"We're here."
In my mind I was thinking, creepy wizard tower, or maybe a damp basement filled with bubbling jars and ominous lighting. Something that fit the terrifying, messy witch vibe Maribelle gave off.
Instead, the carriage rolled to a stop in front of a fancy snow-dusted manor. Not in the noble district but just as posh as any I'd seen there.
It wasn't a palace, but it definitely made the quaint townhouse I shared with Elara look like a dingy shed. As we approached, the wrought-iron gate hummed to life, swinging open to reveal a manicured garden with a red brick path winding toward the entrance.
Okay. So she's got it like that. Never would have guessed. Maybe having a rich auntie won't be so bad. Even if she won't stop bullying me...
The coachman hopped down and offered me a hand. The first thing that hit me wasn't the cold, but the scent of blooming flowers. My eyes gaze swept around like there might be a person crouched behind a bush spraying perfume.
Opulent enough to ignore the seasons, I suppose. Maybe I can get her to bankroll my life somehow. But, I don't know. Would my cuteness tactic work on her? Shit. I'll have to find an opportunity to try it.
"Close your mouth, Luna," Maribelle interrupted my planning, stepping down behind me and smoothing out her coat. "It's freezing out here."
"You live here?" I asked, spinning around and gesturing to everything around me. "I thought doctors got paid in gratitude and copper coins."
"I get paid in headaches," she replied deadpan, adjusting her glasses. "My husband, however, comes from a line of minor nobility who believe that comfort is a virtue. Come along."
She started walking, I hurried to catch up, swaying slightly as the motion rattled my still-recovering brain.
We reached the foot of the entrance, where a tiered fountain bubbled at the center, splitting the front stairway into two sweeping curves that rose toward massive double doors.
The house itself was made up of multiple shades of grey stone with marble trim all around and draped with ivy that probably costs a fortune to maintain.
It was all elegant—too elegant. Peaceful. It was the complete opposite of what I expected from someone like her.
"So," I said, ascending the steps beside her, bumping her shoulder. "How exactly do you know Elara? You two don't seem like... friends. You seem like you're constantly five seconds away from killing each other."
Maribelle giggled. "That's friendship, kiddo. Especially when you've known each other as long as we have."
"How long is that?" I lifted an eyebrow.
"Hmm, how old are you now?" She glanced at me over her shoulder.
"Um... almost seventeen."
She shrugged. "Then, twice as long as that."
"Double?" I asked.
Wait. Seventeen times two is... thirty-four. Elara is only thirty-eight, no, thirty-nine now. That means they've known each other since they were... five?
She winked. "Give or take. We were practically babies."
"My sister said she lived in an elven kingdom. Did you live there, too?"
Maribelle stopped walking. A sly smile touched her lips. "Well, I certainly didn't live in the human ones."
She reached up and tucked a lock of obsidian hair behind her ear.
It was pointed. Not the long, elegant taper of Elara's, but a shorter, distinct point.
"You didn't notice?" she teased, tapping her ear. "Half-elf, dear. Best of both worlds."
Arms crossed, I asked. "Like?"
"Well, for one, I'm not a tiny little thing like your mother." She held up a pinched thumb and index finger. "I have a human stature."
"Sister," I corrected automatically.
Maribelle rolled her eyes, a gesture clearly aimed at the absent Elara rather than me. "Yes, yes. Sister. Whatever helps her sleep at night."
She tapped her temple with a gloved finger. "And secondly? The senses. I got the eyes and the ears. Which means nothing happens in this house without me noticing it. So no escaping from me tonight."
I stared at her. The pointed ear, the attitude, the way she talked about Elara...
"So," I muttered, stepping up to the door. "Aunt Mari it is, then."
Maribelle's smile softened, losing its sharp edge for just a second. "Nope." She wagged a finger, turning back to the door. "Big Sis Mari. At least until Elara claims her real title."
She reached for the brass handle, but I spotted the engraved nameplate first.
The House of Bliss.
This gloomy woman? Bliss?
I stifled a laugh, pointing to the nameplate. "Is that really your family name? Isn't that too ironic?"
"Haaah, yes... I married a man with a terrible sense of humor," she replied dryly, opening the doors. "Now, get your ass inside," she said, literally slapping my ass.
"I'm back!" She called out as we stepped inside.
The interior was just like the exterior, warm, polished, and extremely lavish, with a smell of lemon and baking bread.
A man who looked like he had never frowned in his entire life came rushing out to meet us.
He was the complete opposite of imposing. Shorter than me, with long, honey-blonde hair that flowed past his shoulders in loose waves. Soft features and kind eyes—a gentle face that looked completely incapable of anger. He was even wearing a flour-dusted apron.
His face lit up the moment he saw Maribelle.
"Welcome home, Bell!" he beamed, ushering us further inside.
Maribelle stepped past him, patting his cheek with a gloved hand, and then gestured vaguely at me.
"Look, darling," she said, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. "I found us a child. Can we keep her?"
"I am not a child," I snapped, stepping into the foyer. "And I'm not a stray cat you just picked up!"
The man ignored my outburst, smiling even wider than before. "Oh, wonderful! We always have room for more. Hello, little one! Or... big one?" He tilted his head up slightly to meet my gaze. "I'm Felix."
I stared at him, then at Maribelle, who was already hanging her coat with a sluggish demeanor.
Incredible. I can't believe it, I thought, bewildered. This scary witch married a damn golden retriever.
"I'm Luna"
"Felix, this is Major Elara's lovely daughter."
"Ah, I see the resemblance." He winked.
Who is he kidding? Was that a joke, or is he blind?
Maribelle clapped her hands together. "All right! Bath time, Luna. Then we eat, and evaluate your explosions."
"I already had the bath ready," Felix said, rushing toward a hallway. "I'll go find our guest something to wear."
Maribelle watched him go, warmth lighting up her tired expression. She turned to me, the scary glint returning to her eyes.
"Let's go get you cleaned up, Luna," she said, ruffling my hair.
"Together?"
"Of course. Can't let you faint in the tub and drown. Elara just renewed my access to you. I don't want it taken away again."
"Hm... do you mean, as a cute little sister or as a specimen?"
She didn't answer.
"Big sis?"
Nothing.
Ten minutes later, I was neck-deep, soaking in the biggest bathtub I'd ever seen.
I don't think I could even call it a bathtub; it was more like an indoor pool. Hot water poured out from a duct in the wall.
"Can I just live here... forever?" I breathed in the steam rising from the surface, taking in the rosy scent. It was heaven, incomparable to the tub in my dorm.
Maribelle eased into the bath across from me. For a moment she looked almost normal—nice.
"Oh, I'd love to steal you away, but you and I both know Elara would kill me if I did." She sighed, sinking down into the water until just her nose and eyes were visible.
Her hair was finally loose, a dark, wet curtain floating around her shoulders.
She surfaced, wiping water from her face. "Felix keeps the water too damn hot," she murmured, though she looked completely relaxed for the first time all day. "Boiling me like a lobster"
She leaned back against the edge of the bath, her eyes scanning me up and down.
"You've gotten tall." She lifted her hand, pointing with her palm up. "Real solid too. Elara's raised herself a little war machine, hasn't she? Built like a damn bulwark, barely an ounce of fat on you."
I sank a little lower, feeling suddenly self-conscious about the hard lines of muscle that came from months of swinging that giant slab of metal I'd just lost.
"Better than being... squishy," I shot back, eyeing the soft, pale curve of her stomach peeking through the water. "Looks like you've been enjoying the lifestyle a little too much."
Maribelle chuckled, patting her belly, looking entirely pleased with herself.
"It's called prosperity. I spend my days sitting in a chair saving lives, and my nights eating the best pastries in the Alliance. I refuse to apologize for being soft."
I had no argument for that.
I held my hands together, letting water slip between my fingers. The heat of the bath was soaking into my bruised muscles. Soothing.
"He seems... nice," I said, shifting the subject back to the source of those pastries.
"He's perfect," she corrected lazily. "He balances me out perfectly."
"I can tell."
I looked at her and the pointed ears that were no longer hidden. I thought about what happened in the infirmary—how she and Elara whispered, how they bickered, how Elara let her take me without having a fussy meltdown.
"You're really close, huh?" I said quietly. "With Elara, I mean."
Maribelle stopped splashing water over her shoulder. She looked at me, her dark eyes piercing through the steam.
"We are," Maribelle agreed. "We were part of the final evacuation corps, Luna. While the rest of the world fled north, Elara and I stayed behind in the ruins. We spent three years dragging survivors out of the Corruption before the continent collapsed. When you share a nightmare like that... trust becomes a given."
She reached out, flicking water at my face.
"And besides," she added, the playful smirk returning. "I know all her little secrets. She has to trust me, or I'll ruin her reputation."
I wiped the water from my cheek, a small smile on my lips.
Yeah. Family. Kind of... I don't know. She's still eccentric and unpredictable.
"Now, scrub," she commanded, pointing a wet finger at me. "If you track dirt onto Felix's pristine rugs, I won't save you from his sad puppy eyes."
By the time we got out of the bath, the sun had already set. I was scrubbed clean, dressed in a soft shirt and a skirt, a little too small, and sitting at a dining table large enough to host a conference.
We were clustered at one end: me, Maribelle, and Felix, surrounded by enough roasted meats and vegetables to fill me ten times over.
"So," Felix said, passing me a basket of steaming rolls. His smile was blindingly genuine. "Maribelle tells me you're top of your class! That must be exciting. Do you enjoy the academy?"
I stared at him, a roll halfway to my mouth. Enjoy? Is that a thing people do at Aegis?
"It's... fine," I mumbled, tearing off a piece of bread. "Hitting people is fun."
Felix just nodded enthusiastically. "Well, passion is important! It keeps the spirit young."
I popped the bread into my mouth and froze. It was soft, buttery, and tasted like... well, bliss.
"This is really good," I said, surprised, reaching for another one immediately. "Like, really good. Where did you buy this?"
Felix beamed, his chest puffing out slightly. "I didn't buy it! I baked it this afternoon. The yeast has to sit for exactly four hours to get that texture."
I looked from the gentle, golden-haired man to the scary, obsidian-haired woman tearing into a steak beside him.
I just don't get it. How did she pull off bagging a guy like that? Her? Maybe she has brainwashing powers, or did she kidnap him? Is he being held captive here?
"Alright," she dropped her utensils with a loud clink, glaring at me like she knew what I was thinking.
Scary. Can she read minds, too? Uh. Maribelle is so beautiful and definitely not a creepy, mean, psycho.
She smiled, closing her eyes in a sweet expression that made me shiver. "You're fed. You're clean. And you're mostly coherent," she announced, grabbing my arm and pulling me up from my half-finished meal. "Playtime is over. To the lab."
Felix sighed, starting to stack the plates. "Try not to break her, Bell! She's a guest!"
"No promises!" she called back, dragging me toward an ominous iron door across the foyer. "Luna, we're gonna find out what makes you special."
The door let out a groan that instantly made every hair on my body stand up. Whatever good impression the house had built vanished the second that sound echoed through the foyer.
Inside was a sprawling, circular, multi-level room, the walls filled with books from floor to ceiling. At its center was a gathering of tables cluttered with parchment, crystals, and tons of disturbingly sharp tools.
Not a creepy wizard tower, but close enough I'd say.
The whole place was dusty, and the smell was like a typical library, but tinged with something else.
"Alrighty! Sit," Maribelle commanded, pointing to a wooden chair next to a table with an assortment of crystals.
I sat. "Is this where you chop up the people who annoy you?"
"Only the naughty little girls who don't listen," she muttered, grabbing a large crystal I recognized from the table.
An evaluation stone. I've never seen one like that. There's something engraved on it.
She held it up to the light, inspecting it, then turned to me. "Shirt off."
"Excuse me?"
"Luna, were we not just naked in the bath together?"
"This is different."
"I need direct contact with your sternum to get a good reading. Do it or I'll strip you myself."
"Tch," I grumbled, but pulled my shirt over my head.
Maribelle leaned in, pressing the cool crystal against the center of my chest.
"Hmm."
"Hmm? What?" I asked, trying not to fidget. "Is it bad?"
"It's... messy," she admitted, pulling the crystal away. She walked back to the table and started scribbling notes on a piece of parchment. "I said it was a parasitic defect earlier. A draw on your stable Core. But that's wrong."
"Then what is it?"
Maribelle's quill froze. She stared at the parchment, tapping the feather against her chin in an irritating rhythm.
"I'm not sure yet," she murmured, turning back to face me. "The crystal reads the interference, but it can't see the source. I need to look deeper. I need to feel the texture of the energy myself."
Before I could ask what that meant, a suffocating pressure suddenly weighed me down. Light erupted from Maribelle's body. A dense shroud of deep red Aura that shook the entire room.
"Hey!" I jumped out of the chair, knocking a stack of parchment to the floor as I stumbled back. "What are you doing! You said only naughty girls! I'm behaving!"
"Relax," she said as the shroud vanished, getting sucked back into her body.
And then... it spooled out.
Ten thin, glowing, crimson wires poked out from each of her fingertips. They twisted and writhed as they hung from her fingers.
"Ew," I gasped, increasing the distance between us. "What the fuck is that?"
"This," Maribelle said, wiggling her fingers, strings dancing in perfect sync, "is what happens when you reach stage five Core, Luna. Your Aura stops being a cloud and starts being... you."
She inched closer, holding out her hands toward my chest. "Do you trust me?"
"Hell no. Absolutely not. And you didn't answer me." I denied, drifting back until a bookshelf blocked my escape. "What. The. Fuck. Is. That?"
"My Aspect," she whispered. "[The Loom]. Now, hold still. I'm going to stitch a sensory net around your heart."
Nope.
I flared my Aura and darted toward the exit.
I made it exactly one step.
She'd managed to wrap those gross things around my ankles. I didn't even feel them tighten before my legs were yanked from under me.
I hit the floor, and before I could scramble up, a shadow jumped on me.
I blinked up. Maribelle was sitting on my stomach with her knees pinning my arms, threads hovering inches from my nose.
"Get off!" I shrieked, thrashing against her weight. "Get your creepy Magic strings away from me!"
"It isn't Magic," Maribelle corrected calmly, guiding the threads closer despite my struggling. "Magic is borrowing power. An Aspect is projecting your soul. My soul binds. So my Aura becomes thread."
"I don't care about your soul! Let me go!"
"No. Hold. Still," she said with a sweet smile. "I'm not asking."
"You did ask!" I screamed as the strands of light plunged into my chest.