I contacted Elmidath not long after I woke up, and we met up in her room. When I finished explaining my encounter with Miusin, Elmidath sighed. “I almost wish you hadn’t brought it; I’ve got more than enough to worry about right now.”

“Sorry, I thought you’d want to know.”

“It’s okay, you did the right thing. Though I’m really not sure what to do about all this.” Deep in thought, she bit down on her thumbnail. “Even if Miusin is telling the truth, is it even worth allying with her? She probably can’t help us much.”

“Maybe not directly, but she knows a lot more about her father and what goes on around here than we do.”

Elmidath turned to me, looking slightly annoyed, and I realized she’d just been thinking out loud. “True, the problem is that she’s definitely just trying to use us. She might very well be more dangerous to us than her father.”

“How so?” The slim demon wasn’t exactly threatening.

“She’s young and reckless, which makes her unpredictable. If Biustarn betrays us it will be because it benefits him, who knows what Miusin might do.”

I rubbed my mouth to hide my smile as I considered how well Elmidath’s criticism of Miusin applied to herself. “That’s only true if her father is still himself though, right?”

“Sure, if you actually believe that Biustarn is going mad. He seemed completely normal to me when we spoke, what did you think?”

I was about to agree when I recalled something that was off about his recent conduct. “He did seem normal, except for the way he agreed to help us. That didn’t seem much like him at all.”

Even if it was a favourable arrangement for Biustarn, he would have at least expected the demon lord to haggle a bit first.

“I hadn’t considered that.” Elmidath paced within the narrow confines of her room. “There might actually be something to what Miusin was saying.” Shaking her head, she sat down on her bed. “What do you think we should do? I’m leaning towards accepting her deal.”

“Really? You seemed pretty against it a moment ago.”

“I know, it’s just that we don’t have much to lose. It could easily hurt us later, but this is probably one of the only chances we’ll get to have any sort of advantage over Biustarn.”

I shared much the same reservations as Elmidath did, but her argument made sense. There wasn’t much more we could lose, so what was there to risk?

“Fine, then let’s do it.”

Elmidath nodded. “Can you get a message to her then? I’ll make sure Biustarn is distracted in the meantime.”

“Got it.”

We parted ways, and I went downstairs in search of Miusin. Going to her room seemed too suspicious and this seemed the best way to find her. I reached the ground floor without catching sight of her and instead spotted Lieutenant Vorisen.

Tall and proud in his steel plate armor, he glared at me as I entered. I greeted him with a smile, trying to come off as glib and unconcerned. “Have you come to see us off?”

He exposed his sharp teeth in a disgusted expression, hand resting on his sword hilt. “I am to accompany you to Yueryurn, at Lord Biustarn’s request.”

“There’s no need for that, we’ll be fine on our own.”

He took a step forward, sizing me up. “Your objection is noted, but I will be accompanying you regardless.”

“Uh, can I at least ask why he decided to send you?”

“I couldn’t say. He commanded me to go with you, and so I shall.”

I don’t know why I’d expected him to be the least bit helpful, he clearly wanted nothing to do with Elmidath or I. “Fine. I take it we’ll be going soon then?”

“Why don’t you ask your mistress? She seems to be the only one we’re waiting for.”

“What about Miusin?”

“What does Lord Biustarn’s daughter have to do with this?”

“Isn’t she coming with us?”

Vorisen narrowed his eyes at me. “What gave you that idea? I’ve heard nothing of the sort.”

Only now did it occur to me that revealing that to him might not have been the wisest move. Did he know we’d been meeting secretly with Miusin now? “Sorry, my mistake. I think I got something Lord Biustarn said mixed up.”

Leaving him to puzzle over what that might be, I headed for the door. I heard his armour shift as he moved to follow me and I tensed up. Was he going to try to get rid of me before we even left? When he spoke it came as a relief, despite the venom in his voice. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Pausing before the door, shining red with the morning suns, I looked back at him. “For a walk. Elmidath said she wanted to talk with your master about something, so she’ll probably be a while.”

Vorisen frowned but he didn’t make any move to stop me, so I left him standing there. There was no guarantee that Miusin would even be out there, but at least it would get me away from Vorisen. There was no reason to give him any more reason to suspect us if I could avoid it.

As luck would have it, Miusin was indeed out there. She was staring out across the desolate plains and glanced at me as I approached. Still looking out into the distance, she sighed. “It’s a rather depressing sight, wouldn’t you say?”

“Definitely. This land seems as dark and hopeless as most of what I’ve seen of this world.”

“Was the world you came from any different?” She looked at me intently, a bright note of hope in her voice.

“It had its flaws, but it was far less bleak.” I paused for a moment, pondering my own light. “And yet, my life here is far less dull.” I still wasn’t sure if that was really a positive, but it was something.

“Then your previous life must have been excruciatingly boring.” All sign of warmth vanished from her features. “I take it you haven’t come out here to chat, so what will it be? Will you accept my offer?”

“We will. Though speaking of which, did you know Vorisen is coming with us?”

“Yes, my father mentioned it earlier this morning.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

She raised her eyebrows at me, as if to ask if I were serious. “What is there to be worried about?”

“Didn’t your father order him to kill Elmidath and I?”

“Only if it came to that. Either way, it’s not really my problem. Do try to handle things carefully, won’t you?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be allies now? This affects you too.”

“Don’t be a fool. We’re not friends or allies, or whatever you want to call it. All we’re trying to do is take advantage of each other, don’t pretend like this is anything else.”

She stormed past me, back into the tower. This alliance was already turning out wonderfully, I couldn’t wait to see what the future held for us.