But Lindon did believe him.
“I’ll ask them to take it easy,” Mercy promised.
Charity slipped up beside them. “We will take it easy on everyone but Daji. Unless we find evidence of collusion. How did you feel about your arbitration, Mercy?”
“Terrible.”
Lindon gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder, but he was already turning to leave. “I have to prepare. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Where are you…no, it doesn’t matter. I have to stay with Pride. I’ll see you tonight!”
Charity’s eyes narrowed on him. “You know not to leave the city, don’t you?”
“Of course, Charity. Thank you for your concern.”
It felt almost painful to call a Sage by her given name, but she only nodded before vanishing with Mercy.
Lindon rubbed at the blood on his fist as he walked through the artificial veil of shadow. Dross projected images of what the room had looked like before, so he strode through like the darkness was only a thin mist. His mental map would be accurate, assuming no furniture had been added that Dross didn’t know about.
[Not to cast doubt on my own predictions, but I thought you were going to kill him.]
I wanted to, Lindon admitted. It had been a struggle to hold himself back from crushing Daji into a ball. He wasn’t proud of that, but he couldn’t pretend that Daji hadn’t earned it.
[Why…ah, if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you?]
Lindon stretched out his newfound Sage’s senses, feeling the tear in space where the Akura servants had slipped through a temporary portal. They had dragged the prisoners somewhere immediately, possibly Moongrave, where no one could interrupt them. Where Seishen Daji couldn’t be saved, even by Reigan Shen.
Lindon responded silently to Dross.
My name isn’t Mercy.
Uncle Fury’s ascension ceremony should have been held in the main house, in a hall dedicated for that purpose. Mercy had heard of several family members who had ascended, but never in her lifetime. As far as she knew.
But most of the important members of the Akura clan had come here to Ninecloud City for the Uncrowned King tournament, and it would cost far too much to send everyone to Moongrave. Perhaps her mother could have done it, but she hadn’t shown herself since the Monarch-level battle that had devastated the surrounding countryside.
Not even for her own son leaving the world.
Mercy had to admit that she couldn’t know what kind of contact Uncle Fury and her mother had shared after his ascension to Monarch. Maybe they had enjoyed a heartfelt mother-and-son moment that she wasn’t privy to.
It wasn’t likely, but she could dream.
All the most critical members of the Akura clan gathered in a wide basement beneath their amethyst tower. The gathering had the atmosphere of a party, with the members who were leaving alongside Fury mingling and saying their good-byes while servants drifted around with trays of drinks and snacks.
Uncle Fury, his wife Naria, and many of their children would be leaving together. Their youngest were eight and twelve years old, while their oldest were white-haired and bent. Many of their children were staying; some were too critical to the function of the clan, like Aunt Charity, while others simply didn’t want to leave.
A few of Fury’s descendants had ascended already, many years before, though of course none had done so by reaching Monarch.
In addition to immediate relatives, several distant families under Fury’s branch were coming along with him, as well as a retinue of servants and attendants. All told, about two hundred people were joining the newest Monarch in his ascension.
Some of them had not been here from the Uncrowned King tournament, but had been summoned by Aunt Charity and Uncle Fury at great expense.
Mercy milled around herself, saying good-byes and shedding her share of tears. She hadn’t been especially close to any of those leaving except Aunt Naria, but these were still people she knew. Her family.
In a way, it was like they were dying.
She swiped her eyes as she emerged from a gaggle of her nieces and nephews—many of whom were decades older than she was—to see Lindon and Yerin arrive.
They were immediately mobbed by her relatives.
The sight warmed her heart. It hadn’t been long since the Akura clan had looked down on Lindon and Yerin, and would have approached them only out of necessity or as part of a scheme.
Now, they were tripping over themselves to make a good impression.
Her friends had shown their worth. To everyone.
Lindon loomed over everyone else, and the look of discomfort on his face made him look more like he had before his advancement to Underlord: as though he was searching for something to punch. Unfortunately for him, as a Lord he was handsome enough to take the edge off, so his new admirers would take his expression to be stern and regal.
Yerin looked more at ease than Lindon, shoving through her much-larger crowd and cornering a servant holding a tray of tiny dumplings. She seized a pair for herself, then—when she saw that Lindon was still pinned by Akura clan members—reached in and pulled him out by the hand.
After he let himself be hauled to freedom, he didn’t release her hand right away.
That sight made Mercy slow for a moment. She couldn’t put a name to what she felt. It wasn’t jealousy, exactly. At least, she didn’t think so. Maybe envy.
She had never had many friends in the Akura clan. She considered herself a friend to almost everyone, but very few felt that way about her. From the moment she was chosen by the Book of Eternal Night, she was apart from the rest of them. Separate. A target of alliance for the ambitious, or a rival to be overcome, or perhaps even someone to be feared.
Despite only having known them a couple of years, she thought of Lindon and Yerin as her closest friends. And they were getting closer to each other, one step at a time.
Leaving her alone.
Yerin saw Mercy and brightened. It was still a shock to see Yerin with eyes that resembled Uncle Fury’s, but Mercy waved cheerily. Yerin came over to meet her in a moment, still holding Lindon’s hand.
The surrounding Akuras backed off to give them some space.
“Your family’s a touch friendlier than before,” Yerin remarked, popping a miniature dumpling into her mouth whole. “Wonder why.”
Lindon finally slipped his hand from Yerin’s, sliding it into the pocket of his outer robe instead. “I know why they want to talk to you, but I’m not sure what they want from me.”
“You did fantastic in the tournament!” Mercy assured him. But because she knew what he meant, she continued. “Some of them know about your performance in Sky’s Edge, and the smarter ones may have heard about what…showed up in the sky.”
Mercy couldn’t believe it herself, though she had seen Lindon toy with Sophara, and she’d even witnessed the black hole that covered the clouds. Charity had explained it to her. A little.
Lindon was a Sage now.
Mercy still wasn’t quite sure how that was possible.
Lindon looked relieved. “Gratitude. I was worried it was something…else.”
Mercy wracked her brain, but couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. “What else could it possibly be?”
“Apologies, I don’t mean to speak ill of your family. I thought perhaps they were using me to get closer to Yerin, or trying to get revenge because I overshadowed them, or they wanted to blackmail me to force me to fight for them.”
“Of course not!” Mercy exclaimed. Did her family really have that bad of a reputation in Lindon’s eyes?
Yerin and Lindon looked at each other, exchanging a look between them that once again made Mercy feel left out.
“Truly, I do apologize, but…they’ve done all of those things.”