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~Chapter 13~
His fingers locked around her wrist like iron, and every attempt she made to pull free only dragged more of her energy into the cracked void of his core. "My lord— you need to let go of me so I can fetch someone." A moan. Not an answer. “I mean it. Let go." Nothing. And under her collar the mark was beginning to warm. A red system window flared behind her eyes. [Warning: Stamina critically low. Guiding an S-Class Esper at current capacity will result in severe host damage. Estimated safe duration: Five minutes. Host is advised to terminate session immediately.] Like I currently have a choice, she thought, almost cursing at the stupid system. “Sir—Lord Cedric—I need to get help.” Only a broken moan answered her. She prayed to any goddess who might be listening. The prayer died unfinished when he hauled her forward. Her body collided with the hard plane of his chest. Heat flooded her cheeks. He buried his face against the side of her neck and inhaled like a drowning man finall
~Chapter 12~
The third guiding had already drained Elewisa; who knew guiding even the lowest rank would take such a toll on her.She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand before moving on to the next person. “Miss.” A bottle was nudged towards her.“Thank you,” she said as she took the bottle and drank from it and the water seemed to have helped even just a tiny bit. “I think you should take a break.” the man who had offered her the bottle said. His name was Brom, a dockhand with shoulders like barrel staves, the one with the worst condition; his core was extremely damaged and although he was an F-rank Esper it had taken her quite a lot to get it back up in shape. “It's alright, I'm fine.” Elewisa smiled weakly, as she proceeded to guide the next person.She had to wrap things up fast, report back to the free hall and head back to the manor before it got too late. Upon arriving at the inn she had learnt quite a lot from these men, like the fact that the inn they were at is
~Chapter 11~
The color drained from her face. Her lips parted but no sound came. He let go, and she scrambled off the bed, clutching her robe to her chest. Her cheeks flamed with shame and fear. She did not look back as she fled through the door.Nevan nearly collided with her in the corridor. He stared after her, then pushed into the room. "Captain, why did Lady Selene run out? Did she..." He stopped. Cedric sat hunched at the edge of the bed, one hand pressed to his ribs, his breath coming in short, ragged pulls."I'll fetch a healer.""No." Cedric straightened with visible effort. "I'm fine.""You are not fine.""What is in your hand?"Nevan looked down at the folded paper he had forgotten. He held it out with a grimace. "It came for you this evening. I thought you would want it after."Cedric knew the seal before he broke it, the imperial crest pressed in deep black wax. He unfolded the single sheet. One line, in a hand he knew well.I am sending a little gift your way. Hope you use it properl
~Chapter 10~
Gold light flooded the Free Hall, and every voice in it died at once.It spilled from the dark crystal beneath Elewisa's palm, climbing the walls and turning the paper lanterns pale. A woman near the board dropped her cup. Somewhere behind her a chair scraped back."What in the five hells is that?""It's gold," someone whispered.“Doesn't gold mean an S-Class?”“But they don't exist.""My grandmother said they were extinct. Gone for decades.""Extinct," a man repeated, as if the word tasted wrong.The whispers swelled, rolling across the hall like wind through dry grass. Elewisa drew her hand back so fast her knuckles cracked against the table. The clerk behind the grate had gone gray. His ink-stained fingers fumbled with the ledger, and he squinted at the stone, then at her, then at the stone again."Malfunction," he stammered. "It must be malfunctioning. The mana stone’s probably drained. Forgive me, miss, this has never happened." He snapped his fingers at a younger clerk. "Bring t
~Chapter 9~
The hand on her shoulder was warm and friendly, and Elewisa nearly screamed anyway. She spun so fast her hood slipped. A young man in a black coat stood grinning down at her, sharp-featured, dark hair tied at the nape, the edge of a B-Class mark showing on his wrist. Nevan. "Easy," he said, lifting both hands. "I don't bite. But you, my dear, are one of the worst spies I have ever met. You hid behind a barrel. A barrel, with half your skirt hanging out the side." "I wasn't spying." "Then what were you doing in a training yard full of armed men?" "Fetching water." Nevan looked at the barrel, then at her empty hands. "With what?" "I got lost." "In a mansion you've served at for years?" He tilted his head. "Half these men can crack a wall with one punch. If a practice blade slipped, nobody would have found you until supper." Her mouth opened and nothing useful came out. Her cold still sat in her chest, a thin rattle under every breath, and her scalp ached where Petra's f
~Chapter 8~
Elewisa read the line three times, her finger pressed so hard beneath the words that the brittle page creased. Once a relic fused with a living host, it could not be retrieved. There was no way to take it out. "No," she whispered to the empty aisle. "No, no, no." She turned the page. Her hands would not hold still. She turned the page. Her hands would not hold still. The next entry matched her sketch line for line: the national treasure of unknown origin, kept under imperial seal, its theft answered with execution. Beneath it, in a cramped and fading hand, the author had added a note. The relic was the gift of Auren, goddess of binding, given to mortals so that Guides and Espers might be joined as one. A goddess. Elewisa stared at the line until the letters blurred. In the river, with water in her lungs, she had begged some goddess for one more chance. She had never imagined the answer would be something that could get her killed. The ink had gone brown with age, but the last wo
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