Although Levis spoke lightly, his heart gradually sank. The unexpected had happened after all.
Aklam's sudden appearance threw all of Levis's plans into disarray. With no preparation whatsoever, they had gone straight into a king meeting a king.
At the same time, he cursed himself for being careless. He had always thought Garvin's psionic illusion made everything foolproof.
Yet he had never imagined that the Guild Leader of the Arcane Brotherhood would leave some contingency measure behind on one of his subordinates. Otherwise, there was no explaining how the other man's consciousness had breached Garvin's psionic barrier and slipped silently into this "illusory space."
But now that he had been exposed, there was nothing left to hide. They might as well bare their hearts and speak frankly.
Besides, it was hardly the first or second time one of his old identities had been stripped bare. So long as he did not feel awkward, then the awkward ones would be everyone else.
But Levis had clearly underestimated the thickness of the skin of an Arcanist who had lived for nearly two centuries. This old monster in a female-knight disguise, caught red-handed, showed not the slightest embarrassment. Instead, he let out a coquettish "Hehehe" and said:
"We're both practically on our way down to the River Styx. What image is there left to care about? You, on the other hand—the rising star of the Northlands, the renowned helmsman of the Zelandia Free City-State, the Lord of Minas Tirith, Levis... oh, I should call you Tibilus Sextus. You slipped onto Moonshadow Island without a word and used such despicable means to kidnap one of Luskan's knights. If word of this gets out, I'm afraid it will do no favors to the reputation of your Silver Dragon, or even the Lord of the North