The fight was over. A profound, weary silence settled in the cleansed cathedral, broken only by the ragged breathing of the four of us. Gemma sat heavily on a chunk of rubble, wincing as his body's rapid regeneration finally began to slow, leaving behind a tapestry of fresh, pink scars.
"So," he grunted, wiping sweat and ash from his brow. "What now? We just… go back to the castle and pretend this never happened?"
I leaned against a pillar, the Starlight Cloak flickering out as I let it go. The toll of the Crucifix and my own blood loss made my limbs feel like lead. Back to the act. Back to the waiting. "Now," I said, my voice hoarse, "we rest. I, for one, won't be moving again for at least a week. Maybe two."
Gemma stared at me, his expression a mix of frustration and confusion. "Then what was the point of all this? We just risked our necks, defied the Bright Lord, for… what? To prove we could?" His pragmatism was a blunt instrument, but it was a fair question.
Before I could answer, Seishan, now fully returned to her poised form, let out a soft sigh. "Gemma. Think." Her gaze, sharp and knowing, settled on me. "He doesn't do things without a reason. This was a test. For us. For himself."
She took a deliberate step closer, her voice low and direct. "The test is passed. What's the real target?"
I looked at their expectant faces. Gemma's weary suspicion, Effie's keen interest, Seishan's calculating stare. Sasrir was a silent statue, but I felt his focus, leaving the decision whether or not to talk up to me. Hiding the end goal was pointless now; they needed to see the scale of the ambition to be properly bound to it.
I let out a long, tired breath, as if the words were being pulled from me. "The Black Knight was the benchmark. If we could kill it, then almost nothing else we'll be going up against can defeat us either" I met Seishan's gaze, letting the weight of the name hang in the air between us. "As for my next target? The First Lord's corpse. I'm going to claim the Dawn Shard."
The silence this time was absolute. Gemma's eyes widened a fraction; even he understood the magnitude of that name. Effie's grin turned grimmer, no doubt foreseeing the sheer amount of effort and pain that would take.
"The Dawn Shard," she repeated, the words a statement, not a question. "An ambitious goal." She didn't ask how or why, and it almost unnerved me once again, why she held such trust in me. At this point, I was wondering if the seer was her and not Cassie, or if she'd somehow overheard me and Sasrir discussing our plans for the future.
But in any case, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth: so long as she didn't oppose me and continued to offer aid instead, we could be the best of friends as far as I was concerned. I didn't even care if she ended up reporting me to Ki Song once we escaped, because by then my other arrangements should have panned out.
We chatted and talked a bit longer, though Gemma and Sasrir mostly stayed silent. After exchanging empty pleasantries and enduring some ribbing from Effie, the others gradually realised Sasrir and I weren't leaving just yet, and so they excused themselves first. Effie gave us one last curious look over her shoulder before leaving, and then we were alone.
The heavy silence left by the departing trio seemed to last longer than it did. We listened until the sound of their footsteps faded completely, swallowed by the ruins. Only then did the tension in my shoulders ease a fraction. Sasrir, who had been a statue in the corner, finally stirred.
"They are useful," he stated, his voice a low rumble in the empty cathedral. "But let us be clear about what they are. Gemma is not our friend. He follows Gunlaug's orders and enforces his will. I have seen the results of his obedience—the broken bodies left in the Settlement, whether by him or by his subordinates. His loyalty is to power, and right now, we represent a new source of it. That is a fickle foundation."
He turned his head, the shadows around his features seeming to deepen. "Effie... she is straightforward. I do not believe she holds any specific malice for us. But her loyalty is to her own survival and her own freedom. She will fight alongside us if it serves her, but she will not throw herself on a blade for our cause. She is a fair-weather ally."
"Then there is Seishan," he said, and the temperature in the cathedral seemed to drop. "I trust her less than any monster in this city. Her words are a web, each one placed to trap and ensnare. She smiles while calculating how best to use you and discard the remains. She did not help us out of kindness or shared ambition. She is investing in a tool, and the moment we cease to be useful—or become a threat to her own position—she will be the first to move against us."
"I know," I replied, my voice tired but clear. "But even a shovel is a liability if you hold it by the blade. You just have to make sure you're the one holding the handle. We use their strength, their influence, while we hide our own."
Sasrir moved to stand directly before me, his gaze intense. "This plan of yours. The Dawn Shard. It is a leap into the unknown with allies who would just as soon push us off the cliff. We are drawing significant attention from the most dangerous people in this castle."
"Isn't that the point?" I countered, a faint smile touching my lips. "To stop being pieces on their board? We just took down a Fallen Devil with two of Gunlaug's lieutenants as our accomplices. We're not just drawing attention; we're starting to place ourselves on the map"
"That is not the acting of a Spectator."
"Damn Acting, I want control!"