"Someone's been naughty."

Violet jumped and a flare of purple light escaped her closed fists. "Jesus, Rain. Don't do that."

"You're such an easy target; how could I resist?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in…"

"If anybody asks, I am." Rain stretched out on the overstuffed couch pushed against Violet's wall. As a more conspicuous member of Sara's staff, Violet had a bigger, more opulent room than her sister, but the arrangement suited them both.

"What are you doing here?"

Rain's eyes lazily combed the walls for any sign of intrusion and raised the listening spells on Violet's walls with a twitch of her fingers. "My spymaster has me on a different target than the officially sanctioned one."

"The boy?"

"The girl."

"Victoria?"

"No, you've got her covered." Rain grinned wickedly. "But you're closer."

Violet's brow knit in confusion for a moment, then realization dawned on her face. "Sara?"

"Bingo."

"Akona has you watching Sara without her knowing?"

"Say it louder, why don't you." But Rain wasn't concerned. As soon as she had been sworn into Akona's service, he had trained her specifically to produce flawless spells against watching, listening and a host of other things regular mages didn't know how to do. Even if the door had been open, anybody standing on the threshold wouldn't have heard a thing.

"Why."

"That's classified."

"Come on, Rai. I'm your sister."

"I already break enough rules, telling you what I do."

"You're no fun."

"Well, neither are you. If you'd told me, I would have helped you ambush Victoria in the dungeon hall last night."

"You knew."

"Of course I knew," She smiled slyly. "It's kind of my job to know everything."

"You can't tell Sara."

"Why, Vi?" Rain's mouth was set in a serious line. "What you're doing is treachery."

"How do you think she'd react if she knew?" Violet whispered. "Do you think she'd stay here with her if she knew? She's protective – too protective – and she would have Vic out of here the minute she found out."

"What are you going to do?"

"Talk to your boss."

"Akona? What can he do?"

"I'm going to ask him to put people on her."

"Permanent guards?"

"If I could watch her every second of the day, I'd do it myself, but if Sara needs to be in the dark, I need to keep up my normal duties. Vic needs a chaperone whether she likes it or not, and Akona will help. He cares for her and I know he'll do it in the name of the realms, even if he isn't bound to Sara like I am."

"This is dangerous. If she finds out…"

"If I have my way," Violet said with a dark grin, "she won't have to."

Sara was standing somewhere she hadn't thought she'd be – in the training ring, in front of her colleagues in the middle of a very tense political climate. She had envisioned their next group training session as happening in peacetime, somewhere they could do what they needed to do without fear of attack or failure.

"If someone comes up behind you and from above," Sara explained, "which they're more than likely to do since most of the Ruler's people are demons with wings, you have to be ready. You have to listen and use your magic as an extra sense so you'll know a hundred percent of the time where each and every opponent is. This is difficult, but you have to try it."

Sara had filled the training room with as many guards and mages as she could spare. They were packed tightly within the stone walls, obstructing the CSIs' view of one another and of Sara.

"You will be swarmed," she said. "or expect you'll be swarmed. He's not going to be courteous and send opponents your way one by one. He's going to be vicious because he wants what you're protecting." She let her eyes touch on the guards and mages. "Swarm them. Take no prisoners."

They surged into action, movement echoing like a wave in the circular room. There were no corners to hide in, no convenient roofs to climb on or trees to topple as a diversion. This was as real as it got, but they weren't ready for anything real. They fumbled with their weapons, stuttered out their spoken commands and were all "dead" before they had a chance to fight back.

The pressure wasn't helping.

"Don't think about the people," Sara said. "Think about you. Don't dwell on the number of opponents or how armed they are. Dwell only on who is coming towards you at that moment – the person closest to you and what will happen to you if they make one of a thousand moves they could possibly make. Then think about the next person, and the next until there are no people left"

Sara motioned for them to stand up and try again. They were still sloppy, still amateurs, but they got in more hits. Not as many as they took, but more. Their technique was awful, the sign of a long period of no practice, and their magic was weak.

"Split up," Sara told the guards. "Two of you per one of them. Any extras, split yourselves between groups. Teach them how to do this – teach them everything you know."

"Everything?" One of the guards raised his eyebrows. "We've had years to learn, they'll have weeks if they're lucky, probably days, hours if…"

"I know," She said. "But give them a crash course. Make them learn." She looked at her colleagues, picking each one out of the group and holding them with her gaze. "They have no choice."

Later, when the world was cloaked in darkness and the halls were silent but for her footsteps, Victoria descended the stairs to the bottom levels. She was more careful this time – Violet could be around any corner or listening in to her thoughts. She was careful to think of innocent things – her schoolwork, television she was missing, her mortal and magical friends, none of whom she was able to see. They were the same thoughts any other girl would be having – thoughts any magical who divided their life between two realms would be having. Nothing should have set off warning bells, and nothing did. Victoria threw down the wards like she had the previous night, and there was nobody waiting around the corner to jump out and accuse her of breaking rules.

They would have been right, but still.

Michael was asleep on the filthy floor when she got there – no real surprise since her visit was unannounced. She crumbled a weak piece of stone off the wall and threw it at him. It met its mark and he sat up with a start but no noise. He was good.

"You again." He said with a smile. It was warmer than it should have been considering what her people had done to him. He had a good smile.

"Yeah, fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, I took your spot, didn't I? Sorry. I'd give it up if I could, but," he shrugged. "What can you do?"

She laughed softly. Sleeping on a dirty, cold stone floor and he still had a sense of humour. She was impressed.

"To what do I owe the pleasure this evening," he asked, sitting cross legged as close to the bars as he could. He understood silence – he was smart, too.

"I was in the neighbourhood."

"I highly doubt that – I know about the wards – but I'm flattered that you'd lie on my behalf."

"Don't get too excited." This was something Victoria understood well, and something she hadn't expected to find here, deep underground. The witty repartee between a young man and a girl like her was familiar. If it hadn't been such an absurd situation, she would have called it flirting. "I have a couple questions."

"You've been beaten to the punch – quite literally." He displayed a set of purpling bruises on his bare chest. "That guy has a wicked arm."

"Akona. He's…yeah, he does."

"So first they send the hard-ass, then they send the pretty girl for a second round of questions? Is that how this works?" Strangely, he didn't sound angry or jaded, simply curious.

"This isn't official questioning. Feel free to be as candid as you like."

"So I don't have to worry about offending anyone? Good. Well, first off, the food here sucks. I'm sure I would change my opinion if I could get any, but, you know. Take the hand you're dealt."

"Here." She rolled her eyes at his pathetic act – which she wasn't sure was an act at all – and let her magic pool into a sandwich.

"Thanks." He fell on the sandwich and talked through a mouthful. "Ask away."

"What got you here?" As in the previous night, time was pressing. Victoria really only wanted to know one thing, and their back and forth had wasted time.

"Born wrong."

"What?"

"My father disagrees with your leader. They think I'm like him."

"Aren't you?" She asked, standing up. She had her answer and he had his dinner. She was sure she would see him again, provided Akona didn't start questioning again and go overboard.

"I don't want to get into nature vs nurture with you, but no, I'm not."

"I bet that's what they all say, right?"

"Probably." He winked and she laughed her way down the hall.