Something about Dha was off. What? This was some sort of game; it had to be. But what was the game? What did I need to do? Dha was floating around like he was having a nice beach vacation. Why? What did Dha get out of messing with me like this? There had to be something I was missing. I had no idea what though.

“Someone is getting warmer.” Dha taunted as he floated along.

“What point is a game where only one of us knows the rules?” I snapped at Dha.

“What’s the point of life?” Dha asked back. Was that it? Being cryptic because that was life?

“No. Just funny to see the confusion.” Dha laughed. Dha was wasting my time; that was the most logical explanation I could think of.

“You want me to figure something out, or convince you of something while you cryptically stall?” I checked. Dha just yawned in response as the outline stared at me.

“Great. This is such a fun game.” I grumbled. Dha suddenly seemed much more engaged in what was happening.

“It is, isn’t it?” Dha inquired. For once, the lackadaisical air around him vanished; it was replaced with this fervent sense I was being hunted.

“Fine. We can play your game.” I conceded. I just needed to figure out what it was first.

“I’m so glad you approve.” Dha mocked. There was something about being noticeably condescended by a formless outline that elicited a difficult to describe emotion.

“You suddenly got fervent.” I pointed out. Dha’s presence remained intense as his formless outline kept facing me.

“Someone finally got interesting.” Dha shot back.

“How do you view someone reliving their life?” I asked, kind of curious what his perspective on the matter was.

“Asking me questions is boring.” Dha whined in response.

“You are free to ask me questions, but you aren’t. If I have to do the heavy lifting in this conversation, we’re talking about what interests me.” I retorted. Dha seemed amused rather than irritated.

“Interesting strategy. Where’s the reverence you had at the start?” Dha probed with a massive smile across his outline.

“Gone somewhere in the fact that’s not going to entertain you at all.” I informed him.

“It is interesting seeing someone try and change the events that made them in the first place by befriending the being that caused most of them.” Dha stated, seemingly amused by this turn of events.

“The Void King caused nearly every event that led to the ruin of Tenebrae, not Nil. When I met young Nil, I realized that he was not the monster I knew.” I spat at him. Dha only seemed to revel in the fact my tone got angry at him.

“I’m aware. I have nothing to gain or lose as far as that matter is concerned.” Dha said with a casual shrug.

“What about the others?” I inquired. Dha began yawning again. He’s so annoying to keep interested.

“I’m not one for gossip.” Dha replied. It was weird seeing the outline yawn, but it also meant I needed a new approach.

“What do you find fun?” I probed, trying to get a new strategy.

“That is awfully vague.” Dha answered, shifting forward a bit.

“You seem to be someone that enjoys being entertained and gets bored easily. Surely there is something I can work towards that would greatly entertain you.” I clarified. Dha mulled it over.

“You know what, there is something you could do that would be immensely entertaining.” Dha agreed. Something about his tone was sending shivers down my spine.

“What could I do?” I probed, dreading what the Lord of Life was about to say.

“As I am not an overly cruel being, I’ll make it multiple choice. Option one, befriend Grisbane.” Dha started, barely containing his immense laughter.

“Are you forling nuts?! She believes in engaging children!” I snapped, cutting Dha off.

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, this is multiple choice. Option two, get Senna to agree to giving you Empress training at your current age without informing her of the stakes. Option three, get Nautilus to marry Helga.” Dha challenged me with a villainous smirk.

“What do you get out of any of those?!” I cried. All of those were massive uphill battles, and I failed to see how they proved anything.

“I’d love to see everyone's reaction, that would be hilarious, and Nautilus did get an from me for a reason, so helping her out a bit is a worthy challenge. Why should my challenge prove anything?” Dha explained, laughing maniacally as he finished.

Stolen novel; please report.

“The second one is basically saying I want to marry Nil!” I snapped. I was not red. I was not red.

“You’re more crimson than red, but isn’t he your lovely boyfriend?” Dha taunted, clearly amused.

“And if I say none, I don’t get the ?” I checked. I was confident about what the answer was, but I wanted to verify.

“Correct. Pick one now, and I will unseal the upon successful completion. I knew this would be a fun game, and it led to an even better one! Time’s almost up, better decide fast.” Dha informed me. Joy was radiating off of him in waves now.

Which one? Which did I pick? I quickly eliminated befriending Grisbane; that was not going to happen. But the other two were no small feats. I liked Nil. Nil always tried to make me smile. He tried making me feel safe whenever he could. I remembered his dorky smile, and how he looked at me when it was just us. No, I wasn’t going to cheapen our relationship for some wager with a Lord. Crap. That left trying to convince Nautilus to marry Helga. That would be a tall order if the two had been dating a while, let alone the mere two months they had been. Maybe befriending Grisbane wouldn’t be that bad. I thought through my few interactions with her. How the forl did I get Nautilus to agree to marry Helga? Dha apparently gave her the she had which meant he favored Nautilus at least a bit.

“No telling anyone what the stakes are either for all three.” Dha interjected. Of course that wasn’t allowed.

“Is it safe to assume that the two will actually be happy together?” I inquired. I still felt a little guilty using Helga as a selling point, and I was not going to double down on that.

“The two are actually good for each other. I’m someone who wants to be entertained, not ruin the life of my current representative.” Dha retorted. What? Nautilus was his representative? Did she know that?

“Not really, I just I gave her the . As far as I know she is unaware of that fact; I’d like to keep it that way as well.” Dha answered with a mischievous energy radiating off him.

“So, help Nautilus with her relationship with Helga? That’s it?” I probed. Knowing Nautilus, that was not as straightforward as it seemed.

“I can see where you might be a bit pressed time wise for a full-on marriage, and knowing just how difficult the task is, I can agree to make it a little easier. Just engaged is enough.” Dha conceded. I wished that would make the task any less difficult.

“How long do I have to decide?” I asked, sighing as I was debating it.

“About a minute left.” Dha replied, shifting in anticipation.

Which one? Crap. I didn’t have a lot of time either. I was not going to do that to Nil, which made eliminating that option easy. Grisbane was such a cindelrock; Lords she was such an unpleasant demon. According to Dha I would be helping Nautilus out, but I wasn’t sure how much I trusted him at the moment. I needed to decide quickly. I mulled over the two options. I would much rather help Nautilus than Grisbane. I sighed, as I knew the sheer cliff I had in front of me. How did I even do it discreetly? Not relevant. I needed to be sure, as I was going to be committed to the choice. I had the feeling given the other two, what Dha would define as friends would be near irreversible or phrased in a way I’d have to agree with her outdated views. My best option was helping Nautilus after all. Hopefully, Dha was telling the truth. I didn’t get the sense he was lying about it though.

“Say it out loud. Clocks about out.” Dha instructed. Time to make it official.

“I will help Nautilus get engaged to Helga.” I stated. Dha smiled and snapped his fingers, and I was suddenly back in the castle.

“How did it go?” Empress Senna probed. I wanted to scream now that I was not in the presence of a Lord.

“Dha is a forling bezka!” I swore. I could only imagine Dha chuckling at me.

“So, why did the box not open?” Empress Senna checked. I knew Dha wasn’t obligated to give it to me, but it was still frustrating that he gave me such a near unrelated task to earn it. What did it even prove?

“Dha gave me a task to do first if I want it.” I grumbled in response.

“What task?” Empress Senna probed as she was clearly caught off guard by my reaction.

“I can’t say, it’s part of the rules.” I informed her with a sigh.

“Lords are cryptic at times.” Empress Senna stated with a shrug before motioning for me to step out of the vault.

I stepped out of the vault, and Empress Senna resealed it behind us. We walked out of the basement levels of the castle to her office which was on the fourth floor. I wondered what she wanted to talk about. The courtyard was visible from here; Nil was trying to get whatever he was working on functional. Lux was practicing her camouflage in between healing Nil from his attempts. Empress Senna sat behind her desk before motioning for me to take a seat. I sat down, curious as to what she wanted to discuss.

“I wanted to discuss your living arrangements for the foreseeable future. The Dawnsfield Estate will take about another two years to rebuild given the Void King made a massive crater where it used to be.” Empress Senna informed me.

“I’m okay with where I’ve been sleeping.” I told her. I noticed her one eye beginning to twitch.

“You and my son will not be sharing a room any longer. You and your father will be welcome to stay here until the estate is rebuilt. That being said, we do have a guest floor you two will stay in.” Empress Senna continued, keeping her tone controlled.

“I’d like to stay on Nil’s floor.” I insisted. Her eye was twitching slightly more now.

“Let me rephrase. This is not a negotiation; this is a statement of fact.” Empress Senna growled, looking irritated by my insistence.

“Nil can always there.” I pointed out. His prodigious ability does have some very fun uses.

“Do not worry, Nez has set up some to make sure Nil does not sneak in there. Rest assured.” Empress Senna retorted with a fake smile.

“Why do you seem to not want me near your son?” I inquired. Empress Senna was impressively protective of him.

“Because Nil does not seem to have much of a spine in regard to you.” Empress Senna answered, keeping her eyes focused on me. I wanted to retort, but I knew she was right.

“So?” I grumbled. I liked my dorky prince as doting and dense as he was.

“I am not opposed to him dating you, but I will make sure there is some boundary there until he learns to be a bit more assertive. As impressively stubborn as he can be in regard to and testing every defensive measure in his path, he for whatever reason is the opposite with you. Ein to an extent as well, as Nil is a sucker for spoiling his younger brother.” Empress Senna explained. It was hard to argue with her when I knew she was right.

“I guess that’s fair.” I conceded. I hated to admit it, but she had a valid point.

“Now that’s enough on that. What I was more curious about was how some of the events originally played out. Important individuals, major events, and the like. Last time the discussion was shelved, this time, we have all afternoon.” Empress Senna told me with a smile as I noticed how much paper she had to take notes with. I fought the urge to sigh as I started at the beginning.