Orrin sat across from Anabella as she placed stacks of paper in three different piles.

“These are the chancellors’ children at my school. You’ll need to—”

“Why do you keep calling it your school?” Orrin interrupted. He’d barely slept, trying to figure a way out of this crazy plan. “Also, I’ve thought of a hundred ways this can go wrong. Nobody is going to be friends with a slave at some prestigious school. Your son had me executed in Mistlight. How is it going to look if I show up alive and well? Why are you smiling like that?”

“It is the school my ancestors founded and even though I am deposed, I am responsible for it. As to your other concerns…” Anabella lifted a hand from her side. She held the wand she kept holstered high and tapped Orrin on the head.

The tingling started where she touched him but rapidly spread over his entire body. At first, it was only a slight tickle against his senses, but the flash of fire he felt made him let out a cry of pain.

“What was that?” Orrin ran his hands over his face and rubbed his hands together.

“A semi-permanent [Glamour] I cooked up just for this,” Anabella explained with a smile as she put her wand away. “You’ll look like this until I remove it. Nobody will be able to see the collar, either. Take a look.”

She waved her hand to a full-length mirror across the room. Orrin didn’t need to move closer.

He looked hot.

His light hair had darkened slightly and hung in long ringlets just below his chin. He could see traces of himself in the illusion but he with a stronger jawline, better cheekbones, and dimples. His body was buff but not the oversized muscles of a bodybuilder. He had a leaner build with broad shoulders and arms that looked like they could throw heavy things around with ease. The collar appeared as a necklace. Orrin ran his finger around it. It felt the same to him.

“You haven’t changed. If anyone touches you, they’ll be able to figure out that magic is making up about twenty percent of you currently.”

“Only twenty percent? You made me into someone else entirely,” Orrin whispered in awe.

“This is you. There are some embellishments but with enough training and time, your stats will hone your body to this,” Anabella waved her hand over Orrin. “I did have to tweak the hair and face. We can’t have anyone recognizing you as the executed assassin.”

Orrin continued to touch his face. He couldn’t feel the longer hair but it moved when his fake hands moved through the illusion. He’d know Anabella was strong but this was not the kind of magic he thought she’d use. He expected lightning or great balls of fire. To be honest, from the way she sucked the warmth out of rooms when angry, he’d have bet she was an [Ice Mage].

“Stop doing that and come study these dossiers. I want your input on how you plan to approach each one and befriend them. We have twenty-eight days before my son will be here to take you away. It is not enough time but I would prefer trying this over fighting him head-on.”

“I’m not sure that would end well,” Orrin muttered as he sat back in his chair and picked up the top paper on a girl named Maeve Wellan. “He can stop time. You can’t fight against that without an army.”

Anabella smirked. “Or with time-delayed attacks set up before he targets you but I’m not going to discuss ways to defeat my son with you. Read.”

Orrin grunted but acquiesced. The one fraction of a plan he’d been able to put together did hinge on being able to befriend these kids.

“She’s twenty-one,” Orrin groaned. “How am I supposed to make friends with girls older than me?”

Anabella rolled her eyes and gestured to Orrin’s new physique. “Maeve is a smart girl but she has never had friends. She’s never been part of the female social groups and although she is pretty enough, no suitor has pursued her for long. Be charming and ignore her bad habits. She’ll latch on to you without a problem. I’m least worried about her. As it is, her father sided with Arvin out of a desperate concern that Maeve wasn’t safe. Threatening the welfare of my enemies’ children is beneath my family, or so I thought.”

Orrin read more. Maeve was older than him but had been tutored mostly in her home estate. Her class wasn’t recorded but she could use wood and earth magic. Her father was the chancellor of Ceraun and he…

“I’ve got a problem.” Orrin winced as Anabella glared down at him again. “I never learned much about Odrana.”

Anabella’s frown deepened. “What do you need to know?”

“I’m not sure where Ceraun is or how it relates to the rest of Odrana. If I’m supposed to be friends with the children of the people in charge, it’ll look weird if I don’t know where their home is located.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Have you never seen a map?”

Orrin shrugged. “I’ve had more important things going on in my life. Learning the names of countries I never thought I’d visit seemed like a waste of my time.”

The room definitely dropped a few degrees as Anabella swept from the small room they always met in. She returned a few minutes later with a framed map of Odrana.

“Take notes, I won’t repeat myself,” Anabella demanded, pointing at the paper and pen she’d left out for him. She ran her hand over the map.

Orrin studied it. While he’d seen a few of Silas’s maps, most of them just had Veskar and Odrana as two separate parcels of land to the east of Dey. This map was more detailed, showing the turned boot shape of Odrana. The country was squat but long across the drawing, with an upturned peninsula jutting away on the northeastern side. Dotted lines separated the land into five uneven sections.

“The lands of Odrana that abut the lands of Dey and the elven forest is the territory of Idrisid. It’s largely forested lands, with a few other small industries. The Palmer family has ruled for five generations and has done so admirably. They supply lumber, charcoal, and even some hunted game across Asmea. Lord Palmer is the only chancellor who stood against my son. He has no family to threaten and lives for the hunt,” Anabella explained with a smile. “This section that takes up the majority of our lands is Ceraun. It exports more grains, livestock, and grown foods to the rest of the world than every country combined. Every person would starve without the Wellan family. They trace their family back to before the foundation of Odrana. As I explained, Lord Wellan would likely have voted with me if my son had not threatened his daughter. He is fiercely protective of her.”

Orrin watched her long finger drag up to the smallest section of the map. A semi-circle of land was carved in between the two prior territories. “You know Mistlight. The heart of Odrana and seat of power. Also the home to my school. We trade with the elves and Dey from this port. We can also move product east and down the coast to Veskar when the savages gather enough coin to pay for it.”

Orrin pointed to the long stretch of land that ran along the southern border to the eastern sea. “Why is this one so long and skinny?”

“Ronden protects our borders from Veskar. The Madvarr family has ruled there for only two generations but they’ve done so without a single lost battle against Veskar skirmishes. Their… son, Finley, is a little older than you. He is a battle mage, although of what sort I do not know.” Anabella put her hand on her wand as if checking it was there. “There is a rumor that he turned back a group of raiders at age fifteen by himself. The Madvarr have a flair for the dramatic but they never lie about a fight. That leaves only Goldenhall.”

The shoehorn located at the top right of the map. Orrin waited for Anabella to continue but she was lost in thought. After a minute, he gave her a nudge by pointing. “What family?”

“Lady Tonsa. She is shrewd and intelligent. Her betrayal stung the worst. Goldenhall mines the mountains along the northeast sea. It’s a dangerous job but necessary. One swing of a pickaxe in the wrong place can flood a mine with seawater. Her son, Rhys, is young like you. She’s kept him away from Mistlight until recently. I’ve never met the boy.”

Orrin flinched at being called young but kept his mouth shut. “What do they mine that’s so important?”

“Precious metal, like gold, silver, and sometimes cold iron. There was a vein of Mythril years ago but that dried up. The Tonsa family took over after the last family failed to keep up with demand. They pushed for the freeing of our orc slaves and then acted surprised when their quotas weren’t met. Lady Tonsa turned it around.”

“Did you kill them?” Orrin asked, horrified.

“What? No. They relinquished their claim to the chancellorship and started a school of magic or something. They’re alive. Tonsa’s son is the one I want you to befriend the most. I can most likely get Palmer and Wellan to side with me against Arvin but I’ll need the third vote to break the tie. Madvarr is an unknown either way.”

Orrin felt the pit in his stomach growing. “You’re asking me to become this guy’s friend so you can kill his mother and have him vote you back into power? Why would he do that?”

Anabella’s smile turned absolutely evil. “I’m not going to kill her. You do your task and I’ll take care of the rest. If you can befriend all three, all the better. I’ll have someone leave you instructions every few days. Go to class, learn something, and make friends. If you do what you’re told, in a month’s time you can be back with the [Hero]. You’ll have a powerful ally in Odrana and my promise that we will leave you and the [Hero] alone.”

Orrin studied the map for a bit longer, trying to think of any other questions. He asked a few more details on the five sections of Odrana but could tell Anabella was bored with him again. The only extra information she deemed worth discussing was the internal processes of the Sanerris School. Orrin got bored of that information and picked up the dossiers on the people he was supposed to trick into being his friends.

Orrin began to read.

Maeve Wellan had been a student at the Sanerris School of Spells for two years. She was twenty-one and had no close friends at school. Despite stellar marks from her teachers, she’d yet to find an advisor for a thesis. Anabella explained that most students required three to five years of study before they picked a topic for a thesis. A teacher would walk them through a rigorous process of trial and error, research and experimentation, and more often than not, healing and recuperation after deadly results. A thesis was not a requirement to graduate. In fact, the Sanerris School had no set graduation process. Students simply left when they felt they had learned what they could. Some went through the thesis process for no other reason than bragging rights.

She’s a recluse but brilliant. Either she doesn’t care about making friends or she’s too busy studying to try. I’ll need to get into a class with her and connect. Orrin couldn’t make a better plan until he saw a class list, something Anabella promised was coming. Classes ended when the teacher was bored or jumped to another topic. Students could teach classes as long as they’d been given prior approval but the classes changed month to month. Nobody could be bothered to help share information on a long-term basis.

Rhys Tonsa was sixteen. He’d only gotten his class recently and no information beyond a vague description was in his file.

Finley Madvarr was nineteen. His file was mostly reports of fighting along the border of Veskar. From the few clues he could find, Orrin figured Finley was more of an up-close fighter with a little dash of magic. Nobody who threw spells would need to be “dunked repeatedly in the river to wash the stench of offal from his clothes” by his comrades.

Orrin rubbed his eyes. Maybe he should take his chances and let Anabella throw him into the ocean.