Five days passed before Zuher seemed to remember they existed.

There were no parties or banquets, or if there were then neither of them was required to attend. It was a blessed period of silence in which Del recovered however much one could under the circumstances, while Iliana refused to ignore what had transgressed. He seemed content to fall back into normalcy, but she was not.

The trouble came in her inexperience. How did one charm a prince from a position no better than a damsel of folktales? The roles were usually opposite, weren't they?

In the end, she fell on what she knew--action, not words.

"Can you teach me?"

Del sat his book aside, confusion knitting his brow as he swung his feet down from the window seat. "Pardon?"

Iliana crossed her arms as she drew in slow, even breaths to calm her heart-rate. Sweat lined her brow from her morning routine, no doubt adding to his confusion. Typically, while he balanced in the window, reading a book like a painting-posed nobleman, Iliana spent her morning post-exercise pacing like a trapped animal. Not today.

"You've implied that I will be the one to leave here--"

Del tensed.

"--and that you don't stand a chance at survival."

"Iliana--" he began.

"But, as I see it, the one with the higher survival odds is you, not me. I'm not practiced with the court and have--at most--two months of self-defense under my belt. If you die like you believe you will, my mouth will have me follow you, and my fists won't stop it. So, teach me."

That familiar, masking smile of his curled Del's lips as unsaid thoughts swirled behind his eyes. "I thought you were asking."

"I changed my mind."

"Like a true noble," he joked, before standing. "Alright. Let's see it, then. Where did those two months leave you?"

Del was a different kind of teacher from Lykos.

Perhaps it should have been expected. Trained knight or not, a prince was not a mercenary captain. Instead of educating her on how to take a hit, Del focused on the most basic of skills. A solid foundation, he lectured, was more important than anything else. It led to talks on proper drills, things she could practice if alone. And when she struggled with where exactly to put her feet, Del showed her.

Which had admittedly been her goal.

With her back flush to his as he drew her duster-armed hand into position, there was little doubt in her mind that Del was finding it as difficult to be indifferent of her as she was of him. Incidental touches became more common. As did quiet moments in which she could feel his eyes following her movements.

And yet, he remained stubbornly silent and still.

By the time she was summoned before Zuher again, that line he'd reforged between them felt both more delicate and more pronounced than anything she had initially placed. It was equal parts frustrating and impressive--and so distracting she barely noticed the path to his office. It wasn't until Iliana stood in front of the door as Aria knocked that she remembered what she had to do.

Del needed to be useful.

Somehow, Iliana needed to make him into a fun game that kept Zuher entertained. As long as they held his interest, as long as his life held value to the madman, Del's execution wouldn't be ordered.

Zuher's voice rang out, beckoning her into the familiar space. As expected, he sat behind his desk, flipping through neatly pinned documents with a look of utter boredom drenching his features. Unexpectedly, glasses lay perched on his nose. Iliana furrowed her brow as she dipped into the appropriate curtsy, trying to recall if she'd ever seen him wearing them before.

Several minutes passed before he placed the document down with an annoyed click of his tongue. "Come here."

Iliana quickly straightened, before picking her way around the desk. Just as she went to take the pillow at his feet, however, Zuher grabbed her arm. A peek at his eyes revealed the annoyance having already slipped into fine amusement.

"No, no. How are you to assist me from there? You can't see my desk if you're at my feet, Pet, and I think I would enjoy your mind today."

She hesitated. There was an obvious answer to his test, then there was the one she wanted to give. Iliana's pride demanded she kick the pillow away, before pulling one of the other chairs in the room to his side.

That wasn't what he wanted. They both knew it.

Del's back flashed through her mind.

Iliana moved closer, before sweeping her free hand under her skirts so she could perch in his lap. Her skin crawled as he chuckled. She could feel the vibrations in his chest as Zuher released her arm in favor of tucking his own around her so he could pick up his documents once again. This close, she realized he wasn't breathing. It made sense. What use did a dead man have for oxygen?

The living didn't have that luxury, however, which left her drawing in shallow, near-panicked gasps of heavily cologned air.

Zuher, it would seem, liked marigolds.

His breath tickled her ear. "Good girl."

I'm going to be sick.

"Can you read our language?" he questioned softly. Somehow, it made their positions worse. "I realize I never asked."

It took her longer to find her voice than it should have. "No."

Learning to read Aeolian had been hard enough, let alone being educated in Empor as well. She'd had no time for learning the writings of an empire she had never imagined she'd see in a language she couldn't speak.

"I see. Well, I'll just have to keep the glasses and read it to you. Let's see..." He tapped the unfamiliar letterings with the tip of his quill. "'Your Imperial Majesty,' blah blah blah, lots of pandering language, ah! This part. This is what we want. 'The rat you were interested in has scurried off to the mountains. We might need to lay heavier traps if we're to catch it instead of another mouse.' Fun, no?"

Something uneasy unfurled in the back of her mind. The coincidence was too strong, wasn't it? Paranoia had to be leading her to misinterpret the meaning. Just because he'd received information about a quarry heading into the mountains as they had done...no, she had to be mistaken. Zuher had no way of knowing of Iliana's connection to Kain.

Then again...Mara's murder of Eol's king was enough reason to drag attention to them independent of any connection or Kain's heritage. Then there was the other issue.

Lykos could have told him.

"And this one, here," Zuher dropped the document to pick up another. "'Despite the abundant rumors regarding your disinterest, the rose continues to persist in spreading its own lies. You may favor it too far. Pruning at your earliest convenience is always the best way to maintain a garden.'"

Like the first paper, he dropped it atop his desk as he finished reading what he considered the important pieces.

Iliana stopped breathing as he used his now free hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well, what do you think?" Zuher mused.

It was that game again.

"Which issue should I address? I think one will do for now. Too much work is unhealthy."

Her mind translated his words unbidden. 'Pick who I kill.'

The first was impossible. What if it was Kain? Should she be responsible for whatever assassins Zuher sent his way?

The second...her mind drew up the image of a red rose. Could it be talking about Rae? Her hair was red enough and Iliana had seen first hand that she'd been spreading rumors about her involvement with Zuher. Had they not been true?

No. Wait. It said 'her own lies.' Then, that meant the rumors of disinterest were lies as well.

Panic stole her tongue. "There are so many documents here. Surely there are more issues than just these."

Ordering Rae's punishment would no doubt alienate her brother if he caught onto the source. They might have been seemingly estranged, but they were still siblings. She couldn't risk it--he'd been too helpful. And, additionally, if Rae truly was involved with Zuher, then it could affect her standing with him as well.

Zuher chuckled, before leafing through the pile. Tension slipped from her shoulders. The panicked request had been the right one. Offering the letter on Rae--if that's what it was--had to have been a trap. Or, perhaps he'd been testing the waters. If he knew Rae, he had to have made the same assumptions Aria had--that the noblewoman resented the status his name offered Iliana.

Had he wanted to know if she was just as petty? If she'd ask him to punish Rae under the guise of a game?

Another document was lifted. "'The old hound rots. Its collar is missing.' Tch. Useless bastards."

Deciphering that one was beyond her. There was too little to the note. However, if they angered Zuher...the enemy of her enemy might be her friend.

But, gods, what other choice did she have? The one that sounded like Kain? The obvious trap?

I'm sorry.

"The hound," Iliana whispered.

He hummed, before settling the paper down.

"Good choice. I think it would be entertaining to watch them scramble, headless, while they search for their welp of a prince."

Iliana's stomach dropped.

Which monarchy had her words just ruined? Cieon's? It'd been so long since Del went missing...would they even still be looking for him? 

Were they looking for Kain?

Aeolis' king wasn't old enough to be labeled an 'old hound,' by code, unless it was a comparison to his young heir. There were island countries, too. Smaller kingdoms that Zuher might view as nothing more than toys to collect.

How many lives would her answer affect? Had she harmed Kain while actively avoiding it? 

She should have picked Rae. It was selfish of her to wager the unknown against her own fate.

"Let's continue."

Minutes trickled into hours.

As promised, Zuher didn't place another choice in front of her. Instead, he leafed through piles of documents, occasionally reading them aloud so he could complain about whatever was being said. State secrets and court gossip she never would have known piled in Iliana's head like sand.

It all ended when he bit her.

There was no warning before the pain. No dramatic words. He merely placed the last form down on his desk, turned his head towards the crook of her neck, and bit. Zuher's arms held her in place as pain and helplessness shifted through her in overwhelming waves. Her head spun. Time turned weightless.

Then, he laughed.

"I think you might almost be there, Pet. I had thought it might take longer to train you, but...perhaps not. Soon I might not even need a leash."

It took a full minute for her pain laden, dizzy mind to decipher his words. During which Zuher shifted her hair back, lips lingering above her aching, wet neck.

The leash had to be a person. Or the tower. Could he mean Aria? Or Del? Did he think her meek enough to no longer need a gilded prison?

Was he thinking of disposing of Del?

It was a risk her head was too clouded to calculate. So--she didn't.

Shoving her hands against the desk, Iliana tumbled from his lap. Her legs wouldn't hold her, so the sudden action left her crumpled on the ground instead. Zuher made no move to help, or to punish the action. Instead, he merely watched from his towering chair as she fumbled to pull her feet beneath her.

He smiled.

"Smart, yet stupid. What a prize you are."

"I'm no--"

Zuher rapped his knuckles on his desk. "Aria!"

The door opened just as Iliana managed to stand. Her guard's eyes drifted first over her, lingering on her neck with pursed lips, before shifting to Zuher as she dropped into a polite bow.

"Your Imperial Majesty?"

"My Pet requires another vacation in the tower, I think. Have her meet its masters. Perhaps she might enjoy that more than her previous stays."

She hadn't known it was possible or a demon to grow pale. "As you wish."

As Aria took her arm and showed Iliana out of the office, she couldn't bring herself to regret the choice.

If she could potentially protect Del by facing whatever horrors Zuher had to offer...it was worth it, wasn't it?

What was one more day in the dark? 

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I meant to post this earlier in the week, but got distracted studying for the certification exam I'm trying to take. Since I've been working at my clinic for more than a year, they're willing to cover me taking the COA exam and give me a bonus + raise if I pass. Pretty exciting stuff--but, it does mean memorizing an entire textbooks worth of information about eyes. Which is time consuming to say the least. 

But, regardless, here's the chapter! It took longer than usual to write because I couldn't settle on what to do with Iliana and Del. 

Do you think she made the right choice? Or was it too impulsive?

See you soon. I'm going to post when I finish another chapter to make up for waiting so long on this one. 

Oh, and as an additional note: I'm planning on doing ONC as per usual. If you're interested in my other writings, keep an eye out for the new book! It'll be called "A Legacy of Bone." As you might guess, it takes place in the same world as "A Legacy of Ash," but can be read without reading the first. 

Have a good week. :)