The rest of King’s Dream arrived together at the Waynd building and were escorted to Phoenix’s new room that she had decided to take, with or without being adopted. Even if Murinah’s family weren’t a threat, she no longer felt safe in that dorm.

  When the door opened, Saiya made her way ahead of the others to take Paul’s vacated spot and attach herself to Phoenix’s arm. Uriel and Dazien had matching expressions of relief, and the tter said gratefully, “Thank the gods you’re alive. I see Lord Waynd was able to track and rescue you successfully.”

  She hadn’t been aware of that, but at least it would give her a good cover story. Unfortunately, her emotions almost gave her away when amber eyes looked up quizzically at her and asked, “You’re confused. What’s wrong?”

  The others took seats around the hearth as they listened for Phoenix’s response. They all seemed curious about the new room and what Saiya had sensed. Before Phoenix came up with an excuse, however, she asked another question she had meant to ask the gentle voxen for quite a while now, “How can you read my emotions so well? Is my aura control really that bad?”

  Rayna was the one to speak up, “Nah, you’re a closed book to me, and I’m decent. I’ve had a few more years of training it than you, after all. Plus, you being an Aurabreaker makes it even harder for us to break through and read things from it. It’s her Perception ability.”

  Saiya nodded and gestured to the air in front of her, “I can show your book.”

  Phoenix summoned it with a thought, and Saiya gently touched it.

  Passive Ability: Empathic Life

  Type: Perception (magical, life)

  Current Caste: Crystal 7

  Crystal Effect: Can sense the emotions and resource pools of a target through their aura.

  After she finished reading the interesting ability, she looked at each of her companions –not quite sure where to start her expnation– but decided to focus on answering Saiya’s original question. So she voiced the thing she actually felt most confused and conflicted about at that moment, “Paul offered to adopt me.”

  All of them seemed surprised, but it quickly morphed into happiness for her, and Dazien said, “That’s wonderful, Phoenix. It is a great honor to be part of a noble house.”

  She returned his smile with a small smirk as she joked, “It’s no royal court.”

  His grin widened, “Well, you’re already a Princess. This will just make it a bit more official.”

  Saiya leaned a soft head against her shoulder, the long furry ears tickling her neck, as the perceptive voxen asked, “Why are you confused about it? Do you not want to join House Waynd?”

  Phoenix paused as she gathered her thoughts to try and turn them into sensible words, “I’m not necessarily against the idea. Paul made good points about the benefits,” she hesitated again as her eyes found Dazien’s, “I’ve been told before though, that being a noble means more responsibility. I’m not sure what will be expected of me or if I can meet the demands of the position.”

  They all nodded in understanding. Rayna broke the silence first, “You’ll probably need to talk with Lord Waynd about that. Saiya and I were the youngest children, so we were never expected to inherit anything. Plus, nobility in our culture seems very different from the type here in Tulim and its suzerain nation, Blomsterang.”

  Dazien wondered aloud, “If Lord Waynd himself adopts you, will you become heir apparent? He has no other children to inherit, but you’re also not blood-reted. I could see other members getting upset by it. Not all Houses care about blood retion, though, nor about a particur line of succession via birth.”

  “That’s true,” Rayna agreed, “I said we were the youngest, but even in our culture, if our older siblings had bowed out or if one of us ended up stronger than them in some respect, we could be made heir by right of choice.”

  “Speak with Lord Waynd and with the other members of the family,” Uriel said, finally offering his opinion to the conversation from where he sat on the other side of Saiya, “Make sure you understand the whole picture you’ll be joining.”

  “Paul did mention having a sister,” she said, remembering what he had mentioned earlier, “He said she’s been wanting to meet me but didn’t want me feeling overwhelmed. I’m not sure how meeting a single person would be overwhelming…” she trailed off as her eyes met Dazien’s, “Actually, I take that back.”

  The group ughed at the party leader’s look of mock offense, and he replied with a generous amount of sarcasm, “I’m going to assume you meant that my obvious charm and sparkling personality are just so dazzling that one can’t help but be awed in my presence.”

  She rolled her eyes dramatically, but he moved on to another question, “So, are we here in this room because of Paul’s offer?”

  Phoenix gave an internal wince, remembering why she was actually here and that she needed to expin things, even if she needed to give the edited version. She had already partially expined the threat to Dazien, so it wouldn’t be much more to piece in the unexpected addition of the crazy Daddy Ruwena.

  She began with her own question, “Do you remember how I said that I’d be fine if I just stayed in my room and let Paul handle Arktis? Well, I was very wrong.”

  Amethyst eyes darkened as Dazien’s expression became serious, “So she was the one that attacked you? You were kidnapped and then tortured again?”

  The others suddenly stared at her, and she felt the heat rise in her face at the focused attention as she admitted, “It was Murinah’s father this time. The whole family is insane.”

  Rayna stood suddenly from her chair and yelled, “They hurt you? How? What did you tell Daze but not us?”

  Phoenix’s eyes searched for her leader’s own once more as she recounted what she told Dazien just the night before, then added, “Apparently, Murinah’s dad wanted revenge for her death. He thinks Paul killed her, which I will neither confirm nor deny.”

  Uriel asked softly, “How did Lord Ruwena pn to take revenge?”

  Her expression softened as she looked into the ember eyes that comforted her –so unlike the fiery red coals that Murinah and her father shared eyes, which made her feel like they would engulf her in fmes of hatred. She sighed and said, “He shot me with a crossbow bolt. It was poisoned with… I think he called it Creeping Heartvine? That was the part you both heard. Anyways, he portaled straight into my room, killed Ta, and I bcked out after that. When I woke up, he was trying to turn me into one of the Caged monsters the Soul Reapers make.”

  The room went silent, and Saiya tensed against her side while Rayna looked furious. It was as if the Striker wanted to punch something but also didn’t want to ruin the nice furniture.

  Phoenix headed off the questions as she quickly implied with the previously offered lie, “That didn’t happen though and, as you said, Paul found me. However, the Ruwena family are still free for now. So, this will be my new room,” she gestured around them, “Whether I’m adopted or not, it will be safer here.”

  “I apologize, Phoenix,” Dazien’s voice said softly after a moment, “I shouldn’t have left you alone yesterday morning. I underestimated the danger you were in and couldn’t get back to you fast enough.”

  “This is Ruwena’s fault. Not yours,” Uriel said firmly. “You were trying to protect and support while they only sought to harm.”

  Phoenix agreed, “It wasn’t the first time, Daze. They would have come for me again either way. Hopefully, this time, Paul will have enough evidence and authority to be able to stop them before anyone else gets hurt.”

  Paul had a few stops to make today, and this first one he was not looking forward to. As he stared up at the tall skyscraper completely covered in pnts, he took a deep breath. He hadn’t required air to breathe for decades now, but he had always enjoyed the scent of this particur building, and the mundane action helped settle his nerves as he stepped into the blessed location.

  Making his way through the building and up to the floor his sister worked on wasn’t difficult. Once he reached her b, he announced his presence by clearing his throat.

  Patricia gnced up at him with brilliant blue eyes –a prominent trait of the Waynd line that he shared when Orebe wasn’t merged. She gave a wide grin as she asked, “Did you find her? Is she here with you?”

  “Ah,” he began awkwardly, “Well, we did find her. She managed to escape and return to the estate. I didn’t bring her, though.”

  She frowned at him and put gloved hands on her hips as she said, “You promised that I could meet her as soon as she was safe again. I need to be able to know her better in order to help create the right social image, and if you haven’t noticed, your loose tongue has made sure that everyone in the city now knows you have a Wayfarer for a Protégé.”

  “I promise I’ll send her here with the rest of her party tomorrow,” he said, trying to mollify her.

  “The whole party?” she asked, then sighed, “I was hoping it could be a more personable one-on-one at first. I pnned to test her party more by gauging their behavior in regards to her, and I don’t want her thinking I’m entirely exploitative.”

  He raised a suspicious brow at her, “What exactly are you pnning?”

  “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she lightly scolded, “I only have one chance to judge their reactions to me as a stranger accurately. Besides, High Priest Yakoby would never let me hear the end of it if I didn’t at least ask for her assistance.”

  “Pati…”

  “It’ll be fine, brother. You worry about keeping her safe and leaving the politics to me, remember?”

  Paul huffed in annoyance but said in resignation, “I’m pnning another stop ter at the AOA to get them out of the city for a while.”

  Pati’s eyes narrowed on him, “Is she still in danger?”

  “I believe we have a window where the enemy won’t be looking for her, but I’ve already gotten my next assignment and want her away during it.”

  “What mission would the AOA give that you wouldn’t want her near and protected by our House?” his sister asked in confusion.

  “It’s not from the AOA,” he said darkly, “It’s a quest, not a mission.”

  She stared at him for a long moment before saying, “I see. I know I already told you that I wished you had rededicated to the Cultivator like most in our family–”

  “Pati–” he tried to interrupt but was quickly shut down.

  “But did you have to pick the Avenger? Aside from being a retively minor deity, he is not exactly a good look for our House, Paul. The House you lead currently.”

  “It’s not like he’s a Fallen god,” he countered, “Nor known to be one represented within the Voidsworn Syndicate.”

  “No, but he’s also not represented as a member of the Delegation of Radiance,” she pointed out, moving over to a dispy of pnts in vertical rows, and she began using a wand to gently water them.

  “I don’t regret my choice, Pati,” he repeated; this wasn’t the first time they had argued over his rededication, “Now, I came here to let you know about some developments in the case against House Ruwena.”

  She nodded but didn’t look away from her work, so he continued, “Phoenix managed to gain information that the Lord and Lady Ruwena are assisting the Renseres in infiltrating Tulisuda for the Soul Reapers.”

  That made her stop to look at him, and she said with wide eyes, “This will mean war, Paul. Civil war within the walls of Tulimeir.”

  He nodded solemnly, “I’ll be going to speak with Lord Teras at the Order of Magic’s headquarters after I leave here. He’ll need to be prepared to help organize the Magi who will stand against their Chancellor, as well as become the new one when we’ve won.”

  Patricia nodded quietly, not giving voice to the concern of what would happen should they not win. He turned to leave as he added, “I was just stopping by to update you on that,” he paused at the door and said over his shoulder, “I also offered to adopt Phoenix.”

  “WHAT?!”

  Paul stared up at another skyscraper in the northeastern district of Tulimeir, which was dedicated to researching and crafting prototypes. A majority of the district’s inhabitants dedicated themselves to the gods Schor and Crafter, and there was also a spattering of those who were devoted to minor deities under them, such as Mentor or Architect.

  Most buildings were just level upon level of workshops and boratories, and the current building he stood before was no exception as the headquarters of the Order of Magic branch in Tulimeir. He had only been in the lower level before when he was much younger to drop off certain items that required further study by specialists, and he was not looking forward to going through the upper floors to reach the Vice Chancellor’s workshop.

  Desperate times called for begrudging compromises, though, so he entered and purposefully made his way toward his destination. Paul decided he rather liked his new Regalia’s looks as it did a very good job of clearing a path through the crowds of people. No one even attempted to stop him to ask questions about why he was there.

  Once he got to the floor full of half-made golems and bustling Magi, he made his way to Ethan, who stood in the center of it all. The lord was busy ordering around underlings and talking with a young woman he hadn’t seen since first returning to Tulimeir.

  Paul smiled softly at the human, who stood out all the more for wearing rge spectacles over soft brown eyes, and he greeted her first, “Hello, Camil. I’m gd to see you again. You should come by my home when you have the time and energy to meet my Protégé. I believe you two might get along well, but don’t feel obligated to. Just know you are always welcome to visit.”

  The brunette nodded silently without directly looking at him, and he took the subtle indication of acceptance as a good sign before turning to the man standing beside her, “I see you’re taking good care of my cousin, Lord Teras.”

  “I’d be ten years behind in my work without her, Lord Waynd,” Ethan said with a grin, “Believe me when I say it is my honor and relief that she puts up with me.”

  “Sadly, I didn’t come here for a social visit,” Paul said, trying not to waste any time.

  The Vice Chancellor pointedly looked him up and down, taking in the jet-bck armor and blood-red cape, and said, “I figured it wasn’t. News in the investigation into House Ruwena?”

  “The worst it could be,” he admitted, “They are traitors to both Tulimeir and the world. You should prepare for an assault upon the allies of the Renseres.”

  Ethan wiped his hands on his leather apron and watched him skeptically, “The Renseres? Paul, the Ruwenas are not exactly known for their… pure actions or intentions. Why would they help those zealots?”

  “Apparently, to avoid annihition and join the Soul Reapers in the attempt to gain more power,” he informed.

  “Ah. That does sound more like them,” Ethan grimaced, “This is not going to be pleasant… and during a blood moon, no less,” he sighed heavily and met his eyes, “Lives will be lost from this.”

  “Let us try to avoid that as much as possible by moving quickly,” Paul said, csping a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “I’m going to the AOA to organize forces there. Can I count on you to gather the Magi who don’t want to see this city fall?”

  “You and I both know that the Magi and Adventurers have long held a contentious and often aggressive rivalry, but I don’t think either of our organizations want to watch our world burn,” Ethan said gravely, “I will do what I can.”

  “Then prepare to fight for Tulisuda.”