The lake outside their window had settled into one smooth dark blue paint stroke, glimmering with starlight and obstinate city lights alike. Snow had stopped falling, like the blizzard remembered it had somewhere else to be.

Curious.

Inside their suite, clothes lay scattered across the carpet, some torn, as if a certain someone had finally stopped pretending that Patience ever belonged in her set of Virtues.

"What are you thinking about?" came the murmur at Eydis's ear as the certain someone wrapped herself around Eydis from behind, mouth grazing skin, voice smoked with amusement.

"You." Eydis bit back a smile and pulled her gaze away from the window.

"Hmm," Astra hummed as she kissed her shoulder.

"If this is you not teasing, what hope do I have when you actually try?" Eydis said.

Astra's chuckle vibrated against her neck. "You're still alive. Should we test that luck again?"

"Depends. Are the truffles gone?"

"Are you asking for… more?" Astra's crimson eyes darkened, then she brushed a loose strand of dark hair back behind Eydis's ear.

"I fear I'm acquiring a dangerous appetite for decadence. Most of all when it comes flavoured as you, my Sinful Saintess." Eydis found Astra's Sin tasted ambrosial in its unravelling.

"Your Sinful Saintess?"

"Don't pretend you haven't been creative in trying to tear those words out of me."

"Well, I don't mind hearing it again," Astra admitted, soft and honest, cherry liquor bruising her lips a dark velvet red.

Eydis groaned and relented. She kissed her slowly, then deeply, tasting dark chocolate and winter and Astra. They held each other close, heartbeats too unruly to sync. She felt dizzy the moment Astra traced her fingers along her spine.

She knew they shouldn't indulge when there were threats nearby they could not afford to take lightly. But the night was deceptively peaceful.

"Time out," she breathed.

Logic wins.

"And here I thought Your Majesty was up for any challenge." Astra's hand slid lower.

Or not.

Eydis was about to take that smug mouth between her teeth when a door opened. Footsteps. A muted thud into snow. The sound was faint like it came from Natalia and Melissa's suite.

At 1.30 a.m.?

A hiss raked her mind. 'Your Majesty, your friends!'

Eydis stilled.

'Before you get mad at me, they're unharmed. I'm already on them.'

Astra felt the shift. She untangled herself, her hands lingering at Eydis's waist before letting go. "What's wrong?"

Eydis's edges softened, by reflex. "Define trouble, Envy," she said aloud, opening the link so Astra could hear. One more kiss stolen, then she crossed to her luggage, tossed Astra a pair of jeans and a black knit, and hastily pulled on practical clothes. "And keep your eyes on them."

"Them? Natalia and Melissa?" Astra instantly hopped off the bed.

"Unconscious but alive." Envy's words flickered. "The kidnapper isn't one of the three from this afternoon. Tan, shaven head, tribal forehead tattoo covering half his face."

"A Māori moko kanohi, likely. I haven't seen anyone with one today." Astra put her blue jacket back on and zipped it.

Eydis opened her palm and the black coat snapped into her grip. "Nor I. Continue."

"He hit them—before I could—then they d-disapp—" Envy's voice staggered, breaking.

How? They weren't far enough for the link to warp like this.

Gold gleamed in Eydis's eyes as she fed mana into Envy's shapeless form. It sharpened the connection and her own voice. "Disappear? All three of them?"

"How did neither of us hear him?" she added for Astra, who crossed to the living room and unlocked the balcony door.

"He manifested in the room, knocked both unconscious, and then the air swallowed all three before I could react. I assumed portal magic at first, until he exited over the balcony. I'm following his prints now," Envy said, voice sharp.

"You couldn't sense his emotion?" Eydis asked.

"There should have been residue. Negative emotion leaves a taste. The elegant, exqui—"

A sharp zap cut the serpent mid flourish.

"—eek, irrelevant. He was flavourless. Must be professional. Though a few seconds before he appeared, I did taste fear. Faintly. You should have partnered me with Gluttony. The pup devours a wider range of—ah. Problem."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Fear?

"I'm listening." Eydis stepped onto the balcony and looked across to the adjacent one where Melissa and Natalia stayed.

"He crossed the car park where there were too many overlapping footsteps to isolate. I was… um… busy narrating."

"You lost him?" Eydis's voice dropped.

"Widen your search," Astra cut in. "There's only one exit out of this resort. Look for a parked car on Peninsula Road. He wouldn't keep it on-site if he's avoiding cameras. Miss this and we lose them. Move."

"On it, Mistress—ack," Envy said, sounding amused until Eydis squeezed its neck along the link. "Fine, I deserved that."

Eydis spread her fingers and enhanced Envy's senses. "Look for fear again, start at Peninsula Road. Now."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

They vaulted across to Natalia and Melissa's balcony. While Astra slipped into the living room, Eydis stayed outside and studied the scene. Large prints slanted towards the railing, though none pointed back to the window. He had probably come from the front and left through here instead.

How did he pass unseen?

Earlier that afternoon, she had sent Envy to hunt for anything suspicious after the ski incident. Through the serpent's eyes she saw the two men they met at the burger shop, standing beside a tall woman with white hair braided down her back. Perhaps Māori, perhaps around forty.

Envy lost their trail when the three of them left by helicopter. The two men were unremarkable, which meant that woman was the one suppressing Melissa's Gifts. And Astra, whose power fell outside this realm's limits, could break it.

Eydis had expected them to make a move on Astra, with Envy shadowing Natalia and Melissa as insurance in case they targeted the wrong pair.

She had not expected him to take them. Van Nassau's people abducting the Le Bleus made no sense. According to Astra, Lionel, Natalia's own brother, worked for Ares. Why would they take Natalia?

Either this kidnapper was foolish, or something had pushed him into this.

She dropped one floor down onto the snow footpath. The tracks led away from the suite, not towards it.

A thought crossed her mind.

Returning to her suite, Eydis took the balcony path toward the bedroom and stopped at the prints angled toward her window. From out here she couldn't see into the room, but she could make out a handprint on the glass. It had been pressed from inside out, not outside in.

He had been in their bedroom.

Her hand curled. Since when had she grown this careless?

"You will tell me everything you saw," she told Envy. "After you have eyes on them again, incompetent serpent."

Envy muttered something wounded.

Astra rejoined her. "Let's hear it in the car. Front door is clean. No sign of forced entry. I don't think he came from that way either, or perhaps he phased…" She followed Eydis's line of sight, and understanding landed. "Oh."

"Astra." Gold flickered behind Eydis's eyes. "Do not interfere when I kill him."

"Eydis, let's keep moving." Astra sighed, pulling her along.

"You're right. More than invisible. He can probably phase. But why did he not phase when he left?" Eydis kept pace with Astra. "Perhaps he cannot do so while carrying Natalia and Melissa."

"Or he is baiting us," Astra said.

"Excellent. The only question is how long he suffers before he realises he is the prey." There was no humour in Eydis's tone.

Astra gave her a look.

Eydis exhaled, trying to cool the spike of rage. "Assume he isn't… Have you ever seen invisibility paired with phasing?"

Astra led them towards the car. "Bending light is one thing. Walking through matter is another. Two separate mechanisms."

"Then two separate Gifts. Which breaks the one Gift law, does it not?"

"It does." Astra slid behind the wheel. The electric motor woke with a hum. "Two Gifts in one body smells like a boundary breaker. If that is real."

"Like Melissa implied earlier? You don't believe it?"

"I've been thinking…" Astra reversed and accelerated. "Boundary breakers were treated as myth. The Council's database has no record of anyone who could do that. I suspect the phrase means driving a single Gift to its absolute edge, not rewriting the realm's law. But with Ares… I'm not sure."

"Could a single elemental power brute-force both effects at once, at a heavy cost? Shapeshifters like Elias, perhaps. They might achieve something similar by altering their physical state."

Astra opened her mouth to respond—

But Envy cut across. "Found them. White SUV. They just rematerialised beside it. License number—"

"Unnecessary." Eydis closed her eyes and poured vision through Envy's sight.

The tattooed man snapped into focus. Māori, tall, early thirties, the practiced ease of someone used to lifting bodies. He slid both women into the back seat without effort.

Pink colour in their cheeks. Chests rising and falling. Alive.

For now.

The vision glitched again, just as Envy's voice did. Being closer to this man definitely had an effect. He was not a shapeshifter then, especially when he could make both Natalia and Melissa invisible alongside him.

What was he?

And that meant she could not effectively control her Sins from afar without risking both Natalia and Melissa's lives.

She needed to know more about him.

"Now, Envy. Watch the target. Tell me what actually happened before he materialised," Eydis commanded. "Then I will decide the punishment that fits your talent for timing. Peninsula Road. Left turn."

Astra accelerated and cut left.

Envy gulped and obeyed.

Eydis listened to the glitching, rambling account while Astra threaded the empty mountain roads. With every detail, her expression darkened.

Natalia was in danger.

And Eydis had been complacent, distracted by pleasure while her friends were taken from under her nose.

Lionel was drinking coffee late at night in his room when his spare phone rang. He set his mug down, unlocked his main and flicked the screen. The scrambler kicked in and the signal bars fell to zero.

He answered the other handset. "Lionel."

"My system flagged a recent search on your sister. Has she attracted unwanted attention?" The caller sounded calm, but knowing him, and the lack of pleasantries, this was urgent.

Lionel rose from his seat. "Did you trace it?"

"We tried. It is unknown to us."

"What do you mean unknown? If there is any search you cannot…" Lionel trailed off, eyes widening.

The voice on the line dropped. "It means the people researching Miss Natalia are your employer."

He went pale. "That is not possible." He sat back down and and began typing rapidly.

Natalia didn't trigger any anomaly flags in the system. Her recent battle scoring at St. Kevin's showed remarkable improvement but the institution would not disclose this result to anyone but him.

He had agreed with Mel to send Natalia there for precisely that reason.

"Where is she now?" the caller continued.

"You tell me," Lionel said. "You're the one who knows everything."

"I remember our deal, I do not touch your family. Not unless asked. Where is she, Mr Lionel?"

"Queenstown. She was just…"

"Queenstown?" The caller's voice turned strange.

Lionel's eyes narrowed, then widened. "I have to go." He cut the call and snatched his blazer on the way out.

Queenstown. A cluster of lion cubs lived there. Ares's cubs, the ones who trained under the old stories and the newer science. That explained why the internal system showed no record flagging her. Those so-called Children only trust each other.

Why would Natalia have caught their eye?

And Mel was with her.

He wished he were being paranoid. He prayed they wouldn't cross paths.

Especially with Taika. He was easy company when there was no chaos. He could show kindness, and basic courtesy.

But when the world accelerated beyond his mind, when his states could not catch up, when the mana in him surged and the old pride marks lit his eyes… that was when he stopped being Taika.

He became the one whispered about as the Phantom Reaper.

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