While I spoke with Captain Nahasia, Mak had left the card game and joined us to stand silently beside me. When Nahasia fell silent, staring blankly at the ceiling, Mak turned me around and murmured in Tekereteki, “You could make her happy, Mistress. Much happier than she is now. All she needs is to have her perspective changed. And no matter how she feels about it, she is a captain of the guard. She could be very useful.”

  Maybe it was because Conscience was so active at the time, but I was properly shocked. I just stared at her for a while. Whatever Mak was to me, I’d never expected her to be a devil on my shoulder.

  Of course, she wouldn’t see it that way. I knew that if I asked Mak, she would say that becoming mine was the best thing that ever happened to her. That it was incredibly painful to start with, but had left her stronger, richer, and happier than she’d ever thought possible. And every word would be true, because she couldn’t lie to me, not even to feed my ego. But she was also entirely blind to the cost. The loss of her independence and her freedom of thought was nothing to her when compared to what she’d gained in return, and she was so different now to the woman I’d gotten to know half a year ago.

  I thought back to a day when we’d separated on the forest road. We were returning from looting a ruined Old Mallinean villa, and carefully packed in a bag on Stalwart’s back was a small, red lacquered lockbox containing our fortune. During the ten days that little expedition had taken, Mak had finally gotten past her worry and distrust and started treating me not as an ally of convenience, but as a friend. She’d laugh at me, make jokes at my expense, and scold me, but she’d also praise me, thank me, laugh along with me, and sit up and talk with me late into the night.

  I’d had no idea, but when we split up that day, our promise to see each other again soon were the last words we spoke to each other as equals. From then, she had been my betrayer, or my servant.

  I loved Mak. Completely independent of my responsibility to her, I loved her for who she was, not to me but to everyone else around her — brave, loyal, determined, and hard working. But sometimes, when I thought back, I mourned the Mak I’d last seen on the forest road.

  I’d never admit it. Especially not to her, because I feared that it would hurt her. But neither could I help it, and I wondered who she’d be now if I never dug my claws into her. And that was why I couldn’t do the same to a woman whose only crime was to be related to a man I loathed.

  “Draka,” Mak said, looking up at me with big, worried eyes, “is something wrong? Did I say something wrong?”

  “No, little sister,” I said. I pushed away my guilt and regret and pity, and focused on all the good and beautiful things I felt for her. “You did nothing wrong. You are entirely right: I could make her happy, and she would be useful. But I think I will leave her to find her own way for a while longer.”

  “As you say, Mistress,” she said, with not a sign of disappointment.

  “And Mak? Please, use my name. At least around others.”

  That made her pause for a moment. “Of course… Draka.”

  When the lord commander returned several hours later the guards had given up any pretense of actually guarding us. Between my casual display of how their spears couldn’t harm me, and the upstairs guards coming down and telling the others how Mak and Herald had handily disarmed them, nobody entertained any notion of being able to stop us if we chose to leave. It could only end one way, the only question being how many of the guards survived.

  So it was that the lord commander and his retinue of guards stepped into the hall to see most of the guards he’d left either lounging around or playing dice with Ardek and Tam. Captain Nahasia, Mak, and Val were in the middle of a discussion of some art movement that had become popular in the last year, and I was curled up on the floor, happily cuddling Herald and Kira as they napped against me. At one point, nervous but professional staff had appeared from somewhere with food and drink, and had included the guards in the service without comment when I asked. For all the world, it probably looked like I was holding court.

  I didn’t dislike the idea.

  The lord commander stopped a few yards in, looked around, and very impressively chose not to reprimand anyone just yet. Conversations stopped. Guards sprung to their feet, and Captain Nahasia marched over to her commander and saluted. I lay where I was, and gently whispered to Herald and Kira that naptime was over.

  “Lady Draka,” the lord commander said with a stiff bow. Mak immediately went from attentive to absolute focus. She must have picked up the same thing as I had: we weren’t going to like this.

  “I was unable to gather the entire Council. The vote on overturning the arrest order went three to three. Lord Speaker Berkia voted for, but unfortunately his tie-breaker does not apply to voiding previously passed motions.”

  “The missing member?” I asked. It was remarkable how calm I felt. I had transcended anger; I’d already accepted that I’d let this city burn to the ground if that was what it took, and what was a little yelling and bloodshed compared to that?

  The lord commander paused at my question. His face went through a whole set of motions as he considered whether or not he should tell me. No doubt the votes in a closed session were supposed to be secret, but there was equally no doubt that the lord commander was not at all pleased with how things were going.

  His face settled, and he nodded to himself. Then he turned to Captain Nahasia and said something that no one could possibly have been prepared for.

  “Captain Nahasia. It’s too quiet in here, and the hall has excellent acoustics. How about you lead your guards in some song?”

  Her whole body went rigid. “S— song, Lord Commander?”

  “Yes, Captain! Song! Something rousing that everyone knows, like The Sailor’s Gulls or Twelve Little Goblins. Go on! I’ve heard you in the temple, you’ve got an excellent voice.”

  He barely waited for her uncertain, “Yes, Lord Commander,” before he approached me.

  As Barvon walked the captain turned around, and the smile on her face was in some no-man's-land between mania and sheer panic. “Come on, guards! You heard the lord commander! Twelve Little Goblins, from the top! ‘Twelve little goblins / came down the hill! // Broke into the longhouse / to drain the headman’s still!’”

  It only took a few lines for the bemused guards to join in, which was a shame. Nahasia really did have a lovely voice, to the point where I wondered if I should add her to my flock just for that. With Mak’s soprano, Nahasia’s alto, and Avjilan’s baritone, I was sure that they could put something truly wonderful together.

  Conscience wasted no time in reminding me what a terrible reason that was to strip someone of their free will. It wasn’t like I could argue, either. Not really. If she came willingly, though…

  The lord commander stopped barely two feet away from me. He might have intended to come closer, but Mak had smoothly slid into the space between us. “Soandel,” he said, in an even voice that was so soft that even I barely heard it over the impromptu choir in the background. “He’s suddenly indisposed.”

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  “Soandel,” I said. “Of course.”

  I didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary in my voice, but Barvon looked like he regretted saying anything, Mak turned halfway around and gave me a worried look, and both Herald and Kira were suddenly making soothing noises at me. Even the gents looked tense. Something must have slipped out.

  “Lady Draka,” Barvon said, still keeping his voice low, “I don’t know what might have you so angry at the lord exchequer, besides him being part of a few votes not going your way. But I don’t see how I can take that as anything but a threat against a man who is both a councillor and my good friend. I told you that in the hope that being open and honest might mollify you somewhat. Please don’t make me regret it.”

  “Don’t worry, Lord Commander.” I forced some calm into my voice — not very successfully, judging by his expression. “I’m not going to hurt him, or anyone else, or even his property. I just want to talk to him.”

  “No one who says ‘I just want to talk to him’ ever means well,” Barvon objected. He did not look at all unworried or amused.

  “Yeah, maybe. Good thing I’m not going anywhere until that order’s rescinded.”

  “And if your mother comes looking for you?” he asked.

  “She’ll find me. The only question is how much of the city is still standing when she does.” I looked at him seriously. The anger still boiled under the surface, but I had the lid back on. “I don’t know how long you have. A few days at most. I suggest you resolve this sooner rather than later, Lord Commander, with or without your good friend Soandel.”

  With that I lay down, resting my head in Herald’s lap and effectively dismissing one of the most powerful men in the city. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to relax. This was infuriating, exciting, and anxiety inducing all at once. I had intended to work with the Council but they, as an entity, had first tried to dishonor our agreement and then attacked my family. I wondered about their motivations, but in the short term they didn’t matter. They’d struck, and I had to retaliate. I had to show that I would not be beneath them, and that I was willing to use any and all means to enforce that. If the threat of my mother’s displeasure was not enough, then having her land in the Citadel’s courtyard and tearing the front of the building out might. And if that didn’t work, well… we’d burn those bridges when we got to them.

  I said one more thing before the lord commander marched out of the grand hall. “Leave the Captain,” I called across the hall. “She’s good company.”

  I didn’t move. I didn’t even open my eyes, or really listen to what Barvon might be saying. But a short while later I heard the soft tread of boots on carpet and then the scratch of a chair being pulled out before Nahasia said, in a resigned voice, “Looks like I’m here for the long haul. Guards! As you were! So, Mister Valmik. What were you saying? Something about lines disappearing?”

  This time I did sleep. With Mak and Herald there I didn’t feel the least bit threatened, and the desire to just leave and visit Soandel at his home was strong enough that not being awake was the best way to resist. And I had to resist, no matter how much I wanted to go. I’d told the lord commander, in front of a few dozen guards, that I wasn’t leaving until my family were officially free to go. I couldn’t very well let them think that I was one to make empty threats.

  Or, I could. Of course I could. As long as I didn’t care what they thought of me I could do whatever I wanted. I could just let them think that I was completely unpredictable and wont to do whatever I felt like in the moment. And I couldn’t deny, even to myself, that the thought was attractive. But I still cared too much about image and reputation, and for some silly reason I still nurtured a hope of negotiating with the Council in the future. Not this Council; Soandel’s days as a free man were numbered, and I’d have to do something about the lord justice Alster, who’d had the gods-damned nerve to order my family taken into custody. Nahasia would probably have to go entirely; the man had a prejudicial hatred for me that would make it far too suspicious for him to suddenly start supporting me. The lady admiral Yakamo… I could work with her. Probably. I’d turn her one way or another.

  But I wasn’t ready for that quite yet. And so, while various constellations of my family and Captain Nahasia and her guards spoke, sparred, and gambled, I took a nice, long nap.

  I woke to a hand on my neck. That in itself was nothing unusual, but the way I was being touched was. It was hesitant. No one in my family, no one who’d usually touch me, was ever hesitant. That confused me a little, but I could hear Mak speaking in a calm, steady tone, while Herald rested against me, sitting half-upright. Nothing could possibly be wrong. So I relaxed, and cleared the sleep from my mind to listen to what Mak was actually saying.

  “See? She doesn’t mind. Feel how hard and smooth the scales are? You wouldn’t think so, but there’s actually a lot of give underneath. She’s very comfortable to rest your head against, if she likes you enough to allow that. And she’s gloriously warm. Mercies, you wouldn’t believe how well you’d sleep— well, just look at Kira. Have you ever seen anyone sleep so peacefully?”

  “My niece, perhaps,” Captain Nahasia replied. Her speech was oddly sluggish. Not sleepy or drunk, but a little out of it somehow. As she spoke, the pressure of her hand increased, and she ran it along my scales. “She’s four. Gods, you’re right. They’re so smooth. And soft underneath.”

  “That’s Draka. Hard on the outside, but soft on the inside. Forget whatever you may think you know about dragons. It doesn’t apply to her, if it was even true to start with. What you need to believe about her is that she keeps her word and defends those she loves. And she does love, Captain. You wouldn’t believe the depth of love and forgiveness in her. They’re matched only by her generosity.”

  “Generosity?” Nahasia whispered. “She’s a dragon, though.”

  “Yes. And yet all my House’s fortune comes from her willingly sharing the spoils of an adventure equally. I even asked her to make sure, and she was offended that I might think she’d go back on her word or ask for more than an equal share. You couldn’t ask for a better companion, friend, or sister.”

  “Sister?” Nahasia’s hands had moved all the way down my neck to my wings, and she sounded half entranced. No one else seemed to notice what was going on; the sound of cards and dice, groans and cheers and laughter were as loud as ever. The guards had no idea how spellbound their captain was as she ran her fingers over the leather of my wings.

  “Yes. Sister,” Mak whispered. I could feel her move as Nahasia did, and I could easily imagine her whispering in the captain’s ear. “The law may not recognize it, but we love her as one. Why should we not use the word that best describes how we feel for her?”

  “She gave you everything.”

  “She did. Everything that matters. Even my strength comes from her.”

  That made me wonder if I should stop her. Mak telling a guard captain how great I was didn’t bother me in the slightest. And I’d already made it clear that I considered Mak and the others to be my family, so that was nothing new. But revealing that she had an Advancement tied to me…

  This, I decided, was one of those times that I had to trust my sister’s judgment.

  “How do you mean?” Nahasia muttered.

  “I mean that literally. Because of how close I am with Draka I was offered a special Advancement, one that lets me draw on her strength. And what a well of strength that is! I’ve fought my way past a dozen men without killing a single one of them. I could have left here anytime I liked; I was only waiting because I knew that Draka would be coming for us. Do you believe me?”

  “You disarmed them. My best men, and you just disarmed them.”

  “I did. That’s the strength of a dragon, Alanna. I don’t know if you could have the same if you chose to befriend her, but I wouldn’t be surprised. And even if you don’t get an Advancement out of it, you would still have a friend like no other. One who is not only mighty, but who would truly love and appreciate you for who you are. Wouldn’t that be nice, Alanna?”

  “Yeah. I work, and I work, and it’s just never good enough. Couldn’t even let me try to succeed on my own.”

  “You are good enough, Captain Nahasia,” Mak insisted, and her voice lost that insidious, seductive quality it had held the whole time I’d been listening. She sounded genuinely concerned. “No matter what your family might say. Listen: come down to Her Grace’s Favor when this is all over, and you’re off duty. You’re always welcome in my inn. Relax, have some ale, wine, whatever you feel like. Maybe a meal. Talk. Talk honestly, and from the heart. The regulars are all good people, and even if you don’t find one of them to listen, I will. For that matter, I’m sure that so would Draka, if you asked. You don’t have to stand alone against your family.”

  “I’d like that,” Nahasia replied, and I could hear tears in her voice. “That sounds really nice.”

  I hadn’t wanted to rob Nahasia of her free will, but Mak wanted me to have a guard captain on my side, and she was going to make it happen. She was just going to do it in a way where Nahasia chose to join us without me staining my conscience. Between Mak’s own experience and personality and the Charisma she’d borrowed from me, supercharged by the power of a Rift, she was succeeding handily.

  I couldn’t even be mad.

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