Chapter 59 (Arc 2 Chapter 13) Loriel POV

Loriel was born into wealth and privilege. Her childhood was filled with false friends and endless education. Her mother had a large inheritance and was forced into an arranged marriage to a Bricio. Her father was a minor noble in the Bricio family with no future, so marrying the wealthy daughter of the Miaden family was only to his benefit, and he took her last name. Her mother had been in love with another who suddenly stopped seeing her. She learned much later that he was threatened away from pursuing her.

She rarely saw her father growing up, but she was close to her mother. She had no siblings, only playmates arranged by her father. She spent a lot of time with her mother and was open and truthful about the political dynamics in Skyholme. It was a climb for wealth and power, and the Bricios were winning. She told Loriel that her father was unfaithful, and in retaliation, her mother never shared his bed again after Loriel was born. Her father wasn’t malevolent, just deceitful and callous.

Her mother did get her a playmate when she was ten. A runt wolfsguard that was to be killed. She named the pup Bylura, and the wolfkin grew up quickly. Bylura was not only a runt but apparently lacked a strong loyalty gene that made the Wolfsguard so obedient through a bonding ceremony. She was loyal in her own way but not completely obedient, a rebel. If anyone had known this, then Bylura would have been killed immediately. So instead of being a servant Bylura became a surrogate friend for her.

Loriel awakened just before her 12th birthday. Loriel was a disappointment to her father. She had a very small aether pool and no noteworthy abilities. It was her intellect and reasoning ability that were her strengths. She entered the academy at age 12, earlier than most, and she quickly excelled. The lack of a strong ability meant she wouldn’t be selected for one of the 23 succession roles or given an essence to fortify herself.

By her third year of the academy, she had learned four tier 1 spells and one tier 2 spell, maximizing her current aether matrix. It was difficult to level the spells since she had so little aether to practice them.

From her time in the academy, she also understood more about the dynamics of politics on Skyholme. Her family, the Miadens, were hollow. Many of her family members were married to Bricios, and their partners controlled the relationship. Not quite enslaved, but definitely shackled. She didn’t want this life, and her mother shielded her from her father’s attempts to arrange a marriage for her.

In her fourth year of the academy, her mother disappeared. Her father said she had fled to the lowlands with her lover. Loriel knew her mother didn’t have a lover. So her father had most likely been responsible for her disappearance, or someone else within the Bricio family had orchestrated it. She was now vulnerable. Her father didn’t know that her mother had left her entire estate to Loriel. The documents were ironclad, and she immediately made her father destitute. He retained her mother’s estate on the capital island because he forged documents saying her mother had ‘gifted’ it to him at their wedding. The magistrate that had drawn up the paperwork had died a few years ago, so the document was deemed legitimate.

Loriel moved quickly to remove everything not tied down on the estate, though. Her father now had a large tax bill and no assets. The Bricios helped him by having him remarry a recently widowed minor Bricio noble with some wealth of her own.

Loriel’s assets were extensive, and she drew up multiple documents to make sure her father never got his hands on any of her wealth. He did start to maneuver to get Loriel married off to another Bricio, but his influence on her was minimal now that she was 16. She was constantly on guard, and it wore on her. She needed friends and allies, so she started targeting other people like her. Outcasts and pariahs of their respective families. Slowly her influence grew, and she developed a circle of friends in her remaining academy years. She graduated with a focus in commerce and administration at age 19.

She immediately focused on growing her wealth. She couldn’t extend her influence in the political system dominated by the Bricios, but wealth could buy influence. In a short two years, she had nearly doubled her holdings and was worth just north of a million gold. Most of her wealth was tied to her assets which kept growing her wealth.

Her great-grandfather noticed her drive and capability and called to meet her. He was the sitting member of the Triumvirate for the Miaden family. She had only met him twice in passing at parties, so she was very anxious. Her greatest fear was he would force her to marry. He was the only one who could do that. If he did, she would flee Skyholme with what she could to escape her mother’s fate.

He wasn’t what she imagined. He was old and seemed tired during their meeting. He talked and she listened. He was impressed with her to date and was going to reward her. He was bestowing the 23rd line of succession on her. Her jaw had dropped. He was giving her instant political power. He cautioned her that it was her independence that impressed him. She was free of influence from all the families. He gave her a gift. It was a dungeon essence.

She would gain the tier 2 ability of enduring self-tenacity upon consuming it. Any tier 2 ability was precious, and this one more so. It would give her the ability to resist all forms of influence up to tier 2 entirely. Tier 3 manipulations would fade quickly. Even tier 4 influence would even fade given enough time. He confided he held this precious dungeon essence for a very long time, looking for someone worthy to consume it and fix Skyholme.

He then said Loriel might not be the one, but he was old, and people may influence his successor from outside of the Miaden family. So Loriel was his best option. That was not an inspiring speech on his part. He told her to gain allies outside the three families, from the commoners. He gave her one of his true Wolfsguard. All heirs had at least one Wolfsguard, and Bylura didn’t count. His name was Gammon, and he was an excellent warrior but rarely talked.

She was twenty-one years old and had a title now and wealth. How was she going to find allies and bring them to her cause? After two weeks of being named the 23rd heir, she was starting to be pressured. The Bricios were pushing one of their young men on her. Abaddon Bricio. He was an excellent warrior and was already moving up the navy ranks. When she checked into his true background, she was disgusted.

Abaddon was a bully, rapist, and vindictive. Unfortunately, being the 23rd heir had raised her value too high for the Bricio’s to stop. So she needed to find someone to marry that was free of influence. She had to get inventive.

She started watching the pre-academy Annuals. She was looking for a smart, capable warrior not yet in anyone’s pocket. Of course, she was not the only one looking. Many wealthy nobles were looking to offer their patronage to a promising warrior. This patronage could only be officially offered at the end of their first year of the academy, as per Skyholme law. That didn’t mean the patrons couldn’t lay the groundwork or make offers.

As she sat in the stands, she found many young men that drew her attention in the field of 32. She researched the ones she liked, and only one stood out. Storme Hardlight. Storme fought with a staff which probably turned many people off from pursuing him. But he had registered two tier one spells, mend flesh and cleanliness. He was only 13, and he had mastered two spells on his own. She had the help of numerous mages to teach her the few spells she had over the years, so Storme was a prodigy.

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He was also extremely handsome and charismatic. As he progressed in pre-academy Annuals, Loriel was more certain he would be perfect for her needs. He was young which meant impressionable. She could groom him to be an ally and an emergency husband if the pressure was increased upon her.

Abaddon had sent her a request to attend the Annuals gala with him at the Shyhold Citadel. It was the celebration put on via the Trivumverate. She maneuvered Abaddon to putting conditions on the match in favor of Storme winning. She immediately learned Abaddon bribed Storme’s opponent to lose. She then did the same to Storme, paying a massive sum of coin to convince him to lose as well. She would get the better of Abaddon and move Storme to her corner by giving the boy immense wealth.

That is where her plan started to fall apart. Storme already had informal patrons in the form of Callem Dregalla and Master Reader Wynna. Both were rumored to have substantial wealth. Storme took her coin and lost for her benefit, but after the match, she owed him a favor. She decided to mark her territory anyway by attaching Bylura to Strome. Every noble knew the little white wolf girl was hers, so seeing Bylura with Storme would mark him as Loriel’s in their eyes.

He called in the favor shortly. He wanted to purchase land in Aegis City for a restaurant. Bylura would aid him in selecting and purchasing the land. She researched his potential funds, guessed his price point, and planned to offer him a deal on a property outside his means.

Then he selected a half-destroyed warehouse by the skyships docks! The docks were definitely not an ideal place for a restaurant. Since they were frequently attacked when the Sadians assaulted the cities smart business owners moved to the trade or noble districts. At least those that could afford it.

He kept resisting her efforts to put him in her pocket financially. Callem and Wynna had apparently planned to invest heavily in his project. She had sent Storme one of her closest friends, Isla Bricio. She had a very similar situation to herself, with no abilities of note, and was discarded by her father. Loriel had taken her under her wing, but Isla had too much pride for handouts. Isla wanted to work in her profession as an architect.

Storme accepted Isla, and Loriel felt she finally had her hooks into Storme. This was not the case, as Storme started spending Callem and Wynna’s platinum without restraint. How was she supposed to step in and offer her financial support?

She had Bylura spying on Storme by being Hen’s Hollow’s academy evaluator. The notes that Bylura sent her got her flummoxed. Storme had an indentured half-elf. A real beauty, according to Bylura, named Aelyn. An inquiry found another boy, the one who had won the pre-academy tournament, had purchased the half-elf for Callem Dregalla. That was the assumption, but Bylura clearly noticed the indentured ring on Storme’s hand. So her backup plan of having Isla seduce Storme was invalid if he already had access to a beautiful young woman.

Bylura reported all kinds of other interesting facts about her target. Storme was, in fact, an excellent cook. The other students raved about his food. He also had twins doting on him all day and night. They were average looking but very fit. Another young woman named Mia also seemed to be in Storme’s circle. So he had four women….at least so far that she uncovered.

Bylura informed him that he had a younger sister with a monstrous guard dog that was unfriendly. Maybe the sister was a way to Storme since he seemed to dote on her.

Bylura also said Storme’s spells were very advanced. His cleanliness spell had lots of evolutions as did his mend flesh. This meant he either had a large aether pool to level them quickly while he was young, or he had some type of aether pool restorative ability. Bylura also heard rumors Storme had both the privacy spell and alarm spells learned. He would be sought after just with his mend flesh spell but three other utility spells as well? She needed to get him into her camp sonner than later.

When she heard the Hen’s Hollow academy was going to be matched with the upper city academy in Solaris, she decided to go and watch in person. The matches were fun to watch with Bylura at her side, giving her tons of information. The first boy was Gareth, Storme’s best friend. He was the one who had won the pre-Academy annuals, and his connection to Callem Dregalla shielded him from a host of potential patrons. She was much closer for the match; the boy looked over twenty and was a marvelous physical specimen. She tingled inside watching him fight. His masculine nature and confidence were attractive. Maybe she could seduce this boy instead. With such a monstrous young man at her side, Abaddon would keep his distance.

The next match was Storme’s brother Bylura informed her. He was a competent fighter and managed to grind out a win as well. How did a small village like Hen’s Hollow produce such good warriors? It had to be the old man, Callem. Loriel knew he had been famous before she was born. She would have to look into Callem’s history further.

Storme’s fight did not go well to start. His opponent used some type of magic or ability to gain a strike on Storme, shattering his hand. Isla grabbed Loriel’s in fear for Storme. Had he won Isla over in the short time they had been together? Loriel’s backup plan was to have Isla seduce Storme. Isla had mentioned she was impressed with Storme for his maturity and deep pockets. Loriel thought fostering romantic interest would take more time—apparently not by the death grip on her hand.

Storme ignored the pain and fought on. He looked angry as he pummeled his red-haired opponent until the boy hobbled away in fear, conceding the match. Storme picked something off the dropped mace….his own finger? Loriel almost vomited. She watched him get healed by the mages, and she almost missed the next match.

Byulra drew her attention to the match as Mia, one of Storme’s girls, was fighting. She wasn’t that pretty, Loriel told herself. She was a good fighter, though. Was this Storme’s type? She had gone to the Academia Academy and hadn’t gained any skills in fighting.

She turned to her Wolfsguard, Gammon, and asked him to set up a training program for her. She wanted to learn the staff. He cocked his head in surprise. ‘Just do it,’ she growled at him. He was a great warrior and much smarter than he appeared from saying so little. But sometimes, his body language telegraphed what he was thinking. Right now, he was thinking that Loriel was more a bookworm than a fighter.

The rest of the matches proceeded, and she was not impressed with the blonde twins. They were excellent with their staves but not nearly as attractive as herself. She caught herself. Was she really considering Storme as a potential partner? No, it was much too early for that. She was 21, and he was 13. Although, he did look closer to 18. No. She needed to be objective and think about what Storme’s utility was to her. She turned to Bylura and asked about Aelyn, the fourth woman. Bylura said she was not here. That was disappointing as she wanted to look on the beauty.

As the contests were ending, she decided to meet Storme face to face and had Bylura go and retrieve him. They would meet in a private room in a small ale house she owned. Storme immediately flipped the meeting.

He attacked Isla for showing the building plans to Loriel. That was, in fact, a very minor crime in Skyholme. She remembered she was promised a room, so she grasped at that detail to explain her transgression. She decided to try to placate Storme by offering him a substantial revenue stream for his apartments, much higher than their value. She thought even he wouldn’t be able to resist. He turned her down without even hearing her out.

Finally, she got angry at him. She forced him to hear her out. She mentally raised the rent from 20 to 40 gold for each apartment when she made the offer. It was an amount he shouldn’t be able to refuse. He turned her down again, saying, ‘he had other plans for the rooms.’

She had easily surmised that he planned to buy or build his skyship. So in a calm voice, she asked him how he would make the coin for it. He proceeded to say that they were now equal in the favors given and received. It made her angry, but she admired the young man. She would have to find another way to win him to her. She decided to give him space. She took Bylura with her, and they would fly back to her estate. Of course, she still had Isla in place to gather information on Storme. Hopefully, he didn’t dismiss her as well.

On her skyship, Gammon met her on deck and tossed her staff, which she dropped. I guess she did ask for this. She picked it up and faced him.