Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 297: Through the Looking Glass

Thank you to my beta reader and editor, GlassThreads!

Toren Daen

The next couple of days passed by in a blur.

Aurora spent much of her time with Chul, talking with him and offering what company she could as I tended to duties above. I hadn't visited since then, still uncertain of my ability to remain respectful and calm.

And with what I'd been assigned up above, I wasn't certain I'd get a chance any time soon anyway.

I stood on the edge of the Sehz River, staring out at the opposite bank with a calm expression. I couldn't see anything, not without sharpening my eyes with mana. But I could sense the person on the far end.

Lance Aya Grephin, codename Phantasm, lurked on the Dicathian shore, shrouded by her illusions. But I could still sense her heartbeat wherever it went. I could follow it like no other.

Seris had given me a simple task. Whenever the elven Lance looked ready to act, I would simply put myself across from her in a silent warning. Whenever the elven mage slunk closer to the shore in a possible attempt to slip into our camp and wreak havoc, I would be already there, waiting for her to make a mistake.

There had been plenty of skirmishes on those waters these past couple of days between Alacryan and Dicathian troops, but Seris was drawing out any confrontation. She wanted to make the defenders nervous and unbalanced. They waited for a strike that they couldn't anticipate, and any potential counterattack was in danger of phoenix fire.

I narrowed my eyes, focusing mana into them as I honed in on my sense of heartfire. And on the far bank a mile away, I pierced every single illusion set in my way. My knowledge and understanding of sound magic allowed me to weave through every deception layered for a bare instant.

And I saw Aya Grephin, waiting like a poised panther on the sands. The elven Lance didn't seem perturbed by my casual dismissal of her magic as her dark eyes glinted.

She looked different from our last encounter. Her hair flowed nearly to the small of her back like dark curtains as sound magic and illusory mist rippled around her.

"Hello, Spellsong," she said, her voice tinged with a sultry, alluring tone that was intentionally crafted to influence the thoughts of those with weaker wills. Even a mile away, the whisper reached my ears. "It's been so long since we've danced, but you seem opposed to any sort of waltz we might have."

I locked my hands behind my back, on high alert for any sort of deception. "I'm sorry, miss," I countered easily, noting how her hands twitched with wind magic. This far away, I couldn't sense her intent, but I suspected I'd taste only the lingering undertones of blood, "but I can't dance with you. You should stop trying."

In turn, my magic carried my words across the bank to the distant Lance. She tilted her head, allowing her eyelids to lower in a way that was very deliberate as a smile crossed her face. "But we had so much fun last time, don't you think?" she teased, her lips turning up at the edges. "Don't you want to feel that rush again?"

I sighed, unamused. Aya presented a very nice exterior with her little succubus act, but I could sense its myriad cracks. She'd grown substantially in power since our last meeting, enough to maybe be a match for Nico on a cursory inspection, but it was hard to tell at this distance.

That still made her fodder before me, even if I hadn't been able to stop her heart with a simple tug of the tether that bound it.

"There's only one person I dance with," I offered in an easy counter. "And I'm under very strict orders to stop your heart should you do anything else... unwise."