Two more weeks. Eighty nine days and counting, a bit over thirteen of them applied directly to Benny, bringing him up over nine thousand and within range of the elixir bump that would get him to E-rank. From his original eight thousand one hundred twenty three, Benny only needed eight hundred seventy seven points. Rounding up, that was eighty eight of the ninety eight wishes I’d used dedicated to his growth.

Eight hundred eighty points put him at nine thousand and three total, with four hundred forty each to Focus and Might. Not to mention the soul strain of paying with attacks at that volume for that long had bumped him up to fifty percent of the way through green. He was damned close to E-rank now, only needing the thousand point bump from the elixirs.

Of course, we didn’t HAVE those elixirs yet, but Benny was pretty much up to snuff, which had allowed me to switch focus to Jessie to get a better idea of where she was at with my last ten wishes of the two week period. Those extra hundred points had been put into Focus, her lowest stat, so we could track how much she was still gaining from her bond and from renown.

The first three wishes didn’t seem to be enough to tip her over a milestone, but the seven the second day had officially set off the avalanche of points our healer had been accruing. One hundred to Focus from me was nothing, she’d gained another five hundred Vitality and three hundred Might from Randall.

She was now up to eight thousand three hundred and eight total, and between the four hundred ninety points I had left to give her over the next week before my allotment returned to Camden, and the native income from her Bond and renown, she was definitely going to make it in time. She’d even reached Intermediate in her Beast Bond, which seemed to be increasing the improvement, and she was certain she could rank up Randall alongside her when she reached E-rank.

Abel and Mel had been crushing it in the tournaments from what I’d heard, and working with Nat besides, and they were well on their way to ranking up as well. That put most of our friends on the path to E-rank when we needed them there, and had allowed me to slow down and breathe a little bit, at least aside from the constant construction projects.

Speaking of construction projects, eight hundred and eighty bricks had meant two more wall sections, and the enchanters were quickly catching up. We weren’t making the time we would when Benny hit E-rank, but we were definitely putting a dent in the preparations, which was part of what I was currently meeting with Camden about.

“We need more enchanters.” I said bluntly. “I don’t care where you get them, but once you get Benny those elixirs we’re going to outpace the ones we’ve got. Enchanting is supposed to be big business in the Empire right?”

He groaned, rubbing his temples. “I KNOW. Trust me, I know. But my finances are shot. Between paying them, the materials for all the spears, and the supplementary materials for all the armor your people have been receiving, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel. Without any wishes I have no way to get the capital I need to crank production.” Which was fair, his last few days of wishes before he’d let me frontload my extras were all resource based, and I could see how his stockpile could have dried up in the last few weeks.

That said, Jessie was getting close to next rank, so there was no way I was folding on my last free week.

We’d have to worry about it when we finished ranking up Benny. “Also, how goes work on those Might and Focus elixirs. We need Benny up and running on this as soon as possible.” I was ready to push him a bit further on this if needed, because we were on such a time crunch, but I stopped myself when I saw the look on his face when I brought it up. “Hey…you ok man?”

He gave a strangled laugh. “I’m… I’m really not.” He slumped back in his chair. This meeting was just us, and apparently I’d earned enough trust from him by staying that he didn’t mind being seen as weak in front of me. I was kind of touched. “This is a mess. I didn’t sign up for this. I just wanted to get away. Is that so wrong?”

I shrugged. “Can’t tell you that. My family isn’t exactly the picture of civility, but I get the impression that my dad shielded me from the worst of it, asshole though he may be.” Having heard horror stories from Zeke and Nat about how many of my relatives got murdered in these things, I had a feeling I’d gotten VERY lucky.

Too lucky, in some ways. Nat just happening to stumble on my planet seemed a bit coincidental. I only had two cousins that I knew of (on my dad’s side, I had no clue about mom’s siblings) and meeting one of them right out the gate?

It made me wonder if the old man hadn’t been putting his thumb on the scale a bit, in the most undetectable way. Not that it would make up for all the shit he’d pulled, but it was nice to think maybe BOTH of my parents were decent human beings, at least deep down. Of course, i couldn’t ever voice that suspicion, because if I did, I’d be screwing myself and probably him, but just considering it made me feel pretty good.

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

“I hate my cousin so much.” He said tiredly. “I’ve always hated him. He was just…awful, even as a kid. There’s something wrong with him, I think. He doesn’t see people as people. I know Celine mentioned that, and told you how some children of powerful people get like that because of how they’re raised, but I think that was always Spencer.”

I cocked my head. “What do you mean? Like he was evil from birth or something?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “It always felt like it. He would pretend when the adults were around but…his eyes gave him away. So cold and detached. Do you know why he hates me so much?”

I shrugged. “Jealousy?” I guessed. “He wants to be in charge of your family and he’s just taking out everyone in the line of succession, right?”

He waved me off. “Not remotely. I’m not IN the line of succession. I’m tangentially attached enough that with the right twist of fate I might BECOME a candidate for head of the family, but I left before that could happen. I didn’t want to get caught up in the games, in the backstabbing. But he followed me out here anyway, or I guess herded me here.”

“Why then?” I asked, curious as to what kind of grudge could push someone to go to these lengths.

“Because I made him look bad.” He said simply. “It happened when we were children. His parents and mine were called to a family conclave with my grandfather, and all of us came to the main estate with them. The kids were all being watched by an older cousin, but the girl who was supposed to be keeping an eye out wasn’t paying attention.”

I had a distinctly bad feeling about where this was headed. “Please tell me you spilled tea on his coat or something?”

He gave a hollow laugh. “I wish. Spencer had come with his siblings, there were four of them. Three older, though not by much, and one younger. She was about four years old. We were walking through the grounds, and Spencer decided we should all race. We picked a spot on the other side of the hedge maze, and we were all supposed to go a different route. It was a big maze, but it wasn’t too complicated.”

His voice was distant, a little horrified, and the bad feeling in my gut got worse. “What happened?” I asked quietly.

“I went down the center path. It crossed through a few of the others, and it was longer, but I figured it would be the closest to a straight shot. I just wanted to win.” He swallowed hard. “Spencer took one of the left hand paths, and Olivia went with him.” He shuddered as he remembered something distressing. “I don’t even know how they ended up in my way. I must have gotten turned around.”

He closed his eyes, grimacing. “She was already dead when I stumbled on them. Face down in the water. A small pond along the path. Spencer was just standing there, staring at her body, smiling a little. When he heard me arrive, he ran for her, pretending to be upset. But I’ll never forget that smug little smile.”

“Is that…” I grimaced. “Is it always like that?” Maybe the way Wyndhams raised their kids wasn’t so wrong after all. “In the big clans?”

“No.” He said firmly. “And that’s my point. We’re a bloodthirsty bunch by outside standards, but kids killing each other? Killing their own siblings? Spencer isn’t just driven, he’s WRONG. Off in a way that I’ve never been able to quite describe. Even at a similar rank, Spencer scares me. Scares me because he’s willing to do shit like THIS. He’s not going to leave this to chance. He’ll have a backup plan, something to make sure I die even if the lions fail.”

Thinking about it, about Camden and how scared he was… it PISSED ME OFF. Camden was my friend. We’d been working together for over a month now, and he’d been nothing but supportive and helpful. Sure he was getting something out of it, but I liked the guy. He had style, panache, and was just a genuinely nice guy. Though I was curious about one thing.“You said you made him look bad? How?”

“I told on him.” He said simply. “Told my parents, my aunt and uncle, everyone I could think of. I told them what I saw and what I thought happened.” He shrugged. “No one listened. Olivia didn’t have any signs of injury or having put up a struggle. He wasn’t near her anyway, standing about five feet away. I think he poisoned her somehow, he likes poison.”

I frowned, thinking of what kind of person could do something like that to a fucking four year old. “Why does he hate you then? If no one listened?”

“Because I tried.” He shrugged. “Spencer doesn’t like being caught. It embarasses him. I avoided him after that, so he couldn’t really get me as a kid, but the assassination attempts started around the time I turned twelve. Never obvious enough to pin on him, of course. He got sneakier as he got older, but I always knew. That day when his parents took him away, I caught a glimpse of him over his mothers shoulder as he pretended to cry over Olivia. He looked right at me.” He went silent for a second. “I’ve been stared down by monsters before. I know when something wants to kill me. I always recognize it as feeling just like that.”

My knuckles cracked as I clenched the table. “I’m not letting anything happen to you Camden. Aside from you being a friend, I owe you plenty of wishes still, and who’s going to hand over that territory if you die. Don’t worry, we can handle your nutjob cousin.”

He gave a weak smile. “Maybe you can. Maybe I can. But I can’t help but be afraid. Olivia never saw it coming. Will I? In the end, will he find some way to get me? He got to Sara, convinced her to sell me out. Who else could he turn? Alister? Sonia?” He didn’t mention me, but I could tell when the thought crossed his mind, just like I could tell when he dismissed it.”

“Whoever he tries to turn, however he tries to do it, I wouldn’t worry.” I said solemnly. “We already lost someone to a traitor on our last mission. I’ll make damned sure it never happens again.” And I meant it. I was going to need to talk to the others. Our battle plan needed tweaking. Camden needed a bodyguard. We weren’t going to lose another friend, even a new one.