“More slander against the nuns, Martina?” Catherine still did not look up. She reached into her desk and pulled out some silver tool Martina couldn’t recognize if her life depended on it. The secretary slowly ran it over the edges of her long fingernails.
“It isn’t slander if it is true.”
“You don’t need to justify yourself to me,” she said in a sickly sweet voice as she switched hands. “I don’t care one way or the other.”
“Just get it done.” Martina cut off the phone before her secretary could say another word. Nothing good could come from prolonged exposure to the woman.
With a sigh, Martina settled further in her chair. The headrest cradled her as she shut her eyes. There was not much to actually do. Even with the extra help she’d acquired, everything required time to fully ferment.
Rumors spread like wildfire–a fact Martina was counting on. Forcing a direct conflict between the school and the Elysium Order would only end up with her being the villain. Yet there were few things that could accelerate the spread of the wildfire. Her latest, albeit unknowing assistant provided the only real fuel to the flames that could be added.
Everything else relied on time and patience.
Martina Turner had never been one for virtues.
Ylva’s Domain: Exploration
Author’s Note: This was supposed to be a quick thing. It got away from me. Rather than cut it down, I decided to post the entire thing. Make sure you have time for reading a full length chapter.
Nel’s body shook as a chilly breeze swept through the throne room. Her back pressed up against the marble throne. Nel tried to shrink her body in on itself without looking like she was.
A tight metal collar around her neck and a few leather straps around the rest of her body was not enough to keep her warm.
If she had her focus, the problem could easily be rectified. A simple warming spell was no issue for a mage of her talents. Warming spells shouldn’t be an issue for any thaumaturge that was not a water mage. The only real trick was not setting the temperature too high.
Thoughts of heat only made the next breeze feel colder. A shiver wracked up and down her spine. Her nose snuffled as she breathed out with a shudder.
It had been at least three days since she last cried. Maybe four. It was difficult to tell. She only had her meals and sleep cycle to tell the time. Those seemed to be further apart than normal meals might be, though not fasting breakfast was nice.
For almost two days after she started living inside Ylva’s domain, Nel felt certain she was going to starve to death. Eva stopped by with a handful of supplies and almost offhandedly mentioned that mortals required food and adequate rest among other things. After that, Ylva led Nel by the collar into one of the throne room’s antechambers.
A feast lay out on a table the size of a house. Every square inch had food piled on. Meats, cheese, wines, breads, and plenty Nel couldn’t identify. The smell upon entering the room overwhelmed Nel to the point where drool flowed freely down her chin.
She didn’t care in the least.
When Ylva finally released her collar, Nel all but dove into the table. She tried her hardest to sample one of everything. There was simply too much. Plenty of the food was sure to be against several Elysium regulations, the wine least of all.
Whatever rules the Elysium Order had just didn’t apply any longer. While the order didn’t fight demons, wasn’t meant to fight demons, and never sought demons out, any sister would still have been thrown out of the order for consorting with the creatures. An augur would be executed without hesitation or trial.
So Nel gorged herself on everything all the same. She was in tears by the end. Those tears were the first tears that weren’t from self-pity or general dysphoria.
With her stomach distending almost painfully against the leather binding around her waist, Ylva latched a finger on her collar once again. She led Nel out of the fanciful dining hall by the neck.
It wasn’t until two days and several meals later that Nel actually stopped to look around the dining hall. Six white marble pillars stretched high above her head. Crisscrossing arches held up a solid black ceiling. From the center dangled a massive chandelier. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen.
They were constructed out of bones.
Six points spread out from the center. They curved slightly down before angling back up. Ribcages, arms, hands, feet, spines, and plenty more an osteologist would have a field day with. At the end of each point were six human skulls, each facing a different direction. Brilliant light poured out of the sockets.
