Sara sat on the Escaran throne without Prince Alecov in the room. Advisors buzzed outside the audience chamber like mortally-conscious cicadas, awaiting their turn to speak with her, not as an advisor but as an acting monarch. Outside the castle, riots, and fires raged on as rebels tried to spread the word of their victory and quell the chaos. Beyond Lemora’s walls, ripples from Sara’s actions were spreading far and wide as deposed nobles’ allies found themselves without business partners, their trade routes in jeopardy. These were pressing problems that she had caused by exposing noble corruption and leading a rebellion against the kingdom after King Escar imprisoned her. Now, after seizing the throne, she had the power to fix any of them—yet she had other priorities in mind.

Immediately after donning the crown, Lysan Jethro, a female taxation advisor with frizzy hair and green eyes who never made eye contact with others, arrived.

Lysan swallowed and took a knee. “I hear you’ve called for me, My….”

“Lady,” Sara said.

“My Lady.”

Sara turned to Tropan, the elderly advisor who had crowned her. He was famous for being a resource rather than an advisor. As such, he had advised Jason, Mary, and Sara in Sara’s last life before succumbing to old age. He was reliable, but he had yet to earn her trust. “Thank you for your counsel. Leave us and return with available guards and then enter again once she exits.”

Tropan wrinkles creased as he smiled. “You… with guards?” he chuckled. “From what I hear… you made… quite the stir outside. These ears are old, and even I… could hear it.”

Sara smiled wryly. During the battle outside the amphitheater where she and Raul had killed Jason, she had ended the fight by using Qualth to leave a molten glass-lined crevasse in the Noble District, a reminder of her power to the people who might try to dethrone her. The blast would be used for myths for generations (a good one with any luck), and she only regretted that it wasn’t night, so half the city would’ve seen it. Tropan had heard it—as with all the advisors seeking to get into her good graces—so it was amusing to hear her calling for guards. Still—

“The guards aren’t for me,” Sara said.

Tropan looked at Lysan.

“Yes,” she said, “and all other people I speak to. You know how valuable information is.” The second she spoke to someone, they would be swarmed by people seeking information, and that’s something she wouldn’t allow in Lysan’s case.

“I… see. I will do… as you say.” Tropan nodded and walked slowly past Lysan, who shook on the floor, shutting the door behind him. Once he exited, Sara walked to Lysan and set up a privacy barrier over them, blocking their conversations from others.

“Have you spoken to Telskal?” Sara asked, dropping to her haunches and staring into Lysan’s eyes.

“No, My Lady,” Lysan said.

Sara cocked her head. “From what I understand, Telskal was conducting a search for Kyritus and Tiberiyori Senecaru. Kingdom citizens. Surely, she asked you about them.” Telskal Serok, King Escar’s head advisor, had led a thorough investigation into all of Sara’s activities to obtain leverage over Sara. Despite Sara’s efforts to obfuscate her meeting with Kyritus by having Edico and citizens witness her entering—and staying in—another tavern at the time she met Kyritus, Telskal somehow found him. The question was how. Was it through a brute force investigation? Or was Sara ratted out? Aside from Tyran and Rokus, there was only one other person who knew of them—

—Lyscan Jethro, the woman Sara blackmailed into getting Kyritus and Tiber new identity documents.

“I-I….” Lysan trembled and looked away.

“Telskal Serok spoke to you,” Sara said. “What. Happened. Lie to me, and I’ll have you drawn and quartered in the Alacom.”

Lysan’s eyes welled with tears. “S-S-She heard rumors of a strange blonde at another tavern. B-But n-no one knew which tavern. It happened so long ago. B-But she still wanted a list of all the taverns.” She hit the floor and burst into tears. “T-Then she came back later for their identity papers. I-I gave them to her. I-I tried to say that they were buried in other documents, b-but she said she’d execute me if I didn’t find them. I-I’m sorry!”

Sara watched Lysan sob with a complex expression. The woman was just doing her job and choosing between being exposed for relatively lesser crimes (Lysan was guilty of tax evasion) and execution, so it was natural that she would comply with Telskal’s orders. “How much does the kingdom know about them?”

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“N-Not much from the papers. Name. Date of birth. Taxes paid. B-But I’m sure they know a lot f-from the investigation….”

“I see….” Sara looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “Did you give Tyran the papers?”

“Y-Yes!” Lysan looked up, grateful to prove her worth. “I-I gave them to him the night you left on your trip.”

“Do you know who Rokus Jomther is?” Sara asked.

“Y-Yes. H-He was spotted with Lord Grollis in Helscope. He’s been declared a traitor.”

“His family?”

“Missing.”

Sara sighed a breath of relief. “You did well, Lady Jethro.” She turned to the woman. “Swear your loyalty to me, and you will thrive.”

“I-I do!” Lysan yelled.

“Then raise your head,” Sara said. “As of this moment, you are in charge of finding Kyritus and Tiberiyori Senecaru. Suspend the current operation and take control. Use silver gliders to move with haste and spread the word to forces in Helscope. You will find them, but on paper, they will remain missing persons forever. Do you understand?”

Lysan stopped sobbing and looked up. “Y-You mean….”

“Yes.” Sara said. “Until they are safe, your only job will be to protect them by any means available. You will have unlimited resources. Now listen carefully. This is your first order.”

Lysan listened to Sara’s orders. Once Sara finished, Lysan nodded. “U-Understood.”

Sara narrowed her eyes. “Botch this, and you’ll only know pain for the rest of your life.”

The woman swallowed hard. “I-I promise.”

“Good. Now go.” Lysan took five minutes to grovel and thank Sara before leaving twice as nervous as she came in. Then Sara stared at the mana crystals, hypnotized by their glow.

Tropan returned to the audience chamber.

“Did you give her the guards?” Sara asked.

“Yes, My Lady,” he said.

“Good.” Sara walked back up the platform and sat on her throne. “Send them in.”

One after the other, the advisors came in, bent the knee, swearing their fealty to future King Alecov and her despite her openly denying the position. Then, she went over the problems of the kingdom.

“Establish a curfew.”

“Create an award ceremony for the rebel leaders.”

“Gather a tally of the dead.”

“Set up an event for me to speak to the people in two days.”

“Create soup kitchens to feed the people.”

“Take tallies of the property damage.”

“Imprison all the corrupted nobles and get me their positions and people who can fill them.”

Over the next six hours, she went through dozens of requests before she finally returned to her room under the rising sun and fell asleep. Please be okay, she thought about Kyritus and Tiber as she drifted off. Please….

2

Kyritus sat with Tiber in his lap, hunkered down in the dimly lit Helscope cellar that Tyran originally called a “safe house” but now called a “tomb.” The atmosphere was tense in the room. Rokus had returned to them riddled with wounds, and Tyran had healed him after screaming that the man had led a blood trail into the cellar, ensuring that “even an idiot” could find them. Kyritus, Tiber, and Rokus all found it unfair, given that Rokus had saved them, but Tyran was stubborn about it, only focusing on his life, which according to him, was already forefit. It was deplorable, but it was also understandable. They all felt that way, and as the hours ticked on, paranoia gripped them, making them twitch every time they heard someone pass by the alley, and hold their breaths when they heard passing groups. It was a miserable experience—

—but at least Tiber was safe. She was still recovering, but he could tell by the way that she breathed that once she recovered, she would be healthy. That made his heart well with happiness, but he kept that to himself.

“When can we leave?” Tiber asked innocently.

Tyran laughed and sneered. “When?”

Rokus shot him a damning glare before turning to Tiber. “It’ll never be safe, kid. They’re probably not lookin’ for us now, but they’ll be at all the exits and crossin’s. We might be able to get ya out one at a time, but we can’t be with ya. That’s what we gotta figure out.”

Kyritus smiled wryly. Tyran brought him and Tiber identity documents. So if they separated (removing their identity as siblings), they could get out if they left city limits. But Kyritus wasn’t leaving Tiber, and without Rokus, they weren’t getting anywhere anyway.

“There’s nothing to figure out.” Tyran grabbed a jar of pickled vegetables and then put it down. There were about fifty jars for four people, in addition to a barrel of water. It wouldn’t last long. “Unless she won, we’re fucked. And we won’t even know if she won until we’re caught.”

“Delina will win,” Tiber said with a puffed out chest.

“Stop calling her Delina,” Tyran hissed. “Her name’s Sara Reece, and she fucked you. So stop acting like she’s a hero.“

“Stop takin’ that tone with the kid,” Rokus said.

Tyran scoffed and turned to him. “Are you a pedophile? Because your obsession with children—”

Rokus launched off the stairs and grabbed the noble by the hair.

Tyran winced in pain and shut his eyes. “Are you mad? I’m a noble, you—“

“You’re notta noble anymore,” Rokus said. “Piss me off, and I’ll break your face.”

“I just healed you!”

“I just saved your life.”

Suddenly, there was the sound of someone kicking a pale outside. Then, they heard someone enter the alleyway.

Kyritus’s heart thumped.

Tiber crawled into a ball.

Rokus held his breath, slowly lowering Tyran back to his chair by his hair to prevent a sound.

Then, in a period of agonizing silence, they heard a soft voice by the door. “Rokus…. Lord Grollis?”

Rokus grabbed his blade and moved to the door, arms flexed and ready to kill. Kyritus wrapped his hands around Tiber’s eyes, closing his own and praying—praying that Sara’s plan worked out and that she was there to help them.