“You just have to…move this over to here. Now if you pay attention, you should see that this divides this and….” I trailed off.

  There was a conveniently folded notebook right next to me. I grabbed it, reached out, whacked Mindy’s head.

  “Ow!” The girl yelped, her closed eyes opening wide. “What was that for?!”

  “Pay attention.” I sighed. “If you doze off then I’m just doing this to listen to the sound of my own voice.”

  “Don’t be like that -” She said a name I didn’t hear. There was just silence where a name should be. “-it’s so boring!” The girl said cheerfully. “There would be something wrong with me if I didn’t fall asleep.”

  I rolled my eyes. Reached out with my other hand. Pinched Mindy’s cheeks.

  “Ouch! That does it I’m going to-”

  My friend leapt at me. We both struggled. Punched. Kicked. Rolled. It didn’t take long at all before our little struggle turned into the two of us just ughing to ourselves, lying on our backs next to each other. This is how it usually went, when my one and only friend came over.

  “Now that definitely beats math!”

  Mindy was, for ck of a better word, a tomboy. Short bck hair, an earring, a face that always smiled. She was a few months older than I, and was perfect evidence that maturity and age never went hand in hand.

  “No wonder. You’re actually good at punching.”

  Her arm came and swatted mine. I didn’t swat her back. That would turn into another fight, and my arms were already sore.

  “Hey -?” My name again.

  “Hmm?” I turned to look at her.

  “Why do you read so much? All the adults say there’s no point in studying or anything anymore. Not since the…you know.”

  I nodded. It was impossible not to know. These days, you didn’t really have to work unless you wanted to, and even then, there was almost always no point to it. An AI managed just about everything reted to agriculture, industry, commerce, logistics. Very few people were or could ever be productive.

  I desperately wanted to be one of those.

  “You don’t even go to school. I mean…if I was you I’d just goof around all day. Eat ice cream. So much ice cream until I explode!”

  I stared at her. “You do goof around all day! And don’t tell me that’s the best you could come up with.”

  My friend gave me a sheepish grin.

  I stared up at the ceiling. It had always looked so high before. Now, it wouldn’t be long at all before my head was pushing right up against it.

  I raised my hand towards the ceiling. She’d asked me this before. My answer has always been the same.

  “I guess I just don’t want to be worthless.” The words came out in my voice. I heard them in my mother’s.

  Pain came first, followed by everything else.

  I opened my eyes. My vision blurred. Warm light streamed in. My eyes were wet. Something hard was nudged inside my chest. It slowly faded, as did the memories.

  I tried to groan. It turned into a cough.

  There was a figure in front of me. Something pressed against my lips. I drank the water greedily. A small gss didn’t feel like nearly enough. I might have been a little overeager, because I started coughing all over again.

  I tried to force myself upright, hoping that would ease the coughing somewhat. All it did was make me feel a little dizzy instead.

  “Shh. Easy there. No sudden movements, you hear me?”

  I recognized Anias easily enough. She was the kind of woman it would be hard not to recognize, no matter the crowd or pce.

  A quip came to mind, and died on my lips at the genuine concern in her eyes. I tried very hard to be still after that, and was much better at taking more reasonable mouthfuls of water.

  The lightheadedness still lingered. Memories came in fshes. The fight. The aftermath. The look on Damian’s face. The people hauling me away.

  It was hard to believe it wasn’t all a dream, despite the evidence.

  “How long was I- you know.” I rasped weakly, gesturing with my left hand. My right ached every time I tried to move it.

  “Two days.” Anias answered matter of factly.

  “Two days?!” More coughing.

  “Sorry. Sorry.” I swallowed and looked at her. “Two days? I was out for that long?”

  Anias snorted as if that was the funniest thing she’d heard all day. “You’re lucky it was only for two days, My Lady.” Her humor faded. She fixed me with a more serious look. “What were you thinking? I told you to surrender if he used his Gift, didn’t I?”

  “I didn’t think I was that hurt.” I said finally. “I mean, it hurt quite a bit but then it all just kind of faded?” In retrospect, that was definitely just a mountain of adrenaline that had kept me going.

  Anias looked at me. Sighed. “My Lady, you are very peculiar.” She sounded more exasperated than insulting.

  I refrained from making a comment. Instead, I took to inspecting the room.

  I gasped and backed up into the backboard of the bed. “What- what the hell is he doing here?!”

  Right in front of me, apparently asleep on a chair was Damian Everstand. The entire reason I was in here in the first pce was just sitting there.

  “Did I not tell you to not make any sudden movements?”

  I just looked at her, before gesticuting towards Damian who didn’t seem inclined to wake up.

  “I suppose there is no avoiding it.”

  Damian Everstand ached. Every breath came with a shaking gasp where he remembered to breathe with his mouth instead of his broken nose.

  People crowded around him, lifting him up. Healers moved towards him, the pale green glows from their hands already doing quite a bit to deal with the worst of the pain. Everything still hurt, but Damian was at least sure he was doing better than the girl in front of him was.

  Esra Veyne didn’t look ghostly. She looked ghastly.

  Blood covered her face. Her fingers bent in ways they shouldn’t, and her breastpte was half smashed in from the weight of his blow.

  Damian had never met this girl before today, but he had always hated her. For as the second son of House Everguard, he had always known what his lot in life would be. His brother had gone on to serve the King himself as a member of his Royal Guard. A position coveted by men far and wide. There was honor in that role. Pride.

  His role had always been to serve House Veyne. To serve this girl. It had always been a chain around his neck, tugging uncomfortably when it wasn’t strangling him.

  Damian might not have minded, if not for the rumors he had heard.

  Esra Veyne is a ghost.

  Esra Veyne spends her days lounging, eating.

  Esra Veyne doesn’t even look her maids in the eye.

  Those were just some of the more tame rumors he had heard. The girl had been so reclusive even Damian had never seen her before, despite his life being forcibly tied to hers. To Damian, who’d always wanted to serve someone worth serving, how could he hate anyone more than this girl?

  Yet, this girl had stood and fought. She had struggled when Damian was sure she’d run the second Damian punched her. Not only that, but she’d attacked him with little to no regard for her own safety. The mad girl had headbutted him.

  If there was one thing everyone knew about a headbutt, it was that it was painful for both parties involved, no matter how you did it. This girl hadn’t even flinched.

  Damian had been afraid of her, even if it was only for a moment. Her father cried out about his victory, but in his heart Damian had already lost.

  He moved forward, jostling himself away from the many hands tending to him.

  His gaze met his father. His father sighed deeply.

  “Now? Are you satisfied my son?”

  Lord Adrian looked downright enraged. Damian flinched back when that gaze fell on him. “You went too far. I now see what this was for, but you went too far.”

  Damian stepped forward, got down on his knees. “I apologize, my Lord.” He bowed his head. An old thing, rarely done save towards a King.

  He gnced up. Saw Lord Veyne’s face twist.

  “Erik, your boy is a fool. He’s lucky we have so many healers. He’s lucky Anias has the Gift she has. Or else….”

  For all of his anger, this was a proper duel. If Damian knew that, then surely Duke Veyne did as well.

  Duke Veyne took a deep breath. Seemed to compose himself.

  “Well? Are you satisfied?”

  He wasn’t. One fight didn’t wipe away a lifetime of rumors. It wasn’t a cleaning of the ste. But…it was a start.

  “I will serve as best I can.” Damian said finally. “Or, I will try to.”

  He expected more of a dressing down. Instead, Lord Veyne slowly nodded. His father had been right about the man after all.

  Damian rose. Swayed. He approached Esra. The girl was surrounded by healers, and Damian had to cut between them. The girl looked much healthier now, as if she was just asleep.

  Damian’s entire body felt strange. This was a moment he had pictured and dreaded for a long time. That dread wasn’t absent. There was just something else there too. Curiosity.

  Damian knelt in front of her own one knee. A hush fell over the crowd as soon as he did, with dozens of people all staring directly at him. Damian only had eyes for the strange white haired girl. He supposed he should think of her more properly than that.

  “I swear on my name, and my father’s name, and my father’s father’s name.” Damian grunted out the words. It wasn’t easy to talk when your face was swelling. “That I will serve Lady Esra Veyne to the best of my ability. As my father served her father. As my grandfather served her grandfather. As the Everstand’s always serve the Veyne’s, so too shall I serve her. I will be the shield to her sword.”

  It wasn’t quite what he’d had in mind, but there was wet blood still on his face. He covered his hand as best he could, before pressing it against his own chest. It was as strong an oath as any retainer could give their Lord.

  This was also a thing rarely done. Damian’s was the first since his father.

  I stared at Anias for a long moment, certain that either I had misheard her, or she was pying a very unfunny joke on me. Anias’ lips didn’t even twitch.

  My heart sank.

  A thousand questions raced through my mind. All of those questions warred against each other, none of them quite able to cut in line.

  “What?” I finally asked, eloquently.

  Anias’ mask broke. She shook her head. “Well, if you’re this surprised My Lady then do imagine how surprised I was. It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. I knew that the Everguard’s followed the old ways. I didn’t think they took it to this extreme.”

  That was a rather succinct expnation of a seemingly very complicated situation.

  “What?” I asked again, less eloquently.

  Anias reached over, gently smacked my head. “You’re in good spirits. Good enough to joke.”

  “As far as I can see, the only alternative is to sit down and cry at my fate. I take it that isn’t an option.”

  “It is not.”

  There was silence for a time. I broke it by gesturing towards all the bandages that covered me.

  “How long before I can move around?”

  “Hmm?” Anias had evidently been lost in her own thoughts. “A day or two and you should be well enough to move. As for that-” She gestured towards my hand. “I would try not to strain it for a week.”

  Given the state I remembered being in, this was surprisingly fast.

  “The healers are that good?”

  “I am that good.” Anias said with no small measure of pride.

  Huh.

  “Isn’t your Gift…moving things?”

  Anias smiled. “Listen to me well Esra. All Gifts are limited as much by their power and type as they are by their user.” She hesitated for a moment. “In fact, I think in your fight you might hav-”

  “Ugh….”

  We both turned to look at Damian.

  Damian Everstand. My retainer had just woken up.