She recognized it intimately. She’d released her five husbands from their "ditation retreat" wearing the exact sa expression of preserved dignity over deeply inconvenient discomfort.
And his ’eyes’.
Where Prince Larus looked like soone had dimd his light, Estov looked like soone had squeezed him like a mango and left the husk standing.
Heena smiled sweetly.
"Oh my," she said pleasantly. "You’re here. What a surprise."
Estov looked at her.
The hatred in his eyes was not subtle. It was not politely concealed. It was the naked, unfiltered, deeply personal hatred of a man who had been through sothing and had decided exactly who was responsible.
Heena maintained her smile.
Estov’s jaw tightened. His gaze swept the corridor—servants, guards, a passing eunuch—and with visible, painful effort, he swallowed whatever he was about to say.
"Co with ," he said, voice dangerously quiet.
He grabbed her arm and steered her through the nearest door.
It was a storeroom.
A very ’nice’ storeroom, because this was a palace and even the storage spaces had polished floors, neatly labeled shelves, and—inexplicably—a small sitting area with two sofas and a low table.
Estov closed the door. Checked it was shut. Turned around.
And detonated.
"You ’fucking bitch’!"
Heena pressed a finger to her lips. "Shh, shh, shh—"
"You ’fucking bitch’," he repeated, lower this ti, which was sohow more intense. He jabbed a finger at her. "You ’knew’, didn’t you? You knew he was here. You knew he had arrived in this world. And you said ’nothing’."
Heena drifted past him toward the sofa, moving with the unhurried ease of soone who had nowhere pressing to be and nothing troubling her conscience.
She sat down.
Then lay down, swinging her legs up over one armrest and dropping her head back against the other, settling in like she was preparing for a nap. Her bag landed between the sofas with a soft thud.
Estov stared at her horizontal form with an expression that could have curdled milk.
"Don’t you ’dare’ lie to , you black lotus."
Heena tilted her head just enough to look at him upside down. "Oh, now we’re doing titles? Very well, Mr.—" she tapped her chin thoughtfully, "—White Lotus? No, no. Green tea. Definitely green tea."
"I will ’end’ you—"
"You were saying sothing about warning you?" Heena said pleasantly, returning to staring at the ceiling.
"’Yes’! Why didn’t you warn ?!" He stepped toward her. "If you had told he was here, I could have—"
"Run away?"
"’Yes’!"
Heena looked at him. "Exactly."
Estov blinked.
"If you had run," she said, "that person would have chased you. And chasing you through ’my’ world ans crashing through ’my’ carefully arranged plot, ’my’ palace security, ’my’ everything." She waved a hand. "I’m already managing five idiots, a heroine with delusions, an aunt who could weaponize tea, a diplomatic delegation, a broken wrist that the universe gave as a fun joke, and you—as an additional variable that I did not request. I have no bandwidth for a cross-dinsional manhunt conducted on my property."
Estov stood there, breathing through his nose.
"So," he said slowly, "you ’deliberately’ didn’t warn ."
"I ’strategically’ didn’t warn you," Heena corrected. "There’s a difference."
"There is ’no’ difference—"
"The difference is intent and outco," she said. "I intended to keep my world stable. The outco is that you’re standing here angry instead of being chased across seventeen dinsions. You’re ’welco’."
Estov made a sound that was not quite a word.
He turned, took two steps toward the opposite sofa, and sat down.
The mont his weight settled, he went rigid. A sharp, involuntary grimace crossed his face. He shifted, winced again, and ended up sitting at a very specific careful angle that communicated considerable information without saying a word.
Heena looked at him.
Her lips curved.
"Well," she said. "Looks like soone had quite the eventful reunion."
Estov’s eye twitched. "I will kill you."
"You keep saying that," she observed. "And yet."
"I ’an’ it this ti."
"You ant it last ti too." She studied him with clinical interest. "So. What body did he get? Because based on your current sitting arrangent, I’m guessing sothing with stamina."
The look Estov gave her could have stripped paint.
"Don’t," he said.
"A warrior type?" Heena guessed. "Military general? Cultivator? Oh—is he a crown prince this ti? He always loves a crown prince body—"
"’Stop’."
"—because last ti he was that high priest and you were absolutely ’insufferable’ about it for three weeks—"
"That was completely different!" Estov snapped, flushing. "That was—that was a ’trap’, I didn’t—’I didn’t know’ he was in that body until it was already—"
"Until it was already ’what’?" Heena asked innocently.
The flush deepened to sothing spectacular.
System 427, invisible in the corner, covered his face with his paws.
"He’s a ’general’," Estov said through his teeth. "Northern border general. Local hero type. Big. Very—" He stopped. "Big."
"Mmm," Heena said.
"Don’t ’mmm’ ."
"I’m not doing anything."
"You’re ’judging’."
"I’m observing," she corrected. "Clinically. Professionally." She paused. "Did you at least eat sothing afterward?"
"’WHY’ would that be your first question—"
"Because you look like a wrung-out dishcloth and if you faint in my corridor it creates paperwork."
Estov pressed both hands over his face and made a muffled sound of pure suffering.
Estov just sighed.
The playfulness drained from his face, and he leaned his elbows on his knees, looking genuinely tired in a way that had nothing to do with whatever his dragon had done to him.
"I can’t tell you everything right now," he said quietly. "But I can tell you that he is... formidable. More than most people realize."
Heena’s expression shifted too.
She swung her legs down, sat up properly on the settee, and looked at him with none of the teasing from before. Just focus. Clean and sharp.
"Have you not warned him?" she asked. "Estov. Do you understand how dangerous it is for him to be in this world right now? The higher systems—if they haven’t noticed him already, they will soon. And when they do, they won’t send a warning. They’ll just ’delete’ him. His existence. Everything."
Estov exhaled slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I warned him. Multiple tis. But that bastard doesn’t listen." He paused. "And it’s not like I can explain it clearly. We can’t just say ’there’s a high-level system watching this world and they will erase you.’ You know the rules. We can’t disclose anything about the higher systems or the work we do. Not to them."
Heena pressed her lips together.
Silence settled between them—not the comfortable kind, but the kind that carried weight.
Then Heena straightened fully, sothing decisive settling into her posture.
"Estov," she said. "How about you continue your mission in another world?"
He looked at her, waiting.
"Think about it," she said. "Right now, every system’s attention is on ’this’ world. I’m a retired Black Lotus who ca back for one more mission. That alone has flags on it. Every higher system is watching this world more carefully than usual. Your mission here is nearly complete. So there’s no reason for you to stay." She t his eyes. "And if you leave, take him with you. Get him out of here before he gets noticed."
Estov looked at her for a long mont.
Then he smiled.
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