After a minute he opened the door and cautiously peeked out. He was double checking that Cinder had left and that Lilithana had not decided to ambush him again. His life in the most secure location on the planet was suddenly feeling much more dangerous.

Zagreus looked right…nothing, left...nothing but a little wind, right…Rezu? He jumped back and about fell over.

“Good morning.” Rezu said with a curtsey. His dress was a bright green and blue with lots of short frills and tiny bows.

“What? Where? How?”

“I got some of your clothes ready. I need you try them on for any last minute adjustments.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Oh. You do not know my ability.” Rezu pointed.

Zagreus saw a glowing trace of cyan arcane race down the hall. Then Rezu vanished and appeared at the other end of that line. The process repeated back to him almost too quick to perceive.

Rezu smiled, “I’m the fastest man on the planet.”

“Is that what all the infernals say about you?” Zagreus joked.

“Low blow man. Was it that bad last night?”

“You don’t know? I figured it was on every screen in the lab.”

“I have no interest in their games, but I like you and Cinder is my oldest friend. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Proposal and rejection and confusion and punishment and resonance cascade threats and more threats and… Cinder is a good kisser.”

“You didn’t have a clue that was a proposal?”

“No. Obviously. Its let us get a little closer, but she is apoplectic about me not knowing what I did.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her I would think about it. But damn, seriously. Yesterday she barely talked to me and today we wake up naked together discussing marriage.”

“It’s going better than I expected.”

“Why does everyone always say that around here?”

“We have learned to expect the worst, so anything else is automatically, better.”

“Marriage?” Jade said giddily as she appeared behind Rezu’s shoulder. She came out from behind him. She had hid her mental presence and used Rezu to hide her cloaked form. She was improving.

“No idea what you are talking about.” Zagreus said.

She bounced up and down.

“Please don’t tell anyone.” He said.

“I wouldn’t. But I must. This is too big. Too awesome. I must tell them all.”

“Cinder is going to flip out.”

“That is a reason to tell everyone and go broadcast it to every kingdom.” Jade said, “Haven’t you figured it out yet. Their goal is to force Cinder to control her anger. Anything that upsets her will be used against her.”

“Did you have a reason to sneak down here other than to torment me?”

“Are you talking to me like I’m Karimere now?”

“You are acting like Karimere.”

“I still care about you Zaggy.” Jade sighed. “Cinder was going to hurt you. I would have killed her for that, or died trying. I don’t know if I can forgive her for even thinking it. I want to see her suffer. It kind of scares me how much I want to see her suffer.”

“Cinder is not as bad as you think.”

“Say that to the bulkhead door she hit on her way to the teleporter room. She damn near tore that thing out of the frame, and she didn’t even see it coming.”

“I forgave you. I will forgive her.”

She hung her head. “I know that. I get reminded every time I see your ugly face.”

He stepped over with his arms out. She pulled back but let him wrap his arms around her. “I’m sorry Kitten.”

“Why are you apologizing to me?”

“The first time we really talk in a year and I act like this. I’ve missed you. When things calm down, do you want to spend a day in the sim-room?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“You big asshole. Don’t you dare get all sappy with me right now. I have held up for a whole year without you. I can manage.”

“I’ll take that as a yes. You want to come too Rezu?”

Rezu said. “Is this a social event? No orders. No intimate relations.”

“Yes.”

“I would love to.”

Jade smiled. “We can invite him to the party.”

“Party?” Rezu said.

Zagreus finally let Jade go and said, “We started having birthday parties for Jade every year and they turned into a general party for everyone, the next one is in a few weeks.”

Rezu smiled. “It is good to have young blood in the lab again. I will make sure to come then as well.”

Jade said, “Despite my personal feelings about her, I think you and Cinder are good for each other. She loves you. You love her. You make a cute couple. Both of you are idiots. You deserve each other.”

“What makes you think we love each other?”

Rezu’s head tilted. “Dense as a black hole.”

Jade laughed. “That is so true.”

“Did you have a reason to sneak down here other than to insult and humiliate me?” Zagreus said half-jokingly.

“Yes,” Jade revealed a thin flat case she had had slung over her back. It was a green tinted wood with a pouncing shadowcat carved in fine detail. Countless tiny surface creatures covered the rest of the case. She held it out and opened it. There were six slender knives, a little more than a hand long.

“Some of my best work.” Rezu said.

“What are these?”

“I call them despoilers. They store Jade’s particularly nasty arcane and inject it into a threat causing great suffering and death. One hit can kill a horse.”

“Wow… that’s horrible.” Zagreus said.

Jade closed the case, kneeled, and presented it to Zagreus. “These are for you.”

“I really appreciate it, but I have plenty of weapons.”

“Zagreus.”

Shit, she’s using my real name again.

“This is a gift. You will say ‘thank you’. Then you will accept it like a normal, decent person. Then you wear them and you kill whatever is a treat to you. If I keep them, I have a certain aerial I want to use for target practice.”

He bowed, thanked her, and took the box.

Jade hopped up gave him a quick hug, kissed his cheek and said, “Stay safe out there.” She took three running steps down the hall and disappeared like she was running through a wall. Zagreus leaned far to the side and could spot the illusion. Jade had made a perfect image of the hallway that fit the exact angle from where he was standing. She had put it in the exact position for the illusion to work. And she had done it between the time Rezu showed his power and when she appeared. It was precise and delicate work. Damn, she was improving.

Rezu said, “I have also made you a custom set of sheathes to equip the despoilers. One for each forearm and calf, and two on your back.”

“You put a lot of thought into this.”

Rezu put his hand on the box. “These despoilers are one of the scariest weapons I have ever made. I meant it when I said these will kill a horse. It dies screaming as its flesh melts off. It took almost a year of work and more testing than I care to remember to get them perfected. Each blade has a ward on it. You have to deactivate the ward to let out Jade’s energy. Don’t touch the blade after you remove the ward. If you release a despoiler and don’t want to use it, stick it in some open ground, and run.”

“I appreciate the thought but these things seem more dangerous to me than my enemy.”

“If Gessil wasn’t still out there I would not have made them. I doubt they will kill her, but if you can stick her with one or two it should give you a chance to get away. Jade requested them, and Cinder ordered me to make them when I refused.”

“If those two are working together they must mean it.”

Rezu looked him in the eye. “With all the stuff going on around you, it is easy to get lost in the day to day. But you must remember we are basically fighting a war. Gessil could appear at any time and any place. There are some minor factions out there that have repurposed the old tech. There are even rumors of someone having a working arc lance. We are not gods. We can die. Be smart. Use your head. Keep your eyes open. And if Gessil tries to grab you, stick one of the despoilers in her fucking leg. Her arcane only reaches about half a kilometer. Focus on escaping.”

“Yea. Thanks.” Zagreus nodded. “I didn’t know you could make knives.”

Rezu smiled. “I can make anything that can be carried or worn. I am responsible for the production for all the new mecromail hardware. I tweaked your armor before they installed it. I don’t understand all the engineering behind it, but show me a schematic and a blueprint and I can make a physical object to match it.”

“Nice.”

“Hell, I could pump out a full mecromail in a couple years if I had all the parts. But core crystals are impossible for us to grow. No new core crystals, no new mecromails. All the newer mecromails we have are from scraped mecromails or parts scavenged from military labs like this. Well except Lili’s, hers has part of a monolith in it. Even Karimere would never repeat that abomination of an experiment.”

“Damn, a monolith?”

“Yea. I half thought the plan would work. But it’s too unstable. I can’t imagine what it feels like to live like that.”

“I can.” People often live like there will always be a next time. That is never true. But for him and Lilithana that illusion never existed. They both knew he had to leave. And she guarded her time with him fiercely. Any missed date was to be made up. Looking back, he thought she took the quarantine harder than he did. She craved her time with him. She wanted to be alive and experience the joys of being alive again. There was a hint of sadness every time she went back to her dead mode.

Rezu said, “Don’t worry about Cinder flipping out over the proposal. Everyone here knew what it meant the moment she accepted your clothes.”

Zagreus face palmed. “They have a video of me dressing Cinder up in that stupid outfit.”

“It could be worse. They could have a video of you rubbing all over her like a drunk, angry monkey trying to untie a cord… Oh, wait.”

“You’re loving this.”

“Jade was right. You make a cute couple.” Rezu smiled. “I’ll get started on your wedding dress as soon as possible. You will need it soon.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s traditional for Mecromancer men to wear wedding dresses. Mainly because I make them and Karimere orders them to wear them. This is not optional. Do you have a favorite color and style, or should I use my best judgement.”

“You pick. Surprise me. If I live through this, I will gladly wear whatever you choose.”

“You don’t have to put it in such stark terms. You will look glorious.” Rezu grinned, “Have you figured out the next step in the punishment yet?”

“No. I was a little occupied with feeding and bathing and clothing the Goddess of Skulls. I had to sleep nude wrapped up in her wings because the room was so cold it had frost on the walls.”

“The ice box. Classic. Yup. You had a rough night. You should expect the main event soon.”

“What’s going to happen?”

“You already know.”

“No, I really don’t.”

“You gave me all the pieces, but Jade told you earlier. ‘Anything that upsets her will be used against her.’ Remember how this started?”

“They wouldn’t.”

“Exactly.” Rezu nodded.