Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1626 Conflicting Actions

Out here, the siege was barely a sound.

The Scarlet Lilies had pitched their tent a full ride out from the reclamation army's main camp, far enough that the front came down on the wind as distant rolling thunder. Inside, the tea had gone cold hours ago.

Void was asleep against Lilith's shoulder. Her head had settled under Lilith's ear some hours back, both arms looped around the leader's waist for balance, and she had not stirred since. Lilith had not moved her.

Bronnya was pacing.

Four paces one way, four the other. She had started the afternoon with her arms crossed and had given that up a while ago for gesturing into the air.

"We're in Ravenshade."

Jallen looked up from the map she had been folding and unfolding since morning.

"Yes, Bronnya."

"We signed on with the Fujimori girl to help her win Greenvale. That's what the paperwork said. Greenvale. I know because you read it to me twice."

"...yes."

"Greenvale is not here."

"That is very true."

She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.

"So why are we sitting in Ravenshade, watching a siege we are not even part of?"

She was not really asking anyone. The question had been asked all afternoon and the team had run out of answers for it.

Jallen folded the map one more time.

"It turned a bit personal when he..."

Her voice stopped before the name.

"...and then..."

She did not say the second name either.

Across the tent, Lilith's fingers tightened on the edge of the cot. The rest of her was still.

"...yeah." Bronnya's arms came down. "I get that part."

She resumed pacing. Slower now.

"But even the duchess. She's supposed to be on Greenvale, killing Consortium members to be named duchess there as well. That's literally her goal. And she's here. Half a country away, marching with the royal army."

Jallen waited for the rest.

"Three groups got flagged in Ravenshade that mattered. The villain, Black Fang, and her three disciples."

Bronnya tapped three fingers on her palm as she counted them off.

"That's the whole list. And I might not be the smartest tool in the shed but even I can do the math. The villain's worth twice what any of the syndicate's circle heads would fetch. Sure. I'll give you that."

She spread her arms.

"But even double that bounty doesn't pay for the duchess being here. It'd make a lot more sense to kill Shadow Vanguards by the hundreds than to try hunting these few people."

Jallen offered no answer.

"So why?"

From Lilith's shoulder, Void made a soft yawning sound.

"She does have that Ayame-girl thing going on. I always wondered what the story was there."

With her statement done, she pressed a little further into Lilith's shoulder, her arms tightened around her captain's waist the way a sleeping child tightens around a stuffed animal, and a mumbled word came out of her that might have been "pillow."

Jallen looked at her, dryly.

'This woman.'

Lilith sat exactly where she had been sitting since morning. Her gaze was on the canvas seam where one of the poles met the roof. One hand was on the cot edge. The other was on Void's back, keeping her in place.

She had not said a word all afternoon.

Bronnya glanced over at her, started to say something, and thought better of it.

That was when the flap moved.

Bronnya reached for her axe instantly. Jallen's spear was in her grip. Lilith's gaze left the canvas seam and tracked to the flap.

A gloved palm parted it.

A short figure ducked inside, blue where the mask did not cover her skin, shadowed at the shoulders in a way that did not quite match her body.

Scar straightened up.

Her eyes went around the room: Bronnya's axe coming off the wall, Jallen's spear lifting, Void muttering in her sleep, Lilith still as a held breath.

Her mask tilted at the perimeter she had come through.

"Your wards are some real sloppy work. Who did them? Let me guess…"

Her gaze landed on Jallen.

Jallen's spear came level.

Bronnya had already taken two steps into the swing.

Scar stopped where she was.

"I'm not here for that."

Her palms lowered, arms coming down to her sides.

She looked her tanker friend straight in the eyes, and fondness was visible.

Despite the clear sign that she didn't wish to fight, Bronnya did not slow.

The banter was gone from her face. Her friend had been dead for months. That was the story the team had agreed on, and whatever stood at the flap in blue skin and shadow was the villain's now, not theirs. She had told herself that across every battlefield they had fought since. She was done telling herself.

The axe came around.

Scar did not move to defend herself.

"Stop."

Lilith's voice cut through the tent.

The axe-head froze a tenth of an inch from the blue skin at Scar's throat. Bronnya's shoulders stayed in the swing for another moment before her body understood the order.

Lilith sat where she was, hand still on Void's back.

"What do you want, Scar?"

The rogue's eyes had been moving around the room, Bronnya to Jallen to Void in her sleep, but they settled on Lilith now and stayed there. Her voice came quieter when she spoke again.

"It's time we had a proper talk. Without him listening in."

"Talk? We can't have a 'proper' talk because of him, can we?"

Scar held her stance at the flap. Her palms were open at her sides.

"He has never ordered me to do anything I didn't desire."

"Yeah. Of course not."

Lilith's voice sharpened.

"Because you're his loyal minion. Why would he ask you for something you don't want when all you want is his success?"

Scar didn't answer.

She was looking at Lilith fully now, her face composed but her eyes burning.

Scar's gaze moved briefly to the axe still in Bronnya's hands. Then back.

"May I sit?"

Bronnya looked at Lilith. Jallen looked at Lilith.

From Lilith's shoulder, Void spoke without opening her eyes.

"I don't sense anyone else nearby..."

Lilith's head turned a fraction.

"You didn't feel Scar either."

"That doesn't count." The murmur was a drowsy complaint into Lilith's shoulder. "She knows how my powers work. Perfectly..."

Lilith looked at Scar.

A long breath left her.

"...Fine. Sit, Scar."

Bronnya's axe came down. She set it against the tent pole. Jallen's spear followed. They pulled camp stools up to the field table where Jallen's map had been, and Jallen nudged a third one toward the flap with her foot.

Scar crossed the tent in three slow steps.

Bronnya tracked her the whole way. Jallen watched from her stool.

Scar took the offered seat.

At the flap she'd been a silhouette with the daylight at her back. Now she was level with them, inside their perimeter, close enough to reach across and touch any one of them.

Her eyes moved across them.

Bronnya, first. Bronnya's face kept giving her away. Then Jallen. Jallen held her look and gave nothing back. Then Void. Void was burrowed deeper into Lilith's shoulder than before, but Scar sensed her attention.

Scar took a deep breath. When she let it out, the words came with it.

"I can't tell you my thoughts are my own."