<- Chapter 109 Chapter 111 -> The door gave away.  Not all at once, just a crack.  Maribelle stepped up, inserting one of the tubes from her belt.  She listened for the hiss and moved back.  The smell of the acrid smoke seeped in through the opening. Coughing on the other side.  She waited. They…

<- Chapter 108 Chapter 110 -> “One always wonders what they will do in times of crisis.  The only thing I can think about is that first month when I was a lone Duchess all those years ago.”  Lady Maribelle had given the chair to Cora.  She was leaning against a bookshelf, facing the door.…

<- Chapter 107 Chapter 109 -> Maribelle had taken her seat and sipped her second cup of tea.  The view out the window held no more interest for her.  All of the fighting hid in the tunnels out of sight. Three quick knocks, then three slow ones at the door. She rose and unlocked it. …

<- Chapter 106 Chapter 108 -> Maribelle closed the door behind her.  Her tea parlor was mostly emptied.  Only one chair, a table with a tea set, and a telescope.  She pulled a book from one of the four bookshelves.  The bookshelf slid to the side.  She slipped a key into a panel on the…

<- Chapter 105.2 Chapter 107 -> “You call yourselves mercenaries.” Lady Maribelle stood regal, in her golden armor addressing the assembled Gallians and her engineers.  Jacque stood to her left and Dottie to her right. “Beneath this castle is the largest known collection of gold in one place.  I have ordered the vault be opened.” …

<- Chapter 105 Chapter 106 -> Cora ran her hands over her fluffy ponytail, threading it between her fingers to catch on knots.  She stared into a beaker, listening for the sound of melting ice in the crucible beneath.  The book she took the theory from lay open in her lap.  She reread the paragraph…

<- Chapter 104 Chapter 105.2 -> Lissie felt her heart stop under Nelli’s grip.  She closed her eyes, and opened them.  She felt tearing in her chest.  Her blood was pouring out of her heart and into her body.  She was going to die. You’re not going to die, calm down.  Nelli sounded stronger.  Younger. …

<- Chapter 103 Chapter 105 -> Lissie dressed herself at the nurses station.  She had the book on the table in front of her, but the nurse that helped her check her mask did not ask about it.  She moved back into the castle, and down the stairs to the vault room. Two of the…

<- Chapter 102 Chapter 104 -> Lissie woke.  Her head throbbed.  She stepped out of the bed, and her feet fell on broken glass.  She pulled them up and looked at the floor. It was not a dream. Of course it wasn’t, dear.  Nelli’s voice, this time safely back within her head. She pulled on…

<- Chapter 101 Chapter 103 -> Lissie dreamed. She dreamed she was a thousand horses on the Plains. She dreamed she was a candle on a table.  All around her were other candles, and they were all lit.  As she melted, her wax spread and touched the wax of all the other candles.  And she…