To survive love or war, you need to know when to act decisively and when to wait patiently. Only then will you get the desired outcome.

~Aine, Goddess of Love and Vengeance

One day ago…

Mara was dragged to a cavernous room that looked like an underground warehouse. It’d been one day since they’d captured her. She spent the past day locked in a small windowless room, so she didn’t do much but cultivate while she waited. On the other side of the door, she could sense quite a few people, but no one bothered her except to give her a meal.

Two guards bound her hands with a cord of unknown material, and even with her strength, she couldn’t snap it. That didn’t really bother her because she had other methods of handling the situation. They shoved her into a chair in a small, open study and then left. She wasn’t alone.

A gorgeous man approached her after turning away from the window on the far side of the room. He reached out and pinched her jaw with his feminine hand. A smirk donned his face as a tiny tongue poked out and licked his lips. This woman before him with her strawberry blonde hair and impeccable features was practically a goddess. He didn’t even mind that she was broad of shoulder and had the muscles to match. She was still soft and feminine where it counted.

Mara spit in his face, but he only chuckled at her rebellious nature.

“Be my wife.”

“I’m married, and who the hell are you?”

“I’ll kill your husband, and you’ll be free. You can call me Rift.”

Mara laughed. It had traces of ridicule and scorn. She was already prepared when they came for her, but their organization surprised her. She knew with the planning they’d done, she wasn’t able to get away, so she didn’t resist. It wasn’t the first time she and Crow had been in this position. Even she knew that a beauty like her was the cause of endless turmoil, but Crow never disappointed her.

“I’m afraid there will never be a place in my heart for a shallow man like you.”

“I as long as there is a place in your body that can accommodate me, then all is good. Besides, all women like men with money and power. I can give you anything I desire.”

“Gross, you’ve thoroughly disgusted this mommy.”

“You have a kid?” Rift asked, somehow feeling turned off by the thought.

“Pfft, idiot. You fail compared to my husband in almost every way. Why would I give up my little beauty for a toad?” Mara’s face was stuck with a permanent sneer as she looked at the man before her.

“You should know your resistance makes me desire you even more,” Rift said. He stuck a finger in his mouth to wet it and then caressed her rosy cheek with it. Mara flinched back, trying not to gag. Initially, she wanted to draw the conversation out more, but the man was a pig.

“Let me tell you a little story about the time I became the Pirate Mommy…”

Enraptured by Mara’s tale, the man laughed and relaxed. He assumed that he was the safest inside his own base, so he didn’t pay attention when Mara’s Shield lit up. With her hands tied behind her back, he didn’t see the Void Mana that covered her hands and devoured the ropes that bound her. Even Mara almost lost her focus when she realized how effective the void energy was at destroying organic materials.

In the middle of her story, laughter bubbled out of her, and suddenly the man called Rift felt like he was an ant before this woman. Unworthy of her…

Now…

Under Rosdoe was a series of tunnels, but they weren’t drainage or sewage. The shape was like a gopher or rabbit tunnel, only much larger. Lanterns went out one by one, and darkness filled the tunnels. The guards patrolling tried to relight them, but before they could scream out, their necks were gained a new accessory.

Small hands lowered the men to the ground and shoved them off to the side so they wouldn’t be seen easily. Song Xue prowled the darkness looking for targets, but they were all dead. Approaching the stairs that led to the manor above, the dirt tunnels turned into brick-lined ones. Someone had paid a lot of money to build this part of the underground.

Heavy metal doors lined the walls down the side tunnels, most were open, but she sensed prisoners in the others. Voices were heard coming toward her, so she entered one of the empty cells and waited.

“… Madame Rouge brought in more recruits.”

“Pfft, recruits? That’s rich. Not sure any of these slaves would call themselves by that name.”

“Should we break a few more of these recruits before we head back up?”

“Man or woman this time?”

“You are a strange one. Why would I be interested in breaking a man?”

“These things aren’t human anymore. Does it matter if the beasts are man or woman?”

“No thanks, your tastes are too heavy for me. Let’s drop this guy off in his cell, and then we’ll talk.”

“Where did they assign him?”

The brawny guard read the number on the key. “C 3.”

Song Xue ducked further into the shadows of the cell she hid in and watched as the two men walked by dragging some poor victim. Once out of sight, she heard metal screeching as a door was opened.

Gliding forward, Song Xue peered out from the shadows and saw one of the guards halfway between her and the third cell. The door next to him was also open, but he paid it no mind. His attention was on the other guard who’d taken the prisoner in.

She didn’t know that her white robes were stained with blood, but the moment she stalked up behind the loitering guard, he smelled it. The coppery scent of fresh blood. It should have warned him, but he was too stupid to live. Her stalking gait turned into a silent sprint like a wolf launching at its prey. A dagger appeared in her hand like magic and entered his heart from his back, while Song Xue’s hand went over his mouth.

Before the guard could even blink, he knew he was dead. He didn’t even have time to collapse to the ground before Song Xue’s momentum took them into the second cell. Not a single move was wasted effort as she gently deposited his body on the unadorned cot.

“Hale, what game are you playing at? Did you start breaking in the recruits without me?”

Disgusted, Song Xue didn’t sneak up on this guard. Instead, she stabbed dagger after dagger into his body. He screamed and screamed, but she did not strike anything fatal. Over twenty daggers were positioned in his joints or nerve clusters, leaving him disabled and unable to move.

“F-fuck you,” the guard finally gasped. Song Xue’s hands moved, and two more daggers appeared. “W-where the fuck are you pulling those from?”

She kept her mouth shut and used those daggers to take his eyes. Before he lost his sight, he finally saw the black-haired woman. Her cold beauty made his heart stutter, but when those evil daggers took his eyes, he only knew fear. Leaning down next to his ear, he could hear her laughing.

Walking away and back toward the stairs, she felt it more urgent now to finish her mission. However, before she went far, she called back to the still conscious guard.

“I’ll leave you your life, but tell your friends I’ll be watching.”

“Who the fuck are you?”

“You better remember to tell them. I am Faelan.”