Aiden hummed a tune as he strolled down the streets of the capital city. It was an old song from a ballad he knew about a lady who’d cheated on her husband with one of the gods only to find out that her husband was a god, too.

  The outcome of having created such a song in Aiden’s old life had been the death of the ballad at the hands of a bunch of religious fanatics. Still, the tune was catchy, and Aiden liked it.

  Beside him, Ded paid attention to everything that moved and breathed.

  They were out of the slums of the capital city now. Walking casually within the civilized part of the city, Aiden couldn’t help but take in the scenery around him.

  The sun was high in the sky, hot as the season demanded. By his estimated, it was noon, perhaps a little past noon. Evening was likely just around the corner.

  The streets were flanked by tall buildings, some of stone and others of bricks. A man walked out of one of them with what looked like a fresh haircut, lined properly at the front and cut very low on one side.

  Around them the street was busy with people bustling about with all intents and purposes. There was a woman who walked happily with her child seating on her shoulder, pointing things out with childish enthusiasm. For everything he pointed out and spoke about, his mother had a kind word and a motherly smile for.

  “I still don’t understand what we went to get?” Ded said as they turned a corner.

  “What’s there to understand?” Aiden replied.

  Ded led them down the new street of buildings. “I’m just wondering why we couldn’t just get it from one of the stores in the castle or even around here.”

  “Because they don’t sell what I wanted in the castle or around here.”

  Ded had come a long way from being the soldier who had guided Aiden and the others to the forest in search of goblins so long ago.

  It was not that he had grown stronger or anything like that. At least not to Aiden. After all, even if he had grown stronger, Aiden doubted that he would be able to tell without learning of his level.

  The change was in Ded’s interaction with him. Gone was the man that spoke to him as a soldier would speak to a superior. Ded still spoke to him with respect, but now he was not so stiff with his words.

  “What don’t they sell in the castle?” Ded asked.

  “This.” Aiden pulled out a small orb the size of his thumb from one of his pockets of his soldier’s belt and tossed it up casually.

  Ded squinted, unable to tell what it was. “And that is?”

  Aiden tossed it at him, and he caught it.

  Ded held the orb to the light and saw the enchantment on it. “I’m not sure I know what this is.”

  Aiden wasn’t surprised. Ded was a [Scout] operating in a time when the enchantment was in the process of being made illegal. It would’ve been more worrying if the man had known what it was.

  “That,” Aiden said, “is an enchantment that nobody in the castle has or will admit to having. The same thing applies for any civilized business enterprise.”

  Ded was still looking at the orb. “I still don’t know what it is.”

  “Understandable.”

  “But if no one would admit to having it,” Ded said, lowering the orb, “then how did you learn about it? How do you know where to find it?”

  “I met a few adventurers during my trip,” Aiden answered. “And they told me about it.”

  Ded’s expression told Aiden that the [Scout] believed that he wasn’t being told the whole truth. However, the man’s station was too low for him to go around questioning Aiden so he was in no hurry to press the matter.

  “What’s it called?” he asked.

  Aiden chuckled as Ded came to a stop and he stopped beside him.

  “If I told you that,” Aiden said. “Then you will have knowledge of a crime that you shouldn’t have knowledge of.”

  Ded looked uncomfortable as he handed the orb back to Aiden. Taking it, Aiden slipped it back into its designated pocket.

  “Why are we stopping?” he asked.

  Ded had a frown on his face now that he had returned his attention to the path in front of them. He was the one leading them right now because he was supposed to be the only one that knew their next destination between the both of them.

  “I believe we are being followed,” Ded answered.

  Aiden couldn’t say that he was surprised. He looked like a man of means and hadn’t corrected the men at the shop when they’d referred to him as a lord. Even though he’d dropped Shewa’s name as a reference to how he’d learnt of them, it was only reasonable that they would want to know which noble family he was from.

  “Ignore them,” he told Ded.

  “Are you sure?” Ded looked very skeptical, worried too. “They could become a problem with what we are about to do.”

  Aiden waved a dismissive hand. “They won’t be. Just take me to where we need to go.”

  Ded looked reluctant for a moment but did not object. He resumed his steps and Aiden fell into pace beside him.

  “Thank you again,” Ded said as they approached a new building. “The gods know I don’t make enough to afford these things.”

  He wore a vambrace around each forearm and had drawn his sleeves over them for concealment.

  “It’s the least I could do,” Aiden answered.

  The vambraces were among the things that they’d gotten from the shop earlier. Each one had a defensive force enchantment. From the results of their test before purchasing them at what Aiden could only describe as an extortionist price, they were designed to project a shield of force that lasted for the space of three seconds and kept almost any attack out.

  From the explanation the man at the counter had given them, the vambraces dispelled the force of the attack, scattering it about so that the person wearing them would not have to worry about the weight of the blow.

  “Just be sure to use them well,” Aiden said as they came to a stop in front of a building.

  “I will.”

  Looking up at the building, Aiden couldn’t help but get the feeling that whoever had built it had been going for a house not an office space.

  It was four floors high and looked more like a mansion that had somehow turned into an office building halfway up.

  The front had a central door that was red against its brown walls with windows on both sides. But the exteriors of the floors above looked nothing like a mansion. The first floor looked as if it held bedrooms with small windows that gave you hints of the washrooms. The ones above that, however, were just small windows that were customary for such small-scale offices in the kingdom.

  Aiden thumbed at the building. “This it?”

  “Yes,” Ded answered, then knocked on the door.

  “And how exactly did you find him?” Aiden asked while they waited.

  “By following your instructions, actually,” Ded said. “I came to this part of the city and asked around for information. Like you told me, I asked around for anyone who could help me find people with no other leads but their names.”

  Aiden nodded as Ded spoke. “And how many people did you meet before this guy?”

  “Eight.”

  Aiden grunted in appreciation. “You really went through a lot.”

  “Not really,” Ded replied. “The truth is that the fifth person, a lady, directed me here. She told me about this guy and some other guy but said that this guy was very expensive and didn’t really like taking jobs.”

  “So, you didn’t bother going to him until the eighth person?” Aiden answered, knocking on the door once more.

  If they seemed out of place, the only thing that showed it was in the small half-hidden glances they got from passers-by. Personally, Aiden figured that they only got the looks because of his trench coat. It wasn’t a style of Nastild, after all.

  Still, every now and again one noble or the other decided to try their hand at starting a fashion trend.

  Most of the people glancing at them probably categorized him as some young lord trying a fashion trend that probably wouldn’t take.

  At least not until winter.

  The sound of door locks drew Aiden’s attention from the conversation. When the door opened, it was to a young boy around Aiden’s age, maybe a year younger.

  “Good day,” the boy greeted.

  His head of blond hair left in what looked like something untouched since getting up from bed in the morning made him look tired. His green eyes danced in their sockets, bouncing from Aiden to Ded, probably wondering who the customer was supposed to be.

  Probably new, Aiden thought. Anyone who’d been working for any information agency long enough would assume that he was the customer and Ded was the tag along.

  “Good day,” Ded greeted in return. “We’re here to see, Falafa.”

  “Is Mr. Falava expecting you?” the boy asked.

  Aiden slipped his hands into his coat pockets. “Nope.”

  “Would you like to make an appointment?” the boy asked him.

  Aiden looked down at the floor where the doorline was. Unsurprisingly, he found a few runes and sigils, enchantments designed for one purpose or the other.

  He squinted reflexively, making out two enchantments he recognized easily. One was designed for mild mental disorientation and the other was for ambient mana disruption.

  Each enchantment was engraved in a fluid style that made it difficult to discern what they were for at a glance. Unlike spells, enchantments were more like handwriting, the more powerful an [Enchanter] became. A flurry here or there would not render the enchantment invalid.

  That way [Enchanter] classes masked their enchantments by making it harder to read yet still viable. If enchantments were like the alphabets written on Microsoft word, strong [Enchanters] created their own as if writing in cursive.

  It took a lot of skill and confidence to do such a thing without worrying that your enchantment would not work.

  “Is it possible for us to meet him now?” Aiden asked amiably. “Is he with a guest?”

  The boy’s eyes glanced momentarily at the enchantments on the ground. It was a quick glance, a worried glance fast enough to go unnoticed to the untrained eye. He was seeking assurance.

  His hand settled on something behind the door.

  “I was here before,” Ded explained. “A few times, actually. I met… what’s his name? The other kid. Jatao? Maybe if you ask him, he’ll tell you.”

  The name brought a frown to the boy’s face.

  “Jatao doesn’t work for Mr. Falava anymore,” he said.

  “Oh.” Ded sounded crestfallen. “That’s unfortunate.”

  “It is,” the boy agreed with a touch of spite that had Aiden cocking a brow. “He was caught stealing from Mr. Falava, so he had to be let go.”

  “And now Mr. Falava’s guest have to have a conversation outside his office instead of a waiting room because of it?” Aiden asked. “Not very business-like.”

  The boy shot Aiden a dark look, for Ded, however, he had a cautious one.

  I guess that makes me the spoilt, trouble making noble and Ded the older bodyguard.

  “If you just leave your name and address, I’ll be more than happy to let Mr. Falava know,” the boy said. “Then he will send for you when he is ready.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Aiden looked at Ded. “Was it like this the first time you came?”

  “No.” Ded shook his head. “The other kid was nicer.”

  “I’m eighteen,” the boy said.

  “Having access to your interface does not make you a grown up,” Aiden said reflexively. “That takes a lot more.”

  In his periphery he caught one of the enchantments glow a soft purple. A frown creased his brow.

  “Please don’t do that,” he said as his thoughts slowly grew hazy.

  There was a staggering sound to his side and he caught Ded by placing a hand to his head and he caught himself against the wall.

  If Ded didn’t get put down immediately, then it meant that the enchantment wasn’t of any high level.

  Aiden gritted his teeth, mentally pushing away the haziness.

  The boy in front of him was nowhere near apologetic as he said, “You should leave now.”

  “Poor customer service,” Aiden muttered under his breath as he reached for his soldier’s belt.

  His hand slipped into one of the pockets and he hesitated. This was a business area. Combat in areas like this was severely frowned upon, though he was fairly certain that he could get away with it.

  “I won’t warn you again, kid,” he growled.

  The boy stepped back but kept his hand firmly on the door as he continued to channel mana into the enchantment.

  Aiden sucked in a deep breath then let it out. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  He pulled out an enchanted item from his pocket and was beginning to channel mana into it when a voice came from within the building.

  “That’s enough, Croate.”

  There was a hesitant pause from the boy before the enchantment on the floor dimmed until it stopped glowing.

  Ded still remained against the wall, keeping himself upright. Aiden’s mental haze disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.

  Aiden did his best not to shoot the boy a dark look.

  “Didn’t anyone tell you not to leave so much power in the hands of a child,” he said, making his voice carry into the building.

  “Judging by that soldier belt of yours,” the voice that had spoken said, “I take it you should also be saying that to someone else, young lord.”

  Aiden took a moment to check on Ded. Placing a steadying hand on the soldier’s shoulder, he asked, “You good?”

  Ded nodded slowly, hand still on his head. “Just got a splitting headache at the back of my head.”

  “Let me see.” Aiden moved closer, parting his hair at the back of his head. The enchantment symbol that he expected to find was still there. Now, however, it was glowing a very soft blue. It was so soft that you had to part the hair to see it. “You’re fine, just wait it out.”

  Aiden returned his attention to whoever was inside. “Are we still standing out here?” he asked. “Or are you going to invite us in?”

  “Will you harm my assistant if I let you in?”

  Aiden’s eyes moved to the boy. The boy remained confident, unapologetic.

  “Will you stop me?”

  There was a moment of hesitation before a response came.

  “No.”

  Aiden watched the boy’s heart drop to his stomach. The boy was suddenly pale. With a sigh, Aiden shook his head.

  “I’m not going to harm your assistant,” he said. “You don’t beat a child for eating sand.”

  “You don’t beat a child at all,” the voice answered. “Come on in. I wasn’t expecting you, but I can definitely say that it’s good to see you, Lord Lacheart.”

  …

  Mr. Falava was a tall man with a heavy build. With a rough head of hair and tanned, weathered skin, he had the look of a man who’d spent both his childhood and his adulthood toiling on a battlefield.

  A scar ran vertically down his right eye, leaving the pupil a dull grey so that only his brown left pupil was normal. Most people would assume he was blind in his right eye, but Aiden knew better.

  Mr. Falava had as good a vision as anyone in both eyes.

  Mr. Falava’s office was situated on the highest floor of the building, the farthest from the building’s entry. They’d climbed the stairs while Ded struggled to recover from his headache. The entire journey was done in silence, and they’d left his assistant, Croate, at the door.

  The office space itself was the farthest thing from spacious. Whatever space it had was littered in parchments of different kinds carrying pieces of information of different kinds. It was difficult to take a step without stepping on something that looked or seemed important.

  Ded went through the difficult ordeal of stepping around each parchment, but while Aiden had started that way, the moment he noticed Falava casually stepping on everything, he did the same.

  At the end of the office, right in front of the only window present, Falava took a seat behind the only desk in the room. He sat back like a tired man and gestured at the three chairs on the other side.

  “Please,” he said. “Sit.”

  Aiden helped guide Ded into his seat before taking his own on the other side. Seated, Ded leaned to the side, still cradling his head in one hand.

  “How do you feel?” Aiden asked him.

  Ded shook his head, wincing from the action. “Terrible. It’s like a ground elemental is practicing in my head.”

  “I do apologize for that,” Falava said, then went opening a desk drawer. “I should have an enchantment to help fix that. I know that thing shouldn’t pack enough force to cause such a lasting harm.”

  Aiden didn’t know if another mental enchantment was a good idea. For all he could surmise, whatever enchantment his assistant had used was clashing with whatever enchantment had been engraved on Ded’s head.

  Torn between leaving Ded to power through the pain and risk more pain at the chance of relief, he asked, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  Normally, he would have the answer to that, but mental enchantments hadn’t ever really been his specialty, and enchantments of the level of what Ded was working with had always been beyond his true understanding.

  He had no idea how it would react to another mind enchantment.

  “It is,” Falava answered him. “Trust me. I’ve seen a few people get affected this way.”

  He placed a sheet of paper on the table then tapped it once. The moment he tapped it, it erupted in flames like a magician’s flaming card, the likes of which they used when they wanted to present a little dazzle.

  Aiden had caught the enchantment of the piece of paper before it had been activated so the notification that his interface gave him did not come as a surprise.

  [You have encountered a high density mana environment]

  [Mana regeneration speed is increased by 30%]

  [Speed increase lasts until you exit high density mana environment]

  Aiden looked around the office.

  He ignored the mess that reminded him of the office space of the master of the Order, looking for what he knew had to be present. He found it a moment later at the edge of the office.

  A mana purifier, he noted. It was a small device, engineered by [Artificers]. It took at least twelve hours to accumulate mana, then three hours to purify it. Once the device is activated, the result was a steady flow of pure untainted mana.

  Right now, they were sitting in a room filled with pure mana that helped with mana regen, untainted by the mixture of mana from other sources that existed in the ambient mana.

  “Know what that is?” Falava asked, drawing Aiden’s attention back to him.

  Aiden gave him an aloof look. “I’ve seen it somewhere, I think. But no.”

  “It’s a mana purifier,” Falava said. “Purifies the mana in the air. It’s like breathing in good air.”

  Aiden nodded in understanding. “How did you know that we were around?”

  “I didn’t,” Falava answered. “Anytime my assistant uses one of my safety features like the one used on you and your friend, I get alerted up here. Believe me, I was coming down to deal with you guys.”

  “That makes sense,” Aiden noted.

  “Alright then, Lord Lacheart,” Falava said when Ded looked like he was in a little less pain. “To what do I owe this visit?”

  “Zen,” he said. “Shewa, Tanor, Vran, Balt.”

  Falava raised his brows in question. “I’ll need you to use more words.”

  “Thirty gold coins for each name,” Aiden said. “My friend over here paid you to gain information on them. There was a name you could not get any update on, so I left it out.”

  Falava’s brows drew together in recognition.

  “Olstead,” he muttered, sounding like a man who’d just remembered his rival.

  “Shewa, too,” Aiden said. “However, I have left out Olstead because I no longer need any information on the person.”

  Falava frowned. “Are you sure?”

  Somehow, he reminded Aiden of a dog who’d spent so long chasing down prey just for its owner to stop it due to a lack of interest.

  “I’m sure,” Aiden replied. “I already found the person, so they don’t matter anymore.”

  “Where?” Falava’s frown deepened.

  Aiden held back a sigh. This was the problem with King Brandis’s top secret investigator and capital city snitch.

  Falava had been planted within the city as the best private investigator. As such, there was scarcely a secret in the capital city that he did not know. He had a relationship with every other investigator and information broker in the city that let him know anything. He knew who was missing and who was looking for who was missing.

  He knew almost everything that happened among the nobles in the city and the simple citizens. His presence played a part in helping the crown understand what was needed to keep the city happy as well as punish whoever needed to be punished.

  But he was also like a dog with a bone. If you gave him a task, your duty was to let him see it to the end.

  “Mr. Fala—”

  “Where,” Falava interrupted him, “did you find them. I spent so much time looking for them and I didn’t even get as much as a whisper. I don’t even know if they are male or female.”

  Aiden would’ve liked to say that Olstead was obviously a male name, but Olstead was the only Olstead he knew or had ever heard of before.

  At this point, he was beginning to wonder if the man had been born in the Order.

  “I didn’t find him, he found me.” Aiden checked on Ded again. He looked like he was doing alright. “Now, about Shewa. Any news?”

  Falava looked like he wanted to press the Olstead matter, but he didn’t.

  “Not much,” he answered. “So far, all I’ve got is that she’s actually property.”

  Aiden frowned. “Property?”

  “Yes. The last update I got spoke of a girl out in Selantri, just recently returned to a slave trader for killing her master. Turns out she was sold back to the slave trader by the man’s son.”

  Aiden didn’t know if that was the Shewa he was looking for, but it was worth checking out. The only real piece of information he’d had about her past was that it had been dark and traumatic. But she’d never given him the details.

  Being sold into slavery and killing your master just to be sold back sounded dark and traumatic enough.

  “Isn’t Selantri off the coast of Nel Quan?” he asked.

  Falava nodded. “Just past the enigmatic tribe of Estavan.”

  Aiden only needed a moment of thought before shaking his head. No matter how fast and strong the jepat he was riding was, by the time he got there, she’d be long gone. Which meant that for her, what he needed wasn’t a location.

  “Do you have the name of the slave trader?”

  “Darl,” Falava answered with a touch of spite. “Darl of Stakehead.”

  Culturally speaking, everyone in the kingdom of Bandiv hated slavery. From what Aiden could remember, it had something to do with how the first people to settle on Bandiv had actually been runaway slaves from some kingdom somewhere.

  “Thank you,” Aiden said. Again, he checked on Ded with a glance. The soldier seemed to be asleep, eyes closed and breathing steady. “What of the others?”

  Falava sat back and shrugged. “None of them were really that difficult. Personally, I’d say that you overpaid for the pieces of information.”

  “Possibly.” Aiden shrugged. “But it was a considered possibility when I was making the payments.”

  “Alright. I was going to offer you a refund, but I don’t think you need it.” Falava’s eyes glanced over to Ded but he didn’t say anything. “I’ll start with Zen. That one was easy. Orphan boy living with his younger sister in Dentis. He does odd jobs to make a living. Has a habit of asking for do-overs anytime he doesn’t get a job done right.”

  That sounded like Zen. When Aiden had first met him, he’d always demanded a do-over anytime he’d lost a sparring match or gotten a technique wrong. It was funny how ‘do over’ were the exact words he liked to use.

  But he didn’t remember Zen having lived in Dentis.

  Then again, he did say that he’d moved to Mecatau… realization dawned on Aiden as his next thoughts bubbled up. After his hometown was attacked by raiders.

  “And Tanor?” Aiden asked.

  “Young lad,” Falava said with a touch of pride. “Just graduated from some theoretical magic school in Dandalat in the south. Turns out he graduated top of his class. Got the [Spellsword] class and has been traveling the world, apparently. He was near Tears of the Draug three days ago.”

  That sounded like Tanor. He was always the intelligent magical fighter in the group. He was almost as talkative as Zen but most of the things he had to say tended to be random knowledge.

  “Tears of the Draug,” Aiden muttered. “That’s a strange place to be.”

  “Not really,” Falava said with a shrug. “People who want to study more about necromancy-based magic tend to stop by the place. They say it got its name from its murky green color which they said is the result of a battle against a very powerful necromancer many years ago.”

  Aiden knew the story. The necromancer had grown an army of Draugs. They’d waged a war against him at the sea and he had died along with scores of enemies.

  The sea had ended up being his grave and his undead mana had polluted it over time.

  Yea, Aiden concluded. I can definitely see him going there for curiosity purposes.

  “Vran?”

  “Mercenary in the east coast of Bandiv,” Falava answered easily. “I think they called themselves the Outcasts.”

  Aiden had never heard of them. But they also weren’t very important. Now that he’d spent some time on Nastild, he’d come to the realization that while those he’d worked with in his past lives had been competent and reliable, it had only been because of the situation they had been in.

  The Order had trained them to be capable and it had trained him to be able to lead them. They had come to obey him and have his back as soldiers in an army would towards their superiors.

  They won’t be useful to me now, he thought.

  And apart from Zen, and Olstead who had a bloodline gift from his ancestors who were claimed to be dragon riders by the master of the Order, the others were replaceable.

  He held on to Zen because Zen had been his actual friend, and his class had its good uses. He knew the man well enough to get along with him and actually train him to be strong. Shewa was simply the attachment of having dated her for so long, and a little guilt for being part of the reason they’d broken up in the end.

  Everyone else was not necessary. They were only as useful as the Order had made them. Ultimately, Aiden had to let them go.

  He would save Shewa, though. He just couldn’t imagine knowing that she was in the clutches of slavery and he would just leave her there.

  It doesn’t matter how toxic she was.

  “And Balt?” he asked, ready to return to the palace. He couldn’t see the position of the sun from the single window in the room, but he was certain it was getting late.

  It would not be a good idea to be late for his meeting with the [Sage].

  “Balt’s an instructor for a royal house in the nomadic tribe west of Bandiv,” Falava answered.

  “The nomadic tribe?” Aiden asked for clarification.

  Falava nodded.

  Isn’t the head of the Vilion family fighting against some nomadic tribe outside the kingdom?

  Aiden wondered if that nomadic tribe had anything to do with it.

  “Well, thank you for your time.” Aiden got up, placing a gentle hand on Ded’s shoulder to wake him up.

  The soldier jerked suddenly, showing that he’d actually been asleep. For some reason, it made Aiden smile.

  Ded looked up at Aiden and Aiden gestured to the door with a nod.

  “Time to go,” he told him.

  “Are you sure you need nothing else, Lord Lacheart?” Falava asked.

  “We’re good.”

  Ded got up from his chair and they made their way to the exit. Aiden opened the door and was about to step out after Ded when Falava spoke again.

  “Where you really going to harm my assistant?” he asked.

  Aiden looked back at him. “Not really. Just train him better, not everyone’s as nice as me.”

  “Thank you,” Falava said. “You’re as merciful as you are wrathful, so I was worried about it. He might be a bit of a spoilt child, but I know his dad so…”

  He let the words trail off, leaving Aiden to complete the sentence by himself.

  Aiden, however, was interested in more interesting things. “I’m as merciful as I am wrathful?”

  “You’re quite famous already,” Falava explained. “Your actions in the Naranoff territory have reached the ears of anyone who’s anyone.”

  Aiden groaned. He really didn’t want to have to deal with this.

  And you won’t.

  “The poachers,” Falava was saying. “The duel. It’s amazing how you showed mercy. Going up against the church at your age is definitely something to remember.”

  Aiden’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Going up against the church?”

  “Not everyone can say no to the church, especially when it concerns a duel under the supervision.”

  Aiden blinked, growing more confused.

  “For what it’s worth,” Falava got up. “Even if the church demanded that you kill her, I think you did the right thing by not killing her.”

  What the hell kind of rumor is Lord Naranoff spreading?

  “The hand of mercy,” Falava said.

  “What’s that?” Aiden asked.

  “You haven’t heard it?” Falava chuckled. “That’s what they’re calling you. The Hand of Mercy.”

  I guess he is keeping his word, Aiden thought. At least it’s better than Wrathful Mercy.

  Aiden shrugged. “I’ll be honest,” he said not meaning it. “It doesn’t feel bad to be famous.”

  With that, he stepped out of the office and closed the door behind him. They left the office and the building. Ded spared a chastised looking Croate an angry look but said nothing.

  When they were finally out into the open and under the slowing growing evening sky, Ded asked, “Where next?”

  With three bank cards in his pockets, one from the palace with his name on it and two forgeries of pure black, he only had one answer.

  “The palace.”

  He was ready for his journey tomorrow. There was only one part of Bandiv he was going to miss, if he was being honest, and it was a person.

  He can always come with, he thought but shook his head.

  As fun as it sounded, what he had to do was not for the unprepared and those who could not place all their trust in him.

  “Besides,” he muttered, unable to leave the words as thoughts, “he will not leave his king.”

  “What was that?” Ded asked.

  Aiden shook his head, leading them down the road. “Nothing, Ded. Nothing.”