Talking

That sneaky jerk was smiling at her.

"How long have you known?" Lydia asked, hoping that her suspicions were wrong.

"Hm," Jason said, tapping his chin. "I would say I found out for sure shortly after Lorelei's incident with Sophia."

"What gave it away?" Lydia asked.

"Well," Jason said. "Other than the fact that you do not act quite the same way she does, I think it was Lorelei who gave it away. She was quite insistent that I not press for details at night."

"Why didn't you do anything?" Lydia questioned. "You could have called me out as an imposter. You could've tried to exorcise me from Lorelei's body."

Jason burst out laughing. "So you're a demon, then, is that it?"

"No," Lydia said. "But, for all you knew, I could have been!"

Jason finally got a hold on his laughter. "If you had meant any harm, I'm sure you would have taken action by then. Further, Lorelei was protecting you. If she was doing that, then I am sure she knew what was going on."

Lydia paused, realizing something. "Wait, so all that stuff we did afterwards, did you and Lorelei plan it to mess with me?"

"No." Jason chuckled. "Lorelei is not aware that I know about your little swap. That was all for fun."

"And did you find it fun?" Lydia asked, continuing her walk with him.

"Did you?"

Lydia thought back to the lanterns and the colored glass. She thought about the little quips she and him had shared while they'd done paperwork. She remembered how much they'd laughed together over that friendly dinner. She remembered feeling happier than she'd been in years.

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty fun." Lydia narrowed her eyes at him. "But not the work, though. That part sucked. You really should hire help."

"I considered it, actually," Jason said. "Of course, I already have an aide, so I started by giving him more work like you suggested. Actually, that was the only reason I had time to see you."

"How do you feel?" Lydia asked. "It can't be easy letting go, especially after having held the burden of it all for so long."

"I can't say that it is easy," Jason replied, staring at the starry sky. "I'm sure it'll get easier. I'm just happy that I have this luxury of time."

"So why are you spending it with me?" Lydia was genuinely curious. "I thought you'd want to spend it with Lorelei. She's your wife, after all."

"Only on paper," Jason said calmly. "Lorelei and I have never held romantic love for each other."

"Then why get married?"

"Lorelei is my friend," Jason said. "I wanted her to have the freedom to be herself. I thought I could give her that."

Lydia cocked her head in confusion. "What makes you think you couldn't?"

"She's always been so closed off," Jason said, his arm shining in the light as he raised it in frustration. "No matter what I did, no matter what thing I tried to do with her, she never truly opened up. Of course, she knew she could talk to me, but I knew she felt trapped."

"That isn't your fault," Lydia reassured him.

"You're right," Jason said. He turned his head away from the manor where the heart of high society, and the nobles that thrived in it, lived. "It's theirs."

"How so?"

"All their stupid rules," Jason said bitterly. "They control our attitudes, our marriages, and even our language! How idiotic is it that we cannot even vocalize our thoughts normally?"

"You mean the contractions?" Lydia asked. "Yeah, that's kind of a dumb rule."

"And Lorelei has been trapped in that prison for her whole life!" Jason said loudly, getting more irritated at the world with every word.

"Yeah, Nico said she was pretty stiff around him," Lydia commented.

Jason turned to Lydia. "Who is Nico?"

"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know about that, huh?" Lydia said thoughtfully. "Nico's my best friend back home. I convinced him to teach Lorelei about my world. That way, she wouldn't feel quite so lost."

"How is it going for her?" Jason asked, concern for his friend seeping in.

"It sounds like it's going great," Lydia said. "Nico said that she's relaxing more around him, too."

"Is she happy?" Jason asked sincerely.

"You'll have to ask her," Lydia replied. "What about you? Are you also trapped in high society?"

Jason shook his head. "No, I don't take part in it enough."

"Then why does Lorelei?"

"It has been expected of her all her life," Jason said sadly. "Her parents are rather old-fashioned. They fully believe that the best path for their daughter is to be a star of high society."

"What do you think?" Lydia was curious.

"I think high society has hurt her enough," Jason said, honesty painting his words. "Those fools don't deserve a second of Lorelei's time. They've never been there for her before. That will never change."

The two of them turned towards a glittering fountain. "High society will never change. The nobles will always be pompous dunces who think they know it all. If it doesn't fit their mold, they'll never accept it."

Lydia frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Many of the nobles still think Lorelei is crazy," Jason said, looking lazily at the fountain as they came closer. "They think she is only trying to defame Sophia, that such a nice lady could never do any wrong."

"Seriously?" Lydia said, astonished. "Wouldn't they know otherwise from the scene she made at the restaurant? What about the Dance of Spirits?"

"The Dance of Spirits is an outlier," Jason responded. "Sophia has an annoying tendency to slither her way out of trouble."

"That sounds really odd."

"How so?"

"Well," Lydia said. "Homegirl can do all this stuff and get off Scott-free, but Lorelei tries to call her out and gets called crazy? Sounds like Sophia's got something going on."

"Explain."

"I'm just saying," Lydia said. "It'd probably take a lot of help to hide all her dirty laundry. Kind of makes you wonder what would happen if she didn't have that help."

Jason and Lydia reached the fountain. Lydia, tired from walking so far in heels, because of course Lorelei wore heels, ditched them before she sat on the edge of the fountain. She took a second to run her hand against the water, enjoying how it felt in her fingers. She was still doing that when Jason joined her, taking a seat beside her.

"Perhaps you are right," Jason said, watching her play with the water.

"What's their beef, anyway?" Lydia asked.

"Pardon?"

"Why do Lorelei and Sophia hate each other in the first place?" Lydia clarified. "Sara didn't know, so she couldn't tell me."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Sara is also aware of the switch?"

"Well, yeah," Lydia said. "There's no way I could have pretended to be a noble without help."

Lydia shook her head to clear it. "We're getting off the topic. Why are Sophia and Lorelei so against each other?"

"That is quite the long story," Jason said.

"I've got time," Lydia replied. Then she paused, turning to look at him. "If it's too private, I get it. I wouldn't want to pry where I'm not welcome."

"No, no," Jason assured her. "Lorelei actually gave me permission to tell the story, should anyone ask. It is about time someone else knew."

Lydia leaned back on her arms. "I'm ready. Tell me everything."

Jason sighed, staring at the constellations above. "It all started with a playdate."