The Lesser of Worst Evils

Genie and Kairo walked around the villa's outer perimeter to check for guards. Genie sighed with sadness when he saw a discarded short sword with blood smeared on the royal emblem. It was near a bush.

"Now I know what happened to the stationed guards." He magically stowed the sword in his belt pouch and led Kairo back into the villa and the kitchen.

The kitchen was a cozy niche with a long bench in the center for preparations and a stone kiln oven roaring at the back wall. A lot of dried ingredients dangled over the bench. Against one wall was a cupboard and shelves of jarred or bottled condiments and other food items.

Genie wasted no time in using his magic to gather ingredients and utensils for the cooking.

"Sit down. I'll make something for us to eat. Best to have full energy when we talk with my brother."

Kairo nodded as he eased onto a bench and watched Genie masterfully use manual labor to prepare a soup dish in a pot. It smelt delicious when he had the soup brewing on the kiln's open fire.  He subconsciously fidgeted with his pendant as he watched the man potter around the kitchen.

Warmth stirred a blush to Kairo's cheeks as he tucked into the bowl of meaty broth placed before him. Tears welled in his eyes at the sight of what strongly resembled home cooked ramen.

"Kairo. Are you still ill?" Genie eased down next to him and checked his forehead.

Kairo shook his head. "No. I'm fine. Your food just reminded me of home."

He took a spoonful of the broth: his face lit up with joy. "It tastes so good!"

Genie eased with a smile and felt energized by Kairo's reaction and high praise for his cooking. It gave him the warm and fuzzy feelings in his heart. The moment validated his reasons for wanting to protect Kairo, who had become someone most precious to him. If Kairo was gone. The thought stirred a tinge of sadness and a fleeting sharp pain in his chest. He shook his head at the thought: that scenario wasn't an option for him.

The men ate their food, feeling recharged with their spirits at ease.

Kairo helped Genie clean the kitchen after they finished. They made their way back to the hearth to stand before the wall mirror. Genie cast a triple layer barrier around them to ensure absolute privacy.

"Genie." Lyon coolly acknowledged him; his eyes narrowed when he saw Kairo. "What is it you want to report?"

Genie sighed and soberly filled him in on his conversation with Lady Foster and the Shadow Cabal assassination attempt on Kairo.

"Situations are accelerating. I'm concerned about an imminent insurgency." Genie concluded.

Kairo gulped when he felt a flash of ire from Lyon. His heart raced at sensing how deep the political machinations were.

"That woman is persistent, I'll give her that. I'm not surprised she's actively working with the Shadow Cabal. After all, her past dealings with them were to her favor. Fortunately, her granted wish was a great cost to her magic." Lyon's eyes narrowed as he rubbed his chin with his thoughts. "Still, she's able to stir as much trouble, and with that puppet daughter of hers to be her weapon when she wants."

"How would you see us handle this?"

Lyon eased into a calmer expression, looking unfazed. "Continue supporting Lady Foster's forgery. Make it happen. I'm transmitting to you an unsealing array spell you just need to apply with your blood once you reach the archive entrance."

Genie closed his eyes to open his mind-link with Lyon. He nodded when he received the spell details and a full map of the Marsh Monarchy ancestral archive, then closed their link.

"Got it."

"You should find this palace's records within the Wing B section." Lyon added with heavy tones to signify the gravity of the situation, "It's not ideal. Our court has been keeping this lie going unawares. If anything, God's justice would be a light punishment. But the palace is home to many honest lives: the one liar shouldn't speak for them. So we take the lesser of the worst options. If Aldrick-pasha is revealed as a sham lineage to the court, it will put in question my entire palace structure for insurgency to take shape."

Genie nodded, expecting to hear it from his brother, considering it was his own conclusion.

"I'll go solo and be discreet. We can't let this be public."

Lyon nodded. "And we certainly can't have that woman continue to blackmail our head chamberlain. Move swiftly. You won't go alone, you'll take our wizard with you. His timebound magic could help you greatly." His eyes lingered on Kairo before he closed the conversation session and the mirror returned to normal.

"It's the worst case isn't it?" Kairo worryingly said.

"No, it's just the start." Genie patted his shoulder and noticed Kairo frowning. "What is it?"

"Why did you have me listen in on the conversation?"

"Didn't we task you with the duty of shaking out the court snakevines? This was a mere report update. And, anyway, it's obvious, the Shadow Cabal and Demon King are making sure everything ties to you. If an insurgency happens in the palace, any wrong will be applied as a bad omen because of your arrival. My brother's hold over the palace and country will be severed."

Kairo gasped. "I'm to blame?"

Genie shook his head and flashed him a cocky grin. "Far from it. You're an opportunity for evil to take action. That's another reason why I had you hear all this. A hero needs to know what evil he's about to face."

Kairo groaned and sarcastically said, "I'm no hero. Sure, let's go do something dangerous... again."

"To be honest, I wasn't thinking of taking you, but my brother is right. Your timebound magic might come in hand if we have to face the shriekers."

"Wait, shriekers? We seriously could face them!" Kairo's hands trembled at the thought, as everyone's detailing of them and their constant use of these monsters as fear tactics had certainly made him feel fearful of them.

Genie reassured him with a pat to shoulder and the fact they were going together.

"Right. To be fodder we go." Kairo heaved a weary groan as he ambled up to his room to prepare for their journey.

A short while later, Genie had teleported them to the entrance of the Library Auditorium. Night was still strong, and the surroundings were eerily quiet.

"According to the map my brother gave, the entrance is within the auditorium. Once we're inside the archives, I'll send you map coordinates to your grimoire just in case."

Kairo reset Zeus's position on his back holster, so it sat more balanced next to his crossbow. He followed Genie to the central orrery and stood back as the man activated it with a drop of his blood on a midair blue magical array shaped in a hexagon. It glowed before a mechanical planet, which looked uncannily like Earth.

The mechanical planet absorbed the array to make it glow with blue light, passing energy to the rest of the orrery display.

The orrery's nexus-satellite swirls and planets moved in a formation of the royal seal. A blue-green portal swirl appeared before them. Genie grabbed Kairo's hand. The men entered, stirring the portal to close and the orrery to return to its natural state.