Chapter 37

The body of Givre lies in two, frost still lingering in the air like smoke after a war. Lily is wiping her scythe’s blade. Astera stands calmly beside her. The silence is shattered by the loud mechanical whir of a reinforced door bursting open.

Berwick
(sword already drawn)
ALRIGHT—WHO NEEDS THEIR BLOOD—

Eris
(casting a barrier mid-sprint)
ASTERA?! LILY?! WHERE’S GIVRE—?!

Asche
(rune glowing)
Please tell me that mess on the ground is metaphorical—

Celeste
(hurrying in with her support baton humming)
I brought twenty healers, twenty-six sound manipulators, and three conductors just in case!

Alto
(breathless, rushing in with Shizuku)
Where is he—?! Where’s the king—?!

Shizuku
(sees the body)
…oh.

Everyone (in near unison)
“OH MY GOD WHO THE HELL DID THAT?!”

Lily looks up, perfectly calm, twirling her scythe once.

Lily
Stage One.

Astera
She activated “Thirteen Stage Act.” First movement. “Prelude.”

Berwick
(staring at the clean decapitation)
That was a prelude?!

Alto
(softly)
Oh stars…
Lily… are you okay?

Lily
(smiling)
Yep. Just had to play dead for thirty seconds.

Celeste
(deadpan)
Girl, you made my heart skip every note in the orchestra.

Shizuku
(walking to the corpse, kneeling)
Yup. This is Givre. Former king of Raureif. Dead as a broken sigil.

Asche
And here I thought we’d have to fight the entire palace guard for hours.

Berwick
(slapping Astera on the back)
And you just let her do it?

Astera
She told me she had a plan. And when Lily Mizuyari says she has a plan—

Celeste
—it usually ends with something exploding or someone losing a head.

Lily
(smugly)
This time it was both.

They all look at her.

Eris
…there wasn’t an explosion.

Lily
(sweetly)
Not yet.

Alto
Please don’t.

Shizuku
(stretching)
Well, Givre’s dead. What now?

Astera
Kalt XVIII takes the throne. The people still need to be freed from the mental chokehold.

(tapping her baton against her palm)
And that, my dear captains… is my job.