Chapter 26: Sister.

Sister. This woman had said the word, though I highly doubted she understood even a fraction of what that meant.

I had sisters once. Other Demons who were candidates for the class of [Demon Queen]. Other [Demon Princesses], all of whom had the potential to reach for my eventual station, if they’d only killed me first. Demon Queen was a class there could only be one of, after all. I had buried every one of my sisters. I had reduced all of their fortresses to rubble, and scattered their ashes to the wind.

“I have no sisters. I made certain of that a very long time ago,” I stared at her. “Unless you have come back from the dead.”

The silver woman tilted her head. The confusion on her face was genuine. I could read that much. Then the confusion broke, and what replaced it was a grin. “You sound like fun.” She folded her arms. “What is your name?”

“I am not in the habit of introducing myself first.” I folded my own arms. Not to reflect her.

The half-demon’s grin flickered. It did not quite go away, but it certainly flickered. The silence that followed was three seconds, perhaps four. I felt each of them. “Careful,” the woman said. Her voice was still light. “I find you a little amusing, but there are limits.”

I did not move. I did not adjust my hands, nor my gaze. One showed weakness to powerful strangers by flinching. One showed it by not flinching too obviously too. The woman held my gaze for a moment longer. Her eyes slowly trailed over me, starting from my legs, all the way up and finally settling on my horns. They lingered there for a time, before she met my gaze again. “Isabelle,” she said, smiling. Then, she pointed towards me. It was a strange gesture, but I understood what it meant well enough.

For a bare moment, I almost considered giving her my true name. “Lys.”

“Lys.” She nodded thoughtfully at the name. “That’s a very simple name for a half-demon. Most of us like more style. More syllables, you know?” Something in her gaze sharpened.

I did not correct her. This woman was toying with me, that much was rather clear. Whatever game this woman was playing, I had no time for it. I studied her mark. That mirror was still faintly spinning. “Well? Spit it out already,” I said. “Why are you here? Why did you separate me from the rest?”

Isabelle paused. The grin returned, thinner this time. “And how do you know I went out of my way to separate you?”

“Do you take me for a fool?” I said. “That blast caught me cleanly and drove me down a slope while leaving everyone else where they stood. Either you aimed it, or one of your people did at your direction.” I held her gaze. “Unless, of course, you were simply hiding down here from the Inker. In which case, I apologize for interrupting. You may return to cowering in peace.”

Isabelle laughed. It was a sharp sound and she clapped her hands once. “I do like you, Lys. Staring down someone with a Rune and with that much ego? You’re just the way we all should be.”

I waited. Whatever amusement this Isabelle was getting from our conversation, I did not share it. The laughter faded, and what replaced it was something more measured. “It’s rather simple. I’ll explain it, just because I like you,” Isabelle said. She raised one hand and gestured vaguely northward, toward the battle. “We attacked this little troupe of Covenant worms because we heard an interesting story. An Inker -a disgraced one, at that- ran to the Koralis Academy and demanded an audience with the bleeding Archon himself. Who knows what he said to his bleeding eminence Valtheris, but then he left Koralis with twice as many soldiers as he arrived with.” She tilted her head, stared at me.

It was perhaps the most obvious test I had ever received. I obliged her. “And to someone watching closely,” I said, “it would look as though the Inker had found something rather precious and now meant to collect it.”

Isabelle’s violet eyes sharpened. She clapped again, and now her smile was so wide it almost threatened to split her face. “Yes,” she said. “That is exactly what it looked like. So we came to see for ourselves.” She paused. “This kind of thing doesn’t happen often. There are more guards here and with better marks than are guarding the damn Academy itself. Only someone blind wouldn’t see it.”

There was more here, details that I did not know, and yet wished I did to understand this conversation better. Each thing this woman said just raised more questions, and yet I could not ask them. Not without giving away how little I knew.

“The plan was simple,” Isabelle continued without prompting. “Destroy or take whatever the hell needs this many guards and then leave before we get noticed by someone…inconvenient. It was all simple. We hadn’t expected it to be just two women. I thought I’d find a relic, or something.” She looked at me -really looked, the way I had once looked at Generals when I was weighing whether they were worth the air they consumed. “I never thought I’d find a sister.”

“You are no sister of mine,” I said.

Isabelle’s smile turned sad at that. She looked away from me, at the stars above.”All men and women with demon blood are brothers and sisters,” she said quietly. “Pain makes family of everyone. There ain’t a person with our blood alive in this world lucky enough not to know that.”

The people of Hamel had been little but kind to me. Needlessly, foolishly kind. Whatever this woman spoke of, I hadn’t seen. “Your people tried to kill me,” I said. “One of them nearly took my head. He would have failed, but he did try.”

Isabelle waved a hand. “Demonbloods,” she said dismissively. “Most of them aren’t the sharpest. The blood takes too much, gives too little. Between you and me, most of them are more trouble than they’re worth. Bet the fool didn’t realize what you were until he was already swinging and by then it was too late.” She shrugged. “To be fair, neither did I, until I pulled you down that slope and got a proper look at you. He’s dead now anyway, so what does it matter?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She said nothing more. Perhaps she was waiting for an answer. She would be disappointed. After a few seconds, the woman broke the silence herself. “What marks did the Ink give you?” Isabelle asked, still staring at the sky.

I did not answer. She looked back at me, and her violet gaze dropped to my forearms, where the sleeves of the dress covered the two Lines. Something shifted behind her eyes, a furrow at the brow. I was sure she had no ability that let her see through cloth, and yet it was hard to dismiss the feeling that this half-demon felt something anyway.

“Not much of a talker are you? I don’t mind that. Beats some of my friends who can’t shut up. Suit yourself, I say.” Then, she leaned forward. “Join us,” she said. “Come with me, Lys.”