The northern lion. (3)

"Alice… What did you just give me?"

Gabriel felt something strange in him after the light settled in his body. It was like a light stream around his heart, separate from the stars he was already forming there for his own magic. And then there was the mark that appeared on Alice's chest, which he could just barely catch a glimpse of due to how she rested her head in his hands.

"A covenant. One shared only by the two of us."

Her head turned slightly as she nestled in his hands, her ears perking up for a moment before they settled down again. He was clearly caught off-guard, but his hands were still massaging her scalp while tending to her hair. She liked that about him, constant care at the forefront of his mind.

"It's a bond that will tie us together thanks to the Vritara bloodline I got from my mother. In the future, you will be able to use the water element thanks to the bond, and at one point I will be able to use your powers. But you need to be careful from now on, Gabriel. If you fall, then so too will I thanks to the bond. So treasure your life a little, you'll need to live long if you want me to do the same."

Alice had often cursed the Vritara blood that she got from her mom. Had she been born of the duke's infidelity then she wouldn't have even a smidgen of claim to the Vritara name or duchy so she could have easily left it all behind. But that bloodline had tied her to that home, it had kept her alive but also made her hated by the others.

But in this moment she had to say that she was rather fond of it. Without it, she wouldn't be able to form a covenant like this, she wouldn't be able to share a bond like this with that lonely knight of hers.

"Isn't this the thing that the eastern family uses? Why would you go out of your way to acquire such a thing? And why make me the focal point of it? I'm a lot more likely to die than you are."

Gabriel felt a headache crawling up on him. He hadn't recognized the locket, but the effects he was somewhat familiar with. The eastern family used it in the original show to bond with the beasts they used to fight the Dead Lands. It ensured loyalty from the beasts because they would die if the focal point did, and death was the only way to negate the covenant.

That last part was what was making Gabriel's head ache at the moment. He worked a fair bit behind the scenes to set things up, be it through assassinations or schemes. Like that time when he killed Leonardo, it was risky work where he wouldn't be surprised if he died at a moment's notice.

But now… He went through all that, and did all those things, to ensure that Alice would grow up happier than she did in the show. If she died because of his actions then it would be beyond counterproductive. She had, effectively, shackled his legs. But she didn't seem disturbed by that implication, nor the risk for that matter.

"That's precisely why I did it, Gabriel. You've already chipped away at your lifespan, this is a reminder to not repeat it. Don't forget what you told me back then. You'll teach me what you know and I'll teach you what I know, and together we can live as good people. So we must live a long and happy life, Gabriel, both of us."

Alice had not forgotten a single word that Gabriel had ever told her, be it when he was conscious or not, she buried them all deep within her. Quite a few years had already passed since he told her about how he took action against Leonardo when she wasn't looking. But she hadn't forgotten the method he said he used. Unacceptable.

"No more needless risks. No more dates with death. That's an order."

Order. It wasn't a word she threw at Gabriel often, the times she had done so could be counted by half the fingers on one hand, and that was if you included this one. She didn't think that she needed it, but she had to ensure that he listened.

"As you wish, my Lady."

As always, Gabriel listened. The expression on his face was slightly exasperated due to his new shackles, but it was what his lady desired so he had no choice but to obey. The words had just barely left his lips when Alice chimed up again, pulling her head away from his hands as she sat up.

"Alice. Call me Alice again, even if its just when we're alone."

Alice. Her name. It shouldn't be anything strange to have someone call your name, most people experienced it every day. But Gabriel generally always referred to her as Lady or my Lady. But he called her by name just now when he questioned her, probably due to how off-guard he was. She liked it. It had a nice ring to it when it fell from his lips, it was many magnitudes better than how it sounded when Marion or Francis tried to utter it.

"As you wish, Alice."

He could only relent further as he kept helping her with the bath, a low and soft humming breaking through the steam whenever there was a break in their chatter.

———

"Not a lot of progress yesterday, huh? I heard you still slept in separate rooms?"

Arioch was leaned back in his seat, his arms spread out on the backrest while his legs were crossed. His head was slightly tilted so that he could look out the carriage window while only needing to move his eyes slightly to look at his guest.

"It seems like Young Master Barong likes to spy on people, I can't say that it's a hobby I would recommend."

Alice was sitting on the other side of the carriage, the seat beneath her stuffed with soft feathers and covered in thick fur. There was a small table in front of her, one that could be lowered down into the floor, a steaming teapot resting on it.

The night had passed and dawn had arrived so the procession continued towards the Barong estate. Arioch and Alice had the highest status out of those present so they ended up sharing the same carriage, it also helped give the image that they had good relations, which was exactly what this meeting was supposed to achieve.

"What spying? I can't be blamed if a bird perches on my window and starts chattering. Am I supposed to just close my ears and sing a tune?"

Arioch simply deflected her accusations with a hurt look on his face, but he didn't actually deny that it happened so it didn't really mean much.

"Well? Was he not satisfied with the bond? If its the Vritara family then I'm sure you can find a good demon he can bond with so there has to be something else about it, right?"

Alice never outright stated that she was going to give the locket to Gabriel, but he was familiar enough with the look she had when she looked at him. The knight in question wasn't much better in how he looked at her so there was definitely something between them.

"It's unrelated to the bond, our relationship simply isn't at that stage yet."

Alice sipped her tea calmly as she responded, but she could see Arioch's entire body jolt once as he froze. She could practically hear his neck creak as he turned his head towards her, seemingly unable to believe a word of what he was hearing.

"He's sleeping in the room next to you, he helps you get dressed and undressed, you even take BATHS together. And you're saying… That you're not there…yet? Are you both just not planning on going anywhere?"

He couldn't help but blink rapidly, accidentally letting it slip that he even knew about Gabriel helping her in the evening and morning. Sure, having male servants help females with baths and dressing wasn't entirely uncommon, but that was on the condition that they were both still kids. Alice was already 15, and she had even brought her own maid with her on this trip so there is no way she should be using her male knight for these things.

"You talk quite a lot, Young Master Barong. It's not that strange."

Alice simply continued sipping her tea as she disregarded his expression. The tea was something Arioch had brought so it was likely native to the area. It was rather nice and sweet, with some fruity hints, she would have to make Gabriel and Teresa try it later.

"Not that strange? Alice, it is beyond strange. Especially so since there is no relationship there."

Arioch rubbed his face to straighten his expression. Sure, some married couples, or couples that had just gotten together, would engage in things like that to display their love. But if there was no relationship of that kind there? It would be beyond strange, it would even irreparably harm their marriage prospects in the future. But faced with the man straightening his expression because he couldn't believe a word he was hearing, Alice simply posed him a simple question.

"Have you ever been afraid, Arioch Arie Barong?"

It was a somewhat strange question, especially out of nowhere. But at the same time it was an incredibly simple one that could be answered without hesitation.

"Hm? Yeah, several times."

He was the young heir of the Barong family, the future lord of the frozen north. He still remembered his fears very well. His first meeting with a demon, his first winter in the mountains, the first time he had to execute a servant, the first time a knight died for him. He was a noble, so he was afraid. But he was a noble, so he had to serve as an idol for those who followed him.

Alice nodded her head, it was the expected response.

"Gabriel, my knight… He is afraid. He came from a bad place so he's had a bad life. His life was twisted, so he became twisted. And as a result, the thought of loving, the thought of being loved… I don't think he can't connect those things with himself, I think he's afraid of it."

Gabriel was straightforward, Alice always saw him move with conviction, his gaze squarely focused on the future. But that… wasn't that just because he couldn't bear to look at the present? Wasn't it because the fear of the future was easier to handle than the rest of his fears?

She could still recall it, even now, those words. She had a secret that she kept from Gabriel, one just for her. He talked in his sleep. And there were some things he said that stuck with her more than others.

I who had nothing to life for, in you, let me find a reason to not die.

She woke up in a cold sweat on that day and couldn't stop looking at him for the rest of the night, making sure that nothing happened. She still didn't know about his life in the orphanage, the life he lived before they met. But those words… She hated the world that made him utter them.

He was afraid. Her knight, her light, the only hand that reached out for her, he was afraid. And she knew what she wanted to do whenever she was afraid.

"When you were afraid, did you try to run? Of course you did, that's the general response, you run to preserve your own mind."

She thought about it quite often. The days he went to the city, what if he just never came back? If she one day spoke up, what if he wasn't there the next morning? The thought suffocated her, it clogged her throat. So she had already made up her mind on how to proceed, it had been set in stone long ago.

"But that man… I'm not going to let him run. Step by step, I'll push him into a corner, step by step I'll surround him. I'll lock him down and bombard him until the thought of love no longer scares him, and at that point it will be too late for him to run from me."

He was hers. She was his. She would never run from him, and she would never let him run from her. The mark on her chest was one step towards that future.

"So it's not strange, Young Master Barong. I am simply laying down the bait while I'm hunting."

She raised her teacup again and put it to her lips, a charming smile on her face. But to Arioch it looked like the smile of a predator locking down its prey.

———

"We greet the Young Lord of Barong and Young Lady Alice De Vritara!"

A loud shout came from outside the carriage after they stopped in front of the mansion that stood at the centre of the Barong estate. The servants were all lined up neatly into two rows outside of the carriage, jackets and coats covering their usual uniforms so that the cold didn't get to them. But it wasn't just servants standing there, Arioch stepping out from the carriage as he greeted one of them.

"Hee, so you decided to come out and greet us too? Didn't take you for the kind to actually observe manners like that."

Arioch stretched out his arms and embraced the man that stood in the path created by the servants. The man returned the hug with a smile, a pair of dark pink eyes sliding towards Alice as she left the carriage.

"I'm a bit familiar with your guest this time, she's a close friend of Abby. If I didn't come and say hello then she would take my head."

The two men ended the hug and took a step back. Dark pink eyes, somewhat unruly black hair that just barely reached halfway down his ears, leather-like armour covered in dark blue scales and a sword at his waist. Caine Woodime placed a hand against his chest and bent his waist slightly in a polite but relaxed greeting.

"We meet again, Lady Alice."