Chapter 362

"I should have figured it would go that way…" Raymond drew his hand along the length of his face and let out a heavy sigh. "I'm glad you were there with me, but I'm sorry about your arm… really."

"You're an idiot, Raymond." Nua answered him and fell in at his side.

"An idiot?" He asked and cocked his head to look at her.

"Yes. Maybe she was telling the truth, maybe she really is done with you, but I don't think it's that simple. I've been around humans for a long time, you can be some of the most dishonest people in the world, and sometimes for the dumbest reasons." Nua looked back the way they'd come, in the direction Zesshi had gone.

"I have no idea what you mean?" He asked of her, and Nua looked in his direction again.

"That was a killer, and she left you alive, maybe it was because I got in the way, but I'm nothing to her, she could have killed me easily. All I did, really, was prompt her. Not even that, really. She left us both alive, and even offered to do you a favor, not that I'll let you take it. You're stuck with me, Raymond, whether you like it or not." Nua replied and, much to his surprise, she reached up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I admit I harbored some doubts, doubts I didn't even know I held until I saw you bend yourself to her… she's a half elf, I doubt anybody has ever done anything like that in front of her. But you did. You did. I'm not letting you throw your life away, and I'm not letting you get rid of me, and if you want my opinion, she won't either. She loves you still, even if she couldn't say it. Or… that's what I think, anyway." Nua said and gave a sad smile to him, her hand squeezed his shoulder, and when she saw his eyes, she saw the mist there and knew exactly what he needed.

"Now, how about we go get good and drunk, huh, you and me?" She suggested.

"Are you offering to share a table with me at last?" He asked her, and the silence went on as she thought that over in the privacy of her own mind.

"Yes. But it would be best if it weren't public, you're dressed like a Cardinal of the Theocracy." She said and pointed toward the way out of the park area that would carry them in sight of the general public again. "Once out there, and until we get back to the hotel, I will be the deferential and humble slave again."

Raymond almost began to nod by sheer reflex. It was now a familiar routine for them both, but this time he stopped in his tracks.

"No." He said.

Nua took one step farther than he before he spoke, then turned around to look at him, her ears flicking back. "What?"

"I said, 'No'." He answered and put his hands on his hips.

"Your arm got broken saving my ass. You put yourself between me and a Black Scripture member capable of taking on dragons. I'm done with this stupid game. I'm done pretending for the sake of image, done pretending out of concern that an Agante assassin might be investigating. I've been writing these letters out to my country advocating for change, and I'm supposed to walk around pretending things are the same, that you're the same? No. No more. No more, no more, no more!" Rayond leveled his hand at her and pointed one finger at her chest.

"You are Nua." He slapped his other hand over his heart, the clapping noise causing birds to take flight in fear at the noise, their twitter ringing out over the isolated pair, "I am Raymond. Not 'at the hotel' not when we're 'alone in a carriage'. Always. Always." He moved his finger to point to the space beyond the high trees of the public park.

"Out there, in the tavern, in the restaurant or in some divinity-be-damned council hall speaking with the Kings and Queens of other lands. I won't even pretend to treat you… that other way anymore! I'm finished! Finished! Finished and I don't give a damn who knows it!" He yelled, and lowered his arms to his side before exhaling deeply.

Nua's eyes became misty on their own. "It's… It's nice to meet you… Raymond."

"It's… it's nice to meet you too… I guess… in a strange way…" He rubbed the back of his head, "I'm sorry for yelling, I hope I didn't go too far there."

"No… no you didn't, you did surprise me, but," her ears bounced up and down happily, "I was glad about what the surprise was. Even if it's meaningless as long as this is on me." Nua said and touched the collar secured around her throat. "As long as I have this, I'll never be able to escape Dominic, and I can't defeat the Agante, let alone the scriptures, so…"

Raymond reached out, and to his surprise, Nua only raised her chin, she allowed his hand to come to her throat to feel it, "He did a number on this one, didn't he." Raymond mumbled more to himself than to her. "Most collars aren't enchanted at all, they're basically just practical things. But for people meant to serve as bodyguards or close attendants of the powerful, there's always extra security. But this?" Raymond asked rhetorically as his fingers ran along the rim, he stepped closer, his other hand went around her throat where the metal was secured into place. "He went the extra mile with this one."

"Raymond?" Nua asked, her breath was quickening, he was so close.

"Turn around, please." Raymond asked in a quiet voice.

Nua rotated her feet slowly until her back was to him, her head bowed to give him access to the back of her collar, and her heart pounded as Raymond touched her hair to move it aside. "That evil sonofabitch…"

"Raymond?" Nua asked for the second time, he was so close that she could feel the breath that gave life to his words.

"Identify Magic." Raymond said, and a moment of gratitude came over him that Nua's back was turned so that she couldn't see him wince.

"Raymond, please… what is it?" She asked.

"Promise me you will be calm." Raymond said.

Nua swallowed, "I'm always calm, except when I'm angry, or scared, or- never mind… I promise I'll stay calm." She said.

"Your collar wasn't just welded shut at the lock in the back. That unbelievable bastard put a tiny gem fragment in it." Raymond explained, and the Cardinal took a deep breath. "You're taking that well."

"I don't understand, what's the problem? We both knew I was never going to be allowed to be free. I'm meant to be a possession for as long as I live, a gem fragment doesn't change that." Nua said matter of factly and then turned around again to face him.

"It does, when 'the rest of your life' can be ended at any moment. There's a spell in that fragment meant to kill you when it's activated. You were…" Raymond put his hands to her cheeks and wiped away the streaks from her earlier emotional moment. "It's supposed to burn you alive."

Nua reached up and touched the ring around her throat. "So… am I safe here or… what?"

"I have no idea." Raymond replied, "I'm not a magic caster, I can't tell you much about these things beyond what they do. I don't know if it's meant to be activated if the collar is removed, or if it's meant to be just activated if you get defiant or… I just, I don't know." He swallowed hard.

"So, for all we know, some Agante caster could just point at me, activate it, and I burn to death in the streets?" Nua shivered and sweat sprang to her skin. "No… not like that… I don't want to die like that… Is there anything, maybe, that we could do?"

"There is one thing working in our favor, for some reason Dominic hasn't done it, maybe he can't from so far away, maybe he has to do it himself, or maybe he's just preoccupied… maybe… maybe this was meant to control me. Maybe he sent you to me thinking I'd come to like you. Use you as political leverage over me… or maybe not. I don't know. But there is one place we can go that might be able to help." Raymond swallowed again as dread swept over him.

"Tell me." Nua said, "This is my life, if there's something that can be done…"

"The Allfather is a peerless magic caster, the greatest in the whole world, if anyone could break the spell, he could." Raymond suggested.

Nua hung her head. "Then there's nothing that can be done."

"What do you mean, nothing?" Raymond demanded, his brow furrowed.

"He's a foreign ruler, and you've heard the same things I have, some people already consider him to be the 7th God. I wouldn't be surprised if the others aren't already preparing their official proclamations, if you go to him-" Nua stopped speaking because Raymond had already started walking.

"We're going to the arena to meet with the Allfather, if he's not there, we'll go to the residence where he's staying, it won't cost me anything to ask for his help." Raymond said to her without giving her a chance to argue.

For a moment she was dumbstruck, and when she saw he was serious, she rushed after him, putting herself at his side again to see if there was anything at all that could be done. Or if it could be done, 'would' be done.

But inside, despite her steadying eyes, her heart pounded. 'I have to prepare to die. There's no way he can offer anything valuable enough to get a hostile King to help him with something like this… no way at all… I'll just enjoy what time I have with the first truly good human at my side in a very long time. At least it'll be quick when it happens, that's better than a lot get, and that will have to be enough for me.' She told herself, and as she looked around the bustling city, even depressed as the place was, as tense as it was, with the great park at her back and the vast buildings around beneath a sky that went on forever, she had to think, 'At least it's a beautiful day out.'