“We have a problem.”

  Belinda turned from her ritual setup, seeing Sophie limp into the room, holding the side of her ribs.

  The chalk dropped from Belinda’s hands onto the ground as she rushed to her friend, looking her over.

  “Was Kyle Stelline there? He should’ve been on a contract today?”

  She’d known there was a chance the Stelline Family’s only bronze ranker might have been present. Still, she’d specifically picked this date based on the Adventure Society job assignment tracker.

  “No, the Stelline job went fine,” Sophie said, pulling out a necklace and lightly tossing it to Belinda, who looked it over, then rushed to the ritual circle, placing it in the center, snagging the chalk off the ground.

  Steadily, her hand finished the final rune, the circle humming with magic, cleansing any potential tracking spells on the jewelry.

  When Belinda turned back to Sophie, her shirt was off, revealing a dark bruise that covered the left side of her chest, even reaching under her bra.

  “Then who did this to you?” Belinda said, going to a cabinet and grabbing a nearly empty tin of healing ointment.

  She watched Sophie avoid her gaze.

  “You know, that’s the look that says, ‘Sorry, Lindy, I invited a guy over and he broke your favorite teacup,” Belinda scolded as she crossed her arms. “Soph, what happened?”

  “I saw another noble standing in an alley, and I thought it didn’t matter what we took or from whom, as long as it was high profile. An easy target to keep Ventress off our back for a while.”

  “What!? I’ve been planning these down to the minute. What made you think that was a good idea?”

  “He wasn’t supposed to know how to fight.”

  “Wait, let's back up to the first question,” Belinda said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Who did you go after?”

  “Thadwick Mercer.”

  “Soph, no, you, did, not.”

  “Lindy I—”

  “We already hit the Duke of Greenstone’s family once; now you’ve gone and done it again, and on the Mercer side!” Belinda ran her fingers through her curly brown hair. “This is bad.”

  “It gets worse.”

  “I don’t see how things could get much worse, Soph.”

  “He knew who I was.”

  “What? As the Nightingale? I can work with–”

  “He knew my name.”

  “How does Thadwick fucking Mercer know who you are, Sophie. He wasn’t a fling, was he? I swear, if your taste in men has gotten us found out, I’ll…”

  “I’ve never slept with him! My standards aren’t that low.”

  “Small mercies.”

  “I should’ve stuck to your plan.”

  “Yes! Soph, that’s why I have you repeat them back to me so many times.”

  Belinda stared at her friend with a huff and walked closer, opening the tin and starting the process of rubbing ointment into the bruise. Sophie wincing slightly at the tender skin. It was quiet for a while as Belinda worked, the tension thick in the air.

  “They don’t know where we are, so I’ve time to pull together disguises and—”

  “Lindy, I’m sorry.”

  Belinda put a reassuring hand on Sophie’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

  “We’ll sort this out, we always do. One step at a time. But for now, you’re on lockdown, till I can verify your name’s not already on every wanted poster from here to the Island.”

  They were fighting shirtless, because of course they would be. Neil sat at the edge of the sparring arena watching Dustin and Thad fight. Sweat glistening off toned muscle.

  Speed and precision against strength and durability.

  “I should come here more often. Much better view, way less family.”

  Neil glanced over to see Phoebe Geller drinking in the spectacle as she leaned back on the bench.

  “You planning on making this a regular thing?”

  “Why not? Don’t like me ogling your boyfriend, you know I’m only here for Dusty, right?”

  “Thad’s not… we’re not dating!”

  “Oh! I just thought the way he was leaning on you at the bar, and just…” Phoebe vaguely waved in the air. “The vibes. That you two were a thing.”

  “I don’t know why everyone thinks that,” Neil said, putting his face in his hands and letting out a small groan. But in his mind, he knew that his brain was also turning traitor.

  This wasn’t fair, why him of all people? No. Nope, this wasn’t happening. He wasn’t crushing on Thadwick Mercer of all people, not even if he was acting like a decent guy for once in his life.

  “Well, if you want, I can probably set you up on a date with someone. I know that would make Dusty happy at least. What’s your type?”

  Neil looked up from his hands and stared out at the arena.

  “My type…”

  What was his type? He hadn’t really put much thought into it. He’d been interested in Cassandra since he was 13, but he’d grown up seeing her competence and skill. She had seemed like an idealized adventurer to him, and his admiration for her had slowly formed into a crush.

  He hadn’t really experienced that with anyone else. There had been a few one-night stands, but he wasn’t one to naturally feel attraction to someone just because they were conventionally attractive. It helped, of course, but it was never the thing that had made him… well, fantasize about a person.

  Not that he had fantasized about Thad, and how his… no! damn it! What was wrong with him?

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “I’m kind of working through some stuff at the moment,” Neil grumbled, to which Phoebe just shrugged, then let out a whoop as Dustin’s boot connected with Thad’s chest, sending the young man rolling across the arena.

  By the time Neil had made it over, Thad had gotten to his knees, wheezing as he tried to catch his breath.

  “Without my abilities…It’s… It’s like hitting a brick wall.” Thad coughed, clutching his chest.

  “That’s why he’s the defender. You kept him on his toes, though.”

  “You think so? God, it feels like I got hit by a truck.”

  Thad tried to stand only to fall back to his knees with a grimace.

  “What’s a truck?”

  “Neil, you know I enjoy chatting with you… But do you mind um…”

  “Oh, yes. Imbue with life.”

  Neil watched Thad’s face flinch for a second before relaxing as he looked up with a smile.

  “You’re the best, you know that?”

  And there he was on his knees smiling up at Neil, shirtless, sweating, hair jostled… gods, he was so screwed.

  “I’m going to go check on Dustin.”

  “Kay,” Thad said as he watched the healer rush off.

  Neil was so attentive to the team. It was nice to see.

  Clive looked over the sketch of the ritual, tapping his finger to his chin.

  “It’s surprisingly decent. Though I don’t recognize some of these words.”

  “You’re not the best at compliments, you know that?” Thad said, taking the sketch from the scholar and handing him another diagram to review.

  “Since when is decent not a compliment?” Clive asked, taking the other sketch and looking it over.

  “Surprisingly decent. It’s like you lack any confidence in me.”

  “To be honest, my expectations were low. The last ritual I looked over in the Delta could’ve killed you. Now you’ve shown me something that should work remarkably well. It’s quite the turnaround.”

  “The fact he’s doing rituals at all is pretty impressive if you ask me,” Neil said, poking around the office, noting the messy chaos that permeated the room, pausing on a half-drunk cup of tea that looked to be housing an entire ecosystem.

  Why would Thad be interested in a guy who kept such accommodation in the first place? Sure, the official was attractive with the hint of the delta accent still coming through in his speech, but Neil really didn’t get why Thad seemed to think he was so special.

  Not that he cared what Thad thought about Clive Standish.

  He wasn’t jealous of some official who couldn’t even keep a room clean.

  And he’d definitely not followed Thad to the Magical Society after training for that reason.

  He was just concerned Thad would get mugged again. That’s all.

  “What type of ritual even is it?” Neil asked, seeing Thad’s eyes light up as he walked over, handing the sketch to Neil, before leaning into the elf, and pointing at the diagram. The young nobleman was so close that the healer could pick up a faint floral scent, which was odd because he’d seen Thad use crystal wash after training. Regardless, it was nice, whatever it was.

  “Hydrostatic distribution utilization via textile integration!”

  Neil looked over the sketch, which had multiple arrays overlapping each other in different colors with handwritten notes and comments randomly dispersed on the page. One note read “Moving water = treadmill?” which would be more confusing if any of the other notes made sense.

  “Hydrostatic means electricity moving through water, right?”

  “Oh, um, I could see where you got that from, but no, it's more about pressure from…Well, the basic principle is that if I tamp these runes, here, into a pair of boots and then inlay this array, I can, in theory, give them water walking capabilities.”

  “Ahh, but can’t you just buy—"

  “It’s a very similar ritual for barges that carry heavy cargo in shallow water, but at a minuscule scale,” Clive added absently, looking over the other sketch that Thad had handed him. “Wait, you came up with this?”

  Neil watched as the scholar looked up from the second ritual he’d been verifying, with an expression that showed something other than his standard neutrality towards Thad.

  “Mostly, I used a couple of different healing and enhancement ritual books for reference, and a little intuition. Oh, and an alchemy book, for the component choice,” Thad said, looking towards the scholar, apprehension plain on his face. “Don’t tell me I’ll lose an eye or something.”

  “No, it’s very well laid out, dare I say inspired. What made you think of this?”

  “I mean, this is kind of embarrassing… but Asano.”

  “You’re reverse engineering an ability, you can’t even visualize?”

  “I don’t need to see something to be able to think through the principles that would govern it. I mean, many animals can see in the dark, so if I optimize the eye to maximize light absorption and add a temporary reflection point, then there you go. You can’t tell me dark vision wouldn’t be helpful, even if only temporary.”

  Neil felt the absence as Thad leaned away from him and walked over to the scholar, the young noble’s hands moving increasingly fast as he talked through his thought process, only to stop as he made his way into Clive's radius. A hand lightly coming to rest on the scholar's shoulder as he pointed out a set of notes surrounding a very detailed diagram of an eye.

  “I’m not questioning the potential of the ability, I’m just surprised to see an iron rank alternative,” Clive said, looking back at the ritual again, his brow furrowed. “Have you told Jason?”

  “I mean, the eyes are barely altered at iron rank, so it's more suited for an adjustment like this, and of course, Asano doesn’t know; it would go straight to his head,” Thad laughed. “You really think it's good?”

  Neil watched as Clive leaned in closer to Thad as they looked at the ritual together, talking through magical theory that ranged far from the limited healing principles he’d studied.

  Why did the scholar need to be that close to discuss theory with Thad? They were practically draped across each other, Clive completely disregarding Thad’s personal space, leaning ever closer.

  Not that Thad appeared to mind.

  Though, as Neil had found from the near constant leaning and touching, the young noble tended to be quite fond of close contact. It was an adjustment that Dustin and he’d gotten used to over the last month.

  Thad was probably overjoyed to have someone so close to him, right now.

  “Is that a cologne you’re wearing?”

  “Oh, I don’t wear—”

  “A soap, or lotion then?”

  Neil watched the scholar look at Thad with a surprisingly serious face for such a question.

  “Why? Do I smell weird?” Thad asked, taking a step away from the scholar.

  “Not at all, it's very fresh, almost floral. It made me think it was purposeful. Is it not?”

  However, before Thad could answer, the door to the office swung open with minimal regard for the books precariously stacked around the office.

  “You see, Farrah, that’s why I think the movie Air Bud may be the best representation of—Thad? What are you doing here?”

  “Hello, to you too, Asano. I’m having Clive check over some of my ritual projects.”

  “You’re into magical theory?”

  “Is that too hard to believe?”

  “Well, some things are—”

  “Jason, do you mind?” A woman with strawberry blond hair said, throwing a glance at both Thad and Neil. She also wore Magical Society robes, though hers fit much better than the clingy scholar’s did.

  “Ahhh, where are my manners? Farrah Hurin, this is Thadwick Mercer and Neil Davone. I’m sure you’ve heard glowing reviews of them both from Rufus, well, glowing for Neil over here. But hey, Thad’s an acquired taste, like marmite.”

  “I don’t know what Marmite is, nor do I wish to if that’s the comparison.”

  “Farrah, come look at this ritual, Thad was just showing me,” Clive said, walking towards Farrah and handing her the paper.

  Farrah studied the notes, her brow furrowing.

  “Does it have an alchemical component? Am I reading that right?” Farrah questioned as she studied the paper and looked at Thad with a complex expression.

  “Uh, yeah. The ritual is to imbue the compound for later application when required, since there’s no good way to account for light variation that I could find.”

  “You know Rufus was right. You shouldn’t be allowed in the Adventure Society; though, have you ever thought about joining the Magical Society?”

  “Is no one in this room able to give a compliment, without tearing me down first?” Thad asked, with a huff.

  Sophie sat up on the couch as Belinda walked into the safe house, placing a bag of takeout on the table.

  “When are we leaving?”

  “We’re not, Soph.”

  “What?”

  “I looked all over, even checked on the bounty boards. Your name's nowhere.”

  “That can’t be right.”

  “Maybe you misheard him,” Belinda said, starting to lay out the food with a prominent frown.

  “Lindy, my name’s pretty distinct.”

  “Like I don’t know that! This whole thing doesn’t make any sense. Was he drunk? He’s a known lush.”

  “I don’t think so. Maybe he just forgot.” Sophie said, standing up and looking at the food laid out. It was all of Belinda’s comfort foods; she was definitely stressed.

  “The Mercers don’t forget, and they're not much for forgiveness either. Besides, the more I investigate Thadwick Mercer, the more questions I have.”

  “Like what?” Sophie asked, pulling out a chair and lightly prodding Belinda to take a seat.

  “He was setting up his very own gang here in Old City prior to a month ago, giving a bunch of thugs essences and pushing them through the Adventure Society. But then, suddenly, he just up and fired them. Called it a mistake.”

  “He grew a conscience?” Sophie asked, pushing food in front of Belinda, then grabbing some for herself.

  “I don’t care what he did; all of them got scooped by Cole Silva. This guy seems to have a knack for making things worse for us.”

  “Well, kick the roaches out of the trash, and they’ll find another heap,” Sophie said, taking a bite of rice dumplings.

  They ate in silence for a while till Belinda let out a frustrated sigh.

  “Well, I know one thing. Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.”

  “Where’d you hear that?”

  “It was that Asano guy from Jory’s clinic, he made a joke about it, and it seemed fitting.”

  “Wait… wait, are you suggesting we kill Thadwick Mercer?”

  “It’s crossed my mind more than once today.”

  I think we're gonna have to kill this guy Sophie."

  Sophie: "Damn."

  Fan art of Sophie

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