I sat in a corner of the training field, my muscles pounding and sore from the relentless beating of a wooden sword hitting me over and over again. My breaths came out in large heaves, each inhale a battle against my bruised ribs and aching joints. My legs trembled slightly, exhausted from the constant moving and efforts of remembering perfect footwork.

The sun was falling toward the horizon now, indicating it was sometime after midday. Shael had left some water next to me when the soldiers departed, and I was truly thankful to her for that, despite the water being warm and the brown tint suggesting it was unfiltered. However, that was what the soldiers had been drinking, so I couldn't fault her for it. I'd asked to join, and she'd treated me like a soldier—as much as she felt comfortable doing, in any case.

When I'd taken my place in the corner, she had tried to approach me, but I waved her off. The group eventually left. Since then, I'd been purifying any new energies and absorbing them into my heart to shape energy rings in preparation for my awakening. It was slow going, as an unawakened body had truly poor absorption rates. For every handful of energy my heart created, I would absorb and purify but a speck of it.

Either because of my focus on absorbing energy or my exhaustion, I didn't hear the man approaching until he coughed. My head jerked up toward the sound, surprised to find I was no longer alone. I had no idea how long he'd been standing there, wordlessly. The servant wasn't tall. He was slightly hunched, his face covered in wrinkles as he stared at me and scratched the edges of a rough beard with gnarled fingers.

"Yes?" I asked, not having enough energy to make my voice any louder than a breath.

"The Baron has commanded your presence."

"Good for him," I retorted a little louder, but not much. My side ached with the effort of even just breathing. "I'm not presentable at the moment, so the Baron will have to wait."

The white haired man stared at me, open mouthed. All this staring was beginning to aggravate me.

"Enough gawking like an ogling child," I continued, waving him away and subconsciously falling back into the manner of speaking I'd used before the transference. "Tell the maids I will be taking a bath. Get it ready for me." When he didn't move, I grunted, still not daring to get up lest I fall. "Now." I reached into my heart energy and released a little, no larger than the size of a needle, to prick the man's skin. He went white as a ghost before giving me a slight bow and disappearing back into the mansion.

I would have laughed at his reaction if my side hadn't been in so much pain. How weak was that man to flee so pathetically after the prick of unrefined heart energy?

It took me some time but I made it back to my small bed chambers. To my astonishment, a bath had been prepared. The water was lukewarm at best. Given the Family and household's dislike of Lilliana, I considered myself lucky it wasn't ice water.

After I bathed and dressed in clean clothing identical in every way but color to my last pairing, I headed in the direction the Captain had indicated was the Baron's office. Though the Baron might have been Lilliana’s father, he was not mine. The day I called the lord of a small barony in some backward world my father would be the same day I forgive the empire.

So, never. He would have to make do with being called Baron.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to allow them to believe I was still Lilliana. Her bloodline could prove useful.

I didn't bother knocking on the Baron's office doors. They swung open with well-oiled ease to reveal an unnecessarily lavish room. And it was filled to the brim with bottles of alcohol. The smell was repulsive. Was this the office of a Baron, not some slum alley drug lord?

The room was expansive, at least four times the size of my chambers. The ceilings were vaulted, supported by intricately carved pillars of marble. Tapestries of fine silk depicted scenes similar to those on hallway walls, but more vibrant and detailed.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

At the center of the room was a desk made of some heavy wood, though I couldn't place what kind. Behind the desk, a high-backed chair of velvet and gold creaked as the Baron swiveled on it to face me. He was a balding man with a comically large mustache and an average build. Sunlight spilled in from outside through the massive windows behind him. When he spoke, the mustache twitched. I didn't laugh. The Queen inside me, the training I'd gone through, told me this man should die. He was an unworthy noble, an embodiment of corruption and greed. A coward of wealth. Someone controllable.

The rest of the room was decorated similarly to the Knight Captain's office, though without the large map or any of the parchment. Where the Captain's room had parchment, the Baron's had a bottle of alcohol, cigars, or spilled remnants of one. That, and the giant portrait of the Baron hung directly in front of the entrance, left of where the Baron sat.

"Good afternoon, Baron," I said, opting to continue with my more royal way of speaking. "I appreciate your patience with my getting ready."

Like everyone else in this Ashwash cursed place, he gawked clearly not expecting me to sound, well, royal. He pulled a cigar from a drawer in his desk and lit it, breathing deeply before moving it away and releasing the smoke in my direction. I didn't so much as flinch.

"So," he said, ignoring my rude entrance. "Captain Holloway told me you're claiming to have no memories?" That didn't sound like an actual question so I stayed quiet. His mustache twitched again. "You do seem quite... different. Is it true you exercised all day with the soldiers?"

"Yes."

He stared at me and made a sound that was halfway between a groan and a sigh. "Yes, Baron." I returned his stare, debating whether or not to comply.

"Yes, Baron," I finally corrected.

He grinned.

"Good. Good! I was worried you were going to wither away in shame, useless to the end." He shifted some papers, squinting at the writings before scribbling what I guessed to be words of some foreign language. I recognized bits and pieces of this Kingdom's writing and could speak their language, so it had to be a foreign script since it looked like scribbles. "Good. Good. If you add some weight to that face, I bet Earl Paul would take you when you're of age in a few years." His face scrunched like a confused pig. "How old are you again?"

"Eleven."

The Baron nodded and muttered ‘good’ under his breath a few more times.

"Baron, why have I been summoned?"

"Hmm? Oh. Oh yes," he put the papers down, not pushing them aside though he did take his eyes off them to look at me. "I was wondering what I should do with you. I can't keep a wild dog in my home after it bit my son, now can I?"

Did he just call me a dog? That river of rage inside me which had cooled with the time in the Nothingness stirred and began to boil back to the surface. I pushed it down as images of myself sticking a knife into his eye came to mind. A son and father should match, shouldn’t they?

No, not yet.

"So your plan is to..."

"Why, marry you to Earl Paul, of course, you stupid little thing." The Baron barked a laugh. I could hear the guards by the door chuckling. Filth. All of them. “Didn’t you hear what I said?”

No Lilith, I warned myself. Keep yourself steady.

"That would be a waste." I sat across from him, shoving my rage back into the box.

The Baron waved a hand, clearly done with me. "Make sure she eats more," he shouted at the soldiers. "And keep her training. You'll be the perfect replacement to give Earl Paul."

"Replacement?" I asked, not moving.

"Leave, girl. I don't want to scar you if you are to take your sister's place as the Earl's bride, but you're testing my patience. I don't think he'd mind his next bride a little beat."

"I'm eleven."

The Baron shrugged. "Less than two years before you can be married. If you behave, I'll make sure none of your... siblings beat you anymore." He laughed again, loudly. "Good! You were like the dead but look at you now."

"The marriage age-" I almost said 'in this world' but managed to bite it back, "is thirteen?"

"By the gods girl, you really did lose your memory." He grunted, beckoning the guards to come drag me away. "Someone get her a teacher. The Earl will be expecting a Lady, not this," he threw his hands up in my direction, "thing."

Well, that was rude.

I stood on my own and walked out without another word. That had not gone as planned. I had thought to try leveraging the honor I could bring to the family by training as a female energy user. By the end of that 'meeting,' I would have rather gouged my eyes out than do anything in the family name.

In any case, the Baron had just given me about a year and a half to prepare. By then, I wouldn't be so weak.

I went back to my room, shut the door, and climbed into the bed to resume the process of purifying my heart energy. I crossed my legs and placed a palm over each knee. I closed my eyes and focused.

I needed to shape the energy into rings and absorb them as fast as I could without destabilizing my core's foundation. The longer it took me to do that, the longer I'd remain weak.