Chapter 20 | The Finale

The alarm rang at five.

Matthias reached for it with his eyes closed.

For a moment, he considered pretending he hadn't heard it.

Then someone knocked.

"Master?" Belial called. "Are you awake?"

"Unfortunately."

"I'll see you downstairs."

She sounded far too pleased about that.

He got up.

Life had settled back into a routine.

Training at five. Breakfast after seven thirty. The train at eight, then a day at the office.

No one there expected him to summon a sword.

They did expect him to finish his reports.

He preferred the reports.

In the basement, Aki and Yuki joined him and the twins for the exercises Joseph had spent two months teaching them. When the weather was good, they trained outside.

Occasionally, Joseph appeared at the door with his green backpack.

"You're back," Matthias said the first time.

"For a little while."

"Are you joining us?"

Joseph set down the backpack.

Matthias took that as his answer.

By the end of the session, he remembered several mistakes he'd been hoping Joseph wouldn't notice.

Joseph had noticed all of them.

At six in the evening, the Škoda waited outside the station.

Astreal sat behind the wheel. Belial waved from the back seat, grocery bags gathered around her feet.

Matthias got in.

"How was work?" Belial asked.

"Quiet."

"Good."

"Yours?"

She lifted one of the bags.

"I found what I needed for dinner."

Astreal checked the mirror and pulled away.

He leaned back as Belial told him what she was making.

By the time they reached the house, he was hungry.

That was usually the most pressing problem of his evening.

He was very happy with the arrangement.

Aki kept his office job too.

On weekends, he called Matthias about poker and beer. Sometimes they played at the house. Sometimes they went to the pub down the road.

Matthias lost more often than he won.

"You make the face," Aki told him.

Matthias looked down at his cards.

"What face?"

"That one."

"This is just my face."

"Then you have a problem."

Across the table, Yuki laughed into her drink.

Matthias folded.

Aki collected the chips.

Apparently, fighting together hadn't earned him any mercy at poker.

Yuki's fashion career was doing well.

Matthias knew this because she occasionally put an industry article in front of him and waited until he'd read it.

The latest described her new collection as bold.

He looked at the accompanying photograph.

Then at the word again.

"Well?" she asked.

"I can see why they said that."

"The silhouette is important."

"I'm sure it is."

She leaned across the pub table.

"I could model it for you, babe. Easier to give an opinion when you can see the fit."

"No."

"You haven't even seen the rest of the collection."

"I understood the proposal."

Yuki grinned and took her phone back.

Aki continued dealing.

Neither of them seemed surprised by the exchange.

Matthias reached for his beer.

She had been there when he needed her. He trusted her with his life.

Her fashion demonstrations would have to find another audience.

On Monday, Matthias went down to the canteen for lunch.

The queue was longer than usual.

He took a tray and joined it, wondering whether someone had finally changed the menu.

Then he saw the chef.

Golden hair, tied back. Emerald eyes. A white jacket that he had never seen her wear before.

It was an ordinary chef's uniform. Somehow, she made him look twice anyway.

With her hair drawn back, there was even less to distract him from her face.

The queue moved. The man ahead of him took a moment to notice.

Belial looked up from the serving counter.

Her face brightened.

"Master!"

The man ahead of Matthias glanced over his shoulder.

Matthias wished she had used his name.

He moved forward with his tray.

"What are you doing here?"

"Working."

"Here?"

"Starting today."

He looked at the ladle in her hand.

"As a chef."

"The chef."

She said it gently, but she did correct him.

"When did you arrange this?"

"Recently. The manager was very pleased with the tasting."

Matthias glanced along the counter.

Judging by the empty plates being carried back from the tables, the manager wasn't alone.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to surprise you."

"You did."

Belial smiled.

"There are several advantages. I can be near you, and I can make your lunch."

She served the man in front of him, then turned back.

"The salary is good too."

"You have enough money for several lifetimes."

"Money is always good."

He couldn't quite hear Astreal saying it, but it was close.

"And..."

Belial lowered the ladle a little.

"I liked working. While we were waiting for you. It helped to have something to do each day."

Matthias stopped looking for objections.

"You wanted to start again?"

"Yes."

He slid his plate toward her.

"Then I'm glad you found somewhere you like."

She gave him enough food that he wondered whether she remembered he still had to work afterward.

At the till, Belial waved his card away.

"Yours is taken care of."

"Is it free?"

"A small deduction from my salary."

"So you're paying for it."

"Yes."

He looked at her.

"Does that bother you?"

"Not remotely."

Behind him, someone cleared his throat.

Matthias picked up his tray before the queue could grow any longer.

"Thank you."

"Enjoy your lunch, Master."

Several people were looking at him now.

He found a seat.

The first mouthful made him forget about them for a moment.

He knew Belial's cooking. He ate it every day.

Having it here, beneath the canteen lights with his work badge still around his neck, felt strange.

Very good.

But strange.

The man beside him leaned closer.

"Do you know the new chef?"

Matthias swallowed.

"Yes."

"Why did you get extra?"

He looked at the man's plate, then his own.

It was difficult to pretend otherwise.

"You'd have to ask her."

"I'd rather not."

"Why?"

The man glanced toward the counter.

"Someone asked for her age and her phone number earlier."

Matthias put down his fork.

"What happened?"

"She didn't say anything. Just charged him double."

He looked over at Belial.

She was handing a plate to the next person in line, smiling warmly.

The man accepted it with both hands.

"Thank you very much," he said.

Matthias turned back to his lunch.

The queue was remarkably polite.

By the time he finished eating, it still hadn't shortened.

Belial caught his eye as he returned his tray.

He gave her a small wave.

She waved the ladle back.

He left before anyone could ask him another question.

There would be questions anyway. He knew that.

He had hoped to get through the afternoon before answering them.

Then he reached the entrance lobby.

Astreal stood at the security checkpoint.

Matthias stopped.

Of course.

She wore a security uniform with a charcoal-gray trenchcoat.

Standard issue, as far as he could tell. It did very little to make her look ordinary.

The coat still followed her figure, and she wore it with a poise that made Matthias straighten his own back before she even noticed him.

Her silver hair fell neatly over her shoulders. She was checking a visitor's badge when Matthias saw her, ruby eyes moving between the photograph and its owner.

The man wasn't looking at the badge.

Astreal raised her eyes.

He straightened at once.

She held his gaze for another moment, then returned the pass.

"You may go through."

He went.

Quickly.

Matthias approached the desk.

"Starting today?"

"Yes."

"Did you and Belial apply together?"

"We coordinated."

That explained breakfast. They had both seemed very pleased about something.

He'd assumed it was the food.

"Let me guess," Matthias said. "You wanted to be near me."

"Yes."

"And you missed working."

"I did. Their security procedures also needed attention."

He looked toward the gate.

"How much attention?"

"I've made a list."

He decided against asking how long it was.

"And the salary?"

"Acceptable."

"Money is always good."

Astreal nodded.

"Exactly."

A man approaching the checkpoint slowed as he looked at her.

She turned her head.

He found his badge immediately.

Matthias remembered Aki saying he wouldn't dare court either of the twins.

At the time, he'd thought his friend was exaggerating.

Aki had faced cultists and a primordial entity. He still turned up to spar with Belial.

Perhaps he simply knew when to stop taking risks.

Astreal stepped closer.

"Your tie."

"What about it?"

She adjusted the knot before he could look down.

Then she straightened his collar and smoothed his shoulder.

Matthias stood still.

He was used to her checking his posture during training. This should have been easier. No one was about to hit him with anything.

Somehow, the lobby made it worse.

"There," she said.

She looked up at him and smiled.

Just a little.

He forgot what he'd been about to say.

"Thank you," he managed.

"You're welcome, Master."

A man waiting at the gate looked between them.

"Do you two know each other?"

Matthias glanced at the badge reader.

Then at Astreal, who was making no effort to help him.

"Yes."

"She seems very attentive."

"She is."

He went through the gate.

Behind him, Astreal asked to see the man's badge.

Matthias kept walking.

There were reports upstairs. He understood those.

At six, Belial was waiting outside the building.

She had changed out of her chef's jacket and put on her coat. Grocery bags hung from both hands.

"Good evening, Master."

"You were here all day."

"Yes."

"And you still found time to shop."

"We needed things for dinner."

He reached for one of the bags.

"Give me that."

"It isn't heavy."

"Then I should be able to manage."

She let him take it.

They walked toward the Škoda together.

"How was your first day?" he asked.

"Busy. The manager asked whether I could make more tomorrow."

"I can believe that."

"Did you enjoy your lunch?"

"Very much."

Her smile was worth the questions he'd had to answer all afternoon.

He decided she didn't need to hear about those yet.

Astreal was already in the driver's seat.

Her trenchcoat lay folded in the back. Matthias placed his bag beside Belial's and got in.

"A good day?" he asked.

Astreal checked her mirror.

"Productive."

"Should I be worried?"

"Do you intend to lend anyone your access badge?"

"No."

"Then no."

Belial laughed softly behind him.

The car pulled out onto the road.

For a while, Matthias watched the buildings pass.

Tomorrow, the alarm would ring at five. Aki would find something wrong with his guard. Yuki would say something she knew the twins wouldn't like.

He would go to work.

Apparently, so would they.

You couldn't ask for more.

Aki had said that over a beer once.

Matthias hadn't known how to answer him then. Two immortal women had found him, bought a house, and decided they were staying. He'd still been trying to understand how any of it had happened.

Now he looked into the back seat.

Belial was moving a bag so it wouldn't tip when the car turned.

Astreal waited for a pedestrian to cross, then eased forward.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing."

Her eyes flicked toward him.

He smiled.

"I'm glad you're both here."

Belial's hands went still on the grocery bag.

Astreal kept her eyes on the road, but the corner of her mouth lifted.

"So are we," Belial said.

Matthias settled back in his seat.

There was dinner to look forward to. An evening together. Another morning after that.

He wanted all of it.

They went home.

In the Siberian taiga, Joseph held his phone where the camera could see the clearing.

Behind him, his allies escorted Bolward and his men toward the waiting soldiers.

The ambush was over.

With the Spetsnaz unit covering the routes out, there hadn't been much opportunity to escape.

Bolward had tried anyway.

On the screen, Aki watched the last prisoner being led away.

"Efficient."

Yuki leaned into view beside him.

"The one-armed one put up a fight."

"Briefly," Joseph said.

"He's had practice against difficult opponents."

"It didn't help him tonight."

Joseph turned the phone back toward himself.

Cold had begun to work through his gloves.

"So Sylvia was telling the truth?" Aki asked.

"About who gave her the information, yes. Bolward and his men told her how to use Matthias's rage."

Yuki's smile faded.

"And let her try it for them."

"Yes."

Joseph glanced toward the prisoners.

In the castle garden, he'd wondered where Sylvia had learned enough to prepare that trap.

Her confession had given him names.

Finding them had taken longer.

Now Bolward was under guard, and the soldiers were checking the last of his men.

Joseph watched until they signaled that everyone was accounted for.

"It's dealt with," he said.

"Are you coming back?" Yuki asked.

"I have a few things to do first."

Aki nodded, apparently unsurprised.

Joseph shifted his grip on the phone.

"Don't tell Matthias about this."

Yuki looked at him.

"He'd want to know."

"I know."

"He might be annoyed if he finds out later."

"Then he can be annoyed with me."

She waited.

Joseph looked toward the dark trees beyond the clearing.

"If we tell him tonight, he'll wonder whether he should have come. Whether leaving the castle meant leaving work for someone else."

"That does sound like him," Aki said.

"And we've already done it. He doesn't need to spend his evening worrying about these men."

For a moment, the only sound was a soldier calling to someone outside the camera's view.

Joseph looked back at the screen.

"He isn't a dark lord. He isn't a god. He's a man who wanted to go home."

Yuki lowered her eyes briefly.

"With those two waiting for him, I don't blame him."

"Neither do I."

Joseph's breath drifted past the phone.

"He fought for that life. Let him have it. The house, the training, whatever it is he does at the office."

"Reports," Aki said.

"Then let him do his reports."

Yuki gave a small laugh.

It faded into a quieter expression.

"All right."

Aki nodded once.

"Take care out there."

"I will."

Joseph ended the call.

Without the screen, the clearing seemed darker.

Above the trees, stars filled the gaps between thin clouds. Joseph put the phone away and flexed his cold fingers.

As the guards brought Bolward past him, the prisoner stopped.

"You never bothered with us before."

Joseph turned toward him.

"I was busy. I knew enough about your activities to intervene, but I was willing to overlook them."

"And now you've found the time?"

"You put Matthias in danger. That was not acceptable."

Bolward's jaw tightened.

"Sylvia made her own choices."

"With the information you gave her."

Joseph held his gaze.

"I made time."

The guards led Bolward on.

One of his allies called that the prisoners were ready to move.

He raised a hand in acknowledgment.

Then he went to the tree where he'd left his green backpack.

There would be paperwork for him too. Questions to ask Bolward. Arrangements to confirm before he could leave.

After that, another journey.

Perhaps he could stop by for morning training when he was done.

Matthias would complain about the hour. Belial would offer breakfast anyway.

Joseph lifted the backpack onto his shoulders.

For now, he had other things to do.

He followed the others into the forest.