<~> Chapter 195Sibyl leaned forward oable. "You're serious? Silva killed the King?" She gnced over at Silva as Bel tio heal her. "Sihe two of you came back together, I assume you aren't too torn up about it... should we be preparing to ditch town?" she asked.

  "No," Lorriene said, cutting in. "They're going to be watg for arying to flee now, on top to rein in ahat had their colrs removed with his death. Leaving town would just put a bounty on our heads. It's best to py dumb and show up tomorrow asking for your meeting with Sir h, pretend you never made it yesterday."

  Talis was removing the guard's surcoat. "That should work. I talked to Sir h directly before heading over. It's doubtful that he told ahat wasn't in the room, the King w directly with the head of the guard is rather out of the ordinary."

  "How did h die?" Lorriene asked.

  Talis g Silva. "She killed him the momeurned his back to us, caved his skull in somehow. Impressive way to kill someone of such a high level."

  Bel started for a moment but then tio heal her neck as Silva spoke. "I still have some tricks up my sleeve, I burned a temporary enha circle." She pulled up the leg of her pants and showed off a bleeding spot on the side of her calf. It took me a moment to realize what she was showing us, the bloody spot was in the shape of a rough circle, below the part of her leg that transitioned into the fur of her rabbit-shaped legs.

  Sibyl's brow furrowed. "You... had a ritual circle tattooed on y, under your fur..."

  Silva nodded. "Temporary speed and physical strength boost. Lasts about a minute. Just enough to cateone off guard. I don't like using them, it hurts to get them applied and hurts even more to activate them. Plus, once you use one up, you have to get the tattoo all ain."

  "Just who are you?..." Sibyl breathed out.

  Bel gave me a worried look before reag down to heal the bloody spot on Silva's leg .

  Silva shook her head. "Not yet. I want Torien to hear it too, but only after we're out of here." She gave me a meaningful look. "Go make sure she's okay... Please."

  Raya looked bad forth. "So that's it? Silva itted regicide and we're just gonna hide out and pretend nothing happened? How are we supposed to trust you?"

  Sibyl pulled Raya into a hug from behind. "Bastard deserved it... Let's give her the be of the doubt for now. We'll talk about this some more whehers are feelier. Right Silva?"

  Silva chuckled. "Don't worry. I won't leave you in the dark anymore. I believe that ship has sailed. I think it's better if things are out into the open now." She turo the side and looked at Lorriehat goes for you too."

  Lorriene sighed and shook her head. "Fine. We'll have to relocate first though. I don't think this inn will be safe for much lohe Tamin padins are going to tear the slums apart once everyos on the same page about the dead king, we'll have to abandon this safe house." She looked over at Talis. "Do you think Sorsette will shelter us?"

  Cecilia cut in, "Bad idea, the Great Library is too public, it'll draw too many questions. I have a better idea, we should hide out with the elves, the Northern Greens embassy will hide us if I ask them."

  "And who the fuck are you?" Lorriene s her. "Why would the elves give a shit about you?"

  Talis coughed. "That's Cecilia of Silvergrove. I firm that she has ties to them, she ted into their family and is sidered an elf by w. The head librarian has told me to look out for her as well."

  Cecilia raised an eyebrow at Talis.

  "Nothing bad, I assure you. I was merely told to offer you, Miss Raya, and Miss Sibyl Steelglyph membership to the Great Library. You're the only one of the three that had a dossier at the library so I read through it before leaving with Lilith."

  "Another Silvergrove?" Lorriene asked suspiciously.

  "The two are reted," Silva said. "She fessed that she was sent to keep an eye on Lilith for the same reasons we're ied in her."

  "You're kidding, the Silvergroves know?"

  "Apparently," Silva replied. "Doesn't matter for now, I believe that Cecilia get us that prote she promised and she's tied to Lilith now, we trust her."

  Lorriene looked at Cecilia cautiously before scoffing. "Fine, I apologize. We'll hide with the elves. We'll o take these three somewhere anyway. It's only a matter of time before someoices them missing," she said waving at the two other pantharians and the woman who smuggled them out.

  I stood up. "Good, that's sorted. I'm going to go talk with Man and Torien..." I g Bel, she was still w on healing Silva. She had switched to healing the bloody spot on Silva's leg but her neck still needed more work. "Leave them to me, Bel. I'll e get you when I've figured out what's going on."

  Bel hesitantly nodded. "Okay. Take care of them for me... I couldn't get them to talk to me at all earlier. It felt like I was just agitating them so I left them aloh Mimi..."

  "I will." I started heading over to the stairs when Lorriene waved at me.

  Lorriene frowned and absently rubbed her bare neck. "As much as I know you'll probably he time, I'd like to leave in the night. Please get my nieces ba their feet." I frowned but o her. I wasn't sure what was happening with the twins but it seemed they o talk to me, not anyone else.

  I climbed the stairs aly knocked on the door. Mimi felt my presehrough the bond and wordlessly asked me to e in. I slowly opehe door and stepped inside. Man was sitting on the bed and had been g while Mimi held her. Torien froze staring at me, she looked like she had been pag bad forth in the room. Torien looked like a nervous wreck, ay was oozing off of her. I had never seen her like this before.

  "...Lilith," Torien whispered. Her hand gripped the space where her colr had been.

  Man looked up at me and sniffled but didn't move. She just stared at me with teary eyes.

  I gnced over at Torien before sitting on the bed. "Are you two okay?" Of the two it looked like Man was worse off, needed my help first.

  Man gripped her throat and shook her head.

  Mimi reached over and pulled the armor off of me in an instant a me dressed in my work outfit theally nudged me with her iions. I scooted closer and slowly pulled Man into a hug. She flinched when I first touched her but she didn't fight me. She let me pull her over and even rexed into the hug a little bit.

  "Man, what's wrong?" I whispered to her.

  Man started tain, so I just held her there and waited for her to aorien nervously sat down on the bed o us and hugged her legs to her chest. She didn't say anything but stared at me as I held her sister.

  After a few sobs, Man finally whispered something, so quiet I could barely hear, "I'm scared..."

  I rubbed her bad rested my head on her shoulder. "What are you scared of?" I whispered back.

  Her fiwisted in my clothes. "Don't... don't leave me..."

  I pulled her tighter. "I wouldn't leave you Man. Why would you think that?"

  She gripped the spa her neck where the colr had been so tightly I almost worried that she was going to hurt herself. "Someone's always supposed to take care of me... The eant that I always belonged somewhere. Without it... what am I supposed to do? How do I know what to do? Who do I listen to?" Her words were interspersed by sobs and her voice cracked every other word.

  I looked up at Torien who sat there silently watg me. Tears had formed in the ers of her eyes too but she just watched quietly. My brows furrowed as I looked at her. I reached an arm out and beed her to e closer. She looked and my hand and then her ears went babsp;She looked scared too. Cautiously she got closer and leaned against me. I pulled her into the hug as well ahe two of them against my chest. I didn't really uand. I khey were hurting but I couldn't tell why this had affected them so much.

  "It's okay," I whispered to the two of them. "Even without the colrs, I will never abandon you. You stay with me... with us, for as long as you want, or o. You don't o take orders anymore... but I didn't order you around muyway. Nothing's ged, I still love you, both of you, you're just my friends now, not my sves."

  Man sobbed again and buried her fa my chest. She was shivering and pressing herself against my body. Torien didn't say anything, she just rested her head against me and closed her eyes. All I could do was hold them like that for a while.

  After a few miorien looked up at me and spoke in a whisper. "Lilith, make us succubi. Let us serve—"

  "No," I said before she could finish.

  Torien's posure broke and she suddenly looked hurt, as if I had spped her. Tears poured down from her eyes and Man wailed into my chest as she clutched to me desperately.

  I pulled Torien back against me. She felt limp in my arms but didn't fight when I pulled her back against me o her sister. "her of you are sves anymore." My words made them both freeze. "I won't allow you to substitute being succubi for svery. We're friends, and Man, you're my lover. I will never leave you unless you wao. I will support the two of you for as long as you need. Removing your colrs doesn't ge anythiween us, you are my friends and I will take care of you."

  "But..." Man said between sobs, "we're worthless now. No one will be there to protect us. No one will be there to tell us what to do!"

  "Shhhh," I whispered, "You don't need ao tell you what to do and your value doesn't e from serving others. I didn't love you because you were a sve, Man. And Torien, I don't resped trust you because you were my sve either. I love the two of you because you're Man and Torien, my friends. Not my sves. My friends."

  Both of the girls were g now, weeping quietly into my chest as I held them against me. Mimi ed around them from the other side, holding them between us. I never asked about how they were raised. Their childhood. I was too afraid, and this was why.

  I think I realized where all this was ing from. They were born sves, raised as sves, and they were told they would die as sves. Their entire worldview and sense of self-worth was founded on being sves. To them, not being sves made them worthless because that idea must have been hammered into them too deeply. They were afraid of being tossed out like trash. Even Torien, the less emotional and more rational of the two, was scared. Nervous I would abandohat I would throw them away after I was doh them. The cave them a kind of fort, it told them that as long as I owhem, they would belong somewhere. Be taken care of. Even if I had sold them or died, someone else would be responsible for them instead.

  They were brainwashed into thinking this way. Brainwashed into thinking they didn't have any value otherwise. It made me angry i I couldn't show it right now. Vicarious anger wasn't what they hey needed fort and belonging. They o know that I wouldn't abandohat I valued them outside of their status as sves. That's how I o frame this, how to make them uand.

  "I need the two of you, whether you're sves or not," I told them. They stiffened in response. "You two are my party members. My teammates. I trust you, rely on you two to have my back when we fight. All those times when we fought alongside each other, we were doing that before I even owned you twht? Were you worthless to me then? No. You were worth so mue I was willing to free you from svery and take you with me. I didn't even know you couldn't be freed remember? It had been my pn from the beginning. Why would I throw you away? We're partners. I need you to e with me, to help me, protect me. And I'll do the same for you, help you, protect you, whether you're my sves or not. You're more important to me than that, you're my friends, my family, my partners."

  Torien sat up and looked at me. Tears were still streaming down her face. "P-partners?"

  I smiled at her, my own tears were wetting my faow, I wasn't sure when they had even started. "Yes, partners. I need you Torien." I turo look at Man. Her head was still pushed against me but her cute ears were perked up, listening. "I need you toan. You're my mage, an amazing wild mage that do more with magic than any other normal mage I've seen. And even if that wasn't true, I would still love you, Man. Because you're an amazing persardless of that."

  She sniffled and looked up at me. She still looked scared but her sobbing had slowed. I reached forward and wiped the tears from her cheek then turned and then did the same for Torien.

  "You two are the first friends I made here that didn't owe me anything. You've saved my life probably dozens of times over. So no more g. It's a good thing the two of you aren't sves anymore. Trust me, believe ihings will be okay."

  "Okay," the two of them whispered together.

  I pulled them bato an.

  Saine

  Hello! This was kind of aional ohe twins aren't okay. It be easy tet how much other people shape you. If someone applied some ditioning to children born into svery, you could end up with something like this. The twins are going to be a bit emotionally unstable for a feters so if you think they're ag a bit weird or out of character, try and remember how iial this moment was for them. That's all. Thanks for reading.

  On a lighter note, I've been reading a great story that I like a lot called Monster Breeder! I was actually pretty sad when I caught up with it because I had been obsessed with the story for like two weeks, reading it as much as I could. It's a lot more sex-tric than my writing but the bination of humor, a, and fun sex ses makes it a very eaining read. The series eveures periodic votes that influehe story dire if you're into that kind of thing. I highly reend it!

  Chey other story here: Umbral Feast

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