The sound of a heavy door creaking open roused Colette from her train of thought, as well as the long, tired sigh that came with it. She playfully rolled her eyes, moving her goggles to her forehead as she looked up from her most recent combination of spells.

“Let me guess, another irritating suitor?” she chuckled, leaning to the side in her chair as she swiveled around.

Ivar had already slumped face first onto Colette’s unmade bed. It was unbecoming of a Prince. She couldn’t help but laugh. He rolled over, arms spread out as he stared up at the ceiling. The blemishes that had once dotted his face were beginning to fade, while the telltale bumps of growing tusks poked his bottom lip. He’d recently started actually taking care of his hair, having swept it back and cut it rather than leaving the mop that had been there before. Even after burying his face in a heap of blankets and plushies, it still looked good.

Lucky, Colette thought as she was reminded of all the steps she had to go through to take care of her own.

“Duke Simakis’s son,” he huffed, lifting his head to place his hands beneath it. “We were supposed to be discussing funding for the new coliseum in Baraphos, but there was a suspicious amount of flattery and gifts for a simple negotiation.”

“Look at you, charming half the nobles in the country,” she teased, turning back to her desk to organize her materials. “And yet you still couldn’t be bothered to invite me when Lady Anagnea sent her daughters to greet you?”

Ivar rolled his eyes. “You’re never going to forgive me for that, are you.”

“For letting me miss out on cute noble twins with gorgeous hair and beautiful eyes? What could I possibly be holding against you?”

“I get it, I get it,” he laughed, getting up from his place on her bed. “Keep in mind, Mother has made sure that no one is allowed to properly court me until I’m eighteen. Having you swoon over them might remove some of that plausible deniability.”

“It would be nice if the nobility would actually respect that rule instead of looking for the easiest loophole around it,” she grumbled as she felt him rest his arms on her head. She didn’t make any move to stop him, even when he rested his chin there as well. “You just turned sixteen. Two years isn’t a long time to wait.”

“Ever the professional, huh?”

“Grandmother wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“She could afford to ease up on you a little bit, couldn’t she?” he mused, tapping his fingers against her scalp. “Maybe you wouldn’t beg me to bring you on double dates so often if she’d let you get an actual girlfriend on your own.”

“That eager to get rid of me, are you?”

“If I said yes would it matter?”

“It would probably make me start asking more frequently.”

“Then of course not, I would never dream of being rid of such a lovely, dear friend I hold close to my heart,” he said dramatically. They both laughed a little bit at that. “So, how’s your day been then? I hope I didn’t interrupt you doing anything actually important.”

“All of my work is important.”

She could practically hear him rolling his eyes. She could feel him smile too.

“My apologies.”

“It’s fine, I was kind of stalling out anyways,” she sighed. “Mage law dictates that I have to properly record each and every step I take, but it just drives me up a wall. I work in spurts, Ivar. I get inspired, have ideas, and I rush through them. It’s not like I forget things, I’ll be able to record it later, but I’m still forced to put everything aside to make notes.”

He tilted his head. “Forced by who, Vivienne?”

“Not just her. Mage law in general.”

There was a pause between them. She already knew what Ivar was going to say, but it still made her wince.

“You could just ignore it. You’re in your room, they’re not exactly around to get on your case,” he explained, stepping away from her to sit back on the bed. “Like you said, you can take the notes afterward.”

“It’s the principle, Ivar,” she sighed again, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “These rules are in place for a reason. If people don’t follow them, then terrible things can happen. Making exceptions leads to others doing the same, and eventually, people ignore the rule in the first place.”

It was a conversation they’d had many times before, but having it again didn’t exactly bother her. Talking to Ivar was grounding. Sometimes she was even struck with random bits of inspiration from their chats. He was a dear friend. At times he felt like more than that. A couple of times she’d had to catch herself in conversation before accidentally calling him her brother without thinking. She shuddered at the thought of the scandal that could cause. People would immediately assume that King Gertrud had had an affair with someone. Given their relationship, fingers would likely be pointed at Archmage Vivienne first. Her grandmother.

She shook off the train of thought. She’d been getting better at it, but she still found herself getting mentally sidetracked every once in a while. Her mother said it was normal for espers. Something about their brains constantly working overtime to manage their psychic abilities.

Removing her goggles fully as she turned to Ivar, she leaned back in her chair. “If I don’t push myself to fit that mold, I’m never going to be Archmage. Restriction can breed creativity, you know.”

“But innovation can breed forgiveness,” he shot back immediately. “If you make something truly special, which I know damn well you can, then no one is going to pay any mind to the way you got there. You’re talented, Colette. Use that. Eventually, there’s going to be a rule that you need to break for some reason or other. That’s kind of the nature of them. You need to be ready for that. I am.”

Colette let out a long sigh, glancing at her notebook. “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there."

“Okay so that was definitely a little fucking wild, right? Medea, you said you’ve seen a bunch of rare species. Ever seen an illian like that?” Castor leaned in close to the gnomish woman, an excited grin on his face.

The initial meeting had been quick, and had left Colette with much to think about as they made their way to their room. She was more than content to let her guards banter as she tried to wrap her head around everything. A moment for her heart to stop racing was certainly appreciated.

“I think the closest would be a Mephelos, but those are significantly more common than illians. I’ve only seen one or two with wings as well,” Medea yawned, her arms folded on Eurydice’s head. She closed her eyes and rested her chin on her forearms. “It’s honestly fascinating.”

“Man, sucks we're probably not going to be able to talk with them much. I’d love to invite her out for a drink.”

“Are you forgetting the fact that they’re fugitives?” Eurytus stroked his beard, raising an eyebrow at his brother. “Disheveled as you are, it would worsen your image further to make a move on a criminal.”

Castor tripped over his own feet, one hand shooting back to make sure his bow wasn’t jostled too much. “I didn’t even mean it li–”

Eurytus gave him a knowing look.

“Okay fine, yes, the wings do it for me, okay? Taller women too,” the bowman grumbled, a small blush spreading across his face. His brother laughed and patted him on the shoulder as he passed.

“Physical attraction is important when evaluating mates,” Eurydice added in her low, gravely voice. Medea nodded from her place on the ursan’s head. “It is good that Castor knows what he wants. His success with women seems to be higher than yours as well.”

Eurytus held up a hand to object, but lowered it as Medea snickered at him. “It would be nice if he could focus on his job that much…”

A pleased rumble came from Eurydice’s throat. “He does his job well.”

“Oh, speaking of, Colette! How many missed shots so far this year?”

“Three,” she sighed, roused from her thoughts by the question. “And because I know you’re going to ask, Eurytus is at twenty-three tags.”

The bald man let out another groan of annoyance. “I still don’t think comparing the two is applicable. I’m in the thick of things, and I’m not invincible. Of course I’m going to take hits.”

“Yes, but I take quite a few shots. There’s a reason misses count for more,” Castor said smugly. “Even with the handicap, I’m still ahead this year. Just something to keep in mind.”

The brothers continued their bickering, the outside world becoming practically nonexistent to them as they were absorbed in the argument. It was calming, having that kind of normalcy. Colette never had siblings, but the two humans had quite a good relationship with each other. There were moments of arguing and bickering, but it was obvious how much they cared about each other. Their effectiveness in combat together aside, Castor never failed to see when Eurytus was having a bad day. When he did, small gifts of chocolate or logs for wood carving would show up on the man’s desk to ease his worries. Likewise, Eurytus never needed to be asked twice to be his brother’s wingman. The list of women Castor had charmed with his brother’s help was long enough to populate a village. They supported each other, regardless of their endeavors. She smiled as she thought about it. It reminded her of her relationship with Ivar, made her feel like they really were siblings.

Once more she was roused from her thoughts by Eurydice leaning forward to put Medea at eye level. “Hm? Is there something you need?”

The gnome shook her head. “Just seeing if the excitement wore off. You seemed real giddy in there. It was kind of surprising.”

Ah, they noticed that, she thought to herself, struggling to prevent a blush from dusting her cheeks. The thought of meeting an angel, or an illian, had left her more excited than she had been for anything in a long time. Seeing a being composed almost entirely of celestial magic in the same way humans were made of water was an opportunity that rarely ever came. She’d done her best to temper that excitement, but it had unfortunately poked through. Combined with her usual politeness with new people, it must have been odd to watch.

“Well, I suppose you already knew I wasn’t sleeping very much because of that. It wasn’t the most unlikely leap to make,” she admitted. “A magically significant person like that is just fascinating. I couldn’t help showing a little bit of that.”

“Huh? Oh, right, the illian. No, I was talking about when the little one came in,” Medea droned, sounding ready for bed. “What was her name?”

“Malori,” Eurydice said.

“Her? Oh, well, I suppose meeting another esper is an exciting development. I thought I was fairly calm in my reactions to her though,” she explained, her heart pounding.

The ursan let out another low rumbling noise from her throat before speaking. “Your heart rate sped up as she entered. You then stopped moving momentarily as you observed her.”

Colette nearly choked on her own saliva. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! I was just surprised, that’s all,” she said quickly.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Oh? Our wonderful Archmage getting flustered?” Castor fell back in line with the others as he finished his argument with Eurytus, a sly grin on his face. “The esper girl, huh? Now that I think about it, the girls you had me set you up with were all on the shorter side.”

She was taken aback by how brash the statement was. Her cheeks began to heat up, almost certainly turning a shade of red. “You know I could have you fired for this!” she said indignantly, trying to gather her words.

“But you’re not going to, because you like me,” he grinned.

She didn’t say anything. He was right, she did greatly enjoy his company, as well as that of the rest of her guards. Besides, as busy as she was, her dating life would have been non-existent were it not for him helping set her up with dates. The unfortunate side-effect of that was his very abusable knowledge of her taste in women.

“If I admit that I… do think that she’s quite cute, would you leave me alone about it?” she relented, her shoulders sagging. “There’s a difference between finding someone attractive and actually wanting to pursue it. It’s just as Eurytus said, they’re technically fugitives,” her heart raced as she spoke the words. Did she really believe that? Her entire life, first impressions had played a large role in those she kept close to her. Meeting, or sometimes even just seeing certain people left her with an odd feeling in her stomach that led her to want to befriend them. It had happened with Ivar, Castor and Eurytus, Adonis, the list went on. Those people more often than not ended up as some of her closest friends. It was a feeling she trusted.

When she first made eye contact with Malori, it was something both similar and worlds apart. It wasn’t just a feeling in her stomach. It was like her heart had given one, enormous beat that could have shaken the entire room. Time itself had seemed to stop for a moment before she managed to drag herself back from reality. Just thinking about it made her heart race. It was probably just the surprise of meeting another esper affecting that usual feeling she got from people she wanted to befriend. She took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to believe that, it didn’t feel quite accurate either. Whatever she felt towards Malori went beyond that usual feeling. It mixed with enough butterflies in her stomach to make her feel off balance, and a strange excitement at the prospect of speaking to her the following morning. She couldn’t help but smile a little bit. It felt nice. Hopefully she’d get to become more familiar with it.

“Colette, I’m Cordelian.”

The words hit her like a bodycheck. She could barely even wrap her head around them. It had to be some sort of joke, right? At least the set up for one. Why else would she say something so outlandish? There was no way Malori crossed Caer Gaofar on–

She stopped herself. Of course the girl could. Even if she wasn’t as physically inclined as most others who made the trek, that wasn’t something that would stop her if she truly wanted to do it. She was capable of incredible things. A bit of anger seethed in her heart for the bastards who convinced her otherwise. Reading emotions wasn’t necessary to see that. The look in her eyes as she did anything was more than enough.

Colette’s eyes fell on Malori’s downcast face, plastered with fear. The tiny girl’s hands shook in her lap. She thought about what she had said before. Telling Malori that she trusted her. She meant that, with every fiber of her being. This wasn’t a lie. It was an unforgiving truth.

“Oh.”

Even if she could accept it for what it was, it didn’t change how lost for words she was. What was she supposed to say at a time like this? She’d comforted Malori before, but this was something else entirely. This girl, no, her friend, was from the country that her King was on the verge of declaring war against. The country that she was helping prepare to wage war against.

“Malori, I–”

She couldn’t finish the sentence. The hand she reached out to rest on Malori’s shoulder fell to the table, too unwilling or too unsure to make it the rest of the distance. Her heart pounded. She knew what she had to do. What she was supposed to do. Her grimoire was still holstered at her waist. Everything she’d ever learned was screaming at her to telekinetically restrain the girl, then use her spells to set up better containment so she could fetch Lilith and Gertrud. Then, assist them in interrogating her. As Archmage, it was her duty to protect her country. She’d already let Malori know far too much information for any fugitive, another symptom of that bit of weakness in her heart for the girl. Giving that kind of information to a Cordelian? Her heart sank. If her grandmother was in this situation, she already knew what the response would be. The image of the woman standing over Malori’s lifeless body flashed through her mind. It nearly made her throw up.

It still begged the question, why? Why wasn’t she making any sort of move to prevent herself from losing the station she’d dedicated her life to? Protecting the country she dedicated her life to? Why was she here, sitting in terrified silence in front of a national threat, and the only thing she wanted to do was pull her into a hug and tell her that it was going to be okay?

Who was she kidding? She knew exactly why. It was the same reason she’d spent so much time trying to get close to her. The same reason she felt such a rush of joy at her high pitched, awkward giggling when they talked about books. The same reason that Ivar left the room, because he probably knew it before she did. No, she’d always known it. She just hadn’t accepted it. She’d told herself it was something else. She reached back and grabbed her grimoire, slowly bringing it up to place on the table. Malori full-body winced as she did. It felt like a slash across her chest.

“Malori,” her voice wasn’t calm. It was shaky, unsure, terrified, a million other things that couldn’t have been further from what she wanted it to be. She reached one hand over and pulled the smaller girl into a hug. She had no idea how someone could feel so limp yet so rigid at the same time. It was like every single muscle in her body was tensed, yet there was no resistance as her tiny body was pulled against the Archmage’s.

“I-I…” Malori tried to say something, but she was clearly far too choked up to complete any sort of sentence.

“It’s okay,” Colette said. “I know it shouldn’t be okay, but it is. I… I know what this should mean. What it’s supposed to mean for us. But–” she stopped, struggling to find the words. “I don’t care what your country is like. What Gertrud thinks of it. I know you Malori. You’re the kindest girl I’ve ever had the incredible fortune of meeting. You love pastries, and swooning over regal women in your romance novels. You don’t laugh often, but when you do, it’s like music. Your smile can light up an entire blizzard to guide someone through. You’re willing to do everything you possibly can and then some to help someone in need, even if it’s a risk. I’ve come to know you, and I know that I don’t care where you’re from. You’re my friend. I care about you. I trust you. I told you I meant it when I said all of those things. I did. I still do. This doesn’t change that, because it doesn’t change you.”

She could feel Malori all but convulsing in her embrace as tears stained her tunic. In the short time she’d known the healer, she’d already grown such strong feelings towards her. Enough that continuing to see her like this hurt worse than she could have imagined. How much of her life was spent on the verge of tears? Colette closed her eyes, squeezing her a little bit tighter. She felt Malori do the same. Maybe, if she kept trying, she could help enough that there weren’t so many tears. At the very least, make sure that the tears that came were tears of joy, or laughter. Malori deserved that much.

Every minute that dragged on was another minute of dread that Ivar would walk in on their embrace and ask why she was crying so much. Colette hadn’t a clue how to explain this in a way that didn’t put Malori in an immense amount of danger. That didn’t matter. She’d find one. She’d figure it out. She was not going to let Malori get hurt.

The knock on the door nearly made her jump out of her seat. Malori had a similar reaction.

“Your Grace? Is everything alright?” Eurytus called from outside. “Amaya and Xander were wondering where you’d gone.”

Colette took a moment to steady herself, making sure that her voice wasn’t as shaky as it had been when trying to comfort Malori. “Yes, everything is alright. I was taking a bit longer than expected to find the correct notebook,” she called back. She looked down into Malori’s wide, terrified eyes. Gods, what she wouldn’t give to just stay and keep the girl in her arms for as long as she needed to feel safe again.

“C-Colette?”

“I had only stepped away to fetch a notebook from the study,” she explained, whispering so that Eurytus wouldn’t hear. “I need to go back there, otherwise they’re going to start asking questions. When you’re ready, head back to my room, take as much time as you need. Do you still want to talk about things tonight?”

Malori seemed to think about it for a moment, before giving a cautious nod.

“Okay,” Colette did her best to make her smile seem comforting. She hoped it worked. “I’ll be there. I’m not going to tell anyone about this. I promise. Okay?”

Another nod, followed by a sniffle. Colette hugged her tightly one more time, then picked her grimoire up and placed it behind her waist again. Her heart fluttered as Malori’s hands lingered on her for a moment before she fetched her notebook and moved for the door. She allowed herself one glance back at her friend. So many times she’d done it, always met with the girl staring at her lap. This time, those adorable eyes were focused on her.

Colette gave her one last smile as she exited the study, her face as professional as always as she magically extracted the water from her tunic. “Apologies, I spilled a drink on myself.”

“It’s getting late,” Colette sighed, glancing at the setting sun out the window. “We made a lot of progress today though. Get some rest you two.”

“Thank you, your Grace,” the man across the table gave her a low bow. Xander. One of King Gertrud’s ‘Shadows’ picked up across the years. He was tall, his long silver hair tied back in a ponytail. As opposed to Lilith’s armor, his attire was much more suited to what one might expect of someone called a Shadow. Black, lightweight armor clung to his frame, as effective as it was easy to move around in. His boots made no noise as they touched the ground, either from enchantments or from training. While the white, circular mask with two black dots for eyes hid his entire face, the dark gray of his hands made his dark elven heritage abundantly clear.

Amaya on the other hand was human. A few inches taller than Colette, with pale skin and brown hair tied in a braided bun. Her flowing blue and black robes marked her as one of the mages under Colette’s direct command. More often than not, they were off in other cities, helping court mages with their work and acting as advisors to various lords. She was stone faced as she gathered her scrolls and materials from the table. “I suppose it’s enough. As much as I’d like to continue, none of us are going to have very much free time over the course of the next few weeks,” she murmured.

“Commander Lilith will be the one to decide upon that for me,” Xander said simply. “I will likely be assigned to peacekeeping during the festival as usual.”

“Your Grace, the Court Mage of Kydanthus will likely be arriving within the week. Would you like me to assign his schedule so that you see him as little as possible?”

“Yes, that would be appreciated, Amaya,” Colette sighed. The Kydanthian Court Mage, a half elven man named Stamatis, was an irritation at the best of times. When she had this much on her mind? No, she did not want to see him. She’d be forced to during the Mage’s Junction, but that was interaction as a group, at least.

The mage and shadow exited the room, leaving her alone to slump back in her chair and run her hands down her face. She gave silent thanks to her grandmother for spending all those years instilling lessons of decorum and presentation into her. It had taken everything in her power to pretend everything was fine. Even carefully observing their emotions for any hint of suspicion, she still felt as tightly wound as a snare. She couldn’t even imagine how difficult situations like that would be while being limited to watching someone’s facial expression and body language for hints to their inner thoughts. She did it from time to time, but that was voluntary. There was a very large difference between choosing not to do something and being completely unable to do it.

She glanced out the window, taking in the sunset. It was one of the rare nights that she could see it unobscured by snowfall. Was Malori watching it as well? Her thoughts had been so occupied with the other esper it was hard to actually get any work done. The fact that they’d done so much would never cease to amaze her. She made a mental note to offer Amaya an extra day off or two for all of her help.

For the second time that day, the sound of rapping on the door nearly gave her a heart attack. Almost falling out of her chair, she scrambled to make herself look like she was cleaning up as Ivar entered the meeting room. He raised an eyebrow at her poor attempt.

“Um, everything go alright?” he asked.

“Yes!” Colette cleared her throat. “Yes, everything went swimmingly. Amaya has made formulas a breeze, and Xander has been a great help with the logistics and coordination. At this rate, we should be ready within the year.”

Ivar nodded, glancing at the now clear table. “That’s good to hear. I’m sure mother will be pleased.”

“I hope so. I know that I developed it in this form, but putting teleportation magic into use on this wide of a scale in the timeframe she requested is quite a task. It’s not something that can be rushed,” she explained.

“That makes sense, given everything you’ve told me about it,” he said. “Hey, mind if I ask something?”

“Hm? What is it?” she replied, her heart already beginning to pound.

Ivar paused, looking her over for a moment. “You and Malori being gone wasn’t exactly a surprise to me, but I did end up catching a glimpse of her heading into your room and bawling her eyes out. Granted, it doesn’t seem like that’s too out of the ordinary for her, but I figured I’d ask. Did something happen?”

Colette’s mouth felt dry. What was she supposed to say? She couldn’t afford to incriminate Malori in any way. “Was she? Oh dear, I’ll go check on her. That conversation over tea must have been a little much for her,” it wasn’t the best response, but it was the only thing that came to mind.

“You didn’t know? Eurytus said you pulled water out of your tunic, and there were tear marks on the table,” he explained, leaning against the door frame. “I know you said you weren’t going to read her emotions, but that part isn’t like you. Really, Colette, what happened in there?”

She swallowed, her mind racing with different excuses that she could throw out in hopes that one would stick. One look into Ivar’s eyes told her that that wasn’t going to work. Her brother was a politician, and a good one. He was an expert at seeing through lies and half truths, especially when he knew the person well. She bit her lip, staring at the ground for a moment.

“Ivar?” she said, meeting his concerned gaze.

“Colette.”

She took a shaky breath. “I know that this isn’t ideal, but I can’t tell you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You can’t tell me?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I can’t. But please don’t tell your mother about this? I know I don’t have much of a leg to stand on, but please. This… This is important to me. Extremely important. Okay?”

His eyes flicked over her, his brow furrowed. Pushing off the door frame, he paced over to her, concern clear on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, then sighed. A small smile appeared on his face. “Colette, you’re my sister. I trust you,” he started. “As curious as I am, this is clearly pretty damn important to you, and…” he trailed off, gazing out the window. “You also were willing to keep it a secret when I told you the real reason I was so adamant about sending people to Reach. This is kind of the least I can do for you.”

Relief washed over her as he said the words. Slapping his hand off of her shoulder, she stepped forward and gave him a hug. He returned it. “Thank you. Thank you so much,” she sighed. She could feel it in his chest as he chuckled.

“Well, I was the one who told you you were going to decide to break the rules someday if you cared about something enough,” he mused, releasing the hug. “It would be fairly hypocritical of me to get angry at you for it. Even so, I know you have kind of a thing about making pretty girls cry. I take it you’re about to go see her?”

“Yes. She said she wanted to talk to me about something. I don’t want to keep her waiting any longer than I have to.”

“Well, don’t let me stop you,” he said, stepping out of her way and gesturing for the door.

Giving another nod of thanks, she hurried out and towards her room.

“Good luck!” he called after her.

He had no idea how much she was going to need it.