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My treacherous little pink-haired Servant suddenly decided to go on a hospital visit for the first time in a couple days, informing me through my maids with a message they somehow failed to deliver until she had long since left the castle.
I easily saw through Mireia’s little scheme. She felt that I had been working too hard to stay connected with the expedition while also keeping up with my duties here as acting duchess. My pneuma had limits and I ought not test them while pregnant. If she removed herself from my presence, I couldn’t use her [Divine Gift], and I had already solemnly promised not to use the [Blood Presence] technique without Rhea or Mireia watching over me.
Of course, my devious girlfriend didn’t stop at preventing me from going to the Highlands. She plotted with Genette and Syl to make sure I resumed my other ‘work’, meaning the ‘treatment’ of my father’s Servants. I had many such remaining who wanted to transfer their bond to me. I was still supposedly afflicted by that disease that required me to take extra blood, after all, so I had no excuse to avoid it.
And thus, my ‘lunch time’ turned into a rather different sort of feast.
Frankly, with all the magic I and my previous incarnations had been casting, I had to tap my blood core on a regular basis anyhow, which depleted it if I didn’t feed, so the need wasn’t false. But I was becoming much more efficient both with feeding and with handling mana. I had improved to the point that I could keep up with demand with a single feeding per day. Still, we had put a real dent in the supply I possessed when Lydia first awakened within my mind, so I needed to feed more, just to replenish what I had lost.
My maids had a system in place to handle my feeding time. Syl would stay with me in the bedroom, acting as a calming influence for any donors who were nervous and filtering out any who were having second thoughts. Mireia had impressed upon me very firmly the importance of avoiding what she called ‘power harassment’. It was important that someone other than me was there to assure them that they were absolutely allowed to back out. Or to help soothe their nerves if they still wanted to go through with it and were just nervous.
To perform that second role, and reinforce Syl’s assurances, and to inspire me, in cases of older Servants who didn’t as readily inspire my desire to feed, I had a new ‘maid’. Technically, she was a consultant, a ‘special attendant’ that we had on salary for the duration of her stay in Narses Castle, but Dana of the Velvet Retreat looks very good dressed in the Narses Castle maid livery that my maids had given her as a disguise.
As an experienced professional, she was perfect for the job. Each candidate would be perfectly calm and comfortable by the time they handed her off to me. And watching Dana and Syl ‘prepare’ her nicely addressed my need for stimulation.
Dana also used her skills to support me. The way she handled each girl prevented the process from becoming impersonal or clinical. When we began this, I had worried and wanted to prevent that, which is probably why Syl and Genette involved Dana in the first place. The auburn-haired beauty was so good at making my guests feel personally appreciated that watching her work just made me automatically appreciate them, as well.
Naturally, after I finished creating yet another sleeping pile of newly converted Servants, Mireia had planned yet another event for me, but it was one I would have done anyhow. I must take my daily baths, after all. But it seems she had insisted they not allow me to become distracted by my worries and skip it today.
Of course, I knew perfectly well why, without her explaining it. Doing this would also distract me from thinking about sending my [Blood Presence] spell back to the Kasarene Highlands. To that end, rather than simply letting me soak once they finished washing me, Dana, Syl and a chambermaid who just happened to be an already-bonded Servant joined me for a cuddle. And I am confident that it was no coincidence that the chambermaid was a Merrow-blooded girl who could stay in the water for as long as me.
Although it was Mireia’s request, they weren’t in the least reluctant. No, I think aggressive would be a better term. I tried to be firm with them that cuddling must be the farthest that things would progress and I mostly succeeded. Or rather, I managed to hold it down to limited kissing or nuzzling of various spots.
After the other two left the bath to avoid prunification, leaving just the merrow-blooded maid, I sent Syl to fetch a peculiar little magic stone pendant from the clothing they had removed from me. I could no longer stand the lack of news and had to call my cousin. Lady Ceria should have been reporting to me by now, through the communication link she maintained with Mireia, but as I already noted, Mireia wasn’t here.
I also needed a reason for the half-merrow girl behave herself.
The magic stone in the pendant is the property of a Light spirit named Lucy, who always stays by my side as yet another memento of the period of my missing memories. The real Lucy is a spirit inside the pendant, not the little miniaturized pixie that pops out when I wake her up. But her projection does seem to be something like my [Blood Presence] spell. Although it’s just an illusion of some sort, she seems to be able to see the outside world through it as it flies around, without her real spirit body actually leaving her stone.
As I spoke with Dilorè, Lucy investigated the half-Merrow maid who was still cuddling up to me in the tub, eliciting continuous giggles from the girl. Specifically, her almost iridescent blue hair, like a color from a coral reef fish, fascinated the spirit.
“To be honest with you, Your Highness, I was very surprised to discover it was this late,” Dilorè confessed.
“What do you mean, late?” I answered, trying to coolly disguise my voice to not show that I had been agonizing over the lack of news. “It’s only the Afternoon hour, you know?”
“We’ve fought literally all day yesterday, from before sunrise through sunset and then all through the night, then rushed back here to relieve Hiléa and company and continued fighting. Until we finally finished up with the exorcisms a little bit ago, I had simply stopped paying attention to the time. It was only just now that I realized I’ve skipped eating the entire time and sat down to have a meal. I guess I’ve missed about five meals in a row!”
It sounded nightmarish, but fairies have a physique that can tolerate it. But, the mortals, though…
“How are the humans handling it?” I fretted.
“Once upon a time, we had an ample supply of restoration potions,” she answered with a wry tone. “Not so much, now.”
“You have to encamp and let them recover,” I declared.
“Your General Kosto is no fool, Your Highness,” she answered with a chuckle. “He already gave that order. We won’t move out until tomorrow morning. Of course, we have to wait for Lady Elhàn’s crew and Lady Serera to return, anyhow.”
My anxiety returned. “They aren’t there now?”
“Her Highness Amana is here, Hiléa’s here, Diur’s here, and I am here as well, Your Highness,” she reassured me. “Given the mettle of the mortals we’re supposedly protecting, who are in little need of our protection, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
“But why aren’t Elhàn and Serera there?”
“They and some of Alwain’s fairies are escorting our prisoners into Fiore after receiving their parole. They’ll turn them over to Domerà and relay Alwain’s declaration of war and her alliance with you. Since they are proceeding under a flag of truce, I don’t expect any trouble.”
I didn’t have the same confidence as Dilorè, given that demons were embedded in, and possibly in control of, the other side. Six fairies, two of them being knights, one of those being Lady Serera, were indeed nothing to make light of, but with well-executed treachery, their loss would be devastating to our side.
“What sort of parole did they give?” I fretted. “Actually, before that, do fairies even respect mortal rules of parole?”
“They gave a fairy’s parole, My Lady,” Dilorè reassured me. “They swore an oath on their honor. As long as Serera and company don’t use the flag of truce as a subterfuge, they will defend their safety until they leave Fiore, even if it requires taking up arms against their own side. And they further swore that they would not otherwise take up arms for the rebels again until they had inspected their ranks for demons.”
That was certainly not the rule I knew. It sounded like rules that they agreed upon, ad-hoc. But I could understand why Dilorè called it ‘parole’.
“You said that you’ll proceed in the morning,” I finally resumed. “What will Alwain do?”
“She intends to defend her border for now, and send emissaries to other rulers in the Highlands. Kosto convinced her not to attack Fiore until she could coordinate with General Provis.”
General Provis being the marshal of our forces attacking Fiore out of Kasar.
“Kosto is seriously considering joining Alwain at the border with the SAS troop,” Dilorè added. “And send for the Special Reconnaissance Company to join them. I think he’s beginning to understand how badly prepared the mortal soldiers are for this place. He thinks it would be better to repurpose them as the liaison between Pendor and Alwain’s force.”
The Special Reconnaissance Company were the soldiers staged at the pass to launch a relief mission if necessary. They and the SAS had been at the center of the original plan that my husband’s people made, before I put my foot down and insisted on reinforcing them with help from Relador.
“We can’t resupply him, that far from our territory,” I fretted. “How does he intend to maintain forty soldiers in the wilderness?”
“He predicted you would say that,” she chuckled. “He said to remind Her Ladyship that they are Recon and SAS, not line infantry.”
I suddenly felt very torn. I never wanted these guys on the expedition in the first place. The pride and dignity of the Pendorian Armed Forces drove them to be the ones to recover their fallen duchess, but they could not accomplish that by getting themselves killed.
On the other hand, as their future duchess, I didn’t want to tread on that pride and dignity.
“Did he state that as his reason?”
“Well… No,” Dilorè admitted. “But a human of his age has far more caution than the young bucks he’s leading. He’s sure to have seen the truth by now.”
Kosto was one of several retired officers who had returned to service after the devastation that the demons visited upon the Pendorian Army staff in Narses. She wasn’t wrong about his age. But I had a feeling she was wrong about his logic.
“My Lady, please do not take offense, but I think I would rather know his reason than your assumption,” I told her gently. “Can you ask him?”
As soon as I said it, I worried she might be angry, but she simply laughed. “Very well. I shall do that. I suppose I should tell you for now that it wasn’t his idea. He’s considering it at Lady Alwain’s request.”
“I see.” I chewed my lip, wondering how to take that news.
“Are you concerned about her motive, Your Highness?” Dilorè wondered. “I’m confident that we can trust her.”
I shared her confidence in that. Alwain had no need for subterfuge. She easily had the upper hand here. “I’m not worried about that. I’m concerned about leaving my mortal soldiers without the protection they’re receiving from you. And I’m concerned how they will feel about us not allowing them to see their mission through.”
“Then I shall correct the assumption I believe you have made, in order to help you overcome those worries, Your Highness,” she stated. “What I believe Kosto has realized is that the soldiers are already showing signs of mana poisoning. The tonic they take to counter it was sufficient in the shallower areas of the wilderness, but the mana is far too rich where we are now, with no guarantee it will get better down the road. To be frank, the levels of free mana in this place are shocking me.”
The regret I heard in her voice, I was feeling as well. I had seen the overflowing levels of free mana during my visits, especially when I went to help Shindzha, and I should have realized that the Army’s countermeasures might not be able to handle it. At the time, I had just assumed they knew what they were doing.
“There’s a reason humans don’t live in these hills, Your Highness,” she added gently.
“Have the other mortals realized it, yet?” I wondered.
“I’ve compared notes with Pasrue, Matthias and Arken. They’ve all noticed it,” she confirmed. “They say that even the rank and file are noticing, now.”
After chewing my lip a bit more, I answered, “As soon as Lady Mireia returns, I will have her and Lady Ceria set up a conference. Let the expedition leaders and whomever the general chooses on your side know. Our side will be my husband and myself.”
“Very well, Your Highness,” she confirmed. She ended the connection there.
