Chapter Text
"You're really going to do that, though?" Aphmau asked again, "Help Alexis? You know how?"
Her and Zane walked arm in arm around the Cathedral, they'd went around to a side door so that they could avoid the route Laurence and his escort took.
"Of course I can." Zane pointedly avoided looking at passers by, unless they came up to talk to him. Only once had a child come up and tugged on his robe, asking if he and Aphmau were in Love, if they were together. Aphmau couldn't bring herself to pop the child's bubble of innocence and played along, and of course Zane loved to boast about his future wife to anyone who would listen.
"And you will?" She asked again.
Zane sighed, "Yes, Aphmau, I will. Must you keep asking?"
"Yes." she insisted, "Because I struggle to believe you'd stick to that word without multiple reminders, or having it in writing. Should I write this down?"
"No, Aphmau. I will remember, trust me."
"Why would I trust you, at all?" Aphmau raised her eyebrow at him, their steps echoing in the quiet of the corridor. This was an odd wing of the building, there were fewer and fewer guards the deeper inside it they went.
Zane spaced out for a moment, humming to himself contemplatively. He was considering something, telling her something. "Because this binding is something I've been building towards," he finally settled on, "And in order for the pay off to be complete, I will have to undo it."
Aphmau was surprised at such a plain answer. It didn't give her any details, sure, but it was more than she was expecting.
"What's the pay off?"
Zane chuckled to himself, "You'll see. I have a feeling you'll benefit from it as well."
Well, that made her uneasy. She couldn't possibly understand the benefit that would come from that sort of thing. But it also seemed he wasn't going to be giving her more answers, so it would have to be satisfactory.
She frowned worriedly and decided to focus on the path ahead, the crowd getting sparser and sparser until it was just the two of them.
They came upon a door, with just one guard outside of it, and a chest.
"My Lady, would you empty your pockets?" Zane asked her smoothly.
Aphmau shook her head, "Theyre empty."
She hadn't had a single important thing in her pockets since she'd arrived, especially not her sword. At most she'd picked up those couple books and maybe some accessories, but those were left in the office.
Zane hummed, letting go of her arm to wrap his hand around her waist, running it over her hips and outer thighs, giving her a quick frisk. His hands lingered slightly on the swell of her hip and Aphmau swore she could see his pupil expand before she was able to swat his hand away with a quick scolding word.
He giggled at the red on her cheeks and laced his arm in hers once more.
She refused to take his hand, pulling away and crossing her arms in front of her so he couldn't touch.
"Aww, really my love?" Zane cooed, "It was just a joke, come on!"
Aphmau huffed, "No."
Zane sighed, "Aphmau."His voice went steady, the humor draining from it, "We are about to be in a meeting with important people."
She turned to him with a blank expression, hesitantly uncrossing her arms. She let her hands fold in front of her instead, looking him up and down. Zane held his hand out to her, offering it, silently demanding she take it.
"Take my hand." he slowly instructed, only being met with silence. "Remember, your cute little guard's life is in my hands. Would you still like to see him? Or would you prefer our ceremony be double booked with a funeral?"
Aphmau bristled, "My Goddess, Zane!" She hissed, "You are such a…. ugh."
She only hesitated another moment before taking his hand, allowing him to tuck her hand in the crook of his elbow.
"Good girl."
She frowned at him, wary, "Do I have to smile as well?"
Zane shrugged, "They're not that important."
Aphmau rolled her eyes, although she did end up putting a smile on her face anyway. Even if she was unhappy with this arrangement, she still wasn't sure what this whole thing was about, or who these people would be.
The standing Guard opened the door, allowing them inside. The room was almost entirely bare, aside from a long table with eleven seats, two windows, and several standing people.
"My Dear, this is the Jury of Nine." Zane introduced, using his free hand to sweep the room as a silent introduction.
Aphmau squinted, before glancing over at Zane, "I count five." she whispered.
There was a giggle heard from in the room, and when Aphmau glanced up, a brown haired man with emerald eyes had a restrained grin on his face.
Zane paid neither of them any mind, "You'd count right. My other three men are out of town and were unable to make it today, they will be here tomorrow for the ceremony." He spoke as he led her to the head of the table, standing next to their intended chairs.
He nodded, gesturing for the jury to introduce themselves.
"Katelyn, the firefist."
"Jeffory, the Golden Heart."
"Ivan, the Twin Flame."
There was a moment of silence before the hooded woman spoke, "Ah, I am Lillian, the Silver Scythe."
"My name is Janus, the Silver Death."
Aphmau's eyes swept over them, each and every one in this beautiful, powerful armor that radiated energy, and shimmered with it. Lillian and Janus had these beautiful markings, the same as Aphmau had seen on Kiriko back in the village.
Lillian's eyes were shrouded in this deep blue mark that faded down her cheeks and nose, down her neck and down into her armor. Janus's skin shimmered with scattered silver, diamond shaped markings that glittered in the low lighting. It was absolutely beautiful, Aphmau absolutely loved observing people marked with magical energy, she could tell so much about them from just the shape and patterning.
Bunching some of her skirt fabric in her free hand, Aphmau bowed slightly before rising once more. "My name is Lady Aphmau of the small village town Phoenix Drop. It's very nice to meet you." She smiled warmly at them, and was met with mostly blank faces aside from one or two smiles or nods.
Zane nodded, satisfied, and made sure Lady Aphmau was seated before taking his own seat. He was positioned at the head of the table, with Janus sat to his left and Aphmau to his right. Aphmau glanced over to her other side, only to be met face-to-face with Lady Katelyn the Fire Fist. She had this beautiful scowl about her, Aphmau found it quite lovely. The way the corners of her mouth quirked, the view of her eyes under those half lids, the strong slope of her nose.
Ah, she'd been caught staring again. Katelyn's eyes met hers and Aphmau's cheeks flushed pink. She flashed Lady Katelyn a smile before averting her gaze.
Zane cleared his throat, and as he began to speak the members of the jury seated themselves, "As you all know, Lady Aphmau and I are to be wed tomorrow afternoon."
Aphmau wilted slightly, but it went unnoticed, "I wanted to introduce her to our escorting party, as well as involve her in our.. project."
That got people's attention, Janus in particular perked up, "High Priest, are you sure? We haven't even discussed this with-"
"Lady Aphmau," Zane interrupted, "Is rather capable, and extremely smart. And as I'm positive you and Lillian are aware, she will be an extremely useful asset, with her involved we may be able to move our projected timeline up several months."
Janus closed his mouth, glancing over at Aphmau, and nodded slowly.
Aphmau was confused. She glanced around the table, only to make direct eye contact with Lillian, who was openly staring at her from under her hood.
"We will not be discussing it entirely today." he continued, "just introductions, as you are right. I would prefer to include everyone in the discussion at one time, however our missing parties won't be returning till tomorrow afternoon, so that discussion will take place as soon as we have a moment."
That seemed to pacify a majority of the table, but it just frustrated Aphmau. "What's the big deal?" she asked, "I'm not doing anything immoral, if that's what you're getting at."
She glared at Zane, knowing she was daring to poke the bear once more.
He shook his head, "Oh, nothing like that." Zane stood from the table, his heeled shoes clicking on the wooden floors as he slowly rounded the table to stand behind Aphmau's chair. Katelyn looked visibly uncomfortable to be so close to him, but kept a stoney face and stared forward.
Aphmau looked up to meet his eye, and his hands found their way onto her shoulders, his thumbs brushing tenderly against the black markings on her neck, "Because of our agreement, I will be cutting out several moving parts that are of no more use to me." He spoke softly, quietly although it could be heard in the silent room as loud as if he were screaming, "Somehow you've made it this far in your life without understanding just how valuable of an asset you are."
She frowned and jerked herself out of his hold, "Watch it."
"Oh, I thought we stopped doing that, hm?" he stepped to the side of her, one of his hands leaning on the pristine table while the other gripped the back of her chair, "You should be rather proud of yourself, My dear, your potential will spare the lives of dozens of others."
Somehow that didn't make her feel proud. Actually it made her wonder if she should've just done this earlier, maybe then Alexis wouldn't have… well. Now's not the time for could've, should've, would've.
Aphmau swallowed, nodding and allowing Zane to run his fingers through her hair, the flowers and buds and leaves brushing against his gloves.
She still didn't get it. What was she missing?
He moved to stand at the head of the table, folding his hands behind his back, "That being said, we will be pulling back on several exhibitions soon."
"Jeffory," Zane's bark of his name made the young man sit up straight, "See to it that our dealings in Pikoro are dealt with… Amicably, and that Miss Amethyst is compensated adequately."
Jeffory nodded, looking a little relieved about whatever was on his mind.
"Katelyn, Lillian." The two women looked up to him, "in about a week's time, Lady Aphmau and I will be returning to her home village to collect on our owed debts, and you two will be escorting us as such."
"Janus," he was already looking to Zane, he didn't even need to look up, he'd been following the man with his eyes the entire time, "You will be personally escorting Lady Aphmau for the day tomorrow, up until the ceremony. Tonight you will be following up with Mikai, Ein and Ivy to make sure they make it back on time."
"Any questions?"
Nobody spoke up, until Aphmau piped up. "Um, I was actually hoping for Laurence to be able to escort me tomorrow? Not- Not that I'm Unhappy with Janus, I'm sure he's…" she glanced in his general direction, grimacing slightly at his general air, "Lovely. It's just I would prefer-"
"Out of the question." Zane interrupted, "He will be in attendance and nothing more."
Aphmau stared at him, a frown on her lips. He stared back challengingly, before caving with a soft sigh. "Ivan, retrieve Sir Laurence from his stayings tomorrow so he may join the Jury at the alter."
Ivan's eyebrows went up, but he nodded.
It wasn't exactly what Aphmau wanted, but it was good enough. She could work with that.
"Get to your work," Zane ordered, gesturing for them to disperse, "Lady Aphmau and I have people to talk to, I don't want to hear a word of any problems for the next 72 hours at least. understand?"
There was soft murmuring as the members dispersed, some pairing off to mumble with each other while they filed out of the room.
Aphmau stood when the final person disappeared, looking to Zane, "Will I at least get to see him tonight?" she asked, already expecting him to say no.
"Yes."
"Oh!"
He walked past her, holding his hand out to his side. Aphmau rushed to catch up to him, taking his hand in her arm, "Okay, now?"
"Yes. We have things to discuss with him."
Her mood soured, but she accepted it. He couldn't do anything too crazy while she was present, right?
Zane informed a guard of his orders, and they scurried off to go carry them out.
"We will be meeting him in my office, don't worry." Zane soothed her nerves, or at least tried to, "Maybe you'll even get to actually speak to him this time, instead of being forced to stand there while he antagonizes me."
Aphmau rolled her eyes, "Like you don't love antagonizing him. You would antagonize a rock if it could scream at you."
That made Zane giggle, she really didn't have any idea what she was in for.