Anton found Aris at the training ground. Not the old one in the castle courtyard, but the one outside the old walls. It had been purposely set as far away from the town as possible, so that the townsfolk wouldn’t be bothered by the sound of rifle fire.

  Aris wasn’t here because it was the furthest distance she could reasonably get from the town, her parents' bakery, or the castle. She had a perfectly valid reason to be here. She didn’t need to train herself, but the soldiers here, both veterans and fresh-faced recruits, could use some pointers.

  What they really needed was levels. Soldiers of all types got some experience from drilling—it was said that you could get through Tier Two as a soldier just from marching around—but it was no substitute for combat. Kelsey had been stingy with letting her monsters out to be slaughtered, and the sergeants weren’t happy about sending recruits into the dungeon. Much of their training would be useless in the narrow, twisting tunnels. Those who survived would get levels, but Kelsey would make no promises regarding how many would make it.

  She did say that she was working on a solution, but for now, drills were the main way for Anton to improve his troops. Aris still wasn’t used to thinking of them as belonging to Anton, but that was nothing compared to how they now treated her.

  Grizzled veterans three times her age were calling her Ma’am and saluting her. Each and every one of them was hanging on to her every word, hoping for some insight. Not because of her title—she barely rated Lady—but because of her Class.

  Aris Lucina, Deadeye Harbinger (Level 11)

  Overall Level: 26

  Paths: Scullion/(broken), Original Gunslinger/Deadeye Harbinger

  Strength: 14

  Toughness: 24

  Agility: 41

  Dex: 41

  Perception: 45

  Will: 23

  Charisma: 23

  Traits

  Eye for Freshness, Heat Resistance

  Sonic Resistance, Sure Shot, Trick Shot, Camouflaged Lurker, Last Word

  Sense Intent, Deadly Shot, Erase Presence, Quick Study, Mark of Doom

  Aris looked over her status and couldn’t believe how far she’d come. She was nearly to Tier Four! She’d progressed most of the way through Deadeye Harbinger without really finding out what the Class was for. Anton said it took time to figure out unusual classes, and she’d brute-forced her advancement through monster-slaying. But even if she didn’t know quite what it was about, her Class was still useful.

  “Here,” she said to the recruit, still struggling with reloading. She grabbed the rifle before the startled soldier could drop it. She deftly removed the paper cartridge from his grasp with her other hand.

  “It goes like this,” she said, breaking the weapon open and inserting the cartridge. The weapons that Kelsey had provided her were much more advanced, and Aris hadn’t tried loading this type until she’d returned home. But her Dexterity made it look easy, even as she slowed her movements down so the recruit could see what she was doing.

  “And then hold it, like this,” she continued, pointing the weapon down range. This part was her own experience, lessons learned from firing a rifle in deadly combat. Kelsey had provided some tips, but Aris had mostly learned by doing.

  She activated Sure Shot, and the weapon pointed unerringly down-range. Aris held off on pulling the trigger. Ammunition wasn’t free, as Kelsey was happy to point out at any opportunity.

  “You see?” she asked, and the soldier nodded vigorously. He took the rifle back and aimed at the wooden silhouettes that had been built as targets. The crack of the rifle going off didn’t bother Aris anymore, and she could see that he’d come close to one of the figures.

  “Keep working,” she said, clapping him on the back. She had come to realise that regular Classes didn’t get Sure Shot as early as she had. Soldiers got Fast Aim or Volley Fire, which helped them aim at a different target from the rest of their unit. There was some speculation that it was a Capstone Trait for at least one of the new Classes, but no one had progressed that far.

  Aris watched with satisfaction as the recruit did a better job of reloading this time.

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  “Having fun?” Anton asked from behind her. Aris started in surprise.

  “Don’t scare me like that!” she complained.

  Her Perception should have been high enough for her to be aware of someone coming up behind her, even with all the shouting and firing of the training range, but Anton was special. He’d always moved quietly—part of his adventurer upbringing— and now he was so silent that most people thought it was a Trait.

  Anton laughed and pulled her into an embrace. “Time to go,” he said. “Lady Anat’s procession has been sighted.”

  “Ack!” Aris spluttered and tried to free herself. “I don’t want to go back for that!”

  “I’m afraid you have to,” Anton told her, his gentle grip inescapable. “Greeting noble guests is one of the duties of a lady.”

  “Suliel can do it better,” Aris tried.

  “You’re both my wives, you both have to be there. It would be an insult, otherwise.”

  “But she hates me!”

  “She hates me,” Kelsey said, approaching the couple. “I don’t think also marrying the guy she didn’t want her daughter to marry is high on her list of concerns.”

  Aris narrowed her eyes. The fact that Kelsey had hung back meant that Anton had definitely snuck up on her. The dungeon avatar had the Agility to be fairly stealthy, but she was not ever inclined to be quiet.

  “I killed that guy she liked, though,” Aris objected. “You know, the one she did want Suliel to marry.”

  “That was to save me,” Anton said, “So I hope you won’t say you regret it.”

  “I don’t… that doesn’t mean I want her to yell at me about it.”

  “She won’t,” Anton assured her. “She’s made up with Suliel, so all of that is in the past. She’s probably still mad at Kelsey, but she can take it.”

  “I am impervious to criticism!” Kelsey agreed. “And honestly, if you want to get on my case about killing Anats, it’s a little weird to do it now. I’ve been killing them for years!”

  “It feels different when you do it in person,” Anton said wryly. “Come on. We’ve got to get you back to the castle and into a nice dress.”

  Aris sighed, defeated. “I do like dresses,” she admitted. “But won’t it spoil my idiom?”

  “You’ll be fine,” Kelsey declared. “Just don’t shoot anyone while you’re wearing a dress. I’m not sure even my laundry skeletons can get gunpowder smoke out of taffetta.”

  Hosting—or being hosted by—a noble was no simple thing. Riders had to go out in front of the visiting party to make sure the hosting noble was aware the visitor was on their way. The number of guests, and their respective ranks, all had to be conveyed in advance so that no high-ranking noble got placed in the pauper’s room. Sometimes they did get placed in the pauper’s room, but that was a deliberate snub. Doing it accidentally was gauche.

  Guests should be greeted in the town square, or the castle gate, or the castle courtyard, or inside the castle, depending on their relative status, the purpose of their visit and the relations between the two families. Naturally, the location of the meeting had to be conveyed back to the visitors, so that there would be no surprises.

  It was an exhausting process, or would have been if Aris had had anything to do with it. Even Anton just waved it off and let Suleil do what she liked. Suliel had decided that, all things considered, they should meet their guests standing on the steps of the castle’s main entrance. Aris wasn’t sure if it was significant that they were standing exactly where Lady Anat had been standing during the whole… was coup the right word? Or should it be revolution?

  Aris thought about asking Kelsey for the name of what it was. Then she remembered that asking Kelsey never went well and resolved not to.

  Lady Anat’s carriage drove through the front gates and pulled up in the courtyard. In the pre-planning meetings that Aris had been forced to attend, Suliel had said that her mother was travelling light by noble standards. Four guards, two maids and the driver. Aris also remembered that not bringing a cook meant that Lady Anat trusted Suliel not to poison her. There had been more, but that was the point where Aris’s attention had run out. She may have Quick Study, but there were limits.

  Lady Anat was helped out of her carriage by one of her guards and proceeded to the steps where they were all standing. Her maids followed, a discreet five steps behind. Her guards stayed five steps behind that.

  “Mother,” Suleil said, stepping forward to embrace the woman. This, too, had been pre-planned, Aris remembered. It wouldn’t do for Lady Anat to be surprised by a show of affection from her daughter.

  The next to be greeted was Anton.

  “Lord Nos,” Lady Anat said with a curtsey.

  “Lady Anat,” Anton replied with a bow of the precise depth that Suliel had told him to give. He’d had to practice. Aris was fortunate that her curtsey wouldn’t be given such an exacting examination. She didn’t even have to speak; Lady Anat barely glanced at her.

  Kelsey wasn’t a part of the greeting party, for obvious reasons. She was inside, and any interactions with the lady would be held behind closed doors.

  “Why don’t we take this inside?” Anton said and led Lady Anat into what was once her own castle. Under normal circumstances, he would have directed the servants to see her to her rooms to rest, but the lady had indicated that she wanted a meeting as soon as possible. A private meeting.

  Not so private that Aris was excused from attending, so she filed into the sitting room with the others, taking her place next to Anton. Suliel sat on the other side of him, and the Lady Anat occupied the lounge opposite.

  Kelsey sat in a chair of her own. Lady Anat glared at the avatar when she came in, and then proceeded to act as if Kelsey didn’t exist. This seemed to amuse Kelsey greatly. She had dressed up for the occasion in tight trousers made of some pink material and a heavy leather jacket decorated with silver studs.

  The servants were left outside. Lady Anat glanced at Aris with a frown, and for a moment, Aris thought that she was going to be asked to leave. Much to her disappointment, the noblewoman just shook her head slightly and said nothing.

  “So what brings you here today?” Anton asked once the pleasantries were completed.

  “I trust you recognise this?” Lady Anat said. She drew out a pendant from her sleeve and placed it on the low table between them.

  Anton leaned forward and picked it up. He frowned and showed it to Suliel, and then to Aris. Aris didn’t recognise it. It was just a silver pendant that held… some kind of red stone, carved into the shape of a rose. Pretty, but that was all it meant to her.

  “I do,” Anton said. “I didn’t know you were…”

  “I wasn’t, before,” Lady Anat said simply. “I was trusted with the knowledge by Suliel’s father, but I wasn’t an actual member. When he died… I knew too much. Without Renn to vouch for me, I needed to prove my devotion to the cause.

  “And now…”

  “Your contribution has been deemed worthwhile, Lord Nos. I am here to start your induction into the Rose Circle.”

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