“The first order of business is to move the Lady swiftly to another location,” one of the guards said. His name was Sturell, and the other, his brother, was Heltrell. Both were descendants of the current Water Guild leaders.

  One of the Feydaks immediately scolded the idea, her voice sharp with concern. She reminded the guards of how fragile Lady Varessi’s condition was. Moving her discreetly through the bustling city streets would not only be nearly impossible but would also risk the lives of both mother and child, potentially jeopardizing the entire operation.

  The brothers conferred privately, their voices low, carefully formulating a plan. They knew better than to send a message that could be intercepted by other search parties. After a brief exchange, they reached a conclusion: they would allow the operation to play out until the child was born. Only then would they retrieve both mother and child safely.

  Their whispered conversation did not go unnoticed. Mascious, seated in the shadowed rear corner of the room, listened closely, though his mind was elsewhere. The dim moonlight barely touched him, leaving him almost invisible in the darkness. He could hardly bring himself to face his Lady now, having failed her so completely. He couldn’t even bear to look at her.

  It wasn’t fear of judgment in her eyes that haunted him. On the contrary, he knew Lady Varessi would forgive him—or perhaps she already had. Her amber eyes, always warm, would silently tell him, It was not your fault.

  But at that moment, Mascious couldn’t bear her forgiveness. Especially not from her. He had sworn an oath, not just as a retainer but as a soldier—vowing to protect her from the time he was a child. And yet, he had failed her time and again. The bitter truth gnawed at him: this time, he regretted not holding her back when she accepted the offer of communion.

  The ghosts of his past resurfaced, pulling him deeper into regret.

  Mascious had spent years walking a fine line as Lady Varessi’s retainer. On one hand, it was his responsibility to ensure she was presentable and upstanding, poised to catch the eye of a potential suitor. On the other, he remained committed to her desire to live freely, not like a caged bird confined by the politics of noble life.

  His ability to navigate this delicate balance had largely depended on his control over the Island of Serrit. While the Severidt family were custodians of the island, it had long since become a title in name only. Even when Serrit thrived due to its fishing industry, the Severidts profited very little from its success.

  Mascious always found the situation strange, and in his investigation of the family’s history, he had uncovered the reason. Three generations ago, Lord Fastenen Severidt had sought to distance the family from the ancient, local fishing traditions of the island. He aimed to align the Severidts more closely with the Empire’s practices, hoping to elevate the house in the eyes of other noble families.

  He did so in a bid to secure powerful connections, to ensure the Severidts were not seen as backward or irrelevant.

  The annual fishing games, which had once brought the Severidt family considerable profit, suddenly ended—but not entirely. The family merely distanced itself from the practice, leaving it in the hands of the Island’s residents. The Fisher Guild, which had once hosted the event alongside the family, continued the tradition on its own.

  The taxes Lord Fastenen Severidt had once levied on the sale of exotic fish—a tax popular among the Island’s residents, as it exempted regular fishers—were abruptly stopped. Exotic fishing continued, but now the guild collected the fees, free from any taxation. Lastly, the Severidt house’s official fisher, who had once served as a liaison between the guild, the family, the regular fishers, and House Myrrar, was dismissed.

  Mascious could only shake his head in disbelief. Under Lord Fastenen, the family had voluntarily cut itself off from its most profitable source of income in an effort to appear more regal and aligned with the Empire. Yet, Lord Fastenen had made a crucial misstep. Instead of banning fishing outright, as House Myrrar would eventually do, he simply distanced his family from it.

  In doing so, he effectively handed authority over fishing affairs to the Fisher Guild, which then began dealing directly with House Myrrar. The Severidts, once the vital intermediary between the powerful noble house and the lucrative industry, were ultimately removed from the equation.

  At first, Mascious had been quietly enraged. Though he cared little for the old customs, he clearly saw their profitability. But as he dug deeper into the family’s history, a clearer, more tragic picture emerged. Over time, he began to pity Lord Fastenen.

  Smaller families that clung to pre-imperial customs were often subtly discriminated against by the more powerful houses. The Severidts, in all likelihood, could trace their ancestry back to one of the families that had served the Purple Kings who once ruled the region. Such associations naturally aroused suspicion.

  Lord Fastenen, aware of the difficulty of abandoning these ancient customs, likely sought to navigate a precarious path between the old and the new. He wanted his family to appear uninvolved in ancient practices, aligning themselves with the Empire, while at the same time allowing the Island to maintain its traditions.

  He wanted to please everyone and still win.

  Mascious could only imagine the pressure Lord Fastenen must have faced, likely encouraged by the major houses to follow this course. But in the end, it only served to enrich House Myrrar and the Fisher Guild directly, while the Severidt family grew poorer and increasingly dependent on the guild and House Myrrar. Ironically, the cultural renewal Lord Fastenen had envisioned eventually swept over the Island, but by then, the Severidts had already fallen into steep decline. Their only real hope in over three centuries came from the promised wardship of Lady Varessi’s unborn nephew within their custodianship.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Mascious’s thoughts turned to his Lady, and he wondered what her fate would be. The wealthiest merchants of the Water Guild had sent numerous proposals for her hand, as had House Myrrar, thanks in no small part to Mascious’s careful stewardship.

  He had turned Lady Varessi into someone highly coveted. Whispers of her stoic, reserved beauty echoed throughout the region. Hands from all sides reached out to claim her, eager to bring her into their strongholds.

  Yet, Varessi had always been elusive, difficult to pin down. Even now, despite the constant advances that bombarded her like needle projectiles, she remained out of reach. She was to others as she had been to Mascious in those early years at the manor—always fleeting. And it was this quality that made people desire her all the more.

  To safeguard Lady Varessi’s independence, Mascious devised a risky plan. He secretly borrowed funds from the Hastidous-Bright Exchange, a merchant exchange owned by a branch of the Fullbright family, intentionally bypassing the local exchange controlled by the Fishing Guild. The guild would have frowned upon such actions, as it clashed with their control over the region.

  With this borrowed money, Mascious acquired a small treasure trove of marked needles, which he used to hire rogue hunters. These hunters were sent beyond the enclosure to capture exotic beasts, which were then sold in forbidden markets across Aquillora and to wealthy collectors. It was a dangerous but lucrative business, one the Fishing Guild had long engaged in themselves—hiring hunters to capture exotic creatures where it was still legal.

  Now, Mascious, with full control over the Severidt finances, was following the same path. He had pulled the family back into the fishing world through a shadowy underpass, all in the name of ensuring his Lady’s independence.

  In time, the Severidt household began to accumulate wealth once more. Mascious used the profits to re-establish patronage networks, build new shops, and hire additional staff for the manor. What had once felt like a mausoleum now pulsed with life. And most importantly, his Lady seemed happy.

  Mascious vowed to correct Lord Fastenen’s mistake and restore House Severidt to its former prestige. But some mistakes cannot be undone, and sometimes, they even repeat themselves.

  His greatest mistake, however, was not tied to the fate of the Severidt household—it was far more personal. A flaw within his own character revealed itself through an error of judgment.

  That mistake began on an ordinary day, as Mascious sat in the leather-bound chair of the last Severidt head, poring over the family’s documents. He had just finished meeting with a client who had requested a favor and signed off on the construction of a new shop. He had also summoned the Fullbright family to send an engineer to the manor.

  The chair felt comfortable beneath him, as if the leather had been sewn to fit him perfectly. As he leaned back and reclined, his eyes drifted to a portrait on the wall—a painting of the first Severidt household.

  The painting was old, its edges worn and torn. In it, the Severidt patriarch stood beside his wife, their children playfully posed in front of them. To the side were figures dressed in the attire of Forgers and Feydaks.

  There was one more figure, standing at the edge of the picture, his face partially obscured by a tear in the canvas. He appeared slightly older than the children, and judging by his attire, he was likely a fisher.

  Mascious had always found the painting fascinating, a personal mystery. At the time the painting was made, the island’s fishing culture hadn’t yet evolved into its more refined form, making the fisher’s attire anachronistic. Back then, fishers were more like cultural reenactors, performing rituals from a bygone era when the waters were heavily polluted.

  Whoever that boy was, he had worn southern attire long before it became fashionable. Mascious, a self-proclaimed history nerd when it came to the region, had theories—he probably already knew the answer but enjoyed pretending he didn’t because of his curious nature.

  He was still staring at the painting, lost in thought, when Lady Varessi passed through the hallway outside his office. He sensed her presence before he saw her. Their eyes met briefly, and she gave him that curt, teasing wave and smile reserved only for him. Mascious smiled and waved back.

  This playful ritual between them had begun when Varessi first teased him about using her father’s office. She would accuse him of planning to take over the family, ever since he was a child.

  He would flush with embarrassment, vehemently denying the accusation, protesting that it insulted his honor.

  She would laugh at his reaction, and one day, in a voice as soft as a whisper, she said, "If it’s you, I wouldn’t mind. If you took over everything, I don’t think I would hate it."

  He had brushed off her words at the time, choosing not to dwell on them. But every time he sat in that chair, expanding the Severidt name’s power, the thought crept back into his mind.

  What if I took on the name? he wondered. And then wedded myself to her.

  Mascious had always looked down on the men who had fallen hopelessly in love with Varessi at first sight. He’d insisted to his friends, who teased him endlessly, that his relationship with the Lady was one of duty and, more often, paternal protection.

  But he knew himself better than anyone. He knew he had fallen for her that evening, when the light broke through the windows and cast a golden glow over her, like a royal regalia adorning a queen.

  Mascious didn’t care about the Severidt name or its power—what he truly cared about was Lady Varessi. And if securing the family’s name and power was the only way to be with her, he would do whatever it took.

  Dangerous thoughts—thoughts that left his mind as quickly as they entered. But perhaps, that was his greatest mistake.

  All good things come to an end.

  House Myrrar and the Fishing Guild soon caught wind of the Severidts’ newfound fortunes and swiftly colluded to obstruct them. The rogue hunters Mascious had hired to capture exotic fish began refusing his requests, sensing the growing danger. The patronage network he had painstakingly built turned against them, alliances crumbling as quickly as they had formed.

  Then came the blow from the Fishing Guild. The Severidt family was slapped with a hefty fine for borrowing money from a foreign institution, a breach of guild regulations. And if that weren’t enough, House Myrrar sanctioned the family for profiting from the now-outlawed exotic fishing trade.

  Mascious’s attempts to free the family from external pressures, to strengthen their position, had only left them more vulnerable—more reliant on the very forces he had sought to overcome. The Severidt family’s hand was weaker than ever, their influence eroded, and it was only a matter of time before someone sunk their claws into what remained—especially into Varessi.

  Those were dark days. The impending sense of doom hung over them like a storm on the horizon, growing closer and more unavoidable with each passing day.

  Then, one day, Lady Varessi entered the office where Mascious brooded in silence.

  "I have received an offer of communion," she said, her voice calm, though her eyes betrayed a deeper emotion.

  "From whom?" Mascious asked, the weight of the question pressing down on him.

  "Lord Koleson Whydit," she answered.