To the naked eye or to every sensor, satellite, and surveillance apparatus this world had produced with such touching pride, the night sky seed perfectly peaceful. Were one inclined to ignore the gargantuan bruised-pink abomination that had claid an indecent amount of it.
The Eye’s colossal iris luminesced, gazing down upon the gaudy Alchymian Central Street, where magenta neon lights and billboards hyped the upcoming Grand Final football match and its pre-release tickets. Football, or footy as the locals called it, was an odd choice of na for a sport so enamoured with hand-punching and blunt-force inelegance.
If the Eye was Pride, it would surely have rolled its massive eyeball by now. It didn’t. Definitely not Pride, but sothing powerful enough to suppress all of her Seven Sins.
Pride included.
Deigning to test her theory, Eydis flew closer, no longer concerned about detection. With Lust’s power and her growing proficiency in this realm’s arcane language, she concealed herself beneath a flawless invisible veil.
Being seen was irrelevant.
Being sensed, however, was another matter.
The technology of this world could detect even the faintest disturbance in arcane power, keen enough to have pursued Astra for years. With the Saintess’s help, Eydis had refined her suppression sigils until not a whisper of the Sin’s power could leak.
If Astra couldn’t feel it, no one could. She possessed a vision that perceived the ebb and flow of Arcane beneath skin, bone, and concrete alike. That was how she had first noticed Envy’s essence.
Eydis wasn’t overly concerned about the agents either. The Eye’s restricted periter, a radius of roughly two hundred tres, was heavily guarded by advanced drones and nacing Gifted agents who looked about as subtle as sharks in a pool.
On the agents’ backs were bulky packs emitting an icy blue-white glow, rumbling and groaning as though they resented every minute of operation. Perhaps they were contraptions keeping the agents afloat. Judging by the insignias embroidered on their black suits — one eye, very ostentatious — these n were definitely not from the Council.
The Van Nassaus had taken their toy back.
Curious. Crossing this restricted periter was dangerous. She crossed toward it anyway, because understanding why sothing was forbidden was considerably more valuable than avoiding it. The mont she ca too close, though, her link to her Sins unexpectedly cut out like soone hung up on her mid-monologue.
Rude. She pulled back just in ti, maintaining her illusion.
The agents, regrettably, disagreed.
“Who’s there?” One of them had surely been saving that line. He hurled a crackling thunderbolt toward where she had briefly manifested.
She dropped down smoothly, letting the strike pass overhead. The bolt t the invisible field encasing the Eye, flared violet before expiring without ceremony.
With her eyes narrowed, she splayed her fingers and threaded Lust into the drone network, erasing every trace of her presence. The silhouette they’d captured beca static, beca nothing.
Once Lust smugly announced the mission complete with its sickly sweet scent, Eydis unfurled her raven wings and glided into the night. Behind her, the operatives’ frantic shouts and the roar of jetpack thrusters dwindled as they chased her phantom trail.
The city blurred below, all lights, noise, and blaring horns, until sothing else unexpectedly cut through it all. Birdsong, tucked amongst the canopy of trees rising in dark columns beneath her. The botanical garden. Astra had brought her here two evenings ago.
Even at this hour, even from this height, the winter blooms held fast to their colour against the dark. Drawn by their stubborn defiance, Eydis tilted her wings and dipped down, hovering at the garden’s edge.
A brief detour, she decided.
She landed without sound and let her fingers trail across the waxy petals of the nearest bloom. Her thoughts drifted back to the unexpected complication in her plans. Not one person, but an entire group capable of severing her link to her Sins as easily as cutting threads.
I need to find a solution. Before it becos her problem.
Before I beco one.
Only when Eydis noticed the flower stem pinched between her fingers did she realise she had absent-mindedly plucked it. She exhaled slowly and breathed in the garden instead. The fragrant, cold air brought back a mory of Astra’s smile as she spoke about these flowers.
Quietly resilient.
To Eydis’s surprise, the recollection eased the tightness in her chest. She stayed a mont longer than a brief detour required.
Less than thirty minutes later, Eydis reached her next destination, albeit a little later than intended. Her black studded heels touched down lightly on the cobblestone path outside a charming sage-green weatherboard shop, its colour nearly blending into the surrounding forest.
At her approach, amber light kindled by itself, revealing elegantly displayed cakes behind a misted glass window. The lock released. The bell above the door tinkled. Warm air spooled outward, carrying notes of darkwood and sothing baked and sothing more tempting than the cakes themselves.
Or rather, soone.
Astra greeted her, brows still furrowed endearingly as she leaned against the door fra. “You are a little late.”
“I arrived,” Eydis said pleasantly.
“Those aren’t the sa thing,” Astra deadpanned.
“They are when you say them.” Eydis feigned innocence.
Astra appeared exasperated but abandoned the look halfway through before she gestured for Eydis to co inside.
The interior was a deep forest green with dark timber accents. It was the antithesis of the pretentious minimalist trend so common in this realm, and Eydis liked it far too much.
The walls nearly vanished behind clusters of mahogany shelving, glass cabinets, and ornate picture fras. Mirrors of all shapes and sizes threw back their reflections, as though observing oneself could sohow whet the appetite.
A touch too vigilant for Eydis’s taste.
“I take it we’re not on a date tonight?” Eydis asked.
Once the lock clicked shut, Astra leaned back against the door. “Depends. There are people who’d call infiltration a great date. Welco to Warrungal Range’s most beloved tea house.”
“Very inconspicuous,” Eydis said with a smile. Amidst the mismatched teapots on display, Lust sensed the tiny, well-hidden caras, all neatly disabled. “Very Council-issue.”
“Busy establishnts draw useful traffic. Good for intel.”
“Or Ares has known about these for years.” Eydis’s attention returned to the ceramic teapot, glazed with a peacock design whose eyes concealed cara lenses. “And has been very carefully giving the Council sothing lovely to watch.”
“Possible. But the patrons aren’t the point, the road is. It’s the only route to the peak. Ares locked down everything aerial. Drones, helicopters, anything airborne.”
By the peak, Astra obviously ant that infamous estate of this continent, perhaps even of this realm’s most storied bloodline. But sothing else snagged Eydis’s attention.
“I was under the impression…” She turned to Astra, “that you didn’t have clearance for this.”
Astra’s face betrayed nothing, which, in itself, seed a little too asured. “I do now.”
Knowing that particular silence well, Eydis let it pass. She had her own versions of it. Choosing to trust soone was not easy.
Choosing to trust soone who kept things from her was an act of faith. She didn’t believe in faith.
And yet….
Eydis pulled out a chair at the round table, sat down, and found herself facing an antique tea set and the remnants of a Basque cheesecake.
Pouring herself a cup, she looked at the cake. She looked at Astra. “I didn’t know you had a sweet tooth.”
Astra took the seat opposite her. “I thought it was obvious,” she replied, lowering her voice shyly as though soone might overhear. “Those chocolates…”
Eydis adjusted her grip on the teacup handle before she could do sothing as undignified as spill it. The Queenstown chocolates were not a safe subject. Astra had no right to say that quietly. No right at all, given the specific, creative, and relentless use to which she had put them. Uses Eydis had not managed to reciprocate. In either sense of the phrase.
“I thought you bought them because…” Eydis began.
“They were ant to be eaten in a more... conventional manner,” Astra replied, her voice dropping before she quickly cleared her throat. “Anyway. The path.”
“The path,” Eydis agreed, because dwelling on the antithesis of conventional would make concentration impossible.
Astra’s lips twitched as though she could read Eydis, then decided to show rcy. “There’s a discreet hiking route through the backyard. With Lust’s ability, we could reach the Van Nassaus’ estate, possibly enter it.”
“Or we could fly.” Eydis turned her cup slowly in its saucer. “The estate will make more sense from above.”
Astra gave her a look. “That’s unusually cautious of you.”
“I contain multitudes.”
Astra exhaled. “That’s not an answer.”
Eydis flashed a teasing smile. “It’s a more interesting one.”
“Eydis.”
“Trust .” Eydis set her cup down and laced her fingers with Astra’s. “I’d rather show you.”
Astra’s icy face fought a losing battle and softened before she squeezed her fingers. “I do.”
Rising, Eydis drew Astra up with her and settled both hands at the Saintess’s waist, pulling her flush against her body.
Their bodies pressed together. Astra’s breath ca a touch early. Eydis smiled against the languid kiss.
When she drew back, Astra’s voice chased her lips. “You’re not going to tell , are you, Eydis?”
“You’ll understand when we get there,” Eydis said playfully. “I’m being pedagogical.”
Violet mist breathed outward from the shadows at Eydis’s feet, curling around them both until the mirrors along the walls reflected only an empty room.
“That is what insufferable people say,” Astra muttered, but hooked one arm underneath Eydis’s knees and lifted her up with ease.
Eydis allowed it with absolute dignity. “I was about to suggest that.”
Astra pushed open the timber door to the backyard. “Mm. And you were going to make it sound like your idea.”
“It was my idea. You simply executed it.” Eydis grinned.
She withdrew the pale pink daphne from her wool coat and tucked it reverently behind Astra’s ear, letting her fingers linger. Her thumb traced the delicate shell of Astra’s ear before sliding down to cup her jaw. “My Princess Charming.”
Astra blushed and leaned into the warmth of her palm. “So this is what delayed you… stealing flowers.”
“How unromantic of you.” Holding Astra’s crimson gaze, Eydis leaned in and murmured by her ear, “They offered themselves to quite willingly.”
Astra’s quiet, breathless laugh followed them upward as she lifted them both into the sky, so gently the air beneath them seed not to stir at all.
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