Landing in the garden was imdiately followed by a mixed cadre of estate and city guards demanding answers. For the first ti in a while, I was glad to be in my human form. That didn’t stop the looks; I’d just landed in the middle of the estate using wings of crimson fire after all.
Duchess Kapel, more in-control than I’d seen her since the ball despite the looks her now-blue complexion was getting her, verbally dressed the assembled down. We were sitting and having hot tea inside not ten minutes later.
Most importantly, she’d not been expecting the city guards amongst her own. Which, of course, ant that sothing else was going on and we’d landed right in the middle of it.
I sipped from the antique cup as I’d learned to do and looked around the room. Duchess Arina Kapel’s estate had been sprawling from the sky, and the inside didn’t disappoint. Though a few tables and spots of wall were void of adornnt, and my sharp eyes noticed spots of dust in harder-to-reach areas. The trim, stylized as a flowing river, was exquisite, however.
“Marchioness?” Duchess Kapel asked. She’d uncovered her horns, and fixed her hair around them as best she could after the flight.
“Yes, Duchess?”
“Call Arina, at least in here.” She set her cup down and leaned back into the chair, shoulders visibly relaxing. “May I call you Zarenna?”
“Sure!” I let my formality slip. “Why bring that up now?”
Arina looked up over my shoulder, and I followed her gaze. It landed on a portrait hanging under a symbol of Dhias—I recognized the duchess imdiately. She was sitting beside a man, young like her and with sharp shoulders complenting a stern face and neatly-trimd black beard. The painter had managed to capture a hint of a smile, and bright eyes that didn’t look quite straight ahead, rather down at the duchess and the baby swaddled in her arms.
“I envy you, Zarenna. You wear the mask, but you’re free to take it off.” She sighed, cutting the sound off abruptly. “I don’t an to dump my problems on you. I just want to be able to relax in my own ho.”
“I understand.” I couldn’t tear my eyes off the painting; the duchess in it looked brighter sohow. “Arina.”
She smiled thinly and took up her cup again.
“What I don’t quite understand—and make no mistake I’m happy for it—is that this is a lot more warmth than I’d expected.”
Arina shrugged. “I’m alive, and I’m ho. And I see no one else other than you and Paladin Warren to thank for that. Regardless of what you are, who you are is unquestionable. Dhias teaches us acceptance, and to not pass judgnt lightly.”
“Thank you.” There was nothing else to say but those two words.
“You’re welco. Now, about that request for aid. The main road south passes through the Duchy of Norgath. Though it is rural, I expect we may wish to plan an alternate route through Ordia.”
“Why would Norgath be an issue?”
Arina looked at askance, then laughed darkly. “Who else do you think arranged for my poisoning?”
“What? Sey and I had considered the possibility, but… how are you certain?” I looked around the room again, noting the faint markings of the magical construct that kept prying ears away. “It was a demonic poison, and I doubt he was working with the demons who destroyed his estate.”
Arina took a sip and gestured to my own half-full, cooling cup. “I don’t understand that either, but he’s every reason to wish dead. He knows I favor Ordian cooperation, and would resist further efforts to isolate us from the Empire. There was a reason I introduced myself to you, and as another outsider.
“I figured he had it out for you as well. Please tell you understand he was antagonizing you by putting you on the spot like that.”
I picked up the cup and took a gulp. “Of course I do! But I just assud it wasn’t anything personal, that he’d just read a Gelles Company manifest to learn I was a demon and was simply bothered and distrusting because of what I am.
“Also, why didn’t you ntion this in Astrye?”
“You have a problem with soone leaking information, a dilapidated castle you don’t know the layout of, and I wasn’t certain you’d not simply cease the act and turn into a prisoner.”
I opened my mouth, then decided wisely I should fill it with the remainder of the tea rather than my foot, only replying once I’d swallowed. “That makes sense.”
“It does.”
“So why would Duke Reynard wish to harm other than because of what I am?”
The duchess was interrupted by a knock on the door before she could reply.
The voice that ca through was muffled, but audible, and I hoped the room’s magic was ant to function as one-way. “The guard captain insists her business cannot wait, and that she must speak to you rather than your advisor.”
Arina turned to before replying, her voice low despite the room’s enchantnt. “Duke Reynard wishes to expand his power to force King Carvalon to act, and he may well see the March of Astrye and the southern wildlands an avenue to gain that power.” The servant knocked again, and Arina hissed out her breath, pressing her hand into sothing under the table which dimd the enchantnt. “You may enter!”
Force King Carvalon to act how? And wait, could that an that Duke Reynard sent those rcenaries at the pass?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t ask, as the door slamd open and Guard Captain Kerra marched inside. The short woman was wearing her armor and looked like she hadn’t slept, her blonde hair resembling a particularly angry broom. She took about half a dozen steps before she saw and stopped cold. Then she glanced at the duchess and her mouth dropped open under already-wide eyes. Arina waved, and the servant shut the door behind the guard captain. As Guard Captain Kerra gaped, Arina reactivated the enchantnt. She didn’t offer Kerra a seat.
“What.” It wasn’t really phrased like a question.
“There’s been more murders—and we suspect a demon.” Kerra looked at . “And if you’ll forgive , Duchess, what happened to you?”
Arina didn’t miss Kerra’s glance at and narrowed her eyes. “I was poisoned at the Winter Solstice Ball, and the poison was corrupted. The Church, under guidance of Paladin Warren, aided as they could, but it was ultimately Marchioness Miller’s half-angel wife who was able to treat .”
She’s covering for ! More than she needs to, as Kerra knows what I am, but…
“I… see.” Kerra glanced at again, eyes narrow and suddenly more awake.
I’m not going to let this misunderstanding happen! “It’s good to see you again, Captain Kerra.” I leaned back into the sofa. “The duchess knows I’m a demon. Also, I’m nobility now and Seyari and I tied the knot—it’s not really that long of a story if you want to hear it.”
That broke the tension in the room, as both Arina and Kerra seed to realize neither was being deceived.
Kerra stood up straighter, though she still looked like she’d bitten into a lemon. “I’d ask, but we’ve no ti. The killer—or killers—take people nightly, and we’ve only found so of the bodies.”
Arina’s jaw tightened. “How long has this been going on?”
“The first incident was two days before you left, but we didn’t assu there to be a pattern at first.”
“How do you know it’s the work of a demon?”
“Few things can rip a person in half or claw through bone—and the things that can don’t co into the city.”
Both of them stared at , and I swallowed. “I’m on a tight schedule today. I need to be back before Astrye is attacked again.”
“Attacked?” Kerra asked. “Again?”
“Demons.”
She swore. “There’s been too much news of this for sothing not to be brewing.”
In for a penny. “Envy and Avarice are on the warpath, but I don’t know what they’re planning.”
“You knew?” Arina hissed, anger bubbling forth.
I threw my hands up in surrender. “Not about the attack in Norgath! I thought they’d just be after , but I guess not.”
The duchess leaned forward. “Why would they be after you?”
“Because she’s Wrath,” Kerra said, almost a whisper. From her, I sensed anger as well, but it was more controlled. “Damn it! This is your ss!”
I put my hands up, deciding not to ss with either’s emotions. “Woah, hey! I didn’t start this—I’ve no idea why Envy is siding with the cult that ford out of the old Inquisition, or why they’re going after . Besides a lust for power, I guess. But that’s not my fault!”
“You could’ve stayed sowhere away from people!”
“You ever lived alone on a deserted island? Because I have—for two years—and it’s terrible. Plus, I think my connections to people and the power I have now are both why I’m being targeted and what we can use to beat them. The cult and Envy wouldn’t just do nothing if I weren’t around. They probably see as a threat and are acting early.”
Kerra’s jaw tensed as she thought, her anger simring away quietly. “Will you help us here then?”
“If you know where the demon or the culprit is, I will. But I need to get ho before my family and the people I am responsible for are put in more danger.”
Kerra and I were interrupted by the clack of a teacup set down with force.
“A mont.” Arina looked between the two of us, glaring. “I will hear how you t, but first: What do you an by ‘Wrath’, why is it important, and how does Captain Kerra know?”
I looked to Kerra, but she threw the expression right back at , so I faced the duchess. “I resolved the issue of a demon murdering veterans in the city, that’s how we t—and I told her then that I am Wrath.”
Arina narrowed her eyes. “You’re being evasive—and answering out of order. What do you an by ‘resolved?’”
I was about to ask how she could tell, but I rembered her comnt about masks. I was never the best liar even when I wasn’t caught off guard. “I resolved it, but I don’t think it wise to say all the details.”
I got a raised eyebrow in response. “Kerra,” she said, still looking at . “Report on what happened to ‘resolve’ this.”
Shit.
“She subdued the demon, then took it with her.”
The “it” grated on , and I felt the duchess’s anger rising.
“Care to explain, Marchioness?”
“I saved her” —I put extra emphasis on the word— “because she’d lost herself to her wrath, but wasn’t completely gone.” At my words, the temperature in the room seed to drop, the welcoming atmosphere contracting into ice-cold tension.
“What gave you the right?”
Duchess Kapel hadn’t asked it like a question, but I answered it anyway. “I am the Sovereign of Wrath. She was one of mine, astray.”
“That demon was a murderer. That demon killed my people, on my soil.”
“Would you rather they died?”
Arina stood up and leaned over , unafraid in her anger. “Yes. I would. I was apprised of those killings and their brutality; I was working both myself and those I could hire hard as I dared to stop them. I rember that report: you killed the rcenary who was hired, and who could have succeeded without your ‘help.’"
“I was working with them, intent to kill the demon myself, when I was shot in the back.”
“Perhaps you should have left the demon hunter to do their job then.”
“I was a rcenary at the ti. Captain Kerra hired .”
Duchess Kapel’s nostrils flared, and her pupils shrank. Her anger was white-hot, but controlled. “Then you should have known better than to interfere. You did not have the right! Idealist or no, you killed a valuable asset and saved a psychopathic killer monster! I didn’t see a demon like that with you, and you’ve avoided the answer: who did they kill next? How did all that work out for you?” Her voice gained a venomous edge, but I could hear the hurt underneath, plain as day.
I almost snapped. Almost leapt off of the sofa and did sothing I’d forever regret because of how my daughter was being dragged through the mud. But I controlled my anger, not the other way around.
Duchess Kapel was furious, but she had every right to be. My idealism had died in that abandoned church that day—no, it had been tempered. My naivete had died. To get there, I’d taken unnecessary risks and made mistakes that I could possibly have avoided.
But I wouldn’t change any of it and risk the daughter I now had. Even if, given another chance, Vivian might have lived and turned from foe to ally.
The icy silence between us was a long one, but Duchess Arina Kapel t my gaze without fear and full of conviction, and she didn’t waver.
“My decision to save them is the only reason you’re alive—and I don’t an that as a threat.”
Duchess Kapel blinked, then hissed, “What?”
Trust for trust. My daughter had chosen to show her magic, and exactly how it differed from normal holy magic would get out if it hasn’t already. We made no special case of it to the Duchess, and the fact that she saw fit to hide such a detail when she thought Kerra didn’t know ant I had no reason to be cagey.
Except for the Guard Captain.
I glanced at Kerra, then back at the duchess. She got the hint imdiately.
“I apologize you had to see such an argunt, Captain Kerra.” Her eyes were hard, her face schooled into a placid neutrality. “Please wait in the hall for us.”
The guard captain in question’s gaze flickered between us before she nodded stiffly. “As you will, Duchess.”
She retreated quickly, and I waited until the enchantnts were back in place before I continued. “The demon from that day is my daughter.”
The duchess’s forced placidity evaporated, and she leaned over the table at , eyes wide and lips tight. “That doesn’t make any sense!”
I tilted my chin up and crossed my arms. “Sey and I adopted her—and she changed in appearance after a contract with . Her wrath is under control now, and due to events I don’t want to discuss and I can barely understand, she has the only magic that could have healed you.”
Duchess Kapel’s eyes went wide. “You cannot be serious. And… how could a demon heal a demonic poison anyway? Dhias, how could I have failed to think of that impossibility already?”
“She got so of Sey’s magic, and so of mine. Well, more like the ‘demon’ part of mine and Sey’s holy magic.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You’re alive.”
“It had to be another kind of demon magic, like burning a line through a forest so a fire won’t spread.”
“My daughter has demonic holy magic, Duchess. Seyari failed to heal you—and she’s three-quarters angel. No one short of a full angel could have healed you—if that—except Joisse.”
“That’s not possible.” Duchess Kapel slamd her palm down onto the table, nearly leaping off her couch.
“It is and I don’t know why and I don’t fully understand how.”
She slumped back onto the sofa, cradling her head in her hands. “Is… was the poison the only thing that changed my appearance?” Her voice sounded… defeated.
“No—but it was part of it.”
“You knew that would happen.”
“I know.” I bit my lip. “I made the choice because you’d die otherwise.”
Duchess Kapel looked down into her lap, at the blue hands folded there. “What if my life had beco worse than death?”
The comnt hit hard—I hadn’t considered it. But… I knew what it was like, in a way. “I… know what it’s like to hate the body you’re in.”
“Do you really? You seem plenty able to change yours.”
“I wasn’t always a demon.”
“Did you have horns?”
I took a deep breath, preparing myself. I imagined Abby’s hand on my shoulder, propping up. “As a human, I was born in a man’s body.”
The duchess—no, Arina—furrowed her brow. “But…”
“I hated it.” I pointed to my face, jaw trembling. My eyes cast down, and the familiar view of my chest blocking the hand still in my lap reassured . “I hated every part of it except my eyes. It was just… wrong.”
I expected to receive a pointed barb, but instead Arina’s face softened. “How did you deal with it?” She reached up and touched one of her horns, eliciting a full-body shudder.
My heart sank, and I wanted nothing more than to give her a hug.
So I tried to—but not without asking, arms at the ready and as human as I could make them. “May I?”
Arina shook her head, but she couldn’t stop a smile, and she wiped at the tears that had started to form. “No, it’s—I’ll be alright. Just another mask to—"
“No.” I cut her off, though I did move across the table and sit back down. “It’s sothing we’ll find an answer to. There’s magic out there to aid in changing one’s body. We’ll find a way to get your body made right, or we’ll make one if there’s not.”
My words, and the abruptness of my tone startled Arina, and her eyes moistened again, though she quickly blinked it away. “I’ll hold you to that.”
I nodded sharply.
“As for… your daughter, Joisse.” Duchess Arina Kapel stood up and bowed, swaying a little. “I am sorry for disparaging her. I believe you that she was not of sound mind for her killings, and I believe her choice to save lives is worth far more than any punishnt could serve.”
And just like that, any last lingering doubt in the room vanished, along with the duchess’s anger, into warmth once more.
“Thank you, Arina. Your forgiveness won’t be forgotten.” I picked up the pot, and poured myself another cup of tea. At her gesture, I filled hers as well.
She took it, inhaling the steam before she started again, suddenly seeming far more tired. “You called yourself the ‘Sovereign of Wrath’. What does that an?”
“I am the ‘pri’ Wrath demon—it’s a title passed down. In theory it ans I’m the strongest wrath demon, but I’m not certain I am.”
“You seem well above the average greater demon. Just how strong do you an?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You ntioned a demonic war. I know which side I’ll be throwing my lot in with now that I’m certain I’ll not be able to escape involvent, and I’d like to know my chances.”
“Well, at my full strength, I could level Gedon in minutes.”
She spat her tea back out into the cup. “Don’t you dare make that comparison!”
“Sorry!” I winced and put my hands up. “I… it was just the first thing that ca to mind—Astrye’s too small, and Linthel’s too large.”
Arina glanced into her cup, made a face, and drank it down. “Well it’s done now—but don’t do it again. You said you might not be the strongest?”
“Envy is much stronger.”
She gestured with one hand. “Hence your need for allies.”
“Partly. I have my own ally stronger than myself as well, though the gap’s probably closer.”
Arina leaned forward. “Who?”
I matched her across the table, whispering despite the room’s enchantnt. “Lust.” No point in spilling every single detail about her, though.
Her brow furrowed and she frowned. “Really?”
“Yes. Lust is actually quite nice all things considered.” I should make those tea cakes again.
“I… see.” Arina leaned back again and looked over at the portrait, a complex expression I couldn’t read on her face. “So we may not be dood, but we’re small fish in a big pond, and that pond might get destroyed in the fighting.”
“Unfortunately, yes. Which is also why I need to get back to Astrye tonight.”
“I would appreciate it if you could at least attempt to aid Captain Kerra.” She glanced over at .
“I can attempt, but I can’t stay.”
“Unfortunate.” She set the cup down and folded her hands. “But I understand and would do the sa for Gedon. Now, about your aid request…”
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