Corabelle had remembered the other Faedemon’s advice. Magical attacks were the only thing that would work against him.

  Though she doubted she’d ever meet that same Faedemon again, she wanted to be ready when she inevitably met another.

  When she was first trapped here, Faedemons were scarce, or at least they didn’t make themselves known, but in the last few months she’d managed to come across two. She doubted that ratio would shrink now that she was one of them.

  And she didn’t plan on being useless again when that inevitability happened.

  “Alright,” he agreed, although hesitantly. “We can meet in the atrium in the morning. I’ll need to find suitable non-Runebind spells for your level. I haven’t brushed up on that type of combat magic in a while. I'll have to find the old spell books and scrounge up components.”

  “Why not Runebind spells?” She didn’t want to have muck about with components if she was in that same situation again.

  “You want combat Runebinds?” He scowled, though seemingly not upset, more confused.

  “They’re easier, aren’t they? And you said I’d need more eventually, right? Why not?” She questioned.

  “I thought you didn’t want Runebinds. I mean, of course you will need more eventually. If you are ready for Runebinds, I could give you a decent armour Bind or perhaps some sort of camouflage but I doubt you’ll need combat magic frequently enough to warrant it.”

  “I doubt I won’t need them that frequently.” She said firmly. “I’ll accept armour, but not camouflage. I won’t leave you alone like that again. If I hadn’t shown up, he would have killed you instead. I doubt I won’t be in the same position again.”

  “They would have brought me back.” His voice was just under a shout for a moment before he calmed it. “And I won’t let that happen again. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

  “I don’t need you to promise that. I need to learn how to protect myself.” Her own voice raised. “But if you won’t give me the Runebinds, give me the books, I’ll do it myself.”

  He glared at her before reading a slow breath, his face softening, “Fine. I will give you a few combat Runebinds. The rest you may learn as spells, but I would like you to have the armour and camouflage. I truly need you to not run into another fight with no way out.”

  “Fine.” She agreed.

  “I will meet you in the morning.”

  With sleep no longer being an option, she bided her time working in the garden.

  Come morning, he made good on his promise. She was already waiting in the atrium when he showed up with a bundle of books in his arms and a bag slung over his shoulder that rattled like it was full of glass containers.

  He didn’t smile at her as he set them down on the floor in the center of the room. He grabbed the top book from the stack. The book was one for a novice human mage, “We’ll start with a simple repelling spell. It should knock most targets off their feet and some it will knock several feet away..” He flipped through the pages before coming to the spell he was looking for. “You shouldn’t need a wand to channel your Spark any longer, but this particular spell still requires components. It requires a small amount of sulfur.” He reached into the bag pulling out a jar of yellow powder. “It has a very short range. It works well for animal attacks.” He pulled the cap from the jar, extending it her. “Coat your fingertips.”

  “How am I supposed to use components if I'm being attacked?” She looked at him blankly.

  “You’ll have a component belt with easy access containers.”

  “And If I can’t move my arms?”

  “This is all hypothetical.” He huffed. “I still firmly believe you have no need for this. But hypothetically if you couldn’t move your arms, this particular spell would be useless regardless.” He shoved the jar closer to her, the pungent odor of the sulfur wafting up making her crinkle her nose. “Now do you want to learn or not?”

  “Of course I want to learn.” Before adding under breath, “But I want to learn something useful.”

  He either didn’t hear her or ignored her as she brushed her fingers through the flour-fine powder that stained her finger tips an ugly yellow

  He capped the jar and reclaimed the book to show her the mental incantation, “This is very simple, well below your skill level, but it’s a good starting point for you to get a feel for combat spells.”

  He set the books down after giving her a chance to read it, “Alright, go ahead and try it out.” he crossed his arms behind his back, bracing his stance.

  “On you?” She kept her hands down close to her sides. She thought she would practice in the air or maybe against a dummy of some sort, she didn’t think she would have to practice on a living thing.

  He gave a curt nod, “You want to learn combat magic. No better practice than against a Faedemon.”

  “I don’t think this is a good idea.” She tightened her hands into fists, the sweat smudging the sulfur into her palms.

  “I will be fine so long as your attacks are spaced out.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you. Can’t I practice on a fake target?”

  “You could practice on a deer if you like.” He offered dryly. “Though it won’t heal. Many combat spells don’t work against targets that aren't alive or at least that have never been alive. So, if you want to learn true combat spells, then you’ll need to practice on something living. So, go ahead.” He nodded his head. “I’ll heal quickly and this particular spell won’t do much.”

  She hesitated for a moment, “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  She recited the incantation in her mind. She felt heat crawling down her arm, down her fingers. With the final words, she pressed her hand against his chest.

  A brilliant blue sparks flashed out from the point of contact. The force ricocheted through her hand, but hot as hard as it rippled through him. He stumbled back several feet, barely keeping his footing. Nasty red burns highlighted his chest in the exact shape of her handprint, though they were already beginning to heal as he righted himself.

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  He hid a grimace as he suppressed a cough before speaking, “ Good. I don’t believe that one is supposed to burn though. I’m thinking perhaps less sulfur.” His voice was strained.

  Her hands shook, only an echo of black residue remained on them, the sulfur completely burned away.

  The last of the burns healed.

  His voice cleared up and he continued, “Alright, let’s try again. Less sulfur.” He offered her the jar again.

  She shook her head, “No.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  She scowled at him, “I told you I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  “But you want to learn combat magic. I’m teaching you the spells and letting you practice.” He offered the jar with more insistence. “I’m just giving you what you asked for.”

  “You think I want to learn this for fun?” She crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “I don’t want to go out and pick fights. I don't want to hurt people, especially you. I don’t want to learn combat magic, I need to. Do you think I'll be safe forever, especially now that-- that I'm this? Unless you plan on keeping me here in the maze for eternity, which I know you won’t, I’m not going to be safe. So, I need to learn this. I hope to the gods I never have to use it, but I know I will. So please, just, teach me something useful, something I don’t have to practice.”

  He released a slow breath, rubbing his temples with one hand. The firm expression he’d been holding softened, “Pull down your shirt.”

  “Excuse me?” She questioned, her arms tightening around her.

  With his other hand he pulled the ink blade he’d used to carve her Runebinds from his jacket pocket, “Pull down your shirt. I’ll give you a type of Runebind that you can use for combat if you need to as well as giving you the defence and camouflage ones we discussed. You won’t have to practice on me or anything else living as it’s not technically combat magic, it’s conjuration”

  “Oh,” She said plainly, feeling her cheeks turn pink. “What does it do then?”

  “You’ll be able to grow talon-like claws. It’s not the rarest Runebind. It won’t draw much attention to you if you have to use it. They’re easy to deploy and retract and can be done so at any time. Will this be satisfactory?”

  “Are they physical or magical once summoned?” She questioned sceptically. If they were physical, they didn’t have much use for her.

  “Usually they’d be physical mutations, but for a Faedemon, your whole form is made of magic so I suppose it would be magical, why do you ask?”

  “Good, because I need purely magical attacks.”

  His expression shifted to that of realization, “This is about Ai-- This is about the other Faedemon, isn’t it?” His voice was soft, gentle.

  “Yes… I mean sort of. Not really. Not just him.” She nearly stumbled over her words. “I just need to be able to protect myself. There are things that physical attacks won’t work against. If it’s not him, it’ll be others; mages, magical beasts, Faedemons Magical attacks are the most efficient. So if this will work as a Magical attack, I will take it.” She turned her body, sliding her sleeve down to expose her shoulder where the other three Runebinds were placed.

  He didn’t make a move toward her, instead lowering the ink blade, “I understand you’re scared, and justifiably so, but running into him, that was a stroke of terrible terrible luck. We’ll never go that way again, we’ll never run into him. As for mages and beasts; I’ve been hunted by both. Human mages, even masters, don't pose much of a threat with the healing Runebind we possess. Unless we happen into a whole House, which we’ll avoid at all costs, their casting time is too slow to cause lethal damage. As for beasts, you won’t be alone, together we can handle any beast we might come across.” He set a hand on her covered shoulder, gripping the ink blade tightly in the other. “If you truly want this, I will do it, but if you’re only doing it because you’re afraid, I think you should wait. You were so against Runebinds before. Do you really want to get one for the man who killed you?”

  She sighed, “It’s not for him. You know that right? I’m just not going to be useless the next time there’s a fight.”

  He pulled her sleeve back up over her shoulder, turning her back to face him, a hand on each of her shoulders, “Miss Cora, if you were useless in that fight, he would have killed us both. I understand that it's not much comfort but I am thankful you tried even if I wish you had just run away. “ He said firmly. “I’m not asking you to rely on me to protect you because Fae knows you don’t need me to. I’m just asking you to think about this. You have time before you’ll need more Runebinds. I just want you to think about if you want this to remind you of what happened, forever.”

  “You think I’ll forget this?” She hissed.

  His face was stone, “No. I know you’ll never forget something like this. But do you want the advice of a madman on your body forever?”

  She took a long breath, steading the tension building in her body. She considered his words. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was doing this out of desperation, but it wasn’t unjustified. She could work with non-combat magic, like she had in the fight. However if she had been more efficient, if she had been able to remove the other Faedemon from the fight earlier, then she wouldn't have been killed and he wouldn’t have been nearly as injured. There was a chance the Fae would bring her back as they had with Zaramir if she were killed again, but there didn’t need to be that much suffering for either of them. She didn’t know how painful her own death had been, but she knew for certain she didn’t want to see Zaramir that hurt again.

  “Zaramir,” She said steadily. “I know what I need. Please give me the Runebind.”

  “Alright,” He agreed, pulling her sleeve back down as he circled around her. “If you’re positive you want this, then I'll do it.”

  He gently squeezed her shoulder with one hand as he worked with the other. She didn’t feel pain, only a slight pressure as the only sound in the room was the light tearing of skin. He was keeping her from feeling the sting of the application as he carved it over her spine.

  As the minutes stretched out, she didn’t know if he was taking his time with this one or it was more complicated than the others had been.

  Once again, as he worked, she felt his hand brush away stray drops of warm blood.

  When he was finished he didn’t remove his hand from her shoulder, “Would you still like the other two?” He questioned in just above a whisper as though he were afraid to ruin the silence that had consumed the atrium.

  She nodded, not wanting to be the one to break it either.

  So for even longer, he worked, carving the other two vertically down her spine with just as much precision as the first. He kept his hand on her shoulder, blocking the pain, leaving only the light pressure that sent chills down her spine and covered her skin in goosebumps.

  After some time the pressure stopped but he didn’t remove his hand, “Miss Cora, may I ask you a question?”

  “Yes?” She said, uncertainly.

  “Do you… Are you at all happy living here?” He questioned. “Obviously, I know it’s not your first choice, but if I offered you a different home in the maze, somewhere safe you could come and go from as you like, would you prefer that?”

  She turned back around to face him, his hand slipping from her shoulder, “Where is this coming from?”

  He shook his head pensively, “Nowhere.”

  As much as she didn’t want to admit it, the question hurt, “Do you want me to leave?”

  “Of course not!” His voice was boarding on offense. “I just wanted to know if--if you would be happier away from here.”

  She stared at him for a long moment, trying to work out the meaning behind the sudden change in demeanor. He’d never once offered her anything like this, never seemed to treat her as anything more than a contracted employee until her death. After her death she attributed his strange behavior to letting her grieve, but now this strange question.

  But she felt as though she should actually give it some thought. There was definitely something more to this, even if she didn’t know what.

  This wouldn’t have been her first choice for a life. Though until this moment it was her only option. Now that she could pick, did she want the other path offered to her?

  Her option was freedom, or as close to freedom as was possible for her now. Though the fact that he even asked the question meant the terms of their deal were not so rigid as they’d been before. She clearly wasn’t trapped here anymore.

  So what he was really offering her was to be away from him. She knew he had been lonely here and he would go back to that same life if she left. He wasn’t offering it because he wanted it, so he was offering it as a kindness to her. The question was simple but answering it was far more complex.

  Do I want to leave?