"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

―Lord Action

Lin tried not to think about magic much. It made her head hurt. The nature of her job made it inevitable, though, and the pretty lines between good and evil that Greymark liked to draw blurred far too easily. She would never bring it up to his face, though. Not unless she wanted to get a rise out of him and possibly lose her head. There were few things in the world that could drive Greymark to rage and telling him he was wrong was one of them.

Lin stumbled to a halt, glancing over her shoulder at the rippling silver portal behind her. It settled almost immediately, turning to an innocuous mirror. Lin huffed and pulled her jacket away from her chest, wincing as dry blood cracked against her skin.

The portal room was cramped and uncomfortable, painted an ugly yellow-beige with an unfinished wood floor. It creaked under her boots as she passed by the small window that illuminated the room. White molding lined the floor.

A child's bedroom, Alekhine had said once. She didn't ask what he meant, the man had a habit of saying random snippets of sentences. She'd rarely asked what he meant. He just did things and she didn't care. She still didn't care. Lin supposed she should feel bad about that.

After all, it had led to his death.

The reddish-grey sea frothed in the distance, just beyond rows of neat little houses and planned green areas. Lin hummed and pressed her finger to the glass. Greymark had built his entire home on nostalgia. The island looked more like a pre-Flood city than a deadwater island, complete with little fences and expensive replica furniture.

The entire island was technically covered by a single building, the Manor, another marvel of engineering. None of the Librarians managed to figure out how it worked as far as she knew, the intricate tunnels underground vanishing into nowhere. Most of the hunters knew it was magic. But it took some figuring to understand it wasn't hunter magic, not even witch magic.

Lin lowered her gaze and smeared a little smiley face on the window. She dotted a rusty nose and smiled back at it.

Greymark was a beast of his own. Not a witch, not a hunter. Some ancient being who lived for centuries and wielded a far subtler power.

She couldn't wait to kill him.

Lin hummed to herself and spun on her heel, creaking across the floor and stepping out the door.

The Manor had a single main room where all the halls spat out their contents. Rows of pillars supported the high ceiling, letting out in the middle to spill sunlight into the cream-toned room. A fountain of clean water burbled in the center.

All around her, hunters and regular humans alike milled about. The hunters wore dark clothes and belted weapons, often letting their clothes flutter loose. The revealing attire was less for the heat and more as a statement.

Look at my abs.

Look at my sigils.

Look at my power.

Lin giggled. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!

Percy Shelley's quotes were rarely applicable to daily life, and she nearly turned around to tell Alekhine about it.

Her smile fell. Well, now you've just made yourself sad.

Missing him wasn't like in the books. It wasn't crippling or devastating. It didn't trigger any deeper depression than usual.

It was just... unexpected.

Like waking up in the morning and being unable to find your bedstand. Only less impactful.

Though, she supposed that was just her being her. The grief would come. It had to.

Lin shook herself off with a scowl. She yanked at her jacket, heedless of the flakes of dry blood that scattered across the tiles. The other passers-by didn't even glance at her, weaving around Lin as if she didn't exist. To be fair, they stepped around each other the same way. She wasn't even the only one bloodsoaked from a mission.

She was, however, the only one of them who was a woman.

It had lost its novelty several years ago. She scanned the area, finally landing on the massive doors at the end of the oblong room. A sway in her step that could have been mistaken for drunkeness had she been anyone else, she made her way to Greymark's place of worship.

Greymark's likeness had been carved into the doors, an elegant figure in mahogany. It showed him among what was supposed to be a city. Rectangular shapes rose up to his hips -- skyscrapers, she supposed -- and he smiled down benevolently.

Lin grinned at the guards as she slammed her shoulder into Greymark's carved crotch. It opened slowly under her strength, too heavy for humans to move.

Inside, a boy knelt in front of Greymark, his wrist captured in the older man's hand and screaming in pain. Lin's eyes followed the strands of silver that threaded from Greymark's sleeve down into the boy's arm. It explored its new home with no mind to the pain of its host.

She closed the door with her heel, screeching hinges hidden beneath the boy's howling.

Greymark himself seemed unruffled by the apprentice's pain. His dirty blond hair was slicked back for the occasion, and his glasses were clean for once as well. Lin eyed the chairs arranged in a semicircle, the people sitting there ranging from a young girl in her black ceremonial dress to the boy's mentor.

Lin sighed and stepped forward. The room was massive, a waste of space if Lin had anything to say about it. Pretty glass windows lit up the empty floor in bright blues and yellows.

Lin plopped down on the empty chair next to the apprentice's mentor, slouching backwards.

"Thought he'd be dead by now." She kept her voice lower than she might have otherwise, but it wasn't a whisper.

"No," the hunter, Pierce, replied. He was a stable fellow, just tottering on the edge of grey for the ten years that Lin knew him. He'd probably been that way for decades before her birth. "He's good, promising."

"Not as good as me," Lin said.

"No-one's as good as you." A habit. The hunters feared her almost as much as they did Greymark. They hid it well behind an unflappable air, but Lin could spot it.

She smiled and looked down at the apprentice -- oh wait, Greymark was done, the boy was a hunter. He shifted his gaze from what she assumed was his family to her. Her features dropped into blankness.

The boy's wide eyes took in her bloodied form. He gave her a watery smile. He was thin, all elbows and tendon, but looked to be about her age.

Lin's face twitched. An old bitterness added itself to her already overwhelming spiral of guilt. she hadn't smiled when she became a hunter, her family hadn't come to the ceremony. "He won't last."

Before Pierce could even consider admonishing her, Lin stood up and flicked her fingers at Greymark. The tall man glanced at her once and bid the family and the new hunter farewell, leaving them in Pierce's care. The girl in black nearly sobbed as Greymark walked past her, a smile gracing her face.

Greymark walked quickly, far quicker than he had any right to. He was probably just doing it to spite Lin's short legs. He opened a slim door and waited for Lin to enter the room before closing it behind the both of them, the false bookshelf blended seamlessly with the wall. It was his office. Warmer and cozier than the rest of the Manor, with a roaring fireplace next to his desk and the walls covered in leatherbound books. The windows were thrice Greymark's height, showing nothing but flat white light.

"What the hell, Lin?"

"Question of the month," she said, not quite meaning it.

He made a snarling noise and prowled around to his desk. He sat heavily. He didn't look like much in person. A little too young to be taken seriously, a little too awkward for the mystique. His hair was already fighting free of the style he'd planted it in.

Lin remembered asking him what he was when she first laid eyes on him. He still hadn't answered her, so she assumed it was something unflattering. Maybe one of those old pagan deities with the face of a pig and twelve anuses.

"Interrupting Julian's ceremony. You made me look like a fool in there."

"I don't care for Julian," Lin leaned against a chair, picking at the blood packed under her nails. Greymark sighed and rubbed his face.

"Fine. Fine, but why are you covered in blood again?"

"Found a witch."

He leaned back suddenly, interest flitting across his features. "Oh?"

"Yep. Library." Lin tilted her head. "She wasn't wearing any stones."

"I'm sure she was just hiding them."

She shrugged, somehow doubting that was the case. "I'm sure."

Greymark nodded.

"I need to talk to you. Later. Stick around," he glanced to the door, "we're about to have company."

Lin cursed softly and put her hand on her knife.

"Not that kind of company." Greymark held up a placating hand. "Please try and look... presentable? I know it's a stretch for you, but still."

She pulled a face at him but obeyed, drifting towards the wall so she was nearly out of sight. She propped her foot up against it, not caring about the mud she smeared on his nice office. A moment later, Greymark's company arrived. They came through the main entrance, a plain-looking mahogany door. The man who came through was anything but plain.

A tall, built man in his early sixties with a curly white beard. His shirt was more of a doublet than anything else, embroidered with shimmering threads that formed protection wards. He looked like a medieval king, all glamour and money with an untouchable regality.

Lin bristled at the sight of him. King Wilson.

At least he hadn't brought his wives with him. They made Lin ill to look at and it wasn't just that they were witches. He didn't even notice her, immediately sweeping past his escort of hunters to greet Greymark.

"Ah, my old friend! How have you been?"

Greymark grinned, an astonishingly human expression, and reached across his desk to shake hands. They clasped hands for a moment before Wilson pulled away and plopped in one of the plush chairs across from Greymark.

Lin raised an eyebrow at that. The other hunters quietly shuffled out of the room, closing the main door in their wake. She really wanted to follow them.

"Oh, I've been well. As I'm sure you saw on your way in, there's a new hunter among us."

"Yes, Julian. Terrifying lad. How many's that now? Eighty?"

"Eighty-two hunters now, five apprentices." Greymark gave a small smile, cocking his head. Lin scowled and leaned against the wall. "And you? How goes the project?"

The King sighed and rubbed his face. Lin furrowed her brow and glanced to Greymark.

"Not as well, I'm afraid. Since your huntress uncovered that plot among my wives, I've had to get rid of most of them. Damn shame, but I can't fault your girl's work." He sighed, eyes lifting to Greymark. "Though I can fault you for not noticing one of your own was consorting with a witch."

"Well, I don't keep close tabs on my hunters, but as you can see, they police themselves."

Lin wanted to crumple then and there. They didn't look up at her, didn't show that they knew she was in the room.

"Yes. How do you get them that loyal?"

Greymark shrugged. "Be worthy of their loyalty."

The smile he gave was all teeth and lies. Lin wanted to punch them out of his face.

She did nothing more than shift her weight.

Wilson grunted in affirmation, looking a tad uncomfortable. "Can't even get my own son to listen to me. He's simply too stupid for it, I'm afraid."

A shadow moved near the door, making Lin's hand freeze over her knife.

She hadn't even noticed the young man standing there. Actually, he was a boy. Small and fragile like a half-starved sparrow, he had his hands folded behind his back and eyes downcast. Lin glanced over to the two men and then back to the boy.

The conversation continued, drifting towards plans and machinations that Lin had no interest in. She kept her attention on the boy.

After several minutes in which he stood so still he may as well have been dead, he finally looked up at Lin.

Eyes ringed with black lashes stared up at her with a weight she would more readily associate with a hunting feline. She moved her lips in a small, hopefully reassuring smile. His eyes flashed over to the King. Once he'd established that the man wouldn't look over at him, he turned a smile back at Lin. It wasn't a shy smile.

An almost impish grin greeted her. Her eyes flicked around the room, and Lin realized that one of the books was missing from the shelf behind the boy. It was almost imperceptible, as he'd shifted the rest of the books over to hide the gap, but Lin knew Greymark's office library intimately.

The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai was missing.

Lin nearly laughed, but bit down hard on her lip and kept silent. The boy winked before returning to the picture of innocence. The mahogany door opened, and she wondered if he'd heard whoever it was approaching.

In swept condescension personified.

A tall -- though, to be fair, most people seemed tall to Lin -- and thin woman with a draping silk gown strode in, dismissing her personal guards with a flick of her hand. They closed the door, leaving her. In fact, Lin was the only guard in the room. If Greymark weren't obscenely capable, she'd question the wisdom of the arrangement.

"Ah, Yelena. I was wondering what kept you," Greymark stood up and rounded his desk, guiding Yelena into an armchair. Lin didn't think she needed help, but helping women do mundane things was one of Greymark's old-world quirks. "We were just getting started."

"I'd noticed." Her crisp voice made Lin thirsty.

It seemed to have that effect on the others as well.

Greymark looked up at her for the first time since Wilson entered. "Lin, darling, could you bring us some wine?"

She considered several scenarios:

1. Not getting the wine to make him look like an idiot.

2. Not getting the wine and stabbing him in the neck, making him look like an idiot.

3. Getting the wine and smashing it over his head, thus making him look like an idiot.

4. Getting the wine and shutting up about it.

All but one would lead to bodies on the floor, likely hers among them. She worked her jaw and pushed off the wall, making her way over to the corner cabinet where Greymark kept the alcohol. She'd been pilfering from it since she was young, and could identify all the labels by touch alone.

No-one corrected her when she brought out the most recently-used decanter. She poured out four glasses. She left one on the cabinet and distributed them as any good servant would. She could feel the eyes on her as she walked, and even more as she picked up her glass and took an unwomanly gulp.

"So this is she." Yelena looked her up and down, appraising. "I expected more. Vertically, I mean."

Lin raised her eyebrows at the woman. "Want a demonstration?"

"Lin, please." Greymark smiled genially but his eyes were hard with warning. "I don't believe you've had the pleasure of meeting King Yelena."

Yelena gave a satisfied smirk in Lin's direction.

"Who'd you kill?" Lin said, no hesitation. She liked King Janus well enough, Mara was another story. But she hadn't heard any news from King Lucien in a while.

The King laughed and tossed her head back. She reached over to paw at Wilson, her other hand occupied with her wineglass.

"Oh, dear! No, I didn't kill anyone. How rude. My husband passed away recently, such a terrible affliction. A fever. Comes with being packed in ships like rats to travel, I never understood why he didn't just use the mirrors like regular people."

So Lucien was dead. Janus was steadfast and open about his affections for men and men alone.

That meant all the east islands belonged to Yelena. Lin sighed. "Of course."

"That's what I wanted to ask you about, Lin," Greymark said in that unquestioning tone.

King Wilson spoke up, and Lin wondered if they'd rehearsed this. "Your killing ability is -- well -- infamous across the islands. All four kingdoms know of your talents, and Greymark is an old friend of ours."

"Your point?" Lin gritted out.

"Dear girl, human assassins are so bland. We want to send a message."

Oh, no. Lin could sense what was coming like a dark cloud.

"King Mara. She has been," Greymark paused, searching for the right word, "uncooperative these past few months. I won't go into detail, but--"

"You three want the west islands," Lin finished for him.

He spread his palms, looking relieved. "Yes."

"Does King Janus know about it or are you working behind his back?"

The two Kings gaped at her. Greymark looked panicked for a moment. "He doesn't agree yet, but we'll bring him over. What we need you to do is of the utmost importance."

Lin pushed out her lower lip. Interesting. She tipped the side of her head against her glass, gesturing for him to continue with her other hand.

"We want you to kill all of Mara's inner circle. Mara included."

The boy in the corner looked up.

--

lynchpin

A person or thing vital to an enterprise or organization.