Unlike the Elysium Order, Lady Ylva hadn’t imposed any stress filled exercise programs. No waking up in the morning to run several miles, no weight room, no sparring. Living in relative peace for a full year had done wonders for her sense of laziness.
As Nel leaned against the wall back in the safety of the domain, she considered restarting her old training. Surely she would be of more use to Lady Ylva if she had the physical capabilities to, at the very least, flee effectively from immediate threats.
Of course, none of that would matter if that demon decided to burst through the doors and finish her off.
Nel took several minutes to calm her pounding heart. In all that time, the devil never broke through the door.
He
Sighing, Nel pressed her forehead against a cool marble column. She glanced down at the brass sphere in her hands. He would be back. While he didn’t come with her to watch her scry on the gunk inside and he hadn’t set a later date for her to deliver whatever information she gleaned from it, he would definitely be back.
Fondling the black skull attached to the band around her neck, Nel mumbled to herself, “where has Lady Ylva gone?” Nel would be feeling much better if she were around.
With a start, Nel glanced down at herself. Maybe it was a good thing that Lady Ylva was gone. She was in no way presentable as she was now. Her clothes were a mess, her hair was matted with sweat, and, though the devil had done something to remove her burns, he hadn’t done anything to remove the dirt that had stuck to her clothes and skin.
With renewed vigor, Nel headed straight for the bath.
After soaking away her harrowing experience outside the domain–a process that took a good hour, at least–Nel found a set of fresh clothing and retired to the throne room to await Lady Ylva’s return. As she waited, she went over exactly what she would say in her report.
Elysium habits died hard, when they weren’t about exercise that is. As an augur, Nel had given her fair share of reports to superiors. Mostly about things she had seen from afar. This time it was about something in person, and that changed things. There were so many personal things that she wasn’t sure she was going to share. Her worries about the future, for instance.
A clock struck somewhere within the domain–added for Eva’s friends, who had needed to know when to wake up and when to eat in the otherwise time-averse domain.
Eight chimes.
Nearly three hours since Nel had left the domain. A good two and a half since she had met the devil. An hour and a half since she moved to kneel at her place on the throne’s right side.
And almost a full day since she last saw Lady Ylva.
Biting her lip, Nel changed locations. She moved through the domain, passing over the bottomless pit and through one of the alcoves on the side.
The heavy scent of frankincense stung Nel’s nose as she maneuvered through the augur room to her altar.
Nel found herself at a loss.
She lacked any sort of fetter for Ylva. Something within the domain would
Neither did she have a fetter for Alicia. She would be the easier of the two to search out a stray hair, but Nel wasn’t fond of the idea of being caught snooping about the other servant’s things should they return.
With a groan of frustration, Nel decided to cycle through her existing fetters. She dismissed Shalise’s hair right out–seeing anything from that would require standing in the waters–and started with Eva.
Something she should have done as soon as she escaped from the devil.
Eva looked none the worse for wear. Tired by the looks of things, but otherwise unharmed by any devils that may have attacked. Arachne held her in her arms as they both slept on the couch.
Zoe was nowhere in sight, so Nel moved on to her fetter next. Like Eva, she was asleep. Unlike Eva, she slept in an actual bed.
After spending a moment looking around and making certain that there was nothing worth raising the alarm over, Nel moved on.
A handful of others cycled through with nothing of particular happening to note. Sawyer’s was blank as always, as was the boy known as Hugo.
She found Juliana searching through the shelves of a musky library. Unusual, but Nel couldn’t find anything worth watching after a minute. The girl was just reading. Diablery books, by the looks of things.
Eventually, Nel was left with only a single fetter left.
A brass sphere she had clipped to her belt by way of the rotating rings.
