“I still think Endellion secretly wanted a dress for herself,” Phia said.

  Endellion met her gaze, and for an instant Phia glimpsed anguish in the elf’s eyes.

  “Endellion, are you okay?”

  Her face quickly regained its usual cold detachment.

  “Of course, Kitty. I’m fine.”

  * * *

  Rowkis Fragan lived in Castlewood, a wealthy neighborhood with large stone houses.

  “That’s where the lawmakers’ chambers and the courts are,” Phia said, pointing beyond the rooftops to a silver-topped clock tower with soaring spires.

  “My uncle walks over there every day for work. He’ll be home now, having his dinner.”

  Brune knocked at Fragan’s door. A rotund maid answered. She let out a squeak of surprise when she saw Brune’s face.

  “We’re here to see Fragan. Tell him it’s Phia.”

  “Ph-Phia?” She gasped as the cat girl stepped into view. “One moment.”

  She returned quickly.

  “Come this way. He’s having his dinner.”

  Fragan sat at the table in a sparsely decorated dining room, where an old clock ticked lazily on the wall. His sagging eyes bulged open as Brune and the three women walked into the room.

  “What the fuck is this!” he sputtered, spewing bits of chicken onto the table.

  “Phia! What the f—”

  “Calm down,” Brune said. “We know you’re a fraud.”

  “Phia, who’s this idiot? And why did you run from Vladnoch’s?” He slammed his fist on the table. “Do you know what a nuisance–”

  “I’m Brune Hargish. We’re adventurers.” He swept his hand towards Endellion and Lilly. “We’ve been hired to investigate you.”

  “Investigate! Is that right?”

  “Yes. We’ve uncovered a lot of dirt about you.”

  Fagan squinted at Brune. His wispy hair clung to his sweaty forehead.

  “For example, we discovered that you have no relation to Phia!”

  Fragan’s eyes bulged even more.

  Brune stepped closer, sensing Fragan was about to confess.

  But he only gripped his napkin and stared at the mashed potatoes. Then he smiled grimly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now kindly leave Phia here and get out of my house before I report you to the authorities. Phia, go to your room.”

  “We know about the extortion racket you’re running with Vladnock, too,” Brune said. “And we can prove it.”

  Fragan slammed his fist on the table. “You’re lying! You’ve no proof!” He stood up in a rage but froze when he saw he wasn’t even eye-level with Brune’s chest.

  The quarter-ogre stepped closer, staring at Fragan as if he might eat him. Fragan backed away, bumping into his chair.

  “You’re a liar, Fragan—Admit it!” Clenching his fists and bearing his teeth, Brune lurched forward.

  Panic invaded Fragan’s face. Tripping over himself, he fell to the floor, wheezing to catch his breath.

  “Be careful, Brune,” Endellion said, touching his arm. “Remember what happened last time.”

  “Lord Brune,” Lilly sang, skipping in front of him. “I believe I can help, with your permission.”

  Brune nodded.

  Lilly crouched beside Fragan and touched his arm. “Don’t worry, Sir,” she said in a breathy voice. “You won’t come to any harm as long as I’m here. I’ll see to it.”

  Fragan’s breathing slowed down. He looked at Lilly as if he’d forgotten the rest of the world existed.

  She stood up and stepped back. “Please stand up, Mr. Fragan.”

  He obeyed.

  Lilly raised her hand above her head. A fizzy mist swirled around her arm, sparkling with blue, pink, and yellow, and a wand materialized in her hand. She squealed and pressed the implement against her chest.

  “Oh, I missed you so much, Cindy!”

  A grunt scraped in Brune’s throat. “Cindy?”

  “My wand,” Lilly said, giggling at Brune’s perplexed face. “I named her Cindy. Phia! Watch this!”

  Phia bounced on her toes and clapped her hands. “I’m watching!”

  Lilly waved her sparkling wand in front of Fragan’s face.

  “You will tell the truth, won’t you, Mr. Fagan?”

  “Yes, Miss,” he said as blue and pink twinkled around his head. “For you, I will do anything.”

  Brune and Endellion snickered.

  “Master Brune will ask you questions now.”

  Fragan’s admiring eyes followed Lilly as she stepped aside.

  Brune cleared his throat. “Tell us the truth about Phia.”

  “Phia.” Fragan sighed and looked at Brune with glassy eyes. “What a find!”

  Phia’s ears went back and her tail bristled.

  “How did you find her?” Brune said.

  “I heard… the Sisters of Feron had a young cat girl... And she’d bloomed into the most beautiful woman in Bambioch.”

  “So you decided to take her.”

  Fragan smiled and winked. “Before someone else got to her first.” He swayed on his feet and looked at Phia dreamily. “Amazing piece of ass, isn’t she? I jerked off over her every night when she was here.”

  “Ew!” Phia said, swiping the air with her claws. “Uncle Rowkis!”

  A dopey smile spread over Fragan’s face. “Oh, I’m not really your uncle. I just faked it so I could claim guardianship over you.”

  Phia covered the sides of her head with trembling hands. “It was all a lie?”

  “How did you manage it?” Brune said.

  “Manage… what? Oh! I just had some papers written up. That was simple; just a matter of pulling some strings.”

  “And then you sold her to Bozhidar Vladnoch,” Endellion said.

  “I thought he’d want her for his slave harem, so I invited him to meet Phia. He liked her so much he wanted to marry her. I took advantage—set an outrageous price. Told him it was final. He refused. A week later he sent me a down payment.”

  Brune heard Phia’s ragged breath, choked with tears. The sound cut into his heart. His fists clenched at his sides until the knuckles turned white.

  “You’re coming with us to the courts. Now.”

  “Wait a minute.” Fragan threw up his hands. “Let’s talk about it first.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “Vladnoch won’t be happy.”

  “Do I look happy?”

  Fragan backed up to the wall as Brune glowered at him with a demonic gleam in his eyes.

  “Wh-what do you want me to do?”

  “I want you to give up your guardianship of Phia. That’s it. We don’t have to get into the dirty details if the judge doesn’t ask. But if you don’t cooperate—now—you’ll have a lot more problems on your hands. Fraud, extortion, bribery, embezzlement; we’ll expose it all.”

  Fragan wiped his sweaty head and cleared his throat. “But—”

  “Don’t try to talk your way out of this,” Brune said, stooping to bring his face close to Fragan’s.

  Fragan stammered, “I—I’m not... It’s just—”

  “Shut up. We’re leaving. Now.” Brune turned and walked to the door.

  Fragan beat a fist on his thigh and turned to Lilly. “I’m trying to tell him. It’s 7:30. The courts are closed.”

  Tick... tock, tick... tock, tick... tock

  The lazy clock on the wall seemed to interject itself. Brune looked at it.

  “What time do the courts open tomorrow, Mr. Fragan?” Lilly said.

  “Nine o’clock.”

  “Can I trust you to be ready first thing in the morning?”

  “Yes, Miss.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  LILLY LEANED HER cheek against one of the iron bars of the courthouse gates. “I guess we’ll just have to find something else to do today.”

  “Hopefully, it’ll actually be open tomorrow,” Phia said.

  “Well, he insisted it would be,” Brune said, watching Fragan as he slinked off towards the government office buildings.

  “You think he’ll try anything?” Endellion said.

  “Maybe. He’s got a whole day for scheming. But that’s why I tried to put the fear of death into him just now.”

  Brune meandered down the street. Phia walked by his side, looking up at him with searching eyes.

  “It definitely worked,” Lilly said, pushing herself away from the gate. “I thought he was going to faint away.”

  “I don’t like it when you do that,” Phia said. “You’re scary.”

  Brune looked at her with his crooked smile. “It’s just an act. I’m always in control.”

  As they passed the wall of the courthouse, a spectacular vista opened up. It overlooked the commercial district; wood-tiled rooftops crowded together in irregular patterns, right up to the tree-lined avenue that ran along the Port of Bambioch.

  Out on the sea, billowing sails brought spices, silk, and perfumes from over the shimmering horizon. Lilly and Phia skipped ahead and chirped about how beautiful it was.

  And they were right. I was beautiful. He wouldn’t have noticed or cared before. But the fact that Phia and Lilly enjoyed it so much somehow made Brune enjoy it, too. He took in a whiff of the briny air.

  An unfamiliar feeling warmed his breast. It was so... cozy.

  Is this happiness?

  Something in the vista caught Phia’s eye. She stepped away from Lilly and made a sign towards the sea. It was the same sign she’d made when she prayed at her bedside.

  Endellion folded her arms and leaned against the courthouse wall, watching Phia.

  The cat girl curtseyed and murmured a prayer, making the sign a few more times. Brune searched the buildings below until his eye came upon a magnificent temple that stood on the water.

  When Phia had finished her prayer, Brune said, “That must be the Temple of Feron.”

  “No,” she said, giving him an incredulous look. “It’s the Temple of Sol.”

  Brune shrugged. “Oh. I didn’t know you prayed to Sol, too.”

  “Of course. Sol is Feron’s brother.”

  “Oh yeah... I did know that.”

  “The Order of Feron is part of the hierarchy of the Church of Sol,” Endellion said.

  Brune nodded slowly. “That much I did not know.”

  Endellion pointed towards the temple. “That’s where the Head Cardinal presides.”

  “It’s a really beautiful temple,” Phia said, her tail flicking beneath her dress. “I was eleven the first time I went there, and I was so nervous! It was the Day of Sol’s Ascent, and we sang in front of hundreds of people.”

  Lilly grabbed Phia’s shoulder. “I didn’t know you could sing!”

  “I sang in the Sisters of Feron Choir.”

  “I sang with a group, too! We called ourselves the Meadow Birds.” Lilly’s mouth popped open. She looked at Brune and Endellion. “We could all sing together! Brune, you could—”

  “No.”

  “... sing bass?”

  “I can’t sing. And you don’t want to hear me try.”

  Lilly pouted. “Endellion? You could be our alto… If you want?”

  The hint of a smirk appeared at the corner of the dark elf’s mouth. “Sure. I can be the alto.”

  “Yay!” Lilly clapped her hands.

  “That would be amazing,” Phia said, taking Lilly’s hands. “We could teach each other songs!”

  “I can play the cittern,” Lilly said.

  “I play the violin!”

  “I wonder if we can stop at a music shop,” Lilly whispered.

  “We passed one yesterday when we bought your dress.”

  Lilly’s eyes twinkled. “I know. I saw it, too.”

  Brune cleared his throat. “Let’s go back to the inn and have coffee,” he said, pretending he hadn’t heard the stuff about music shops.

  What was the point of talking about singing together? Phia would be leaving them soon. Once he figured out what the hell to do with her.

  * * *

  “You want to help us?” Phia said, picking up a jigsaw puzzle piece. Lilly had found a bunch of puzzles in the dining room when they’d had dinner. This one was an illustration of the interior of the Bambioch Temple of Sol.

  “No thanks,” Brune said, looking out the window of their room. A lamplighter was making his rounds on the dusky street.

  “Starting to rain out there,” Brune murmured.

  “You’ve been so quiet all day, Lord Brune,” Lilly said. “Even quieter than usual. Is anything the matter?”

  He turned to the table. Lilly was resting her chin on her palm, staring at Brune like a college girl crushing on a professor.

  “No,” he said, looking back out the window. “I’m just thinking.”

  Phia and Lilly had been their happy-go-lucky selves the whole day. They seemed to assume, naively, that everything would go as planned at the courts.

  But he’d already told Phia many times that she couldn’t stay with him. It was impossible. And besides, she was no adventurer… Although; she had proved herself to be a crack shot under pressure.

  I guess she’s got potential.

  But anyway, they didn’t know how it would turn out in court. Even if Fragan cooperated and the judge nullified his guardianship over Phia... What then? It would still be up to the judge what to do with her. In the worst-case scenario, he might just give Vladnoch guardianship, since he was already engaged to Phia.

  Or maybe the judge would put Phia under the Crown’s protection? In that case, Brune would still have no say in what happened to her. He might not even see her again.

  I’ll ask the judge to give her back to the Sisters of Feron. It should be a strong argument since they are basically her family.

  “Hey, we’re getting there,” Phia said.

  “Yeah, it’s taking shape,” said Lilly. “I see what you mean. The temple looks spectacular. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  “Don’t you have temples in your country?”

  “Well, the forest is our temple.”

  “I wish I could take you to a service there. You’d love the hymns.”

  Brune watched Phia thoughtfully. She always spoke so passionately about her religion. Going back to the sisters really did seem like the best thing for her.

  A life of service to Feron would probably make her happy.

  Brune walked over to the table. “It does look nice,” said, picking up a piece and attaching it to the picture.

  * * *

  Endellion returned after the others had gone to bed. She’d been in the dining hall since supper time.

  “Hi, Endellion,” Phia said as the door shut. They’d rented a room with three beds: one for Lilly and Phia to share, one for Brune, and one for Endellion.

  “Hey,” Endellion said.

  Brune could smell beer as the elf staggered over to her bed on the other side of the room.

  “Good night, Endellion,” Phia said.

  “Night.”

  A few minutes later, Brune heard Phia and Lilly whispering. Then a pair of feet padded the floor and someone slipped under his sheets. The purring started immediately.

  “I was scared,” Phia whispered as she snuggled up to Brune’s arm.

  “Of what?”

  “Of… of the thunder.”

  “There is no thunder.”

  Phia rubbed her face against Brune’s arm and laughed needily.

  Gods dammit, she’s horny.

  A moment later, another soft body crept under the blankets on the other side of the bed.

  “Sorry, Lord Brune, but...it...it wasn’t fair that Phia got to sleep with you while I slept alone.”

  Phia made her silly giggling sound again, nuzzling her head into Brune’s arm. Lilly joined in with giggling of her own and snuggled up to Brune’s other arm.

  “You don’t mind, do you, Brune?” Phia said. “Or are you still grumpy?”

  “Shut up. Go to sleep.”

  Phia squealed and slapped his arm. “Don’t tell me to shut up! You shut up! I was--”

  Brune pinched her lips between his thumb and fingers. “Shhh. Or I’ll kick you out and make you sleep in the other bed alone.”

  Phia looked repentant, so Brune released her lips.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, purring again. “I’ll be a good girl.”

  A moment later, Brune felt Lilly’s breasts pressing onto his arm as she leaned over him to whisper in his ear. “Lord Brune, I wonder if Endellion will join us.” She ran her hand over his chest. “Like last time.”

  “I don’t think she will,” Brune said. “Not tonight.”

  And she didn’t.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “CALLIDORA. MISS PHIA Callidora.”

  For a moment, Brune and Phia fumbled around in their chairs as if they didn’t know what to do.

  They’d been waiting such a long time that it was almost surprising to hear the courtroom secretary call Phia’s name.

  They’d arrived first thing in the morning, but the docket was still filled with names from the previous court day, so the secretary told them to come back after lunch.

  Phia and Lilly dragged Brune to the music shop they’d seen in the shopping district, and Phia insisted on buying a cittern for Lilly. She used her share of the money from Endellion’s pick-pocketing efforts at the slave market. It wasn’t quite enough, though, so Brune had to pay the difference.

  “Callidora,” the secretary called again. “Miss Phia Callidora.”

  Brune led Phia out of the crowded sitting area.

  “Good luck, Phia,” Lilly said, clutching the small stringed instrument on her lap.

  Endellion sat with her legs crossed, a thoughtful look on her face.

  Heads turned as Brune and Phia walked down the aisle towards the gray-bearded judge. Fragan, looking very sweaty and sheepish, followed behind them.

  The judge peered over his spectacles. “You are Miss Callidora?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “Alright. Go ahead; explain why you’re here.”