Piyumi felt like her body was on fire — and not in the good way. 

After dragging herself into her room, she flopped onto her bed like a pile of logs. She threw a forearm over her eyes and let out a sigh. She could practically hear the way her bones were creaking up against each other at the joints, and the blisters on her feet continued to throb, despite the pressure on them now being lifted. She was in desperate need of a shower — she just had to take a whiff of herself to know that — but what good was a shower when everything hurt?

A mere three weeks of training and Piyumi thought she was going to die. She had been more active in these last twenty-one days than she had ever been in her life. For all her reverence to the Crown, Hisa refused to go easy on her and now, the redhead was more cuts and bruises than skin. But such was the regimen of a rediscovered royal — ruthless.

Piyumi had to admit that her insane training schedule seemed to be producing results, however. She was quickly becoming accustomed to her sword and while she couldn’t say she was on Hisa’s level — Piyumi didn’t know if she’d ever be that good — her improvement was palpable. She was making progress and that was something to celebrate. 

If only she could say the same about her affinity. 

Piyumi groaned, half willing for her life to end then and there. There was a part of her that was scared she had no affinity at all. That perhaps the Other Realm side of her had precluded her from such a gift. Hisa had reassured her time and again that her concerns were unfounded, but Piyumi hadn’t missed the flash of fear that had zipped across her eyes when the idea was first brought up. It wasn’t as if there were many Palaedian-Earthen children out there. There was really no way to tell. 

 We can grab onto that energy like a rope…and when we do this…we can give birth to unimaginable power.

Piyumi’s eyes flitted towards the manilla envelope on her dresser. She hadn’t so much as looked at it since the day she'd put it there. She could just picture Mylene’s stern look in her mind. Her face would be blank but her eyes would be silently berating Piyumi for her lack of action in spite of the lengths she had gone to to acquire the information.

But Piyumi would take action. Tonight. Away from prying eyes and under the security of darkness. Because if Hisa found out about the circumstances that had led her to this point, found out about the absolute shitshow of the life she had lived, then there was a good chance that-

Piyumi gave her cheeks a hard slap. No. Now was not the time for that. There were a few good hours before her secret rendezvous with her contact, and thus, a few good hours for her to catch some much needed sleep. With the day's events weighing down on her, Piyumi felt her eyelids grow heavy, and then there was that sweet, familiar tug of slumber, and then… 

And then somebody snored. Right into her ear. 

Piyumi slowly reopened her eyes and cautiously turned her head to the side. She stared for a moment and then turned to face the ceiling again. Taking a deep breath in and out, she carefully got to her feet, took a few steps from the bed and then bolted out of the room. 

Hisa lifted her gaze from her schedule when Piyumi tore into the living room. Her brow crinkled in confusion as the redhead began gesticulating wildly in the direction of the corridor behind her. 

“There’s…there’s…”

“What?” 

“There’s a man! There’s a man in my bed!” 

“What?!” 

Hisa nearly bowled Piyumi over in her dash down the hall. Quickly following after her, Piyumi joined the lieutenant at the open doorway of her room. With the curtains drawn, there was only so much they could see in the dim light of the corridor. Sure enough, however, they were able to spot the unmistakable lump of human curled under Piyumi’s covers, slowly rising and falling with each snore. 

“So, what do you think?” Piyumi whispered. “Should I get the knives?”

“What?! No! No knives!” Hisa hissed, shooting Piyumi an incredulous look. “I think I know who that is, so please just stay put.” 

Piyumi opened her mouth to protest but Hisa was already making her way across the room. She heard the Palaedian heave a tired sigh as she gave the sleeping man a nudge. 

“Hello? Hello, wake up-” 

Hisa let out a yelp as hands suddenly grabbed her shoulders. Before she had time to react, she was thrown bodily across the room, her impromptu flight only coming to a stop when she slammed into a wall. 

“Hisa!” Piyumi yelled. She pulled out the knife tucked into the lip of her pants and charged towards the bed. 

“Piyumi, stop! Goddess, when did you even get that-” 

But Piyumi didn’t stop. She raised the knife over her head, but before she had the chance to ram it through the man’s skull, a knee shot out to land a direct hit to her nose. 

“Holy shit!” she cried, the knife dropping onto the bed as she staggered to the floor. “Jesus fucking Christ, what’s it with you people and attacking my nose?! Seriously, is there a ‘kick me’ sign taped there that I don’t know about?!” 

“Leo! Stop! It’s us!” 

The lights snapped on. Piyumi looked up. The tallest man she had ever seen loomed over her. His brown hair was spiked up haphazardly as he wiped the last remnants of sleep from a pair of startling gold eyes. She gawked at the sheer size of his arms, which were bare and on-show in his hole-ridden singlet. She was suddenly grateful that Hisa’s words had stopped him from attacking any further. She was pretty sure he would be able to snap her like a twig without breaking a sweat. 

“Hi…sa…?” Leo squinted, sucking in a breath at the sudden light in the room. His gaze drifted to the dent Hisa had made in the wall before it moved onto Piyumi and the blood gushing out of her nose. He arched an eyebrow. 

“What happened?” 

“Your Highness, this is my friend, Leonardo Lopez. Leo, this is Her Highness, the Crown Princess of Palaedia.” 

Piyumi warily eyed the man sitting across from her, although sitting might not have been the most accurate way to describe what he was doing. The single seat sofa was practically bursting with the mass of absolute brawn known as Leo, as if he was a hermit crab and the chair an ill-fitting shell. Piyumi couldn’t decide which was likely to give first — the couch or his singlet.

“Nice to meet you, Princess,” he rumbled after a while, before he cocked his head curiously. “What happened to your nose?”

“What happened to my- you did! You happened to it!” Piyumi squawked accusatorily, her hands flying to the dried blood smattered underneath her nostrils. She whipped her head to Hisa, who stood by her chair. “Can I send him to the gallows?” 

“What?! No! No gallows!” Hisa admonished, although she did give Leo an exasperated look. “You are sorry for what you did. Is that not right?” 

Leo snorted in response. Piyumi resisted the urge to bolt from her seat when he lumbered to a stand. His footfalls were almost thunderous as he approached. 

“Oi, what are you-” she began to yelp when he reached for her nose, stopping when a bright flash suddenly flooded her vision. After her eyes adjusted to the burst of light, she saw the small golden glyph that was hovering above his pointer finger. 

“Hold still.” 

Before she could question his command, something hot and sharp bit into the bridge of her nose. She gasped and almost fell back but Leo used his free hand to keep her in place. The pain subsided a moment later, and then she realised with a start that all the pain was suddenly gone. Her eyes widened as she twitched her nose, perfect and intact as if Leo had never struck it all. 

“You can heal,” she said breathlessly, her fingers tracing down her nose as if she couldn’t quite believe it. 

“That’s what I’m here for,” Leo said dryly, drawing himself away from Piyumi as he glanced at Hisa. “Your loyal lieutenant asked me to pop over every once in a while to heal any injuries you sustain from her training regimen. Ruthless, isn’t she?” 

Hisa rolled her eyes. “It is what will keep her alive.” 

“Debatable. I feel like I’m half-dead already.”

A swift whack to the upside of her head did nothing to knock off the sly grin Piyumi wore on her face. She cheerfully poked out her tongue at the lieutenant, whose reproachful stare was undermined by the small smile she had trouble holding back.

Leo watched the entire interaction with a thoughtful look. “I must say…” he began slowly. “You seem pretty chipper for someone who has lost so much recently.” 

Piyumi felt Hisa freeze next to her, but just shrugged. “Can’t lose something you never had.” 

“Is that so?” Leo hummed, his golden eyes watching her very carefully. “I can’t imagine that there aren’t some complicated feelings here. Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“What? You a therapist as well?” Piyumi said playfully before grinning and jabbing a thumb at Hisa. “Besides, with the good ol’ lieutenant by my side, I doubt I have anything to fear.” 

Leo stared at her blankly for a moment, before something halfway between horror and disbelief flickered on his face. His gaze was on Hisa in an instant. Piyumi turned to see the lieutenant avert her eyes, a hand twiddling nervously with the ends of her hair. Just as she was about to ask about the sudden tension that had descended upon the room, Hisa looked down at her with a strained smile. 

“It is getting late,” she said. “Would it be okay for Leo to stay the night, Your Highness?” 

Piyumi’s first instinct was to yell a resolute and resounding no! but she stopped herself in the nick of time. While Hisa would likely abide by whatever answer she gave, such a vehement rejection was sure to spark a suspicion or two, and she really didn’t need that tonight of all nights. Just as she was mulling on how to discreetly suggest that Leo should return to Palaedia, the man himself fortunately piped up. 

“No, I better get going,” he said, turning on his heel to head to the front door. He took a step forward before he stopped and glanced at Hisa from over his shoulder. “Come with me, Lieutenant. I need to show you where I broke the locks.” 

"Where you what?!” 

Hisa ran after Leo, her displeasure seemingly falling on deaf ears as the man showed no sign of heeding her cries. Piyumi sighed. So that’s how he got into the house. She wondered if he had ripped the locks straight off their hinges or if they’d simply buckled at the mere sight of him, preemptively knowing they stood no chance. Either way, she was the one who was going to have to foot the bill.