"Are you talking about your new boyfriend? You two are the talk of the entire family. Mother always tries to convince me to change your mind about helping the family business. Fallmug too." Zinya said.

"Did that b.a.s.t.a.r.d dare to touch you?" Kamila unconsciously took out a lightning wand from her dimensional amulet, wis.h.i.+ng Fallmug would give her a reason to use it.

"Of course not." She shook her head.

"He considers me like a property, and as long as I behave, he takes care of me. Isn"t it nice of him to buy so many flowers for me? Between the sunlight from the window and their sweet scent, it"s like being in a park."

"Yes, it"s my boyfriend. He can give you sight if you allow me to bring him here." Kamila said, glossing over Fallmug"s character.

"Why did you say "afford", then?" Zinya asked.

"Because the procedure costs a lot. I can"t ask something like that of him and expect that it wouldn"t weigh on our relations.h.i.+p. Between the gaps in age, social status, and career, I still have no clue how we ended up together.

"I can"t let money tip the scales even further. It would make me feel indebted to him and if things ever go sour between us, I"ll never know if I would be staying with him because I cared or just out of guilt."

"Oh, my." Zinya chuckled. "You put a lot of thought into it. You are still determined not to marry, I see."

"I did because you are the only family I have left. As for not marrying, you"re wrong, you"re wrong. What I"m determined about, is to not become dependent on anyone. I"ll pay for your treatment with my own money, because you are my sister.

"And if I stay with him it will be because I want to, not because I have to. I prefer owning a bank some money than him your life. Some debts can never be repaid."

"All more the reason for me not to undergo the treatment, Kami. I"m sorry you came here for nothing." Zinya released her sister from the embrace and sat down again.

"What do you mean? The last time you said you wouldn"t do it because of its price. Now I can afford it. Even if I don"t become a Royal Constable, as a field a.s.sistant I can pay the debt in a few years. What made you change your mind?"

"I never changed my mind, I simply lied to you because it made things easier." Zinya wiped the tear she didn"t manage to hold back.

"I know how it works, I"ve spoken to countless Healers. Back when business was good, Fallmug wanted to heal me to save himself to further embarra.s.sment and be free to parade me around like the trophy wife I am. Yet I said no, even to him.

"If something goes wrong while altering the life force, I could end up worse than just blind. I could become also deaf, if not mentally ill. I don"t want to risk losing the little I have to live for.

"If I couldn"t even hear or feel you and my children, then I"d really become nothing more than a baby-making doll! I"m afraid, Kami. I"m terrified of what could happen to me after the procedure."

"Lith is one of the five best Healers of the Kingdom, he is even able to use rejuvenation magic. The G.o.d of healing himself respects him, and believe me, that alone is an inhumane feat. Manohar doesn"t even respect the Royals." Kamila said.

"Your condition gets cured every day by far less competent Healers. There"s no need to be afraid."

"Quite the contrary." Zinya shook her head. "If he succeeds, things will get worse anyway. My blindness is the reason why I can accept living this life. Without hope for a better future, Fallmug"s is a decent husband.

"His constant cheating on me, how he treats the children, everything I can"t see I can pretend never happens. It makes this cage bearable. If I"m cured, I could never tolerate this situation."

"Then get cured and ask for a divorce!" Kamila blurted out, obtaining only more denial in response.

"And where would I live? Our family would disown me like they did you. What would happen to my children? No Constable would entrust them to a penniless mother. I have no house, no job, no skills."

"If you report the domestic abuse, you can get custody. You can all live with me, in my house." Kamila said.

"What can I report? I"m blind. What I hear and think happened has no value in a court of justice and the house staff would back Fallmug. Even if somehow, I did get custody, how could I ask you to pay for everything on top of your debt?

"Kami, face reality. Could you really afford to support four more people with just one income? According to the Healers I"ve consulted, it would take me months just to be able to distinguish between colors, give a name to everything I see, or learn how to write and read.

"How could I ask you to burden yourself with all of those things on top of your debt? I"m already old and you"re not getting any younger. You"d lose any chance of making a life of your own.

"My life isn"t good, Kami, but there are a lot of people that have it worse. Let"s drop this subject please." Zinya"s voice was calm and composed like they were talking about someone else.

Seeing her sister resigned to live the rest of her life as a property rather than a person, realizing how useless all of her efforts and sacrifices to become a Constable had been, Kamila Yehval felt as lost as the day she walked into the army"s recruitment center.

Back then, she was a homeless orphan with nothing but her first name and the clothes she wore as her possessions. Over ten years had pa.s.sed, yet her helplessness hadn"t changed.

***

The same day, city of Jambel

"What do you mean, failure?" Baron Wyalon couldn"t believe his own ears and neither could all the people he had a.s.sembled for the celebratory banquet he had organized in Lith"s honor.

"You solved the problem with the monster nest in one day! One thousand enemies gone from dawn to dusk. What could you possibly do better?"

"The nest was actually an ancient lab." Lith tried to explain. "The Kingdom could have learned a lot from it, maybe even have salvaged some of its master"s wisdom." Lith kept a straight face, but he shuddered at the thought of Zolgrish"s madness spreading.

"I call bulls.h.i.+t!" The Baron said, causing all the n.o.ble ladies in attendance to gasp at his rudeness his wife to give him an evil eye rivaling that of a Balor.

"It"s easy talking big when you are the one who risked his neck to explore the place and find the creatures. I feel much safer knowing that no idiot mage can dig more trouble out of the Broken Spine. A mage"s lab is as twisted as his mind. No offense."

He said after realizing who he was speaking with.

"None taken." Lith replied. He would have really liked to avoid attending the banquet, but the Baron was a good man and his report was worth much more than General Vorgh"s grievances.