“I – what?”

“Goats,” Henry said, gesturing with his hands. “Furry, ugly little things. They’ve got horns and try to headbutt you. Taste like cheese.”

“I know what a goat is. Wait, cheese?”

“Never mind,” Henry said irritably. “I’ll need more than just the goats.”

“Are you sacrificing them? Do you use blood magic?” Quinlan asked, swallowing nervously.

“What? No. Actually, cut the questions. You’re going to need to do more for me than just acquire a few goats.”

“I understand.” Quinlan nodded, her cheeks pale. It really didn’t look like she did, but Henry didn’t particularly care.

“First, you’re going to stop looking for whoever this person Mountain Hall is seeking. If they ask, you haven’t seen the slightest trace of him and you’re relatively sure Blackmist had nothing to do with any deaths you might be researching.”

Quinlan’s eyes widened. “So you did kill them?”

Henry let out an irritable sigh. “Considering that contract will rip you apart if you even try to share that information, yes. I might have had a bit to do with their deaths, but they had it coming.”

“Are you going to kill me too?”

“Planes, girl. Get over yourself,” Henry snapped. “I couldn’t care less about you. If you hadn’t had that rinky little artifact, you never even would have known I was here. You’d be running around, drinking lava or whatever it is you do for fun.”

Quinlan nodded despondently. “I’ll do as you say.”

“Good. Next, now that you’ve messed up my plans, I might as well get a little use out of you. You’re going to do whatever my partner tells you. Some of the other students hanging around seem a little problematic, so having you in our court will make things go my way without as much bloodshed.”

“Wait, it’s another student?” Quinlan asked. Her eyebrows twitched and she took a small step back. “No way. If it’s one of the Blackmist students… Sylph or Damien?”

“I could tell you, but I’d rather see your reaction,” Henry decided. “I’ll let you know with the little bit of magic that I’ve marked you with. Either way, you’re going to be on their side from here on out. Is there anything in Farsad that we should be aware of? And, while the contract doesn’t require you to do exactly as I say, I can promise that aiding me will be in your best interests.”

“There were a few locations that Mountain Hall suspects libraries and weapon caches still have some more useful information,” Quinlan said. “I was told to investigate them. But if all of it ends up going to Blackmist, I don’t think I’ll be of much to you for long.”

“They’d kill you?” Henry asked.

“Success is a mandatory metric at Mountain Hall.”

“Idiots. Killing all the recruits off just weakens them,” Henry said, shaking his head. “Whatever. So long as you don’t go against that contract, you’re more or less under my protection. We won’t be letting you die unless you do something really stupid.”

The smallest spark of hope lit in Quinlan’s eyes. “Will you let me go after the Forsad expedition?”

“Hmm. Probably not. You know too much,” Henry said. “But depending on how hard you try, I might look at loosening the contract we’ve got. On the other hand, if you’re a problem, we’ll resume our activities from a few minutes ago.”

Quinlan bit her lip and nodded. “I understand. I won’t cause any issues.”

“Good. In that case, we’re done for now. Unless there’s something else I should know?”

She mustered her nerves, her eyes darting about the room as if searching for anyone else to look at. “You said my runework was bad.”

“Horrendus,” Henry agreed. “I could do better drunk, blind, and dead.”

“Can you teach me?”

“Why in the Planes would I do that?” Henry asked. “Do you think I just sit around doing nothing all day?”

He paused, realizing that was essentially what he did. Henry dismissed the stray thought with a scoff.

“I could be of more use to you if I were stronger,” Quinlan said. “And I really need to learn runecrafting. It’s vital.”

“Why?”

Quinlan pressed her lips together. “Do I have to answer that?”

“Interesting. This is where you find your backbone? Does it have anything to do with Mountain Hall or Blackmist?”

“No,” Quinlan replied, shaking her head. “It’s personal.”

“Then I don’t care,” Henry said. “You’re welcome to beg one of the Blackmist students or professors for tutelage, though. Some of them passable at it, and they’d probably know enough for most purposes that you’d need. I won’t stop you, but I won’t help you either.”

“Which ones? The students. A professor won’t work. I need secrecy. Anyone that might have ties to Mountain Hall or the other schools could cause me a lot of trouble if they found out that I was trying to learn runecrafting, and that would make me a useless agent for you. Do any of the students really know enough?”

“Probably not,” Henry said cheerfully. “But I don’t know what you need to do, so I can’t answer that. Damien and Nolan both know runecrafting, and they’re reliable. I can’t vouch for anyone else.”

Quinlan nodded once. “I understand. I will seek them out tomorrow.”

Henry prepared to leave, then paused. “About those goats…”

***

Damien woke the following morning feeling remarkably rested. Sylph was already up, sitting against the pillow beside him and meditating. There was barely enough room on the bed for both of them, but she’d managed to make it work.

He laid there for a few moments, not wanting to actually get up, before he finally shifted upright.

How did your visit go last night, Henry?

“Fantastic,” Henry said, his smug tone setting off alarm bells in Damien’s head. “Quinlan is clear. Well, as clear as she’s going to get. You’ll also notice I nicked you a little souvenir. It’s in your bag. Don’t mess with it yet, though.”

You stole something from her? She’s going to notice if an artifact went missing!

“Trust me, she won’t be talking to anybody.”

You killed her, didn’t you?

“…would you be mad if I did?”

Yes!

“Ah, I figured as much. Well, you’ll be excited to know that I did not,” Henry proclaimed.

Why do I get the feeling that you’re waiting for me to praise you for doing the absolute bare minimum in what would be a normal interaction?

“You’d be correct,” Henry said. “I’ll take that praise now.”

Damien rolled his eyes and sighed.

Good job. Killing people for no reason is bad. So what exactly happened?

“She had an annoying little artifact that made her more sensitive to the Ether,” Henry said. “And she might have spotted me while I was snooping around, so we had to have a little chat.”

You know what, I take it back. I do mean it when I say ‘good job’ this time. You’re actually starting to become a decent person. The old you would have offed her without a second thought.

“Right?” Henry asked. “Your human spark is going to ruin my credibility whenever I go back to the Void. Everyone is going to think I’m a softie. Regardless, Quinlan had a side mission. She was meant to figure out if Blackmist had anything to do with Drew and Bartholomew’s death. Luckily, she didn’t find anything and will be reporting that we’re all clean.”

How do you know? Couldn’t she have just lied to get you to leave, then immediately tried to contact whoever it is she’s working with at Mountain Hall?

“Nah. I bound her to a contract that would destroy her heart and core the moment she tried to betray me. Real painful way to go, and there’s no easy way to circumvent it since she signed it in blood.”

Ah. That’s more like you. That feels a bit… barbaric. Better than being dead, though.

“You aren’t annoyed?” Henry asked carefully.

A few months ago, I probably would have been. Now? We can’t take the risks anymore. I’m just glad you didn’t kill her. So long as we don’t abuse whatever contract you made and release her as soon as we can, it’s not too bad.

Henry made a noise like he was clearing his throat. “Right. No abusing the contract.”

What did you – actually, don’t tell me. I think I’d rather not know, so long as you actually aren’t doing anything terrible to her. You aren’t, are you? Slavery would be worse than killing someone. Imagine how Sylph would feel.

“Nothing like that,” Henry said quickly. “I just asked her to do a little manual labor. If you feel that bad, she does have something she wants in return. She’ll probably be coming around shortly to try to get it.”

Damien rubbed his forehead. Sylph nudged him and he opened his eyes. She was leaning over him, her hair draped around her head. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Damien said, giving her a small smile. “I was just talking with Henry. He investigated Quinlan last night, and apparently things didn’t go exactly as planned. Everything should be fine, though.”

“She’s dead, isn’t she?” Sylph asked.

One of Henry’s mouths formed at the base of Damien’s shadow. “Why does everyone automatically assume that?”

They both stared at him. Henry harrumphed.

“Fine. I might have done that once before, but I’m a changed… Void man-thing. She’s alive.”

“We’ll have to bring Sylph up to speed, but we probably shouldn’t do it now,” Damien said. “Henry has told me there’s a fair chance we’re going to be having a visitor, and I don’t want someone walking in on us talking or the sound ward.”

Sylph nodded. She slipped out of bed and Damien followed her. Henry retreated back into his shadow as the two of them got ready for the day. No more than a few minutes after they’d both finished, several muted thuds echoed out from the door.

“That’s probably her,” Damien said, pulling the door open to reveal Nolan. His hair was matted with sweat and he was covered with small scratches.

“I need your help,” Nolan said.

“She looks different than I last remember,” Sylph said with a small grin. Nolan gave her a confused glance, but she just shrugged in response.

“Come inside,” Damien said, stepping out of the way and gesturing for Nolan to sit down on his bed. “What’s going on?”

“It’s about my father,” Nolan replied, rubbing his temples with the palms of his hands. “He’s almost certainly going to choose me as the heir. After you warned me, I did my best to try to convince him it was too early to decide, but someone is pressuring him to finalize things.”

“I think I’m missing something important.” Damien frowned. “I get that becoming the heir is bad, but I’m not seeing why. Is it all the extra responsibilities or something? I recall you and Reena arguing over who would become heir in our first year, and both of you seemed to want to be selected.”

“That was then.” Nolan shrugged helplessly. “This is now. And you’re partially right. It’s the responsibility.”

“Will you not be able to finish college if you’re chosen?” Sylph asked.

“No, I will,” Nolan said. “But I’ll be expected to start taking on some roles and duties to further strengthen the Gray household. A year ago, I would have been more than happy to. But now…”

He shuddered and shook his head. “I couldn’t want anything less.”

“So how can we help?” Sylph asked. “I don’t think anything we could do would actually convince your father of much. Neither of us are nobles.”

“That’s not true,” Damien said, his lips pressing thin. “My dad. Stormsword is about as high as you can possibly get in nobility. If he disapproves of you, then your father probably wouldn’t select you as the heir, right?”

“I was actually going to ask if you could beat the shit out of me in a sparring match so I looked pathetic,” Nolan replied, scratching the back of his head. “But that would work too, actually. I know you aren’t very close with your father, so I don’t want to cause needless strain.”

Damien chuckled. “I couldn’t care less if we’re just using him to get something we want. If anything, I’d be more worried that he wouldn’t bother doing it. I don’t have any good way to contact him. Is there a timeframe on how long we have to make you look pathetic?”

“A month at most,” Nolan said. “He’s very close to selecting. I’m honestly surprised that Yui isn’t trying to fight against this harder than she is.”

“Yui? What would she care about you becoming the heir?” Sylph asked. “I suppose she might try to do something to help one of her people or get you in her debt, but she doesn’t strike me as the type to stick her neck out for no gain.”

“It’s the opposite,” Nolan said bitterly. “Politically speaking, this isn’t my loss. It’s hers, as far as I can tell. In order to strengthen the Gray household, my father plans to have me wed Yui, and the Queen has agreed.”

As Nolan spoke, the stone door swung open, revealing Quinlan. The words died on her lips as she processed what Nolan had just said. All of them stared at her.

Within Damien’s head, Henry let out a curse. “What is it with this girl and stumbling into things she isn’t supposed to find?”