Red took a bite of food and chewed slowly as his brain listened to Merin.

"When you met Mordecai, was he a child?" He said.

Merin gave a nod. "It's been...a long time. A lot of years, and he stayed the same." Merin said. Her face turned crimson when she paused.

Red had an idea of why she was embarrassed. Age was sensitive for women, but he wanted to get to the bottom of things. He had already figured out that she was old.

He'd long suspected it, given how extensive their lessons became. Merin didn't know about the Habrin Empire, which had recently hit its three-hundred-year benchmark. The Elan Nation was still at its height of power when his forefather ate his parents and stole the throne of the old country. Habrin started shortly after that same forefather's conquest of his first country.

History stated that a red bird came to the first Emperor and whispered gifts of knowledge. That knowledge brought power and hunger into the blood. That harbinger must have been Mordecai.

All of this aligned with what Merin told him and what he knew of the history of Habrin.

Either way, Mordecai was dangerous.

"There's a legend about a creature my grandmother told me about. She said to avoid it at all costs because it takes many forms." Red said. "It's called a phoenix. Elan Nation abhors birds due to what they deemed as the flying menace."

The lizard started making noises, and Red spared it a glance. "It caused chaos and made Elan more enclosed to outsiders. Elan's God, in particular, hated what they called cousin." He said.

Merin started coughing on her drink, and Red patted her back.

When she finally regained her senses, she said, "So Mordecai is related to Elan's God?"

He told her the history of the first emperor of Habrin and how he came into power. A bird was mentioned then as well.

"Do you know Mordecai's plans?" Red said when he was done. This was important because all signs pointed toward this bird being a little too interested in what was Red's.

"He wants to keep the line of Caelestis going. She was a Goddess that died some time ago," Merin said. Her eyes darted toward her overflowing jewelry table. She ran over and came back moments later with a strange hand mirror.

"Mordecai gave me this. He said he took it from the Goddess' tomb." Merin said as she passed it over to Red.

Red inspected the mirror. Its silver lunar theme reminded him of the woman biting her lip and still keeping secrets.

"So Caelestis is your ancestor," Red said. He watched as Merin's face turned several shades of color. "That doesn't explain why it matters to him that you have children unless he is also related to you."

"I don't think he is." She said.

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"We'll have to question him when he comes," Red said as he mentally planned how that would go. "Thank you for taking care of the assassins tonight."

Merin gave a huge smile and said, "I wanted to."

"Thank you for using your strings to redirect them to the courtyard so it's easier to clean up."

Merin's eyes grew wide, and her mouth fell open. "You knew?" She said.

"I've been prepared for them to come in through windows or any of the other countless openings, but they never did," Red said. His father would do something similar, and that was how no one got the jump on him growing up.

The magic that Merin could use was too similar to his father's side of the family. If his forefathers learned magic from Mordecai, then it also made sense for Mordecai to be Merin's relative.

Maybe the lizard was a real dragon, Red thought as he watched Merin pamper it. The casual way this potential God tossed things around had to be calculated.

A strange rise of possessiveness rose within him at the idea of this creature watching and making plans for Merin's life.

Red was looking forward to the red bird of legend reappearing. It was past time for the two to talk.

Merin couldn't stay mad at the dragon forever. It was just too cute! Acuzio had the cutest little black spikes that looked like thorns, but they never pierced her skin. Its reputation meant that wearing it made people burst into song. It was fun because the saga of the black dragon grew with each retelling of the song.

She really liked the dragon. So where had it gone?

Merin hadn't seen the errant dragon since the dinner conversation with Red. That was days ago, and it was as if it vanished.

Red was gone because he was torturing the failed kidnapper for information. Letha was still with her, but the guard was even more taciturn than Red.

She wanted someone to talk to, but her listening companion was gone!

Merin wandered out of their mini palace to look for the runaway dragon. It had been acting funny during that dinner, but she thought it was due to banning it from the excellent meat. She'd even looked away when it ignored her punishment anyway!

A knot in her stomach grew as she called out to the dragon. First, she used taunts of goodies. When that failed, she vowed punishments for making her worry. All of it was in her native tongue, but the dragon didn't show even a little spike.

Merin was in the middle of calling out to the dragon, like it was a dog, when she ran into a couple of Russus wearing blood orange.

She turned a corner in the garden, and if she'd been looking high instead of low, she would have seen the two brightly colored women.

Merin knew that one was Vera but had no idea who the other was. It wouldn't be Akkad's Russus because the two women threw barbed words at each other.

Merin made a face and turned around sharply to leave. The last thing she wanted to do was get in the middle of harem drama. She'd done an excellent job avoiding the other Russus and keeping her skirts clean of dung tossing. She didn't have the patience not to throw magic around and do real damage while receiving tongue lashings from them.

"Where do you think you're going?" Vera said.

All hopes of escaping unseen were dashed. Merin stiffened, and just as she was about to turn around, a voice spoke before she did.

"I thought to take a walk around the water." The deep masculine voice said.

Merin peeked over and saw that the Sosia was there. This man still freaked her out. His face mask was disturbing, but the fact that he was a puppet was creepier. He wore black, highlighting that even the Sosia were deprived of the Emperor's decorative colors.

The other two women seemed to feel the same way. They made excuses and escaped.

The man turned to stare at her. She tried to remain like a statue, hoping he wouldn't be able to see her truly. He shouldn't because he didn't have eyeballs. There were holes where his orbs should be. And yet he could see her. She'd reckon he could even tell how pale she'd gotten the closer he came to her. He didn't look right, and there was something even more sinister about him today.

"Russus Merin." The Sosia said. Something else seemed to be speaking through him.

The stormy unease in Merin chose that moment to erupt, and she spewed vomit all over the Emperor's Sosia.

Unwilling to see what happened in the aftermath, she took her upset stomach and ran back to the safety of their quarters.