Cal harbored no illusions about this trip going off without a hitch. Something would inevitably go wrong. Naively, he assumed this would happen after he left.

  Standing at the arch signifying where the stables started, Cal was considering whether to turn around and call the whole thing off. The decision might not even lie with him, as while he could not hear what was being discussed, he could see Rolland and a man engaged in a verbal spar. The man was lanky, with curly, dark gray hair. He was dressed in brown robes accented with gold. Cal could not see what he wore underneath, but he did notice an inordinately poofy hat on his head. With his age and attire, Cal determined he was a member of the faculty.

  The two men were standing in front of the stable's main building. The misshapen structure lay sprawled out in the corner of campus, functioning both as a home for the various beasts inside and as a wall, sectioning off the exterior pens behind it from the curious student body. It did not look to have been built in a single effort, having different types of stone and materials used throughout. The height wasn't even uniform, with the highest point being fifteen meters and the lowest being barely seven. If there was one consistent theme, it was the ample amounts of iron supports hammered into the facade. It gave a feeling of brutality, but given what this place housed, Cal thought it appropriate.

  "What do you think they're arguing about?" Cal asked the only other person in the vicinity. The duo were clearly blocking sound from traveling, and he still couldn't lip-read. "They look like two roosters trying to resist pecking at each other."

  Lily leaned against the freestanding arch. She had been here when he arrived, presumably waiting for him. He'd thought about sneaking past her, but she had been keeping an eye on Rolland, whom he was meant to meet.

  "Is that really the first thing you say to me?" She asked with an arched eyebrow. Her arms were crossed and her right hand's fingers drummed along her bicep.

  He gave her a quick glance, noticing some bandages still around her leg.

  "Sorry. I meant to say good to see you up and about."

  Her eyes, which had strayed to Rolland, snapped back to Cal. She pushed off the arch and stomped over to him. Her hands fell to her side, balling up into fists.

  "Are you sure that's it?" She asked after stopping directly in front of him. "Nothing else?"

  Faced with a situation of his own making, Cal pleaded ignorance.

  "I like what you did with your hair."

  His hand wrapped around the finger that attempted to pierce through his chest. It was rewarded with a jolt that he did not bother shielding against, causing the appendage to become numb.

  "Note to self," Cal said while shaking out his hand to regain feeling. "You don't like compliments."

  It was a pretty bad haircut, and he had forgotten she'd done it to herself in the warehouse while rubbing the back of her head. He was pretty sure she could have grown it out forcibly, but she also didn't seem the type to be concerned about that.

  "Do you ever listen when people talk to you?" Lily ignored his previous words, striking at the heart of the matter. "Does it even go in one ear or do you just grin and pretend to listen while thinking of what the dumbest thing you could possibly do next is?"

  Based on her earlier attitude, he suspected she knew he wasn't going on a tasting field trip; this pretty much confirmed it.

  "It was Benny, wasn't it?" Cal asked, both to stall and satiate his curiosity.

  He knew leaving the boy in the dark would mean his story would fall apart by a single text, but the girls weren't close to Benjamin and he was hoping he'd be gone before they pieced it together.

  "Yes, but he proved useless otherwise. He was meant to convince the crown idiot, and that lasted all of twenty seconds." Why would Benny try to call it off? It wasn't like Rolland would be in any danger. "Did you really think we wouldn't check? If you hadn't pulled that stunt on Alie, she would have called you out right there."

  He had a feeling she would have done more than that. Mia's presence not only kept her off balance but also made sure she was civil. Cal was a bit surprised at how effective it was. If that trend continued, the girl would have a standing invitation for their dorm.

  There was no way this ended without them being pissed at him. He justified it to himself by drawing the comparison to the trap they'd set without him. However, he knew that was an excuse and both of them, Lily especially, had a right to be angry. From her perspective, she'd just finished telling him how important it was to stay safe and here he was ready to march into the most unsafe place on the planet.

  "I know this looks bad," Cal admitted while placing both hands on her shoulders and pushing her back a step. "But trust me. I have a plan."

  Lily blinked owlishly, taking time to digest his words.

  "Congratulations," she said after a moment. "That's the most dread any sentence has ever given me." Now that was uncalled for. Maybe if she knew his track record, he might let it slide, but he'd been a relative saint while on this side of the river. "What exactly did you agree to here?"

  He could keep the details to himself, but she already knew the worst of it.

  "To help find Ferguson." He checked to see if Rolland and the man were still occupied. They were, and he leaned in, whispering. "Listen, all I got to do is make a show of looking for him. I'm not planning on going deep and I guarantee I'll come back unharmed."

  He was one of the few people able to boldly make that claim and not be full of hot air. Granted, if a more normal person were to do as he suggested and keep the fringes, they had decent odds of being okay.

  "You realize that's the exact thing someone says before disappearing into the Waste and never being heard of again?"

  Was it? He thought people would take it more seriously. If he didn't have access to the void, there was no way he'd be so cavalier about it. Maybe that was the reason for the lack of confidence; she didn't believe he knew what he was talking about.

  "I lived on the frontier and used to take small trips past the village line all the time. I didn't become this strong by accident. If you told me to fight a Finger, I'd get my ass kicked, but against a magical beast? Those I know how to handle."

  He delivered it with a steady tone, hands still holding her at a length. Cal released her, taking a step back and standing straight. He held her stare, conveying this was no bluff. There were a select few humans out there that could give him more than a bit of trouble. However, there was no beast or quantity of beasts that he was not confident in slaying.

  Lily released a breath, her shoulders sagging. She raised a hand to her temple, rubbing it in a circular manner.

  "Why is it that you two love making me the responsible one? You realize I'm basically a high-scoring delinquent? If I'm talking people out of hairbrained schemes, something has gone horribly wrong." Lily paused and then brought her hand down and snapped her fingers in realization. "Nope. They've gone Ardered. I'll find whoever I need to bribe to get that added to the next lexicon edition with both your faces plastered under it."

  Well. Alice did blow up a warehouse. So that was fair.

  Lily shook her head, the reprieve from her joke washing off quickly.

  "For my sanity, you do remember when we told you to stay away from the royal family, right? Because you seem to have done the opposite."

  In his defense, it really hadn't been his intention. It had just sort of happened.

  "What can I say? I'm a people person." Seeing her face remain stiff, he tacked on an extra. "And I'm not doing it for free."

  Her eyes narrowed, and a strange atmosphere descended upon them.

  "I need to know, word for word, what you two agreed on."

  Cal didn't think too hard before taking out his phone and opening up his correspondence with Rolland. He tossed it over, and she snatched it from the air. Her fingers rapidly glided up and down the screen, devouring its contents.

  She nodded, as if expecting whatever was written there.

  "I'm confiscating this," she unilaterally decided.

  It would have been trivial to steal it back, but he decided to let her have this little win. He was planning on leaving it behind anyway, as the delicate device would not survive his trip.

  "Don't be overdramatic. My choice of beast isn't bad. Maybe I could have picked something more valuable, but call it a childhood dream."

  Lily gave him a solid stare for a second before groaning, making no effort to muffle the exaggerated action. Her fingers went into her hair, scrunching it up before releasing her hold. She shook her hands out and eyed the arch. Cal imagined she was considering what type of punishment it could take. She must have determined it wasn't sturdy enough, and she directed her attention back to him.

  "The beast part isn't that horrible of a trade." At his budding smile, she raised a palm. "Don't get me wrong, it's still stupid. But on the scale of stupidity, I can live with it. Some of them are valuable."

  Good to know. If he did end up choosing one, he could gift it to House Ardere. Dead gods knew he wasn't going to be the one taking care of it. He had no time for that nonsense.

  "Then why the freak out?"

  She didn't contemplate the destruction of school property for no reason. Hmm, on second thought, maybe she did.

  "Because," she invaded his personal space again, poking him in the chest. "You promised to try to find the drunkard. Do you have any idea what that means?" She gave him no time to respond, rapidly continuing with words laden with agitation. "No, of course you don't. Because you don't listen. Promises in our world matter, especially when made to a member of the royal family. You can't go back on that."

  He wasn't planning on breaking it, even if he was convinced he could. Her reaction was understandable, but the arrangement he made would work out perfectly fine for him.

  "Try is the operative word. I don't have to succeed. I'll go, shake a couple of bushes, and then call it a day."

  She retracted the finger, turning so that her back was to him. He could see that other conversation had wrapped up, and the man was walking away, leaving Rolland waiting for him at the door.

  "You don't get it." He heard her sigh but was unable to see what expression had overtaken her. "Let's be honest. Even without the promise, you'd definitely sneak off and head there anyway, right?"

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Cal nodded, responding a beat later when he realized she wasn't planning to face him.

  "Yep."

  They had different priorities, ones he didn't think they'd ever be able to truly reconcile.

  "Thought so." Lily reached back without looking, grasping blindly at him. Her hand found his sleeve, and she tugged on it, marching forward. "Come on. Let's find out if there's room for one more on this suicidal mission.

  Oh. This was beginning to sound not fun.

  "I really don't like how this is going," Cal said upon seeing there were already two saddled beasts instead of the one.

  After approaching Rolland, they'd been escorted inside and directed down the twisting halls until coming up on a large stall door. Past that was a square enclosure with a retractable roof currently held open. The two saddled beasts stood there, pawing at the ground and shaking their bridles from time to time, but otherwise well behaved. They resembled feathered deer with claws in place of hooves. Their wings occasionally stretched out, showing their wingspan was many times their length.

  "Don't be glum," Rolland quipped. He was checking the saddle for the larger of the two beasts. The leather seat was over a meter long and stretched across its back. A plethora of straps and hooks allowed a rider to attach themselves or their gear to it. "The more of us, the better our chances."

  If those chances were getting killed off or maimed, then he was right.

  "That's the problem." Cal noticed his sparse luggage was already secured to one of them. "This was a 'me' thing, not a 'we' thing. I know that's only a letter difference, but it has a big impact." Bringing anyone else would turn this from a relaxing slaughter to a nerve-wracking babysitting job. "You said you were staying behind."

  Rolland tugged on a strap and the beast exhaled a burst of hot air from its nostrils in dissatisfaction. He patted the beast's side to quell it.

  "I did," Rolland said with his usual smile. "I think a few paces should suffice. Wouldn't you say?"

  That face was looking extremely punchable. Before any of that, he remembered he wasn't alone here.

  "Benny, talk some sense into him."

  The man in question was in a corner of the room, washing his hands using a spigot protruding from the wall. His head turned, revealing a stony expression.

  "Did you believe I haven't tried?" Benny replied, somehow sounding more tired than Wyatt. "There's no talking sense when he's like this. You've doomed us."

  He was hoping Lily had been lying, but it seemed the fire had already been beaten out of him. This probably wasn't the first time his boss had done something monumentally stupid. Thankfully, Cal's decision was not dependent on him.

  "I'm not going if all of you are," Cal stated plainly, pointing at the odd gathering. "I'll have my hands full taking care of myself."

  Lily scoffed, casually approaching the smaller of the beasts and running a hand through its feathers.

  "Don't pretend going alone is any less dangerous. I know you have some experience, but you need someone to watch your back. And I, for one, don't trust these two to do it. No offense, Benjamin, but I know you have your duties."

  Neither boy looked particularly happy about that, but Rolland wore it better. His smile dimmed only the slightest bit before he responded.

  "You wound me, Lady Arcutien. I have all of our best interests at heart. However, if it puts you at ease…" He took a step from the beast, placing an arm with a closed fist diagonally across his chest. "On my name, I swear my motives here are true."

  Cal wasn't sure what to make of that. Neither was Lily if the way she froze at it was any indication.

  "Great," he replied flatly. "Still doesn't mean I'm going."

  His words caused the smile on the crown prince's face to fracture.

  "I'm starting to believe you're in league with Professor Klechin," Rolland said unhappily. "You're both questioning the validity of this trip."

  The name unleashed a set of alarm bells in his head and Cal did his best to keep the surprise off his face. Was that Klechin he was talking to? Why would that be the case? Luckily, Cal was not above asking the question.

  "Was that the guy you were arguing with?"

  As far as suspects went, he was far down the list. Cal would rank Evergreen and the headmaster far above him. However, he was still technically on the list, and so probing for information was his job.

  "Yes," Rolland admitted, coming off as almost dismissive. Cal didn't feel like it was directed at him. "He was ensuring my paperwork for the committee I formed was complete. We do not often meet eye to eye, and he was needlessly thorough with it. I suspect he discovered our movements on account of our first scheduled stop."

  Cal hadn't known Rolland had gone through the trouble of setting up that committee. He was still fuzzy on how they worked, but those details seemed irrelevant to him.

  "Sounds like an asshole," Cal threw out harsh words, hoping to spur more conversation on the man. "Is he going to cause any more problems?"

  Like, say, open a tear in planes of existence?

  "No," Rolland replied quickly, chucking and regaining some cheer. "He's no fool, but remember our conversation about how important knowing one's intent was? I know his, and so even as an enemy, he is of use to me."

  Enemy was a strong label, and Cal filed that away. The phrasing of it bothered Cal, and he couldn't pinpoint exactly why. He had an inkling it was the parallels he was drawing to the Second Seat again.

  "We're stopping at the Bulwark then?" Lily said, breaking out of the state she was in earlier. "That's probably a smart move."

  Rolland nodded, confirming her thought and patting the beast again.

  "Yes, these will get us to the border quickly, but flying into the Waste would see us beset on all sides—or so I'm led to believe. We'll transfer to ground beasts at Duke Ferrum's estate."

  That wasn't a bad idea. Cal's rocket only worked on account of the altitude and speed it flew at. Even then, he'd been intercepted a few times.

  Somehow, he'd managed to forget how opposed to this he was and moved to clarify that again.

  "I'm still hearing a lot of 'we'. Do I need to explain again how this isn't happening?"

  Setting aside the whole keeping them alive thing, his shirt was stuffed with notes. He'd gone through every book he owned and copied any page with the word converter. The plan was to find a cave and go through them during his breaks, but when was he supposed to do that with people breathing down his neck?

  Lily placed a hand on the saddle, hauling herself on the beast. It took a few steps to adjust itself but did not seem burdened by the additional weight. Her hands took the reins and maneuvered the creature to face him.

  "Stop complaining. This is your fault. A promise is a promise. Besides, do you even know how to ride one of these things?"

  Cal walked up to the larger one with confidence. Rolland, sensing his intent, stepped to the side and Cal mounted the beast. It reared up, violently flinging him off. He twisted in the air and hit the wall feet first before dropping to the ground.

  The beast shook itself off, dipping its snout into its feathers and preening as if it hadn't just thrown him off.

  "That was rigged."

  He'd done the exact same thing Lily did. It wasn't the first time he'd been thrown off a beast, but it had never felt this personal. Cal eyed the thing closely, wondering how it would taste.

  "It takes a certain touch," Rolland laughed at his expense. He walked up to the beast and rubbed its flank, placating it. "Now, if that's all, we should take off. Benny?"

  The boy in question sighed and joined by Rolland's side, checking the rigging as the crown prince had done. Once satisfied, both boys mounted the beast, as it was large enough to carry both of them with ease.

  "Well?" Lily asked, moving the beast so that its side faced Cal. "What are you waiting for?"

  For everyone here to see reason, but that seemed a further and further prospect by the second.

  "You don't have anything packed and just got out of the hospital. One that your fiance is still in. Can't we stop and think about this?"

  Lily's lips quirked down at that, not quite turning into a frown.

  "He's not in danger of dying anytime soon. You, on the other hand? If I leave you alone, you're getting yourself killed. And don't worry about my things. I'll borrow what I need from House Ferrum."

  Cal considered what would happen if he planted his feet and refused to go. Lily's focus on his 'promise' was worrying. Did she put so much stock into it that she'd try to fulfill it for him? Rolland, and by extension Benny, were also problems. Cal couldn't see a world where Rolland gave up on his quest. He was near rabid in his pursuit of it. If they did decide to go, Cal didn't think they'd come back.

  They were very much not his responsibility, but he also didn't want to see them killed. Then there was the matter of this committee deal. It sounded like a formal process, which meant his name was probably written down somewhere. It wasn't difficult to imagine what would happen when the crown prince and his aide died. Another investigation, far larger in scope than the last, would occur. From there, his name would be found, and someone would identify him as a Federation agent.

  A snake orchestrating the death of a member of the royal family? That was too easy a story to spin.

  Did they realize what position they were putting him in? At the very least they must have been aware how dumb this all was.

  It dawned on him that he might have been the sanest person in this room. He wondered how the Federation would feel, knowing the future of the Empire was prone to this level of recklessness.

  Lily's hand went out, waiting for him to grasp it.

  This was his doing. He wasn't solely responsible for the chain of events, but he'd played a significant part of it. There was only one way this turned out okay, and that was if he was included in the equation.

  Cal grabbed the hand, taking his place behind her. He was finishing this. His strength and knowledge weren't for nothing.

  As daunting as the task before him looked, for some reason, he couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation.