Three days passed, and Edward once again awoke, still drunk from the night before. It was sad to see Teddy become a shell of his former self, for Stone to stop being judgmental. The sadness led to increased drinking. The drinking led to bad thoughts. Bad thoughts lead to mind-control. Mind-control led to drinking. It was the circle of lies that ruled them all.

  There was a pristine beverage beside his bed, with a handwritten note in the common language. The handwriting was the perfectly square and diagrammatic lettering of a Mechmian, signed with a single letter in the Mechmian alphabet. It was even written on paper and decorated with a border of an impressively complicated heart motif. Its message wasn't complicated, a simple “Beloved, Enjoy.”

  Rubbing his eyes, Ed drank deeply of the perfectly prepared concoction and attempted to remember precisely what he'd done the morning before.

  “Agh, stop bothering me,” Ed complained loudly, “I was gathering intelligence!”

  “That was last night. We didn't go through a town today. We have a mission to complete, and I'm fairly sick of Callie's lack of grid. It's like being on a barbarian planet without any of the fun.”

  This had set Ed off, “Fun? You think conquest is fun? How dare you? Those people want freedom.”

  “Freedom from their own oppressive governance, most like. They also want to live comfortably in security. Oh, look, that's what we provide. We perform a service,” argued Teddy dispassionately. “Now, I've brought a detox and a round of alcohol addiction remover. Will ye take them willingly or must I force ye to freedom from addiction?”

  “Get rid of it,” Ed countered coldly. It wasn't the first time Teddy had entered his spaces without consent, which made him take such things. Even before he was in the coterie, whenever Teddy would visit Stone, he'd force Ed into an unwanted sobriety. It was a challenge of sorts, one Ed had never won before. This was the day he'd win.

  His voice was perfectly apathetic, but a whiff of excitement hung in the air about him. Teddy liked a friendly challenge – not as much as he enjoyed an unfriendly challenge, but well enough. Life was but a game for his amusement.

  This time was different. Ed had more experience. More importantly, the blue knight was coterie now. All Ed had to do to the villain was use the connection. Make it deeper and more true. It was going to be laughably easy.

  His purple eyes radiating power, Ed's barely contained anger was unleashed softly, “Get rid of all the detox and addiction removal medications. Purge it all from this crystal and your person. You are my knight, and you will respect my wishes. You will treat me with adoration that you will feel in your heart and soul. What I say is always correct, and you will know it to be true. Analyze my previous behavior and see that all your actions align with what I want. If I tell you what I want, that is what we will do.”

  Everything had changed after that. Drinks were served with meals that deviated from the optimized meal plan Teddy had created before they'd left. He could do no wrong. It had seemed great for the first few hours, but then the same old guilt set in. He'd taken his friend's agency. Teddy wasn't following orders because he wanted to; he was following them because he had no choice. What the empire did to all the little worlds was what he'd done to the blue knight and countless others. He could tell himself it was for the mouthy knight's own good, but that was futile. He may have won the challenge. He may have proven his point. None of that mattered with Teddy being so agreeable.

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  Then Stone had fallen as he usually did. He'd glared at Ed with those judgmental eyes, clear and deep as a frozen lake. Still on edge from the incident with Teddy, Ed had snapped at him. He hadn't even realized he'd used his power until it was too late. It wasn't the first time such a thing had occurred, but Ed still felt guilty. Perhaps he deserved to be judged for taking control. Perhaps everyone would be better off if he just sat back and let Teddy do everything and make all the decisions.

  One thing was for sure: he couldn't face his knights sober. Even if they didn't realize it, what he'd done was shameful. He'd broken a promise to himself. Worse yet, a promise he'd made long ago to his first love. An unrequited love that he had for the girl who had made him realize why he'd always felt alone. The one who had made him yearn for someone to like him for himself, not because he was rich or powerful, and whose power made it nearly impossible to dislike him.

  He dressed miserably as he considered ways to fix the situation. His gift didn't work by half-measures. Even if it did, simply giving a command wouldn't fix Teddy; it would only deepen the power that had him enthralled. Not to mention, even if Teddy did go back to normal, it wouldn't be because he had a choice in the matter.

  Ed didn't worry about fixing his white knight. That was easy. True love was the only thing that could break his spell. Stone had Nina, which was part of the reason Ed had selected him (there were many things to consider). Despite their arguing and on-again-off-again relationship, the pair loved each other. They just disagreed on most things, and both had terrible tempers. Seeing Nina would immediately fix Stone, and Nina would always find an excuse to show up before too long. All Ed had to do was wait.

  If only other forms of eros worked as well as true love, the kinds that were built and maintained. True love is a resonation of the soul shared with but a single other person. It was said that souls are split in two, and that each creature has only half a soul. The two halves finding each other is called true love. Most of the time, the two halves hated each other for one reason or another. It wasn't a loving bond that one built with another individual over time. True love was usually an unwelcome bond that persisted through dislike. It was frowned upon by most romance philosophers, academics, and novelists. At least it is rare to find in the vast universe. Unfortunately, in this lifetime, Teddy would never have another true love. The other half of his soul had died during a campaign. He would never again be freed from a curse by her love.

  The thought of Donna Prim's smile made the drunken prince's eyes mist. A true love's match that could never be for Teddy and Donna, but what was true love anyway? It was like true north on a map: magnetic north and grid north could not be discounted and were possibly more important and valuable to know. Most of the time, people with true love didn't even like each other or have the same values. As the academics said, each kind of love is precious and deserving of praise. His love for Donna had been born from admiration and respect. Always practical, Donna would have known how to fix the situation. She always said something mean so he'd see that she still could. If only she hadn't found her annoying true love, their constructed bond would have blossomed.

  That was it! Ed's drunken mind bounded with excitement. All he had to do was make Teddy remember how much they disliked each other by being a complete ass. Donna was saving him from beyond the grave just as she did in life. Eventually, Teddy would break off on his own volition and regain his agency. Then perhaps he'd let Teddy succeed in his challenge with minimal fuss. There would be some resistance, of course – Teddy liked a challenge and was the sort to help people without consideration of their opinions. If he thought he was helpful, there was no stopping him.