“What was that?” I said, sitting up – startled by the bang of the interleading door.

“I think your girlfriend wasn’t too happy to find me here,” Neptilia replied.

I turned to her and regarded her smirk.

“Shit.” I rubbed at my forehead and flopping back down onto the bed. I realised I remembered next to nothing that had transpired since the previous afternoon. We must have been at that bar for hours. After that though –

It was fairly evident what had come after, but the fact surprised me, nonetheless. Looking at the naked back of the girl pulling my bed covers up to her chest, her eyes: spheres of amber set amidst a sea of ginger hair – it was hard to picture her as the same figure who’d descended from above us, in full armour, back at the Babel Mage’s Guild.

Huh? I’d taken notice of something odd. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

“Are those claw marks?” I asked.

“Hmm?” Neptilia looked down and felt along her back. She grinned mischievously. “You were rougher than I expected.”

My head was pounding. I hadn’t transformed, had I? And, hang on, she’d enjoyed it? I scratched my head. Why had I had to go and get so drunk? I never normally drank much. I pulled aside the bed covers and stood up, stretching my arms above my head. I retrieved my pipe and lighter from beside the bed and opened the window. I could feel Neptilia’s eyes on the back of my neck as I took in the first puff.

“She seemed pretty angry,” she said, not altogether sympathetically.

I cringed. It wasn’t going to be easy to speak to Scarlett after this. She’d clearly expressed her distaste for this girl, and what I’d done certainly wasn’t going to put me in the Lunar Knight’s good books.

“Don’t worry,” Neptilia said, as if reading my thoughts. “I’ll be escorting Basil back to New Athens soon. You can forget about me.”

Her words were tinged with regret. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but it was probably better than she did go.

“When do you leave?”

“Today, most likely. Unless the emissary changes his mind.”

I heard the rustling of sheets and looked over my shoulder. She was standing on the opposite side of the bed pulling her underwear on. Our audience with the Babelonian King wasn’t for another two days. Even then it wasn’t clear whether or not we’d learn anything useful. Supposedly Alcandor was in the service of Cyrus II, but that didn’t mean he was obligated to tell us the mage’s whereabouts.

“Shit, I need to go after her. I’m not sure what I’ll say but –”

“Go,” Neptilia said. “You have no commitment to me.”

I nodded solemnly, though, as I turned to face her, I couldn’t help but take notice of the fact that she’d yet to retrieve her bra. She frowned.

“Stop gawping at me like that, it’s creepy.”

I made a point of turning away and looking around for my own clothes. My pipe had soothed the pain in my head, but I was still incredibly hung over. I dressed in a hurry then saw Neptilia out of the room. Just before she left, she turned to me and placed her hands on my shoulders.

“If you feel lonely again well…” Her eyes fell awkwardly to the floor. Damn I wish I’d been sober enough to remember more of this side of her. When her eyes rose to meet mine again, she wore a blank look. “Anyway, mayhaps I’ll see you around.”

Then without another word or any sort of goodbye, she left. I went back into my room and ran my face under the tap. Shaking the water off, I stared myself down in the mirror. Apology. Apology. You need to knock on that door and apologise, I told myself. Why? I could sleep with who I wanted, couldn’t I? But I couldn’t let go of what I imagined Scarlett’s hurt face would look like.

Taking a deep breath, I went to the interleading door and tried the handle. Locked, of course. I knocked. I heard movement from within.

“Scarlett?”

Silence.

“Scarlett? Can we talk? Look, I’m sorry you had to –”

The door swung suddenly inwards and I had to catch myself from falling through the open doorway. I couldn’t see Scarlett; she was standing just behind the door, holding it open.

I gathered my thoughts and stepped in. She shut the door behind me. When I turned to face her, I was taken aback. Her expression wasn’t hurt, far from it, but it was pissed. Oh boy, was it pissed.

“Look, I didn’t mean –”

“For me to see that?”

“Well, actually I was going to say sleep with her but –”

“It’s not really my business who you sleep with, but did it have to be that bitch?”

“Look, Scarlett –”

“Sander you’re old enough to be her father!”

“Huh? How old do you think I am? Isn’t she your age?”

“Yeah.”

I frowned. “Why should this concern you anyhow? You’re overreacting.”

Her expression hardened. That definitely wasn’t the right thing to tell her. She stepped towards me and lashed out. There was no way I could dodge in time. My eyes widened as her fist approached at lightning speed, and I shut my eyes. I heard a dull thud. When I reopened my eyes, I saw her fist implanted in the wall beside me.

“Ugh, she’s always trying to get under my skin.” The Lunar Knight stepped away from me. She turned her face away, but I caught a glimpse of tears glistening on her cheeks.

Looks like it worked. I didn’t vocalise my thought though.

“Even though I know she was just using you to get to me, I can’t help being bothered by it.”

“Not that this is the best time to bring this up, but Neptilia said some things about you –”

“Hmm?”

“Well, she seemed to imply that you’d been kicked out of your faction, so to speak, and that you hadn’t been entirely honest with me up until now.”

She’d more than implied it, in fact, she’d been pretty blunt about the matter, but I figured now wasn’t the time for directness. She turned back to me, her cheeks flushed and her eyes furious.

“So, you did this out of spite? You’re as bad as she is!”

It was true then.

“You’re getting pissed with me, but you’ve been lying this whole time! Why the hell does it matter who I sleep with?”

“You’d be dead if it wasn’t for me!”

“I’d be dead because of you! And I think by now I’ve more than made up for that.”

“Made up? What by screwing my arch-rival?”

“I was drunk for gods’ sake.”

“And that makes it ok?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because –”

Her fists were balled up, and tears streamed down her face. She was visibly shaking; then her gaze fell to the floor. I was about to say something when she spoke again without raising her eyes to meet mine.

“Sander, just get the fuck out of my room.”

I couldn’t find the words to respond. I stood, saying nothing, my arms hanging limply at my sides. Then, we both turned at once. There’d been a knock at the door. Scarlett turned and went to see who it was.

“Huh?” she said. “Istar, what are you –”

A small girl with white hair rushed in, her eyes wide.

“Scarlett, there’s not much time.”

“What’s going on?” the Lunar Knight asked.

“My father. He’s given the order to burn it down.”

“Burn what down?”

“Kur. They want to purge the sickness.”