"I knew you would react like this."
Selen noticed that he didn't seem frightened or stressed at all, even with a sword pressed against his throat.
"Who did you tell about what you know?" Selen asked.
He sighed.
"Who knows? Maybe I told one or two of my associates. Or better yet, maybe I wrote it in a journal that might be discovered if I were to be assassinated."
Selen could clearly see the kind of game he was playing. If he thought that tricks like these would scare her, he was completely mistaken. She had seen enough of life herself.
"Your problem is that you think you have the upper hand over me because you know my secret, but I have something on you as well."
He clearly believed she was bluffing.
"You thought that during our frantic search for Rose we would be so obsessed with the island and everything else that we wouldn't notice. But I saw it clearly. Your relationship with your grandfather."
His face changed instantly. The smug expression he had been wearing turned into a mask of stone.
"Do you really think I didn't take precautions?"
Selen smiled for the first time since the beginning of their dinner. She had been right about their relationship that day.
"Maybe you did take precautions. Maybe you hid your grandfather somewhere only you know. But I was faster."
"What exactly does that mean?"
He was so tense that the edge of the sword grazed his neck.
"It means I played the same trick on you that I did on the duke. If there's one thing he taught me, it's that men like you and him who value their families become weak the moment those families are involved."
She took out a small card she had hidden in her shoe and spread it on the table.
"He is here," she said, pointing to a spot on the map.
"When did you have time to place that spell on him?" Noah asked, a vein twitching on his temple.
"Before we boarded the ship. I went to see him to ask for some advice in case I got seasick. Your grandfather was so kind, comforting the frightened young girl I pretended to be, terrified of her first voyage."
He seemed to take a deep breath to calm himself.
"And so? I'm not here to declare war on you. On the contrary. All I wanted was to prepare good ground for a discussion."
Ground for discussion? My eye, Selen thought. He had clearly intended to force her hand through threats. Fortunately for her, she had already taken her own precautions.
"If you don't want a war between us, then what do you want?" she asked.
He seemed to regain his composure. He took something from his pocket and placed it on the table. It was an emblem carved from a silver stone, representing a rose surrounded by thorns. The same symbol as the one in the cave where they had first met.
"What is that?" Selen asked, glancing at the emblem in confusion.
"This is my symbol. I already told you that. But do you know what it is connected to?"
Selen raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Why should she know that?
"Seraphild. Does that name mean anything to you?"
She gave a small start of surprise. Seraphild was the name of the largest guild in the empire. Assassinations, illegal trafficking of objects or even people, information networks… Only a few privileged individuals could afford the services of Seraphild.
"Don't tell me that…"
Noah looked like a fisherman who had just hooked his prey.
"That's right. Standing before you is the creator of Seraphild."
Selen almost burst out laughing. Noah truly had a twisted sense of humor. Naming his guild Seraphild, which meant "chosen by God" in the empire's language, was irony at its finest.
"I must admit that your offer suddenly becomes much more interesting. However, why would you want to ally with me? As the leader of a guild like yours, you already have power and money."
"True. But there is one thing I do not have. The truth. I told you already, my power has always guided me. Thanks to it I am still alive today and managed to build a guild the size of Seraphild."
"What truth are you talking about?"
"The truth that allowed you to go back in time. Something must have happened that allowed you to return to the past. Something that surely surpasses human understanding."
Selen really didn't see where he was going with this.
"Let's assume something did happen. What does that have to do with you?"
"I told you that night. I had two visions: one of my past life, and another of a life that was not mine."
"What do you mean, a life that wasn't yours?"
"It wasn't exactly a vision. I would say I briefly possessed the body of another person. That person was the son of the king of a land called Liberia."
Selen had heard that name somewhere before. Liberia had once been one of the kingdoms that merged with Drakar to form the empire. But unlike Clover, which had kept its name as a principality, Liberia had lost the war and been swallowed entirely by the empire.
"I had become a prince of that kingdom. I was barely in my twenties, and surprisingly I had the same eyes I have in my current body. Even more surprising, I wasn't the only one. My entire family had the same eyes."
He closed his eyes for a moment, as if trying to recall the memories more clearly.
"We were at war with a neighboring kingdom. No matter what we tried, our power no longer showed us the path. One thing was certain: our eyes were proof of our belonging to the royal family, and only those blessed by the gods within our family could obtain the power to see through time."
Selen remembered Layla's words on the island. She already knew that Noah was a descendant of Liberia's royal family.
"It was only after we discovered that Silvermoor, a direct descendant of the royal bloodline and a high-ranking officer of the kingdom, had betrayed us that we understood why our power had stopped guiding us. The power to see through time had been granted by the gods to the first king of Liberia so that the kingdom might prosper. When Silvermoor betrayed the crown, the power weakened, and that led Liberia to its downfall."
To think that this man was now remembered as a founding hero of the empire, Selen thought. There was truly nothing good in this empire.
"I witnessed my own death when the enemy army captured what had once been my home. When I awoke, I understood what had happened. After conquering Liberia, Artheris, the first emperor, knew that our eyes were a clear sign of our lineage. So he made them taboo. To strengthen this idea, he urged the temple to spread the belief that our eyes were cursed. As centuries passed, the legend grew so strong that mothers would suffocate their own children if they were born with the eyes of Liberia."
Selen was not surprised that Artheris had used such methods. She already knew what he was capable of.
"After that vision, as the days passed, I remembered more and more of that prince's life. His habits, his dreams, his tastes… For a while I thought I was going mad. Then everything became clear. That prince and I were the same person. Two souls across two different eras. When you turned back time, you opened a crack that allowed me to see a part of my past that had been inaccessible until then."
"So if I understand correctly, you're a prince?" Selen asked.
"I was, at least."
"I understand all of that, but it still doesn't explain why you want to ally with me. Not that I'm refusing your offer."
Selen removed the sword that had remained pressed against his throat throughout his story.
"You don't understand? My power guided me to you. I already knew you had grievances against the temple. Otherwise you would have already revealed yourself as a saint. Your reaction toward the priests only confirmed my suspicions. You and I want the same thing."
"Oh really? You think my objective stops with the temple?" Selen asked.
"I don't know how far it goes, but I can tell you mine is to reclaim what rightfully belongs to me."
"You mean Liberia? A kingdom conquered centuries ago?"
"Conquered? I call that theft. If your goal is destruction, mine is the opposite: to rebuild. Just as Artheris built this empire, I can restore Liberia and reveal the truth about the eyes of my lineage to the world."
Selen now understood what he wanted. On one side stood the duke, who wanted to free Clover from the empire's control. On the other stood a former prince who wanted to revive his lost homeland. Artheris must be turning in his grave, she thought. Could they truly separate three nations that had been fused together by centuries of lies and sacrifice?
"I assume you already know, through one of your spies, that I accepted the duke's offer."
He sighed before taking a sip of wine.
"Our objectives differ, the three of us. But we share the same enemies. Perhaps one day our swords will turn against one another. But first we must rid ourselves of our enemies so that we can kill each other peacefully afterward. What do you say?"
Selen liked that idea. Trust was a luxury none of them could afford, so an alliance based on common enemies was the best they could hope for.
"I'd like to ask you a question first," Selen said.
"I'm at your service," Noah replied, raising his glass toward her.
"Is it necessary to have the eyes of your lineage in order to possess the power to see through time?"
"No. The eyes are merely a sign of the lineage. The power can exist in anyone chosen for it, as long as they belong to the bloodline."
So Arie must be connected to a descendant of Liberia, Selen thought. It could only be through her mother.
"Why that question? Do you know another descendant of Liberia?"
Selen avoided the question and stood up, walking over to Noah's chair. She sat on the edge of the table and placed her hand on his throat. From afar it might have looked as though she were simply holding him by the neck, but in truth she was healing the small cut the sword had left there earlier.
"Since we've become collaborators, let me reveal part of my plan to you now. A part that only you can accomplish," Selen whispered into his ear before standing again.
Obtaining a pawn as valuable as Noah was a stroke of luck for Selen. It would allow her to lay the foundations of her revenge. If there was one thing she had learned from the temple, it was that when an enemy does not exist, one simply has to create one. And Noah, with Seraphild, was exactly what she needed…