<~> Chapter 93After a short talk with Tarklin he rearranged some of the adveo be the young noble's guard ahem into the loop about her ins. I could tell that the sudden ge in situation had irritated Tarklin quite a bit. Silva being Fae's guard had been ve for him but he couldn't argue uhe circumstances. Fae screaming that loud in the ter of camp did a lot to vince him it was necessary. There was too much going ht now to question the way Karma worked, I had to put it out of my mind for now but I would have to e back to it eventually.

  We had been stopped for too long already for Tarklin's taste so after a quick rearra of positio moving again. This time Silva and I sat aloo the coach driver on one of the carriages.

  Silva stretched her strong looking arms before leaning back against the wooden back of the coach seat. "Do you have any orders for me Mistress?"

  I grimaced and quickly cast a small [Zone of Silenbsp;around us. I know I shouldn't be doing this while on the road but it was necessary to me right now. Silva raised an eyebrow, I wasn't sure if she uood what I was casting until the sound died out around us.

  "A silence spell? I wouldn't have pegged you as the type."

  I sighed. "First order, I order you not reveal my secrets or anything you think could be interpreted as a secret to anyone who doesn't already know. Sed order, I order you not harm anyone unless you are defending yourself or someone else and when you do, only use the appropriate force the situation calls for. Lastly, this isn't an order but I would prefer you not to call me mistress, just Lilith is fine."

  I had already thought about how I would word those orders. I didn't like it but I also couldn't pletely trust her yet. This was an important precaution for my own safety. But the thought of using magipel someone else's a didn't sit right with me all the same. It disgusted me.

  Silva raised her eyebrow. "Those two orders leave me quite a lot of space to roam free. Are you sure you want to loosen my leash that much. ...not that I'm pining."

  "I believe in trust. The first order is because there will be secrets that I 't afford for you to reveal and it gives you as much prote as it does me. The sed order is because I don't know you well enough to leave you to your own judgemeirely but it's loose enough that your hands won't be tied either. I pn to treat you as a friend and party member like I do the others, not as a sve. I'm trusting you to return that sideration as best as you ."

  "You're an odd duck. Pretty though," she said with a ugh. Her eyes trailed down my body before settling bay face. "As unfortunate as the loss of your armor is, you do look quite a bit more attractive without it."

  I smirked. "I see you're not afraid to show your attra to other women, you look quite attractive yourself. Something my girlfriends and I share."

  She shrugged. "I don't have mueed to hide it. Even if the Tamin bastards had a problem with it, I'm just a sve anyway. To them I might as well be invisible, just property of another. I thought you might swing that way though, perhaps I'll have you pegged yet."

  I flushed a little at the visual and cleared my throat. "Well regardless we'll have to have a long talk about everythionight. I don't think it's a good idea to travel with a [Zone of Silenbsp;up for too long. We o stay on uard."

  She nodded and I dropped the spell around us. The eerie silence slipped away and the sounds of nature returned.

  "So why was it you decided to buy me anyway? Uhat's one of the things you 't tell me," Silva asked.

  "To be ho, our party is short on the front line. I'm our only vanguard and I don't know if I alone cover our ...three other party members." Silva raised an eyebrow, clearly catg the pause but knew better than to ask at the moment. "I'm also more of a hybrid between a standard fighter and a mage so while I haven't run into problems yet, it could bee challenging with too many enemies."

  She nodded. "Makes seo be hohat sits better with me than buying me as a passing fancy. It might be a bizarre thing to say as someone who hates being a sve but valuing me as more than a sob story or a piece of ass makes me feel better. I'd rather fight by your side than only warm your bed or carry your stuff. You seem to treat your other sves with respect, hopefully I receive simir treatment."

  "Well, to start I would prefer you avoid calling them sves as much as possible. They are, I know. I also know I'm a hypocrite for hating svery while owning three myself. But the two of them are Pantharians and 't be freed, and you are a crime sve, ensved for life. I either not partake at all ahe three of you receive worse treatment or buy you and do my best to treat you as equals, even when all of us know that you're not."

  Silva shrugged. "I get it, I won't rub it in or make you feel guilty over it. But I won't lie to you and tell you that I'm happy being a sve. Or treat you with respect you don't deserve. Prove that you're a mistress worth serving and I'll be loyal to you, otherwise I'll only give you my bare minimum."

  I smiled. "That's fair."

  She turned and looked off into the distance. "You seemed to jump at the ce to purchase me from my former mistress. I find it a little bit suspect that you would 'hate' svery so much yet jump at the ce to buy me."

  I hesitated. Maybe I was a bit eager this time?

  I looked up at the sky and tried to put my feelings into words. "Perhaps I was. But I wouldn't have even sidered it if I thought the retionship between you two had been more positive. She was terrified of you and you were in the aosition of being forced to proteeone who couldn't stand the sight of you. I did mean to talk to you about first, I really did, but in the moment I thought it would be best for everyone."

  She here ause before she asked her question. "You said you would have your two sves freed if you could. Would that offer extend to me as well?"

  I shifted my weight and sidered the question. "I'm not sure. Frankly, we just met and I don't know your story yet. I trust my friends wholeheartedly and I'm wary of people learniain things about me. If I freed them I wouldn't worry about them revealing things about me. As for you, well like I said we just met."

  The demi-rabbit hummed. "So I would have to earn your trust... but it's not off the table?"

  "It's not off the table... Assuming we had the tools to do so obviously. But like you said, you would need my trust and I would also o know more about how you got to be in this situation first. We should talk about that ter, with everyone." I g the an who had been pletely silent this eime.

  He met my gaze and just shrugged. "It's not my pce to say what you do with your sves. As long as it doesn't interfere with your job I don't care much."

  Silva cleared her throat. "So as to fighting. Do you io arm me? I've been wearing rags since we left the dy's estate and I've been forced to fight uhis eime."

  "Your style of fighting isn't unarmed fighting?" I asked.

  "Who would be crazy enough to choose to fight without a on? The only reason I've been forced to fight unarmed is because the dy was afraid I'd slit her throat or something. As if I even could with this colr around my neck."

  "Huh, well okay. I might have clothes that would fit you but I don't have any spare ons. We would have to buy you something. What kind of on do you use?"

  "You have two swords on yht now."

  "Like I said, I don't have any spare ons on me."

  "...Right. Well my preferred on is a spear anyway. Though I use a variety of ons."

  The an chose to speak up. "John sells ons, though you'd probably get a markup from him if you tried to buy one off him during the trip."

  "Why would he charge us extra to buy it orip?"

  "Well, it's not like you have many choices around here."

  I scoffed. "Sure. I'll think about it."

  Silva looked pointedly at my shirt. "What about your armor? I don't think there's anything but scrap metal to salvage from the one I pulled from your chest this m."

  I sighed. "I don't know. I would prefer not to get ripped off but it's still a long trip. I'll buy something from him if we don't find anything iown two days away."

  She shrugged. "Well it's better than having to fight bare handed all the to the northern greens."

  "If your pn was to go up to the northern greens with Fae why were you headed in the dire of Traehall?"

  "To get provisions and look for ao take us there. I'm not sure we would have made it, it was getting harder for the young dy by the hour. ing across this caravan, headed up by an elf no less, was a stroke of luck." Her eyes trailed over my body with i and she grinned. "In more ways than one."

  "I'd prefer it if you didn't flirt with me in public."

  "Is that an order?"

  "...no."

  She grinned wide at me before leaning in to kiss my cheek. "I think I like you already."

  The an cleared his throat. "There aren't any from the Tamin church with us... as far as I'm aware, but I know of at least three people in the caravan who would throw a big fuss if they saw that sort of thing happen in front of them."

  Silva grinned. "Good, I want to see it."

  I covered my eyes with my hand. "Please try to keep us out of trouble. I have enough problems."

  Silva shrugged. "Fine, but only because you asked nicely."

  I couldn't help but smile. Silva probably would cause problems down the li I foutitude a bit refreshing. Maybe she would be a good example for the twins who still o loosen up a bit, bee less docile.

  I stretched out my arm, w out some of the residual sorehat had e from the wound and its rapid healing.

  Silva looked over. "How's it feeling?"

  "Still a bit sore. It feels like I pulled a muscle instead of gettial shoved into it."

  "That's pretty normal," she said.

  "You've had that kind of healing before?"

  Silva grimaced. "Unfortunately. Sometimes it itches like crazy too. Bel's healing is actually quite amazing. It seems much more powerful than it should at her level."

  "You know her level?" I asked cautiously.

  She shook her head. "It's not like I know the exaumber or anything. It's just the higher level you are the more of a sense you get from it. Kind of like an instinct about how dangerous someone is retive to you. I tell you're about the same level as me and she's a bit lower that both of us. She seems much more powerful of a healer than she should though. Especially for a nature based healer."

  "Is there that much differeweewo? Is that why several people have asked her what kind of healer she is?"

  "Ehhh..." Silva hesitated. "Usually when people ask you that it has more to do with how they feel about the Tamin church. What they're really asking is if you're a holy healer. It's not that holy healing is worse or anything, more that a lot of holy healers are associated with the Tamin churd that... plicates things."

  I sighed. Of course it has to do with them again. Lately it seems like everything is ing back to them. "So... what? Would Fae have refused the healing if Bel had holy healing magic?"

  Silva shrugged. "Probably not, she wasn't really in any position to refuse it. But having a nature healer probably warmed you up to her. The Tamin church doesn't like nature magi the whole so it sort of proved you weren't associated with them."

  "Seriously? Another thing the church hates us for? I'm starting to lose track."

  She snorted in amusement. "You've had a few run-ins with those bastards?"

  "You don't know the half of it." I groaned.

  Saine

  Hello! Sorry for posting a bit te today, it's been a pretty bad week for me so I've been more distracted than usual. chapter we'll get some of Silva's backstory, hope you're excited! See you ime.

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