“It’s his first two initials. I just shorten it. It’s easier.”
“Huh, and he lets you?”
“Yes. Only me though. I think he would likely rip the head off anyone else who familiarized themselves that much with him.”
“You really do have a special bond
with him, don’t you?”
“Yes, now, I have this dress that I wore last year to my Council thing that he practically drooled over.” I summon up the ice blue satin dress and hand it to her. She holds it up critically.
“Hm, it’s nice. Not really my color though,” she says.
“It’s not mine either but put it on and you will see what I mean.”
She shrugs and, in a flash, has it on and turns to the mirror. Her eyes widen as she sees how striking she looks.
“Turn around, see the back,” I say. She pulls her long hair over her shoulder, turns and looks back at the mirror.
“Wow.” The whole of her Dragon tattoo is on show with the entirely open back. I chose this dress specifically to show off the Power of One marking, but it looks even better with the Dragon.
“Perfect,” I say. “You will want to wear your hair up and perhaps add a small, tasteful tiara.”
“Tiara?” she asks.
“Yes, but small and tasteful,” I emphasize. “You are Empress of the Dragon Realms and Underworld after all.” I summon up one of my own and hand it to her. She stares at it like it is going to bite her, but I smile encouragingly. “Here, let me show you,” I say, grabbing a hand full of clips out of thin air and pinning her hair up and placing it on her head.
“Elegant,” she says. “I like it. Thank you.”
“No worries,” I say.
“You see, it’s things like this. I have done nothing for you really and you help me with all of this. This is why they all love you.”
“It doesn’t take anything out of your day to be nice. You don’t have to be a badass all of the time, you know.”
“Hm. I suppose. Well, as a gesture of good faith, I will share a bit more.” She changes out of the outfit and places it carefully on the bed and sits. I sit too and wait. “Once you get to the Spirit Realms you have to act quickly. The sword will know you are there, and it will call to you. You must get to it. You can Astral to it, but it is buried deep in a cave wall. This is where the trial comes into play. I can’t tell you anything about it as it will be something you have to battle to deem yourself worthy to get your hands on the real G.I.”
“You call it G.I. too?” I say.
She blinks. “Yes. Gladius Infernus is too much of a pain in the ass to say every time.”
I chuckle. “Agreed.”
“Anyway, once you have it, the rest is easy. All Thirteen will come looking for you and while the sword will destroy everything in its path, you need to stab him to make sure it goes for good.”
“How will I know if he has?”
“Oh, you’ll know,” she says.
“How do I get back?”
“The rules are different there, you can just Astral back.”
“Thank you,” I say. “You have saved me a lot of time arsing about trying to figure it out.”
She shrugs. “Well, speaking as one who did spend a lot of time arsing about,” she says, using my Anglicized word, “I am happy to help.”
“Hm, happy to help for something in return,” I mutter, and she grins at me.