“Max, Keenan, and Dolan,” I said, pointing to each of them in turn.

  They lit up like it was a trick I’d performed instead of just remembering their names.

  “And you’re not brothers?”

  All three cracked up laughing. Keenan leaned into Dolan like the words had knocked the breath out of him.

  “These two better hope not,” Dolan said, elbowing Max, who went crimson on the spot.

  I glanced between Max and Keenan, one grinning, the other trying to melt through the deck, and felt a smile tug at my mouth. “Well, you’re lucky to have found someone.”

  Max flushed deeper, looking everywhere but at me. He jerked his chin at the others like he’d suddenly remembered they were meant to be working.

  A shadow shifted at the edge of my vision.

  “Oh, don’t stop on my account,” Susan said, stepping up beside me with a drink in her hand.

  Max straightened. “We should get back to work before someone notices we’re gone.”

  “See you later, Miss Joy,” Dolan added as they made their exit, Keenan flashing me a quick wave before disappearing around the corner.

  I could hear their excited whispers fading as they moved across the deck.

  ‘She remembers our names!’

  ‘Told you she was listening.’

  ‘Gods, your voice cracked like three times.’

  ‘She smiled at you and your forgot your own name!’

  I listened until their voices faded.

  “They’re sweet.”

  “They’re cute,” Susan replied, settling into the seat beside me.

  I gave her a sideways look.

  She shrugged, entirely unbothered. “What? I’m on holiday.”

  “You’re with Gerard.”

  “That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy looking.” She sipped her drink, then tipped her head as she watched a 20-something waiter cross the deck. “Or thinking.”

  I watched her for a beat, relaxed, like it was normal to want something just because you wanted it. I didn’t know if I’d ever felt that free. I let out a slow breath and tapped my fingers against the table.

  At the sound, Susan turned toward me, folding her hands on the table. “You ever wanted two things at the same time?”

  Not subtle. For someone who could cut with precision, this question felt more like stabbing just to see what would bleed.

  Still, it landed.

  “All the time.”

  Susan didn’t move. Just watched. Giving me space to say more if I wanted to.

  “It’s not the wanting that’s confusing. Loving more than one person isn’t the hard part. It’s figuring out what I’m allowed to do about it.”

  Susan gave a small nod. “Those two don’t make it easy.”

  I huffed a breath, not quite a laugh. “No. They really don’t.”

  “What’s going on up at that estate?”

  “Nothing, that’s the problem.”

  “Well, what do you want to be happening?”

  “Selwyn is… steady. He’s kind, and consistent. He sees me.”

  “And Jacobi? From what I have heard, he has very specific tastes…”

  My hand drifted to my collar, before I could control it. Susan’s eyes lit up in understanding that I didn’t even have yet.

  “So that’s not just for show?”

  “He didn’t see me like this. I thought I understood the rules between us, but the other day-”

  I shook my head, frustrated with myself more than anything. “We had a quick conversation before I left. It raised more questions than it answered. I’d just come from talking to Selwyn. I thought I wasn’t confused anymore. And then Jacobi just…”

  Susan reached out and laid her hand over mine, warm and steady.

  “No one is telling you to make any decisions right now. You have enough on your plate with Ellah.”

  The sound of her name shot through me like a bolt, and I straightened instinctively before I knew I was moving. My hand slipped out from under Susan’s, more reflex than refusal.

  “You’re right. I don’t have time to be thinking about any of this.”

  I kept my eyes on the water. Susan was one of the few people who cared for me as a person, not just for what I could do for her. I didn’t want to pull her any deeper into this than I already had. I had already ruined enough of her holiday.

  “Are you going to come back?” she asked quietly.

  “I have to make sure Ellah’s safe first. Once she is, I’ll deal with Marcelo.”

  Susan’s fingers tightened around her glass. “You’re still going through with it, then. The trade.”

  I nodded.

  “Do you really think he’ll just let her go?”

  “No, not if he thinks he can keep up both.”

  I could feel Susan’s eyes searching my face carefully.

  “Why would he risk it? What does he want with her?”

  “She’s royal.” I said simply, finally looking back at her.

  That landed. Susan blinked, once, slow.

  “Demon royalty?”

  “She’s more than that. She is mine to protect. That’s what I was trained for, what I was sworn to do.”

  Susan leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing in thought. “Marcelo has no idea what he’s done.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “No, but he’s about to.”

  I felt the shift before I heard his voice. Conversations cutting off, a breath held too long. A chair scraped softly as someone shifted away from our side of the deck.

  “Am I interrupting?” Gerard’s voice was low. Controlled. He was trying not to draw attention, although everyone would be watching him.

  I didn’t look at him. Just pushed the empty chair out with my foot.

  “Sit. We’re just talking.”

  His steps were measured this time. No heavy footfalls.

  Susan gave him a small nod, and that was all it took. He sat beside her, arms crossed over his chest, his gaze fixed on the new table between us.

  I kept my eyes on Susan.

  “I’ll get Ellah safe, kill Marcelo, and then head home.”

  “To the demon realm?”

  Susan’s question startled me. I hadn’t realised what I said until she asked.

  “No, I meant the estate.”

  The words sat heavier than I expected. It has always been the Velez Estate. Or the house. Never home.

  But I’d said it easily, like it was obvious.

  Maybe because it was. When I thought about where I’d go after this, when the work was done, when Ellah was safe, and Marcelo was… no longer a threat, all I wanted was the stables. The back gardens. Selwyn’s voice in the dark. Jacobi’s silence.

  It wasn’t safe, it wasn’t soft. But it was mine.

  Gerard shifted, just enough to draw my attention without speaking. He didn’t look at me, but I felt the question waiting.

  “How will you find Marcelo?” he asked finally.

  “I have people on the mainland. Old contacts. They’ll help me.”

  It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. I knew the next move, but saying it out loud felt like surrendering something. So I kept it simple.

  Across the table, Gerard’s mouth twitched. “You’re going to see Jasper?”

  I hadn’t planned to. She wasn’t part of the mission. But the thought of her—sharp smile, soft voice, and as many knives as secrets—caught me off guard. I didn’t bother hiding the smile it brought to my face.

  “It’s been a long time since I caught up with Miss Jasper.”

  Gerard leaned back with a grin, as if he knew exactly what kind of memory I was sitting in.

  “You know, I feel like there’s a joke I’m missing.” Susan’s eyes flicked between us.

  “She’s an old friend. From Naerith.”

  “That’s one word for it. She’s also the reason that general in Daleth still speaks with a lisp.”

  Susan raised an eyebrow. “Do I want to know?”

  “She’s skilled. Good at gathering information. Better at moving people where she wants them.”

  Gerard chuckled. “You just miss her.”

  “I am looking forward to having her back as an ally. She’s one of several old friends I might need to visit.”

  But Gerard’s comment stuck.

  Whatever was written on my face, I let it fade.

  That general in Daleth… he’d humiliated the wrong girl and Jasper had acted, fast, and publicly. She’d shattered his jaw with a wine bottle before anyone could stand. Two demons were dead by dawn. Twelve more were taken in the sweeps that followed. But the real damage came later. The court fractured. Three family alliances were dissolved. A border province closed its gates to outsiders for nearly five years.

  All because there had been no one in place to say not yet. No orders, no restraint. She did what she believed was right, and the realm bled for it.

  If word got out about Ellah, something worse could happen. She wasn’t just Naerithi, she was royal. Her name held weight, even in this realm. And here there was no command to fall back on, no structure to guide the blow. If there was a rebellion, all humans would be fair prey.

  I’d been planning to go in alone. Get Ellah, kill Marcelo. Keep it clean.

  But even if I succeeded, there were no guarantees. Not with an alliance already this fragile.

  One whisper in the wrong ears was all it would take to start something we couldn’t control.

  It wouldn’t be precision, it wouldn’t be justice, it would be chaos. Retaliation without structure.

  I didn’t just need allies. I needed discipline. Bound oaths. Something the Naerithi would listen to.

  I looked at Gerard. “We don’t have anyone here to rely on. When something happens, there’s no one to ask. No one to go to. Naerithi are scattered, hiding, waiting for the next thing to go wrong.”

  Gerard let out a slow breath. “Are you talking about the Blades?”

  Susan’s brow knit. “The what?”

  “They were in a guild in Naerith. Not just fighters—assassins, enforcers. Not a military. They kept the balance. Quietly.”

  Susan turned her gaze on me, understanding flooding her features. “And you were one?”

  “I was raised to be one.”

  Gerard leaned back in the seat. I caught the flick of his eyes towards Susan, brief, like he was already picturing how this would look to others.

  “If the Naerithi start following orders from anyone other than the humans… they’ll panic. And you know how humans are when they panic. They won’t care what you’re building. Only that you’re moving against them.”

  “It’s not about movement. I’m not calling them to act. I’m holding them back.”

  Susan set her glass down with a clatter. Her voice was quiet, but there was no softness in it.

  “The council won’t see it that way. They’ve spent the last decade tightening rules around demon movement, trade, housing. Anything that looks like coordination makes them nervous. They don’t care about intent. Only about risk. Anything that looks like organisation? They’ll treat it like rebellion, and they’ll act before you have the chance to explain otherwise.”

  I didn’t argue. Because she wasn’t wrong.

  “You shouldn’t be doing this. Not here, not now. You’re not trained to run a guild.” Gerard’s voice was tight with concern.

  “Someone has to act. We escaped our realm only to be buried under something else. Collars, controls, threats. Some are treated worse here than at home!”

  “You’re going to save them, then? You think you know what’s best for all of us? You sound like Naerith!”

  Susan’s soft voice cut through the tension. “…The realm?”

  I took a breath, careful not to let my words come out too sharp. “The god. She rules the realm. Not with belief, but with control.”

  Susan only nodded. No more questions, but I could see the unease in her eyes. The careful way she folded her hands in her lap. She was smart enough to know this was bigger than she originally thought.

  “She isn’t the only god we have.”

  Gerard’s voice carried a soft reverence. “Tesharen.”

  I nodded. “She was a god too, But she didn’t sit on a throne or back orders from above. She walked among the people. She chose her moments. And when she struck, it was never in the wrong place.”

  Sharing that with Susan felt strange. Not wrong, just…odd. These weren’t bedtime stories or ancient myths. They were truths we didn’t speak in this realm. Not because they wouldn’t believe them, they took the idea of demons easily enough. But because we didn’t know what the humans would do with the gods if they did know.

  And for Gerard to name Tesharen out loud, in this context, I knew what was coming next.

  I felt the silence shift, not uncertain, just waiting.

  “Do you act in the name of Tesharen?”

  “I always have.”

  He studied me a long moment. “You claim knowledge of her will. In this realm?”

  This was the line.

  Tesharen wasn’t a goddess you invoked without consequence. She didn’t speak often, but when she moved, people noticed. People died. I’d grown up with those stories. Trained in their shadow.

  But this wasn’t about visions or divine whispers. It wasn’t even about faith.

  “Yes.”

  The word sat heavy between us. Susan looked at me like she wanted to ask what I meant, but didn’t. She was too sharp for that.

  Gerard didn’t blink, just took a slow breath before speaking again.

  “On what grounds do you claim the Blades?”

  The words carried weight. Not ceremony for tradition’s sake, but something older. Spoken only when you meant to stand behind the answer.

  It was a strange place for it. No hall, no circle of witnesses. Just three people and the open sea. But somehow it felt right. No borders, no jurisdiction, no human land beneath my feet.

  I didn’t flinch.

  “Heritage.”

  I also didn’t elaborate.

  After a moment, Gerard nodded. “I won’t pry. Know you have my support. Know also that you will be watched closely in your actions.”

  “I’m not here to make promises. Just to do what needs doing.”

  Gerard gave me a half-smile. “Good hunting, Tesh’ilia. Make sure you give Marcelo all he deserves.”

  He raised his glass and I lifted mine to meet it. Susan followed a breath behind, the almost-empty glass steady in her hand.

  The clink between us was quiet. Not a celebration, just an acknowledgement.

  Susan took a sip and muttered into her cup, “Well. That wasn’t dramatic at all.”

  Gerard let out a short laugh of surprise, which set me off into laughter.

  I still had work to do.

  But I didn’t feel so alone facing it anymore.