The feeling I got from it though, was nothing short of disappointment. I started to think that misery actually followed me wherever I went. I had to get busy.

'Eva,' I called out to the empress.

'What?' Her consciousness reached out to me, weak, distant.

'How about we get busy with a.s.similation?' I asked. 'I need to take my mind off Eli and the false sense of victory we achieved today.'

'I'm too weak,' she said. 'You'll risk a pretty bad backlash if we force it.'

'Fine…' I complained. Although she was right, it was the only escape I had from feeling bad.

Zoey suddenly stormed into the dining room. I looked at her, eyes wide open, brows shooting upwards.

"Couldn't sleep," she mumbled. "Is there some left?" she asked, looking at the bowl at the table.

I nodded. I couldn't eat more ever since Nag had told me all the news. She disappeared then quickly came back, holding a bowl full of steaming broth on one hand and a wooden spoon on the other.

"Can you tell me a story?' She asked as she slurped down the first spoon. She didn't even wince as the hot liquid poured down her throat. "A happy one please."

"What am I now, your wet nurse?" I shot at her. It was out of line, but I didn't have any happy stories to tell. I needed one to cheer me up as well.

"Oh, come on!" She protested. "We don't get to celebrate our victory. We don't get to see Eli. We don't even get to leave this house to have a look around at the city. Tell me something from your land then, some old legend of some mighty hero." She poured a gla.s.s of the bitter spirit and busied herself with the broth.  

"You know as well as I that heroes don't exist," I said.

"That's why we make stories about them," Zoey said in between mouthfuls. "They help us escape reality."

"Why don't you tell me about yourself?" I asked. "Why did you become a Sister in the first place?"

"Came from a poor family," she said. "Parents had too many mouths to feed, so they offered me up to the Sisters."

"That's it?" I asked.

"What do you expect?" she glared at me. "All our stories are ordinary. That's why we find legends fascinating. Dieter knew a lot of them." She whispered the last sentence, as though it was something hard to p.r.o.nounce.

"Dieter?" I asked. "That was your boyfriend's name, was it?"

"The man you got killed, yes," she answered. She had to go and ruin my mood even more.

"I didn't get anybody killed," I protested. "Jory ordered them to be sent to the fighting pits. I had nothing to do with that decision."

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"If you had just died that day, I wouldn't be in this mess." She pushed the bowl away and took a long gulp from the alcoholic drink. Her face shrank as soon as she swallowed the thing.

"I can think of many people who share your opinion," I said. I raised my gla.s.s to her then. "To my death!"

Her eyes narrowed and widened in quick intervals as she looked at me. She chuckled then exploded in a fit of laughter. Her eyes watered. Her shrill voice filled the dining room.

She finally managed to raise her gla.s.s and meet my eye after a while. "To your death, Myles Stalwart."

We both took a long gulp from the gla.s.s and winced as the bitter, hot liquid went down our throats.

"Why do you always find yourself in trouble?" she asked.

"You're asking me?" I said then scoffed. "Trouble finds me. I never go looking for it. I wish I could just have an ordinary life, as you so eloquently put it earlier."

"Well," Zoey said, her fingers played around the edge of the gla.s.s as she spoke, "I just hope Nag gets out of here without meeting trouble."

I snorted. "Yeah, right! You have me for company, remember?"

She started laughing again. It was strange, seeing her cheerful in that way. I don't think I've ever seen her smile, let alone laugh.

"Do you hate me?" she asked.

"You irritate me sometimes, sure," I said. I didn't even know how I even blurted that out. It must have been the spirit. "But I can't say I hate you."

"The Sisters used to hate me, back when I worked at the Crucible," she said. "Dieter saw I was lonely. That's why he approached me one day, and started telling me legends of strong women, who grew up orphans, hated, discarded."

That was the alcohol talking, definitely. I took another sip too. G.o.ds know I needed a distraction.  I leaned against the table and urged Zoey to continue her story.

"What was she like? The woman?"

"She never knew her parents," she replied. "Legend says that she grew up as a thief at first. She stole to survive. She hid in the sewers to sleep at night. We live in a world dominated by men, after all. They see, a small child, they'd want to take advantage of her."

"That doesn't seem like a heroic story," I said.

"Just wait dammit!" Zoey shrieked. "Men are impatient. You want immediate action. No wonder trouble always finds you."

"You have to find a way to turn it on me, don't you?"

"You asked for it!" she said with a "humph!"

"Alright," I said. "I'll play along. I'll listen."

"The woman was caught once by a certain baker she usually stole from. The baker had lost her daughter to a plague, years before. She took the girl in, taught her the craft and even forced her to learn to read and write."

"See?" I interrupted. "This is just an ordinary tale of an ordinary girl."

Zoey shot me a glare that sent cold s.h.i.+vers down my spine. She was scary when drunk. I found myself wis.h.i.+ng to get back to the darkness then.

"I'll skip the boring parts then," she said. She greatly emphasized the word boring.

"The girl eventually seduced the country's prince, and became the queen after her husband's untimely demise."

"Wow, slow there for a moment," I said. "How did she seduce a prince while she was but a peasant?"

"It's a story stupid!" she said. "It doesn't need to be realistic. We live in a harsh reality, why live it again in stories and legends?"

"Good point!" I admitted. "Go on."

"She became a queen, just and strong of character. Everything was going well for her country when a horrendous beast decided to attack."

"Now we're talking!" I said, smiling. I took another sip from my gla.s.s then leaned forward. Zoey sighed and drank some more too.

"The beast demanded to wed the queen and become the country's new king. The queen, in her great wisdom, accepted the proposal, but demanded that the wedding take place in the beast's territory. He was the husband. It had to be that way according to their customs, and a king must follow custom, lead by example."

"Then what?" I asked.

"The queen commissioned her advisor to find a way to kill the beast, once and for all. They used to work together on inventions. Did I mention the queen loved tinkering and inventing new things?"

"You didn't, but now I know," I said. "Continue," I urged her as I took another sip.

"The wedding was set to take place in the mountains, in the beast's territory," she went on. "It was planned to happen two months after its visit. The queen and her advisor worked tirelessly, and one week before the wedding, they achieved the unfathomable."

"What was it? They summoned a dragon?"

"NO!" she screamed, somewhat offended. "They made a machine, a humanoid large structure. It was bigger than the beast and could move without magic. With her new invention, the queen went to the beast and slayed it. She even eradicated its entire bloodline, to keep it from coming back and hauting her kingdom."

"That's hardly heroic at all!" I said.

"I agree," Zoey said then chuckled. "I don't like stories where beasts beg for their life before the hero suddenly decides to spare them. I always asked Dieter for stories like this one."

At the mention of his name, Zoey looked down. The moment of genuine happiness was gone.

"Well," I said. "I gotta pee." I stood up and made for the door.

"Don't let them catch you," she said. "You'll burn, and we won't see what trouble awaits us once we leave."

"You got it!" I said.

I snuck outside the house and went behind. I found a fairly large rock to hide behind and started undoing my laces.

"Myles Stalwart," a cold voice reached out to me from the dark. "We need to talk."