The message had came at dawn.

'Adrian Celestius requests your presence at noon in the central Gardens. You must come alone.'

Lucille read it twice, then burned it.

I watched the ashes fall from her fingers. "You're going."

"Obviously." She didn't look at me. "He doesn't make requests. He makes demands disguised as requests."

"Want backup?"

"He said alone."

"Since when do you follow his orders?"

That got a slight smile. "Good point."

We were in my headquarters, early morning strategy meeting.

"He's going to try to reassert control," Marcus said, looking up from his enchanting work. "Its a classic power move after a loss. Remind his assets who they belong to."

"I don't belong to anyone," Lucille said quietly in dangerously low voice.

"We know that," I said. "Question is, does he?"

She checked her daggers. A habit when she was thinking. "He thinks I'm still his. His childhood friend and loyal shadow. His..." She stopped.

"His property," I finished.

"Yes."

I leaned back in my chair. The system had been quiet lately. No quests, no warnings. Just watching and waiting to see how this played out.

But I didn't need the system to tell me this was important.

"Lucille." I waited until she met my eyes. "Whatever you decide in that garden, I support it. If you want to work with Adrian, fine. If you want to stay neutral, fine. If you want to tell him to fuck off..." I smiled slightly. "Also fine."

"You'd be okay with me leaving?"

"I'd be disappointed. But it's your choice. That's the difference between me and him."

She was quiet for a moment. Then. "I'm not leaving. I just... need to make it official."

"Official?"

"He needs to hear it from me. Directly. That I'm done being his convenient assassin."

Damian set down his tea cup. "Young Master, perhaps I should accompany her for safety."

"I can handle Adrian," Lucille said.

"Can you handle him and his entire faction?" Damian asked mildly.

Good point. Adrian wouldn't just bring himself. He'd bring witnesses to make it a show.

"Take the twins," I said. "Kira and Mira. They'll stay hidden unless things go bad."

"I don't need....."

"Lucille, humor me. Adrian's desperate. Desperate people do stupid things."

She sighed. "Fine. But they stay back."

"Deal."

As she left to prepare, Marcus looked at me. "You know she's not coming back to him, right? Even if he offers her everything?"

"I know."

"Then why let her go alone?"

"Because she needs to be the one to say it. Not me. Not us. Her." I stood, stretching. "Adrian needs to learn that people have agency. That they're not NPCs in his story."

"You think he'll learn?"

I thought about the Adrian I'd seen lately. The cracks in his perfect hero facade. The desperation creeping into his eyes.

"No," I said honestly. "But maybe it'll plant a seed."

Lucille arrived at the Central Gardens exactly at noon. She wore her usual combat attire of practical, dark, built for movement with no attempt to look approachable or friendly.

Adrian was already there. And he'd brought an audience.

Seraphina stood to his right. Still neutral officially, but her presence sent a message. Three S-Class students flanked them, from his inner circle. And behind them, maybe twenty more students.

A show of force.

Lucille didn't react. Just walked forward until she stood ten feet from Adrian.

"You came," he said. Smiled. The same warm smile that worked on everyone else. "Thank you."

"You summoned and so I came. Say what you need to say."

The smile faltered slightly. "I wanted to talk. About us."

"There is no us Adrian."

Murmurs from his faction. Seraphina's expression didn't change, but her eyes sharpened.

"We've been friends since we were children," Adrian said. His voice had that quality, sincere, hurt, confused. "You're like a sister to me."

"No. I'm not."

"Lucille..."

"I'm a tool you've been using since we were ten years old." Her voice was flat. Calm. Deadly.

"So what, you're his now?" Adrian's mask cracked. "Hadeon fucking Ravana? The villain who's manipulating you...."

"He's not manipulating me. He offered me a choice, and that's a big difference."

"He's using you!"

"Maybe. Probably." Lucille shrugged. "But at least he's honest about it. At least when he asks me to kill someone, he doesn't pretend it's for a noble cause."

Adrian's holy aura flared and he barely controlled it. "You don't know what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying." She met his eyes and there was no fear in them. "I'm saying I quit. Find another childhood friend to manipulate. Find another assassin to do your dirty work. Find another tool."

"Lucille, please...."

"Goodbye, Adrian."

She turned to leave.

"If you walk away now," Adrian said quietly, "you're making an enemy of me."

She paused and looked back over her shoulder.

"Good. I prefer my enemies honest."

And she walked away.

Adrian's faction parted for her. None of them tried to stop her.

But Adrian's face as she left...

Not sad. Not hurt.

Furious.

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆☆

Lucille returned to headquarters an hour later. The twins had already reported, but I waited for her version.

She walked in, sat down, and was quiet for a long moment.

"Well," she said finally. "That's done."

"Feel good?"

"Feel... lighter." She looked at her hands. "I've been his shadow for so long, I forgot what it felt like to stand in my own light."

Marcus grinned. "That was poetic. You should do that more often."

"Shut up, Voidstep."

"Make me, Nightshade."

I smiled at their banter. This. This was what Adrian never understood. Genuine connection. Friendship that didn't require contracts or manipulation.

That's what he should have done. Villain don't always have to use fear and threats to control. Just look for what each person wants and manipulate that.

"He's going to retaliate," Damian observed. "Young Master, we should prepare."

"Already on it. Isabella's moving our liquid assets to secure locations. The twins are watching his faction for suspicious activity. Helena's put our combat team on alert."

"Paranoid much?" Lucille asked.

"You just publicly humiliated him. In front of witnesses." I counted on my fingers. "Paranoia is justified."

"He can't do anything without exposing himself further."

"Can't he?" I pulled up the reports Kira had sent. "He's already spinning it. Saying you were always mentally unstable. That I corrupted you with dark magic. That the contract was a forgery."

Lucille's jaw tightened. "Of course he is."

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