Ithnaa

“Water is in the kitchen,” Thea pointed past the bar before getting up from where she was sitting. “There are cups in the cabinet above the dishwasher and I can grab something for your head from the med-lab.”

“Thanks. I’ll grab a glass then answer whatever questions you have, if you ask them quietly.”

My head was killing me, and honestly, I wouldn’t have even gotten out of bed if it wasn’t for Samira’s shouting. This wasn’t exactly the kind of thing I wanted to deal with right now, but Azel had more than 2 years to take over my territory. If he was half as smart as he thought he was, then that was more than enough time for him to take control of all but my most well-hidden assets.

It was going to take a while for me to rebuild and I couldn’t think of a better place to hide out while I did that than the same ship as Mother’s favorite toy. Because that was one asset I wasn’t going to lose.

I teleported to the other side of the bar and opened the door to the kitchen. The room was decently large and the cups left to dry on the counter only required a bit of magic to finish cleaning them.

I filled the glass and drained it immediately. The hangover wasn’t nearly as bad as last time, but it was still pretty awful. My head was throbbing and thinking was proving to be difficult. Which was a problem because I needed to come up with some excuse to tell the siblings. One other than ‘I was mad at my mom and wanted revenge.’

This definitely didn't feel like the time for the truth. I drank another glass and filled up a third before teleporting back to the couches.

There was a lot of startled shouting that didn’t help my headache, so I created a zone of silence that encompassed the entire room. Once everybody settled down, I took a seat. “Like I said, I’ll answer your questions but only if you ask them quietly.”

Samira seemed pissed, and Thea was still getting me the medication. But Sora and the elf nodded. So, I released the silencing spell.

“Go ahead and ask your questions.” I took a sip of my water while I waited.

“What is it that you want?” The elf was the first to ask.

“A place to hide for a few weeks while I get my bearings,” I answered. “Next question.”

“Why’d you order Teolix to hide us?” Samira asked.

“Because I didn’t like the way Mother treats her people,” I said. “Next-”

“She’s lying,” Thea interrupted me as she crested the stairs and tossed me a small cardboard box. “That should help with the headache.”

“Thanks.” I opened the box and swallowed a few of the small white pills.

“Yeah, no problem,” Thea smiled. “Now answer Sami’s question for real.”

“What makes you think I’m lying?” I asked. “Maybe I really do just care about all the little boys and girls… and whatever the fuck Sora’s whole deal is.”

“Just call it a lucky guess,” Thea smirked. “Plus, nobody actually cares about whatever Softie’s deal is.”

“Hey!” Sora shouted, and I flinched. They must've realized their mistake after the fact, because they turned towards me to apologize. “Sorry about that, but you really shouldn’t lie around Thea.”

I’d already seen that the devil had talent with both fire and illusion. If you added truth magic to those two, then that only really left one possibility. “I didn’t think Inim’s celestials were capable of falling. All the ones I’ve had dealings with in the past had a massive stick up their ass.”

“And it's usually not even in a fun way.” Thea crossed her arms. “How’d you know?”

“Inim was a phoenix before ascending,” I responded. “While fire might not be in his domain, it’s still a major part of his identity, and illusion is just advanced light magic.”

“Doesn’t change anything,” Thea said. “You still haven’t answered Sami’s question.”

That changed a lot for me. It meant my original plan was now out the window and it wasn’t even a particularly good one to begin with. Well, whatever, if they didn’t like the truth, then I could just blow up the ship as I teleported away.

“I told Teolix to hide you because I was pissed at Mother,” I explained. “She wasn’t happy about you two running off and the longer you were missing, the more angry she got. The whole thing was good for a laugh.”

“You were never tempted by the bounty?” Sora asked.

“Not really. Credits don’t really mean all that much when you’re in my position, and making Mother look weak was better for me in the long run.”

“What about now?” The elf asked. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite put a name to her face. There was a lot of power flowing through her, and her control over it was impressive. But the small amount of mana that radiated from where she was sitting felt like what Thea had used against Kai’s pet dragon.

“I don’t think I ever got your name.” I looked to the elf to introduce herself.

“It’s Bryce, now answer the question.”

“Bryce? Where have I heard that name before?” And then it hit me. “Doctor Virra, aren't you a bit juiced up for a schoolteacher?” Her name was all over the feed for weeks after what she did to the Para Vista colonies. I never believed some random college professor could have actually killed all of those people with a single spell, but now that I was sitting in the same room with her, it was obvious that she had more than enough power to do it.

Bryce was about to say something, but I interrupted. “To actually answer your question, I’m not going to give up Sora or Samira to Mother,” I shrugged. “Mother appearing weak is still worth way more to me than the credits.”

“Why is that worth so much to you?” Bryce asked.

“That’s easy.” I leaned back into the couch with a smile. “Weakness is the only thing my family tolerates less than matricide.”

“You want to kill her?” Samira asked.

“That’s right,” I answered. “But killing a member of the family isn’t easy, especially one as influential as Mother.” Hells even telling them this much was dangerous. If word got out of what I was plotting, then I was as good as dead.

But I was beginning to think that this ship may be my best potential asset. Sora and Samira were useful in making mother look weak, but I saw Thea’s power first hand against La’akea. The dragon might have survived, but that was only because we were in Kai’s domain.

And then there was Bryce. I suspected that Thea was getting most, if not all of her power from the elf. That made her an incredible weapon in her own right, and if the calculating look in her eyes was any indication, then she knew it.

“What are you thinking, captain?” Samira asked. The kitsune girl had settled down for the most part, but she still didn’t look entirely convinced.

“She could be valuable, assuming she’s telling the truth,” Bryce looked to Thea, who nodded before continuing. “But the rules still apply. If you’re not happy with her, then she’s not staying.”

“I’m not looking for charity,” I clarified. “There are other places I can go to lie low, but I wouldn’t mind allies. Assuming our goals align.” 'Allies' was definitely a strong word, but it wasn’t entirely untrue. Besides, it’s usually harder to convince people to do what you want if you’re calling them tools to their face.

“Sora, anything from you?” Samira asked.

“Nothing you’d be interested in.” Sora had a look in their eyes that reminded me I was probably going to need to rebuild my harem.

“Gross.” Samira sighed. “You really want to kill Mother? And you promise you’re not going to betray us?” It was a bit of a naïve question, but I supposed you’re allowed to ask straight-forward questions like that when you had a lie-detecting devil on your side.

“I’m going to kill Mother whether you help or not,” I answered. “And I don’t betray my allies.”

“She’s not lying,” Thea vouched for me. “But she also didn’t say she wouldn’t betray us, just that she doesn’t betray her allies.”

I sighed. “I swear, if you help me, then I won’t betray you in any way to Mother or any of her allies.”

“She’s still not lying,” Thea shrugged. “But that only really means she doesn’t intend to right now or maybe what she’s planning isn’t exactly betrayal.”

“This is getting a bit ridiculous.” My head was still killing me and I wasn’t in the mood to justify my every word. “How about I go sleep off this hangover and you can finish discussing this without me?”

I sat my empty water glass on the coffee table and then teleported a few inches above my new bed.

Regardless of how this ended, I was going to have to ask where they bought their sheets. Because I was asleep in seconds.

~~~~

I rolled over and pulled my pillow over my head, but that didn’t stop the knocking. My hangover was mostly gone by this point, and I was thankful for that, but the bed was so damn comfortable that it made getting up hard.

The knocking started again, so I gave up on sleep and teleported to the door. Sora was waiting on the other side holding a bundle of cloth.

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” They smiled and handed me the bundle. “Here, Thea washed your clothes. She may have used the wrong setting.”

“Phase-spider silk isn't exactly machine washable.” I sighed as I took the ruined scraps of cloth. “Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

“You can hide out here and we’ll even help you kill Mother when the time comes,” Sora answered. “But you’ll stay away from Sami. Stick to this deck and the one above, don’t go near engineering.”

“Wouldn’t know what to do down there anyway.” I shrugged. “I’ll be fine so long as I have feed access and a bed.”

“You’re awfully agreeable for a djinn,” Sora smirked.

“Hubris got me tricked by my worthless brother and a lizard,” I explained. “Two years alone in a bottle is a lot of time to think on your failings.”

“Fair enough. Thea made breakfast if you’re hungry.” Sora turned to leave.

“Breakfast?” I felt my stomach rumble, so I stepped out of the room and followed them. “I was worried that I had slept in too late to eat.”

“You did.” They smiled back at me. “Twice actually. You’ve been asleep for a couple of days now.”

That was a lot longer than I had expected, and I was kicking myself for losing even more time. But it wasn’t exactly the worst possible thing. A few days to get over a hangover caused by Djinn’s Kiss was probably a network record, and that bed had been really comfortable.

“Anything interesting happen while I was out?” I asked as we began ascending the stairs.

“Nothing of note. We’ll be shifting back in a few hours, then traveling through real-space for about a week to get to our next stop.”

“What could possibly be so far from a beacon that’s worth seeing?” Real-space travel over long distances was extremely rare. If it was worth traveling to a location, then it was usually worth the few million credits to set up a new beacon there.

“Secret legion research facility,” Sora answered. “They really wanted to hide it, so it’s three days from the beacon and three days back.”

I guess that made sense. Regardless, it was none of my business. I was just a passenger and not a part of the crew.

Besides, I had my sights on something else entirely. “Sora, before we join the others for breakfast I had a question for you.”

They stopped and turned around. “You’ve already asked me quite a few questions, but sure, what’s up?”

“When I was captured my harem was likely dispersed or stolen, which means I need a new one.”

“And you want me to help you find some people to join it?” They asked, clearly amused.

“Not exactly. I was hoping you’d join it.”

“Sure,” they responded. “If you join mine first.”

I blinked. “I uh… don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Too bad, could’ve been fun.” Sora took a step closer to me before continuing. “How about a different arrangement?”