Vivian pressed her fingertips to the sides of her temples. For once, she wasn’t sitting in her throne room. There were no infuriatingly determined hordes of clergymen trying to get her attention or latching onto her every word as if they were the gospel itself.

  She sat surrounded by nothing but the silence of her personal quarters.

  It wasn’t often she got a chance to recline back, hunched over like a dried shrimp, with her legs kicked up onto her desk and the front legs of her chair raised into the air as she kept it in a precarious balance.

  The sight probably would have given a few of the members of the Church of Repose a small heart attack. They couldn’t seem to comprehend that there was still great difference between someone that was almost a god and someone who was.

  She only allowed herself to retreat here when she needed it most. The more she used it, the more likely that someone would end up discovering its location and she’d have a wall of bald clergymen waiting to meet her the instant her door open.

  It wasn’t easy to rest when you knew there was a wall of well-intentioned but utterly infuriating eggs with their faces pressed up against your walls.

  Still, the privacy was usually enough to clear her head. A few hours here had historically been enough to let her re-focus her mind and keep her reigns over the Coral Empire.

  But today was being a little bit more problematic than she’d expected.

  There were only so many things she could deal with at one time. That went doubly so when the biggest tournament of multiple centuries was being held within her empire this time around. Dealing with the heads of the other factions was already more than enough to absorb every scrap of free time she had, and that wasn’t even counting all the extra shit that had been happening recently.

  Some of it had been expected. Everyone knew that the Empire selected for the tournament would inevitably have a great deal of shit to deal with. The rewards reaped from hosting the tournament always made it worth the trouble.

  At least, they should have.

  Vivian wasn’t so certain anymore. The reports she’d been getting recently were… ridiculous. That was to put it in a nice way. If she was to believe her people, then the Hands of just about every other faction had somehow decided that now was the best time to stir trouble.

  Oddly enough… Vivian didn’t think that to be the case. She’d had extensive meetings with the other faction heads leading up to the tournament. She was fairly certain that none of them would have been actively trying to sabotage her. If anything, they were invested in her success.

  Events like this were incredibly rare. For all the butted heads and disagreements they all had, this tournament was one of the few times where they got to see the extent of the other factions’ power without an all-out war. That was rare information. Information that wasn’t worth this petty interference.

  And that meant a great deal of these problems were caused by someone else.

  Unfortunately, the weak truce between the factions did not extend nearly far enough to ask for help. The moment any of them realized that Vivian’s grip over the situation was slipping, the temptation to strike would be far too great for them to resist.

  She had to deal with this herself.

  But she didn’t have the faintest idea of what was going on in the first place. There was simply no cohesion.

  Death Mages were strolling around her empire, breaking her treaty with Sievan with their mere presence, while rumors ran rampant and entire cities were under attack by forces that somehow managed to vanish without a trace.

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  Several old legends had been dug up and subsequently killed, lost, or otherwise disposed of. Guild leaders were going missing. Powerful magics that hadn’t been seen in hundreds of years had suddenly started making their return… and half of them were running around with such reckless abandon that she found it unlikely that it was someone on their way toward the tournament.

  Something else was going on.

  Vivan suppressed a groan.

  She let her head roll back to stare up at the ceiling — and found a shadow staring back at her.

  Her eyes narrowed.

  “You should not be here, puppet.”

  The shadow slipped down the side of the wall to pool at Vivian’s feet. She let her chair rock back to its proper place, where it landed with a thud. The shadow bubbled up before her as it melded together into the bubbly form of a human.

  Darkness twisted itself into a cloak and skin bloomed beneath it. Within seconds, a perfectly normal, albeit rather suspicious, human knelt on one knee before her, his head bowed in reverence.

  “My apologies, Great Prophet,” the man said. “I did not mean to bother you during your time of rest. But the Mistress does not wish to break the long-standing treaty between your parties. She thinks it prudent that I report now, rather than later. But I can return at another time if that would be more suitable for you.”

  Vivian’s lips thinned. “Speak.”

  “Someone in Aqua Terra is hunting us,” the man replied simply. He didn’t sound very bothered about his words. If anything, it seemed like he was simply describing an unwanted haircut he’d received. “Twelve are already dead, and I suspect more to come.”

  What fool would ever bother doing something like that? It’s completely pointless.

  “Hunting?” Vivian asked, blinking in confusion. “Why?”

  “We don’t know. But they’ve challenged the Mistress directly. We haven’t discovered the culprit yet, nor do we know what it is they seek. But they are powerful if they’ve had the gall to stride right up to our door with such confidence. Has anyone entered the city that we should be aware of in recent hours?”

  Vivian shook her head. “No. I haven’t detected the presence of anyone powerful enough to be worth mentioning. There hasn’t been a single newcomer beyond Rank 6 today. There were a few Rank 7s yesterday, but all are vouched for. I’ve been keeping tabs on them.”

  “Then it is someone who slipped under your notice.”

  Anger swirled through Vivian. “Or it is someone who is weaker than you think. It is not my responsibility to filter through all the dregs of society that make their way into Aqua Terra. That is what you are for. Do not pin your failure on me. I can assure you that, if a Rank 7 is truly your problem, then they are not within this city. There isn’t a single Rank 7 within Aqua Terra’s walls that I am not aware of.”

  The man was silent for a moment. Then he inclined his head.

  “I apologize for my insolence. I simply had to be certain.”

  “Don’t try it again. I am not your Mistress, and I do not enjoy being pushed. You will find me entirely unreceptive to games. And are your men not meant to be killed in the first place? I am not entirely sure how any of them being killed is an affront.”

  “Some of the deaths were natural. We have no issue with those. There would be no point to go fishing if the targets weren’t powerful enough to deal with the bait. But the others… over 6 badges were left behind,” the man replied. “Someone is sending a message. They’re killing our agents for sport.”

  Well that’s a damned stupid thing to do… but that old bat is rarely wrong. I’ve never seen her overreact before. Chances are she’s right. But what moron would ever try to bother her in such a manner? To even challenge that woman means you must know who you’re up against… and that would mean they should also know that the best result you can get against her is a draw.

  “I see. I’ll keep an extra eye out,” Vivian said with a shake of her head. “But that’s all I can offer. I have bigger problems than someone prodding your Mistress. Keeping the weaker mages in line is your house’s problem. Deal with it. And, if someone is powerful enough to warrant my attention, seek me out at that time.”

  The man inclined his head. Then he collapsed into a puddle of shadow, fading away as if he had never been there.

  Vivian blew out a slow sigh. She slumped back in her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  She hadn’t actually told the whole truth. Vivian knew the location of every single Rank 7 and above mage within the Coral Empire… except one.

  There was one being that she’d lost track of.

  The one that had been messing with the Beyond. She hadn’t felt their presence in days. But, if anything, that just made her uneasier. Problems didn’t just evaporate. When one couldn’t tell what direction the storm was moving… it tended to be headed right toward them.

  An uneasy air settled around the Prophet’s shoulders.

  That person couldn’t have something to do with this, right?

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