88. Girls are hard mode.

"So, yeah, I was going to kill him, but I held back at the last second," Everly said later as she dined with Fenn.

Instead, she realized how pointless it would be to strike Greed down, since the old fool would eventually be summoned back by his followers. It was bad enough that Sloth and Pride already had grievances with her. Why increase that number to three?

Of course, the obvious solution would have been to simply kill every single one of his followers and leave him stranded in the void. That would be the easiest way to permanently deal with all seven of them. But she wasn't ready to make a move on that scale yet, so for now, she controlled her urge.

It wasn't easy. Everly wasn't good at self-denial.

Fortunately, her half-hearted resolve to spare Greed's life was swiftly rewarded.

"I don't know who this Kestrel is, but if she truly wields the Holy blade, then you need to seek out a Godwell," Greed told her. "There have been maidens from other families, but theirs is the one tied closest to the sword. It always favored them, you see."

"You say that like the sword is alive," Everly said.

"It is. It possesses sentience and a powerful will," Greed said.

"The sword possesses a mind of its own?" Everly asked, now genuinely impressed with the old man's knowledge, despite herself.

"Indeed," he said as he sipped from his glass. "Most people don't know that, of course. The holy blade's name is Prominence. Twin-blade to Providence, the hero's sword."

"There's a hero's sword??" Everly asked excitedly.

"Oh, yes," Greed sniffed. "Fortunately, we rid ourselves of that bastard thing ages ago. I doubt very much anyone will ever find it."

__

"HA-CHOO!" sneezed Asher on another continent.

"Are you alright?" asked Providence, the sword of evil's bane.

"Yeah, thank you," she replied. "Just walked through some dust was all."

"Having a respiratory system must be difficult at times," said the sympathetic blade of heroes.

__

Greed eventually took his leave but insisted that Devere stay behind so that he could stay in contact with Everly, which she reluctantly agreed to. It wasn't like she didn't have the room to spare.

The two of them are probably hatching a plot. I guess it'll be easier to predict if I keep him around for now, she decided.

Besides, it wasn't as though he was bad on the eyes. Quite the opposite in fact. And he seemed like a really fun person. It might be nice having him around until she eventually had to kill him for his inevitable attempt at betrayal. So, she had Carter assign him some private quarters.

Naturally, they would be monitored.

With Devere now sorted, Everly turned her focus towards the conflict to come.

Dinner with Fenn.

"I want to go home," Fenn told her blankly while they ate spaghetti at the table in her room.

"Fenn, there's no point," Everly replied. "I keep telling you, there's a war going on right now. It's not just me taking on Winstead; lots of nobles are using me as an excuse to settle old grudges. The Godwells in particular are being targeted on all sides. Your family is basically finished in this country."

"That's even more of a reason why I can't stay here!" Fenn said urgently. "Everly, at the very least, I need to protect my mother and my little sister!"

"You have a little sister?" Everly asked, surprised for the second time that day. "Fenn, you never told me that."

"Actually, I don't," Fenn admitted. But even if I did, it would be none of your business."

"What are you talking about? You and I shouldn't keep secrets from each other. If we're going to rule this world together, then honesty should be our best policy with each other."

In response, Fenn swept her plate of food to the floor. "Stop saying things like that! I have no intention of ruling anything."

Everly was aghast at the sight of the wasted meal. "Fenn! Not cool! Carter made that for us. Stop throwing these damn tantrums!"

"Everly! Let me go, I've been here for seven months!" Fenn yelled. "You're not going to get the answer you want, haven't you realized that by now? Just let me leave!"

"God damn it, I just wanted to have a nice dinner and talk about a few things," Everly said as wiped her mouth with a napkin and dropped it on her plate. "Why can't you just do as I say?"

"Oh, get over yourself, blondie! Why do you always make everything about you?" asked Fenn with growing frustration in her voice.

"Everything is about me, dummy!" Every replied. "Once you realize that, life will be so much easier for you."

"What gives you the right to treat me this way? To treat anyone this way?" Fenn demanded to know.

Everly looked at her with an amused expression before responding. "Who can really say? I suppose I just got tired of pretending I wasn't the most interesting person in the room," she said with a shrug.

"Everly, what exactly do you want from me?" Fenn asked her.

"The same thing Cheap Trick does."

"Huh?"

"I want you to want me," Everly smirked.

Fenn sighed and leaned back in her seat with her arms crossed. "Be serious for once. Just answer the question."

Everly frowned as she tried to think of an answer.

"I dunno," she said after giving up. "Do I want to kiss you? Kill you? It's so hard to say. You got me feeling things. It's complicated."

"It doesn't have to be," Fenn told her. "Everly, just let me leave. I can make my own decisions and I can face the consequences on my own. That's part of growing up, okay? Learning to live without fear."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Everly asked angrily. "I'm not afraid of anything. I'm not! Why would you even say something as silly as that?"

"How can you not be? You try to control everything and everyone around you. How is that not a fear-based reaction to the world?"

"Wow, did you get a degree in psychology while you were locked up, Fenn?" Everly asked disdainfully. "You seem so insightful now."

"Oh?" Fenn said smugly. "It seems that I've hit a nerve, haven't I, blondie? Could it be that beneath all your blustery bullshit, you're a little more insecure than you like to let on?"

"Fenn, you're so cute when you try to be mean," Everly said archly. "But why don't you dial it down a notch?"

Instead, Fenn rose from her seat and sneered at her with her hands on her hips. "You really can't handle the world on its own terms, can you? That's why you live in this little fantasy fortress, surrounded by sycophants and monsters designed to worship you. Because you're a little coward."

In response, Everly stepped closer to Fenn until their faces were inches apart, glaring at her. "Making fun of my crib and my people now? Fenn, that's just being bitchy."

"Just calling it like I see it," Fenn said unwaveringly. "Why didn't you attend the academy, Everly?"

"What?" Everly asked, confused by where this was going.

"Why didn't you go to the academy?" Fenn repeated. "You had all sorts of plans about role-playing there and mingling with the children of nobility, right? But you didn't. You made Beverly—"

"Neverly," corrected Everly.

"Yeah, that one. You made Neverly go in your place. But why? I thought playing a fool while being secretly superior was going to be a big rush for you. Instead, you made one of your little clones do it. Do you know why I think so?"

"Oh, please share, Fenneth. You're so wise, I can't resist hearing your opinion," Everly said with growing acidity.

"You can't handle people at all," Fenn informed her. "Your superiority complex is a way of masking your confusion and lack of real confidence. I think being around normal people unbalances you, and that you're a lot less certain of your place in this world than you let on."

"Are you finished?" Everly asked her.

"Yeah, pretty much. It felt so good to say, though," Fenn said cheerfully.

"Why did I even tell you about all of that?" Everly asked herself. "I should have known you'd weaponize it against me."

"You told me because you were trying to impress me. You always try to impress me," Fenn told her. "Honestly, do you even get how boring it can be listening to you?"

"Shut up," Everly said. A red light glinted in her eye as she spoke.

"No, I don't think I will," Fenn replied. "I'm bored with being here and I'm bored with being your sounding board. I don't want to listen to you anymore, Everly. I don't want to be around you, either. I'm not going to change my mind so kill me or let me go, but just stop with all of this. I don't want to participate any longer."

"You…you just want to throw away everything we've built up? You just want to leave?" Everly asked her.

"Hell yes, I do!" Fenn shouted at her.

Everly stared at her with her hands clenched into tight fists, trembling with a sudden desire to hurt the other girl, pound her into submission, make her admit she was lying, that she needed her and was just being thick-headed.

But she knew that wasn't true.

"Why don't you like me?" she asked Fenn quietly.

"The fact that you can even ask me that in the face of everything you've done is exactly why you don't deserve an answer," Fenn told her scornfully.

Suddenly a portal erupted into existence in the middle of the room.

"Fuck it, I don't care, get out," Everly said suddenly. "I met someone else, anyway. He's a demon priest, it's kind of a dark profession, but I'm cool with it. We vibe."

"What?" Fenn asked.

"I also met another dude. I mean, we met a while back, but he's like back in my life now, you know? I pulled his arms and legs off, but now he's got these cool prosthetics. It's fucking metal, you wouldn't get it. I've got options, you can go now."

"Whatever," Fenn said as she walked past her.

"That's a portal to nowhere by the way," Everly said. "I don't even know where it goes. It'll probably drop you off in the middle of a monster's nest. Doubt you'll last the night."

"It beats staying here with you," Fenn said with a scowl.

"Get fucked!" Everly said heatedly. "Anyway, I don't even know what I saw in you in the first place. You were just my experimental phase! Everyone wants to try out the preacher's daughter, that's just human nature! You cry too much, you know that?"

"Puta," Fenn said angrily as she stepped through the portal.

"Bitch says what?" Everly yelled back.

But there was no one else in the room to hear her.

That was when Everly realized that in her haste to be rid of her, she'd forgotten to ask Fenn about the sword.

"FUCK!" she yelled.