Dyni relaxed her lower body a little, feeling her scales slide against familiar, plush fabric. The half of the lavish room she coiled in was dark, save for moonlight that filtered in through the slats of one closed shutter. The other shutter was open, and the moonlight poured in, bathing the other half of the room in pale white.

The bodyguard glanced at the door to her mistress’s chambers that lay undisturbed behind her. Mistress Tyaniis was away tonight on business. Not the sort of business Dyni herself had left behind, although Hssen Tyaniis had been doing more of that of late.

Hssen Tyaniis hadn’t told Dyni directly, but the bodyguard could tell from the tired look in her Mistress’s golden eyes. A look that spoke of more than fatigue, and one that she had seen in her own reflection for many, many years.

Hssen Tyaniis had released her from that life, and Dyni wished that she could help her mistress now as she had been helped. But, she also understood the necessity of what they were doing. Hssen Ssiina and her sisters had enemies, and it was necessary to ensure they wouldn’t face insurmountable odds, or go to battle alone.

So to speak, anyway.

Right now, Dyni’s mistress was in Greatwood Province to the south, visiting Ussent Andriel Sunstrike. His support for Kyrae’s adoption would be invaluable. Not in a political sense, but in the eyes of the people. As the ea noble with the most influence, his power extended well beyond his official Imperial capacity.

A bright, positive bit of business in what has been a mostly miserable, dark year. Dyni glanced at her hands and felt the sheathed blades pressing coolly against her sides. She wished for a scroll or a tome to read—something calming that she could escape into. Ever since learning glyphs from Hssen Hinssa, she’d traded the endless blade and movement practice for afternoons in the Royal Library peering over scrolls.

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She paid no mind to the whispers that she was more a librarian than a bodyguard. Dyni’s fists clenched. That really wasn’t an insult. Most guards here in the Emerald Palace hadn’t done what she’d done. They didn’t have those kinds of regrets.

But with all this business recently, and with how much pain Tyaniis’s promise was clearly causing its maker, Dyni couldn’t help but wonder. Was she useless? Should she… go back to her old ways?

Dyni reached for a teacup, wishing her hand would shake with the uncertainty she felt. She grabbed the filigreed porcelain pot, now cold, and poured herself a cup. Like all the tea she made, she’d over-steeped it, but she wanted the bitterness its dark color promised right now. Needed it.

Dyni brought the cup toward her lips, then noticed a dark stain near the bottom. A fat drop landed on the edge of the table, and the bodyguard used her sleeve to wipe the rest away. Better her own clothes than to stain her mistress’s floor.

She took a sip, smelling the tea as it hit her tongue. She drank it down in one drag, then placed the cup carefully back onto the table, avoiding the blood spatter.

Dyni’s eyes lifted to the bodies across from her. Sprawled over the divan was one, and another’s tail stuck out from behind. Still cooling, the one facing her almost looked asleep in her dark clothing, if not for the neat slash across her neck. Dyni was thankful the body’s mask still covered her eyes. In the morning, the bodyguard would report this assassination attempt, but she would need to carefully observe anyone who took an unusual amount of interest in her or her mistress before she did.

Often, those who hired assassins liked to check the results. She’d worked for a few like that. Detestable, all of them.

For now, though, Dyni looked away from the bodies and out the open shutter at the stars. They’re getting bolder to send assassins to the Emerald Palace itself. But, they didn’t know Mistress Tyaniis was out tonight. And, she smiled sadly to herself, they still think of me as Ssiina’s babysitter: a soft-hearted lover of history.

Jaezotl how I wish they were right.