Message Men were an oddity in the military order. Their core responsibility lay in relaying information between military and administrative offices, but the nature of the work differed greatly depending on the type of information involved. Low-ranking Message Men held fixed positions within districts and responded to mundane matters. Those of higher rank carried out more specialized assignments. Training varied accordingly, passed down from direct mentors rather than standardized instructors.

The Message Man who stood at attention before the Queen's Court was among the best talents in his generation. He had shed the mask that covered his face against in deference, revealing handsome features without a hint of an expression. He did not bow or lower his eyes in front of the gathered Lords. No Message Man would.

The man's name was Yonis. He spoke in a clear, powerful voice, bearing the increasing frequency of interruptions without betraying fluctuations in tone or mood.

"Sixteen soldiers," Lord Greoff whistled once the Message Man was through. He cocked his head, slanting a humorless smile toward a grim-faced Lady MacLean. "Have standards fallen so far?"

The Army was Sabina MacLean's territory, just as the administrative branches fell under Lord Greoff's purview.

Lady Kiku had built the Message Men system from the ground up. Naturally, it was now hers to oversee.

Lady MacLean did not respond to the petty provocation. "Beaufort must have received support from the Dvor," she said.

Lady Kiku agreed. Sixteen soldiers, eight among them Zero – this was not a small force. Valeri Beaufort would have no hope to hold his own against such an opponent.

"The Dvor is not involved," Yonis responded.

"Impossible," Lady MacLean said. Lord Greoff, too, looked skeptical.

"The Dvor's outposts and channels of communication are monitored closely. There is no movement on their side," Yonis replied.

This information was not new. The Dvor and the Queen's Court were uneasy allies, bound together by a tentative truce and a wavering desire to keep the carnage of the last war in the past. Each kept a close eye on the other to ensure that the peace treaty was abided properly. Small infringements were common, each side testing the other's strength in order to assuage their own. Neither truly believed that the peace would last. One mountain cannot contain two tigers, as the saying went.

Chervnik's fall marked the last major disruption by the Dvor. Lady Kiku found the silence of their old adversary increasingly concerning.

"Were all bodies retrieved?" Lord Barton asked.

'Your man is about to dig himself a grave,' a voice spoke in Lady Kiku's ear. She could not trace its origin.

Lady Kiku did not betray her surprise. She understood the meaning behind the words and did not hesitate to bid Yonis to respond obliquely, even as she pulled the full truth of the matter from the Message Man's mind.

"The clean-up team has not submitted an official report," Yonis replied, changing his answer mid-thought in accordance to Lady Kiku's wishes.

"This is a matter of utmost importance. You dare appear in front of the Court so poorly informed?" Lord Barton asked coldly.

"It is my negligence," Yonis agreed. He was sincere in his apology, offering no excuse or indeed any further words.

Lord Greoff snorted and waved the man away. Lady MacLean and Lord Barton voiced no objections or questions.

Yonis's attention was on Lady Kiku.

"You may go," Lady Kiku told him.

Remain in the Capital, she added in the man's mind.

"As my Lord says," Yonis replied.

The Message Man departed. The doors barely closed behind him before Lady MacLean rose from her seat, the motion explosive.

"What rot! Eight men dead, and not a word of explanation!" she snarled.

Lord Greoff watched her pace with lazy indifference. "Beaufort did survive the serpents. Perhaps there's more to the whelp than we know," he said.

"He had Hale with him," Lady MacLean refuted. "Arya is – was," she choked, then spit the rest out, voice heavy with anger, "Arya and his men were capable soldiers. They handled far more dangerous creatures without issue in the past. There is something else at work, and I mean to know what!"

"Did Yonis keep anything from us, Michiko?" Lord Barton asked.

Lady Kiku did not react outwardly, though her heart had shot up straight into her throat at the man's simple question. "He shared all he knows," she said.

Lady MacLean snorted. "I will go to Sinith myself," she said.

"Why? To count corpses? Let the clean-up team do their job," Lord Greoff sighed.

Lady MacLean gave the man a furious look. An argument quickly ensued, although it appeared more of a one-sided shouting match, with Lord Greoff gleefully adding oil to the fire.

"Will you join me for dinner tonight?" Lord Barton asked.

Lady Kiku looked up at the man. Lord Barton had approached at some point and now stood at her side, a charming smile on his face. Lady Kiku tried to peel back the man's pleasant expression, but could not make out what lay beneath.

"Of course," she said.

Lord Barton nodded. On the other end of the room, Lady MacLean and Lord Greoff had come to some sort of understanding, seeing as the decibel of their conversation fell back to bearable levels.

The Lords parted ways, each occupied by their own plans. Lady Kiku bid them goodbye in turn. She remained where she sat, the large windows behind her paining her silhouette gold.

Daylight thinned and grayed. Shadows stretched over the room, pooling from chairs and ornaments and the grand chandelier suspended over Lady Kiku's head. Lady Kiku roused, surprised to find that several hours had passed. She looked around the dark, empty room with dazed eyes, and suddenly knew what to do.

Lord Barton's quarters were guarded by a stony-faced Zero soldier. Lady Kiku recalled that no one, not even Lord Barton, had drawn attention to the eight Zero soldiers who had lost their lives in Sinith. The realization made her look upon the expressionless man with sympathy rather than uneasy disgust.

Another Zero soldier kept post inside. The woman led Lady Kiku to Lord Barton's study, where Lord Barton was already waiting. A table had been prepared and dinner served, the food kept warm in covered dishes.

Lord Barton rose to meet her. He was working through a pile of documents, which he cleared away once he caught sight of his guest.

"Michiko, I am glad you could come," he greeted warmly.

Lady Kiku responded in kind, her smile strained. She took a seat. Lord Barton did the same, then served them both himself, not asking the silent Zero for help.

They spoke as they ate, the topics a mixture of mundane and the everyday matters of the kingdom's governance. Lady Kiku was oddly conscious of every word. Their conversation was comfortably familiar. Lady Kiku's stiffness was not.

"Is something the matter, Michiko?" Lord Barton asked at last.

Lady Kiku smoothed her napkin with sweaty fingers. She had faced death bravely, but the prospect of saying what she was about to say had her heart beating off-rhythm.

"Did you speak with Beatrice?" she said, ignoring the question.

Lord Barton raised a brow in surprise. "I did. It is done."

Lady Kiku stilled. She raised her head and met Lord Barton's eyes.

"Do you wish for another war, Simon?" she asked quietly.

It was a hypocritical question. The Queen's Court invested a lot of effort in destabilizing the current status quo; the aim of such actions, however, had always been to weaken the Dvor and force a renegotiation of the treaty. Once better protections were in place, the kingdom's human citizens could be allowed to remember their supernatural brethren. Life could then resume as it had once been, before Samodevia was torn apart from within.

Lord Barton watched her. The smile on his lips shook, then split apart as the man laughed. Lady Kiku watched him without expression.

"War? No, dear friend. I wish for destruction. A true and utter end, giving birth to a new beginning."

Lord Barton's eyes glowed with a kind of happiness Lady Kiku had not seen in the man in many, many years. She opened her mouth but could not find a single word to reply. Something squeezed around her heart, tight enough to bruise.

Lord Barton rose. Lady Kiku did the same, body moving on some primal instinct.

"We have no place here, Michiko. You know this. You are the only one among them that understands," the man said.

"I do not," Lady Kiku rasped.

Lord Barton shook his head. "You do. This is not a land meant for humans. The longer we remain, the more like monsters we become."

Lady Kiku knew, then, which wound had festered in Lord Barton's heart. It was a pain they shared, and the reason why Lady Kiku had remained so blindly loyal in her friendship to a man that grew more and more into a distorted shadow of himself as the years passed.

Lord Simon Barton was a Numb – an established fact that only Lady Kiku and Lord Barton himself knew to be a lie.

"Your Spark killed your parents," Lord Barton said softly. "Mine took my brother. Did you wish for it? Do you still think yourself human after what you have done, untainted by this miserable place?"

The man rounded the table. Lady Kiku backed up a step, and almost tripped over her chair. Her heart pounded in her temples. A storm raged in Lord Barton's mind, disrupting the dark nothing that concealed so much pain and hurt and hatred in his soul. The resulting chaos spilled into her thoughts and numbed her senses.

The momentary loss of control and Lord Barton's instigation brought back memories Lady Kiku had long suppressed. Waking up lost in her family's thoughts, her Spark blazing like fire in her chest. Pain and terror and wanting everything to just stop, quiet please stop please-

Then, silence.

The murmur of voices had ceased, just as Lady Kiku had wished.

Lord Barton placed his hand at the center of Lady Kiku's chest, at the split of her ribcage. "It will not hurt," he promised.

Lady Kiku gripped his wrist. Her eyes were unfocused, still mired in her own nightmares. The contact helped pull her back – then further in, until she saw herself through Lord Barton's eyes. A thin boy of sixteen lay crumpled against the far wall. He bore startling resemblance to Lord Barton in his youth.

His face was empty, though he lived still.

Lady Kiku blinked. The boy was not there, she knew; yet Lord Barton saw him all the same.

"Goodbye, dear friend," Lord Barton said.

Lady Kiku closed her eyes.

Lord Barton's hand glowed briefly. The body beneath it shook once, then fell still.

Lord Barton withdrew. His skin appeared strangely translucent for a moment, his eyes too bright. He shook his head once and gazed at Lady Kiku with distant sadness.

"Do not fear," he said. "You will not need to live like this for long."

He left with decisive steps, his gait stilted, the proud line of his back hunched ever so slightly.

Lady Kiku did not dare move until she heard the front door open and close. She grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself, her legs turning soft.

The Zero soldier who had acted as her shield slowly slid to the ground. The woman's expression was no longer simply vacant – it was truly empty, leeched of all life.

Lady Kiku stared at the Zero's corpse. After a moment, she sighed and closed the woman's eyes. The decision to invade Lord Barton's thoughts and twist his perception so the Zero soldier took Lady Kiku's place in his mind had not occurred consciously. This was the result of years spent at war, and many more in an uneasy peace.

Lady Kiku staggered to her feet. She had escaped this encounter, but her situation was still highly dangerous. There was no telling how far Lord Barton had gone or when he would return. If she attempted to exit through the front door, she might be stopped by the Zero on post or run into Lord Baron himself.

A low, scraping sound had Lady Kiku whirling around, a dinner knife clutched in one of her hands.

Lord Greoff waved at her from within a crack in the wall.

Lady Kiku dropped the knife.

"How..." she began.

"The servants' passage. The fact that we do not use them does not mean they do not exist," the man said. "Congrats on surviving. You do know that you could have made his brain leak out of his ears while you were at it, do you not?"

Lady Kiku paused. "I do not think I could have," she said, although she truly had not considered the option in the moment. "His mind is... hidden. And not entirely – oh," she breathed.

"He is taking pieces of their souls."

The darkness in Lord Barton's mind – it was a sea of rot, of dying souls broken from their rightful owners. All of Zero, Lady Kiku realized. Each and every one of them was missing a piece of what made them human. And Lord Barton had swallowed them all.

Lord Greoff's lazy expression had sharpened, his eyes hard. "I think we need to have a long talk," he said.

Lady Kiku nodded, guilty and horrified and so light-headed she could barely stand.

Lord Greoff sighed. The stone wall shifted another few inches and the man beckoned again, a hint of sadness in his smile.

"Come on, Michiko. There's still the three of us left – as long as we are alive, we'll fight. Wasn't that the promise we made?"

Lady Kiku did not know when she had started crying. She wiped her wet cheeks and strode decisively to Lord Greoff side.