The Beastman with the jackal head leaned back on his heels. His grin was sharp and unyielding. The noise of the auction hall swelled around them with shouts of bidding and the crack of the gavel. However, near the cages, the air was thick with tension.

  Vespera stood frozen. She had dropped her disguise moments ago to reveal herself to Nora. If the slaver looked closely he might be able to recognize her, or at least her race. Thankfully the lighting was poor here and the Beastman was not paying much attention. Focusing more on his goods than the two in front of him.

  "Three days," the Beastman repeated as he was smoothing his silk robes and oblivious to the royalty hiding inches away. "The market is volatile, my friend. An old servant might go for cheap or she might go for an expensive price if two nobles decide to get into a pissing contest. I enjoy the gamble."

  Vespera’s hand was trembling on Li Yu’s arm. Her nails dug in so hard he could mistake it for her attacking him. She was seconds away from slaughtering everyone in the room. Li Yu needed a way to have him accept their offer. Logic had failed. Money had failed. He needed to appeal to the only thing a slaver respected more than profit: vice.

  An idea began to form in Li Yu’s head. He had heard it often in taverns from mercenaries and other people of higher or noble statuses. Li Yu took a deep breath and began swallowing his dignity. He leaned in closer to the Beastman. He lowered his voice to a desperate whisper.

  "Look," Li Yu said and he was shifting his posture. He dropped the stoic mercenary act and adopted the sweaty and shameful demeanor of a man with a secret. "I lied. She isn't for my friend here."

  The Jackal raised an eyebrow. He was now paying more attention and his ears were twitching. "Oh?"

  "She’s for me," Li Yu confessed as he was glancing around nervously. "I... I have needs. Particular needs."

  He gestured vaguely at the terrified and wrinkled old woman in the cage behind him.

  "I don't like the young ones," Li Yu lied. He did his best to force a lecherous grin that made his own stomach turn. "They don't know anything. They whine. There is no effort. I like them... seasoned. Experienced. A woman who has lived a few centuries knows how to take care of a man properly, you understand?"

  Li Yu rubbed his hands together and was now sweating for real. "I’ve been on the road for months. It gets lonely. And when I saw her... well, the heart wants what it wants. And my heart likes them like that."

  Behind him Vespera stiffened. He could feel the shock radiating off her. It was so shocking in fact that it overridden her murderous rage for a split second.

  The Jackal stared at Li Yu with interest. His yellow eyes blinked once and then twice. Then, a slow, lascivious understanding dawned on his face. He threw his head back and laughed. It was a soft and knowing laugh.

  "By the Abyss!" The Jackal. "You humans are a twisted lot. I thought we demons were depraved but you... you have taste, I’ll give you that! A connoisseur of the vintage!"

  He looked at Li Yu with newfound camaraderie and quickly slapped him on the shoulder.

  "I understand, brother. When the urge strikes, waiting three days is agony. A man has needs. Needs that need to be taken care of."

  The Jackal pulled out a ledger. "Fine. Since you are a man of such... refined culture, I will sell. I must sell! But for a direct purchase, skipping the auction and for the 'special' nature of the request..."

  He scribbled a number on a piece of paper and held it up. The price was robbery. Daylight robbery but he knew he had Li Yu.

  "Done," Li Yu said instantly. He didn't haggle at all. Just wanting to quickly get out of here. He threw a heavy bag of spirit stones at the Beastman’s chest. The Jackal caught it and he checked the contents.

  "Pleasure doing business with you," the Jackal said as he pocketed the bag. He signaled the guard to unlock the cage. "Enjoy your night, friend. Try not to take it easy so the merchandise lasts."

  The Jackal winked at Li Yu and sauntered off to count his profits. Li Yu ignored him. He turned and opened the cage door. Vespera hastily pulled her hood up to shadow her features again and rushed forward.

  They didn't speak or say anything. They grabbed Nora and walked out of the Gilded Cage as fast as they could without running. They didn't stop until they reached a secure private room in a high end inn three districts away. Li Yu swept the room and set up a few array disks for privacy. Only then did the tension break.

  Vespera threw back her hood. She fell to her knees in front of the old woman and quickly grabbed her hands.

  "Tell me what happened. Please. Where is mother? Where are my brothers?" Vespera quickly got to the main topic at hand. Li Yu gave them their space and stood by the door. He was keeping guard and listening.

  Nora took a shuddering breath. She stroked Vespera’s hair and her voice trembled as she recounted the nightmare.

  "It was two months ago," Nora began. "The Night Queen had returned from the borders. She brought Young Master Renato and Young Master Ganhao with her. They were planning a counter attack against the Rotting Bone Lord."

  "Mother was strong," Vespera said. "She was more than a match for him."

  "She was," Nora agreed. "She challenged the Rotting Bone Lord to a duel of champions on the Blood Stricken Plains. He accepted. The Queen... she was magnificent. She crushed his defenses. She was seconds away from taking his head and ending the life of another Demon Lord."

  Nora’s face crumbled. "It was a trap, Mistress. A vile, dishonorable trap."

  "What happened" Vespera asked.

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  "The sky tore open," Nora whispered. Her eyes went wide as she recalled the memory. "Two other Demon Lords appeared. Lord Malakor and the Spider Queen. And with them... two Beast Kings. Beings on the same level as Demon Lords. Five of them."

  Vespera had her mouth open. "Five? That... that is impossible. Five beings at that power had never worked together before. Malakor and the Spider Queen hate each other!"

  "They hated the Queen more. Most likely." Nora spat. "They struck all at once. The Queen... she realized she couldn't win. She knew it was an annihilation. She and her armies were no match for them."

  "Did she fall?" Vespera asked with a barely audible voice.

  "She saved the heirs," Nora said. "She used a forbidden art to tear a hole in space. She threw Master Renato and Master Ganhao into it. She banished them randomly across the world to keep them from being tracked. She saved them, Mistress. But she couldn't save herself."

  Nora wiped her eyes. "The five Lords descended on her. But before they could get her, she activated it."

  "What did she activate?" Vespera couldn’t help but ask quickly.

  "The Queen triggered some treasure. A golden light swallowed the Queen. It encased her in a solid block of amber, freezing her in that exact moment. The attacks of the five Lords... they simply stopped against the amber surface. Nothing could scratch it. They tried several attacks and nothing could get through."

  "She is safe?" Vespera asked as hope began coming back into her chest.

  "She is safe for now… but trapped," Nora corrected sadly. "I heard about it later with the other prisoners before I got separated from the rest. Others say that the treasure she used was some sort of legendary treasure. They said they overheard the other Demon Lords saying it lasts for six months. During that time, she is invincible. But she cannot move, she cannot act and she cannot escape."

  Nora looked at Vespera with haunted eyes. "They have set up a camp around the amber shell of the Queen. They are waiting. They are waiting for the six months to end. When the Amber falls... they will be there to finish her. Or enslave her. I don’t know."

  Li Yu leaned against the doorframe and his mind racing at all of the information. From the Queen’s near victory into ambush and quick defeat. To her quick thinking of saving her sons and then sealing herself off. In hopes that something would change within six months. Then his thoughts drifted towards the treasure she used.

  ‘The Amber…,’ he thought. ‘Six months of absolute defense. And they call it a legendary artifact.’

  His thoughts went inside his Koi Sanctuary. Inside a cave on a mountain range and tucked away with the other items from the Hidden Village was a small piece of amber given to him by the Matriarch.

  She had told him it was a "last resort" that would trap him for a hundred years. But she had said that he could decide when to leave within that hundred years. It didn’t sound like the one used by the Night Queen had that feature.

  ‘If six months is considered legendary here... what in the Dao did that old Matriarch give me? A Divine Artifact?’ He shook his head. That wasn't important right now. What was important was the timeline.

  "Two months ago," Vespera calculated as her face paled once again after regaining some hope. "That means four months left. Four months until the amber goes away and my mother is executed."

  "And my sister?" Vespera asked. "Where was Nyx?"

  "Lady Nyx was not there," Nora said. "She has not been seen in years. She likely doesn't even know."

  Vespera slumped back and was sitting on her heels. The relief of finding Nora was replaced by a crushing weight. Her home was gone. Her brothers were scattered to the winds and their fates unknown. Her mother was a statue in the middle of a camp that was counting down the seconds to her death.

  "It’s over… our family’s time is over…" Vespera whispered. "Three Demon Lords and two Beast Kings. Even if I gathered every favor I have... even if I rallied the remnants of our army... we cannot fight five of them. We’d be lucky to take down even one but even that isn’t promising."

  She looked at her hands. "We are truly ants trying to stop a landslide."

  Silence filled the room. The reality of their situation was a cold and hard wall. Li Yu walked over and knelt beside them. He placed a hand on Vespera’s shoulder. He didn't offer false hope. He didn't tell her it would be okay. He just offered presence.

  "Nora," Vespera said after a long time but her voice was hollow. "You... you shouldn't be here. You’ve served us enough. You suffered enough."

  She looked at the old maid. "Do you have any remaining family? Anyone at all? I can give you money. Li Yu can help you get away. You can live out your days in peace. Our family failed to protect you. I am sorry."

  Nora shook her head violently. She gripped Vespera’s hand with surprising strength.

  "I have no one, Little Mistress. My family is the House of Night. I lived for the Queen and I lived for you children. If the House falls... then I fall with it. It is a common fate for us lower demons."

  She looked at Li Yu and then went back to Vespera. "Please. Do not send me away. Let me serve you. Even if it is just to comb your hair one last time. I have nowhere else to go."

  Vespera looked at Li Yu with a silent plea in her eyes.

  "She can't travel with us," Li Yu said gently. "It’s too dangerous. Her cultivation is not enough to protect herself."

  "I know," Vespera whispered.

  "But," Li Yu continued, "she can go where you go. You are from the same species."

  He looked at Nora. "I have a... sanctuary. A space I call my Ocean of Qi. It is safe, at least as long as I am alive. Vespera stays there when she isn’t traveling with me. Her 40 subjects that went with her to my world are there as well. If you are willing, you can enter a soul contract with me. You will live there. You can serve Vespera there."

  Nora didn't hesitate. She bowed her head to the floor. "I accept. Thank you, Master. Thank you."

  Li Yu drew the contract in the air with his Qi. It was a simple one, one of loyalty and silence. It was actually much more relaxed than the contract he had with Vespera but Vespera had insisted on not changing it. Nora accepted it willingly and her soul was bound to his. Li Yu opened the portal.

  "Go," Li Yu said. "Rest."

  Nora stood up and bowed one last time to Vespera. She stepped into the portal and vanished from the room. The room was quiet again. Just Li Yu and Vespera.

  Vespera sat on the floor and was staring at the spot where Nora had disappeared. She looked small. One of the heirs to the House of the Night, the dangerous Charm Demon and the witty companion. All of those layers were stripped away. She was now just a daughter who had lost everything.

  "Four months," Vespera whispered. An impossible task to accomplish in such a short amount of time. It was impossible.

  "Vespera..." Li Yu started.

  "Please," she interrupted. "Don't. Don't tell me to be logical. Don't tell me to be patient. Not right now."

  She curled her knees to her chest and buried her face in her arms.

  "Just... give me a moment. I need to think. I need to..."

  She didn't finish the sentence. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs. Li Yu walked to the window and looked out at the dark and smoggy skyline of Grim Spire. He checked the defensive arrays on the door one last time.

  "Take all the time you need," Li Yu said softly. He too didn’t have any good ideas. The feeling of being so weak and not able to accomplish anything surged within his heart. He sat down in a chair in the corner. He closed his eyes to think but kept his senses sharp. He would keep watch. It was the only thing he could do.

  Vespera went back into the villa within his Ocean of Qi. She appeared next to Nora. She didn't say a word. She walked to the edge of the island and sat down and was staring out at the endless ocean. Her mind a storm of grief and impossible choices.