Chapter Eight

Harmony waited near where her former team would be teleporting in and focused on presenting a picture of a calm and welcoming friend. Max had been unhappy with her abrupt departure and all the burdens she'd left him with. The others probably were unhappy too. Sweet treats should soften the sting some. Ambrosia held a tray of tarts and chocolates to help greet them beside her. A sincere apology might help, too. But how to explain why she left without explaining why and embroiling them in all her troubles?

With a flash of light, Adric stumbled forward. "Hi, Harm."

"Where is everyone else?"

"We're being dropped off in waves. Since I don't have any bonds to bring with me, I'm first. Oooooo…. Are those chocolates?"

Not that he needed to ask, as he was at the tray as quickly as he said the words. He plucked a chocolate up and stuffed it into his cheeks. He'd make a beautiful chipmunk.

"I'm glad you made it back. Your aunt is becoming an issue."

"Don't worry, I took care of it." He said through stuffed cheeks.

Harmony resisted pinching the spot between her eyes to fight off a headache caused by contemplating what Adric meant by that. The truth is she couldn't go popping out next to Maye and use her new strength to shake some sense into the countess every time that needed to be done. Unless she assigned Max the job of shadowing the mountain of a woman with the mission of making that a thing, it was unlikely she could repeat what happened last night. Maybe what Adric chose to do was for the best, but there were doubts.

"How. How have you handled it?" Harmony asked.

"She took a contracted oath and paid reparations for her error in judgment. No money, but she has some property in and around Hazeldown. I have the paperwork here." He pulled out a stack of papers from his vest.

The contracted oath was basic. No physical harm towards Adric, Harmony, or associates. No restraining or blocking them. Clauses for self-defense. It was broad. People didn't do these things because of the cost of having a contract done, and language interpretation was finicky enough that it was easy to get stuck with a bill for accidentally breaking one.

The properties were the trap. The majority were loans that Adric now owned. He could sell them for a loss due to clauses and fees, or pay their mortgage and keep them. Harmony could taste the countesses' revenge for her surprise visit with this act. If she weren't leaving, these might get annoying. Who knows what obligations they'd now been burdened with, over a hundred were listed mostly as lot numbers or coordinates zones. All they were worth now as a skim, as she had people to greet.

"We'll hand those off to Bates. He'll deal with them."

First, her mother and now this, if she managed to keep Bates' contract when renewal came up, it would be a miracle. But she had no other option with the time on hand.

Maxwell flashed into existence. Checking him with soul sight, Saccerate seemed locked in her cage. Two new bits twinkled inside him. The new bonds. What had he chosen?

After an initial stumble, he gave harmony a deep bow. "My Lady White, I'm here to serve." With a groan, he wrenched himself out of his bow. "Cursed bleeding oath," he swore.

"Have you not managed to get a handle over the compulsions?" Harmony asked.

"My new bonds were supposed to help. Abbess Violet promised me they'd be the better option. Your order at the queen's court didn't help. I have pages of notes, and Len was delighted to possibly hunt down a conspiracy and joined in."

More papers to go through in the future. But anything that might help her not approach things blindly was needed, even if it meant taking advantage of Max. He still owed her. "I don't think you're ever going to escape from your choice. You could be sworn to worse than me."

"I know, my lady. I slipped my family's shackles to get caught up in your tight sinew, so I can't help but feel trapped."

Poetic words full of truthful melancholy. The fool. His idiocy got him into this mess, and what he needed to focus on was more discipline and less grasping with chaos to get comfortable with the consequences of his choice. "At least you're not a knight. You might be stuck sworn to me, but whatever you want to try to be, I'll support you." There, a bit of hope. Even if he did owe her, it's not like she wanted to stifle him. "Go try one of the tarts."

Bleeding ashes. Maxwell looked like he'd been punched in the gut. That wasn't intended to be an order.

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"Yes, I'll try a tart, but not because you are asking me to!" Max let himself stand a little straighter as he made his way to join Adric at the sweets tray.

In another flash, Len stood there blinking his eyes. Farthington, his half-dragon crow familiar on one shoulder and above the other, floated his spirit Hazgul as a ball with many eyes about half the size of Len's head. It was a departure from his desire to keep his Geist invisible.

"Harmony, you missed so much. Did you know Rose is the Heir now? It nearly came to blows with the court wanting her to be removed and Thorne insisting she stay. It took Maekus intervening to settle the dispute."

"Yes, I heard about Rose. How is she taking it?"

Len scrunched up his face, trying to find the words as he walked over. "She chose to go through her evolution process alone. Adric offered to be there, everyone did, but she refused them all. It was her and Hargreaves. She came back off kilter? Not unhappy, but sometimes I feel my conspiracy theorist profession has undue influence over me. Then the court got her, they wanted to break her bond with Hargreaves. There were compromises."

"Caw!" Farthington interjected.

"The dragon lord here agrees that something isn't right, and he is the check against my wild theories. I wish Rose would accept our friendship and allow for a thorough delving. I know you tried at the Deadwoods. Please, don't give up on her, Harm."

Rancid sweat-stained sheets! It had been tempting to leave Rose to her personal issues. [Recall] wouldn't even let her lie to herself about the awfulness she'd seen in the queen. That happening to Rose when she had halfway reached out a few times, like showing up for the party and delivering a warning, would be repugnant. "My patience isn't infinite, but I'll try. Adric would be disappointed if I abandoned his sister just because she got into moods."

"Thanks…. Are those lemon tarts?" Len asked.

"Yes, for all of you, as a partial apology for leaving so abruptly. Go. Enjoy."

The plan of the sweets was working. There had been a note in one of Tyler's more odd books in his collection about how such transportation made people crave sweets, tarts, chocolate milk, and anything with an abundance of sugar. There had been a hint of that hunger with the emergency teleport at the deadwoods. Or maybe they just liked free food.

In that bright light of arrival, Lord Tyler stood there. He was not alone. It wasn't the fiery spirit of Jessica who was merged with him, but someone new. Tall, fit, and nearly human looking, a woman covered in a thin layer of soft brown fur, a bushy head of curly hair with two long flopped-over rabbit ears sticking out of it. Her small nose twitched, and when her mouth opened, two large front teeth poked out. A beast-kin. Rare, and afforded the rights the same as any living person. Soul sight shifted on as she searched for the bond.

"Harmony, I- I caught uh- I caught a kind of pet. You want to know about it?" Tyler started, half spooked, and babbling."

She'd told him not to take a pet. And with her gone, he did it, put himself in control over one. Essentially, a woman, beast-kin, and humans have had relationships. Though children between the two are nearly unheard of. "Lord Tyler, what kind of primal bond did you get?"

"I formed one with a Beast-kin, the scroll was so rare, but I didn't have it. She brought it to me, Harmony!"

"Oh, no, Tyler. Don't tell me…"

"You already know. You know what I did."

"But she's a person, Tyler. You shouldn't have. Adric was an accident, and I saved his life by doing it."

Tyler straightened his spine some."There are no laws against primal bonds, Harmony. I can do whatever I want. What she wanted."

"No, no, no, no no," Harmony muttered. Her experiences of being under lord Tyler's power welled up some awful memories.

The rabbit beastkin hopped forward to stand between Harmony and Tyler, her ears flopping some as she moved. "He did it, He bonded me. He is mine now, and I get the privilege of joining him in the Ascendant Games, Royal One. Weep not, I will keep him safe, even from himself. I, Loap clan bunny, will support his rise for you."

Why did she say rise for her? Harmony had moral questions about Tyler's choice. No oath or bond would make Tyler rise for her. Did he tell the beastkin he was engaged to her or something? Harmony opened her mouth, speechless.

"I listened to your concerns about specialty food. She eats the same as the rest of us, and I'm sure the Ascendant Games isn't aimed at starving the contestants. She's strong, smart, and I'm sure she won't be used against me."

"Sweets!" Loap squealed and hopped towards the tray, one hand on Tyler's shirt collar, dragging him with her.

The final shuddering of light brought Rose with Hargreaves, her undead butler by her side. With a stony continence of a man dead for centuries, the butler's cold eyes surveyed the room. Rose only gave her profile.

Perhaps decorum was the way to go. Harmony curtsied, "Welcome, Heir Rosaline. I wish to apologize for leaving without notice on the night of the climber's moon. It was an unbecoming and disrespectful response to being overwhelmed, and I should have informed my compatriots. I want to assure you I am still here for you."

Looking up from her apology. Rose's eyes were on her, more flat and uncaring than Hargreaves. It was not a look Harmony had ever seen on the princess. Curiosity, fear, determination, intelligence, passion, anger, and outrage, but never this. On her brow, a gray circlet rested. With soul sight, she could faintly trace a bond to it. She had to check after the queen. Turmoil, but not the chains and ties that ate into her, that the queen had. For good or bad, the circlet weighed on her frame, soul, and skills, a weight heavy with a bond of fate.

Without saying a word, the heir and undead servant ignored the gathering around the tray of treats. The crowd didn't ignore Rose. "Come, they have your favorite!" Adric called. Len, Tyler, and Max all tried to put on smiles and motioned the companion they'd trained with to come. Rosaline turned away and walked out the far exit without a note of acknowledging anyone else in the room.

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