“There is only so much I can answer,” Khan says gravely. “For your own safety.”

Yeah, no.

“You are going to answer everything we ask as completely as possible,” I demand, a threat very much implied by my tone. Seers are so scary because of the knowledge they wield. There are only two ways anyone in the stories has managed to wriggle out of the schemes of a seer. They either had the luck of the saints or they had enough knowledge to see the trap before it caught them.

Of course, there’s always the chance that the seer behind Khan foresaw this exact moment long ago and has only given him enough information to advance their agenda. It sounds incredible but it’s wholly possible and the kind of thinking one has to indulge if they want to survive the schemes of a seer. No, to have a chance of surviving. Saints, I should have thrown him out the moment he appeared. It’s too late now. We’re involved. The only thing we can do now is stay vigilant.

Alana looks at me over her shoulder. I guess she can see the determination in my features as she doesn’t comment on my aggression and turns back to her brother. “Let’s start with something simple. When did these, estrazi you called them? When did they first make contact with you?”

Khan’s brows furrow thoughtfully. “Years now. It was my third solo journey past the Peaks. The second time I ventured past every established landmark.” His voice softens as his eyes move to the ground. “I was too confident having made it back safely once and got turned around by a storm. They saved my life.”

Is that reverence I hear in his tone? “Funny how they chose to wait until you were completely helpless before making contact.” I gasp, putting a hand to my lips. “You don’t think they chose that moment on purpose because they wanted you indebted to them, do you?”

“Perhaps,” he returns, unfazed by my dramatics. “I doubt I would be willing to speak with the enemies of my family in any other situation.”

“So you didn’t find the timing the least bit suspicious?”

“They didn’t make me walk into the storm.”

“Are you sure? A seer would know when a storm’s coming. They would know saving you will make you see them in a good light. They have control over the monsters in the north. Have you never thought that they strategically placed monsters on your path to force you into the storm so they could save you?”

He frowns. “A seer’s magic doesn’t work like that. They couldn’t have tracked my location precisely enough to put monsters in my path.”

“I bet they told you that.”

His frown deepens but Alana cuts him off before he can respond. “You can discuss the particulars of seers later. Right now, I’m the one questioning my brother’s dubious allegiances. What did they want when they approached you?”

“They simply requested that I stop pushing north.”

“Please tell me why you accepted a request from Victory’s enemies. If you say because they saved you, I will tell Bell to beat you senseless.”

Khan lets out a little huff of a laugh. “That would make it difficult to question me.”

“We have healers.”

“Surprised your seer friend didn’t tell you that,” I grumble.

“As I said, their powers are not omnipotent.”

“Answer the question!” Alana snaps, shooting me a warning look.

Her brother turns back to her, perhaps a little sheepish. “I’m sorry Alana but I can’t tell you. Beating or no beating.”

She glares at him but he doesn’t back down, holding her gaze for several tense moments. “Bell.”

Khan’s eyes widen in surprise, mirroring my own, as Bell leaps at him. Before, he simply went limp in the face of her aggression. I suppose that must have been advice from his seer friend. He was confident that as long as he didn’t fight back, he wouldn’t be hurt. I couldn’t imagine any other explanation. A man who ventures into the north by himself is certainly no coward, despite his apparent aversion to violence. He had the same confidence in his tone when he denied answering Alana’s question.

But it seems my future saint has defied the fate expected of her. Her brother must have seen something in her face when she called out to my imp as his hands instinctively rise to cover his face as he’s knocked to the ground. A pointless gesture. That flimsy defense does nothing to shield him from the succubus tenderizing his body with tiny, adorable fists.

The biggest hole new summoners fall into, those freshly introduced to the art, is the assumption that elementals have human values or worse, human emotions. If Bell were a person, she might show some sympathy for the poor man. Hold back a little. Unfortunately for Khan, she isn’t. She is far from human. Any empathy she shows is false and calculated to achieve an end. As she has no need for it now, she doesn’t show any, beating him mercilessly.

“That’s enough.”

Right up until the moment Alana calls her off. My future wife climbs to her feet and towers over her brother who’s curled into a ball in an instinctive attempt to defend himself, Bell at his back like a vulture waiting for its prey to finally expire. I watch with baited breath, unable to predict what happens next. As Rolly would say, Alana has gone off script. I have no idea where she’s going with this interrogation and dealing with her family always makes her erratic. Or, if someone wants to be unkind, unhinged.

She validates my concerns when she viciously kicks Khan. Really puts her back into it. It’s no surprise that he coughs up blood, curling around his stomach tighter.

“Do you think this is a joke?” she roars, spittle flying. “You sneak into my camp, tell me you’re working with Victory’s enemies, and then refuse to answer my questions? You must think I’m a saints’ damned joke. Is that it, brother? Do you think this is a joke?!”

His eyes as he looks up at her through his lashes are hesitant but defiant. “Can’t…” he wheezes.

“Bell, help him talk but don’t heal anything else.”

My imp lays hands on his back and he takes a deep breath. “I’m not doing this because I enjoy it or to cause you distress,” he grumbles. “But the secrets I know are dangerous. Things you couldn’t understand. That our father could kill us for uttering.”

“Oh? Are you talking about how the Lords of the Peaks and the Lords of Winter are different beings?” She sneers as Khan jumps. “Or maybe how our goal of establishing a forward base will break our agreement with the estrazi and reignite a war that almost destroyed Harvest centuries ago?”

Her brother gasps, showing the most emotion so far. “How did—"

“How did I know?” She grabs him by his cloak and hauls him to his knees, ignoring his grimace. “Why should I tell you? You’re not being very forthcoming, are you?” She throws him back to the ground, visibly fuming.

“If you know that much, then you know why I’m keeping secrets.” His glare is accusing. “You haven’t told Father about your revelations, have you?”

“You think that’s why I’m pissed? I understand keeping secrets for the good of Victory. I certainly have no intention of sharing what I know without at least some plan to handle the fallout. What makes me want to beat some sense into you is that you’re keeping secrets at the behest of an enemy general.”

“They are not—"

“They are enemies, Khan!” she roars. “I don’t care what their intentions are, they have threatened and continue to threaten us with extinction if we pry too deeply into their secrets. Secrets that may not be as benign as you think. We can’t even trust the nobles who we know and understand, even if we don’t like them, and you are taking these shady bastards’ words like gospel from the saints because one of them showed off a shiny affinity?”

I think doubt is starting to creep in. Khan certainly doesn’t look as resolute as he once did. “These things can’t be compared. It’s the fate of the world, Alana.”

She sneers at him. “I’m sure years of lying to your family and probably sabotaging our efforts in the north has shown your trustworthiness to your new friends. Surely they’ve given you some insight into their big secret. If not the secret itself or its location, at least a little clue as to its nature. Is it a horrible monster? An apocalyptic storm? An incurable plague?”

Her sarcasm is heavy enough to bludgeon someone. “…I don’t know.”

Her laugh may as well be a dagger stabbing him in the chest from his grimace. “So, you’re implicitly trusting a group of people who don’t want to tell you about a world-ending disaster.” A hand covers her eyes and she lets out a deep sigh. “I can’t believe you’re this much of an idiot.”