"Though we live in the darkness of the mortal world,

I walk the Path of the Light, and may It bless me through all my days."

Serena let the last words of her chant echo through the hall. The gathered paladins murmured among themselves as they left the House.

She sighed and poured herself some wine. The Service always left her throat very dry from speaking so long, but it was her favorite part of the week. It was a time for her to offer up control and responsibility to something greater and higher than herself. She felt as weightless and radiant as Light itself as she moved through the prayers and songs, and feeling the eyes of the gathered masses on her was sweeter than any drug.

"Your Majesty… a moment of your time, please." Serena turned around to see Alanyxe standing nervously behind her, twisting a folded piece of parchment in her hands.

"Can it wait?"

"No, this is crucial. I'm sorry, Your Majesty. Dismiss the Queensguard as well."

"Fine. Come this way." Serena brushed aside the curtain behind the pulpit and unlocked the door to the Daughter's chambers. "Guards, remain outside. I cannot be disturbed."

Her guards bowed deeply and stood on either side of the door. She and Alanyxe stepped inside, and Serena pushed a screen across the room so that she could change her robes in privacy.

"Your Majesty, Lady Q_T brought me this addendum to the mine report. In addition to their assertion that Crossfire is not viable for mining, they discovered something deeply disturbing."

"Details, Alanyxe. My time is precious and I haven't got all day." Serena undid the high collar and her sash and placed them in the wardrobe.

"They retrieved the remains of upwards of twenty human bodies clogging the dam drains. Not only did it drown Crossfire in floodwaters, but the bodies were positively identified to be from Stormwind. It is assumed all are female, of varying ages, and they wore the robes of mages in training. The levels of decomposition vary, but it was estimated that the most recent set of remains is approximately a week and a half old."

Serena's heart nearly stopped.

"Who else knows about this?" she demanded.

"Only Q_T, Your Majesty."

Good... Serena thought about how to phrase her next sentence and thanked the Light that the idiot appraisers hadn't taken the report to the College. She could handle issues within the House, but dealing with that nosy old Fontn and his pet rat Cthuko was another issue entirely.

"Alanyxe, if you believed that the House of Light was in danger, what would you do?"

There was a brief, confused silence.

"Your Majesty, I don't see what that has to do with the situation at hand-"

"What would you do?"

"I would do anything, Your Majesty. It was the oath I took when… when your sister affirmed me as Minister of the House." Alanyxe sounded very nervous, but Serena decided to be gentle with her and not push the issue of Lucy.

"I took that oath as well." She studied her own face and body in the wall mirror, wondering if she liked what she saw. She was undoubtedly prettier than Lucy, but there was something about her twin sister that made men flock to her instead. "'I am the Light in the darkness, the Heart among cowards. No deed is too dark, nor any sacrifice too great when the Void threatens to swallow us all.' I did not know what those words meant until my brother fell sick."

Alanyxe was very quiet. Serena almost wondered if she was still there.

"He had a fever, as you know. A slow lingering death whose progress could not be stopped by any power in our world." She tightened the corset laces herself and began buttoning up the front of her gown. "I could not ease his passing. But I could ease his mind, while he still had it. His greatest fear was that the knowledge of the Emerald Heart would spread from the House. My idiot sister was excommunicated from the House and estranged from us after she threatened to reveal it."

"I know, Your Majesty. I was there."

"He mentioned the Emerald Heart to his maids while he was delirious. I caught them speaking of it one day to their superior, a woman called DarkAngel. It would have been a terrible loss of face for the House if they had been able to discover its purpose through his ramblings."

"Indeed, Your Majesty."

"Light forgive me," Serena murmured. She set the crown of Stormwind on her head and pushed back the screens. "I had the woman and her daughter executed along with the four who spoke of the Heart. But it was not enough. All twenty of them were isolated from the rest of the palace because of my brother's needs, but as he deteriorated, I knew they must all die."

Alanyxe's mouth fell open in shocked horror. "It… Your Majesty?"

"I kept my oath of protection to the House, Alanyxe. I am asking you to do the same."

"But the deaths-"

"Unavoidable collateral damage. I could not waste valuable time from the Ministers or the House acolytes to care for him. The maids were expendable."

"I…" Alanyxe blinked for a few moments, then took a deep shaky breath. "Very well, Your Majesty."

"You are positive that no one else knows about this?" Serena asked her.

"Only Lady Q_T and the warriors who went to the appraisal site, Your Majesty."

"Good. If they question us, tell them that the House is conducting an investigation, but say no more."

"Yes, Your Majesty."