Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Adventure - Chapters: 210 - Words: 496,403 - Favs: 2 - Follows: 3 - Updated: Apr 28 - Published: Jan 8 - id: 14315791
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Love's Labors, Part 32
Once you finally settle on your decision, you allow yourself to fall asleep. A true, restful sleep, forgoing any Dreamwalking or other nocturnal escapades in favor of readying your strength and wits for the challenge to come.
The three of you wake with the dawn. You feel rested and fit, though Kelissa looks quite a bit more bleary. It's easy to forget just how much more sleep the mortals need than you. Still, she perks up once she rubs the sleep from her eyes, lying contentedly between the two demons.
Rysanial, for her part, is very embarrassed upon waking, once she remembers how much she lowered her guard the previous night. "I mean it!" she grouses, for what feels like the half-dozenth time. "Neither of you better say anything about what happened. I'm warning you... if anyone does hear that I was getting all mushy, there isn't a geas in the world that could stop me from getting payback!"
You just chuckle at her adorable protestations, while Kelissa kindly assures her that her lips are sealed. Soon the three of you rise from the bed and dress. You're moving with focused urgency, your strategy decided. Now you just need to make your case to Lily.
Striding quickly through the fortress, you find her as she's preparing to enter the throne room. "Oh!" she says, her face lighting up at the sight of you. "Was there something you needed?"
"I have an idea for how to approach Fallhazel," you say. "One that could help us with multiple problems at once. But we'll need to move fast. I plan to head north with Verika to search for Fallhazel as soon as we can prepare our mounts and provisions. And I want to take that orc girl from the village with us."
To Lily's credit, she immediately catches onto your idea. "You think Fallhazel might take an interest in the girl's powers?"
"It's possible," you say. "It could demonstrate to her that we're willing to extend care for nature as well. And if nothing else, it will get the girl out of Kovora."
Here you frown. "Melca hasn't officially demanded that you turn her over to the Church yet. Probably because she knows you won't do it. And she knows how catastrophic it would be to force a confrontation with you that she can't back down from. There's still so many heroines arrayed against us. If she pushes too far—if she loses you—then she stands to lose not just the Witch Queen lineage, but all Kovora as well."
In truth, much of what you're saying is an act, surreptitiously aimed at Melca herself. She might very well be listening even now... and you want to make absolutely sure that the spiteful deity remembers the full severity of the stakes for her.
"That's why she had Nergan send those assassins instead," you continue. "She was hoping to catch us by surprise. A deviously clever move on her part. And I fear we haven't seen the last of such tactics. I don't know what she'll try next... but I think it would be safer to move the girl somewhere far from here."
Especially since you're not sure Melca won't try to force the issue with Lily anyway, if she gets desperate enough. You have your own suspicions about the girl's abilities. Somehow, the garbled rite passed down from her mother is effective against the curse afflicting these lands. A curse that—according to what you heard in the Underworld ceremony—was the direct result of the land itself rejecting Melca, after she killed its mistress to usurp her mantle.
And if the fragmented remnants of this girl's ritual have any kind of connection to the dead goddess upon which Melca's now-unmatched power is built...
Well. Needless to say, you don't mention any of those suspicions out loud.
Quickly, you outline the rest of your suggestions, especially the possible sources of food that you could pursue without agitating the Alliance—at least not yet. You also emphasize the urgency of researching the data Nevati collected on the succubus geas; you have a feeling that could be very important in the future.
Khaytala will continue as Lily's faithful guard, but you also suggest assigning the drow to back her up, increasing palace security. You don't know exactly what Nergan's next move is going to be... but you're sure he's going to try something. And you want to make sure that there are a few new problems for him. Problems that weren't there last time.
You also suggest having the harpies try to lure more orcs into the loyalist camp, corrupted and bound to Lily's service. The mere presence of all that extra, exotic pussy was already going to be something of a draw, of course. But having them actively tempting the orcs ought to be even more effective. And you've already talked with Rysanial about her task: investigating the cleric, Elianna Imfiel, to see if there are any other weaknesses that you might be able to exploit when it comes time to claim her.
It doesn't take long for you to lay out your plan. Upon hearing it to the end, Lily nods. "I think you're right," she says, her tone serious. "That is what we should do."
Then she looks up at you with worry in her eyes, placing her hand hesitantly on your chest. "Just... please, be careful. If you believe the stories, Fallhazel is one of the most dangerous heroines of them all. And... and there's so little anyone even knows of her to begin with. Just... stay safe. Please."
You smile back, careful to exude the exact right degree of confidence to put her at ease. "Do not worry, my mistress," you say, inclining your head in a small bow. "I'll come back to you soon. I promise."
Then you wink, causing the young queen to blush and look down at the floor. But a few seconds later she looks back up, a firm determination in her eyes. "See that you keep that promise, then," she says earnestly. "I... I will be waiting."
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