When the gray light faded, Isolde's boots stepped onto the familiar black stone floor.
One by one, the lights in Castle's hall lit up. The Faceless Attendants lowered their heads and retreated from the walls, as though they had been waiting here for a long time.
Lia stood at the foot of the black stone stairs, her hands folded before her skirt and her eyes lowered.
"Welcome back, my lady."
The words were perfectly ordinary, yet for some reason, they made Isolde feel a little steadier.
Outside, night had fully settled in. The distant deadwood forest had been swallowed mostly by mist, leaving only a layer of cold gray afterglow.
When she had set out, it had been to fulfill a wish.
By the time she returned, Grey Dove Monastery was practically Grey Dove Ruins.
That efficiency was almost touching.
Isolde removed her bloodstained cloak and handed it to a Faceless Attendant, then rubbed her brow.
"Where's Ullr?"
Lia answered calmly, "Mr. Ullr has gone nowhere. He spent the entire day enjoying afternoon tea in the sitting room."
Isolde halted, irritation rising within her.
She had been outside scheming and fighting against the Silver Robe inquisitor, nearly getting roasted into jerky by holy light.
Meanwhile, that masked swindler had spent the whole day happily drinking tea on her turf.
This world truly had no limit to absurdity—only increasingly punchable people.
"Take me to him."
"Yes, my lady."
When the sitting room doors were pushed open, warm golden light happened to fall across the long table.
A circle of bizarre pastries sat beside a silver teapot, while Ullr lounged comfortably in a high-backed chair.
His white smiling mask tilted slightly toward her, and he still held a delicate bone china teacup in his hand.
At the sound of the door opening,