Celeste gestured at a side road. "Head in that direction, if you please. You'll find a park by the river, where I'll meet you shortly. For the purpose of discretion, I'm sure you understand."

Anything that prevents another assassination attempt, Ada thought. "Thank you." The memory of Fiora and the others would never stop haunting her dreams, but she would rather die than be responsible for more death.

"May your path be clear." Satisfied that the group wouldn't cause notable trouble, however disappointed she was in who the princess chose to associate with, Celeste walked away. Her thoughts troubled by what she'd learned in her brief encounter, she grappled with her doubts and settled on an approach: observe, and determine what to do based on future events.

She chose a path that took her through another side street and returned to her human guise while walking. An additional thought and the numerous decorations indicating her rank vanished, followed moments later by her armor itself. The armor, when not bolstered by its illusions, appeared unremarkable. There was a school of thought that preferred the armor beautiful and the illusions drab, but Celeste knew how easily such disguises failed. Better to use illusions for drawing attention rather than evading it.

Arakash, meanwhile, hadn't stopped considering his angle of attack; he needed to find ways to drive wedged between Ada and the others, before they trusted one another enough that it was no longer feasible. There was no direct angle by which he could drive off Shiara directly, but her insecurities could be exploited. With the fire elemental gone, he'd then be free to find an angle on the daeva.

"You're in Vera, now," Arakash said. "If you want to take your share of the sarite, I'm sure you can make a decent life for yourself now."

"I could." Shiara glared at the demon, as if to say she knew what he was up to. "But this is more fun."

In spite of his triumph, Arakash kept his features neutral. "What you mean to say is you plan to suckle at the royal teat in the hopes of getting something out of it in the future."

Shiara's eyes flickered with flame. His choice of words could not have been coincidence. "Maybe. But at least it's by choice. Which is more than you can say."

"Can we please not argue?" Ada said. "We can relax now, without having to fear every shadow. I intend take full advantage, because later I have to deal with politics and diplomacy, which are almost as bad as monsters."

"Right, the fighting is over." Shiara continued to glare, daring Arakash to disagree. "Let's relax and enjoy this beautiful day with friends." In her haste, she accidentally bumped Ada's shoulder with her own. "Sorry."

Arakash smiled and followed behind. Not for the first time, he dwelt on the princess' accusation that he wouldn't have been as upset if it had been her father or brother he was enslaved to. Right now, he disagreed in full; he wouldn't find them as manipulable them as her. Between Shiara's insecurity and Ada's continued obliviousness, he was certain he could make something snap sooner or later.

What he hadn't expected was the flicker of specific interest from one of the women in the park. Thanks in no small part to features chiseled to perfection by shapeshifting and centuries of experience, he was accustomed to passive attention, but the black haired middle-aged woman who approached him was on a mission. When her eyes met his, he read her intent.

She found him desirable, but it ran deeper. Her eyes flicked to the girls while she passed, regarding them for but a moment before deciding they were no concern, and continuing forward.

Once again, Arakash was impressed by how blatant this city was about such matters. "How do you fair today, young lady?" He didn't see how playing along could help him, but it also couldn't hurt. At worst, it would reinforce his assertion to the princess that humanity wasn't quite the creature she saw from her castle walls.

"Oh, you flatterer." Her blush was almost genuine. Almost. "I saw you and thought, here's a man with exceptional tastes."

"I suppose that's one way to describe me," Arakash said. He kept his eyes on hers, focused to keep her from looking away. "I take it you've got something exceptional for me to sample?"

"Why, yes, I have some exceptional flowers for sale, if you're interested."

"I'm afraid I'm not interested, but don't lose hope yet." Arakash smiled his best smile, then looked behind the woman at Ada. "Would you like some flowers?"

Ada smiled. "That would be lovely. I've heard such wonderful things about Vera's gardens. How much are they?"

The woman spun to look at the girls who, combined, might be as old as her. This wasn't what she had expected, but in the end how she made her coin mattered less than that she did. "For the two of you? Five sigil."

"Five sigil?!" Ada let her shock into her voice. "Are you selling the whole st-mmph!"

Shiara had wrapped a hand around Ada's mouth. "Sorry! Sorry. We're not interested."

"Here, take it for making a drab day better." Arakash handed off a coin to the confused woman.

She decided not to ask questions, palmed the coin, and left without so much as a word of thanks. She wasn't certain what just happened, but it was clear there was no business to be had in that mess.

Ada wrestled free from Shiara's grasp. "What are you doing?!"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Saving you from digging the hole any deeper, so you didn't, well..." Shiara hesitated.

"What? What was I doing?" Ada looked around. "Are flowers really that expensive around here?"

"Only that kind," Shiara said. With a brief gesture, Shiara pointed to an area just below her belly button. "She was selling her flower."

Ada's face turned red, as realization gave way to mortification. "I'm going to die." She covered her face. "I'm going to die of humiliation, meet all my ancestors, and die all over again. Why didn't you warn me!?"

Shiara took a step back, her stomach churning at the accusation. "I didn't know you-"

"Not you," Ada interrupted. A moment later, she pointed at Arakash. "You!"

"Because it was hilarious?" Arakash found it convenient that the truth-enforcement didn't dig any deeper, because at that moment there was nothing deeper. He had no grand plan other than to poke until he found something worth the effort.

It was then that Celeste arrived, now appearing like an ordinary, if well armored, adventurer. "I see you've been exploring the sights," she said. "While I don't approve of courtesans, they are legal. That said, it's not proper to solicit in public."

"Oh, I cannot wait to tell you this story," Arakash said.

"No!" Ada shouted. "You will tell her nothing, because nothing happened, and that's final!"

"It was a small miscommunication, nothing more." Shiara took a protective stance, with one hand on Ada's shoulder. "Come on, I saw some mage chess over there, and I want one of those fire shards. How well do you know the game?"

Celeste watched the two head over to the gambling game. If she thought she was disappointed before; now she was growing disgusted. "What did happen?" She didn't trust the demon to speak truth, and Shiara seemed to be speaking truth. Still, talking to a noctrel without violence might elucidate some matters for her.

"You heard my mistress," Arakash said. "Nothing happened, and that's final." It wasn't quite on par with exposing the spoiled brat's entrails to sunlight the way he one day hoped to do, but he had to admit he was enjoying himself.

Celeste could feel the lies oozing from every word he spoke, even the ones she knew to be true because she herself witnessed them. As she suspected, talk was worthless. As much as it resembled a person, it was little more than a smart monster.

Meanwhile, Shiara had found her place in front of one of the mage chess tables, with an older man who'd just gotten done beating another. "I hope you don't mind if my friend watches?" She offered her best smile.

"Not at all," he said. "It's so good to see young ladies take an interest in the art."

Ada's mood soured more with every moment the man ogled her. After the events in Port Kale, and the prostitute in Vera, she was fast growing disgusted with everyone. No longer did she wonder how noctrel could move so freely through society without being hunted to extinction; people seemed to line up like lambs to the slaughter when promises of carnal pleasures were made.

Shiara focused on the game, and her strategy. As she had to borrow some of Ada's shards, her side of the board was loaded with poison based sarite, with her centerpiece being her lucky fire shard. Meanwhile, her opponent ran an almost exclusively fire/water combination.

She played aggressively, sacrificing her pieces for his whenever possible; fire shards were weak on the defense, making them easy to kill by poisoning, but they were great on the offense and could take down her poison even faster. The trick was to use her own fire shard to tank, but also avoid his water pieces' type advantage.

She made leaned over the table. "This is hard. You're a very good player." She looked up, giving her opponent an excellent view down her blouse. He took it, which meant his eyes were off the game. A quick nudge with her other hand put her fire piece in the right spot to protect a vulnerable poison piece.

"As are you, young lady," he said. He then made his move, taking out yet another of her pieces. He relied on a similarly aggressive style; fire pieces were there to be sacrificed, especially against the annoyance of poison effects. He frowned when she made a move that took the fight to one of his resilient water pieces. With her fire piece as backup, both his water and her poison were eliminated.

Now that the left side of his board was missing its blocker, she was free to phalanx her pieces while also mopping up the vulnerable. Soon, he sighed and pushed the board toward her. "Much as I'm enjoying your company, I see where this is going. I yield."

"Yes!" Shiara bounced in her seat, then extracted her shards before reached over and grabbed one of his pieces. She pulled a ruby colored crystal from its holster. "Don't worry, baby, mama's never gonna put you at risk!"

He stared as she bent over and slid the crystal into her boot. "Miss, I'm not sure that's safe."

Fire erupted around Shiara's leg, then traveled up her body before it faded. "Ooh, that one packs a punch!" She looked back at the man staring at her in stunned silence. "Thank you for the game!"

Ada followed after. "Was that shard really that good?"

Shiara shrugged at the question. "Better than anything we've got so far, except that basilisk we can't use. Can't wait to see how its speed boosts my-" She came to a stop face to face with Celeste's disapproving face.

"You cheated." A statement.

"No I didn't!" The lie was as reflexive as it was useless.

"Don't bother," Arakash said. It was an odd experience, supporting Celeste, but for now Shiara was the target of opportunity. "You don't have the skills to deceive a daeva's eyes or ears."

Shiara crossed her arms, defiant. "Fine, I cheated. Did you see how he looked at us? That lech deserved to be robbed blind."

"Be that as it may," Celeste said. "I do not approve of..."

"Yet, you did nothing," Arakash said. Shiara was a target, but in that moment he realized he had a much bigger tool to use.

Celeste stopped speaking, to look at the demon. If she could, she would have ended him now to silence his poisoned words.

Since Ada didn't see fit to silence him, Arakash continued. "It's part of your charge to protect Ada, isn't it? You couldn't risk the law getting involved. I find that fascinating." He smiled and looked at Ada. "Well, Princess. You may be able to convince yourself it's not wrong to enslave me, but how does it feel knowing that one so lofty as a daeva is trapped into your service as well?"

Tears fell from Ada's eyes when she recognized the truth in what he was saying. "I'm so sorry!" She then turned and ran.

Shiara's eyes burned in anger. "You are one sick bastard." She wanted to say more, but her princess was getting away, so she ran after her.

Celeste was relieved, knowing that in spite of the girl's oddities, she still had a conscience. With the other girl chasing after, she decided her efforts were best directed at supervising the noctrel. "You turn even Truth into venom. Do not expect to send me fleeing so easily. Your words, however skillfully chosen, hold no power over me."

"Of course not." He might not have expected it to work, but trying cost him nothing. "You were born and exist only knowing servitude. You have the comfort of never having to choose anything. Never unsure, never insecure, never anything other than exactly what you always have been. That is why you hate us."

Celeste didn't smile, laugh, or gloat, but she found his words childish at best. "My people do not hate yours. Hatred is reserved for beings that could be better and yet choose to wallow in filth. You were born a monster, and a monster you'll stay until your Mistress gives me permission to destroy you. You have no more 'choice' than you claim I do. At least I am capable of pleasures that don't involve harming others."