Patience and I crossed paths again once I reached the bottom of one of the seemingly endless amount of pink marble staircases.

“I’m coming in from your right. Are you prepared?” He called from somewhere unseen.

After I had watched him haul the unconscious Go up to the giant man’s quarters, he had offered me a tour of the mansion as he had called it. From Go’s dark quarters, he showed me his own and Galahad’s. The two shared a hall that ended in a round balcony, but they could not have been more different.

Galahad’s had been the definition of order. His bed was made. The papers on his desk were squared, and the sword hanging on his wall gleamed like it had been freshly polished.

Patience’s had looked like a great and terrible storm had uprooted a library and thrown its contents into the place. Stacks of books lined the walls all the way to the high ceilings. Mounds of loose papers and scrolls were pilled across the floor in such a way that there was only a small footpath of stone to the bed.

It had been then that he had first announced that he was going to show his face.

Like I had done earlier that morning, I had thought of Anna. At the front of my mind, I thought about the blush that reddened her cheeks whenever she drank and I held it as he turned the corner and looked me in my eyes.

Just like before, I had felt nothing from Suri.

Patience had smiled and complimented me, and my guard had slipped. For half a moment, I had smiled back at him and felt proud of my small victory.

Then, I had remembered why I was where I was and my smile vanished.

Both of The Mother’s halls, sitting rooms, sun rooms, studies, there had been seemingly no end to the place. Four more times, the man with the pierced ears and dazzling smile had disappeared. Four more times I had thought of the raven haired mortal and prevented Suri from taking me over.

Each time I had needed to force my celebratory feelings. As soon as I dropped my guard, I would be made to pay for it.

I was sure of it.

“Yes.” I called back with Anna on my mind.

Patience entered with the same leisurely pace I had learned he always moved with. His smile, which at first had only shown when I had succeeded, was on full display and I hated how fond I was becoming of it.

“Anything?” He asked as he pushed up the rolled sleeves of his shirt.

“Nothing.” I answered flatly and ignored how hot the heavy clothes I had chosen to wear were making me. If I changed, if I put anything less covering on, it would prove to be a mistake.

His smile faded and his hand went up to one of the golden piercings on his left ear. “You are pretty strange, you know? Let’s try something new.”

Like I had all morning of my long day, I followed him when he turned and walked away from me.

I’m not the one who shares a lover with six other men. I thought in response to him calling me strange, but I did not say it aloud. There was little reason for me to antagonize him when all it would bring me was pain.

“There are things about you that I would like to know, Lady Autumn. But I, more than most, know that knowledge does not come freely. I propose a trade. I will ask you a question, and you will answer it. In turn, I will do the same for you. Agreed?” He said as we went, his hand still fiddling with one of the golden rings hanging from his ear.

“Why do you have those?” I asked, unable to ignore my curiosity any longer. Why anyone would willingly push metal into their skin was beyond my understanding.

“The earrings? They are a symbol of my rank with the loreium. Playing with them is just a nervous habit.” He answered.

“How do you get them?” I continued as we started down a narrow staircase that was made of the same grey stone as the floors. The further down we went, the colder the stone became on the bottoms of my bare feet.

“By knowing certain things. When you have earned the right, when you have proven that you can handle the knowledge, you get an earring, but that’s two questions. It is my turn,” He said with a small laugh. “Why do I get the feeling that you are expecting something terrible to happen to you?”

“Because it will.” I answered much too quickly. I could have lied. I could have played into the trap that was being laid for me and tried to gain some small advantage.

“Why do you think that?” He asked.

“That’s two questions. It’s my turn,” I repeated his words back to him. “You said that Go bakes when he is nervous. Why is he nervous?”

“Hmmm. A very good question.” Patience said as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

The air had cooled to a temperature that made my under layer and jacket suddenly appropriate. We had stepped into another sitting room that was full of plush looking chairs and rose patterned rugs. Three different halls stood on all three sides of the room.

Patience pointed to the hall on the left and then the one on his right. “That’s Adrian’s workshop. I don’t believe you’ve met him yet. And, that is Nocti’s quarters. Daylight is not the most comfortable thing for him, so he stays underground until dusk.”

Through the sitting room, we crossed to the hall that stood opposite the stairwell.

“This, is my library. Go is nervous because he is very bad at keeping secrets. I finished cleaning it up the day before you arrived.” Patience said as he snapped the lights at the top of the room to life.

He was not exaggerating. Complete with shelves, tables, and chairs, there truly was a fully realized library underneath The Mother in Red’s mansion.

It was not lost on me that he had answered my question. The way he had done it, slipping it in between two unimportant things, it had been intentional.

What secret is Go nervous about keeping? I asked myself, knowing that it was not a question I would receive an answer to.

“Why do you think something terrible is going to happen to you?” Patience asked me again.

I took more time to answer his second question as I peered down the long shelves of books. Alcoves and hallways spread along the walls and I got the feeling that it would be very easy for me to get lost.

“I am here to be punished,” I answered, satisfied that what I had said was both true and did not give away my nervousness. I joined the end of my answer with the beginning of my next question. “Why have I not been?”

Patience flashed his dazzling smile at me and let out a laugh that would have been contagious if I had heard it anywhere else.

“Strange might not be the right word for you, Lady Autumn. Cunning, perhaps,” He laughed and made his way to a wooden table that bore a roughly bound book on its top. “I am a scholar, I’ve spent my life thumbing through tomes and scrolls to try and understand what we all know as chaos. They say that knowing that you know nothing is the first step to true wisdom,” He flipped the book open and began to gently turn the pages. “My love of words aside, I know that seeing something is often more effective than being told about it.”

He reached the middle of the book and unfolded a page that was much larger than the rest. From edge to edge, scribbles and sketches filled the page with words and figures.

“Trisolde and her chosen death,” Patience read aloud. “Are you familiar?”

“No.” I said as I tried to make sense of the drawing. Two loose shapes that looked like angry mobs stood on either side of the page. A lone figure, the curves of their lines giving me a female impression, stood between them. At the top of the page, sitting on what looked to be an opulent throne, was a some manner of queen or lady.

“I have some business I must attend to. Familiarize yourself with her story, take a look around my library, there is much here that I believe you would find great interest in.” Patience said as he turned to leave.

“You didn’t answer my question!” I called after him.

“Sure I did.” He shouted back over his shoulder and then he was gone.

I turned back to the drawing and tried to understand what he was telling me. It was obvious that I had asked a question that he could not answer aloud. If my mother could be bound into silence by The Mothers, doing it to him would be a small effort if anything.

That explained Go’s nervousness. That explained why he had slipped one of his answers in between other things. He was not allowed to tell me certain things. All of the lovers were probably forbidden in the same manner if I had to guess.

Were they prisoners like me? Had Suri been right? Did The Mother in Red keep all of her lovers charmed into submission?

I flipped past the drawing and tried my best to read.

Trisolde, a sorceress of the fifth circle.

I shook my head and started over when the words on the page began to blend into an unreadable mess.

Trisolde, a sorceress of the fifth circle.

The words had been written by hand and the writer's handwriting was too difficult for my eyes to follow.

Trisolde, a sorceress of the fifth circle. I tried a third time and got no farther than before.

“Fuck it.” I sighed and left the book on the table where it lay.

I set myself to exploring the library. Within the towering shelves, I found an order that I recognized from the library in Erosette that Anna frequented. Scattered throughout were tables and books that were laid out just as the first had been.

Notable Battles of The Aura War. A History of Sorceresses in Don Viven. My time in Zenithcidel.

I read each title as I passed but I could not make myself stop and read them. Each alcove held a comfortable looking chair and its own set of books, but none of them made me want to sit.

At the back of the library, I found a door that bore seven locks. Each hung open and the door was cracked open just enough for me to notice it.

Convinced that it would not be open unless Patience wanted me to find it, I pulled it open and stepped inside the dark room.

I snapped my fingers and dim light came from a lantern hanging off a chain on the ceiling.

The room was empty save for something large that was completely covered by a draping white cloth.

I pulled it off of what it covered and sent a cloud of dust into air. Stepping back, I let it fall from my hands and took in what had been hidden away.

Nearly as tall as I was and twice as wide, a painting stood in a ornate brass frame that was cloudy with tarnish.

Stolen novel; please report.

My eyes found the small initials scrawled in the top left corner first.

M.D.G. I read in my mind. It was the same initials that the painting I had found hidden in my mother’s things had been marked with.

Dark and bright swirls of different shades of red glimmered with what looked to be small flakes of metal. They intertwined seamlessly into deep and dramatic shadows.

The Mother in Red stood on the right side of the painting, her dress of pure white coming in stark contrast against the moody background.

A white veil of lace hung down over her face, but it was undeniably her. Whoever the painter was, they surely had no equal. I had been with in a room with her only hours before and every detail was perfectly life like.

She held a massive bouquet of roses in her gloved hands. Each petal was without flaw and matched the color of the glimmering stones that adorned every line and seam of her dress.

I had never seen a person be more beautiful. The admiration I felt, the ache in my chest that came with the understanding that I would never be her, did not come from a place of attraction or affection. She was like a sunrise after a very dark and cold night. She was like the first glimpse of a towering mountain top that reached high into a perfectly clear sky.

She did not stare back at me from within her veil. Her face was turned upward towards the man whose arms were wrapped around her.

The Mother in Red was tall in her own right, the man holding her made her seem as short as Arthur did me when I stood next to him.

If she was beauty personified, he was something beyond anything I had ever seen or imagined.

His skin was tinted faintly red. It was not like he had spent too long in the sun. The tint seemed to come from within. Like the stones that adorned Rhiannon’s dress, it seemed like he was made of the color.

Every strand of his long and lustrous hair shone of its own accord. He wore a long flowing robe that closed at his waist and every inch of his stomach and chest was packed with rigid muscle. Piercing red eyes and a familiar smile graced his face as he looked down at The Mother in Red. He did not clutch at her with his massive hands, he held her so gently, the painter had not needed to paint impressions in the fabric of her dress.

I only appreciated what I was seeing when I looked at the two of them together.

The closeness between the two, the intimacy that radiated from their embrace, I could feel it. Even though I knew I was simply looking at paint and canvas, the warmth between them brought color to my cheeks and a slow sigh to my chest.

The hem of her dress closest to the man was burnt black at its edges just as the ends of the mans robe were. Sitting at there feet, looking all too similar to the little blue kitten I had once been able to hold in the palm of my hand, was a tiny cub made entirely of fire.

At the base of the frame, on a small flattened plate, I read an engraved description.

Rubra and Rhiannon. Morning of the sixth vow.

There was a third name scratched into the soft metal below the engraving.

And, Bayle

She has been dead for years and years. The Mother in Red’s words about her familiar echoed in my mind.

I sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. My lack of sleep was wearing on me, but at no point did I become drowsy. I stared at the painting with full attention and in that time I began to notice familiar things about the man named Rubra.

His smile first, it was bright and wide in a way that I had only ever seen one other person have. Then there was his body. It was not one someone could obtain by drinking water and eating greens. The color of his eyes, hauntingly red and hypnotic if I stared at them too long, I had seen their ilk before.

“Not much of a reader are we?” A voice came from behind me and sent my body into one violent flinch.

My aura came to my navel without hesitation and it was only the time it took me to turn around that kept me from manifesting it.

Patience leaned against the doorframe, his eyes wide in surprise. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

A memory of the time I had opened my eyes to see Anna and Arthur in my room at the boarding house long before either of them knew who I really was came to me. I had flinched then too. One moment I had been asleep and the next I was crawling up the bed like something had grabbed my foot.

“How long have you been gone? How long have I been down here?” I asked, standing and pulling the front of my coat closed. Cold had crept into my bones and I hadn’t noticed until my focus on the painting had broken.

“Hours. It’s almost time for dinner.” Patience said as he stepped into the room and gathered up the dusty white cloth.

I watched him cover the painting and lock the locks on the door outside of the room with a key he pulled from his pocket.

“Why did you show me that? Why did you let me see it?” I asked him as we left the library and the vision of Rubra and Rhiannon refused to leave my mind.

“I’ll see if I can get Dreamtongue to tell Trisolde’s story at dinner. He likes to show off in front of guests anyhow.” Patience said.

The smell of dinner reached my nose long before we reached the top of the stone stairs. My mouth began to water and an empty growl sounded from my stomach at the scent.

I followed Patience past the kitchen and towards the back of the mansion. Through the paneled glass doors that had been pulled open, a long table had been set. Complete with decorative roses, wooden plates and bowls were spread across the table top. They were filled with all manner of delicious smelling food. Charred and blackened fish, fist sized red vegetables that were stuffed to their limit, a dozen different bottles of wine, and many things I did not recognize.

If my reason for being there had been anything other than what it was, I would have thought it beautiful.

The Mother in Red looked up from where she was serving Go and met me with a sunny smile. She wore the same style of white robe she had been the night before and the apron that the giant man had been wearing was tied around her neck.

I knew it was a trick of the warm light coming from the setting sun, but for a brief moment, it looked like she was glowing.

“There you are! Considering you haven’t tried to put this spoon through my neck, I take it your work today has been fruitful?” She asked with a playful wink.

Her attention was too much for me to take. The openness and joy I saw light her eyes at the sight of me was too intense. I had to look away.

“Much better than expected,” Patience answered for me as we stepped out into the stone balcony. “She has now seen both you and I without warning. How do you feel, Lady Autumn?”

Everyone looked at me. The Mother in Red, Patience, Go, Galahad, and Nocti all waited for me to answer.

“I. . .” I tried to speak, but could not find the words. I felt like myself. I was more confused and suspicious than I had ever been before, but I know who I was. I knew those feelings were mine.

“Come and sit. Eat. Drink.” The food is much better for you than a basket of muffins. I made it just like my mother used to.”

I don’t know why The Mother in Red having a mother felt like such a strange thought.

“You should have told me you were hungry before I told you goodnight. It would have been no trouble. You have no idea how often the roses get our bed because they are hungry.” Nocti said towards me from underneath the shadow of his wide brimmed black hat.

“If I saw you in a dark hallway at night, I wouldn’t ask you for anything but to leave.” Patience said as he pulled the middle chair out for me and sat down at my right.

Go’s face had sunk into a furrowed scowl. “There is nothing wrong with my muffins.”

“She is a growing girl, Go. She needs food that will make her strong, not pure sugar.” Patience smiled and laughed.

“When is Dreamtongue arriving? Has anyone heard from him?” Nocti asked openly, his wooden plate empty and his cup unfilled.

Galahad answered for the table. “He was suppose to be here yesterday. Which means we will see him sometime in the coming months.”

“You should really try to not be so wrong all of the time, brother. I’ve been here for hours.” A long haired man said from behind me as he went to the seat on the right side of the table. His clothes looked dirty with travel and his skin was a shade that made me think he had spent far too many days under the sun.

Dreamtongue.

“Good, I have a story I need you to tell. Trisolde and her chosen death if you do not mind.” Patience said to the newly arrived lover.

“Not a chance. I’m too tired. The City Above is a long way away from here.” Dreamtongue said as he poured himself a full cup of wine.

“You? Too tired to talk? Who the hell are you? What happened to Dreamtongue?” Go growled and brought his fist down to the table top.

All of them threw their heads back into a chorus of raucous laughter that echoed off the mansion and carried out over the ocean beyond. The Mother in Red leaned over my shoulder and filled my plate. As she poured me something to drink, she whispered into my ear.

“Do not mind them. They are all excited that we have a guest. If it becomes too much, you may leave. None of us will think any worse of you.”

What if you are wrong? I thought to myself as I watched her take her seat across from me and serve herself last. What if this isn’t some elaborate mind game?

I could not let myself slip into that way of thinking. There was only pain and hurt for me if I let down my guard. I had not slept. Much had happened to me before The Mother in Red took me. I was tired, that was it. I was reaching my limit and it was becoming harder and harder to keep my guard up.

With all the lovers lost in their spirited conversation, I did the only thing I knew how to do.

I ate.

Without concern for those around me, I tore into the slab of grilled fish and all that surrounded it. When there was nothing left for me to eat and I had cleaned my plate down to the last smear of crushed tomatoes, I looked up to see Go bearing his fists at a resentful looking Galahad.

“You and I both know that you ate the damned pie.” The giant man growled as he stood up from his too small chair. The force of his movement sent his seat sailing over the edge of the balcony where it presumably fell to the water below.

“It’s been years you big oaf. It was one pie. Does it truly matter who ate it?” Galahad sighed, the bottle of wine next to him nearly empty.

Nocti, Patience, and Dreamtongue did nothing but laugh at their brother's quarrel.

That was the impression I got. The way they argued, the familiarity of it, it felt like watching Anna and Arthur snip at one another.

The Mother in Red was smiling, her face was turned to the argument, but her rose red eyes were worlds away. She was giving the appearance of presence and delight, but it was only on the surface. There was a sadness in her eyes that made me think she was on the verge of tears.

In between the playful shouts of Go and Galahad, she stood and silence fell over the table.

“I believe it is time for me to turn in, my loves,” She said, reaching out and touching each of them as she passed. “Autumn, if you need anything, you must ask. I could not stand it if I thought you were less than comfortable.”

The five lovers at the table all told her goodnight in their own ways and without another word, she was gone.

The lightness that had been as much a part of the dinner as the fish was left with her. The dinner had ended with her exit and all that was left around me was a feeling of absence.

“Lady Autumn? I’m sure you are tired as well. Shall I walk you to your room?” Galahad asked me through a sigh shortly after The Mother in Red had departed.

“Yes, please.” I agreed politely and stood.

“Goodnight.” The rest of the lovers said in collectively as I followed Galahad.

I didn’t say it back. In fact, I didn’t say anything at all. My long day was ending just as it had begun. I followed the starlight haired man back to The Lady in Purple's room and closed the door as soon as I had crossed the threshold.

Did I have questions?

Yes, more than I could count.

Did I want to know what had happened at the table?

Yes, desperately.

Did I intend to take the time necessary to ask my questions or find out what had happened to The Mother in Red?

No, I needed to run as soon as possible.

If I tried to stay awake in the fairytale bedroom any longer, I would fall asleep. If any of her lovers were nice to me one more time, I would not be able to stay on my guard. If I spent another moment in her radiant presence, it would warm my heart and I would vulnerable.

I waited. For how long, I did not know because the sun had already set by the time I had returned to the room. I waited until I could stand it no longer and then I waited to reach my limit again.

Sometime later, with my cuffed boots in my hand and a pair of thick socks on my feet to pad my steps, I left the fairytale room and made for the entrance.

I had learned from my mistakes the first night. When Patience had given me his tour, I had paid attention.

Where my first escape had been a fear inspired stumble, my second was calm and quiet. Without any sign of the lovers and no sweet smell to lure me back into their clutches, I stepped through the double doors with no one being the wiser.

As soon as I pulled my boots on and looked out over the land that led to the cliff side, fire rained from the sky.

The sound of it struck my ears like a hammer to an anvil. I dropped to the ground and covered my head with my arms.

Two steps out of the door and they had already come for me. I had been a fool to think I could escape. All the kindness, all the friendly words and gestures, they had all been waiting for me to step out of line. My punishment had arrived, just as I knew it would.

Another and a third, I heard the explosions banging above me.

Wait. I said to myself as I peaked my eyes up to the sky.

Another explosion.

I was not being attacked. My punishment had not come.

There were fireworks in the sky. Just like those from Amoranora, they burst against the dark of night and painted it with shimmering embers.

A cloud of smoke hung over a small rise in the distance, and I could see the shape of a man illuminated by some small fire.

A moment later, he whipped around and plugged his ears.

The sound came first and then the burst of embers high above him.

I was moving towards him before I realized I had stood.

“Hey,” He called down to me as he waved. “I didn’t wake you did I?”

I didn’t answer him.

He brought the small fire up to his face and stuck his hand out. “I’m Adrian. You’re Autumn right? Do you wanna light one?”

Never in my life did I think I would be so inconvenienced by people being nice to me.

Just like it had been with Go, if I ran, Adrian would alert everyone else and I knew I would not make it very far.

Besides, if I could shoot them out of my belly button, I should probably know how to use a real one.

"Fuck," I started up the rise to go meet another of The Mother in Red’s lovers and begrudgingly gave him an honest answer. "Yes."