"But you are the queen, Your Majesty."

  "Am I? You Monster Slayers struggle with authority, don't you?" Claire Grace removed the delicate coronet from her silver hair and tossed it carelessly onto the bed. "There—better now? Miss Monster Slayer?" The casual dismissal of royal symbols visibly unsettled Irene.

  "Don't concern yourself. I have little use for it anymore," the queen explained with a disarming smile. "I've never enjoyed wearing a crown. I donned it only for the address I just delivered. They needed courage—needed resolve. Come, my lady." She beckoned with an elegant gesture. "Join me on the balcony. Let us converse properly." The Monster Slayer complied without hesitation.

  Claire Grace narrowed her eyes against the gentle, waning light, while Irene studied the ethereal halo it painted in silver and gold around the queen's head. She noticed she stood slightly taller than the monarch. Claire lifted a magnificent Ellytra lily, brought it to her nose, and inhaled its fragrance with evident pleasure. "Thank you, Monster Slayer." She returned the blossom to its place and met Irene's gaze directly. "I've heard everything. Thank you for saving those people at the tavern."

  The words triggered Irene's memory—why she had lost consciousness, and all that had transpired before darkness claimed her. "Where is Emry? Is he safe?"

  "You mean the halfling gentleman?" The queen's smile was reassuring. "He's perfectly well—you needn't worry. And those three women—they require no concern either. All have been accommodated within this castle, receiving both favor and protection."

  The Monster Slayer exhaled with relief. "I'm deeply grateful for your generosity, Your Majesty."

  "It wasn't I who rescued you, but Lord Penlico's men. Your gratitude belongs to him. And I suspect he'll find you quite... intriguing."

  "For what reason?"

  "Because when his men reported that you had dealt with all the Friez outside the Six Hoofs, he laughed. He simply refused to believe that a lone woman could kill so many of them, let alone Wenloff Friez, that infamous butcher. He could not accept that a woman had slain the second son of a house feared throughout the north."

  "I did indeed kill them," Irene stated with calm certainty. "Why should that be difficult to believe? Because of my gender? Does this realm not recognize women warriors?"

  "Not until this very morning, in fact. Blancheless—the young woman in that chair—previously served as my lady-in-waiting. I appointed her as my first female knight just hours ago. Her swordsmanship is truly exceptional; she even serves as my personal instructor. So I knighted her, that she might fight at my side. I refuse to allow someone's sex to obscure their natural talents."

  "Then she must possess extraordinary skill." Claire detected a subtle note of jealousy in those measured words. "And you, Your Majesty, are the most gifted of all," Irene added diplomatically.

  "Am I? I'm pleased you think so. But I believe the most exceptional among us... is you. That halfling of yours talked a river, describing every sword stroke, every spin and feint of your fight in breathless detail. I cannot say how much of it was truth and how much was a storyteller's flair, but I have seen the result for myself: the bodies of those vicious Godman thugs. You even salvaged the dignity of that poor girl impaled upon a pike—though her body was beyond saving, you rescued her spirit. For that alone, your actions were sufficient. That is precisely why I commanded the castle's finest physicians to attend your wounds, and had this chamber thoroughly refreshed—this was once the girlhood quarters of Ruth, Baron Penlico's daughter, now known as Countess Tristan. Yet even after all these accommodations, I feel my gratitude remains inadequate. A wandering slayer from a foreign land, living contract to contract, likely knowing hunger more often than comfort, who nonetheless fights to protect the people of a kingdom not her own—it is a thing that both astonishes and moves me deeply. The tavern proprietress informed me you recognized this wasn't your conflict, yet you intervened nonetheless."

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  "I had scarcely a moment to deliberate. I feared they would perish—die beneath Godman blades. My thoughts extended no further."

  "You didn't even consider your own wellbeing."

  "I never do."

  They stood in contemplative silence, basking in the sunset's glow. For several moments, Claire Grace found herself without words. The Monster Slayer's straightforward responses didn't surprise her, yet she struggled to find a more comfortable subject. Finally, she decided to address her true purpose directly.

  "In truth, I have a request of significant importance—and I hope you might consider assisting us."

  Irene had anticipated this; she understood the queen's hospitality wasn't solely compensation for lives preserved. "I must apologize, Your Majesty. We Monster Slayers cannot participate in wars between nations."

  "Why not?"

  "It is our... fundamental principle." She selected her words with careful precision, avoiding potential offense. "We cannot involve ourselves in conflicts between sovereign realms. We maintain absolute neutrality."

  "You would receive magnificent compensation. A carriage of gold so substantial you couldn't possibly transport it alone."

  "The matter transcends monetary reward, Your Majesty—"

  "With noble status included," the queen interjected firmly, "perhaps even lands of your own."

  Irene sighed softly, allowing her gaze to drift away from Claire's intense scrutiny. "Our neutrality must be absolute, Your Majesty. We draw our swords for monsters, and monsters alone. All other conflicts, we are sworn to ignore. This is the code of our profession, passed down for a thousand years."

  "Is that so?" Claire arched an elegant eyebrow. "A code that sounds remarkably cold, perhaps even heartless. Answer me truthfully, my lady. If an innocent man stands before you while a bandit prepares to slit his throat, would you intervene?"

  Recognizing the queen's deliberate challenge, Irene chose to meet it directly. "No."

  "Very well. The bandit slaughters the honest farmer, then advances to violate his daughter—a child not yet fifteen summers old. Would you act then?"

  "...No."

  "You hesitated noticeably."

  "Yet the answer remains unchanged."

  "Listen carefully to your own voice, girl. It trembled when you uttered those words."

  "That represents your perception, Your Majesty. I cannot dispute another's interpretation of what they hear."

  "You cannot dispute the truth within your own heart," Claire Grace declared with unflinching certainty. "Everything you claim stands in stark contradiction to what you did at the Six Hoofs. If that code truly is your guide, then you have already torn it to pieces like scrap paper—and I suspect it was not the first time. Monster Slayer, you understand better than I what you truly are, and what lengths you will go to for justice. You requested commission from those tavern patrons and characterized the Friez as monsters, merely to justify drawing your weapon. Your heart was already crying out for blood—to destroy those men and protect the helpless. You know this about yourself better than I do, my lady."

  "Your assessment is mistaken, Your Majesty." The Monster Slayer pushed herself away from the balustrade, her expression suddenly bereft of certainty. "I have no more insight than you, Your Majesty. Because I myself do not know if what I did was the right thing to do."

  "It was unquestionably right, girl. Because among all possible paths, you selected the compassionate one—and the just."

  "Those are just words. Ideas that men invent. In most of the world I see, 'goodness' and 'justice' are empty phrases. They don't truly exist. I've come to believe they are nothing more than a wish we shout into a world that does not listen."