How does she know?
Kai stared at her for a few seconds, not moving his gaze, but maintaining a steady expression. A neutral one, where not a single muscle moved. On the surface, he was the calmest, but inside, every muscle in his body itched to tense.
The question hit like a blade sliding under his ribs. Had his secret leaked?
No, impossible. The few who knew it, wouldn’t dare speak of it, not to her, not to anyone. And the elves? He doubted it. Whatever else they were, they saw him as a lifeline, not a threat to be exposed. Even if they wanted to, what good would it do them?
So how in the hells did Veridia know?
The thought spiraled in on itself before snapping into place.
A bluff.
Of course. She didn’t know—she suspected. She was bluffing with everything she had. A good actor, he could give it to her. And, if he was being honest, he had given her more than enough reason for it. People weren’t blind to change, especially not Mages. Sudden leaps in strength drew attention. Even Killian and Francis had let doubt flicker in their eyes from time to time. It was only natural.
Which meant that if he had any chance of keeping this buried, he had to smother it now. The only winning move was to give her nothing.
He let a faint furrow touch his brow, tilting his head slightly. “What are you talking about?”
Veridia’s lips pressed into a thin line. Now she looked… curious. But with this woman, it was hard to know what was true and what was not.
“You don’t have to act,” she said. How convincing. “It’s easy to say you aren’t Arzan. Although body possession exists only in theory for most of us, there are… creatures capable of it. I doubt you’re one of them. But you are certainly a Mage who found a way.”
She narrowed his eyes.
“Boy, I knew Valkyrie. Her research—and what she left behind—could make any Mage with decent talent a magus. But your growth…” she shook her head slightly. “Your growth is too fast. You can hide behind your bloodline and your inheritance, but the way you’ve progressed… the way you look at me…”
“You are a Mage who does not fear me. And only one who once stood above me could look at me like that.”
Internally, Kai let out the barest sigh of relief. So he’d been right. It was a bluff. But the ease didn’t last long. Her words made it clear her suspicions hadn’t gone anywhere. If anything, she was more certain now. He doubted she’d ever expected him to accept her claim outright. Her theory was both right and wrong, tangled in truth and misdirection, but that didn’t matter. She would cling to it until proven otherwise… and he had no intention of doing that.
“You should learn more about a Kellius,” he said lightly, creeping pride into his words, “and how they could look a dragon in the eye.”
“Nothing like that ever happened. That’s just something one of your ancestors used to babble about. You probably read it somewhere, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.”
She was right, of course. But that didn’t mean he had to admit it.
“I heard it from my father when I was a child,” Kai replied evenly.
“And yet you stayed a coward for most of your life.”
“One incident is enough to change someone. I’m sure even you know it,” he said, voice tightening just a fraction. “When Actra came for my life, I knew I had to change.”
“I don’t believe it,” she said, with the easy confidence of someone who had already judged him.
“You don’t have to, and I’m not asking you to,” Kai said, his tone cool but edged. “You can keep whatever theories you like about me. You can even claim I’m a devil, for all I care. It won’t change the fact that I am Arzan Kellius.”
That made her pause. The flicker in Veridia’s eyes wasn’t hesitation—it was assessment. She studied him the way one might study a particularly stubborn puzzle piece, her head tilting slightly as though the new angle might make him fit. Kai could almost hear the gears turning in her head.
“Maybe not,” she murmured at last. “But I know you aren’t. I haven’t reached my position without following my gut.”
“And what does that tell you about me?” he asked, meeting her gaze without blinking.
“That you’re dangerous,” she replied instantly, “and that I have a lot to gain from you.”
“I’m not interested in old women.”
Her chuckle was low, rich with amusement. “I’m not really interested in young men, either. Or… who knows? Perhaps you’re not so young after all.”
The smirk faded into something sharper. Her smile narrowing to the blade-thin edge of intent.
“Either way,” she continued, “what I’m interested in are the theories you wrote in your last ascension exam. Nothing that’s never been thought of before, but… your perspective was different. Uncomfortably different.”
Kai’s mind traced back to that day. Was that where her suspicions had begun? Possibly. But it would have been easy enough to assume he’d studied Valkyrie’s work and bent it into his own style. No, Veridia wasn’t the type to gamble everything on one clue. She was collecting fragments, stacking them until they formed something dangerous.
And he couldn’t—wouldn’t—let her think she’d solved him.
“So,” he said, a faint sardonic curl in his voice, “you just want my magical knowledge.”
“For now, but I believe you have far more to give me.”
“I don’t really think I want to give you anything,” Kai said, his voice flattening to stone. “I have no reason to.”
“I’m giving you a reason.”
“What?”
Her lips curved again, the expression almost playful, if you ignored the calculation behind her eyes. “Let’s go back to the beginning of our conversation.”
“To the fact that you think I’m someone else?”
She shook her head slowly, eyes never leaving his. “No. To the fact that Regina wants me to kill you. If not by sending assassins, then by a duel. And I’m here for that.”
That only meant one thing.
She wasn’t following Regina’s orders to the letter. She was playing her own game. That was good for him. He wanted Regina to have as few allies as possible. But that didn’t make him any more willing to step into a duel with someone like her.
“I won’t be playing any more games,” he said at last, turning away.
He had taken only three steps before her voice drifted after him. “I don’t mind causing a scene until you accept.”
He stopped mid-step.
“There are a good number of nobles here,” she went on smoothly. “One insult—just one—and you doing nothing? You’ll lose more than face. You’ll lose support. People don’t like nobles and Mages who can’t stand up for themselves.”
Kai slowly turned back to look at her, his eyes narrowing into a cold glare.
It clicked.
This conversation—here, of all places—had been calculated from the start. Every word, every pause, every thread she pulled was meant to box him into a corner where refusing her was worse than accepting. He hadn’t seen it coming, and he hated that.
“You’re just forcing my hand,” he said. “You won’t like the slap it gives you.”
“I don’t really care.”
Veridia closed the distance between them, and once again, Kai’s personal space was crowded with her strong… scent. It almost gave him a headache. She met his eyes.
“I expect you to be there for the duel,” she said. “Two days before the assembly. The rumours will start by morning, and I’ve already booked the arena. There’s no way you can back out of it.”
Kai’s jaw tightened. “Even if I don’t, I haven’t accepted your terms.”
“You don’t want me to do anything for you?”
He hesitated.
If she was telling the truth, then winning meant she’d owe him something, and that was not a small thing. Was she truly so confident in her victory… or was this just one piece in a much longer game? So many questions, and so little answers. That was frustrating.
“You know,” he said slowly, “I don’t kill Mages during duels. But this… this whole thing? It’s making me pretty mad. I don’t like being a pawn.”
Her lips curved into a smirk. “Then just win.”
Before he could respond, she turned and walked away, opening the door as if the conversation had already ended. She didn’t look back.
Kai stood there, still and silent, watching the sliver of night sky through the open doorway. Somewhere beyond the walls, music from the banquet floated faintly through the air, but it no longer felt like the same night.
The banquet had suddenly turned far messier than he’d expected.
***
Kai didn’t return to the banquet until a good thirty minutes after Veridia had left. The change in atmosphere was immediate. The gazes he received were no longer the casual curiosity from earlier. Some were wide with disbelief, others narrowed in suspicion, and a few looked at him as if he were already a dead man walking.
He had no idea what Veridia had told them, but he could guess well enough. And she wasn’t even there anymore, having slipped out after dropping yet another headache in his lap.
The worst part was, he could do nothing about it. From the start, Veridia had decided on the duel and dragged him into it with no room for refusal. His reputation was too important right now; if rumours spread of a challenge and he failed to show, the damage to his standing before the assembly would be far too great. She’d made sure of that.
But Kai had no intention of letting it end there. Whatever game Veridia was playing, he would make sure she had no will to play anything like it with him again.
His subordinates were visibly unsettled when he reappeared. Leopold, in particular, looked pale, and even Duke Blackwood stepped away from the nobles he had been entertaining to quietly ask what had happened. Kai gave them the simplest answer he could. He hadn’t done anything, and Veridia had come looking for trouble.
He promised to explain later. Too many eyes were on him now, and there was another matter that needed handling—the two women from earlier. Hours had passed since their initial conversation, and Kai wanted answers. At least one problem needed to be put behind him tonight.
Fortunately, it seemed his plan had worked.
When Kai finally spoke to Baroness Marren and Viscountess Veassa, they didn’t waste time circling around the matter. Both agreed to help him, on one condition: that what he offered was exactly as he promised. They made it very clear they wouldn’t back out simply because the person they despised would also gain from it.
Just as Kai had expected, neither of them could stomach the thought of the other walking away with an advantage they had turned down. Refusal would only mean handing the other more power, and that was something neither of them could afford.
And since the arrangement was only temporary—just until the assembly—they begrudgingly agreed to keep themselves in check, even if they still spat venom at each other whenever they spoke. It was a tactic Kai knew well; his master had used the same strategy on him once. Give both sides an incentive and the promise that their cooperation was short-lived, and suddenly the enemy across the table wasn’t quite so unbearable. A week of tolerance in exchange for power was a deal almost anyone would take.
That didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to wring more out of it. Both immediately started testing the boundaries, even going so far as to bring up the idea of an engagement with Leopold. The man rejected the suggestion outright, claiming he was “too young” to think about marriage, a blatant lie if Kai had ever heard one. Judging by his expression, Leopold had already spoken to their daughters and decided he wanted nothing to do with them.
In the end, Kai suspected he was the only one finding any amusement in the situation mainly because he was watching everyone else get tangled in their own petty games while he, unfortunately, kept getting tangled in bigger ones.
After the banquet concluded, he gathered his close people and explained what had happened with Veridia, leaving out the part about her doubting his identity and the fact that she had backed him into a duel.
Duke Blackwood immediately called it ridiculous, especially so close to the assembly.
Kai only shrugged. “Our opponents are exactly that ridiculous.”
When they all woke the next morning, Kai’s fears proved justified.
Word had spread like wildfire. Every noble breakfast table in the city was buzzing with talk of a duel—his duel—with Veridia. No one seemed to know the exact reason for it, but the one detail everyone agreed on was that it was a blood duel.
That alone was enough to whip the noble circles into a frenzy.
Speculation poured in from every direction. Some claimed it was a matter of personal insult, others whispered about a political grudge, and a few had already spun wild tales of secret vendettas and ancient debts.
When Kai overheard the first of these rumours, his jaw clenched so tightly it ached.
How fucking dare she?
***
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