As an Awakened with an extremely high Aptitude, Alarion had many skills. There were those that fate had chosen for him, such as [Self-Motivated], and others, such as [Fated Strike], that he had built from the ground up. Some, such as [Lockpicking], spoke of the breadth of his history, while others, like [Speechcraft], were necessary life skills forced upon him.

  But one thing Alarion felt noticably absent from his Status was [Comprehend the Feminine]. This was strange, given he’d grown up in a household filled with women, and many of his most formative memories centered on women like Sierra, Elena, and his sisters. If such a skill existed, surely he should have obtained it.

  Perhaps it had a very high rarity? [Legendary] certainly. Or maybe that was the realm of purely [Divine] skills.

  Still, Alarion was close to some sort of epiphany, because he recognized the danger on Lily’s face the moment he saw her. She was waiting in the hall, her arms crossed, fingers rhythmically rapping against her forearm as she waited for the Ordinate to finish swearing Alarion to secrecy by [Ordinate’s Geas].

  “We need to talk,” she whispered, the moment he was free.

  Sadly, just because he recognized the danger, didn’t mean he had the good sense to reply properly. Alarion’s social awareness had grown by leaps and bounds since his early days on Trinity, but he was still more than capable of shoving his foot in his mouth.

  “Can it wait? I need to see to Nessa before-”

  Her shove was answer enough.

  Lily would have struggled to hurt him with a dagger—even if he did nothing but stand there—but she was stronger than she looked and she’d put her full bodyweight into the shove. It was enough to make him stumble, and the follow-up shove drove him against the wall as she pressed her advantage.

  “No,” she snapped. Then, seeing the odd looks thrown her way by both the recovering Ordinate and the military police guarding the war room, she grabbed Alarion’s arm and began dragging him down the hallway. “Did you know?”

  “Know wha-“ he began. Once again, the wrong answer, if Lily’s furious blue eyes were anything to go by.

  “The transfer,” she hissed.

  “Ah,” Alarion winced. She must have spent hours stewing over that bombshell, but news of Centre and their coming deployment had pushed it far down his list of priorities. “No.”

  “Then why did he-“

  “To put you at my throat,” Alarion answered, as though it should have been evident to her. It certainly was to him. “He lied for this exact reaction.”

  “He would not lie.”

  Alarion snorted, his third wrong move. Lily looked ready to strike him properly as they wound a corner toward his suite. He stopped and looked at her. “You do not know him like I do.”

  “You just met the man. He is the leader of a major House; he would not lie. Especially over something so petty and easy to prove.”

  “The second seat,” Alarion corrected her, his own anger getting the better of him.

  “Because the first seat cannot nominate himself for Imperator,” Lily shot back. “Anyone with ambition takes the second seat, not the first. Which just proves my point. You know nothing about our ways or how devastating it would be if I caught him in such a lie. But then, you lie like you breathe, right?”

  Alarion’s blood ran cold. Lily was not a stupid girl by any stretch of the imagination. If anyone in Ilvan-Trai were to sniff one of his secrets, it would be her. The only question was, which lie was she talking about?

  “Not here,” he told her, turning back in the direction of his office.

  His heart pounded as they made their way through the bustling fortress, his pulse hammering in his ears as he checked the wards and prayed that they would stand up to any spies Syrus might have left behind after his late-night departure.

  Despite the tension, neither was quick to speak once he’d confirmed their privacy. They struggled to even look at one another, their gazes sliding away like polarized magnets whenever they met. One of them had to start, but neither knew how.

  “I did not know,” he said, as much to reassure her as to bait out her accusation.

  “Why should I believe you?”

  “Because I have no reason to lie!” He motioned to the piles of unopened correspondence on his desk. “For all I know, we are both telling the truth, and the paperwork is buried somewhere in there.”

  The notion struck a chord with Lily, her stern glare softening around the edges as she looked to the desk, then back at him. There were a hundred different reasons they could both be telling the truth. Something as simple as a lost or delayed letter. Even a ruse on Syrus’ part—as opposed to an outright lie—was a far more likely explanation.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  She clearly knew that.

  “What is this really about?”

  “Everything!” she shouted, turning to pace back and forth as she listed his sins. “You cut me out the moment we got here. No, before that, even.”

  Alarion leaned on the edge of his desk, arms crossed in front of him as he replied, “You are a Vitrian.”

  “We are not all the same!” Lily stomped a heeled foot for emphasis, her hands outstretched as though she hoped to strangle him at a distance. “Ivor understands that, why not you?”

  “Lily…”

  “No, no. I get it. We are all fiends. Each and every one of us, even those who are trying to help you.” She huffed once, a silent scream that was everything she could do to stop herself from shrieking at him. “What will it take for you to understand?”

  “Just because I do not tell you everything does not mean-“

  “Everything?” she spat back. “You do not tell me anything? Mothers above, where do I even start? Nessa?”

  Alarion’s eyes narrowed sharply as protective anger bubbled up within him. “Stop.”

  “Stop what? Telling you what I know?” Lily shook her head defiantly. “You get a new ‘familiar’ out of the blue, days after a deeply traumatic revelation. Before we leave Ashad-Vitri, you ask to go shopping for books on manifestation, and the ones you pick have long chapters on doppelgangers. For a while, I thought you were hiding some reborn family member. Then you panicked when you saw Counsellor Feln, and I was sure it must be his daughter. But you gave it your mother’s n-“

  “She,” Alarion snapped. “Not it. And I did not pick the name.”

  “She. If you had told me, I could have helped. Both of you,” Lily said, her voice quivering with forced calm. They’d get nowhere screaming at each other, even if she very much wanted to. “I still can, but you need to trust me.”

  “Why not talk to me about this earlier?”

  “When, Alarion? You barely speak to me unless you need something.” She threw up her hands in frustration, walking halfway to the door as if to leave before the swell of anger subsided. “Nine meetings, I’ve asked for. Nine. The three times you agreed, it was in a room with Ivor and Kali. Do they know all of it, or would I be spilling your secrets?” Lily studied his face, then laughed bitterly. “How do you even keep the lies straight?”

  “I do not lie.”

  “Oh, Alarion, stop playing Vitrian,” she scolded. “Sure, some are mere omissions. But bribing an ordinate?”

  “I-“

  “You what? Have no idea what I am talking about? I thought you did not lie? Or am I wrong? Did an Ordinate with a gambling addiction just happen to volunteer for the martyrs?” Again she laughed, as if that were the funniest idea in the world. “Do you know how many Ordinates volunteer for service?”

  It wasn’t the question that sent a shiver down his spine, so much as the fact that he didn’t know the answer.

  “No? Would it surprise you to learn the answer is virtually none? That it is so rare for an Ordinate to volunteer for duty that it provokes a mandatory inspection?”

  “Oh…”

  “Oh, he says.” Lily clapped her hands together a few times, her nails digging furrows in the back of her right palm when she finally stopped. She was a mess of energy, always on the move, caught halfway between fury and lunacy. “You would have known that if you had brought a Vitrian into the fold. You would also know that I have a cousin who works in the provincial review office. And then you would know that I reached out to him, and that the only reason you are not currently in a cell is that I was able to show him evidence of an ongoing romantic tryst between your volunteer and Sergeant Kali.”

  “Tryst, yes. Romantic…”

  Lily scowled, ignoring the attempt to bait her off topic. “And all of this to hide a unique skill?”

  Alarion’s face dropped. There it was, his biggest secret out in the open. And he had a feeling he knew how she’d figured it out. “Bergman.”

  “What?” Lily’s expression tightened in momentary confusion, then all energy appeared to drain out of her in an instant, replaced by utter loathing. “Is that what you think of me?”

  “How else?”

  “By not being an idiot?!” she protested, some of that fire rekindling. “You have been studying law, yes? Who benefits?”

  The last was not a question so much as a framing device. Intent was critical to legality under the Vitrian code, and one method used to divine that intent was to ask the question ‘who benefits’ and follow the line of logic to its logical conclusion.

  “Why else would I want to suborn an Ordinate?” Alarion asked, reiterating her hypothetical. After a long pause of introspection, it clicked. “Anything else they can do for me, I could get through other means. Even a geas, if I tried hard enough. But there is no other way to fake an appraisal.”

  “And no reason to fake an appraisal unless you have something to hide. None of your classes are the kind to offer illicit skills. So, a unique one.” There was ash in Lily’s mouth. She’d clearly practiced this reveal in her head, waiting for the moment to show how smart she was. How much he needed her help. And instead, he’d spat the worst insult imaginable back in her face. “You slunk off with Ivor and Kali as soon as we arrived. Within a week, there were unusual Awakenings in Ashad-Vitri. I know you are responsible. Just as I know…”

  Lily caught herself, as though about to say something more. Something vital. Instead, she shook her head, eyes on the floor.

  “I could have helped you,” she whispered. “I have helped you. Is this really what you think of me?”

  “Lily, I just meant that he might have-“

  “Do you mistake me for my mother? Because even if I thought you were hiding the secret to eternal life, I still would not sell myself on my back,” she laughed bitterly. “Or do you just believe Ivor is beneath me? That I could only enjoy his company if it paid well?”

  Alarion had meant nothing of the sort when he’d said it. He’d thought Bergman had let something slip, or that Ivor had spilled the secrets of his own volition. But Alarion couldn’t bring himself to deny the possibility that she was trying to coax information out of Ivor. Part of him had always wondered what she’d seen in Bergman. Wondered what they’d talked about, what questions she might be asking.

  And as much as he'd done his best to push it to the side, some part of him was jealous of those talks. Of her attention.

  He might not have meant to say it, to imply it. But he’d certainly considered it. And she could read him just fine.

  “Lilith-“

  “No. It is alright,” she dabbed one eye, her finger coming away smeared with black as she finally looked at him. “I will not lie for you, but unless someone asks me directly, your secret is safe with me.” She blinked a few times, struggling with her emotions before abandoning the attempt and turning for the door. “You know, I thought very highly of you. I had no idea that you…”

  She walked away without finishing the thought.