We left the estate looking like two complete nobodies, and it felt fantastic.

Rachel clipped a small glamour disc behind my ear, then tucked one into her own hair. My reflection in a shop window blurred into a stranger, my eyes shifting to a dull brown. But when I looked at Rachel, she was just… Rachel. The magic was a veil for the world, not for us. At our level of power, illusions like this were whispers, not commands.

"Official Saintess duties: cancelled," she said, pulling a cap low over her eyes with a grin that was perfectly, undeniably hers.

"You look good as a nobody," I teased. "It suits you."

"So does 'on a day off' you," she shot back, her hand finding mine and lacing our fingers together. "Come on. You've never Luminarc before. You get to see it with me."

We walked out of the south gate and into the real city. It was loud and alive. Gleaming sky-rails crisscrossed overhead, and street drones hummed in their designated lanes. The air was cold and clean, smelling of ozone from the city's power grid.

"I've been here a dozen times," I admitted, "but I've never actually seen any of it."

"That's because you were always on your way to a meeting," she said, pulling me toward the old market quarter. "Today, there's no agenda."

The polished steel of the main city gave way to warm brick and the scent of street food. We stopped at a cart that smelled of garlic and rich, savory broth. The owner gave us a conspiratorial wink as he slid two steaming bowls across the counter.

"If this is a crime, I'm pleading guilty," I said after the first bite. The soup was so good it felt like a hug.

"Don't worry," Rachel laughed, already halfway through her bowl. "I'll get you a good lawyer."

We ate leaning against a low wall that gently deflected the wind. Nearby, a street performer was pulling shimmering birds of light from a glass orb. A little girl gasped with delight as one of the birds dipped down to tap her finger before dissolving into pink sparks. Rachel watched, her face tipped toward the sun, and I saw a new kind of calm settled deep inside her.

"You leveled up," I said quietly, leaning closer. "Mid Radiant."

She nodded, a small, proud smile touching her lips. "Last month. It happened right in the garden. No lightning, no drama. Everything just… clicked into place."

"You're stronger than your father now," I said.

"Feels weird to say it, but yeah." She bumped her shoulder against mine playfully. "He knew before I did. Said my morning coffee suddenly tasted more efficient."

"Leave it to a Creighton to measure a power breakthrough in caffeine."

"Hey, precision is a love language," she said, her expression softening. "He was proud."

"I'm proud of you, Rach," I said, my voice softer than I intended.

She looked away, but not before I saw the happy blush on her cheeks. She squeezed my hand. "Keep talking like that and I might just kiss you in front of all these noodle criminals."

Next, we rode a hovertram with seats that molded perfectly to our spines. Rachel took us to the Archive Spiral, a massive library of five glass rings built around an ancient stone core.

"The first time my dad let me come here alone, I pretended to read economic theory," she confessed, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "I spent eight hours reading forbidden romance serials."

"You? A rebel?" I leaned against a pillar, grinning. "Tell me more."

"A girl has to have her secrets," she said, tugging me toward the central stone pillar, its surface covered in ancient, carved runes. Someone had left a tiny paper crane on a ledge. Rachel reached up and gently straightened it, her touch so tender it was as if the paper could feel it.

We spent the afternoon wandering. By the river, she bought roasted chestnuts from a grumpy old vendor, completely winning him over by complimenting the elegant ward-work on his cart.

"Is there anyone you can't charm?" I asked, laughing as she popped a warm chestnut into my mouth.

"Kindness is free, Arthur," she said, then leaned in closer. "And I really respect competent enchanting."

In a maker's alley buzzing with the energy of young inventors, she stopped to help a girl whose tiny engine was sputtering. With a few quiet words and a gesture, Rachel showed her how to add a heat sink and retune the power flow. The girl stared, star-struck, before scrambling off to find her tools.

"You can't turn it off, can you?" I teased, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Always the saint."

"Look who's talking," she retorted, poking me in the ribs. "You basically adopted an entire continent."

We found a service stair that led to a hidden rooftop garden. Planter boxes of winter roses bloomed under a gentle warming light, and the whole of Luminarc spread out before us. As Rachel leaned against the railing, the wind catching in her hair, I moved behind her, wrapping my arms around her. She melted back against me instantly, fitting perfectly.

"It's crazy," she said softly. "We have all this, and we never take the time to just look at it."

"Let's fix that," I murmured into her hair.

A slow, simple piano melody drifted up from a busker on the street below. I gently turned her to face me, placing one hand on her waist and taking hers with my other. We barely moved, just swayed together to the music, letting the city's hum surround us.

"This is nice," she whispered, resting her forehead against mine.

"More than nice," I agreed. The world, with all its wars and worries, fell away completely. There was only the cold air, the soft music, and her. Just us.

We spent the rest of the day exploring her memories: the ramen shop she loved as a kid, the bench where she and Kathyln plotted a harmless school rebellion, the arcade where she learned humility after being crushed by a thirteen-year-old gaming prodigy. We even shared a cone of shaved ice that defied the cold, thanks to a clever charm that kept it from melting.

As evening began to settle, we found a small park tucked between two footbridges, lit by a string of glowing lanterns. We sat on a bench, watching the city's quiet moments unfold. Rachel rested her head on my shoulder.

"Thank you for today," she said.

"Thank you for kidnapping me," I replied.

She tilted her head up to look at me, her face soft in the lantern light. To anyone else, she was a forgettable face, her features softened by the glamour. To me, she was as clear and sharp as the winter air. The magic couldn't hide the exact shade of her eyes or the curve of her smile. It was a veil too thin to hide what was real between us.

"You don't have to carry everything alone," she said, her voice serious. "Not when I'm here."

"I know," I said, and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Being with you makes it all feel lighter."

We walked back as Luminarc lit up for the night, the sky-rails glowing like blue veins and the great Creighton tower pulsing with a slow, steady light. On a bridge overlooking the city, we stopped for one last look.

"Ever think about just running away?" I asked.

"All the time," she admitted with a smile. "But we can't. We can have this, though. We can steal days like this, in between all the rest."

We slipped back through the estate's south gate just as the first snowflakes of the year began to fall. The glamour discs went silent. It felt like taking off a coat in an already warm room—a formality, since we hadn't felt the chill of the illusion between us all day.

Back in the familiar quiet of the garden pavilion, she stood on her toes and gave me a kiss that was soft and deep and full of the day's easy happiness. It wasn't a firework; it was the warmth of a hearth.

She tucked herself under my arm as we walked toward the main house. "Saintess mode, rebooting," she murmured wryly.

"Second Hero, reporting for duty," I replied.

"I have so many meetings tomorrow," she sighed.

I stopped, turning to face her. "But tonight," I said, brushing a snowflake from her cheek, "you have me."

Her eyes lit up, reflecting the golden garden lights. "I do," she said, and her smile was the brightest thing in the entire city.

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