“Lou,” Geneva says as we near the house. “Maxine has returned. She appears to be distressed.”

Don’t even stop to ask what she means before I’m running, eating up the distance to the front door. “Bell!” I shout as I throw it open, eyes bouncing over the room.

Distressed Maxine? Tough! What about my imp?

“Coo!”

I scoop up the succubus, hugging her to my face and sighing in relief at the familiar feeling of her tail curling around my throat. “Oh, thank the saints.” Damn it, Geneva. You could start with saying she’s okay.

[It would take more than the rabble of the city to harm me, Master Lou.]

That’s right. My favorite succubus may look like a cute, stunted goblin but on the inside, she’s a virtue with a coefficient of over 700.

Doesn’t mean I can’t worry about her.

Assured my Bell is safe, I turn my attention to Maxine. She does look a little distressed, hunched over in the corner of a couch, both hands clutching a teacup. She’s wearing that hideous cloak from before, but the hood is down. Her eyes are red and puffy, dry tear tracks on her cheeks.

Earl comes out of the kitchen carrying a tea tray, followed by Kierra. She smiles as she sees me. “Good. Earl’s just refreshed the tea and Maxine has returned with news.”

At the mention of her name, her head jerks up. She tries to smile as she looks at me, but it crumples and she goes back to staring into her cup.

Starting to think something bad might have happened. Geneva, handle her, would you? Make sure she isn’t about to shatter on me.

[Of course, my summoner.]

Bell is coming with me. Taking the opposite couch from Maxine, I settle Bell in my lap, Kierra dropping down beside me. I wait for Earl to serve us before asking, “What happened?”

Maxine swallows. Geneva raises a hand and begins to rub small circles on her back until her shoulders eventually relax. “Um,” she starts hesitantly, voice barely above a whisper. “I went back to find any evidence of what we were talking about. Like I said, the best evidence would be my cousin’s account books. I waited until he left for an off-site meeting before…breaking into his study.”

Geneva carefully removes the teacup from her lightly shaking fingers, setting it on the table. That reminds me of my own drink and I take a sip. Huh, not bad. He’s got my preferences down, more sugar than milk, but the taste is a little lacking.

“The books were relatively easy to find. Bell broke the lock on the drawer immediately.” I give the imp a little rub along the base of her horns as she straightens up proudly. “We left the room before opening them. Bell said the room had an enchantment. I didn’t see anything but she said we had to leave. I thought...there’s a restaurant owned by my family. Private rooms, security. We use places like it for business all the time. Stupid, thinking about it. It had to be one of the first places he looked.”

She swallowed. “As we were leaving, a man wearing a scarf over the lower half of his face approached us. He…had a knife and dragged me to an alley. He wanted the books. He would have killed me…” Her gaze moves to my imp before quickly darting away. “Bell...there was so much blood and...” She swallows heavily and takes a deep breath, forcing the rest of the words out. “We came straight here. I…haven’t been able to sleep.”

She rubs her face and I feel a wave of pity for her. She’s genuinely afraid for her life. Even when Samuel had an artifact pointed at me, I didn’t fear for my life, only my convenience.

“Alright, alright. You’re safe here.” It’d take a flight of dragons to siege this house. “Where’re the books?”

“Miss Kierra had me put them in the study.”

“You can look at them later if you like,” Kierra adds over the rim of her cup. She holds it out and Earl is promptly at her side to refill it. “Lots of numbers that mean nothing to me.”

“I doubt they’ll mean much more to me but that’s what interrogators are for.”

“Good that they’ll finally be useful for once.”

Maxine’s head snaps up. “You’re going to hand the books over to the authorities?”

I hold back the look I want to give her. “Maxine. Those books may be evidence that implicates a conspiracy to entrap and exploit members of peerage. Of course, I’m handing them over. Or more specifically, Kierra is. Remember this. You suspected your cousin, you came to Kierra, the strongest caster to you know for protection. I have nothing to do with this. Alright? Do not mention my name.”

“B-but what if they question me?” she asked. “I can’t hide the truth.”

“They only go diving into people’s head when there isn’t any physical evidence to prove the story. You have the accounts.” One might wonder why I am so knowledgeable about the law. Basic part of a noble’s education. You have to know the rules to know the proper ways to bend them.

“They’ll leverage those against your cousin to get him to squeal on his conspirators, and so on and so forth. The only reason someone might go poking around in your head is if your cousin names you as a conspirator and you deny it and even then, they’re supposed to only look for the answer to their specific question. You’ll be fine so don’t mention my name.”

I add a little menace to my tone but hey, this is important. I didn’t go through all of this to be dragged into another mess but to clean one up.

“Okay, I won’t mention your name b-but I need time. I have to write to my father.”

“This isn’t really something we should wait to reveal.”

“You don’t understand. The entire Guiness family could be implicated, labeled traitors to the crown. The royal family has been looking for any excuse to curb my father's influence. They’ll use this as an opportunity! I have to warn him so he can prepare. Please!”

At some point in her speech, she realizes that she can’t stop me if I want to turn her cousin in right now and turns to pleading, looking at me with upturned eyes.

Hm. Let’s see. What’s the worst that can happen if I hold off on this evidence for a day?

Her cousin could run, never to be seen or heard from. He could warn his compatriots who would also flee the judgment of the crown. A few nameless hunters may escape but Marcus isn’t going anywhere. He either gets hunted down, likely by his family desperate to cleanse themselves of treasonous rumors, or he takes his chances and tries to kill the prince. That might be the most extreme outcome.

Is saving the prince worth abandoning Maxine and her family?

“One day.” The whole reason I decided to act was to stop any fallout affecting my daily life. As if I’d value that prince. He can go die in a ditch for all I care. I consider Maxine a friend, loosely, and I definitely consider her to be useful. “No more, otherwise they might accuse us of cooperating with them.”

It’s a little sad how relieved she looks. “Thank you.”

“There should be paper and something to write with in the study. And don’t worry about accommodations, you can stay with us until this is over.”

“Thank you so much. My father will surely appreciate this.” She pushes up onto shaky legs. “I’ll go…do that.”

Maxine stumbles off toward the study. “What’s up with her?” I ask once she’s gone.

“Coo!” [The girl did not take the murder of our pursuer well. If she had lingered any longer on her knees to empty her stomach, I would have needed to expose my true nature to carry her away.]

“Oh.” Is that normal?

[More common than not, Master Lou.]

Huh. I remember watching people die around me when I was captured by Crowley Cain. All of us bleeding out to power his novice summoning attempt. I never thought about it but all of them died, didn’t they?

I don’t feel any horror at the thought. Seeing them stabbed didn’t fill me with revulsion. Granted, I had more important concerns at the time.

[You have a less fragile mind and much greater tolerance for violence.]

“Ah well." No need to dwell on what some might consider a worrying lack of empathy. "All of this mess is going to be behind us and we can focus on more important things.” I lift Bell up to my face. “You did a great job, Bell! That’s my favorite virtue!”

“Coo~” [It is my pleasure to serve, Master Lou.]