Liora had discovered there were few things more irritating than being protected by people who were absolutely convinced they were being reasonable.
Unfortunately, she currently knew two of them.
One was a demon.
The other was the Angel of Ruin.
She wasn't sure which fact was more exhausting.
"You knew."
Inkaris continued walking.
"Yes."
Liora stared at the side of his face.
"And you didn't think to tell me?"
"No."
Seris, walking beside her, made a small sound that might have been a cough.
Liora knew better.
"You can laugh."
"I am absolutely not laughing."
"You're terrible at lying."
"I know."
Aiden walked a few paces ahead, although his attention had clearly shifted backward. He had learned enough about Liora's particular tone to recognize when someone was about to experience consequences.
Inkaris apparently had not.
Or simply didn't care.
Liora suspected the latter.
"You knew Caelum was taking the cost for me."
"I suspected it earlier," Inkaris corrected. "I confirmed it recently."
"And you said nothing."
"There was nothing useful to say."
Liora stopped.
Inkaris made it another two steps before realizing the others had stopped with her.
He turned.
Liora folded her arms.
"Nothing useful?"
"Yes."
"Someone is secretly taking metaphysical consequences meant for me."
"Yes."
"And you decided that wasn't worth mentioning?"
"I determined that informing you immediately would produce precisely the reaction currently occurring."
Seris covered her mouth.
Liora pointed at her.
"Don't encourage him."
"I didn't say anything."
"You're enjoying this."
"A little."
Aiden wisely remained silent.
Liora turned back to Inkaris.
"I should have known."
"Why?"
"Because it's happening to me."
Inkaris regarded her carefully.
There was no condescension in his expression.
That almost made it worse.
"You are interpreting the situation emotionally."
"Of course I'm interpreting it emotionally!"
"Yes."
Liora narrowed her eyes.
"You really need to stop saying that."
Inkaris considered this.
"No."
Aiden abruptly became fascinated with a nearby building.
Seris lost her battle and laughed.
Liora groaned.
The strange thing was that she wasn't truly angry with Inkaris.
Annoyed?
Absolutely.
But Inkaris had never pretended to be anything other than what he was: a demon who understood law, bargains, wishes, and consequence with frightening precision.
He viewed Liora much the same way he viewed any wish granter who had survived long enough to become competent but not long enough to become properly cautious.
Not helpless.
Not incompetent.
Unfinished.
Semi-experienced.
Capable enough to know when something was dangerous.
Still naïve enough to occasionally believe knowing something was dangerous meant she understood it.
Inkaris had told her as much before.
She had wanted to throw something at him then too.
Seris touched Liora's arm lightly.
"You want to find him?"
Liora knew exactly who she meant.
"Yes."
Aiden turned.
"Caelum?"
"Yes."
Aiden hesitated.
That was enough for Liora to catch it.
"You don't have to come."
"That's not what I was thinking."
"What were you thinking?"
Aiden glanced upward.
"That telling the Angel of Ruin to stop doing something sounds like an excellent way to make him continue doing it out of principle."
Liora considered that.
"That is annoyingly plausible."
"He does enjoy being difficult," Inkaris said.
Liora looked at him.
"You're coming."
"I assumed."
"Good."
"Why?"
"Because if I become sufficiently irritated, I need someone nearby who understands exactly how bad an idea punching him would be."
Inkaris considered that.
"Very."
"See? Useful already."
They found somewhere away from the crowded streets.
An abandoned courtyard behind what had once been a municipal archive offered privacy without forcing them too far from the district they were crossing. Cracked statues lined the walls, and weeds pushed between pale stones.
Liora stepped into the center.
Then looked upward.
"Caelum."
Nothing.
She waited.
"Caelum."
Still nothing.
Liora's eyes narrowed.
"I know you're watching me."
Aiden glanced toward Inkaris.
"Is he?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Inkaris shrugged.
"That was profoundly unhelpful."
Then Caelum spoke from behind them.
"He does that."
Aiden jumped.
Seris immediately reached toward her weapon.
Liora merely closed her eyes.
Of course.
She turned.
Caelum stood beneath one of the broken arches as though he had always been there.
Perhaps he had.
His expression contained the same faint amusement that had accompanied half the city's recent suffering.
"Were you hiding?"
"No."
"You didn't answer me."
"I was considering whether I wanted to."
Liora stared at him.
Caelum stared back.
Seris leaned toward Aiden.
"They're going to get along wonderfully."
"I don't think that's what's happening."
"I was being sarcastic."
"Oh."
Liora pointed at Caelum.
"You're paying my cost."
The amusement disappeared.
"Yes."
No denial.
No excuse.
Just acknowledgment.
That somehow irritated her more.
"Stop."
"No."
Aiden winced.
Seris muttered, "Well, that was efficient."
Liora took a step forward.
"You don't get to decide that."
"I already did."
"You know what I mean."
"I do."
"And?"
Caelum tilted his head.
"I disagree."
For several seconds Liora simply looked at him.
She had expected resistance.
She had even expected arrogance.
She had not expected him to treat the entire question as though they were discussing whether rain should fall upward.
"You are taking consequences that belong to me."
"Yes."
"You could be hurt."
"Yes."
"You could eventually run out of whatever absurd amount of power lets you keep doing this."
"Eventually."
Liora threw her hands up.
"And you're fine with that?"
Caelum's expression remained perfectly calm.
"I can afford it."
"That isn't the point."
"It is precisely the point."
"No. Being able to afford the price doesn't mean you get to decide I never see the bill."
Something changed.
Not in the courtyard.
In Caelum.
Tiny.
Almost imperceptible.
But everyone felt it.
Even Inkaris straightened slightly.
Caelum looked at Liora for a long moment.
Then said:
"Correct."
Liora blinked.
She hadn't expected agreement.
Caelum continued.
"I decided because I know what the bill contains."
The anger in her faltered.
Not vanished.
Faltered.
Liora stared at him.
"You know?"
"Yes."
"How?"
Caelum said nothing.
There it was again.
That wall.
Every time the subject drifted too close to the reason he protected her, Caelum became evasive.
Not uncertain.
Not confused.
Deliberately silent.
Liora's eyes narrowed.
"This has something to do with my mother."
Caelum's expression didn't change.
But he didn't deny it.
Liora felt her stomach tighten.
"You knew her."
"Yes."
"You've admitted that much."
"Yes."
"And whatever happened between you is why you're doing this."
Caelum remained silent for several seconds.
Then:
"It is part of the reason."
"What happened?"
"Not yet."
Liora's anger returned immediately.
"Stop saying things like that!"
"It remains the correct answer."
"According to you."
"Yes."
"That is not how conversations work."
"It is how this one works."
Seris closed her eyes briefly.
"I'm beginning to understand why people find him infuriating."
"I understood immediately," Aiden whispered.
Liora barely heard them.
Her attention remained on Caelum.
She knew there was history.
She knew her mother had mattered somehow.
She knew Caelum's protection wasn't romantic, nor was it some strange fascination with Liora herself.
It was rooted in something old.
Something painful.
Something Caelum refused to explain.
And Liora hated inherited mysteries.
Especially when everyone except her seemed to possess pieces of them.
"You're protecting me because of something my mother did."
Caelum's gaze sharpened slightly.
"Because of something that happened."
That distinction mattered.
Liora could feel it.
But she didn't understand why.
"Was she your enemy?"
"No."
"Your friend?"
Caelum paused.
"Yes."
That answer was quieter.
Liora caught it immediately.
"Then what happened?"
"Not yet."
She groaned.
Caelum continued before she could argue.
"Knowing certain truths can alter the shape of consequence."
That stopped her.
Inkaris' attention sharpened immediately.
"You believe awareness changes the cost."
"Yes."
The courtyard became very quiet.
Aiden frowned.
"So if she knows what the cost is trying to take…"
"It may become easier for the cost to define the target."
Caelum nodded once.
"Yes."
Liora stared at him.
Suddenly her anger had nowhere comfortable to go.
She wanted him to simply be controlling.
Arrogant.
Impossible.
Wrong.
Instead, he might actually have a reason for withholding the truth.
That didn't make it fair.
It certainly didn't make her happy.
But it complicated things.
Seris stepped beside her.
Not in front.
Beside.
That was Seris.
She never treated Liora like something fragile.
They were friends.
Close enough that Seris knew when Liora needed defending and when she merely needed someone standing with her while she defended herself.
"She still deserves answers," Seris said.
Caelum regarded her calmly.
"Yes."
Liora blinked again.
Seris raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sensing a qualification."
"When the answers cease increasing the danger."
"There it is," Seris muttered.
Liora sighed.
"I still don't like this."
"I know."
"I am not thanking you."
"I did not request gratitude."
"And if I tell you again to stop?"
"No."
Liora stared at him.
Caelum stared back.
Then she laughed once in sheer disbelief.
"You are impossible."
"I have been called worse."
"Angel of Ruin comes to mind."
"That one was earned."
Seris laughed.
Liora looked at her.
Seris lifted both hands.
"Sorry."
"You're not."
"No."
Aiden smiled faintly too.
Then Inkaris spoke.
"He is nevertheless correct about one thing."
Liora turned.
"Oh, wonderful. There are two of you now."
"You do not yet understand the cost well enough to judge every consequence attached to your wishes."
Liora's expression flattened.
"Careful."
Inkaris ignored the warning.
"You are capable. You are no longer inexperienced. But experience and comprehension are not synonymous."
"You're calling me naïve again."
"Yes."
"I'm beginning to reconsider my opinion of demons."
"I doubt it was particularly favorable before."
"It wasn't."
"Then nothing has been lost."
Liora opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Seris looked away before she started laughing again.
Then Liora noticed something.
Inkaris swayed.
Barely.
A fraction.
Anyone else might have missed it.
Liora didn't.
Her irritation vanished.
"Inkaris."
"I am fine."
"No."
His eyes narrowed.
"You're doing it too."
Aiden's expression immediately changed.
Inkaris sighed.
"Not to the same degree."
"But you're taking part of Aiden's cost."
"Yes."
"As his replacement instructor."
"Yes."
"And it's hurting you."
"That is irrelevant."
Caelum's amusement vanished.
"Don't."
Inkaris looked at him.
Caelum's expression was suddenly serious.
"Do not die for duty."
The words landed differently now.
Aiden went very still.
Liora looked between them.
One protected because he believed an instructor had obligations toward his student.
The other protected because something terrible had happened long ago and he refused to allow history to collect another debt.
Different reasons.
Same terrible habit.
Liora shook her head.
"You're both idiots."
Inkaris looked offended.
Caelum looked amused.
Seris nodded.
"Best assessment today."
Liora stepped toward Inkaris.
"You think I'm naïve?"
"Yes."
"Fine."
She met his eyes.
"Then teach me."
That stopped him.
"Don't just decide I'm too inexperienced to understand. Teach me why."
Inkaris studied her carefully.
"You want formal instruction?"
"I want to stop being the least informed wish granter in every conversation."
Aiden raised a hand slightly.
"I feel like I'm competing for that position."
"You have your own problems."
"Fair."
Liora looked back at Inkaris.
"If I'm naïve, help me stop being naïve."
For once, the demon didn't immediately correct her.
Something subtle shifted in his expression.
Respect.
"Acceptable."
Liora nodded.
Then turned toward Caelum.
"And you."
"No."
"I didn't say anything!"
"You intended to request the same arrangement."
"Yes!"
"No."
Liora stared at him.
"I am not your instructor," Caelum said.
"No. Apparently you're my unwanted metaphysical insurance policy."
Seris made a strangled noise.
Aiden covered his mouth.
Caelum considered the description with disturbing seriousness.
"…Acceptable."
Liora buried her face in her hands.
Somewhere beyond the courtyard, bells rang across the city.
Aureline's curfew.
Varros' schemes.
The city still balanced on the edge.
None of that had changed.
Neither had the cost.
But Liora understood something now.
She wasn't immune.
She had never been immune.
Every time consequence reached for her, Caelum caught its hand.
She still didn't know exactly why.
She didn't know the full truth about her mother.
She didn't know what Caelum remembered that he refused to tell her.
But now she knew the ignorance itself had purpose.
And she hated how much that complicated being angry with him.
Far beyond the courtyard, through a place where the mortal city touched something older, silver fae eyes watched.
Ardent told himself he was observing Aiden.
His former student remained his concern, after all.
That was perfectly reasonable.
Entirely professional.
His gaze wandered toward Liora.
Ardent stared for several seconds.
Then sighed.
"…Entirely professional."
Even he didn't believe that.
He disappeared back through the veil before anyone noticed.
Almost anyone.
Caelum's eyes shifted toward the empty space.
His expression became deeply unimpressed.
"Oh," he murmured.
Liora looked at him.
"What?"
"Nothing."
It was absolutely not nothing.