Out of the Shadows, Part 24

Verika reaches for an arrow from her quiver, her gaze locked on the unaware Matriarch.

Before she can complete the action, though, you place your hand on her shoulder, halting her. "Wait," you say quietly. "She has to have planned for that. Let me try something else."

Uncertain, Verika hesitates, and you take advantage. From where your hand is on her shoulder, it only takes the small motion of a single finger to trace it slowly, gently down the side of her neck. She shivers at your unexpected touch, your aphrodisiac sending a twinge of unholy lust through her, despite how slight the contact was. You see a hint of fear enter her eyes, even as you lean closer to murmur into her ear. "Trust me."

Then, before she can recover enough to object, you rise to your feet. Walking quietly out into the subterranean garden, you approach the Matriarch from behind.

Your enemy definitely seems on edge... which you suppose makes sense, if she's deliberately making herself a target. The nervous tic you noticed before—running her thumb along the railing—continues as she looks out over the city, and you can tell that she's subtly resisting the urge to keep looking back over her shoulder. You get to just outside of arm's reach without being detected... and only then do you speak up. "Your majesty."

The Matriarch whirls, and you notice that her hand reflexively shoots toward her sleeve. But on seeing your demonic visage she checks herself, freezing in place. "Who are you?" she snaps. "How did you enter this place?"

You spread your arms wide, palms out to show no weapons. "I am exactly as I appear: an agent of the infernal realms," you say with a bow, adopting a slightly more formal speech pattern toward the royal figure. "As for how I entered this place... well, let that serve as an example of my capability. If I am skilled enough to accomplish such a feat, then you may find me useful in other ways."

The drow glares at you with suspicion. "I have no need to bargain with your kind," she snaps, her voice cold. "I know better than to play with the kind of costs you demand."

You raise an eyebrow. "Who spoke of any cost to you?" you ask. "It was not my intent to make any demands in exchange for my help. We share a common goal, and I believe we can aid each other. After all... we both desire the downfall of a certain righteous heroine, do we not?"

You can tell that had an effect. The Matriarch's cold exterior cracks noticeably at the offer of help against her sister, and you see urgent need flash through her eyes. So you keep up the pressure. "I have been tasked with thwarting these... agents of righteousness..." you say. "If anything, I would consider myself grateful for any cooperation toward that end. No further recompense will be necessary."

The Matriarch continues to eye you, considering your claims. "And what aid could one single incubus like you provide to me?" she asks at length. You raise your eyebrows a little. She's had demonology training, to identify you so decisively. Possibly even a mage herself.

"Oh, quite a bit," you explain. "I may not be much for combat... but I've already made significant inroads with Verika. She was so desperate to rescue those hostages that you took that she couldn't turn down my help, not even when she started to realize what I am. And at this point? I've practically got her wrapped around my finger."

You chuckle. "She probably keeps telling herself that she'll make it through. That she'll resist my charms. But... in her heart of hearts... I think she already knows it's a lost cause. Even if she won't admit it."

It may just be your imagination, but you can practically hear the nearby Verika squirm, as your little jab strikes home. You hide your smirk, and continue laying on your supernatural charm for the Matriarch.

"Still," you say. "Even with all that... I can't risk attacking someone like her myself. I need someone like you for the final blow. Someone who can actually kill her. Verika is going to make her move against you tomorrow, during the festival. But I can influence her planning. I can lead her right into whatever trap you have prepared. Just tell me what you need, and I will make it happen. Together, we can make sure she dies."

You show her a cruel, malevolent smile, making full use of your demonic visage. The Matriarch hesitates, caution warring with desperate desire in her face. In the end, however... she can't resist you. Can't resist what you're offering. "Not here," she says quietly. "Come with me."

She leads you back into the palace, down several corridors and up a few flights of stairs, until you reach an ornate door. She unlocks it using several sets of keys, and you follow her into her chambers. She doesn't stop there, however, going straight over to a bookshelf on the far wall.

Reaching in with a different key, she opens the entire bookshelf, revealing it to be a secret door. "In here," she says. "It's a safe room that I had constructed. The most secure place in the palace. No one will be able to overhear us inside."

Obligingly, you step through the secret doorway, only to see—

Oh. Oh.

The room is heavily fortified, with steel walls warded with powerful runes. But it's the contents of the room that catch your eye, your supernatural perception taking it in faster than any mortal could hope to.

Papers, journals, parchments, diagrams. They cover the walls, as well as the table in the center of the room. The papers clearly represent untold years worth of work... and every single one of them is focused on one single subject.

Verika.

Some of them are assassination plans, coming up with countless ways to strike at her... though many of those plans have been rendered nearly illegible, crossed out in a fury as useless. But that isn't all there is. For all the scores of offensive plans you can see... there are far, far more plans that are defensive. Desperate plans to counter all manner of possible attacks that Verika might make.

Most of those have been angrily crossed out as useless as well.

You think back to what Verika told you, when you asked her about her history. How her sister had been trying to kill her since so long ago, but how the young Verika had dismissed her attempts as "amateurish". Treated them like a joke. How at the time, she had only kept her sister around because she hadn't been quite ready to make her own move yet.

But now... now you see it from the older sister's perspective. What it must have been like to grow up in drow society, reminded every day that your younger sister was an impossible, untouchable prodigy. One whose least efforts you could never even dream of matching.

And to grow up under the constant knowledge that you were in her way.

The Matriarch shuts the door to the safe room with a resounding clang. Then she slumps down in a nearby chair. You realize that this is the one place she actually feels safe, the one place she can actually let her guard down. The nervous tic you saw earlier with her fingers has turned in force, her hands trembling until she folds her fingers together in her lap.

"I've spent so long preparing for tomorrow," she says, her voice unsteady, barely above a whisper. "Nothing else worked. She's too damn perfect. The only time I even came close was when I sabotaged her first expedition to the surface. Slipped an agent of mine onto her group, and had them lead the elves to her camp before fleeing with her shadowgate. But then I learned that she survived even that! I... I had to do something. I couldn't give her any more time to prepare her counterattack!"

As you watch, the regal woman curls in on herself, her eyes shifting right and left. You can see the fear in those eyes. Not a rational fear... but a sick, desperate paranoia, brought on by years of living under a death sentence she could do nothing to escape.

But the most twisted irony of all... is that in truth, she had escaped it. The Verika from before her time with the elves might have just been biding her time before ruthlessly murdering her sister. But despite what the Matriarch might think, the Verika of today truly has no interest in revenge, and despises the life she left behind.

Yet the Matriarch's orders have brought Verika's wrath down on the Underworld anyway... because she was just too terrified of her sister to believe she could ever be safe, so long as Verika lived.

She looks up at you, and you can see the haunted look in her eyes, the hungry, desperate way she looks at you, a potential ally against the enemy coming for her. "I only need one clear shot," she says quietly, as though trying to convince herself. "If you can bring her into my field of view... without her realizing I can see her... I can end this. I know I can."

Interesting. Combine that with the reflexive action you saw when you startled her—reaching for her sleeve—and you suspect there is some kind of ranged weapon involved here. Small enough to conceal in a sleeve, and powerful enough to ensure death. Probably using some kind of enchantment or curse, if she's this confident of it. "How close do I need to bring her?" you ask.

"Close enough that I can see her," the Matriarch replies. "Nothing else matters."

"Oh, is that all?" you say, giving the unhinged ruler a reassuring smile. "Simplicity itself. I will talk with her, and send a message let you know where you can expect her to be vulnerable. She won't even know what hit her."

The smile the Matriarch gives back barely even qualifies as one, but she nods, then rises to her feet. "Do not fail me, demon," she insists, some of the regal tone returning to her voice. "And I promise you, we will both see victory over those heroines."

Wasting no time, you exit the safe room and soon vanish into the corridors of the palace. You don't make it far before Verika steps out of the shadows to confront you as soon as you're alone, fixing you with a flat glare as she stands there with her arms crossed. "A 'lost cause', am I?" she asks.

You don't back down, giving her an innocent smile that isn't innocent at all. "I had to play my character," you say. "I was confident that someone as observant as you would be able to tell which parts of what I said were necessary lies... and which parts were true."

Verika flinches, glancing slightly away, unable to fully meet your eyes. "...what did you learn?" she finally asks, changing the subject in a notably smaller voice.

"Quite a bit," you say. "I don't think you'll like it, though."

You relate what the Matriarch told you, along with what you saw in the safe room. As you do, Verika's face falls in dismay. "But... but that's... insane!" she says after you've finished. "Even if I still the kind of person who wanted to supplant her, it would be impossible. Not once I defected to surface. The noble houses... they would never follow anyone who worked with our enemies like I have!"

"Perhaps she thinks you have a plan to get around such pesky details," you say. "She does seem to have a rather high opinion of your ability. Or perhaps she was afraid of simple revenge. Either way, she doesn't seem very rational to begin with... at least not when it comes to you."

Verika slumps against the wall. "It's... my fault," she murmurs, shaking her head. "All of this. I terrorized her so badly when we were children that she's resorted to this... madness. And now Syvel and her students are caught up in it."

She was already emotionally distraught... and it's clear that this latest revelation has pushed Verika into an even more vulnerable state. Worry for the hostages... fear and lust in equal measure from your campaign against her... guilt over how she had overshadowed her adoptive sister... and now the realization that her impossible skill had driven her blood sister into such fear of her that it had left her unhinged and prompted this entire debacle.