Leomi quietly grieves in my arm. My mind can't help but question my predictions about the impostor and her companion. I knew they would launch a last-ditch attack but expected them to attack the cottage from the cliff-side.
Where did I go wrong? Did they go wrong on their approach? Accidents happen. Did the battle happen because they were trying to ambush and replace a patrol of Hospitaliers? Does it matter at this point?
I should go on the hunt, the assassin is getting further and further away as I wait. Leomi would know this, she isn't acting because she knows the killer will have had an escape plan and there are too many directions he could have left towards.
To catch up, there is a need for trackers and a large number of soldiers. I clamp down on the sour fury burning in my stomach over the pain my love is experiencing. Cenwalh, Roskal, it doesn't matter, I'll make them all pay for this.
Leomi rises back up. I hold her hand as she walks to her horse and takes out a rough wool blanket. She spreads it out on the ground next to her mother. I help her move Viki on it and then roll it around the body.
“A week, only a week. Mother, she... she didn't like us together, she felt we didn't work well together but... but she still told me she would respect my choices and help me. Then, she gave us her blessing and...” Leomi chokes. She raises mad eyes up to me. “But, in the end, Mother relied on you for revenge, to kill this beast?!” She exclaims in grieving outrage.
It's clear she reached the conclusion that Viki's words and the assassin's shiver mean the on they spoke of was Elizabeth Vil. But, the anger she directs at me causes me to blink in surprise, which causes to fail to see her fist come down on my chest.
I react instinctively as she starts pounding on me, I reach out to take her in my arm. Despite hugging her, I find myself still lonely because I cannot tell whether she is angry at her mother for putting me at risk, at me out of jealousy, or herself out of misplaced guilt.
“Because we both know that pursuit is pointless since the kil... animal would have prepared a horse and a bark to escape, yet I have instincts that could lead me to find him without knowing his face, instincts you lack.” I reply.
I immediately regret trying logic and rationality because those aren't things that are likely to reach her right now. Leomi switches to hitting my shoulders but her blows quickly grow weak and don't last long. She hurts, she's attacking what's in front of her for no other reason than it is.
She pushes me away and picks up her Mother to place the body on the back of her warhorse. I stand still, unsure of what to do. Billowing bitter rage fills my chest pushing me to hunt those that hurt Lance but I also experience deep sorrow at the way she blames me.
Most of all, I feel the need to be there for her and so I help her best as I can tie the blanket to her horse. Leomi climbs atop and hesitates for a long while with a tortured expression before holding her hand out to me.
I climb up and reach for the reins in her grasp. She slowly releases her grip under my gentle pull and wraps her arms around my waist. We meet Yvonne on our slow ride back who returns from bringing back the injured soldier.
As she angles her course to approach us, her crushed expression becomes clear. I meet her eyes and understand. We share the same distress about not knowing what to do for Leomi who seems to be further plunging into silence.
When we arrive at the cottage, Leomi hops down and starts taking the body off the warhorse. Yvonne and I do our best to help. I open the door while she holds the mount in place.
Lance doesn't even look at us as she walks past us to carry her mother inside and places her on a table in the living room. She unwraps the rough blanket as well as takes off the travel pouch at her back.
Then, Leomi takes a seat by her side and grabs hold of Viki's cold dead hand once more. I move behind her and place my hand on her shoulder for support. She reaches up and places hers atop of mine.
We remain as we are for a long while. I remain as immobile as she does even though my waist and thighs are stiff. Yvonne is the one to break us out of this deadlock by opening Vikiana's pouch.
She takes out a folded letter and a small brand-new looking notebook. Leomi raises her chin at the sight. She stares at the letter but seizes the notebook first to give it to me.
“It's a record of her lion construct techniques.” Leomi murmurs as she opens the cover. “I didn't know why she kept writing as she trained me these past few days but it says here it was for you.”
I take hold of it and stick it in my belt without a glance. Leomi's resentment stings about as much as a bolt to the guts. I don't understand what she's going through but it's likely she doesn't either, which is why she's lashing out. The reality of Viki's death might not have hit her yet.
Lance grabs the letter and stands up as she unfolds it, preventing me from taking a look. It doesn't take much time for her eyes to reach the bottom but then she returns to the top to read it once more.
“A year.” Leomi murmurs as she turns to glare at me.
I freeze and instantly realize that Vikiana wrote a letter to explain the deal she reached with the Order to settle their internal conflicts over my actions as well as hers.
“Did you know?” Lance snaps to Yvonne.
“N, no?” The sword-sworn blinks in confusion.
“Mother says she wrote this three years ago for Yvonne to give me 'now' so as to give me time to grieve her death.” Leomi utters as she turns her gaze to me. “You hid this from me; your fight... made it harder for her to survive; this... ultimatum, made it more likely for her to take risks; you... hid this from me!”
Her fury makes me take an involuntary step back that she exploits by slamming her palm in my chest. I stagger back until I hit the wall and she slams her right forearm on my throat to hold me there.
“If I knew, if only I knew, things could have been different. You're my fiancee, she's my Mother, you should have trus...” She starts.
“Viki risked her life in the past and today because she trusted you but wanted to help and protect you from all she could as your mother, if that wasn't the case, she would never have left your side.” Jess utters with a harsh voice, rather angry at Leomi for doubting but unable to truly hold it against her.
“Don't you dare speak for her!” Leomi erupts with glistening eyes. “Our choices led to this! Our night cost Mother her life...”
“Leomi, remem...” Yvonne calls out carefully. Her hands are raised peacefully as if trying to calm a raging animal.
“Not now! It isn't the same” Lance yells in my face without turning around.
“We did this...” She adds in a whisper, pain in her voice, traits twisted in anger and regret.
“Viki made the call to draw your enemies out.” Liz replies as gently as possible with her deep voice.
“They're my enemies because of you!” Leomi bellows
I could challenge Lance's self-blame, the grudges she's clinging to against me, make her realize that our enemies would have been no less underhanded if she chose a different way to achieve her ambitions, but I have more trust in this woman than that.
“If, if I hadn't... no.” Leomi interrupts herself. “No!” She screams madly. “I will drink their spoiled blood before I even consider reneging the values Father and Mother gave me.” She utters in disgust towards her previous words. “No, I'm, sorry.” She adds, her light gray eyes regaining some focus as they find mine for the first time since our gazes locked when she slammed me against the wall. “I didn't me...”
“No apologies.” I remind her with a croaking voice.
There is no escape for the guilt and fury in my heart because, even though Leomi's the one causing these emotions, she isn't entirely wrong to say many wouldn't openly be her enemies if it wasn't for me.
Elizabeth Vil's impostor proves the operation itself was at least partly aimed at driving a wedge between us. I found the fake so that objective should have failed if it depended on that deception.
Even if it didn't, it should have failed after the rebellion was crushed because, after then, the assassination wouldn't have been an abrupt event we couldn't see coming which means there wouldn't be significant internal discord.
Yet, in the end, their plan to drive Leomi and me apart seems to be working despite the primary objective to assassinate us failing so miserably. It enrages me. It scares me that I cannot tell whether the scheme was built with knowledge that I am both Jessica Freepath and Elizabeth Vil or not.
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Most of all, I feel rage at how thoroughly they ruined the glow we were meant to bask in after finally getting engaged. I feel hatred for this killer who is entirely unworthy of the life he took.
The pressure on my throat lessens but I feel Leomi's left hand seize my wrist to pin it against the wall. With tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Lance bites down on the hard leather protecting the pit of my neck.
She is trying to evacuate all the grief, sorrow, and resentment she can't control. Yet, she surprises me by pulling back and suddenly kissing me with desperation but, this time, I don't feel her love as clearly as I always do.
There is doubt in the way she reaches out to me with her tongue, it causes my response to be stiff which further destabilizes her. She soon pulls back to suck and bite my lower lip, giving me a more tender, conciliatory kiss.
“They're trying to tear us apart even as they try to kill you.” She mutters with madness in her eyes. “I have to keep you far away, next to me.” She declares, contradicting herself in a single sentence.
“Kitten, Nobility is to blame for this. There is no solution to the issue until the system itself is destroyed.” Liz declares to turn her mind away from her controlling impulses.
“I listen, to you, you know.” Leomi replies with a quiet but intense tone. “You don't solve problems by changing the system but the people.”
“Yes but there are present threats to consider and the entity that is Nobility must be crushed so that people can change, that is the only practical way to move forward.” Jess explains with some impatience because we hadn't intended to dwell on this, we must shortly begin hunting down our target after all.
“The lack of weight placed on acting honorably, on behaving altruistically so that all may benefit is the issue. I will light that path as Mother kept trying for all her failings.” Lance utters with dark determination.
I give her a brief nod, finding her reasoning and state of mind much more like what I would expect from my fiancee even though I disagree with her abstract approach to a problem that is best solved by obliteration.
Her lips fall on mine once more, but they're now trembling. Her frailty, her need for comfort makes my heart stir with a desire to comfort her. My lack of solutions other than revenge makes me feel impotent.
And so, I grow impatient to do something, if only to travel along the northern coast to find out if the killer acquired a bark in a village or even perhaps left it there which means there would be witnesses to his escape.
“I'm going to need a while, alone.” Leomi whispers shakily as we split.
“Are you sure?” I ask, feeling like we should remain as long as she needs even if it means missing out on some clues that may have been left behind.
“I need to send written orders out, to take care of Mother's... Mother's...” She swallows her saliva. “Mother's body.”
I nod in acknowledgment to see what she'll do, pushing my decision to stay or to leave her after witnessing her state. Leomi steps back with shaking hands. I reach for her cheek and lay my palm on it.
A pair of tears finally escape her eyes. I get up on the tips of my toes and guide her to lean down. I kiss her. She closes her eyelids tight and her body melts to meet mine.
After a few minutes, Leomi pushes me away with a very thin reassuring smile. I smile back and head upstairs. Yvonne surprisingly follows me up. I wait for her at the top.
“Please do whatever you have to to be there for Leomi.” I tell my best friend in a whisper.
Yvonne hesitates for a moment but ends up giving me a somber nod. She turns away and returns to her ward. I step in the bedroom and take off the armor Leomi gave me.
I gather my meager possessions, all of them. The liangi's case, the light armor the Templars gave me, my riveted chain-mail, my clothes, my broadswords... and that's about it.
I take a container of wax and apply it to protect my gear from rust, which is especially important if one is to go at sea with the humidity in the air. After doing this, I walk up to the chest containing the Little one and open it, find it asleep in a thin layer of soil with a few half-eaten bones held by its root-like fingers.
A moment later, I hear someone rush upstairs. I slowly turn to face the door. Leomi barges in with the jay on her left shoulder and wearing her uniform instead of her armor.
Contrary to my expectations, she doesn't notice the open chest. She grabs me by the hand and pulls me to the bed. Off-balance, I barely react. She seizes me by the throat as she appears to have a mood swing.
“You both should have come to me!” She yells at me.
Lance starts ripping the clothes I borrowed from her off me. I frown and block her. Her expression drops and she falls on me. I wrap her in my arm but she fights my embrace and seizes my throat again.
“You're not leaving me!” Leomi utters as she desperately holds onto me.
“I'm not.” I reassure her.
“But you have to.” She whispers with an almost inaudible voice.
Leomi suddenly tears all the flow out of my reserve, causing me to suddenly feel lightheaded and weak. The sensation quickly starts to fade and it doesn't really slow my thoughts but it gave her just enough of an opening to make the dozen portions of energy pass through her own reserve, making the flow hers.
I try to seize back my energy but she's much better prepared and blocks me while also assembling shackles made of air around my limbs. Every fiber of my being and every instinct I have cries out against this.
The jay hides its beak under its single wing as I try to fight her. As I fail. Our night exhausted me, not to mention the last thing I want to do is hurt my suffering kitten. Yet, that does not mean I can allow myself to be tied up or held captive.
“You'll love it. I'll make it up to you once you return.” Leomi utters with a soothing expression but even more intense madness in her light gray irises than before.
Even the contradiction between her actions and her words don't hurt me as much as the look in her eyes. I feel despair at my state. While it's true she ambushed me to reach this result, the fact is my refusal to accept my current weakness has hurt me.
Ironically, that is precisely what I was going to fix with the Little one when she barged in. I feel regret because, were I stronger, I wouldn't have to hurt Leomi as I am about to. She extends her palm out to send the constructs to bind me, leaving me no more time to delay.
“I never will, Leomi. It isn't in my nature and you know it.” Jess utters flatly.
“Every chain that seeks to bind me, I will break.” Liz utters coldly.
Leomi freezes with a look of uncertainty on her face at our rejection, proving she hasn't completely lost it but mostly giving me the chance I need to seize her flow. I break her constructs with a mental snap and absorb forty portions in two rounds in my reserve, storing the extra in my flesh.
She reacts before I can grab more but this is plenty enough for me to use strengthening constructs and close the gap in strength. Liz slowly overpowers Lance's grip on her wrist and then leverages the sudden advantage to throw her aside.
I rise with a dark look on my face that she returns. Yet, she now looks to be running on aggression because she seems far more lost than mad with anger and grief at this moment.
“What's wrong, kitten?” Liz asks rather gently, pushing down Jess' panicking desire to regain control over the situation with her almost arrogant self-confidence.
“There's nothing wrong with me.” Leomi replies harshly but the tightness in her throat makes her voice shiver, undermining her attitude.
“We're going to let that one go because you're evidently not thinking about what it means to say this word now, in this conversation.” We utter, right hand shaking because we're restraining ourselves.
“What word? Nothing?!” Leomi erupts.
“... Again, we... will let it go. There, will not, be a third time.” We tell her.
Clap. My major finger snaps off my thumb. A thin stream of flow flashes out from the collision and impacts my longest broadsword, causing the weapon to fly into my hand. I almost unconsciously combined solidified air and kinetic force to draw it to me.
“Why? There's noth...” She starts.
I punch her jaw with my knuckles wrapped around my weapon's hilt. Smack. I hear the fleshy sound. A blurry silver network appears for a split second. A closed fist with chains appears in front of my face. Smack. I stumble back with a painful jaw.
We both straighten our spines. I throw my weapon aside since she's not making use of flow and advance to fight her, to put her down so that the fear nested in my chest goes away.
The jay suddenly appears in front of Lance with its tiny feathery tail pointed at me. It pecks her forehead with its small beak. She staggers back with wide eyes and with her forearms raised to protect herself from a second blow, reacting disproportionately to the attack.
Then, the bird turns to me with a gleam in its eyes. It flicks its wing and flies over to me. It moves just as clumsily as ever, occasionally making barrel rolls to stabilize itself, yet it appears in front of my forehead in a split-second.
It strikes me with its beak and I feel no strength at all, barely even a pressure. Yet, I stagger back nonetheless while trying to protect myself because I feel its disappointment in us and it overwhelms me.
“What purpose will that parasite hold in finding an assassin?” Leomi asks with a furious tone, cleverly taking advantage of my daze. “It will do more damage than leaving me, than staying with me, both actions you plan to take as well.”
She knew. She's not thinking straight. Neither are we. Did she know from the start, from when we realized the unbelievable may have happened? It doesn't matter, she tried to bind us. She did.
I turn my back on Leomi and walk up to the chest. I hold my hand out to the Little one who has roused and begun exploring the edges of its nest with its tendrils. Griiii. I hear no steps, no words, coming from Leomi but the sound of her grinding teeth is enough to make me slow down.
“If you wish not to be bound by me, why do you seek to chain yourself to this thing?” Lance asks with a voice void of emotion.
I freeze. Her question hits me harder than her fist did, and she almost broke my jaw. Because it isn't a chain but a key. How do you tell the difference? I hear Leomi turn on her heels and leave the room. I suppress the unstable emotions shaking the two personalities that make me.
With her opinion of the Rykz, of the Little one, it makes sense she would hold this point of view. Yet, it does not make sense Leomi would leave in peace in her state, as if she respects the fact that the decision is up to me. Viki did, she would have.