Victori didn’t remember anything else until she awoke to a beautiful sunshiny day with birds chirping and everything. It was like the storm of last night hadn’t even happened. To her surprise, she felt great, no headache or anything. Drim must have added something to that concoction to remedy those side effects from a traditional sleep aid.
She blinked for a while longer and glanced around for him, but he was nowhere in sight. Feeling a bit panicked, she hopped out of bed and rushed to the door, only to find him first. He was at the foot of the bed, his head propped up against the edge. Her stalwart protector, guarding her all night long—until he fell asleep at least.
He woke a minute later, stirred awake from her scurrying about. It had been another moment of panic for her, since she had decided to get dressed on her own while he was still unconscious. She just barely slid down her dress in time before he got an eyeful.
The two sat for a while to discuss what had happened. There had been another assailant in Allant’s room and a third skulking around, likely looking for anything to steal. Once they were all captured, Phon teleported them to the police. It turned out there was more to this assassination plot than expected.
Breakfast that morning was a proper meal made by some of the Darquees servants. Apparently, Allant had complained to their father of their varying degree of meals and sent some cooks ahead of the rest of their escort. Phon, of course, took this time to critique it to no end since these were supposed to be high quality chefs.
When that was over, Drim and Victori returned to her room so that he could help her finish packing. This mostly consisted of her complaining while Drim did his best to stuff all of her bulky clothing into too few suitcases. He even had to wrap one of them in vines to keep it from popping open.
Their escort arrived during this time, and they were eager to get the siblings on the road. So once the packing was done, Drim and Victori adjourned to the main hall with all of her belongings.
Phon and Allant were already there, except Allant was collapsed on the floor. His face was already bloody and bruised, but Phon still wasn’t easing up on her flurry of kicks. She’d moved to a lower part of his body now, to parts that really shouldn’t be kicked so vehemently. Drim decided it was best not to ask, but was honestly proud of her for holding back. At her full strength, he wouldn’t get off with just a few bruises.
All of the servants that were standing around did nothing to intervene, leading Drim to guess that even they believed this to be a justified turn of events. Victori at least had some look of concern on her face, but not surprise.
“You know, I actually enjoyed this,” Drim was suddenly sentimental. “We haven’t had slow days like this in a while.
“Slow days?!” Victori was overly offended. “I almost died! More than once!”
“Yeah, that’s pretty slow in our line of work,” Phon couldn’t help but agree.
“Well then, remind me to stay far away from your business!” Victori huffed at the absurdity.
“But really, if you ever strike out on your own, you’re welcome to call on me again,” Drim genuinely offered. “Not as a client and contractor, but as friends. So long, Victori, Allant.”
He nodded over to Phon and the two vanished from the mansion, concluding their service as protectors of spoiled nobles. The pair didn’t stop there and went straight to the coordinates sent by Earl Darquees.
“Damn… I didn’t take Earl for a liar, but it was still hard to believe.” Phon walked around the underground bunker, studying the nuclear bombs. “I can see the insides. They’re all the real deal.”
“This is absurd, even for them,” the sight had left Drim almost speechless. “Each of these has enough power to wipe out entire countries. Why could they have possibly needed so many? They wanted to rule the world, not destroy it, right?”
Drim thumped his chest, “Anything you want to weigh in on?”
“Not really,” Eleen elected to be quiet for once.
“Can’t or won’t,” Drim pried for a specific clue.
“Ehhhhhh, bit of both,” Eleen grumbled. “These bombs were not meant to destroy the world. They were for protection. That is all I will say on the matter. If you keep prying, I’ll just go to sleep.” It was clear that she really wanted to move on from the subject.
“So, have you decided what we’re going to do with them?” Phon was ready to get to work.
“Well, I’d love to just throw them down The Drain so that they could never be used. But I’m not sure even Hand Guy could just deliver them to the middle of the ocean.” When he finished speaking, Drim suddenly doubled over in pain, clutching his chest.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Sorry, want to laugh, but can’t. Feels like I’m having an aneurysm,” Eleen apologized, her words sounding a bit loopy. “Irony. So much irony.” After she was able to calm herself, she added, “I will suggest that you shouldn’t get rid of them. You may need them someday, and not for the reasons you expect.”
Eleen went dark after that, not uttering another word. Just spouting useless cryptic zjik and then vanishing. So very annoying.
“I guess we’ll store them in a safe place for now,” Drim finally settled on what to do. “Maybe have Kada melt them down so no one could use them even if they were found. Once we’ve found a good location, can I count on your services?” he asked no one in particular.
“Of course,” a voice responded from nowhere.
◆◆◆
“So, my darling children, tell me of your successes.” Earl Darquees and his two children sat in the sitting room of their recently-moved-in mansion.
“It went perfectly, Father!” Allant was beaming with pride. “I had her eating out of the palm of my hand. She’s smitten for sure. It won’t be long before she’s professing her love for me.”
“And what exactly did you say for her to leave you in such a state…?” Victori wasn’t so easily swayed by his boasting.
“I merely asked for a goodbye kiss.” That explained the beaten and bloody face. “Then I invited her to return anytime if she wished to spend a night of passion in the bedroom together.” And that explained why he was currently sitting with his legs spread wide with an ice pack on his crotch. “Clearly, she was so overwhelmed with passion that she didn’t know how to properly express it.”
“Well done, my boy,” Earl somehow went along with it. “I remember finding myself in a similar state in the early days of courting your mother. You’re on the right track!”
These delusional men knew nothing about the hearts of women. Victori had never been more certain of that fact in her life.
“How did things go on your end, Victori?” the Earl waited for her report.
“Hmm, it’s difficult to say,” Victori thought back to the past days. “He is a stoic man who is hard to read, but there were many close and heart pounding moments. However, I can not say confidently that his head is in the romantic mindset to begin with.”
“There’s not a man alive who can not be ambushed by love given the right circumstances,” Earl touted his made-up words of wisdom. “But, I have heard tell of the Drazah boy’s disinterest. It is hard to say yet if it is genuine, or if he is just good at playing aloof.”
“In that case, though, given Allant’s success, we will focus most of our efforts on the sister. However, in the meantime, I ask that you still do your best to try to seduce the brother. If his interest is still lacking when we’re ready to move things forward, we will merely find a way to dispose of him.”
“You… you would plan to kill him?” Victori knew they’d discussed the possibility before, but after meeting Drim in person, it felt that much more real.
“Of course!” the Earl didn’t skip a beat. “You know as well as I that a pawn we can’t manipulate is useless to us. Once the opportunity arrives, we’d be fools not to take it. Perhaps I’ll use the same group I used for our fake assassins. They managed to make it all the way to your rooms without the Drazahs noticing, correct? I imagine that strengthened your connections greatly. Money well spent.”
“That… that was you?!” Victori couldn’t believe her ears. Her father had always been an eccentric man, but that was certainly crossing the line.
“Why yes, didn’t Allant tell you?” Earl looked over to his son. “I specifically told him to warn you of their coming.”
“Apologies father, sister,” Allant didn’t look apologetic at all. “I meant to tell her, but to be honest, I wasn’t confident in Victori’s acting ability. If she knew ahead of time, I feared for what it would do for our charade.”
“Hmm, perhaps it was for the best then.” Victori couldn’t believe they were blowing it off so easily. She had genuinely feared for her life, and it didn’t even phase the two of them. She knew she couldn’t raise the issue further, or it would only serve to seed doubt in her commitment.
“More importantly, father,” Allant’s face suddenly went sad and dour, like he was on the edge of tears. “Did you really mean all those horrible things you said to the Drazahs, about us being spoiled brats?”
“Of course not, my boy! You two are absolutely perfect, and I’d never ask you to change a thing! I know what I said came off as cruel, but it was all for our plan. Anything to get our hands on the Drazah’s fame and wealth. That was what we agreed on. The Darquees family will not die in obscurity. No! We will be the greatest house in history!”
This was the point of the conversation where Victori tuned out entirely. She knew there’d be nothing but ego-stroking between the two of them for a while, so her mind drifted away. To say that she was having second thoughts about the whole thing was a gross injustice.
Killing Drim… would she be able to sign off on that knowing that she was the reason? He was a stupid, clueless, insolent boy who had treated her like garbage—not a moment of respect from when they first met. Even worse, he looked down on her almost like she was an incapable child. She should have absolutely no problems letting someone like that die.
But… while he was a jerk, he was… thoughtful, and kind, and made her feel like a real person—not some superior being that needed to be placated. He had been there for her when she needed him. Sure, it had been his job, but she had never felt so safe.
Victori’s fingers traced around the petals of the rose that she’d kept, hiding it cupped in her hands so the others didn’t know she had it. It was still beautiful and discolored, and she wondered if it would ever wilt, hoping it never would. Could she really ever face Drim again, knowing that if she was unsuccessful, it would be the death of him?
Maybe she should inform him of their plan and try to get him to go along with it to save everyone? No, that would never work. Her mind swirled with doubt, losing faith in her conviction and her loyalty to her family with each passing thought. There was a pain in her eyes, but she didn’t let any tears form. Instead, they wandered away from her family, drifting aimlessly for a while, eventually landing firmly on the array of prized weapons her father kept above the mantle.