Our feed may wear the mask of humanity, title themselves as such, but they are no humans. I have never met one worthy of calling themself human in my life.
—Exaltare Lucien, during the Red Banquet War
Dean Drimus was remarkably less irate or exasperated than Lycoris had thought she’d be, when the little princess marched straight to her office and spoke to her. Or more accurately, she was annoyed at the soggy shoes the girl dragged in—Lycoris had boldly strolled through an obscured puddle in the darkness on her way over—rather than the nature of her request.
If anything, she was more confused. Her first question to Lycoris had been “Why?” when Lycoris mentioned wanting to vouch for Raine. Unsurprisingly, the girl had quite a reputation at the Academy. Refusing to play political games with the rest of the students marked one in quite an obvious and negative way.
The two of them went over what exactly that would entail—though it was all things Lycoris had already anticipated. Moving dorms, wearing her heraldry instead, her actions reflecting on the Aphtangloa… Rosa put a particular emphasis on that last part. She also mentioned that while the school could temporarily move Raine, they would ultimately need the family head’s approval to make it a permanent instatement. Essentially, Lycoris was just kicking the can down the road as far as Raine’s removal from the campus went.
And, it meant she’d have to tear off the bandage that she’d been ignoring before that happened.
Lycoris released a breathless sigh as she walked back towards her “dorm,” the sound of rain on her umbrella, and the surrounding tilework and greenery barely even a comfort. At least the storm had let up somewhat, no longer a torrential downpour like earlier but a calming drizzle instead. The way the evening lamps lining the path dappled the wet tilework with their warm glow would have been a marvelously breathtaking sight if she were in any mood to appreciate it.
It’d only been one week, but she hadn’t spoken to her mother at all during that time. Athena had naturally been giving Lilianna updates, but all that she told Lycoris was that she’d be doing so. She never revealed the contents of those updates or what her mother had offered in reply.
“What am I even supposed to say?” she grumbled at a random tree in passing.
Not only had she completely forgotten and failed to find anything to gain traction in their little spat, but she had to go to her mother for a favor now. A favor involving a commoner.
Granted, Lilianna was far more understanding of Lycoris’s “capriciousness” than her classmates were, given that her mother knew her true nature. The fact Lycoris had never once heard her use the term commonblood to refer to Seraphine or Emma was a sobering reminder of just how much worse the woman could have been.
Still a Vampire, but I hate that she’s so reasonable! A wry smile creased across her face as she stared down at the ripplets dancing all around the illuminated tiles. I guess that irritation with Mama is one thing I have in common with the Idra. Even if the reasons are completely juxtaposed.
A shiver ran through her, though whether it was from the small gust of wind or the thought of finding common ground with someone like Cedric, Lycoris wasn’t sure and frankly didn’t want to consider.
In the end, she never managed to find out where Dahlia had run off to. And by offering Raine a place within her inner circle, it felt like she’d made an irrevocable choice. By crossing one bridge, she’d burned another. It should’ve been easy, trivial even. Dahlia was an Idra, and probably just trying to use her for leverage if Lycoris was to be entirely coldly logical about the entire situation. But… she was also just a kid. So what if she was in her fifties? There were still hundreds of years to course-correct. That logic was tied to Lycoris’s greatest concern for herself, after all.
Lycoris felt as though gripped by an eternal curse. Everyone she grew close to inevitably drifted away due to her own failings. The choices she made even haunted her nightmares, for Goddess’s sake! Why couldn’t she just… keep a friend for once?
No no no, I shouldn’t immediately assume the worst. Maybe she’ll just be annoyed with me, shake it off, and move on. Even if she’s a kid, she’s older than me! There’s no way she shouldn’t be mature enough to handle something like that…
Of course, Lycoris realized the slight hypocrisy in that, given her current predicament with her mother. But that was that and this was on a wholly different scale! What was a single little spat and literal good deed for someone that Lycoris had wronged—indirectly—versus condemning hundreds upon thousands to die in an instant?
Before she could come to any kind of proper internal resolution—not that there could probably be one, given what she was agonizing over—Lycoris was pulled back up into reality. The sound of some sort of argument raised an eyebrow on her face, and looking up she saw people talking in front of her. Not loud enough to be considered a commotion, everything seemed orderly and calm still, but the girl was clearly attempting to resist the adult pulling her along.
Said adult, with a box in one arm, was Athena. And the girl beside her was Raine, the manner in which she was being pulled along rather reminiscent of Lycoris’s first days in the Palace. It hadn’t even been a full year, yet that memory felt like it had occurred a lifetime ago now.
Despite the rain still falling upon them—and neither of them holding an umbrella like Lycoris—neither of them looked the least bit wet.
“Why are you dragging me?”
It was the most emotive Lycoris had ever heard Raine, though that wasn’t saying much.
“Because you refused to come with me, of course!”
“I don’t even know who you are, and you suddenly barge into a library telling me you’re dragging me off back to my room! Why in the world would I ever acquiesce to such a demand? For all I know one of the other students could have put you up to this.”
“And as I said, I did not know which room was yours, and Her Highness in fact did. However phrasing it in such a manner is highly disrespectful to both her and myself as her loyal, devoutiful servant!”
“Yes, and it would have been far better if you explained all that to me before dragging me around campus.”
Lycoris decided to not even humor them. Instead she raised her chin and gave the pair a wide berth, walking at the edge of the footpath and lightly hopping across the intersection to the path leading toward her tower.
Of course Athena noticed her immediately. She let go of Raine and rushed forward, all but sliding on the tiles as she circled around to Lycoris’s front to bow respectfully.
“Your Highness! Welcome back, I already received word from the Dean and fetched Lady Lynnvel.”
“So I heard,” Lycoris quietly grumbled as she stepped around up to the door and fished for her keycard in her pocket. “And so did every single other student along the way, if I had to hazard a guess.”
“M-My apologies. I received the message from Her Ladyship Rosa and immediately dropped what I was doing to handle things!”
“You were in the middle of preparing dinner, weren’t you?”
“Oh my, how did you know?!”
Lycoris pushed the door open, closed the umbrella and dropped it in the little ceramic bin beside the shoe-rack, and crossed her arms as she looked from Athena to Raine, who was quietly shuffling behind Athena. It seemed she was more than honest about not needing to be pulled along, and simply resented the fact she was being treated like a suitcase.
A moment later, there was a loud sound from the kitchen area and Vanessa stuck her head out from around the corner to look at the arrival like a trepid emucifer. Another moment and she stepped out fully, an immaculate white apron covering her front—aside from a mildly alarming crimson splotch right over her heart.
“Welcome back, Your Highness. Is that Lady Athena behind you?”
“I could smell it,” she replied to Athena, before turning around with a smile and a nod, “I assume she dropped you two into the fire as she panicked and ran off as soon as her phone started buzzing?”
“Ahahaha…” Vanessa broke eye contact and scratched her cheek, “Cecily is currently preparing the bedrooms.”
She certainly knew how to answer a question by sheer avoidance.
Honestly, I think I like that more than having to play twenty questions to get anything out of Dahlia. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she thinks the game of roundabout is fun, thought Lycoris as she watched the girl slowly slide back around to return to the kitchen.
“Unnecessary, I will be fine in the study,” Raine inserted herself into the conversation as she shuffled in beside Lycoris and removed her shoes, flicking a finger to mystically guide them onto the cleaning rack without even bending over. Her amethyst eyes naturally slid up to stare at Lycoris, following the trail of steam drifting up from the droplets of rainwater hissing onto the magically heated floor tiles. “It didn’t occur to me to ask before, but why are you wet, anyway?” Her eyes briefly shifted to the umbrella, then back. “This is the second time it’s happened.”
“Should I not be?” Lycoris tilted her head. “Or rather, I should be asking you that. …Er, I mean I should be asking you how you and Athena have managed to stay dry.”
Both of them somewhat awkwardly shuffled out of the way for Athena to carry in the box, which Raine immediately locked her attention to while stepping up onto the wooden paneling.
“There are many things Her Majesty never saw fit to teach Her Highness, Your Ladyship,” Athena nodded toward Raine, “Her Majesty is a busy woman, and raised Her Highness in secret all on her own. Until appointing me to watch over her, at least.”
Lycoris could’ve sworn she saw her nose grow longer as she puffed out her chest…
Raine nodded and turned around, apparently satisfied with that explanation. She probably already assumed Lilianna hadn’t spent much—if any—time teaching Lycoris magic. Or possibly anything; Lycoris had certainly tripped her up with her attitude already, after all.
After the girl began walking up the stairs without even a single hint or suggestion, Athena turned to Lycoris. “Shall I draw up your bath, Your Highness?”
“Maybe sort out Raine’s luggage first? Assuming that’s what’s under your arm.”
“But you’re dripping! We simply must take care of you. I can hand this off to Cecily.”
“I’m not sure she can even hold it…”
“Oh it’s quite light! Lady Lynnvel didn’t have much…” Athena trailed off, slowly turning around to look down at Lycoris. “Your Highness, may I ask a perhaps foolish question?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever denied you your curiosity before.”
Athena nodded and leaned in close to whisper, “Why her, Your Highness? The Lynnvel family isn’t a particularly renowned one, I barely know of their holdings personally. And surely you know that they were vassals of the… erm…”
“Vanas, yes,” Lycoris rolled her eyes at Athena’s hesitation. “I won’t deny my feelings of guilt, but she also demonstrated some incredible talent.”
“Have you not considered the possibility that she might be leading you on?”
“I don’t think she’s that type. Or at least, if she was, I think at least one of the faculty would’ve seen through her. Unless she’s scheming on such a grand scale that she constructed an entire persona built out of being disinterested in everything the school stands for, just for the sake of getting further in politics by assuming that someone as impossibly naive as me in such an important position would simply stumble along. As someone who came from a checkered background that has everyone else completely isolating her, no less.”
It was such an impossibly far-fetched risk that only someone who could literally foresee the future would bother with. And even then, there surely had to be a simpler solution at hand. But then again, Lycoris wasn’t exactly a good judge of character, if the last magician she dealt with had been anything to go by.
“Your Highness sells yourself short! There is no need for such humility here, Princess Lycoris.”
“Am I? I know my faults. It’s foolish to ignore them.”
“Well, for… for instance, y-you truly have a magniferous mind! To think so deeply on such a thing! It’s clear that you’ve been pouring over your every interaction.”
“Not really. I just think that would be an incredibly unnecessary gamble, especially considering she didn’t act any more interested in me or my offer. I may not know any truth-divining magic, but I can tell she was being honest when she said she enjoyed the company of tomes more than people.”
Athena lightly frowned, still seeming unconvinced.
“If I’m right, then we gain an already highly competent and capable, if politically disinclined, ally. If I’m wrong, then this will be a learning experience and I’ll have been duped by someone so forward and far-thinking, and intelligent and capable and willing to take batshit insane risks that she probably deserves to take the Court by storm regardless. Isn’t that what school is for? Learning from mistakes?”
Athena winced at Lycoris’s choice of words, but bowed before her regardless, “I shall defer to your judgment on the matter, Your Highness. I will fetch a towel and draw up a bath for you after handling Her Ladyship’s luggage.”
“Thank you.”
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Lycoris watched Athena leave, taking in the warm atmosphere that came with an active kitchen and occupants. Her life had felt so desolate before, she didn’t even realize just how much the presence of a few extra people could add. Then again, it had been the same when she was traveling across the continent. The presence of others truly brought a warmth that couldn’t be replicated by something like magical heating tiles.
Her caution had served her well against Tatyana, but ultimately it only amounted to little. “He” had survived instead of Elham. The most minute of differences. But Lycoris decided she wouldn’t let such a chance slip her by a second time, nor such a minute opportunity go to waste.
Maybe this time, Lycoris thought to herself, I can… be a little more open with them.
It felt remarkably similar, but maybe that was how all friendships went? Although, she wasn’t even sure if the others considered Lycoris to be their friend. The balance of power and position was awfully lopsided after all. Vanessa was obviously a nervous wreck still, Cecily was a beacon of exuberance, and Dahlia was still up in the air, but Raine…
“Lycoris,” poking her head down the stairs was not Athena with a towel, but the aghast and horrified face of the very girl occupying Lycoris’s thoughts, “why does your library not have any books in it at all?!”
…seemed to have already started digging herself a place.
＊ ＊ ＊
Unfortunately, filling the tower with extra people did little to halt her terrors at night. All it really accomplished was making Lycoris far more self aware when she bolted upright in the middle of the night, cold sweat clinging to her pajamas.
Did I scream? She held her trembling fingers up to her lips. Did anyone hear that? No, wait that crash was just…
A shiver ran up her spine. Maybe it was good that her nightmare had been immediately supplanted by an entirely different fear. It didn’t do anything to ease her heart’s incessant, painful thumping in her chest, but a tangible fear was much easier to deal with than something vague and implacable like a nightmare.
And there was the quite distinct possibility that nobody heard her, or that she didn’t even scream anything out upon waking up. They were a whole floor below her, and while she wasn’t sure how good the acoustics or noise dampening properties of—
“Lycoris! Are you okay?!”
Rather than Lycoris’s stomach sinking or twisting when she heard the voice, the Princess was immediately struck with a sense of confusion and alarm.
Clambering up the stairs and poking up out of the stairwell into Lycoris’s chambers, her hair tied up and camisole askew, was Vanessa. When she made eye contact with Lycoris, she seemed to shake the dregs of sleep aside and rushed the bed. Lycoris thought she might dive into her and embrace her like her little sister was wont to, but Vanessa only went as far as the edge before fidgeting and looking down at her.
“I… um… was I too loud?” Lycoris evasively asked.
“N-No no! Of course not! I am merely a light sleeper after… you know,” Vanessa trailed off, looking away toward the curtains.
“Ah, right…” Lycoris did the same, her heart rate calming as anxiety was replaced by awkward tension.
“I can only imagine how frightful it must be for one your age, Aphtangloa or otherwise. You know, I—”
“It’s not— I, I’ve had problems for longer than just that. I suppose… it did make things a bit worse. Brought back some unpleasant memories from my… younger days. Er, when I was a toddler, I mean? Whatever the term is. Ahaha, I probably sound pretty weird, but yeah.”
“I see, my apologies. Truthfully, I did hear a little about it from Athena, when she was showing us how to make her Ochros family recipe for scarlet tea. If you’d like, I can make you some.”
“Well, there is something I’ve been doing as a stopgap, but it probably isn’t an ideal solution or the intended use of the thing.”
“Oh? What’s that,” Vanessa tilted her head.
Lycoris nervously shuffled across her bed to the corner table, opened the drawer, and pulled out a crystalline blue dagger. It was a national treasure, one that she had rather carelessly lost once before in a desperate bid to escape from a pair of kidnappers. It had been found and returned to her along with a fair bit of admonishment from her mother about treating priceless artifacts with slightly more respect than the Ochros showed commoners.
Vanessa sharply inhaled and stepped back, her eyes bulging as she looked at the knife in Lycoris’s hands. “Th-That’s a national treasure! A-And you’re just… keeping it in your bedside drawer?!”
“I’ve been using it to force a state of calm on myself, but like I said,” she stared down at the blue blade giving off a small ethereal glint despite the darkness of her bedroom, “it’s probably not actually healthy.” Lycoris naturally kept quiet about that being the least of what Vanessa should be freaking out over. As far as the priceless dagger went, that is.
“I never knew it had that sort of effect on someone…”
“You have to offer up some of your blood to it for the enchantment to take effect.”
“Ah.”
The two of them returned to an awkward silence as Lycoris continued to rotate the dagger in her hand. After the bedside clock struck 1am, Vanessa seemed to comport herself enough to sit down on the edge of the bed, tepidly patting Lycoris on the back.
“I’m not your mother—and even the thought of vocalizing such a comparison has filled me with an existential dread I can’t describe—but I’m not sure she’d want you to deal with it by numbing yourself either. Probably. M…Maybe. You said she was actually very nice, right?”
“To me, at least,” Lycoris sighed, setting the relic in her lap. “You’re right, though. She’d probably rather I do anything else, even sleep in her bed with her. …Especially that, probably,” she added in a low tone.
“Mmm, it would probably raise some questions if I offered to do the same, and I’m not sure my heart could take it anyways.”
“I-I wasn’t sincerely suggesting that! I don’t even do that, you know!” Lycoris scooted away, raising her arms and flailing defensively, the dagger falling onto the carpet.
“Then how about this,” Vanessa crouched down to carefully pick up the dagger, “I’ll fill Athena’s shoes and boil up a nice cup of tea for you whenever you get scared. If for whatever reason I don’t wake up right away, you can always come and knock on my door. I suppose technically I don’t need to mention that, since you have that authority anyways, Crown Princess and all that… *ahem* I’ll also see about a more permanent solution, there’s some things I’ve done to help Cecily recover, so maybe that’ll help you out too!”
Lycoris looked up at her, a tear of confused relief sliding down her cheek. “You don’t have t—”
“Oh I feel like I very much do! Every neuron in my brain is basically screaming at me that I’d be executed if I didn’t! …But, you’re right. I’m not so irrational that I think you’d snitch on me, that the reason Cecily and I are still even here is because of your benevolence and generosity. We’re kind of cheating the system by being here as students anyways, so… how about it?”
Vanessa set the dagger on the table, and held out her other hand with a nervous smile at the same time. Lycoris let her eyes wander up from the glittering sapphire blade to the pair of golden pupils, and clasped her warm proffering with relish.
