Victoria was adding more wood to the fire and checking the clothing boiling in the cauldron over it, to see if the stains were loosening, when she heard someone enter the hut and approach from behind her.

  I guess the fire mage came back, she thought. She didn’t worry about the possibility of an intruder. Their hut was remote, and with the Army having been temporarily driven off, there was no chance of any criminal invading in the middle of the night.

  She didn’t shift her position, bent over the cauldron and the fire - a very un-ladylike posture, as she would come to recall it later - until things changed behind her.

  First, a hand fell on the back of her head - a hand that seemed too big and too bold for the fire mage. The fingers caressed her hair and rubbed at her fox ears, and for a moment, Victoria froze, all the little hairs on her body standing on end.

  Is this…?

  Then the figure behind her spoke and removed all doubt.

  “Thank you for your help earlier,” said a deep male voice, speaking quietly, close behind her ears. “You helped me figure things out with Mariella, you took care of me when I was recovering… and you even gave me medicine mouth to mouth when I was sick. Don’t think I’m forgetting about you at all. Now that Mariella and I have spent some quality time together, you and I will definitely do the same. I intend to treat you equally.”

  Why does he have such a nice voice? The proper thing to do right now was to tell him to take his hand off her and back off, but she was frozen in place. His touch and his voice felt deceptively, disarmingly nice. Like hot melted butter, but for the ears. She felt warmer than she had been.

  I’ve been leaning over the fire too long.

  Then his other hand landed on her waist.

  I can’t let him do that.

  The hand that had been on her ears shifted down slightly, to one of her braids.

  No.

  “Stop!” Victoria cried out louder than she had intended to.

  She heard an immediate stir of movement from two of the three sleeping chambers. At the same time, the hands pulled away.

  Victoria turned back in time to see the necromancer’s expression shifting. It had started out as a cocky smile or something like that, shifted through surprise, and then landed on something more neutral.

  The foxgirl straightened out her posture and shifted so she was fully facing Lord Necromancer just in time.

  A moment later, Uncle Edmund poked his head out of his space.

  “Is everything all right, Vicky?” he asked, sounding slightly groggy.

  “Just, um, I got surprised,” Victoria managed. “I mean, the fire flared up suddenly from a bit of water falling in, and I cried out.”

  She knew how her uncle would overreact if she said that the necromancer had come up behind her and touched her hair and waist without permission. There was a possessiveness there that made it obvious that Vidalia had already allowed him to take some improper liberties with her.

  Although with that voice, I can kind of understand it would be hard to tell him no.

  “And you woke up, huh?” Uncle Edmund said, looking over at Lord Necromancer with a neutral expression. There was a slight note of suspicion in his voice, but it wasn’t especially odd to Victoria. It was strange that Lord Necromancer had apparently awakened and not said anything to his hosts about it. The stranger thing was that Vidalia certainly knew that Tybalt was awake already and had kept silent about it.

  “Not quite, sir,” said the necromancer, bowing his head respectfully. “We haven’t met yet, but thank you so much for welcoming me into your home. As soon as I awakened this afternoon, I went to the mining outpost with my companion to exterminate the remaining soldiers who threatened the village. I’ve only just returned from that. My companion and I were just coming in, and I thought the noise actually made your niece jump. It’s possible she’s just trying not to blame me. I was hoping to consult with your niece, Vidalia, about our next strategic decisions, if she’s still awake. Perhaps her…” He looked at Victoria for a long moment. “... twin sister could chaperone us?”

  Uncle Edmund’s expression shifted into an approving expression.

  “That sounds appropriate, young man,” he said. “And let me be the first to thank you, now that you’re awake, for protecting our village. I saw the bodies after you got through with it, and you and Andric did some real man’s work out there. If I was just ten years younger… Well, anyway, thank you for taking care of the miners too. I understand they probably caused all this mess in the first place.”

  Tybalt nodded.

  “I heard you’re a godly man, as well?” Uncle Edmund asked, eyes darting down to the ring Tybalt wore, which Vidalia had said was a symbol of Lord Mudo.

  Is Uncle E falling in love with Lord Tybalt? Victoria thought, slightly amused. There aren’t a lot of young men he approves of… No, I guess he’s just grateful. It’s only natural. But the necromancer is still a human. There are some gaps that don’t close easily. Some grudges… some wounds…

  “I try to be,” Tybalt said in a humble tone. “Lord Mudo chose me for these powers and a priestly role. I still have a lot to learn, of course.”

  “I’m ready to help with whatever you need!” Vidalia chimed in, popping her head out from Victoria’s room.

  Smart of her to come out now and keep the conversation from going in any direction that might sour Uncle E’s really nice first impression of Lord Tybalt. I don’t know how this first meeting ended up going so well.

  “Don’t be out too late,” Uncle Edmund said. He looked at Victoria. “I… You can be responsible for the both of you, right, Vicky?”

  She swallowed and nodded. I was thinking I would find some way to keep out of this conversation, but all right. I guess it’s better if I join in. At least it will keep Vida from doing anything too crazy with Lord Tybalt…

  Victoria remembered the necromancer’s hands on her hair and her waist and reddened slightly, but she shook her head.

  I reacted appropriately, she told herself. I was just a little slow, because he took me by surprise.

  Uncle Edmund was looking at Lord Necromancer, not at her, fortunately.

  “Lord Necromancer, I assume I can rely on you to keep the girls safe?” he said in a voice that sounded oddly trusting, considering this was their first conversation.

  “Sir, I’ll die before I let any harm come to them,” the necromancer replied with an air of utmost seriousness.

  Uncle Edmund nodded approvingly. “Don’t go getting stabbed again, if you can avoid it. You have servants for that, right? And make sure you get plenty of sleep! I’m sure the Council of Elders will want to speak with you in the next few days.”

  “We’re going to discuss how to manage the news that he woke up, Uncle!” Vidalia said hurriedly. “Please make sure you and Hayden don’t tell anyone until we figure out the timing.”

  He sighed. “Vida, I hope you won’t try to keep this secret for long. But fine. We can wait at least a little bit. Just don’t have him running around too conspicuously without letting the Council know he’s all right. It will make our family look inconsiderate.”

  She bobbed her head. “Yes, Uncle. Thank you, Uncle!”

  This was a far more compliant Vidalia than she had been just a few days or a week ago. It was funny to see it.

  I guess that means the order of events is that important to her plans, Victoria thought. We have to keep tight control of the information. I’ll think of ways to support her in keeping it a secret.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Victoria felt a hand on her elbow and then saw Vidalia standing beside her.

  “Come on, let’s go!” Vidalia said, smiling broadly.

  Then Victoria felt herself get pulled along as her twin followed Lord Necromancer out of the hut. As they emerged, Victoria saw that Lady Mariella was waiting for them outside.

  Should I really be here? Vidalia and Lady Mariella know a lot more about what’s going on than me, and they’re both in love with Lord Necromancer. I feel like a third nostril in a nose or a third eye on the side of someone’s head or something. A totally unnecessary - no, not just that, but an unwanted - addition.

  Her presence seemed particularly unnecessary when she considered that the necromancer hadn’t even meant to invite her. He had snuck up behind her, thinking she was Vidalia, and started groping her ears. That was clearly a prelude to inviting Vidalia out, but because Victoria had not been Vidalia and had instead cried out, waking up the home’s owner, Lord Necromancer had been forced to invite Victoria as a chaperone.

  “Hey, maybe I…” Victoria started to speak in a low tone.

  “Family meeting, everyone!” Tybalt said in a slightly louder voice, at almost the same time. He turned with a look of slight surprise in Victoria’s direction. “Sorry, were you saying something?”

  “Just, um, maybe I shouldn’t be here?” Victoria said. “I know we told Uncle E I was chaperoning, but Vida can take care of herself, and Lady Mariella is here, too. I figure the three of you probably want some time alone.”

  She felt a strange combination of feelings as she spoke. There was a slight guilt at trying to slide out from under the responsibility she had just said she was undertaking, there was a weirdly charged feeling as she looked at and spoke to the necromancer - she didn’t quite understand what she felt there - and there was also a hint of sadness. Because she knew she didn’t truly belong. There were the two women, and the man they loved, and then there was Victoria, who didn’t truly know him at all.

  “Um, listen, I know you don’t really know me, but you care about Mariella, right?” Tybalt asked. “You’ve gotten to know her a little bit.”

  “Just over the past week, but about as much as Vidalia knows her, I guess,” Victoria said.

  “Then this concerns you, too,” Tybalt said. He lowered his voice and looked a little embarrassed. “Sorry about, um, coming on a little strong earlier. I thought you were…”

  “Think nothing of it, Lord Necromancer.”

  That’s not what I should say. I should be mad that he touched my ears and my waist and my braid, even if only for a second.

  But she didn’t feel that way. He hadn’t been trying to push across her barriers. He had just genuinely thought she was Vidalia, who was, if Victoria guessed right, happy to let Lord Necromancer cross any line he wanted.

  “Um, I guess I’ll come with you guys, then,” Victoria said after a moment.

  “And you don’t need to call me ‘Lord’ unless you happen to like that,” Tybalt added. “I’m Tybalt.”

  “Understood.”

  Victoria turned her head to the side and caught Vidalia wearing her biggest smile - which suddenly vanished as soon as Victoria noticed it.

  Is that an ‘all according to plan’ smile, Vida? I’m… moving just the way you want me to, aren’t I?

  It was hard, when you had a sibling who could see the future, not to feel sometimes as if you had no agency over your own decisions.

  That was the feeling that Victoria wrestled with over the next few minutes as Lord Necromancer led them away from the hut and through the nearby trees.

  He kept going until they were near the stream that Victoria usually drew the hut’s water from.

  “This area is hopefully private enough,” the necromancer said. He and Lady Mariella gave each other a meaningful look that Victoria could not interpret.

  “Very private unless someone wants to get some water at night,” the foxgirl agreed. That thought seemed to surprise the couple for some reason, but they covered it up quickly.

  “What did you want to talk about, darling?” Vidalia asked.

  “First, I want to address your visions about what happens if Mariella leaves,” he said.

  “Well, we already discussed it before you woke up, but in roughly half of the futures I can envision, if she tries to go home, she will die.”

  “Half,” Mariella said. “And in the other half, what happens?”

  “In around half of those, you actually convince your family to join our side.”

  “See?” the fire mage said, looking at Lord Tybalt.

  “In the rest?” Lord Tybalt asked.

  “She comes back a prisoner with the Army, leading them to us against her will. You risk your life to rescue her. It’s very romantic and dramatic, but one of the two of you usually dies.”

  Tybalt gave Mariella a look. She turned slightly pink.

  “So, roughly a three in four chance of spectacular failure,” he said grimly.

  “Was there a way to avoid that?” she asked.

  “Not that I’m aware of,” Vidalia said. “I don’t have the ability to see everything. There are many possibilities. But it’s a fact that you usually fall into the hands of the Divine Trust, and…” She bit her lip.

  “I understand. But if I just stuck to my family and managed to conceal myself well- ”

  “You almost always do that, I think,” Vidalia replied in a quiet voice. Victoria recognized a note of regret in it. “But you… Mariella, you can’t actually trust your family. In some timelines, they’re definitely the ones who turn you in.”

  “I don’t - I can’t believe that!” Mariella exclaimed. “You must have seen it wrong, you- ”

  “Ella, do you trust Vidalia?” the necromancer asked quietly.

  “I… yes.”

  “Do you believe her powers work as she’s described them in the past?”

  “I - yes - no - I… I’ve seen her use them to predict what was going to happen. What might happen. But I… you’re asking me to trust you over my family. My dad. I- ”

  “No, I’m not asking for that,” Tybalt said. “I’m just asking if you trust Vidalia’s powers enough to accept that maybe, there’s some version of events where some member of your family might turn you in? It’s not as if I’m telling you to completely cut ties with your family. I still want us to talk to them if possible and even meet up with them in person one day if we can. I just want it to be on terms that aren’t self-destructive for us.”

  Mariella’s eyes latched desperately onto Victoria’s.

  “Vicky, what do you think?” the fire mage asked in a low, miserable voice. “Does your sister make these kinds of mistakes?”

  Slowly, reluctantly, Victoria shook her head.

  “No, if Vidalia says that you’ll die if you leave, you should believe her. She didn’t say your family turns you in across every timeline or something, though, Mariella. Don’t read too much into the specific details unless Vida puts a lot of emphasis on them. Probably in most of the timelines, it’s something else that trips you up. The whole situation must be extremely dangerous, and it’s hard not to make some sort of mistake.”

  She was trying to be comforting, and the words seemed to calm Mariella a bit.

  “I guess it would be moronic of me to insist on leaving now,” the fire mage said, a trace of bitterness in her voice.

  “More importantly, people who care about you would be heartbroken over it,” Tybalt said. “Because of the seventy-five percent chance of a bad outcome. We’d all be mourning you.” He looked at Victoria and Vidalia. “Right?”

  Vidalia immediately nodded emphatically.

  “Please stay?” she added, looking at Lady Mariella with a pout. “We care about you. A lot. Not even just my family. There are lots of people who will be sad if you disappear or die.”

  “Yes,” said Victoria. She looked at Lord Tybalt. “That is, Lady Mariella saved the village alongside you, and it would be terrible if anything happened to her.” She looked Mariella in the eyes. “Setting aside any of what Vida wants to see happen in the future, you’re two of the only decent humans we’ve ever met.”

  “Plus, you can connect her with her family through a dream?” Lord Necromancer asked, looking at Vidalia.

  “Sure, it shouldn't be impossible, I can probably do it tonight if you like,” Vidalia said. “When we go back.”

  “Um, no, no, that’s not - um, that’s a little too soon,” Lady Mariella said. “I need time to figure out what to say. But the fact that you can do it, that’s amazing. I’ll definitely take advantage.”

  “Are you satisfied that staying is the right choice?” Lord Tybalt asked.

  “Right,” Lady Mariella said slowly, nodding with a hint of reluctance. “I guess…”

  “All right,” Tybalt said, trying to sound reassuring. “We’ll work on your family, Ella.” He reached over and stroked her hair and neck, and she appeared to lean into his touch without thinking about it.

  That looks comforting, Victoria thought, trying not to remember that his hands had been on her in the same place just fifteen minutes ago.

  “Then I guess the next thing we need to discuss is our political strategy going forward,” he said. “Um, Vidalia, what do your powers of prophecy suggest we need to do next?”

  “Tomorrow, I’ll start taking you around to meet the Councils of Elders for the other tribes,” Vidalia said. “We want to talk to the fox tribe Elders last. After we talk to them, they might start keeping some tabs on our movements, or at least, people loyal to them are likely to pay attention. This might be our only chance to make political progress while remaining unnoticed.”

  Victoria almost let the conversation pass her by at that point. Everything was settled, her contribution was at an end.

  But she forced herself to keep listening anyway.

  Vidalia might have something important that I need to do, for her plans to work out…

  If that was the case, it would be better if Victoria understood the plan as best she could.

  Even if I don’t actually know if I belong in this… intimate circle of trust… I’ll do whatever I can to support my sister.