They started heading north for a few days until they reached the Whispering mountain. Unlike the other times Ana had traveled outside of a city, they weren’t taking breaks to sleep. She disliked how tired she was getting by being the chauffeur, but Lorelai was there in case any monster dared to attack them. And the vampire's pride refused to allow her to sleep on the ground like a common peasant.

The more she got to know her, the more Ana realized that Lorelai was a classic diva. She had sent the first message right before they had left the village. Nathaniel had trained several people to take shifts deciphering Ana’s messages. She had no way of confirming that her message was received, but there were backup plans in place as well. Sending a message by morse code was an annoying thing to do, and she had to keep her messages short and to the point.

Met BR. Left Village. Were the only two messages she had sent. They had trained the people receiving the messages while they were working out the kinks in the spell, so they were familiar with how Ana would abbreviate the messages. And unless someone could intercept the radio waves while also knowing the morse alphabet, her messages were safe.

Ana had slowly prodded for information while they flew, stopping when she noticed that Lorelai had become annoyed. After three days and nights without sleep, Ana became sluggish with her control of the flight. She needed at least a few hours of sleep to continue, so they settled in a rocky area, with Lorelai raising a damn house from the ground. It took Ana a few minutes to find her jaw once she saw how fast and with what detail the vampire had built them an abode.

With Ana’s supplies there they also had blankets and pillows for a bed. For one bed which Ana generously gave to Lorelai, opting to sleep wrapped in her tent. It was better than the alternative, and it gave the woman a feeling of superiority which she hoped would be rewarded with more answers. Her hope was dashed as Lorelai disliked sleeping alone, so Ana had to concede if she wanted answers.

In the next week that they traveled she had learned the reason why Lorelai was searching through Bradin’s records. She was looking for information about the location of Sutus the First’s library. Even Nathaniel didn’t know that the First Emperor was a wizard as he kept that fact a secret.

She trusted Lorelai as a source as she had actually met the man, and from the way she told the story, also had a high opinion of him. The legend that he had died of natural causes was dismissed as soon as Ana had brought it. But even Lorelai didn’t know what had happened to the First Emperor.

After answering all of Ana’s questions, and as the lull settled between them while Ana was processing the information, Lorelai dropped a bomb on her that had engraved fear directly into Ana’s bones. “Don’t relay that information to your little friends.”

“I figured you would eventually realize why I was here. Though I was hoping that we get further along than this.” Ana’s voice was laced with fear she couldn’t hide.

“Don’t flatter yourself. One of the reasons I invited you was so that they would send you as a spy.”

“You want me to send false data?”

“Sometimes. I allowed you to send information until now. But if you wish to continue to be in my service, you will send only the messages I approve.”

“Your word is the law.” Day after day she was swallowing more shit and was acting more obedient. It wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. While she had always been headstrong and stubborn, life had demanded that she submits to certain people. That was true long before she arrived here.

So she treated Lorelai like the woman was her boss. She became more respectful, obedient, listening to orders without questions. It was a similar relationship she had with Ghost, except she actually held great respect for the man. She was both thankful and resentful that Lorelai only wanted to share a bed for warmth. It was such a bag of mixed feelings that Ana didn’t know which way to budge.

Her obedience was rewarded with Lorelai teaching her bits and pieces here and there. Never giving full explanations either on magic or lore and only when she felt like it. It made gathering information harder, but since the vampire knew she was a spy that didn’t matter.

Under the instructions of her new boss, she kept sending information, with only minor edits. Explaining how she was sending the information had impressed Lorelai, and the more they traveled the more Ana was answering Lorelai’s questions. She avoided saying from where she was, giving vague and nondescript answers. She knew that the truth would eventually be revealed, but she avoided that as much as she could.

On the other hand, she learned some of the reasons behind the trouble in the north. It was indeed a war as Nathaniel had gathered, but not the kind of war they imagined. Not even a war in truth, more of a conflict between forces than a battle between armies. Something had happened deep in the frozen north almost fifty years ago and now the spirits were running amok. Invincible to anything but magic meant that only those with a gift could battle them. Non-wizard vampires still had blood magic, so they were the prime force that had been beating the spirits back.

The reason Lorelai was so far south searching for a mythological library was in the hope of finding some way to stem the tide of the onslaught. The only lead Lorelai knew was the records they had visited, and she had no idea if the vampire found a clue in there.

The onslaught of the spirits had driven most monsters to migrate south, and their exponential increase meant that more and more monsters were passing through Titan’s chains as they fled. Not only monsters but many other races and tribes were leaving as well, the Targs being among them.

Just how the Kingdom was sending expeditions to the mountain chain, so did the vampires further north. The problem was that they couldn’t locate the source. It seemed like the origin was everywhere and nowhere. The way Lorelai explained reminded Ana of cosmic microwave background radiation.

But she kept her thoughts to herself, and well, Lia, leaving Lorelai out of that circle. Once they left the Whispering mountain, their breaks decreased to only a few hours every two days for Ana to catch some sleep. Lorelai slept, or at least Ana thought she did as they flew. She was being worked like a workhorse while the way Lorelai treated her curiously remained the same.

She expected the vampire to either embrace the full diva act or maybe even decrease it. Her interest in Ana had fallen since she was turned, that much was obvious, but she wasn’t completely cold to her. While not common, acts of kindness and compassion were present. It presented a curious image of the woman in Ana’s mind.

Three weeks after they had left the village, the mountain chain became visible in the distance. Lorelai had corrected Ana’s flight path and it seemed she knew exactly where they were going. One night as they entered a newly built house in the shadow of the mountain chain, everything changed.

She was no longer a desired companion. Lorelai had explained how the court worked so Ana knew it was coming, and she knew that the hardship would begin once they arrived. But her heart held a certain admiration towards Lorelai, and the way her new boss was acting had threatened to shatter that feeling.

Their rhythm changed and Ana followed the lead of her boss. She didn’t ask questions and held a respectable tone when addressing her. She was even addressing the vampire as mistress, which took several broken bones for her to get convinced. And every time her injuries were healed she felt a hunger deep within her psyche grow. What was worse, after the first week all of her dreams were the same.

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She always dreamt of Lorelai, making the desire she felt increase. It wasn’t as consuming as before, but it was present. It was her choice to either to allow those feelings to grow or to smash them to pieces. She opted to allow a certain leeway for growth as it helped her swallow her pride while she was treated like a second-rate citizen.

The servants Ana had in Nathaniel’s house were treated with respect and love, at least from her point of view. Her situation was much worse than that. Lorelai was derogative, mean, forceful, and physical. It took a lot of getting used to, but by the end of their journey to all who looked on them, Ana seemed like a mere servant.

While not explaining in so many words, Ana pieced together that this was a charade. That Lorelai had to be seen as the alpha or her rule got questioned. And if survival and growth meant that she had to be a chambermaid for a few years, then she would be just that. With flight, no monster was encountered, and Ana doubted that mere monsters posed a threat to Lorelai.

Two days after the behavioral change, they arrived at their destination. To Ana’s surprise, they arrived at a large walled city. What was more it wasn’t a gloomy dark place for the evil lord as the stereotype went, but a cheerful place that looked quite similar to the capital of the Kingdom.

The exception was that there wasn’t a large mix of races living there. The most prevalent was a giant-like race that Hammer and his wife belonged to, called Gorn. Or Jorn, the dialect was odd. The other prevalent race was that of Mertwalans.

Going from only knowing one sentient race, to living with many, changing that to being a part of a different race than wasn’t prevalent only to end up back where she started with seeing kinsmen left and right. It was a strange road indeed. And the worst part is that Ana felt like a stranger to this city. It was hard to change the fact that she considered herself a human still.

They entered the city at one of the gates, and with every street they passed people bowed. Lorelai was the queen, and Ana followed behind her with her head hung low. She would be lying if she said that she wasn’t envious of the sheer awe that Lorelai held over the people in this city.

But her logical brain kicked into motion as they walked. There were a lot of people in this city, possibly close to a hundred thousand or even more. How they fed themselves she had no idea. There were no farms on the way to the city, no villages collecting grain or anything. They weren’t even close to a body of water for fishing to be a main source of food. Trade practically didn’t exist in such a remote and hostile area.

She kept her questions to herself as they walked. She was the perfect servant to the queen. At least she was trying to be. They slowly passed through the city, with two Argent knights joining them halfway through their walk. On the order of her boss, Ana had left her armor, weapons, and gear at the entrance to the city. She was dressed simply with only her hair standing out. From every person she had seen in the city so far, none had hair as she did.

Lia had confirmed that her hair color was a special trait belonging to her clan. Almost an hour into their slow walk they reached the center, and the large mansion that was there. Ana was hoping for a castle, as she hadn’t seen a real castle in this world. But the manor was just as good as a castle. The details of the house were exquisite. White furnish on the outside with beautifully crafted wooden frames and windows.

The yard around the house was smaller than at Nathaniel’s house in the capital, but it held several gardens shaped in many different forms. There were even a few statues of Lorelai made from marble as centerpieces in the gardens. They were led inside and so far no one even spared a glance for Ana. No one spoke with Lorelai either, they just made room for the while bowing. They had six Argent knights around them once they reached the entrance of the house.

And the time to be ignored passed once they entered the highly decorated house. Two knights that were behind her grabbed her arms while the two in front turned sideways with their hands on their blades. Lorelai had continued forward with two more knights while Ana was escorted to a door on the side of the hallway.

She didn’t resist as they had dragged her forward, but she kept her senses sharp. Her quickest spell was still the explosion of wild magic, and she held a finger on the trigger as they walked. With Lia’s instruction, she kept her eyes open to the doors and corners as they walked. With Lia’s help, she could tell her exact location in the house. Helpful information in case things went south.

Nothing dramatic happened as she was left with two knights inside a bedroom. The guards were stoic and silent, and Ana knew better than to ask questions. She sat down on the bed, entering a conversation with Lia. Even after all this time, there were many things the two had to converse about, and such topics were saved for situations like this. Ana had a lot of explanations while Lia had a lot of stories.

It didn’t take long for her things to arrive. Several Mertwalan servants carried her things in, struggling with her heavy board. Feeling bad she helped them by levitating it the rest of the way. The guards didn’t visibly react to her use of magic, but that was a secret she couldn't keep for long in a place like this.

The room by itself was beautifully decorated, with carved wood, gold linings, and other opulence designs. The walls had images painted on them, depicting some battles she knew nothing about. But she did recognize Lorelai in the center of them, leading. She knew that the vampire queen held respect, but her trip through the city had nailed just how much.

And she was planning on killing such a being. It felt absurd, even after knowing that she was likely to succeed. It didn’t matter that her body could regenerate if it was on fire. A little of her morbid curiosity wanted to try that spell on someone, just to see what would happen. Thankfully it was a fading thought that got shot several times as it passed.

After an hour of sitting in her room bored out of her mind, she was finally summoned. Lorelai had literally sent a letter summing her to appear before her. This time she wasn’t physically dragged, but the guards kept pace with her as she followed the servant that had summoned her.

They left the house to find themselves inside another garden that was in the center of the house. She knew by seeing the house that it was massive, but she didn’t expect the center of the manor to be hollow with a garden and another structure in the middle. The way they had approached the house in the first place she didn’t see how long it was, only that it was really wide.

But now she knew that the manor was several times as long as it was wide. The structure inside the garden had large double doors of carved wood with such details that she held her breath. She never really had an eye for architecture, but this was something else. The level of detail was breathtaking.

The herald in front of her had left them alone there, entering the structure to one of the side doors. It gave her time to look around some more. On the inside walls of the ring-shaped house were columns with terraces on the second story. Servants were walking here and there, with a few working in the garden.

She had a good idea what was on the other side of the massive doors, and she was right. The massive doors opened without making a sound. It was an eerie sight to see such a large mass moving without making a sound. On the inside, she saw two rows of Ardent knights, recognizable only by their gear. Behind the guards were almost a hundred of what she knew to be vampires.

Various races were present, but the majority was that of the Mertwalans. Who knew Lorelai was a closeted racist. Everyone in the room was dressed immaculately, everyone except Ana who was still in her traveling clothes. What was more she was the only person who walked barefoot there. But she hadn’t changed on purpose. She wanted everyone to see her as a stupid weakling. The more they looked down on her, the bigger the surprise would be.

Her two guards ushered her in and they started walking towards a massive throne at the end, upon which sat Lorelai. The throne was made from some red stone, carved with angles that spoke of power and authority it presented. Above Lorelai and coming out of the throne itself was a rose carved from the same stone.

Lorelai was dressed in a white dress with red and black details. Ana was used to looking upon the traveling Lorelai, with simple clothes and messy hair. The look of a regal and powerful queen was new, and it suited her much better. They walked forward until she reached several meters away from the steps leading to the throne.

Lorelai had told her once about this part. But the way she was describing left a lot of details out. At least she knew what she was supposed to do in this situation. Lia had remembered the exact words Lorelai had used, and that had given Ana an idea. A most likely stupid idea, but one that would send a clear message to everyone present.

Her guards were several steps behind her and when she stopped they caught up, putting hands on her shoulders. That was as far as she would allow them. She understood why the whole parade, why the drama and why Lorelai had kept her explanations short. So Ana figured out a plan that would both please her boss and would also increase the impact of her first appearance.

Before her guards could force her down on her knees she activated her spell, sending them both flying back until they struck the now-closed doors. All the rest of the knights drew their swords in the same instant, reacting immediately. Lorelai's face never shifted from her amused smirk.