The way that led to the surface seemed never-ending. She'd tried keeping track of the turns they encountered to remember the way, of the bifurcations that Hellenia took without a sliver of hesitation. Rosalynde stopped trying to figure out where they were the third time she heard the road over their heads coming dangerously close. She imagined the stone breaking over the changing weight of hooves and vehicles, with a void of darkness emerging from the soil below before burying her and her escape agent alive.

Hellenia stopped a couple of times to check on her, taking in her weakened state, reminding herself not to push her too much were she to bring Rosalynde back to Black Judge still breathing.

Their laboured breaths danced as their boots crushed pebbles and dirt. Rosalynde's hands gripped the protruding rocks for support as Hellenia brought the half blazing touch over her head, suddenly coming to a halt.

For the first time since getting away from the underground prison of the Imperial Citadel Hellenia came to a stop. Touching the humid walls with her free hand as she nodded for the other to come forward. Rosalynde limped lightly, placing back the gun before taking the torch, trying to be as useful as possible.

Her body may have temporarily broken down, but her mind on the other hand was sharper than ever.

Whatever the ending would have been Rosalynde had no doubt in mind that things would have never been the same.

It was too late for her to apologise. At the start of their small abscond her mind had tried to come up with what to say. To Pharah, to Cleia, to Hector.

Grey, Apostle, Hector, the Gilded Phantom. The man seemed to possess many names, maybe even more than the ones she did. However, she knew deep down that he would have always been Grey for her. Grey was the name she'd first started calling him. The name she'd called the times distress had swam up to surface. The was no other name for him in her mind.

And maybe, who knows, had the Gods given them more time, maybe even in her heart.

Rosalynde held her breath as Hellenia started pushing. What seemed an unmovable wall of rocks swiftly moved aside, revealing a culvert. An underground stream stretching in the darkness, and a small path on that flanked it on one side.

"Oh, don't be surprised. You seem to forget that the Catacombs isn't the only thing Lowen was founded on."

Rosalynde stiffened. Another thing to scold herself about. The Catacombs may have been old, but there was still something older than the bones kept in piles on the sides of the way. The Searis was already here when the first settlement decided to plant roots.

"What are you trying to tell me?" She managed to say.

Hellenia turned around briefly, shooting her an inauspicious smile.

"What do you think was Carter's true objective?"

Rosalynde pursed her lips, her toes curling from the biting cold as the gears in her mind kept turning, the wheel teeth ingraining perfectly. That'd been another question which had hunted her behind the bars. The answer now sounded so simple, so obvious that it couldn't actually be it.

Revenge for her father, for the life she was robbed, and in a way, justice for Rosalynde herself.

She resented her father, and if they were ever going to meet again face to face she did not know how much it would take for her to pounce at him with a blade sharp and ready. But she wanted to know why. What hold the Empress had on her Lord Regulus. Why had he never strayed too far from her watchful eyes.

Because at the end he was always there, watching her grow up. Rarely intervening, but still present in the shadows of the Crown.

And now, she wanted to know why.

"If what she told me is true, then she won't stop until the body of Empress Amalia will rot inside a grave."

Hellenia whistled an approval. "We knew who she was when you came to the Underworld," and raised a hand, stopping the other's lashing just before it hit. "Which was why that time she was not granted permission. Verity had started recruiting men from our ranks and it was I that was tasked to have a word with her."

Steel pinched the space between her brows. She couldn't keep up with all the new given information.

"If you were aware then why did you say nothing about it?"

The sneer that appeared on Hellenia's face made Rosalynde reassess the woman in front of her. "Would you help the woman that tried to kill you?"

"Fair point."

The rippling sound of rushing water kept them company as light finally ruptured the darkness. It was a crack, a sliver of light what for a good minute felt like a mirage to Rosalynde's eyes. She wasn't even sure if it was real at that point.

Her hand caressed the light, her scars looking even paler than before as she let Hellenia take care of it. She knocked twice before scraping her nails against the wood. Shuffling was heard on the other side as the light invested them.

They emerged into the frigid sun, water rushed from all sides as Rosalynde watch her new partner drop a couple of golden coins in the palm of a homeless.

She'd never been there, but knew about it.

The isle in the middle of Lowen were the first settlement had been founded. Only one building stood here, the rest being reminiscences of luscious gardens. What once had been a hospital of high magnificence that had now become a coven for homeless who did not know where to pass the night.

Isoz, the island of intermeddle. Where the Middle and Lower Searis merged. Where the High Strands and the Barracks could commune with each other. Where everywhere you stood you could still see the haunting figure of Daunting Cathedral look down at the peasant folk passing through.

"I wasn't aware there was a passage between Isoz and the Imperial Citadel." Rosalynde murmured as Hellenia shrugged.

"If my memory serves right it was built to connect the Citadel to the hospital without being seen. There were other passages similar to this one, ones used by royalty so that the people wouldn't find out about any kind of illness from their part, but they went lost with most of the Fendrian Catacombs."

That statement made Rosalynde freeze on spot. It would have been so easy for the Underworld to attack the Citadel without even alarming the guards on patrol. That made her feel more insignificant than ever.

"Better place as much distance as possible between us and the Citadel. I'm sure the guards have already figured out what happened down there." Rosalynde shiver as she hugged the scraps of cloth to her body tight.

"A carriage should be waiting just around the corner. And take this. I wonder how you managed to not whimper in the cold like a beaten dog." Rosalynde didn't move as the dark-skinned woman unclasped her cloak from around her back before making it slide around her shoulders.

As the two started moving again, Rosalynde pulled the hood over her head until she thought she heard it tear.

For the first time ever, her hair was something she was not proud of.

The diver said nothing but directed her a glare when they exited his carriage. Her hood still hanged low, successfully concealing her features. They were back in District Street, where it all had started. Where she'd first hunted down a drunken Haywire. Knocking him out before hauling his body into the Searis.

They traced back the same steps as last time after entering the façade of the abandoned temple. With what looked as the same set of eyes as last time throwing curious looks at them. This time, however, the hostility in their gazes was nowhere to be found.

"Don't worry, you're part of the family now." Hellenia said, smacking lightly her shoulder.

Rosalynde didn't know how to feel about that anymore.

Hellenia took her to a small, windowless room, telling her to take rest and pointed towards a small door adjacent to the bed – something telling her that it was the bathroom and that she reeked so much that even the dead would have scurried away from her.

Now she laid on one side with half blanket pulled up right her abdomen: washed, slight better clothed, and with nothing to do but watch the wax of the candle on her nightstand slide down as she contemplated all and nothing.

At times she made her eyes roam on a chair beside a wardrobe made of black walnut. Watching how the shadows danced against the steel of the gun.

When Hellenia came back for her she'd no idea how much time had passed. Hours for sure, but there was no clock down there, no window to check with. And deep down she knew the choice of the room had been on purpose.

She was theirs now, the same bandog with a brand-new owner. Had they fastened a chain around her neck and the results would have been the same.

Hellenia stopped beside her bed, tilting her head aside. "Black Judge is ready to receive you now. Let's go."

Rosalynde wasn't told twice.

꧁꧂

A woman rounded the casket placed amidst the arches carved in marble and .

Daunting Cathedral had been polished to perfection. The cracks had been filled; the fir benches replaced with freshly carved elk ones. Each stain glass cleaned on both sides for when the royal family would have given the final salute to their own blood.

The funeral was set to be held in a week, the body of the first prince brought there in advance to start the process of purification before the final honours were to be bestowed upon. After that, his casket was to be carried till Reslow Plaza and then back there, where he would have been laid to rest along his ancestors.

"The deal is simple. All you have to do is say yes, or no." When she heard no reply, she gave her back to the coffin, her dark eyes trailing around the middle of the central nave.

There, sat in the middle and unmoving, was a man. Had his chest not risen periodically one may had thought he laid dead. But dead he was not, just thinking, calculating how much he was going to sacrifice had he accepted the deal.

She stalked closer, leaning on the bench before his, dark curls cascading over his stoic features.

"So, what do you say?" She pulled back before letting both question and hand slide in front of him.

That was all he had to do. All he needed to do was take her hand, one small squeeze and everything would have settled into place, while the rest would have turned to dust. It was advantageous for him, everything would have been easier, finally free of all restrictions, wings unfurled and ready to soar over the ocean.

But there was something he had to do before that. Something he needed to make sure about.

The bells at the top of the tower started to ring, the sound travelling down as a blanket draped over the

And when he uttered that single clause, as his eyes trailing over the casket, the woman simply knew it before the

Nothing would have been the same, ever again.

And, finally, they shook hands.

The deal was done.

꧁꧂

There were only two Seekers when she entered the meeting room. It was as if nothing bad been touched since their last visit expect the two empty seats in front of her.

Black Judge and Azure Admiral both sat composed, their masks hiding their expressions, yet she felt their eyes take her in as Hellenia lead her in the middle of the room. Rosalynde readied herself when Black Judge stood from his seat, gesturing everyone to leave them alone.

He waited until Hellenia closed the door behind her that he silently led her behind his throne, opening a hidden door that led to what looked like a decent enough parlour draped in warm colours.

The man spoke low as he summoned a servant to have them served some tea and what looked like pastries filled with cream.

"I take it you still haven't spoken with Regulus," was the first thing he said to her.

That comment made Rosalynde pose the cup back on the plate, eyes narrowing as she decided to lean back on the pillows.

"The first time we met, you called me Daughter of the Southern Shield." She gripped the cup handle so hard that it was bound to break and fall off.

Shaking his head, he folded his hands over his lap before replying. "I do apologise, but Regulus asked me to keep the secret until it would have been safe for him to tell you himself." Black Judge seemed to huff under his mask. "I was not expecting to be the one to tell you about it."

"How do you know my father?"

"We grew up together, your father and I. His father – your grandfather, the former head of Sternstorn decided his son would have been acquainted only with the best blue-blooded of the country. I was one of them."

That made her mind flood with even more questions. "That means I've seen your real name on the registry," she blurted out.

He dumped a spoon of sugar inside his tea. "Highly probable."

She blamed her voice for failing her when she needed it the most

"Do you know why he–" a crack was heard in her voice "abandoned me up north?"

And there it was. The question which had haunted her since her last visit down there, in the Underworld. Months has passed, seasons had changed, but that question hadn't left her mind.

Black Judge started twirling the spoon as he seem to fall into deep thought.

"It happened after Seraphina, your mother," he halted his words to check-in on her, resuming after seeing her head nod in understanding, "died. The records say that that she died in a childbirth complication. However, the records lie, as your mother was murdered."

Rosalynde tea remained untouched as she took everything in.

"Did he?" The rest of the question remained hanging in the air.

"Your father left politics to marry your mother. Who hailed from a highborn house of the Detrian Republic."

"You still haven't answered my initial question." She then pointed out.

Black Judge seemed to give her a dirty look from under the mask as his shoulders tensed.

"When your mother fell pregnant, Amelia La Revon had just married into the Des Reslows. With her selling Verity out, your parents knew their current standing wouldn't have spared you from her backlash. Seraphina used the excuse of longing for her birth family to travel back home, where she faked boarding a ship and went into hiding inside the Sternstorn home back in the south, where she gave birth to you. After that she gave you to her lady in waiting, and had you travel north till the situation would have gotten better. All while Regulus kept deflecting the attention on himself to take La Revon's eyes off."

He then shocked her as he tenderly took her scarred hand into his, squeezing them gently.

"He was going to come back to take you home, but when Seraphina was murdered he couldn't risk it. La Revon let him live for his competence while acting once more as her right-hand man. He used the excuse of the north being subject of conflict to travel to see you. And when Dahlia – your caretaker stopped sending letters he came to you as fast as he could."

The world started spinning, her eyes unfocused as she stood up, giving her back to Black Judge as he let her come to terms will everything.

Her heart seemed to burn, and she didn't know how to extinguish the crushing heat. It felt from her heart around her body, her hands started shacking uncontrollably as it all came crashing down.

She didn't hear him get up, nor did she hear the door close behind her as she spiralled on the floor.

Time seemed to freeze as she laid there, tears streaming down her face as the last sliver of smile finally came to an end.

She wished for Pharah to be there with her; to feel her soft hands comb her hair as she came up with intricate styles to try on her. She wished she'd gone more times to pay Cleia a visit down at the Barracks, scolding herself for terrorizing all those little orphans that scrambled away from the scene as she laid eyes on them.

She wished for Grey to take her in his embrace, to feel his lips on hers again, for him to kindly soothe her worries out as he slowly took off the leather around her hands and around her heart. She wished she'd given a chance to him to love her. For her to learn what the word love meant as she experienced something she read once as a child in measle fairytales.

The fire had burned her from inside out – but fire, unlike salt, didn't stop the ground from nurturing a new sprout from coming out. It would have taken more time, years, decades maybe for the small stem to tear throw the ground and take its place in the never-ending cycle that nature had to offer.

Four things, she knew when she opened her eyes once more.

Rosalynde Steel had been caged under a master she'd never truly wanted to serve.

Rosalynde Steel had been betrayed and torn apart by those who she trusted with her life.

Rosalynde Steel had been murdered, devoured by an inextinguishable flame that would have died only when the blood of two would have turned dry on her grave.

On the other hand.

Rosalynde Sternstorn vowed to have everything that was rightfully hers by blood and divine will.