and Polaris was a new variable she needed to account for. He would be an asset, though thinking of him in such a clinical way made her feel ill.

He wasn’t just an asset; he was Polaris. Still, he meant that her father would be proud again, probably as close to glee as the man could get. Liliana wasn’t entirely sure her father was actually capable of emotions, not in the way normal people were. She wondered if he’d been born that way, or if it was a skill. He had an Ice affinity, so perhaps he’d found a way to actually freeze his heart?

Regardless of her father’s heart’s frozen or otherwise status, he would be proud and gleeful. Polaris was a good addition to her repertoire of beasts. That’s what he’d see, and Polaris wasn’t strong enough to be a threat to her father. Which meant Liliana would still be something her father thought he could use, which was another good thing.

The player never thought the pawn could turn against them. Never thought the pawn might be the one slowly manipulating their moves, rather than the other way around. And once her step-mother was taken care of, her father would be probably as close to desperate as Liliana would ever see. Their family’s reputation would take a hit, and he’d need every scrap of power he could amass. But Liliana’s power would be at an all-time high.

She’d have physical power, far more than she really had a right to, not at her level and age. Which meant others would be paying attention. She’d revealed enough of her hand now that no one would doubt her status as a child prodigy and that meant no matter her blood status, she was going to be an asset. Someone others would want on their side, not against them.

Nobles in this world didn’t survive if they couldn’t play the long game, and anyone with a brain could see that if Liliana had this much power at the age of fourteen, she’d be all the more powerful when she became an adult. They’d understand she’d be a major player in this queendom.

Then there was the power she’d gain by having the royal families favor. Which would be guaranteed after what she did. Getting rid of Imogen was fully selfish. Revenge thinly veiled in justice. Justice she was only employing because it was more logical to let the law take care of this than to risk her safety taking matters into her own hands more than she already was. She could kill Imogen easily if she was being bluntly honest. She was stronger than her stepmother now. Imogen might be at a higher level, barely. But she wasn’t a higher level than Liliana’s Bonds.

Killing her would be so easy. Liliana had considered it daily, multiple times. She had planned out Imogen’s murder 135 times, envisioned it so clearly she could feel the woman’s blood soaking into her clothes, the coppery flavor of it on her tongue.

But if she killed Imogen, she’d be the criminal then. No one would bother to look deeply into Imogen’s crimes once she was dead. They’d just care that Liliana had killed her, and Liliana would be alive and therefore available to be prosecuted for a crime. And all those people interested in her for her power would see it as the perfect excuse to rid themselves of a future threat. Because they’d know, as much as she could eventually become an asset for them, so too could she become a threat.

So no, this plan, while being less viscerally pleasing, was the best for her future. She’d tie her father tightly to her, flipping the power dynamic in one smooth move he wouldn’t even see happening until it was too late. She’d gain the royal family’s favor. Providing them with a leash with which to hang the Rosengarde duchy by whenever they so chose.

She was certain while searching for evidence on the assassination attempts they’d find something on her father. And it would be so much better to hold that information for future blackmail rather than to completely remove the Rosengarde duchy. That would cause too much instability in their queendom, chaos that would need time and energy to fix and balance again. Time during which they could easily be invaded and, with their biggest military duchy down and in shambles, they’d fall. No, it would be better to turn the duchy into the Queen’s dog.

Watching all the power her father had worked so hard to gain slip through his fingers like water would be utterly delicious. Nothing would hurt him more than that. Power was the only language that man understood, the only thing he cared about. And Liliana would tear it away from him piece by piece, slowly, so he felt every cut with agonizing clarity. She’d ruin him and everything he’d ever worked towards. And when he was at his lowest, she’d take the last thing from him. She’d have him removed as the duke.

She didn't much care who took the place after him, as long as it wasn’t her. Liliana would like Alistair to take it, but it depended on how he swung after his mother was arrested. She could predict a lot, to an extent. But not emotional reactions, those were hard even with [Empathy]. Emotions like love made people do reckless, stupid things. She knew that well.

If Alistair was unfit for whatever reason, Silas would be a good replacement. She thought having him ennobled wouldn’t be too big a favor to ask of the Queen, and they’d have a good excuse. They could claim they didn’t want the blood of traitors sitting in the seat of such power. It would be a beautiful power move on the Queen’s part, asserting to the nobles that whatever power they had was simply a gift from the royal family that could be given to someone else at her discretion and whims.

And Liliana thought it would have a poetic justice to it. Her father wanted Rosengarde blood to remain in control of the duchy so badly he’d married a woman and had a blood ritual initiated to ensure that Alistair’s very DNA was changed to hold Rosengarde blood. To have all of that end in naught and to have someone of pure commoner blood controlling the duchy. Oh, he’d hate it.

As they rode, Liliana resisted the urge to tilt her head back and cackle like the villain she was trying not to be. Though she had to admit to herself, she didn’t think she could ever be considered a hero. But she found that thought didn’t sting as much as it might have once upon a time. Her innocent naivety that had believed there was very clearly right and wrong, that had made her see the world in black and white, had faded entirely. Slowly washed away by this world where good and evil didn’t exist. There was only the powerful, and the powerless, and it was the powerful that dictated the rules. That gave out the labels of ‘hero’ and ‘villain’.

Liliana’s moral code was shifting. She could almost feel her moral compass’ needle spinning wildly in her chest as it tried to find her new north. She knew soon it would settle, and she thought perhaps her new north would be something that would’ve terrified a younger her. A girl who hadn’t seen dull brown eyes staring at her as she tried to shove Mana into a lifeless body that had died drinking poison meant for her. A version of her who hadn’t seen a grove of serpents rotting away because of stupid superstition. A girl who hadn’t reached willingly for a dark entity when the assassin sent by her stepmother had snuck into her room and plunged a dagger towards her heart she couldn't stop.

That girl was gone, dead and buried under the cold cruelty of this world. Perhaps that girl had died back in the void and Liliana had simply been clinging to a ghost. A ghost that had lived in a world that afforded the luxury of clean morals and a black and white viewpoint. A world that shielded people from the atrocities humanity was capable of, no matter what the news showed daily.

Yes, her morals were shifting as the world merged into shades of gray.