"Lady Edna says we should arrive in Zeipher by midday tomorrow," Reika noted, approag Lydia and I sheepishly. Taking a deep breath, she turo Lydia. "I've also been asked to be princess ne's swords instructor. I hope you'll allow me the honor, though I know it is undeserved."

  "It's her sent you need, not mine," Lydia replied looking away. She was trying to fake disi, but her fidgeting tail made it easy to tell she was uneasy.

  "You and Bir are both very protective of the princess. While it is ultimately her right to reject me, I wao make sure you were not unfortable with it."

  "I'm not unfortable with you teag her. Having you around... just reminds me I am not as strong as I believed."

  "If you were any strohat day, I would've died right there in the dungeon. It may be foolish of me to say this, but I'm gd you were weak enough for me to survive. I'm very gracious to still draw breath," Reika forced a smile as she spoke.

  Sensing Lydia's unwillio tinue her versation with Reika, I signed my willio be trained. Since Bir had stepped away, Lydia dutifully transted for me, stepping aside to give Reika and I room to train.

  "Before we begin, I must ask what it is you're attempting to learn. From what I saw, you're already aremely adept swordswoman."

  My hands froze. What could I possibly say? Reika remembered her time as a demon. Which meant she also remembered the skill I dispyed while uhe influence of Rochelle's Phantasmal Marioe spell. How could I possibly expin to her that I was actually a beginner?

  Would I have to tell Reika about Rochelle? I'd only just told Bir, and Edna still didn't know. As much as I liked Reika, and was gd to have her, we were still strangers. I wasn't ready to share my secrets with her, not unless I absolutely had to.

  "Lady ne had a magical item which imbued her with that power," Bir answered appearing behind Reika. "It was given to her as a means of proteg herself when everyone else failed. Unfortunately, it was something she could only use onext time she faces a demon, she will have to rely on her own strength."

  "Bir..." Reika turo look at Bir, rexing her shoulders.

  "Did you need something, Viander?"

  "Are you okay with this? I'll never fet how terrified you—"

  "It's fine," Bir replied, cutting Reika off. "I feared a demon would kill Lady ne, and that demon is gone. You are someone I've long respected. With all due respect, Viander, I refuse to hold a grudge against you personally. Even if you order me to."

  "Well I hardly be giving you orders now," Reika smiled, her gaze turning bae. "Not when you've found someone more worthy than the order to follow."

  "My oath to Lady ne has beore important than the knighthood."

  "Though it should depress me to hear a promising healer no longer sees the knight's order in her future, I'm proud of you. I also look forward to getting to know you better as fellow members of princess ne's ente."

  "I too look forward t closer ties with you, Reika."

  Grinning softly, Reika refocused on me, holding out a sword for me to take. "Tell me princess, if those were not your true skills, what do you know about wielding a sword?"

  I shook my head. ?I'm a plete beginner with swords. I was taught how to defend myself with a dagger, and I have a little experieh archery.?

  "A plete beginner," Reika's eyes widened as she looked to Lydia and Bir for firmation. It seemed as if her memory of ht made it difficult for her to believe I had no experience. Even after accepting that most of my skill had e from a magic item.

  "Well then," Reika tinued after Lydia and Bir both o firm I was a novice. "We'll start with your stand some basic exercises and go from there."

  Reika and I trained until it became too dark to see. Only then did we turn in for the night. The m we set off for Zeipher. Just as Edna had predicted, we arrived around midday, just before the sun reached its peak.

  "Lady ne," Edna called out to me as Bir helped me out of our carriage. "You'll be with me today. Lydia too. If you don't mind Bir, I'd like to ask you stay here at the inn with the rest of our ente."

  "But why?" Bir asked, furrowing her brow.

  "If we travel as a rge group, it could make us stand out in the wrong way," Edna noted, pg a hand on Bir's shoulder. "I assure you I won't let anything happen to her."

  "Uood." It was obvious Bir didn't agree with Edna's decision, but she wasn't going to question it any further. I too didn't quite uand why Bir couldn't stay with me, but I didn't know enough to refute it.

  "Does Rochelle reize anything?" Lydia whispered quiet enough that Edna and Bir's human ears wouldn't be able to hear.

  "The city has ged a lot since my st memories of it," Rochelle replied psychically to me. "The entrance used to be in a small temple dedicated to Cheimul."

  ?We're looking for a temple to Cheimul. It should be really old.?

  Lydia's eye twitched. The fur oail puffed out, as she stared at me in shock. She was making me nervous. Did she know the temple I spoke of?

  ?Do you know of it??

  "No," Lydia's voice carried a cold chill I was unaced too. The sound of it made me want to cry. Was she angry with me? "I just wasn't expeg your friend to be based out of a temple to the moddess of death."

  "There's o be so dramatic, Lydia," Edna ed her arm around my shoulders. "Cheimul is also the goddess of water. It's not hard to imagine why the people might want to pray to her specifically."

  "I guess. e o's start searg," Lydia beed Edna and I to follow after her.

  As we walked dowreets of Zeipher I was surprised how makin there were. Humans were still the dominant species, but I noticed far more non-humans than I'd seen anywhere else.

  "The lord of Zeipher is a beastkin," Edna he look on my face must have been obvious enough to give away my thoughts without me saying anything. My face flushed slightly. I hoped no one else noticed.

  "Zeipher's lord is Baroness Katarina," Lydia added. "Her father was a vist. The day of his funeral we received word his family had beeed to mere barons. The city nearly rioted."

  "I heard about that. King Loren's advisors cimed Zeipher had lost all strategic importand the family had dotle to develop it."

  "Yeah. I doubt anyone here has any love for the King or his advisors." Lydia ented abrasively.

  Lydia tio transte for me, so that Edna and I could make small talk as we explored the city. She added nothing further to our versation. Lydia seemed high-strung, her eyes dartiween shadows as if she expected for there to be hidden dangerous around every er.

  Given Lydia's unease, I couldn't help but assume Zeipher was more dangerous than it seemed. To my eye the city seemed peaceful, vibrant even. The people were smiling, and there were children pying ireets. But maybe none of that meant anything. Lydia had said her family might try to kill me. Only she knew hoable they could be.

  "Are beastkin inally from the mountains?" I asked Rochelle as we searched, w if perhaps that was why I saw so many in Zeipher.

  "No." Rochelle replied. A short sileretched between us before she tinued. As if she was debating whether it was okay to tell me more. *"Zeipher o on the border of a kingdom predating the Nakara of today. Makin were scripted and stationed here. Sihey could not leave without being charged with desertion, this is where their families were raised. Thus Zeipher became a city of beastkin. The popution was even higher during Katina's lifetime."

  "If all of the saints were human, why are the Seeds here?"

  *"After Ingrid's murder they sought out a pce where they could operate in secrecy. Given the number of a mine shafts running underh the city, Zeipher was the perfect location."

  "Lydia," As the setting sun bathed Zeipher's streets in hues e, Edna grabbed Lydia by the wrist and forced her to stop. The ued act caught me off guard and I nearly walked into the two of them.

  "Getting tired, Edna?" Lydia nearly sneered as she spoke. "o return to the inn?"

  "I'm fine," Edna's eyes narrowed. "But there's no point in you tinuing to lead us."

  "Why's that?"

  "You've beey crafty. It took me a while to realize what you were doing. You're explicitly weaving through the city's south and south-eastern streets to disorient us. You're trying to trick us into believing we've covered mround thaually have."

  "I've dohing of the sort. Zeipher is quite rge, there is no way we'd be able to see it all in one day."

  "You kly where we're trying to go. Yet instead of leading us there, you're sabotaging our search. Why is that, Lydia?"

  "Bullshit. I'm just as unsure of where we're going as you are!"

  "You're far too on edge for someone who knows nothing. If yoing to act against our best is, you're not worth keeping around, prowess be damned."

  Edna and Lydia stared each other down. I watched them, frightehey would sooer each other's throats.

  "Tell me Lydia, why should we tio rely on you, instead of just plying some beggars with ?" Edna anded, straightening her spine.

  "I grew up in Zeipher! I know this city better than anyone else."

  "Which means you should kly where Cheimul's temple is. So why aren't you taking us there?"

  Lydia gred at Edna for a moment, and then her shoulder's slumped. Tears filled her eyes as she turo me. "I'll give you anything, ne. But not this. Anything but this."

  "What are you talking about?" Edna sighed. "You're one of the most powerful people I've ever met, and I hope you believe something simir about me. There is no threat the two of us ot face. How you be so spooked?"

  "You don't uand," Lydia's lips trembled as she grabbed a handful of her own hair. "I... I should've never let ne e here. This pce isn't safe for her. I thought it would be okay, I was wrong."

  "Why?" Edna's tone softened as she took a step toward Lydia. Never in my life had I seen Lydia look so distraught. She was terrified, but I couldn't uand why.

  "We have to leave!" Lydia grabbed me and began pulling me dowreet. "I 't do this, you shouldn't be here. I should've asked where you were going, I didn't realize. Not there."

  I stumbled forward as Lydia pulled on my arm, barely keeping myself upright. Her grip was tight enough it was hurting me.

  "Lydia, that's enough," Edna broke out in a run to put herself in front of Lydia. "Stop and tell us what is going on."

  "he target!" Lydia hissed, her eyes going wide. "She's the one I was after."

  "What?"

  My heart lurched. Lydia had told me her family would try to kill me, because I'd kept her away from them. It'd been a lie, maybe even one of several. When I cried in her arms, she'd told me her secret. Lydia had said she'd been hired to kill Elise, was that a lie too? How could both Elise and I have beearget?

  "I 't say, we just have to leave."

  "Lydia," Edna grabbed Lydia by the arms. "If you care about ne's life, you'll start telling us what we o know. Now isn't the time for secrets. If you want us to leave, you have to give us something more than your paranoia."

  A pained sob escaped Lydia's throat, "Father seo kidnap ne. I was supposed to kill Elise, and drag her back to Zeipher. He didn't care if she came willingly."

  "Why?"

  "He... believed she was the saint."

  "What... how? And you didn't?" Edna's brows furrowed as she looked at Lydia trying to make sense of what she was telling us. Lydia had lived with me for three years, never once had she said anything about me being the saint. She'd even looked fused wheold her what I was.

  "She wasn't the first. Anytime anyoed a possible saint, Father would send us t the girl back. After my first mission I swore I'd do everything in my power to be nothing more than a bad memory. The girls we would kidnap didn't deserve to have their lives ruined on suspis alone. But... I reized the lotus mark on ne's palm immediately. After dedig myself to saving girls who were false leads, I had no idea what to do when faced with the saint herself."

  ?If you khe truth,? I sigears falling from my eyes. ?Why'd you leave me in the forest? Why didn't you stay by my side??

  "Azmoria's pendant," Lydia sighed. "She was wearing the saint's i around her neck. When you began to ge, I took a gamble that she'd figure it out. I couldn't protect you, but if I fled, you'd have her full attention. I hoped that'd be enough. That she'd spare you, even if it meant you were exposed. I alo save you, I just ime."

  ?And how I be sure that you're not just telling another lie??

  "ne I—" Lydia blinked away tears. "I didn't even know how to tell the truth! I was terrified you'd be afraid of me if you learned I had bee after you. I stalked you in Duwan for weeks, firmed the lotus mark on your hand, and I was lost. In the end, I betrayed you. Instead of warning you, I attacked Elise. If she hadn't bested me in the forest that day I was going to kill her and drag you home. How could I possibly tell you that? I don't want to lose you, ne!"

  ?You're lying again! How could Elise ever defeat you??

  "She khe terrain," Lydia's eyes dulled as she slipped into memories. "I'll never know how she saw me ing, or why she seemed to know I po kill her. I kept meaning to ask, but I was terrified t it up. Our life together was like a dream, and I was so afraid if I mentioned anything about what I'd e to do, it'd all crumble into dust.

  "Elise lured me right into a poisonous thorn bush. I was so focused on her, I missed it. After that, our battle went as you expect. I became more delirious as the fight wore on. All Elise had to do was outst me."

  ?And then she brought you home, and you gave up? Why??

  "I don't know what you wao say! Attag Elise was a misguided mistake. My whole life I trained for that moment. I was taught the saint was a on who o be honed for the good of the world. But, that isn't who I was. I let dogma guide me when my thoughts became clouded. It was a moment of weakness. I never want to risk your happiness ever again. You deserve to be happy, ne. You deserve the right to choose what to do with your life."

  ?How could I be happy when the person I trust more than anyone else in the world is lying to me? Why didn't you trust me??

  "Because... All I've ever been is a fake. From the mome, I've told nothing but lies. The fake self I created is the Lydia you love. The true me is a monster. Just a seed po cage the lotus in my father's greenhouse. I'm supposed to kill the people she loves, destroy her attats, give her no choice but to ply with our will. I'd rather be fake! Being a failed assassin is better than being someone born and raised to harm you!"

  Seed? My eyes widened. We'd e searg for the Seeds of the Lotus, but was it possible I'd had o my side this whole time? Was Lydia truly one of them? They were supposed to be allies of the saint, but what Lydia described didn't sound like allies I ever wanted.

  ?Are you one of the—? Before I could finish signing a shadow desded over me. Somethiallid cold pressed against my neck.

  "What a cute little wolf!" The girl holding me giggled. Her voice sounded almost like Lydia's but higher pitched.

  "Pia!" Lydia growled, drawing her dagger. "Unhand her!"

  "Oh, Big sis, don't be so dramatic. You'll cause a se, and father always hated it when we caused a se." Pia singsonged ing her free hand around my waist. "Aww the poor cutie is so thin! Are you even feeding her? Well, don't you worry, cutie, I'll treat you better than my sister. e o's go home. I'll make you a big dinner and we'll talk all night, just you and I."

  "If father finds out you held a ko the saint's throat, he'll kill you."

  My head spun. I'd only just discovered the truth about Lydia's family, and now I was being held hostage by her sister? Did she not fear what Lydia would do to her? Was she truly unafraid of angering Edna? Both of them looked ready to strike. If Pia didn't release me soon I feared what'd happen to her.

  "Father's not in charge anymore," Pia snickered. "I'm calling the shots now. And I've made a new friend. Someone who's quite desperate to speak with our darling little saint. It'd be a real shame if she left the city before meeting him."

  "Unhand her," Edna uncorked a vial of ichor. "Or you'll die where you stand."

  "Too slow," Pia stuck her to at Lydia. The distinct iron-tinged smell of ichor reached my nose as Lydia and Edna's expressions shifted to terror. My vision bled, and the world went dark.

  I colpsed to my knees, feeling nothing but cold stoh me. Despite my superihtvision, I couldn't see a thing. Even my hearing seemed muted as if their air itself refused to carry sound.

  My heart quied. I wao run, but I had no idea where I was. I couldn't even tell if there ce to run to. What'd happeo me? Who was it Pia wanted me to meet? Was it a demon?

  "Calm yourself, ne. I"m right here with you." Rochelle cooed softly.

  "What'd she do?! Am I dead? Is this what being dead feels like?!"

  "You are pletely unharmed. Lydia's sister used a teleportation spell on you. Givehing we know, I would assume you've bee somewhere in the mines."

  "Am I going to die down here?!"

  "No, hoeleportation requires the caster to be extremely familiar with the location they're sending their target to. Pia likely sent you here in hopes she could get you to herself, but she ot teleport herself away. She is likely regretting ever toug you as we speak."

  Taking deep breaths to calm myself, I sat patiently and waited. Rochelle was right, Lydia would e for me. She wouldn't stop until I was at her side once again. All I had to do was wait.

  As I waited, doubt began to gnaw at the bay mind. What if Lydia didn't e? I didn't want the st thing I ever said to her be me saying I wasn't happy with her. My emotions were raw, she'd lied to me. But I still cared for her. I wao trust her, but it was hard.

  "Lydia wouldn't leave me... would she?"

  *"No. Though her life has been more plex than you or I ever knew, I do not doubt that she loves you dearly. She did lie aainly deserves your ire, but that doesn't take away all the good things she's done for you."

  "Were the Seeds always like this? Kidnapping any girl who might be the saint. Ruining lives?"

  "They were always zealous, but never like this. Whatever they are now, this is nothing like the Seeds I remember from the lifetimes of any of your older sisters. Somewhere over the st few turies, they've bee corrupted by their duty. You need not do anything now, but if possible we may o put ao them. We ot allow future geions to suffer such rogues."

  "Guess they're not going to help me find that book of spells."

  "We know they still exist, which means their headquarters here in Zeipher should have been maintained. With Lydia's help, maybe we search its libraries for what we desire."

  A soft sigh escaped me as I id ba the cold stone floor. My heart thumped loudly in my chest as the darkness around me seemed to grow heavier. It was too much. I wao run away. I wao be anywhere but here.

  "Lydia..." I pleaded silently for a swift rescue. My anxious mind pying trie in the dark.

  Distant foot falls echoed off of stone. I sat up, straining my ears to listen. Someone was ing toward me. From the sound, it was only a single person. They were walking slowly, as if they had all the time in the world. A grasping fear sprouted in my chest. Lydia wouldn't walk that slowly. She would be rushing to my side.

  Whoever was ing for me, it wasn't someone I knew. Light began to bleed into sight, giving me my first glimpse of the stounnel I found myself in. The walls oher side had been dug out to create holding cells, one of which I was in. Thick rusted iron bars held me ihere was no path for me to escape. Whoever was ing, I had to pray they didn't want me dead.

  eri