Kallad reached out towards the table to set down the bottle of wine. He’d been set back ten platinum pieces for this, but it would all be worth it if the Songstress approved. For this day, he made sure to be dressed in the ‘devilishly handsome’ set of clothes that his tailor made for him.

An opportunity like this was rare. For the Aspects’ summit, the Aspects themselves typically took temporary residence in their own houses in the democratic district, or they would call upon a noble family to host them at their abodes.

For the Songstress to reach out to him personally for her and her envoy to stay at the Secret was unprecedented. There was no reason for it, but Kallad wasn’t one to decline such a beautiful lady’s request.

He knew that Rai and Sin would be home from the Academy soon, but he hoped that they’d stay out long enough for him to have some fun.

Kallad called forth Sin’s handmaiden. “Lilith.”

A swirl of black energy formed beside him. A moment later, Sin’s handmaiden Lilly manifested, kneeling towards him. “Master.” She lived for Sin’s mother and, by extension, Sindyl. But to ignore a call from the Master was treasonous enough to warrant her death. “How may I be of service?”

Kallad gestured for her to rise. “I need your help.”

Lilly’s eyes widened. The Master’s never called on me for my help before. It must be serious enough to warrant my skills. “Anything for the Master.”

Kallad pointed to the table with a wide array of food and drink laid out across it. “Do you...”

Lilly listened attentively.

“... think that the Songstress is allergic to any of those foods or drinks?”

Lilly stood where she was, motionless. She took a second to re-register the question. After doing so, she decided that the Master must have left some hidden meaning behind his words. There could be ears anywhere, after all. “Master, I believe I need some clarification on the question.”

Kallad stared at her, wondering what could possibly be so confusing about his question. Maybe... “Oh no. You think she’s allergic to some of the stuff there?! That just won’t do. You normally compile information on our more important visitors, do you have any information on the Songstress’s dietary restrictions?” He was concerned that his gesture would be misconstrued if there was something that she couldn’t eat in any of the meals.

Lilly tried to decode his message. Ah hah! I see... you are so very tricky Master. She smirked, “I believe the Songstress is immune to all types of venom and poison. Therefore, an allergy that she had prior to her Ascension would mean nothing. Your food won’t hurt her.” Lilly felt like she gave the Master fair warning. He wouldn’t be able to poison the Songstress, so he would have to find something else to hold over her.

Kallad let out a relieving sigh. “Phew. I’m glad. Very well, you may return from whence you came Lilith.”

Lilly bowed, “Very good, Master.”

The swirl of black energy surrounded Lilly once more. This time, she faded into the energy. A moment later, there was no trace of her ever being in the room.

Kallad smiled. There were only a few minutes until the Songstress was to arrive. He readied himself to greet her. As he left the penthouse to meet the Songstress in the lobby, Kallad recalled the previous summit.

It took place shortly after he first encountered Rai and Jin. During that summit, there were multiple whispers among the Aspects that the Life clan was faltering. The clan clearly wasn’t struggling. In fact, considering their rural disposition, it was impressive how strongly they were thriving. But the Aspects cared not for the daily lives of those from other clans. Their whispers were seeds of doubt planted by the Arbiter in private meetings with each of the Aspects. Kallad had to attend such a meeting himself. The Arbiter wanted the Life clan’s political power for himself. As the Voice of the Creator, the Arbiter was already granted power beyond any of the other Aspects.

But he wanted more.

Since then, many unofficial meetings have taken place between the Aspects. Some of which Kallad was privy to. The main thing he took away from those meetings was that the seeds of doubt surrounding the Life clan were now starting to have an impact. At the current moment, the next summit has been scheduled. It is to take place after a month.

Kallad reached the ground floor.

The door opened.

A wave of perfumed scents greeted him. Some of the scents were overly sweet, while others took on a more subtle smell. The noise in the VIP reception area was more than he’d expected. An envoy is meant to be three or four people... why are there so many? And why are they all practically naked? Ooh, her nipples are rather... Oh my, he’s really... Kallad shook his head. He had to stay abreast of the situation. He packed away his heat and continued onwards.

Kallad went to the desk, “Naamah, what is all of this?”

The pink-skinned clerk was zooming around the back of the desk, sorting out documents. “It’s what you asked for!” She stamped a bunch of papers and handed them to one of the guards stood behind Kallad. “Also I said call me Naam, I don’t want to be known by that name.” She took a second to breathe.

Kallad sighed, “I’m sorry, I forgot. Naam it is.” He knew of the troubles that she’d gone through because of her name... More than anything, he wanted to respect Naam’s wishes.

Naam smiled, “Thank you.” She got back to work.

Kallad was about to leave her, but he had one more thing to ask. “Where’s the Songstress?”

Naam didn’t turn to him, she continued filing away documents. “Is that all you care about? Getting some? Maybe you could summon a clone or something and get it to help us out here instead.” She was being obviously sarcastic.

Kallad sighed again. He realised that Naam was way too overworked right now to even think about the Songstress. “I’ll double your pay for this shift, keep working hard.”

Naam grinned, “Wonderful. Thank you so much, boss!”

Kallad understood that Naam was stressed, so he brushed over her snarkiness.

As much as he enjoyed the view offered by the Songstress’s envoy, Kallad made his way out of the VIP reception area. Where could she be? Our meeting was scheduled to be five minutes ago. Did she get lost?

He recalled the information provided by his little birds. The Songstress was known as a heavy drinker, which was why he felt justified in spending ten platinum pieces on a single bottle of wine. Exorbitant prices for something that’ll get consumed and forgotten. How wasteful. Of course, Kallad conveniently ignored his typical spending habits. Namely the astronomic amount of beers he often drank.

The information from his little birds left him to believe that one of the bars would be the most likely place for him to find the Songstress. There was no worry about whether he’d miss her, since his agents would let him know the minute she showed up in the VIP reception area. That he still hadn’t been told anything meant she was somewhere in the Secret.

Kallad made his way to the bars. In total, there were three of them. One for the lower-end of drinks, one for the middle-end, and one for the high-end. If she was anywhere, she would be at the bar for heavy spenders. It had only just occurred to Kallad that he could’ve simply taken a bottle of wine from his own bar instead of personally buying an exorbitantly priced bottle. He facepalmed at his own stupidity, then continued his search.

Upon reaching the bar, Kallad looked around for the Songstress. All he could find were his own workers chatting up the patrons.

A younger female voice came from behind him. “Hey sexy. Wanna come play with me?” He felt fingers crawling across his shoulder.

Kallad turned around, with annoyance plastered across his face.

The succubus yelped with a surprised expression on her face. Her surprise quickly shifted to worry. “Shit! I mean boss!” She bowed. Her horns poked into Kallad’s belly. “Sorry boss!” She reached up to cover her horns. Her hand came across something soft. She couldn’t quite see it, but it felt... Oh no. She raised her head to look. OH NO!

The succubus stood upright. “I’m so sorry sir.” She had tears in her eyes. She thought that this could easily get her fired.

Kallad was facepalming the entire time. “For goodness’... You’re like twenty right? You’re new here?”

The succubus was crying now. “I’m twenty three. Yes sniff, I’m new here. Please sir, I’m sniff so sorry. I really like this job, so-”

Kallad raised a hand. “Stop yammering. Go wash your face, take five minutes, and just keep doing what you’re doing. I’m not going to fire you over something like that.”

The poor succubus quietly nodded and ran off to one of the staff rooms nearby.

Kallad took a second. Breathe... just breathe... today cannot get worse than this. I just have to find the Songstress, and get the meeting on track.

He turned to the bartender, “Any news?”

The bartender was carefully cleaning the inside of a glass with a silky clean cloth. He shook his head. “They still haven’t found her.”

Kallad sighed. “Where could she be?” He mused to himself.

The bartender suddenly stopped cleaning the glass. “Sir. They found her. She’s in the casino.”

Kallad nodded. “Thank you.” He got up and started making his way there.

What on Zenith could be so fascinating about the casino that she’s still there now? Maybe she’s found a boytoy? Or... hang on... An anxious feeling invaded the pit of Kallad’s stomach. Ohh... this... this isn’t good. Kallad came across the crowd around a specific table in the casino.

The Secret’s casino had many different tables with lots of games to be played. One of those games was Devil’s Hand. In a way, Devil’s Hand worked a lot like rock-paper-scissors. It was just in card form, with multiple other avenues to victory. This game was a duel between the player and the house. It was made up of rounds. After a single round, the cards used in that round were removed from the pile, and only the remaining cards were used in subsequent rounds. The game went on for seven rounds, or until someone got to four wins.

Of course, the house was always favoured in these kind of games. Were one to find themselves on a winning streak, however, it would be worrisome for the house.

Kallad made his way through the crowd.

There she is.

The Songstress was focusing on the dealer’s face. The house always played, but the players could give up at any time. Oftentimes, the expression on the face of the house’s agent or on the face of the player would give away whether they had a favoured hand or not.

In this instance... the house was losing.

A lot.