James ran to Theola’s room, as fast as he dared without risking another encounter with Eleanor. If she realised what he was trying to do, it was the end. He was fortunate in that, at least, and skidded to a halt outside Theola's door. It was guarded by three men: the six-till-midnight shift. The ones he’d single-handedly defeated. The ones who probably hated him as a result.

“I need to see the Mage,” he said in between gulps of air. “It’s urgent.”

“She’s sleeping,” said one of them. “Like you should be.”

“Urgent,” James repeated, letting an intensity very uncharacteristic of Jacob Winter into his voice. It made little difference now.

“What’s so important about it, anyway?” the same man asked.

“That is a matter between the Mage and I.”

“We can take a message. Tell her in the morning.”

“She doesn’t like losing sleep,” another man added, with a thick Western accent.

James wanted to scream in frustration, or to push them aside and break down the door. He restrained himself with an effort: that would destroy his cover as thoroughly as not speaking to Theola now would. “She’ll like it even less if she doesn’t hear this now.”

The bodyguards glanced at each other, considering. “She does like him,” one of them said, “stars know why.” That last phrase was said in what was clearly meant to be a subtle undertone but was still perfectly audible to James.

“If it makes you feel any better,” James offered, hating the fact he was being forced to negotiate, “I’ll take the blame if she’s angry. You can say I threatened you or something. I’ll even actually threaten you so it wouldn’t be a lie.”

The nearest guard rolled his eyes. “That will not be necessary. But it will most definitely be your fault if she doesn’t like it.” He turned abruptly and knocked three times. “My lady Mage!” he called out.

Silence. James imagined her hearing the guard’s voice through the fog of sleep, dragging herself out of bed and padding to the door in a thin, revealing nightdress – no. No, he should not be thinking that. He needed to figure out how to persuade her to help him keep his secret without revealing what the secret in question was. There had to be a way. She liked him; if he could just find a semi-plausible story…

The guard raised his hand to knock again, but the door swung softly open before his fist could hit it. Theola was not clad in a revealing nightdress – well, she might have been, but it was impossible to tell when she’d wrapped herself completely in the duvet. “Jacob,” she said. “What is it?”

“There is… an urgent matter I must discuss with you, my lady Mage,” he said. “In private. Please.”

She gazed at him for a long moment and then nodded. “Well, then. Do come in.”

“Thank you, my lady Mage.” He stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

The room was dark. James was struck suddenly by the fact they were alone in her bedroom. No. Focus. “I – forgive me for disturbing you – “

“Forgiven,” Theola said at once, crossing the room to sit down on her bed. “What is this urgent matter?”

“Is this room secure?” James asked.

“Of course. I warded it myself.”

Did he trust her? It took him a moment to realise that he’d passed that point long ago; if he couldn’t, he was as good as dead. “Thank you,” he said, and then hesitated. He had yet to think of a good way of framing this. Best to stick as close to the truth as possible, at least about his encounter with Eleanor.

“I couldn’t sleep tonight,” he said. “I went to the training room to work off some excess energy. I found Eleanor there. We got to talking, and, well…” He shrugged. “She thinks I’m too good.”

Theola raised her eyebrows in silent question.

“Too good a fighter not to have had professional training,” James said. “But I haven’t. It’s not something I can explain; it’s just something I am. She didn’t believe me, though. I was… honestly, I was scared of what she might do. So I may have said you knew the truth and trusted me regardless. And she may be coming to check at the start of her shift shortly.”

Theola closed her eyes for a second. “You want me to lie for you.”

James didn’t bother dissembling; he knew her well enough by now to realise that was destined to fail. “Yes.” After a moment in which she didn’t respond, he asked “Will you?”

Theola sighed. “Are you telling me the truth?”

“Of course,” James made himself say. Too quickly? Not quickly enough? Stars.

“Because if you are, then of course I’ll help you. But… I’m wondering whether Eleanor might have a point. Whether there’s something you’re hiding from me.”

James shook his head. “No. No, never. If there’s anything I can do to prove it to you – “

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Swear it,” Theola said, “by starlight.”

James froze. He knew the stories of what happened to those who broke an oath by starlight, or those who swore one falsely. That the stars would guide them no longer. That they would die alone and in pain, abandoned by all who once loved them.

He wasn’t sure whether they were true: for obvious reasons, few people were prepared to test them. But even the possibility was enough to terrify him.

It was a choice, though, between the possible doom of swearing a false oath and the certain doom of not persuading her to vouch for him. There was only one rational option. “I swear by sacred starlight,” he said, willing his voice to remain steady, “by the light that guides me at night, by all that is holy, that I am not lying to you, Theola. That I have not had professional combat magic training.”

He paused for a second and then decided that if he was already damned, there was nothing left to lose. “That I will never betray you.”

Theola said nothing for a long moment before settling on “Thank you.”

“You – you believe me?” James asked, finding it very easy to fake panic. “Please tell me you believe me.”

“Of course I believe you, Jacob. Only a monster could be cold enough to swear that to me without meaning it, after everything we’ve done together.”

Ouch. James struggled not to let his emotions show. He wasn’t a monster, he wasn’t cold and unfeeling. He just… separated his feelings from his duty, remembered that the latter always had to come first. Was that really so monstrous?

“You – you should go,” Theola said softly. “Before… rumours start to spread. That we’re…”

“That we’re what?” asked James. He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her say it.

“It’s nearly midnight. And here we are, alone in my room together. Just you and me.”

Stars, James was tempted to make those rumours into reality. She seemed almost more beautiful than ever, even wearing nothing but a duvet and a nightgown – or, wait – no. He’d spent more time than he cared to admit studying the precise way her body curved, and the shapes under the duvet now were subtly wrong.

“Theola,” he asked, “what are you wearing?”

She blinked once, slowly. “I should have known you’d realise. You’re perceptive.”

Lustful, James mentally corrected.

Theola stood. With one elegant shrug of her shoulders she sent the duvet tumbling to the ground, revealing that beneath it she was clad in what appeared to be full combat gear: loose, comfortable clothes, a thin sheet of mail covering her chest and torso, a belt wrapped tight around her waist with a sheathed sword attached.

“Stars,” James said aloud. “They said outside you didn’t want to be disturbed when you were sleeping. But you weren’t sleeping. You were training.”

She nodded once.

“…why?” he asked. The pieces weren’t fitting together.

“Why do you train? I am strong, but I can always become stronger.”

James narrowed his eyes. “But… why now, when you should be asleep?”

“Much of what I do I simply cannot allow to be seen by anyone. This is the only time when I can guarantee true privacy. Or – “ she laughed – “I could, until you came along.”

James didn’t think she was annoyed with him, but he said anyway “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else I could do.” That, at least, was no lie. “If you’ll forgive my asking…”

She looked at him expectantly, which he took for permission. “When do you sleep, if not when everyone else does?”

“I don’t sleep.”

Nope. No way did she get the power to not need sleep. Even if she was a Mage, that was just too much. “You can’t survive without sleep,” James said, pointing out the obvious.

“There are… certain rituals, certain magical meditations, that can mimic the effects of sleep on the body, while needing to be performed for only an hour or two each night.”

“And they work?”

Theola laughed. “Well. I’ve been using them a few centuries, and I don’t appear to be dead from sleep deprivation. I’d say that’s sufficient evidence they do.”

James hesitated to ask the next question, but he couldn’t let an opportunity like this slip by. “Is this… something that you could teach me?”

Theola paused for a second. “You know,” she said thoughtfully. “I think it might be.”

James grinned. His newfound happiness lasted all of a second before it was shattered by a knock at the door.

“Two minutes to midnight,” said Theola.

“Eleanor,” said James. “Cover for me – “

“Hide – “

James dove under the bed; it wasn’t the most comfortable of hiding places, but it was the only one he could find at such short notice. He took a few precious moments to calm his racing heart and sink into a state of mental balance in which he could cast. Silently casting a sufficiently strong invisibility spell was hard even for him, but the combination of the necessity and the knowledge that he had Theola on his side was good enough to let him succeed.

Theola, meanwhile, rewrapped herself in the duvet and padded towards the door. She paused with her hand on the knob and turned to glance at the space where James lay; then she pulled open the door.

“My lady Mage, forgive me for disturbing your rest, but there is an urgent matter about which we must speak.” That was Eleanor’s voice, yes; James couldn’t see her from his somewhat awkward angle, but he could hear well enough.

“Is that so?” Theola said. “Enter, then.”

There was the brief sound of shuffling footsteps, and of the door clicking shut. James watched Theola’s bare feet and Eleanor’s shiny-booted ones pace across the floor.

“Well?” Theola asked after a few seconds.

“It’s about Jacob Winter,” Eleanor said. “I don’t think he’s what he seems.”

Theola didn’t respond; James imagined her raising a questioning eyebrow.

“I trained with him on the dummies half an hour ago. He scored orange one.” Her words dripped disbelief.

“I only take the best into my service,” Theola replied calmly. “Do you really wish to complain about that?”

“No – of course not, my lady Mage, but – I just don’t understand. How it’s possible for someone to be that good without having had professional training.”

“So you think that he’s lying to me, lying to us all. You think he’s hiding something.”

“Well – yes.”

“And what would you have me do about it?”

This wasn’t what she was supposed to say. James felt a jolt of panic shoot through him, and focused on keeping his breathing steady and maintaining his invisibility. What was his way out, if Theola betrayed him? He didn’t stand a chance against both of them in a fight, so he’d have to…

Stars. He wouldn’t be able to escape, would he?

“Well,” Eleanor said, “I would hardly dare to presume I could dictate your actions. But in your place, I would interrogate him. Find out who he really was and what he wanted with you. And the results of that would make the next steps clear, I imagine.”

No. James couldn’t let himself be taken alive. If they found out who he really was, what he knew, what he meant to Charles… that would be catastrophic. He’d have to –

He didn’t know if he could do that.

“And if he is innocent?” Theola asked calmly.

“He won’t be.”

“You seem very certain of that.”

“I trust my judgement.”

“More than you trust me?”

James bit his lip to avoid letting out a sound, and wished he could simultaneously cast so that he could become silent as well as invisible.

“What – what do you mean?”

“I trust Jacob Winter,” Theola said. “With my life. If you have more credible evidence than what you currently present, I would be delighted to see it – but for now, kindly let me sleep.”

James found himself wishing that Theola’s trust was not so terribly misplaced.