Mages of Rubia ✔️

Ch8

I am getting very tired of watching Lief bring about his own demise. He shuddered at the very idea of summoning me for help, so I sent Grak, and now he's been sleuthing about trying to figure out the time of the next war meeting for days.

Half of me wants to summon Grak back and tell him to just listen and record for Lief--he's putting him in danger this way--but I know Grak would try to find a way out of his deal the second he came back here. And I just don't have the time to forge a contract with anyone smarter than that foolish fae.

I need this over with fast.

"Master Ravana? Someone is trying to summon you?" A maid tells me, stepping into my chambers.

"Is it Lief?"

"No, sir."

"Send somebody else."

"The committee--"

"The committee can rot," I snap, "I have more important things to attend to than their quotas."

She clears her throat, starting again with no inflection. "The committee is visiting in an hour."

"Oh. I appreciate the warning."

The maid nods, and leaves silently.

Ah. Well. If I've been shunting off more summons than I think, this could be bad. There are three of us here who work as dealbrokers--when something summons a demon in any dimension, one of us appears to make a deal. I've mostly been paying all my attention to Lief, though. One of the others must have complained about me skipping my turns...

If I get replaced before Lief lets me walk with him in the physical realm, I won't be able to answer his summons. I wouldn't be authorized.

I hurry after that maid to stop her from giving the summons to anyone else.

-

The parlor where I meet the committee is cramped. It smells of blood and tobacco and a little bit of weed. One of the committee members smokes cigarette after cigarette, snuffing them on her tongue. This one isn't the one in charge, so I try to ignore her actions.

"Is this about my quotas? I swear, I'm catching up--"

"No. This is about Lief Smith, of the Himnoa colony on Rubia. Our records say he has summoned you repeatedly."

"Oh. He's a client," I shrug, "I've been making deals with him."

"You have had two transactions of the four times he summoned you. And you've visited his dreams without summoning... sixteen times."

"He's smart, deals take a lot of coercion. And I'm helping him with something, to put him in my debt."

"We have evidence from a magic trace that you healed him, with no benefit."

"The benefit was making him trust me. What, you all are being suspicious. What else do you think I was doing?"

"Ravana, you know what we think. It seems as though you and that human are having... relations."

I bark out a laugh. "Disgusting. Why would I do that?"

"You do have incubi lineage--"

"Oh, so it's a lineage, thing, of course. The only time I have had documented relations with any human was in a legal, energy draining way when I was younger. Do you think I would want to otherwise? That is repulsive."

The one talking sighs. "We aren't going to kick up a fuss over this. If you are having relations with that human--or... whatever mages are these days... we only request that you keep it quiet and don't let it interfere with our work here. Got it?"