Note: I missed yesterday's posting so I'm posting 2 chapters right now! Enjoy!

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Loveless

  A pair of softly glowing green eyes fixed on Atn’s seventh prihey cked the warmth the nymph had shown when she first appeared, but Bram wasn’t overly ed. He’d been the subject of icy gres all his life and knew how to returh equal venom.

  She didn’t reply to his procmation of a bargaiher, but Bram didn’t mind this breach of etiquette. Ign him astime enjoyed by most of the nobles in the Sn’s court. Bram had learo bee numb to being overlooked.

  “Maybe she didn’t hear you,” Bridget whispered from behind.

  “She heard me… This is just how the great game is pyed.”

  “So, it’s a power move?”

  Bram nodded.

  tempting to subtly show their rivals who had the advantage was another favorite pastime in the Imperium, and this nymph with her haughty dispy was attempting to prove her dominance over the prince.

  Bram sighed inwardly.

  Recalling his dark past made him feel on edge, which wasn’t good when in the middle of iations.

  “Mother…”

  He quickly tamped down on his ill feelings, repg them with a smile that could light up a room, one he’d used often to make the dies of the Pillow Court swoon. For this, he’d learned from the Delightful Troupe, was a reliable way to deal with someone uhe sway of the seven ‘Great Evils’ at the root of corrupted desire…irresistible charm.

  “We’ve e tain.”

  It wasn’t just his voice which dripped with charm that caused the nymph’s face to flush. Bram’s looks were irresistible when he hem to be. It’s why she lost her icy gre, repced instead by a wanton expression capped by the biting of her lower lip.

  Here roof that she had no trol over her desires. It was a weakness he could exploit.

  “Sugoi,” Hajime whispered—to which Chris added, “Some guys just ooze sex appeal.”

  “I prefer not to see that expression on Master Mina’s face,” Ravi grumbled—to which Bridget replied, “I’d probably have that face too if the prince smiled at me like that.”

  “Eh, maji?” Hajime sounded flicted—prompting Chris to say, “He’s seventeen, Bridge.”

  “A more manly than most thirty-year-olds I know,” Bridget tered.

  Bram ighe banter.

  It was hard enough to keep his focus on this nymph, who, with every gesture—the shifting of her long legs, the stretg of her torso, the boung of her chest—seemed i to seduce him. Thankfully, Bram only o shift his gaze to the Stargazers’ young sorcerers to fuel his bubbling anger and shake off the nymph’s attempts at breag his mind with wanton thoughts.

  The nymph noticed where he was looking, though she seemed to misinterpret his deferategy for i.

  “What have you e…tain with…?” asked a dreamy voice which hadn’t e from the nymph’s lips.

  A silver-haired, brown-skinned young woman rose from her seat on one of the thick roots. She was naked like the others, though she didn’t show an ounce of shame while her bare flesh was exposed to the party.

  “Alkaid…” Ravi’s voice was strained. “…What has this monster doo you?”

  The silver-haired woman, attractive by even Bram’s standards, didn’t reply. From how her gzed eyes passed over him, it didn’t look like she reized the vice master.

  “Who is she?” Bram asked.

  “She’s Kazem’s granddaughter,” Ravi answered, further expining, “Alkaid’s a prodigy of the Divination Arts. We ’t lose her to this spirit.”

  “We won’t,” Bram promised.

  “You came…tain…” Though these halting words had e from Alkaid’s lips, there was no doubt who she eaking for. “…For these children…?”

  “Yes,” Bram answered.

  This wasly true.

  He simply wao know if the mad nymph could be reasoned with, though he had every iion of puttio the sword. Especially now as he watched her pull Alkaid’s strings like an abusive puppeteer.

  “I’ve grown tired…of my lovers…” The young woman’s hand came up to cup her left breast. “Have you e…to love me in their pce…?”

  Alkaid’s other ha up to caress her cheek.

  “Will you…show me…love?”

  Despite the show, not a single member of Bram’s party seemed moved. At least not in the way the nymph intended.

  “Monster,” Hajime growled.

  Instead of desire, they felt only pity for the young woman.

  “First time sining to Aarde that I wish I’d brought my gun,” Chris weighed in.

  Instead of seeking pleasure, they sought justice against the one pulling orings.

  “No matter how sad your backstory,” Bridget’s eyes narrowed, “taking it out on an i’s just wrong…”

  Instead of sympathy for the puppeteer’s tragic ins, they felt only repulsion for her corrupted nature.

  “I do not sider myself an altruist,” Rooke up, “but even I feel disgusted by this dispy one should only expect from a god…”

  Ravi said nothing, but with the way blood leaked out of his fists, it was clear he too felt great rage at what was being doo his disciples.

  The nymph seemed uurbed by their sudden hostility though. Her focus remained fixed on the prince who was the leader of this party. Only his words mattered—and Bram didn’t disappoint in bringing down the hammer.

  “You speak of love…” There was a slight tremor in his voice. “But this…”

  After carefully l his lute on the ground beside Rowan—arguably the safest pce to be in a fight—Bram aimed the tip of his sword at Alkaid.

  “This isn’t love…” Rage simmered inside him again, though it seemed tempered by passion this time. “It’s a perversion — a corruption of love.”

  His bde shook slightly as its tip swiveled over to the nymph who sat so vulgarly on her root.

  “You who were spurned by love, betrayed by love, fotten by love,” though he too had known little about love in his short life, Bram’s voice cked sympathy for the sed nymph, “I rename you thus…Loveless. She who pys at love but o longer know it…”

  Then there came a rumbling—the ground shaking in a Bram’s words.

  How. Dare. You!

  The fel voi the air now reverberated all around them.

  Know. Love!

  To Bram, it was like a thousand ants were suddenly crawling inside his head. From the way they trembled, his panions were experieng the same.

  Lost. My. Love!

  “Holy shit!” Bridget covered her ears with shaky hands, but it did little to lessen the pain. “It’s like she’s yelling…right into my brain!”

  Deceived. By. Love!

  “She’s making all our heads hurt!” Chris’ face ched up in pain. “Hajime—”

  Fotten. By. Lo—

  “—shut her up!” the Texan roared.

  “Form into a fist…o rumblih,” Hajime ted as loud as he could, “and strike down my foe with hardened dirt!”

  Rod Dirt flew up to form a rge fist floatio the tip of Hajime’s wand. This fist seemed rger than any he had jured beflowing fiercely like an emerald jewel, and was seemingly fueled by Hajime’s heighteions.

  “Shatterstone!”

  The glowing, boulder-sized fist shot forward at tremendous speed—and still missed its target. No, this time, Hajime’s aim ot-on. It was his spell that was made to miss. One of the thick roots of the great red pine rose to block ‘Shatterstone’ before it could strike at the nymph who now had a tag above her head.

  LovelessIt was red—a sign of great danger.

  Hajime’s newly empowered ‘Shatterstone’ had such force that the collisioween the fist and the root caused an explosion loud enough to drown out the rest of Loveless’ whining while als as the signal for battle to begin.

  With Chris at his side, Bram darted forward. Their target was the silver-haired woman caught in the spsh damage of Hajime’s sorcery. A k of rock had smacked into the side of her head, and now she swayed like a marioe whose strings had fallen off. She blinked owice, and then a third time with awareness blossoming in her expression.

  “W-What…?”

  She had lost her dreamy voice. In its pce there anid fusion. Before Alkaid could scream, however, a merary’s cloak fell on her shoulders, its folds c her naked flesh.

  “It’s all right,” Bram spoke soothingly, “we’re here now.”

  Wariness remained on Alkaid’s face. “W-Who…are you?”

  “We’re pals of Ravi.” Chris, who had arrived a step after Bram, pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “He’s back over there.”

  Alkaid’s gaze drifted past Chris, past Bridget who was notg an arrow to her bow—this oh a strangely bulbous tip—past Hajime who was juring a sed ‘Shatterstone’ with his wand, and over to the blue-haired man who had a warm smile pstered on his face at seeing his disciple’s gaze on him.

  “Vice Master!” she yelled.

  “e to me!” Ravi motioned her over. “Quickly!”

  She. Is. Mine!

  Loveless’ fel voice set Bram’s teeth on edge, though this voice cked the strength it possessed before as if they were now hearihrough a wall that kept her dark influe bay.

  Laughter filled the air, girlish and impish in the same breath.

  This is all the aid I provide, came Rowan’s voice to their minds. I must trate on the exorcism…

  Bram gnced over his shoulder to discover a curious sight.

  At the other end of the hall, Rowan sat cross-legged in the air. Her eyes were closed while her lips moved as if she were busy ting plicated intations.

  “We’ll hahe rest,” he promised.

  No sooner did these words escape his lips when one of the other enthralled Stargazers—a tan-skinned youth with tattoos c his arms—leaped toward Alkaid like a beast poung on its prey. Fortunately, his bare fists could only csh against Chris who had been prepared to block the youth’s bull rush with his shield.

  “No, Merak!” Alkaid screamed.

  The youth called Merak paid no attention to her for he seemed i on pounding on Chris’ shield without care for how bloody his knuckles would get.

  Chris grunted. “It’s like I’m bullying a teenager!”

  “These addled youths will tear at your flesh with their fingernails if you go easy on them!” Bram warned.

  “Fair point!” Chris ceded.

  The Texan pushed the tan-skinned youth back with his shield, but Merak rushed at him again—and he wasn’t the only one.

  A sed girl with pale blonde hair like Bram’s and a figure more voluptuous than Alkaid’s strode forward to try and trap Kazem’s granddaughter in an embrace that would have dragged her back to Loveless’ side. Fortunately for Alkaid, the priepped in before this came to pass.

  With his left arm extended, Bram charged forward and caught the sed girl’s ne a ‘Lotharian Clotheslihat knocked her to the ground. It may have been too harsh a wrestling move to wield against a drugged oppo, but Bram couldn’t help being a little rough because he reized her.

  “You…”

  He’d met her several times in the capital’s gathering of young nobles; Phecda of House Asher, one of the granddaughters of the Dux of Acrae, and a girl who’d once been sidered a didate for marriage to Atn’s seventh prince.

  “So, this is where you ran away…”

  Though she wasn’t to be the final choice of the Sn’s advisors, Phecda didn’t wait to learn her fate. Unwilling to accept the ‘Ill-Fated Prince’ as even a prospective husband, she escaped the maations of the Sn’s court by joining a sorcerer’s , ohat was said to be based far away from the Imperium’s capital.

  “Strahat I would run into you now…”

  Their paths had split two years ago, and he never cared much for her, but Bram couldn’t help feeling the sting of Phecda’s reje even now. This young woman who y groaning on the ground served as a reminder of his past failings.

  “Boss!” Chris yelled, drawing Bram out of his refles.

  The Texan had just finished bashing the side of Merak’s face with the front of his shield, but the enthralled youth, desperate to perform his duty, g to Chris’ leg and wouldn’t let go.

  “Y’all got ining!” the Texan warned.

  Bram turo his left just in time to see a fourth Stargazer—a tall, dark-skinned man with a rugged figure, his mane of u curls framing a fierce-looking face—charge at him with reckless abandon.

  “Dubhe,” Alkaid called, “stop, please!”

  Bram had bee so distracted by Phecda’s appearahat he’d allowed this challeo take his blind side. He would’ve paid for his negligeh a savage blow to the face if an arrow with a bulbous tip hadn’t smacked the man called Dubhe in the chest a step before he reached the prinpact, the arrow’s bulbous tip exploded like a balloon, its powdery tents spilling into the air.

  “No!” Alkaid screamed.

  Kazem’s granddaughter, who’d moved to help the groaning Phecda, now looked wide-eyed as a thick cloud of white powder enveloped Dubhe.

  Meanwhile, Bram, knowing that Bridget had just used her one and only ‘Knockout Arrow’ on the dark-skinned youth, dove down to shield both Alkaid and Phecda from the white cloud which he knew was made from an alchemico derived from Milk of the Poppy, a drug that could cause a wide array of debilitating effects to one who imbibed its poison.

  Dubhe coughed, coughed some more, and then, with a moan and a groaoppled over, with his moaning tinuing even as he y writhing on the ground.

  “What did you—”

  “He’s only been drugged.” Bram’s eyes fixed oo vey his reassurance. “It will pass.”

  “A-Alkaid…?”

  Both Bram’s and Alkaid’s gazes soward the young woman lyih them.

  “Phecda!” Alkaid ed her arms around her friend. “You’re free of that monster!”

  “I… what’s happeo—”

  A pair ht blue eyes wide the sight of Bram hiding behind Alkaid’s shoulder.

  She frowned. “I…I know you…?”

  Bram’s brow creased. “Only in another life.”

  He rose to his feet while dragging both young women up with him.

  “Go to where your vice master waits.” Bram stepped past Alkaid; his longsword drawn once more. “We’ll hold the line.”

  A brief look of gratitude, and then the silver-haired young woman was dragging her fused friend back to the hall’s entrance. He hoped they would make it, although there were other threats near him now for Bram to worry about their safety.

  “Hey, Boss,” Chris positioned himself behind Bram, “I think we’re outnumbered here…”

  The Texan had finally dealt with Merak, but now three more Stargazers were drawing close.

  “If that st kid was any hint,” Chris let out a deep breath, “then they’re all stubborn son-of-a-guns who’ll keep ing at us until we put their lights out…”

  The enthralled youths crawled on the ground like beasts, their limbs twitg with each step. Though disturbing to witness, the prince was thankful their brains were so addled that ag like beasts was all they could do.

  “Look on the bright side.” Bram also took this time to steady his breathing. “At least they’re not wielding sainst us.”

  “Thank the Almighty for small favors then,” Chris chuckled, adding, “So, how do you wanna do this?”

  Bram adjusted his grip so that the ft of his longsword’s bde was fag forward. “Hitting them hard on the head seems to help break Loveless’ hold on them.”

  “itive recalibration.” Chris hefted his shield. “My new ability help with that.”

  One of Bram’s brows hitched upward.

  “You’ve learned something new…?”

  “I kept smming that other kid with my shield the same way and the Loom rewarded me with a—”

  Their. Love. Is. Mine!

  At Loveless’ cry, the youths attacked Bram and Chris like wild beasts—and the duo dealt with them as if they were the beasts of the Red Forest, matg their savagery with savagery.

  “Sorry, Bud!” Chris apologized when he rushed at a blue-haired boy. “Shield — Bash!”

  A little envious, Bram watched the telltale sparks of sorcery envelop Chris’ shield, causing a coating of magical energy to around its front. With his shield glowing with soft starlight, Chris bludgeohe young Shamvan owice, and then a third time to ehat he would crumble to his knees, leaving him vulnerable to an attack from on high by the ft of Chris’ sword.

  “Wow, that was brutal…” Bridget had just arrived and zipped past Chris’ left side. “Didn’t know you had it in you!”

  Chris was too busy fending off a tack from a tan-skinned youth—one who looked like a mirror image of the tattooed boy the Texan first defeated—for him to respond tet’s teasing. Unfortunately, his shield’s light was already spent, and the now wheezing Chris could only grit his teeth while Merak’s twin smmed his shoulder against the Texan’s shield.

  “Shatterstone!”

  A boulder-sized fist coated in an emerald aura struck Merak’s twin in his shoulder.

  The force sent the young man hurtling right into the path of Bram, who, using his longsword’s pommel, delivered a crushing blow to the back of his head akin to a hammer striking a nail.

  Merak’s twin toppled face-first onto the ground, and he didn’t rise again.

  Bram then fshed Chris a smug grin as if to say he didn’t need a new ability to render an enemy unscious. Nor was he out of breath like the Texan was. Chris caught the look, and he could only grin back.

  “You’ve got higher…strength thahe Texan reasoned. “I’ll catch up…so—”

  “Yatta!” Hajime yelled excitedly, oblivious to the friendly rivalry blossoming around him. “Nice assist!”

  The are novice arrived to help, but Hajime came too te. Bridget had just used the strings of her short bow tle the st of the seven young sorcerers. This pale-skinned girl with pited dark hair fell to the floor with spit bubbling at the ers of her mouth.

  “That was…oddly satisfying,” said a breathless Bridget.

  “And she…called me brutal,” Chris half-chuckled, half-wheezed.

  The otherworlders resumed their pyful banter—what Rowan once cimed had been their way of g with stress—but Bram had already tuhem out because he noticed something that demanded his full attention. With his gaze darti and right, the prince caught the movement of every creeping vine, every tree root, and every leaf rising from the ground moving suspiciously toward the party’s position in the middle of the hall.

  “Phoebus’ cock…the forest ihis pce…” The hand holding Bram’s sword shook with fear. “They’re all part of Loveless…and we walked right into the bosom of her trap…”

  GD_Cruz