It’s a beautiful day to build a city.

  Though even my clan’s awe-inspiring abilities can’t rebuild New Quest in a day. It will take time, but our help can drastically reduce the timeline. More importantly, it’ll be good for the people. There’s no fixing my reputation, at least not anytime soon. My concern is giving the people a sense of safety. It’s one thing to say they have nothing to fear from me. The written laws telling them exactly what to expect will put the learned at ease, but most people won’t care about councils and laws. They’ll only believe what they see with their own eyes.

  If getting my hands dirty will prevent trouble, I don’t mind.

  That’s how I find myself walking toward the middle of the city, accompanied by my succubi and Alana, who’s taken a rare day off from her intense training. Sometimes, it’s hard to understand my knight. On the one hand, she supports wholesale slaughter, so long as the targets of the violence can be justified as enemies. She is ruthless and decisive against anything she deems a threat or unsavory. She is also unexpectedly petty in personal matters.

  On the other hand, she is merciful and understanding, two traits that contributed to my first saintly impression of her. She despises those who target the innocent and will gladly stand up for the weak. She’s willing to work to make the world a better place, once again proven by her eagerness to lend a hand today.

  Confusing as it is, her contradictory nature that borders on hypocrisy is comforting. I’m sure the insane environment that is Victory has warped her sense of right and wrong to perhaps worrying degrees, but I’m not bothered to learn she’s not the perfect hero I might have thought she was. My greatest fear while courting her was that she was “too good” for me; I couldn’t help thinking that one day she’d walk away, disgusted with my antics and the conflict-worship of my wife.

  I always suspected her delight in the less savory aspects of my personality, but with every passing day, I discover more of her own “unsavory” character. Not that I have a problem with her, but there is a whole well of potential devastation in my lovely knight if someone makes a mistake. What will she become when she reaches the height of power she’s imagining? Will that dream of putting down villains across the kingdom last? Or will she become something entirely different? Something she abhors? Something beyond her wildest, barely acknowledged dreams?

  Luckily, it’s not a question that will be answered today. My band of morally questionable women have nothing but innocent intentions today. Our stunning appearances are muted beneath dull and worn clothing, preparation for long hours of hard labor. I’m—it’d be a lie if I claimed to have humbled myself—but I’m ready to be subtle about it. For the greater good.

  My sacrifice goes unappreciated.

  The people gathered in what remains of the city’s main market don’t see good intentions in our mediocre wardrobes and unarmed bodies as we walk among them, having forgone the unspoken pretenses of my carriage. Their eyes are full of fear and distrust that I’m beginning to think might never leave them. Butterfly, who waits along the edges of the group, motions to an older man and approaches us with a weary smile.

  “Lou, good morning,” she says, the tension practically bleeding into the air around her.

  “Hey. No guards today?”

  “No need. The good people of New Quest are no threat to anyone.” Did her eye just twitch?

  “More importantly, this is Luman, the foreman for this group of volunteers.”

  “Foreman nothing,” the man grumbles, trying to hide his unease behind a grouchy tone.

  “Did some building work in my youth.”

  “Always good to have the man with experience leading the way.”

  “Yeah, well. I’ll do my best to guide you, my lady.”

  “Ah, you misunderstand. I’m just another worker. No one’s taking over. These two—” I gesture to the succubi. “—will be handling roadwork. Me and this beautiful girl—” Alana rolls her eyes, but I don’t miss the faint flush in her cheeks. “—you can just point us to where you need some strong hands.”

  His eyes are dubious. I smile through his concerns, willing him to believe in my good intentions. Since his discomfort doesn’t ease, my insistence might veer into intimidation, but he eventually nods.

  “If you’re sure…”

  “Completely.”

  “Then we’ve got a lot of foundations to dig. Big ones.”

  Very big ones. According to Geneva’s plans to revitalize the city, we’re focusing on roads and buildings essential to governance, most important being the Assembly, the building where all of my new councils will meet to mingle. These buildings aren’t just the places where decisions will be made. Much like the palace at the heart of Summer Spire, they’re status symbols. Places where, so long as they’re standing, even if the populace is living in tents and eating rats for dinner, the big players will have the confidence to deal with New Quest. That means they have to be visible as well as practical. The easiest way to show confidence is to go big.

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  “Geo, Bell, go to work.”

  “As you wish.”

  “Coo!”

  The disguised thrall leisurely strolls after the scampering imp, the two headed for the south side of the square. Their task is to repair the road leading to the gate. I don’t know how much they can get done between the two of them, but given their coefficients—and that I didn’t request it be lined in gold—I imagine quite a bit.

  “And you, foreman. Point me to a shovel.”

  He does. At my suggestion, Alana and I get our own marked foundation to dig, separating us from the suspicious citizens. I ignore their discreet glares, and eventually they stop staring, the hard work consuming their energy. All except one pair of eyes.

  “You know,” I say, planting the head of my shovel in the dirt as I glance up at Butterfly; the woman found a chair somewhere and is seated at the edge of our work area, an odd spot of relaxation amid a sea of straining bodies. “You’re not helping my ‘woman of the people’ agenda sitting there.”

  “Lady Tome-Delarre, you know I am nothing but a humble servant of yours. Merely give the word and I will give my middle-aged, aching, unfit body to your service for whatever agenda.”

  The submissive words drip with sarcasm. I shake my head as I throw up another shovelful of dirt. “What are you doing here anyway? I doubt watching me haul dirt has kingdom-wide implications.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Don’t say things like that.”

  “The fact that someone like you is so concerned about me is…” She shakes her head. “No, there is no earth-shattering danger I’m preventing by shadowing you.”

  “Then what are you doing?” It’s making me suspicious.

  “I’m wondering what I’ve been doing with my life.”

  “Ominous.”

  “I doubt I can be anything else to you.” She sighs, a bone-weary sound that pulls down her shoulders. “You can’t imagine the…sacrifices I’ve made. And while I’ve always doubted it had to be me, specifically, I’ve never doubted the necessity of the work. Sad as it is, people can’t be trusted with themselves. I’ve witnessed it firsthand; without us, humanity would tear itself apart. But all of that is rather pointless when a singular being can wipe us all out at any time, isn’t it?”

  “Uh…”

  “Of course, that’s always been the case; dragons exist. But those lofty beings have no reason to interact with us. Even in the histories, dragons never intervened with the other races, either out of benevolence or disdain. Worrying about them is no different than fearing a lightning strike. Maybe even more ridiculous. But now there’s a dragon walking among us, taking offense at our actions. And it makes all the hardship I’ve suffered feel a bit pointless.”

  She laughs, the sound lacking humor. “I gave up my eyesight. Toiled in a dark room for so many hours of the day they blended together. I cleaned up people’s messes for years. A part of me actually thought it all meant something. That I was the true power behind the throne. The rope holding it all together, or some nonsense. Then a woman whom I only know through a handful of reports levels a city. We had reports about the situation, you know? I should have been here, but the organization has always been wary of the guilds. They hesitated. The city was razed. That got them to pay attention.”

  A hand covers her strange eyes. “They expect me to manage you. To put you under their control or, failing that, contain you until they can remove you, one way or the other.”

  Saints-blessed asses, don’t tell me another group is going to make trouble. “You’re not trying to do that, are you?” I say, trying and failing to keep the threat out of my voice.

  Another humorless laugh. “No. Saints, no. I still haven’t written them a report because I have no idea how to tell them how monumentally stupid that idea is without them getting so offended they ignore me or think I’m compromised. Any day now, some masked bastards are going to show up and spirit me away.”

  “Is that why you’re sticking close?”

  “No…maybe. I’m debating. Early retirement sounds pretty amazing, but I’m slightly concerned Harvest will burn if I leave things be.”

  When she says early retirement…does she mean death? She said those artifacts in her head can’t be removed easily. “I won’t burn the kingdom.”

  “Sure.” She definitely doesn’t believe me. “So here I am, enjoying a nice spring day, contemplating the many ways this kingdom could end and realizing there’s nothing I can do to stop it—not really. It’s like what they say about frogs in wells. Surrounded by walls, or what you think you know, you think the little patch of sky you can see is the whole world. Then one day you hop out of the well and realize you don’t know anything. And that you’re small. So saints-damned small.”

  What does one say to that? “You need to stop thinking so much. Want to borrow my shovel for a bit?”

  I wave the dirt-covered tool. Her fingers part for a golden eye to peer at me. She immediately snaps her head backward, letting out a pained groan.

  “Ow.”

  “Should I be offended?”

  “I’m the one who should be offended. You can’t imagine how annoying it is to be around someone with so much presence you literally can’t ignore them. I can’t even look at you without getting a headache. But enough about me. You should get back to work.”

  “Why? Is something going to happen?”

  “Nothing big, but people are watching. You don’t want them to see you slacking too much, do you?”

  A quick glance tells me she’s right. People are watching.

  “You should try to relax, Butterfly,” I say as I put my shovel back into the earth. “Take it from someone experienced. When there’s nothing you can do about the misery in your life, you shouldn’t dwell on it. Just adds to the misery.”

  “Is there something that helps?”

  “Oh, sure. Throw yourself on the mercy of an all-powerful being and hope they’re benevolent enough not to turn your mind inside out for giggles.”

  “…that is terrible advice.”

  “I don’t know. Worked for me.”

  “Retirement sounds better and better.”