Shadowsage 2: A Fantasy Adventure, page 19
So tonight wasn’t about fashion, it was about theater. A display of calm before the storm.
We needed to be seen.
Unbothered.
Victorious already, in spirit.
Kira wore form-fitting trousers of black velvet, a corset-like top in shimmering onyx spider-silk that left her toned arms bare. Her raven hair was held back by a silver circlet, one which held a topaz that matched her blue eyes.
Vera’s gown was a emerald-colored silk that clung to her curves like a my caress, the neckline so daring I had to kiss it thrice during the ride over. Just to make sure there wasn’t anything dangerous in there.
Celestia’s gown was a pale silver, matching her hair. It could have been too much, drowning her out, except with her beauty, it didn’t stand a chance. The cut was elegant, modest by Vera’s standards, but it showed off her slender frame well.
And bringing up the rear was Aurelia.
She had met us outside the shop in her formal Ducal Guard uniform, one that showed off her incredibly tight ass. The polished leather and dark wool did not fit in, but at least the silver insignia of her rank was shiny. And she knew she didn’t fit in. Her posture was painfully rigid, and clearly uncomfortable.
It was kind of cute how adrift she seemed among this sea of silk.
But her presence showed the law stood with us. Order was on our side.
The murmur of conversation dipped noticeably as we entered.
Dozens of eyes turned our way. There were nobles in their finest, merchant princes, a few carefully curated artists and intellectuals which served as fashionable accessories. I even recognised an author.
They had likely expected tension, fear, or perhaps a retreat into seclusion. Instead they got…this. The united front of an impeccably dressed and confident team.
Madame Elowen materialized from behind a display of iridescent feather cloaks, dancing her considerable bulk across the floor on her scarily high heels.
“Mayor Vex,” she greeted, offering a shallow, perfectly calibrated curtsey. “Lady Ironheart. Mistress Nightshade. Lady Moonglow. Commandant Dawnshell.” She acknowledged each of us by name and title, the subtle emphasis reinforcing our positions. “Welcome. We are honored by your presence this evening.” Her gaze swept over us with professional appraisal. “The Needle’s light is always brighter when you grace us.”
“Madame Elowen,” I replied, offering a slight bow. “The honor is ours. Whisperwind’s finest deserve a setting worthy of their aspirations.”
I kept my tone warm, engaging, the picture of a man without a care beyond the cut of his next doublet. “We felt the city could use a reminder of beauty and refinement tonight, amidst the… political discourse.”
A delicate eyebrow arched almost imperceptibly. “Indeed, Mayor. Discourse can be so fatiguing. Please, refreshments are circulating. Browse at your leisure. The new Valorheart silks are particularly… resilient.” Her gaze lingered meaningfully on Vera’s emerald gown for a fraction of a second.
It was code.
The silks were woven with subtle protective enchantments Elowen knew Vera favored. The Needle catered to more than vanity.
We moved deeper into the salon, our performance beginning.
Vera engaged a cluster of merchants near a display of jeweled hairpieces, blending discussions of trade projections with subtle assurances about the stability of the Good Scales program despite “current distractions.”
Celestia joined a group of noblewomen admiring bolts of fabric that shifted from dawn pink to twilight blue. Her entrance caused a slight hush, but it was not the negative one she had experienced in the past. They now viewed her as a trend setter who knew which way the winds blew.
So she complimented a choice of trim, offered an insightful observation about the drape of a particular velvet, and eased the tensions among the nobles with talk of fashion and art.
Kira stayed close to me, frowning at people. There was a nobleman who looked a little too interested in Aurelia, a merchant whose eyes lingered on Celestia with a possessiveness that made my own gaze chill.
“I don’t see why I had to come,” she muttered.
“For fun,” I said. “And because I get to see you in something besides leather.”
She grunted.
Aurelia remained near the entrance for a while, seemingly preferring to chat with the discreet guards Elowen employed, and even making a doomed attempt at conversing with Rocky.
Eventually, Madame Elowen herself approached her, engaging the Deputy Commander in a low-voiced conversation, drawing her away from the door and into the crowd, where she was introduced to a range of people.
Elowen knew how to handle all kinds of power.
I circulated, playing my part.
I exchanged pleasantries with a nervous guildmaster, reassured a minor baron about the Night-Lamp expansion plans, and deflected a thinly veiled probe about Valessa’s champion with a dismissive wave and a comment about “theatrics best left to the arena.”
I projected absolute certainty.
The message was clear. Valessa’s desperate play was just that, desperation.
We were unruffled.
We were in control.
Hours passed.
The harp player finished and the crowd began to thin, nobles departing for dinners or other salons, merchants returning to their ledgers.
As Rocky saw the last of the patrons out, the heavy doors closing with a soft, final click.
The sudden quiet was delicious, and I sighed comfortable.
The Whispering Needle belonged to us now.
“That sucked,” Kira said, stretching. “So much stupid talk about nothing.”
“It was quite fruitful for me,” Vera said, walking over and giving her a tight hug. “And it was nice to have you here for once.”
Aurelia stood with Celestia by one of the mirrors, chatting.
“Kaelus,” Madam Elowen said. “Unless you require anything else, I will retreat to the back room and stuff cotton in my ears.” She gave me a wink before retreating and drawing the curtains to the back closed.
“Thank you,” I said, loud enough that I knew she’d heard.
“What are we doing now?” Aurelia asked. “Aren’t we leaving too?”
“We are in a bit,” I said, walking over and opening a hidden compartment in the wall. Inside was an enchanted icebox filled with chilled wine. “But I figured it would be a good time to have a talk.”
“About what?” she asked, frowning.
“I figured you might have some questions, and since you have agreed to put your life on the line, it seems only fair you get to ask them,” I said, popping the cork on the bottle and pouring into five glasses.
“Alright,” she said. “But, would it not be better to do so in private?”
“This is private,” I said, nodding to my queens. “This is my family, and they know everything. Whatever questions you have, you can ask before them.”
Aurelia’s jaw tightened, but she gave a curt nod.
“Wine?” I offered her one of the glasses.
“I never drink while on duty,” she said.
“Is this duty?” I asked, looking around Elowen’s shop. “I thought we were having fun.”
“Being asked the same dumb questions, again and again, by people who deem themselves my superior is hardly what I consider ‘fun’,” she said.
“See?” Kira said. “That’s exactly what I think!”
“Please, have a drink,” I said, offering the glass again. “It’ll allow me to answer your questions better.”
She frowned down at it but then took it.
“Go ahead,” I said, leaving it up to her to decipher whether I meant to ask questions or drink.
“When in the rolling hills of Greenhill Shire,” she muttered and knocked the wine back in one large gulp, before sucking in a breath of air and nodding appreciatively. “That’s not bad.”
I wanted to point out the cost of what she had just drank, but chuckled instead and said, “To you, Aurelia,” and knocked back mine in one as well, barely barely tasting the subtle undertones of citrus and sugar.
“To you, commander,” Celestia said, downing hers. Vera and Kira followed.
“I like you, Aurelia,” Kira said, and gave a cute little burp.
“Thank you?” the commander said as I started refilling glasses. Then she took a deep breath. “Mayor. I’ve heard of the magic you used to kill the orc warboss. And I saw you reinforce the city gate. And…an adamantine sword?” She frowned. “I might be ‘just’ a guards woman, but even I know that’s no simply magic trick. If it was, why’d the royal guard be fitted with steel?”
“Your point?” I asked.
“The items you have lent me for the fight—”
“Not lent. Gifted,” I said.
“Which is even crazier!” she waved her glass around. “Who does that? Even one of those would sell for enough to buy a mansion and live there in wealth. And you just…give it to me?”
“You need them more than I do,” I said, taking a slow sip of the perfectly chilled wine, sighing in pleasure.
Oh, that’s the stuff.
“The magic you have, it’s no magic the tower would let go unchecked,” Aurelia said.
“So?” I asked.
“Where did you learn it?”
“Good question,” Vera said, nodding.
“Across the known world,” I said, smiling.
“Who taught you?”
“A very demanding master.”
Me.
She narrowed her eyes.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Kaelus Vex, mayor of Whisperwind and champion of the common folk.”
“Mayor, please,” she said, cracks appearing in her stony mask. “You already have me tangled in your web. I am risking my life for you. And even if it was not in the duel, my life would be forfeit after siding with you to defend the city. Have I not earned plain answers?”
“You just got one,” I said.
“But—”
“If you are not satisfied with the answers,” I said, walking closer to her and meeting her eyes. She was nearly as tall as me, but not quite. “Ask better questions.”
“Are you dangerous?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Now that’s a better question. Some might say so. Others might say I’m their savior. What do you say, Commander?”
She scoffed and frowned. “I think you are impossible!”
“Ask better—”
“Yes, yes, I got it,” she snapped. “Damned gods you are infuriating.”
“He’s like that sometimes,” Vera said.
“But also handsome,” I said, smiling at Aurelia.
She glared back. “Are you flirting with me?”
“Only to lighten the mood,” I lied.
“Why did you become mayor of Whisperwind?”
“To help the citizens and make their lives significantly better.”
“Do you have your eyes on the dukedom?”
“Yes.”
“So Valessa is right,” Aurelia said, her eyes going wide. “You admit it freely?”
“What is there to hide?” I said. “I’m a noble. We all want more power, don’t we? The question is what we do with the power we have and what would we do with the power we could get?”
“I thought you were different,” she said, looking at me and my three women.
“Am I not?”
She pressed her lips together.
“Listen, Aurelia,” I said. “I understand your instincts may be screaming to you that something is wrong, and it is. But it doesn’t come from me. Yes, I am a dangerous man. You are right in that I have magic normally locked up in the tower of cowards. But you’ve also seen me stand up to the nobles, you’ve audited my reforms and books, and most importantly, you’ve lived with Duke Tolle’s rule for a long time. Imagine what I could do for the people of the dukedom.”
She hesitated.
“Kira, your dagger, please.”
Kira didn’t hesitate. She drew a slender, black-bladed stiletto from her thigh sheath and offered it to me.
I took it and presented it to a stunned Aurelia.
“Take it.”
She did.
I gently took her wrist and guided the blade until the point rested against my throat.
“What are you doing?” Aurelia whispered, her eyes wide.
“Oh, for the shadow’s sake!” Kira said, throwing her arms up. “Kaelus!”
“Not now, my pet,” I said and she settled, a deep frown on her face. “And as to what I’m doing, I am giving you a choice,” I said to the commander. “A word of warning, though. Be careful not to nick me by mistake. The poison on the blade is rather potent.”
“Why…”
“If you press the blade home,” I said, “You will be hailed as a hero by the nobles. Duke Tolle will put you in charge of his troops. Thy’ll say you have slain an enemy of Whisperwind and there might even be a minor title in it for you. But, ask yourself this, will it change anything for the better?”
I removed my hand from her wrist.
She kept the blade still as a surgeon.
“Or, swear your life to my cause,” I said. “Those are your two options.”
“What if I do neither?” she asked.
“I’ll have to find a new champion,” I said, shifting slightly against the blade so she wouldn’t forget it was there.
Celestia sighed and sipped at her wine, but I could sense her nerves. I wanted to use Empathomancy on Aurelia to really see what was going, but it felt wrong. She was not my enemy. Nor a neutral piece to be manouvered.
I care for her.
“What is your cause?” she asked, still not withdrawing the blade.
“That of the people,” I said. “I aim to improve their lives, no matter what it takes.”
“How do you decide what would improve their lives?”
“It is surprisingly simple, actually,” I said. “Once you make improving peoples’ lives your guiding star.”
“I find ‘simple’ tend to mean people have a lack of understanding,” Aurelia said, shifting her stance without the edge so much as nudging me. “The number of men who’ve told me how simple sword fighting is…”
“True,” I said. “But trust me. I do have some previous experience with ruling.”
“Where?”
“Here and there.” I gave her a cryptic smile. “Now, to make people’s lives better, you have to start at the bottom, not at the top. There is no such thing as trickle down economics. No, our job is to make sure no one is hungry, cold, or without clean water or a roof. That’s what makes people able to produce, build, and earn. Then they can improve their lives. While they do so, we need to make sure they are safe and healthy.”
“And then?”
“Give them back time so there is life to living.”
“No wonders the nobles want you dead,” Aurelia said looking around at Celestia, Vera, and Kira. “And you all think this?”
“It’s shocking they’ve failed in killing Kaelus so far, isn’t it?” Vera said. “But they think he’s playing a role. Appealing to the people for power, which he will then use to carve out his own private heaven, built on the suffering of others.”
“How do you expect me to believe you are not?” she asked, glancing at the dagger at my throat. “This could all be lies.”
“What do you want?” I asked. “More than anything?”
Without hesitation, she said, “Justice through service, and to protect the people.”
“How’s that going for you, working for the nobles?”
She didn’t say anything.
“Compare that to what you’ve seen me do and what we’ve done together.”
“Point taken,” she said and lowered the dagger.
“Good,” I said, holding out a hand. “I vow to you, my goal is to improve the lives of the people and protect them, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. Even if that involves…unlawful activities in the short term.”
Her mouth drew into a thin line and our gazes met.
I’d been as honest and forthcoming as I could be, pushing her to her limit.
She grasped my hand with a firm grip of her callused hand, and energy rushed up my arm and spread throughout my body, making goosebumps appear on my skin. Her eye twitched.
What in the burned tealeaf was that?
“I swear my life to your cause, Kaelus Vex,” Aurelia said, a slight tremor in her voice. “As long as that cause is to improve the lives of the people.”
“I accept your oath of fealty,” I said.
“Don’t make me make you regret this,” she said, handing the dagger to Kira. “Have you all sworn fealty to him?”
“You could say that,” Vera said with a smile.
“What does that mean?” Aurelia asked.
“We’re kind of a family,” Celestia said.
“What kind of?” she asked.
“We’re his and he is ours,” Kira said.
“You mean…”
“Yep.”
“Oh,” she blushed. “How does that even…no nevermind. I don’t mean to pry.”
“It’s nothing to be shy about!” Vera said, walking over and placing an arm across Aurelia’s shoulders. “Let me tell you how it works.”
I chuckled and stood back, watching my girls chat with our newest recruit.
It was a risk, bringing her in, but with her taking the role as my champion, it felt right.
Chapter 22
Aurelia’s Fear
The rhythmic thwack of wood on wood echoed through the still night air behind our mansion. It was late, well past the hour when even the most dedicated lamplighters had finished their rounds in the city below.
The moon, a pale sliver, cast long, stark shadows across the manicured gravel paths and dormant flowerbeds.
The air held the crisp bite of late autumn, sharp enough to fog breath.
And in the center of the yard, under the cold glow of a single enchanted witchlight orb I’d anchored to a post, Aurelia Dawnshell was working herself to death.
