The room’s air was thick with tension. Cassian looked around to admire the sheer opulence of the meeting room. After chasing down Elspeth, he’d convince the suspicious girl to take him to her family home. Now, he sat quietly on a velvet couch with gold plated seams, sipping on a cup of night flower tea. It had a calming effect on the drinker, and was a customary offering for all House Moon guests.

  “Delicious. I forgot how much I missed this taste.”

  “I’m glad you enjoy our brew, young master Cassian. They come directly from my garden,” said the middle-aged man across from him.

  “You grow night flowers, Mr Ellenikke? I’ve heard they never bloom in captivity,” Cassian said in genuine amazement.

  The man chuckled, “Nothing’s impossible with money and patience. I have an abundance of both, but strangely, whenever someone approaches me, it’s always for the money.”

  “Looks like you have me figured out,” Cassian said.

  Ellenikke’s smiling facade didn’t drop, the trick of a successful merchant, but his voice grew more sedate. “I cannot help you, young master.”

  “You don’t yet know what I want.”

  “Whatever it is, I cannot help you.” He took a sip of tea. “I wasn’t there to witness your reinstatement trial, but I’ve heard rumours. A Unbound holding his own against six Adept Crescents. For that, I extend my deepest congratulations and awe. But that doesn’t erase the House’s deep suspicion of your return.

  “If I give you my support, in any way shape or form, that will reflect poorly on me.”

  “On you? Or your daughter?” Cassian asked.

  Ellenikke’s facade still did not drop, but there was a palpable air of hostility now.

  “What about my daughter?”

  “Elspeth is very impressive. I saw her in the arena today. I have no doubt in my mind that if she wasn’t from a branch family, she’d be front and center as the face of House Moon’s new generation.”

  Elspeth’s father set down his cup. “What are you trying to say, young master?”

  Cassian continued sipping at his tea. “You’re not stupid, Mr Ellenikke. The trials that await the Starlings after their binding ritual… You know how dangerous they are. Elspeth, the rising star that she is, won’t be ignored by the other main line families. One could easily postulate they might even do anything to stop her from outshining their children.”

  Ellenikke’s cup smashed loudly against the marble floor. “You want to threaten my daughter!?” his voice shook with rage.

  Cassian’s eyes stayed fixed on the man’s face. “Quite the opposite. I’m offering my services to you. The first Starling trial is the Eternal Night Mountain. A place where all the Starlings will be secluded from the outside world for almost two years. With no outside interference, it’s a place rife with chaos and unpredictable elements. In other words, dangerous.”

  The angry man thought for a moment. “... and you mean to protect her?”

  “I can.”

  Ellenikke brought a shivering fist to his mouth. “What do you want?”

  “Simple. The binding ritual ceremony is in less than two weeks. I know you will allow only the best ritual for your daughter. A magic imprint virtuoso, giant sequid ink, magic beast meat of the highest quality. I want that too.”

  “Why not ask your family for that? This is nothing for a scion of the Eamons.”

  “Unfortunately, I’ve had a falling out with my family after my little escapade. I’m sure you’ve heard all about it by now.”

  Ellenikke thought silently. He himself had failed the Starling selection process when he was a young boy. Nevertheless, he’d studied hard to make up for it, and had subsumed his father’s role as head of House Moon’s mercantile department, making him one of the richest men in the House. But all of that wealth meant nothing to him in the face of his daughter’s life. When she was selected as a Starling, he both cheered and grieved. The life of a Starling was not an easy one, nor even a safe one. Doubly so for one from a branch family who would have to bear the condescension of main line families.

  Cassian was right. Eternal Night Mountain was the first trial the Starlings would have to face once they finished the binding ritual. It included a two year seclusion on House Moon’s floating island perpetually shrouded in darkness and orbited by a faux moon. Anything could happen on Night Mountain, as the House members called it. To protect the chances of their children becoming Heir Paramount, the main line families would not stop at anything, even if it meant taking the life of an innocent child.

  If Cassian was as strong as rumours suggested, his help would be invaluable in keeping Elspeth safe throughout the trial. Although somewhat tarnished now, his status as an Eamon would also serve as a solid deterrent for any hostile scions.

  “How do I know you’ll be holding up your end of the deal? As you said, the island is secluded for the entire trial, I have no way of knowing what happens inside.”

  “A pact mage. I’m sure you have access to a plethora of them, being the head of the mercantile department and all. If you provide the resources for my ritual, I will willingly undergo the pact formation right at the ceremony.”

  Ellenikke considered this. Cassian was right to assume he knew a good handful of pact mages. They were all but essential for mercantile contracts and trades. When trading with mages above your rank, there was nothing stopping the higher ranked from going back on their word. This was especially true for trades on the scale of noble houses where traders are protected by the houses they belong to, thus eliminating the threat of petty revenge as a deterrent for breaking a deal.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  To remedy this, all large scale traders made deals only with the help of pact mages. Their icons of pacts or contracts allow these mages to ensure that whatever deal made is followed through by both parties.

  Cassian’s offer to form the pact during the ceremony meant that he was willing to announce to the entire House that Elspeth was under his protection. His status alone as an Eamon would already be a good deterrent, but with the addition of Cassian actually working to protect her, Elspeth would be in a significantly safer position overall.

  “I accept.”

  Ellenikke’s facade of a friendly merchant had completely dropped now, instead, it was replaced by only the severe sincerity of a father protecting his daughter.

  “Great. Now’s let’s discuss terms. I know you’ll want giant sequid ink for Elspeth, but I want something a little more exotic.”

  “How so?”

  “I believe I can acquire a Jade Fang. I simply want the imprint virtuoso you employ to be willing to work with it.”

  “Quite frankly, young master, if you can acquire a Jade Fang, I’m not sure you have need of my resources. That is not exactly an easy nor particularly safe thing to acquire. Do I assume you are still in the good graces of the Eamons?”

  “Better that you don’t. Believe me when I say acquiring the Jade Fang will be all I can manage for the two weeks that I have left.”

  “Very well, I believe I can arrange something if you can procure the Jade Fang yourself.”

  ***

  Outside the meeting room, Elspeth leaned against the wall, eavesdropping on her father’s new meeting as she did with all his other meetings. Since her Adept instructor had taught her to channel mana to enhance senses, she’d been able to make out the muffled discussion more clearly. Most times, the conversations were mundane trade talks between her father and some prospective seller or buyer. Regardless she still listened to every single one with the same eagerness to learn the workings of the House.

  This time however, she did not like what she was hearing. As she heard the conversation come to an end, she used a short burst of mana to empower her legs, allowing her to adroitly hop onto a hanging chandelier.

  Soon enough, her father was walking the new mystery boy out of the meeting room to be escorted by the servants. The boy, she of course knew to be the infamous Cassian of the Eamon family, but that name alone did not give her enough context. She was still young and quite isolated from the rest of the House during Cassian’s initial rise to fame, so the boy was functionally an enigma for her.

  As her father turned to leave in the other direction, his Newbound-rank senses failed to detect her presence above. Unlike the other Starlings, Elspeth had quickly mastered the basics of mana manipulation and was now able to hide her magical presence even from low tier mages. That was why it came as a startling shock to her when the pre-bonded Cassian snapped his head to stare directly at her.

  She was startled for a moment and almost fell from the chandelier, but managed to hang on. The boy's face was sharp and lean like a predator, his intense eyes seemed to drill into her soul with no remorse. He was a main line scion, and it was as if his glare knew that too. The moment lasted only a few seconds before the confused servant inquired if Cassian was alright and directed him back to the entrance.

  When he’d left, Elspeth finally let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding in.

  “Bastard.”

  As adroitly as she had hopped onto the chandelier, she hopped back down and chased after her father. She traced his path and found him in their garden, as she usually did. He was admiring his night flowers as usual, marvelling at their hypnotic deep purple petals.

  “Father, why did you even entertain that arrogant bastard?”

  Ellenikke sighed. “I still remember when you used to call me papa.”

  “Don’t change the topic!” she said, flustered. “Do you really think so little of me that I can’t even survive the trials on my own? So much so that you ask some runaway scion to be my guard dog?”

  Ellenikke was unsurprised that his daughter was already filled in. He had been aware of her spying on his meetings for a while now, but never said anything. He was just glad she was taking an interest in the family work.

  “It’s not that I don’t trust your skills, Elspeth. You are a wonder to me, do you know that?”

  Elspeth feigned anger but stayed otherwise silent.

  “It’s just… the main line families are ruthless. They don’t play fair, and they’re not afraid to pull others down if it means they go up.”

  “But I’m ready! Whatever scion they send after me, I can win. My training has proven at least that much!”

  “It is the hubris of youth that makes great things happen, Elspeth. That’s why I’ve always encouraged your bravado while you were in the safety of our family,” he turned away from his flowers to face his daughter. Tenderly, he held both her hands and felt a jolt of pain in his heart as he saw her youthful face.

  “But you are a Starling now, and I won’t be able to protect you for much longer. Soon, you will have to face the consequences on your own, and they will make or break you,” he paused to collect himself. “Have you ever seen a corpse with half its head missing?”

  Elspeth started at her father’s sudden question. For all her 15 years of life, she’d never known her father to talk of such grotesque things.

  “No, you haven’t, but I have. You know that I didn’t make the selection to become a Starling, but you don’t know that my older brother did make the cut.” Elspeth was stunned, neither her parents nor her grandparents had ever spoken much of her uncle except that he passed at a young age. “He died on the first day of the Eternal Night Mountain trial. The mainline scions ambushed him and stomped his head in as soon as the trial began, all for the sin of insulting one of the mainline family’s scions.”

  She felt conflicting waves of horror and rage crashing inside her.

  “They did it so fast, the island hadn’t even left the House estate yet. The Crescents still had time to bring his corpse down for us.”

  This was some 30 years past for Ellenikke now, but the memory of his brother’s mutilated corpse was still fresh in his mind.

  “You’re so driven it scares me, Elspeth. Not because I don’t believe you won’t make it, but because I fear the people who don’t want you to. Please, let the Eamon scion protect you. Use him as a shield, a sword, kill him if you need to. Just make sure you come home safe. Will you do that much for me?”

  Elspeth looked into her father’s eyes. He’d always been a firm and composed figure in her mind, he rarely spoke with such desperation in his voice. Trade deals that could shake nations were made everyday in his meeting hall, and still his voice had never quivered like this before.

  “Okay, papa.”

  Ellenikke embraced his daughter tightly, almost letting out an errant tear.

  Unfortunately for him, Elspeth had not taken from his speech what he wanted her to. When she broke free of her father’s embrace and stalked back to her chambers, all her mind was filled with was a newfound disgust and hatred for the mainline families and their atrocious spawn.