Redemption Arc

Lucian opened the door and entered inside the tea room. It was a cozy little place with a great view of the forest. He looked at Aurelia. She was probably thinking about how she’d brutally kill him or something of the sort. That did little to quiet his nerves.

He’d come up with a plan. It was a good plan, by all estimations. It was also incredibly ballsy. Lucian never really thought of himself as someone with huevos, but the past weeks here had made him reconsider. It involved lying a lot. He wasn’t good at lying… unless he had his lies prepared in advance. He’d been able to sidestep Miriam’s suspicions, and she was adroit at anyone at sniffing out nonsense.

If it didn’t work… big, big problems. To put it mildly. But he didn’t see any other way he could do this semi-cleanly.

“I was pleasantly surprised to be invited,” Lucian said. He wrapped his arm around his sister as she tried to wander off. “I’ve brought Cate here. I hope it’s no trouble.”

“Not at all,” Aurelia said. “We were just admiring how carefully you take care of your sister.”

“We were,” another confirmed. “Come, have a seat!”

Lucian thought this would either be the worst or his best day yet.

***

Aurelia took a sip of her tea and set it down. She looked up at Lucian, watching him bubble away in front of her sisters. He fit right in here. Proper, polite, kind, simple… she didn’t like unexpected variables when she was this close to her dream, but Lucian was just the same as all of the other aspirants here. He stared directly into the light, and that blinded him to the shadows forming behind him.

It was time to bundle him off with one of her sisters.

“Ladies, perhaps you could show Cate what we discussed earlier?” Aurelia said.

That was her signal to them signifying that she wanted to talk to Lucian alone. As ever, they were her eager accomplices.

“Of course, prioress.” The one who spoke gathered her white robes and stood. “Lucian—can we show your sister something? It’s a gift from the monastery. We won’t be gone long, trust me.”

Lucian nodded. “I know that she’s in good hands. But… if you could, would you stand where I can see from the window? I like to keep an eye on her,” he said politely.

“Absolutely.”

The five of them gently led Cate out of the room. Aurelia watched them go with a smile on her face, and then turned to look at Lucian. When the door shut, his smile vanished. Again, he stared at her unblinkingly.

“You put on quite a show,” Lucian said. His demeanor had shifted.

Aurelia tilted her head in confusion. “Pardon me?”

“Ooh—I’m just an innocent maiden with a traumatic past. I hate being born this way, and that’s why I find a way to bring it into every conversation,” Lucian mocked. “The only thing that’s impressive about that act is that you can keep it up for so long without vomiting.”

Aurelia couldn’t deny that she felt total shock in that moment. All that, earlier… was it a façade? If it was, never before had she been fooled so thoroughly by someone’s acting. Even still, this wasn’t the first time someone with sharp intuition had seen through her. In here, her strength was with her sisters. They would always be on her side—always.

“I… I’m not sure what you’ve heard… perhaps…” Aurelia trailed off uncomfortably. “Perhaps you heard some talk about my being a cursed child. I’ve tried my best, Lord Lucian. I swear I have. What did I do to offend you?”

Lucian groaned. “Cut the shit. I’ve had it. The fact is, you ruined everything, including my plans for the week. Do you have any idea what you’ve brought to this place? A plan decades in the making, and you blew it.” He leaned forward on the table. “He’s very displeased with you.”

He? Aurelia thought, her heart beating faster. No. Impossible.

“Lord Lucian, I… once more, I’m not sure what you’re talking about… who is ‘he?’ What do you mean?”

“Do you have any idea who Duke Metterand is?” Lucian asked her. “Of course you don’t. You’ve lived in this cloister your whole life, drinking yak milk from the tit and cavorting with those airheaded monastics who’d hug a poisonous snake. That’s why whenever I looked you stood there smiling, preening like a goose, when you should’ve been frantically trying to salvage things.” He slammed his fist on the table. “Now, the Last Inquisitor is prying into our master’s affairs. He’s rummaging about your room as we speak.”

Aurelia’s heart started to beat frantically as she started to believe that this was no ruse. Was that why he’d been looking at her so intently? It felt like her world was collapsing around her. The Last Inquisitor? What did he mean?

“What will Metterand find, you think? Your ritual to seal their transformation? Your ritual to profane their form? Or your ritual to make them become demonic beasts?”

Aurelia slammed her hands on the table and rose. It was a rash action—something she hadn’t done in many, many years. As he spoke the plans that she’d only shared with the First Emperor himself, her mind became aflame with fear, rage, anxiety, and myriad other emotions. Her compulsions rose to the surface. She wanted to quiet him, forever, here and now.

Lucian narrowed his eyes. “Are you going to start bawling and pretending I’m bullying you, or shall we do something about your mistake?”

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Aurelia walked around the table, her breathing heavy. She sat down in the chair next to his and pulled it close, staring into his eyes unblinkingly. He didn’t flinch. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her hands around his neck, silence him. But she didn’t know if she could.

“Who are you?” she asked intently.

“Who am I?” Lucian repeated. “Right now, I’m the only one that might let you get those nine lives you were offered. Because right now…” He leaned in closer. “You’ve failed Him. And I’m the one that cleans up after failures.”

When Aurelia heard her private wish vocalized, she knew that she could no longer afford to act indignant. This man must’ve been sent by the First Emperor himself. He was close enough to Him to share secrets as deep as these. This had gone from a mere annoyance to something that threatened to overturn her entire life.

The doors opened, and Aurelia’s sisters entered. Aurelia whipped her head over, a forced smile on her face.

“Sisters? Could you give us a little more time to talk alone?” Aurelia said, her voice strained as she barely restrained all the myriad emotions bubbling within. “Please.”

“Please,” Lucian repeated. He didn’t seem affected at all, unlike her. “Show Cate any local insects. She loves those.”

“Oh! Umm… certainly!” one of her sisters said cheerily. They quickly left, shutting the door behind them.

***

Once they left, the monastic sisters of Heavenwatch stood still outside the door like they couldn’t believe it.

“Was Aurelia…?” one of them asked.

“She was definitely sitting opposite Lucian when we left,” another said excitedly. “So… she moved.”

“Did you see their faces? They were so close together,” another remarked. “And Aurelia looked… a little annoyed at us. She never gets annoyed.”

“She kept talking exceedingly positive about Lucian. I assumed that she wanted us to match with him… but what if…?” Her eyes danced in her head as she came to a conclusion.

“Oh, I knew it! I could just tell from the way they were looking at each other,” one of them said, practically bouncing.

The sisters went off chatting eagerly, joining up with Cate. As Lucian suggested, they took her bugwatching. Not a thrilling activity ordinarily, but this time they had something to talk about. It seemed that spring had come for their prioress, who never seemed to show any interest in anyone.

***

As Aurelia paced around the room, clearly quite upset, Lucian tried not to act as frightened as he was. Just moments ago, she looked like she was about to bite his head off. She probably could, which made the experience far more intense. But… it seemed like his deception worked. The knowledge that he had was incredibly valuable if he could find a way to employ it properly.

“You had me completely fooled.” Aurelia sat on a chair across from him and crossed her legs. “You seem weak, pathetic. You looked suppressed by your brother-in-law, totally out of your depth, and utterly normal, dull, and boring. Like most of my brothers and sisters, but without any talent.”

Lucian tried not to let his expression waver. She was right on most accounts. But Lucian had a persona to keep up.

He snorted. “You think you made some grand achievement, surviving in this place? They see a cursed child, they think not to kill it, but to shower it with affection. Surviving here didn’t take skill.” Lucian leaned in. “All you are, Aurelia, is lucky.”

Aurelia narrowed her eyes. “What mistake did I make? I’ve completed the ritual to seal their divine beast transformation. It just needs to be activated. As for the other one, it’s progressing quickly. None suspect me.”

Lucian swallowed. She’d already completed the ritual to seal their transformation? That was bad. It was like learning she’d already planted the bomb.

“Things are progressing well,” she continued. “So… why exactly were you sent here?”

“I was sent here because there’s only one single person under our master’s sway in this monastery,” Lucian said. “That means that Metterand—"

“So, I am exceptional,” she said with a raised nose.

“I got here in just a week of trying,” Lucian reminded her, and she closed her mouth. “But I forgive your arrogance. I suppose you lose perspective, trapped in this backwater. You spend all day playing with puppies and you might confuse them with wolves, if you’ve only heard about wolves from stories.”

Aurelia’s brow twitched and a vein bulged in her neck. Lucian might be pushing it.

He cleared his throat. “As I was saying, there’s only one person under our master here… and Metterand came looking for you. What mistake you made, I don’t know. But Metterand is the Last Inquisitor. He’s a subject of great concern. He’s the heir to the church’s inquisitorial tradition. No doubt you’ve heard of their successes.”

“I can kill him, easily,” Aurelia said. “No one would know. I could kill him right now, in broad daylight. Those clueless fools could see me do it, and I could persuade them it was justified.”

“No,” Lucian said firmly. “As I said, you’ve already failed Him.”

Aurelia looked furious. “Who are you to—”

“You are done,” Lucian said loudly. “Metterand has allies. Formidable ones. He’s a duke of the empire, you imbecile. Today, it’s him alone. Tomorrow? Countless others could come. Your plan for these people failed. You have failed.”

Aurelia didn’t look ready to accept that. She looked ready to strangle him.

Lucian raised a cautionary finger. “But as I said… you’re lucky. There’s one last way you can be of use to Him. And if you do this well, His nine precious gifts may yet be yours.”

Aurelia calmed somewhat. “Tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it.”

“We’re going to kill Metterand.”

Aurelia stood. “Where is he? You said he was in my room?”

“Ah,” Lucian raised a finger, then snapped and pointed at the chair. She sat begrudgingly, bouncing her leg impatiently. “We are going to kill Metterand. We’re going to frame him for your deeds. In the chaos, however, he needs to break open the divine beast’s mausoleum. And you need to help me slip in there unnoticed to get what our master really wanted.”

“And what’s that?” Aurelia asked with a raised brow.

Lucian looked at her contemptuously. “A failure doesn’t need to know.”

Her jaw clenched, and her nostrils flared as she smiled dangerously. “I see. And if you die in the chaos of our battle, would that make you a failure? If I crush you under my feet by accident, what would happen?”

“That would make you His enemy,” Lucian said simply. “Now, are you prepared?”

Aurelia glowered at him. But… she sighed, and nodded.

Lucian stood and turned around, trying not to let her see his sigh of relief. All the pieces were in place. Now… time to kill Metterand, and complete yet another blessing heist.