The Demon Queen Wants To Live.

The weeping continued for some time. Eventually, Ash nudged my side and gestured for the open door. "Let's let them have a moment," Ash said quietly.

I nodded. Sol sat atop Ash's golden head, her four wings tucked. We stepped outside. The door clicked behind us, and the sound of the family on the other side thinned to almost nothing. The corridor outside was silent. Ash led us down the hall, far enough that the door was only just in sight. Then she stopped and looked at me. Her jaw had set. I knew what that meant by now.

"Lys," she said. She gestured at my arms. "I saw them branch."

That was not what I had expected her to say. "What?"

I looked down. The Requiem's Line ran black down my right forearm. The Cradle's ran white down my left. They were exactly as they had always been.

"Lys, they branched," Ash said. "I'm sure of it. When you were using Turn on him near the end, I saw them both do it,"

It was a strange thing the Hero was telling me. In no book I had read was there mention of a mark that could advance, and then pull back that same advancement. I knew Ash well enough to know that she would not lie. "When did they turn back to Lines?" I asked.

"When you stopped using the power," She held my gaze. "It was no trick of the light, Lys. I'm sure of it."

"I know. I believe you, Hero."

I looked at my arms again. A small part of me had hoped that what I had done in that room might advance them. I had expected it would not. What Ash described was neither the advancement nor its absence. It was a third thing, and far stranger than either.

I raised my hands, took a breath, and let the two powers find each other again. They caught, and the third power emerged. The Lines did not branch. After a long moment, I released Turn and looked back up at Ash. "These marks are strange things," I murmured.

Ash tilted her head. "You don't seem disappointed."

I leaned against the wall. Down the hall, the door stayed shut. I could hear nothing through it, though I supposed the weeping had not stopped. It seemed the kind of weeping that would take some time.

"It is fine," I said. "I did not do this to get stronger." Ash looked at me, and hers was a look that said more than I understood. Though I understood more of it than I might have once. I smirked. "Though I do confess, it would have been appreciated all the same."

Ash smiled and shook her head. Then her gaze dropped to my chest "Are you okay though? That looked like it took a lot out of you."

"I am well enough."

"Lys."

"I am slightly tired," I allowed. "But my core is filling well enough on its own. The Essence is coming back."

Ash's brow furrowed. "From the grinding?"

"Indeed." I kept my voice light. "It seems it is good for more than pain. Better than wasting time drawing mana from the air, at any rate."

Ash said nothing. Her face said a great many things. "We need to go back," I said. "We enter the chamber tonight."

"Lys." Ash pushed off the wall. "You're tired. And I don't mean your Essence. You did something in there that-" She shrugged. "Something only you could do."

"Ash. We do not have time. The Archon said this Arianrhod could come at any moment. It could be tomorrow. Or the day after. Perhaps we will go back and find her waiting for us. We enter the chamber tonight." I raised my left hand, and let a wisp of white curl once around my fingers and die. "Perhaps we can recover inside, should the need arise. With this power, it would not be a difficult thing."

"That cannot be good," Ash murmured. "Even if it is the Cradle."

"Do you have a better idea, Ash?"

She frowned and opened her mouth to say something. Then she sighed and shook her head. The door opened and we both turned in its direction.

The Marquis stepped out into the hall and looked around. His face was red, and his fine silks sat crooked on his shoulders. When he spotted us he came at a pace just short of running. He stopped before us, and he bowed. It was deeper than the bow he had given me in the Archon's study. His voice was cracking.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I can't believe it. It's- it's my son. He really is awake. I never thought I'd see my baby boy awake again."

He was still crying. I could hear it in every third word. I did not know what to say to it. I looked at Ash. Ash nudged me lightly in the side. Sol let out a small chirp from atop her head, which was no help at all.

"I only did what I agreed to," I said. "Nothing more. Raise your head."

He raised it hurriedly, and wiped at his eyes with the edge of one hand. He looked at me, and then back at the door. "He seems different though," He hesitated and his eyes lowered. "Will that... will that change?"

I knew this strange gesture well enough at least. I had seen it a thousand times across a thousand years. It was one delivering an unwelcome report in a roundabout fashion. I was not entirely certain why it was being directed at me, in this man's own house.

"Different how?" I asked.

The Marquis wrung his hands. "He asked for the window to stay open and he keeps looking at it. He keeps- " He shook his head. "It's such a small thing. I don't know why it troubles me so."

I knew the answer. It was not my place to say. Wind was the first thing that had changed in that timeless place. "Your son has gone through much," I said instead. "If he is not as you remember, that is because no man exits a trial the same as when he entered. He will settle, in time. But he will likely never be as you remember. You should not wish him to be."

The Marquis nodded and wiped his eyes again. "Well…so long as he's back," he said. "It doesn't matter one way or another, so long as he's back."

Then he drew himself up to his full height, which was not very high. "We must have a feast," he declared. "A grand feast. No- we must have a festival. A grand event to celebrate the return of my son, and the hero who brought him back."

The hero. The actual Hero stood half a step to my left and she said nothing. I glanced at Ash. She was very carefully looking at the Marquis, and her smile did not go away.

There had been festivals in my name once. Whole weeks given over to them. The thought of a festival now sat in my hands like a vase I did not know how to hold. "Marquis," I said. "We were not far from leaving when you found us. We have no time for a feast. And whatever festival you have in mind, I doubt we will be here for it."

The man stared at me. "You would just leave? Just like that?"

"Yes," I said, arms folded.

Ash stepped smoothly in front of me. "What she's trying to say," Ash said, "is that we have some very important matters to attend to. Matters that simply cannot wait. We fear to waste even a few hours more than necessary."

That was not what I had been trying to say. I huffed, and turned away.

The Marquis nodded slowly, and deflated by a visible degree. "I see. Then you must visit again, when you can. And we will have a feast. A grand feast, the likes of which this city has never seen. And a festival- one that will make the Festival of the First Hunt look like a village fair."

I was beginning to suspect the man was not joking."Very well then," the Marquis said, gathering himself. "Then, for your payment-"

"I told you I require none."

It was the fourth time now. It was very nearly enough to make me accept something out of pure spite. I stayed my tongue, because a Queen is above spite, or at least above spite this petty. Sol let out a loud chirp.

I paused. Everyone looked up at her. She sat atop Ash's head with her chest puffed out, and she chirped again more pointedly this time. "Solara? What is it?"

I checked the bond. What came back was a longing. A longing I had felt once before. Ah.

"Do you possess Essence Hearts?" I asked. The words came out almost reluctantly. "I am told they are difficult to acquire, so it is fine if you do not-"

"Of course." The Marquis was already moving. "We have one in our vaults. A fine thing, a very fine thing. You absolutely must take it with you." He was walking backward as he spoke.

"Marquis," I called after him. He had already turned a corner.

I looked at Ash. Ash shrugged. "This had better not take long, Ash."

Ash considered the corner the man had vanished around. "He'll take less time if we don't follow him."

I nodded slowly. The Hero truly was wise in the ways of people. I looked at Sol. "And you are perhaps too clever for your own good."

Sol looked at me. She chirped and flew from atop Ash's head. She flapped thrice, swayed in the air, and then fell between my horns. I adjusted her with a smile.

Lanterns had been lit over the manor grounds by the time we stood on its front steps. The servants had assembled in their lines again. The Marquis came to us with both hands cupped before him, and in them sat the Essence Heart.

It was massive. It barely fit within his two hands together, and the color inside it turned slowly in place as he walked. It was a storm of red and brown coiling over and through itself, just beneath the surface.

"This is one of the more precious things in our vault," the Marquis said. "Of course, it cannot compare to even a hundredth of what you have done for us. But please, accept it all the same."

"Sure looks impressive," Ash said, one finger on her chin as she leaned in. "A lot bigger than the last one."

"Indeed," I said.

"It is a B-rank Heart," the Marquis said, with a note of pride. "And not just any Heart. This one was extracted from a manticore."

A manticore, huh? I had read of the beasts before, in one of the useless accounts I had read in my research. Some small part of me had wished to cross paths with such a beast myself. Instead the beast came to me like this. Already reduced to a heart. If the Gods were still out there, this was certainly one of their jokes.

Sol chirped from between my horns. I glanced up at her. "Is this to your liking?" Sol let out a chirp of such volume that two of the servants flinched.

The Marquis blinked. "I- you mean to feed this Heart to your familiar?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

"No! No, of course not." He said it quickly. "It's simply that a B-rank Heart of this quality would greatly aid anyone in their advancement. Anyone at all. So it might be a waste if-"

"Nothing spent on Solara is a waste." It came out sharper than I intended. The Marquis winced. He bowed his head, and held the Heart out to me with both hands.

I took it. It was heavier than its size would indicate. Dense. "Solara," I said, lifting my hands. "This is far larger than the other. Give me a moment to crush it properly first so-"

Sol chirped loudly and dropped from between my horns. She landed in my cupped hands right beside the Heart. I could only watch as she opened her beak. She opened it wide, and then wider still. Solara's mouth opened more than any law that governed bodies should have allowed for. The baby phoenix swallowed the Heart whole.

The baby phoenix was now three or even four times her size. Solara was a vast ball of gold and black feathers that almost spilled from my hands, one that was perfectly round. Every servant around us stared. The Marquis was staring too. Ash stared. I stared. Sol let out a huff of air that let out a thin wisp of fire. Perhaps it was meant to be a burp.

Then the baby phoenix shrank back to her ordinary size in an instant, and let out a small chirp that sounded tired. Her enormous golden eyes opened and closed very slowly.

"That is one strange familiar." The Marquis said, still staring openly. His arm almost moved up before he stilled it at his side.

"Solara is not strange. She is herself, and she is singular." I said.

Sol yawned wide enough in my hands to show the glow of fire at the back of her throat. I lifted her and set her between my horns, and there she sat as heavily as she could. I checked the bond to see how she felt now and she was…drowsy. Very drowsy, and very satisfied.

"We must be going then, Marquis," Ash said. "Can you arrange a carriage? We are in a hurry, as we said."

"Of course." He turned and called out, and men were already moving before the call finished. It took no time at all before a carriage rolled up the road. A footman stepped down to open its door, his head bowed.

It seemed they were all rather polite now. Once, I would have said that only fear makes men this polite. Ash stepped up into the carriage. I set my hand on the frame and made to follow.

"Wait!"

I turned. Lena Eckhart burst through the great doors of the manor and came down the steps at a run. She stopped half a dozen feet away. Her hair was loose and her eyes were red and her chest heaved.

"Girl," I said. "Do you recall your vow? I do not recall taking it away permanently."

Lena froze. "I- if you say the word, I'll-"

I raised a hand. Everyone was silent, the Marquis and his men included. "What do you wish to say to me?" I asked.

"Th-thank you," Lena said. "For saving him. Thank you so much." And she bowed. She folded at the waist, deeper than her father had bowed, deeper than I would have believed her spine capable of. Her hair fell forward and hid her face, and she did not rise. "If- if I can find some way to repay this, I will," she said, to the ground.

I looked at her. It was a strange thing. I was certain that I could have dueled this girl a hundred times, and defeated her all one hundred, and never once would I have received a bow this straight from her.

"Girl. Listen to me." Lena raised her head. "Do not repeat your foolishness," I said. "If you wish to repay me, then fix what you have done." She nodded hastily.

I took one step up into the carriage. Then I paused with one hand on the frame and turned back. "And tell your brother," I said, "that there are more important things in this world than being the strongest. I would know."

Then I stepped inside, and closed the door. Ash was smiling at me. "What?"

"Nothing," Ash said. She reached out and took my hand. "Let's go back."