Ira shuddered as she let the tension finally drain away from her. Young master Cyn had gone back into his room after covering her with a blanket, unwilling to disturb her ‘sleep’. She rubbed her neck with a trembling hand as she reminisced about the feeling of being on the verge of death. Cold sweat had soaked the back of her skirt and it had taken every ounce of her training to prevent the fear from showing on her face.

Young master Cyn had shut himself in his room for a night and a day and when he came out, it was as if he had changed a person. The infatuation he usually reserved for her replaced by a bone-chilling malice. For a moment she thought that her duty had been exposed and that she would die of his hands in his rage. Although the boy had yet to be initiated as a mage and her martial training ensured her victory over him, the thought of revolt hadn’t even crossed her mind.

The boy was a Pavone while she a mere member of the Spiare. Such were the rules of the game.

It was fortunate that even in her fear, her training had kicked in and through the gaps of her lashes she had analysed his expression. He seemed conflicted, torn about a decision that would change his life. The desire to end her life warred with the infatuation she had so meticulously inculcated in him in their years together and she decided to give him a push in the right direction.

She had repressed her anxiety as much as possible and leaned back, nuzzling her face into his hand. Her heart throbbed loudly, threatening to break out of her chest as she hoped against hope that he wouldn’t catch on to the fact that she was awake. The moment stretched out into eternity and finally he smiled that foolish smile of his and she nearly collapsed in her relief.

Their relationship had always been this way, she had crafted her façade of an outwardly cold woman with an inner core of warm feelings in accordance to his tastes. Madame Pavone was an extremely gentle woman who spoilt both of her sons and any discipline in their lives had to come from their Spiare companions or their father. So, she had taken on the role of his secretary cum disciplinarian with a strict professionalism, peppered with seemingly subconscious displays of intimacy.

It hadn’t even taken a year to wrap him around her fingers. That is, until today.

She leaned back against the wall, sinking into her breathing exercises to regain her composure and calm her racing heart. A genuine smile split her lips as she finally contemplated the consequences of today’s events. Her death grip on the blanket loosened as she came to the realization.

She had won. No. They had won.

The existence of the Spiare was a tradition that dated back to the inception of the Pavone clan. The all-female group of spies were the backbone of the family supporting the prosperity of the clan from the shadows of the men they served (or controlled).

Females at the age of ten were collected from orphanages all over the Pavone territory every year and culled through a rigorous selection that tested their beauty, disposition and intelligence. Only the cream of the crop was deemed suitable to be initiate members of the Spiare while the rest were trained as maid-servants for the main house as well as the subordinate nobles.

After all, servants were a commonly used breach for infiltration.

As an initiate, Ira had learnt the arts of deception and subterfuge. She had flourished under the tutelage of her seniors until the world saw her only as she wanted to be seen. One moment she could be an orphaned waif, trembling in the cold as she sold matches in winter, in another, she could be a pampered noble brat who looked down her nose at the world.

Her aptitude in psychology and acting as well as her superior results in her studies helped her crush her competitors and win the position of the exclusive Spiare companion of the second Young Master. While the rest of the girls were apportioned to the branch families.

To keep the noble bloodline of Pavone pure, the maidens were to be castrated upon the advent of their first menstruation. This prevented the soiling of bloodlines and kept the Spiare focused on the welfare of the clan as a whole rather than their children. The aged Healer had placed a hand on her stomach and with two sharp pinpricks of pain and an upwelling of warmth, her fallopian tubes had been severed and healed shut.

She had met the Matron, the Baron’s concubine, for the first time on the day of her selection. It was a meeting she could never forget. The sheer magical pressure and the dignity that radiated off the buxom, golden haired woman had planted a seed of ambition in her heart. That was what she wanted to be when she grew up.

The Matron’s piercing blue eyes had peeled off layer upon layer of her masks, leaving her feeling naked and exposed to both herself and the Matron.

“Know who you are, child and you can be whoever you want to be.”

The words had contained a power that had shaken her very being and Ira had looked into herself and found an ambitious little girl who loved to play varied roles upon the stage called life.

“Now, for the rules of the Game.”

The charismatic voice of the Matron had pulled her away from her introspection and introduced her duties as a Spiare companion. In short, it was a Game of deception between the maiden and her master. Ira was to guide Young Master Cyn in his development as a person and make herself indispensable to his life.

As per the rules, Cyn’s brother, Rheas, was to inherit the household, so she was supposed to prevent any animosity towards him from developing and steering Cyn’s ambition towards channels that led to him renouncing his claim to the property while still being useful to the clan.

The existence of the Spiare was a secret known only to the head of the household and the rest of the maidens were to take orders from the Matron and guide their masters into consolidating the authority of the family in his hands. Rheas would have been informed of the existence of the Spiare upon his coronation as the head.

Thus, in the struggle of succession, the man who controlled the Spiare, controlled the clan. Ira was warned against deliberately revealing herself to her master to satisfy her ambition of becoming the next Matron. Supervisors were assigned to both herself and Gloria, Rheas’ maiden, to monitor their progress.

What had happened today had upset the Game. Cyn had somehow discovered that he was a pawn upon the checkerboard and unsatisfied, he had upended the table.

All Spiare companions walked a thin line between suggestion and manipulation. If her master realized that she was manipulating his thought processes she could face a backlash. Ira didn’t know how Young master Cyn had found out or where she had slipped up but she was ecstatic about the current turn of events. Cyn’s actions had been the best-case scenario.

If he had pierced Ira’s veil of falsehoods and slain her in his rage without connecting her to the Spiare, he would be packed off forcefully to the capital after his arcane awakening to prevent any friction between the brothers.

In the case that he discovered the existence of the Spiare organization following up the clue just from Ira’s mistakes, he would be dealt with more leniently for his display of ingenuity. He would be trained by the Matron herself to harness his vicious tendencies and to take over the position of the Head. His brother would be sent off to the capital. As a punishment for his impetuousness in killing Ira, he would not be allowed direct relations with the Spiare and the new Matron would be selected and trained to take over her post by the current Matron. She would be independent and act as a balance against his authority.

If he had gone to complain to his father, it would mean that Ira had lost his trust and as his closest confidant, would be treated as a security breach and removed permanently. He would be assigned a new maiden and given full authority over her training, further centralizing his authority over the family. He would be nominated as the heir while his brother was sent off to the capital.

What had happened today was the third case where despite being aware of her façade, he had decided to trust her anyway. This was a certificate of Ira’s competence and her hold over the heart of the future Head of the household. As such, she would become the next Matron and Young Master no, Master Cyn was to be named the heir.

The sound of footsteps awakened her from her giddy thoughts. A woman in a jet-black skirt with a red emblem had walked out of the shadows, her lustrous black hair hanging down to the small of her waist, swaying in rhythm with her sinuous gait. She stopped in front of Ira, her obsidian eyes glittering with mirth as a grin split her usually icy face.

“Come, the Matron awaits.”

Ira quickly reorganized her appearance, neatly folding Cyn’s blanket into the crook of her arm, she followed behind her supervisor, Artemis.

Ira ignored Artemis’ knowing smirk upon seeing the blanket as her mind raced through the images of Cyn’s face contorted in hatred and anger and his final goofy smile. Her heart beat a little faster as she realized that she had grossly underestimated her master. It had been five generations since the last time the Spiare had been discovered ahead of time and the head of that generation had been a legendary figure, catapulting the Pavones from a family of hereditary Knights to the status of Baronic nobles.

A flame ignited in her as she thought about the possibilities. She had to ask master Cyn where she had slipped up. The future Matron couldn’t afford any mistakes. Also, she was apprehensive about how to approach him now that he had seen through her and forgiven her for her deceit.

She sighed. Come morning, they had a lot to talk about.

Drawing strength from the blanket in her arms, she squared her shoulders and straightened her back as she followed behind Artemis.

For now, she had a Matron to meet.