The Assassination War (14)

Sithe began the following day in relative solitude.

Rousing naturally under the morning sunlight after inadvertently dozing off, she squinted her eyes slightly.

In stark contrast to the typically bustling Edan household – Freugne preparing breakfast, Edan readying for his commute – an unsettling stillness pervaded the premises.

Retracing the previous night’s events from her recollections:

Freugne, mentioning some significant discussion, had failed to reemerge from her quarters even after an extended duration.

With no scheduled visitors anticipated, Sithe had been tasked with courteously redirecting any potential callers to return later, settling herself upon the first floor’s sofa.

-Come here, don’t avert your gaze this time.

-Wait, let’s pause for a brief respite……

-I can discern your thoughts, so where do you intend to flee?

Not long after, she had jolted awake in startled discomfiture.

The chambers within Edan’s manse featured robust soundproofing – a deliberate design prioritizing undisturbed slumbers for its overworked proprietor.

Yet while muffling external ambiances like birdsongs or street chatter, it could not entirely insulate interior vocalizations.

Had those emanated from shrieks of terror, Sithe would have instantly rushed upstairs.

But the nature of those audible outbursts differed distinctly from such agonized emanations.

“It’s fine… If they are content, then that should suffice……”

Shaking her head slightly while muttering under her breath.

After such overtures, Sithe hardly remained naive about the preceding night’s intimacies.

Nevertheless, she deemed further eavesdropping upon their private moment indelicate.

Sealing the surrounding doors to avoid intruding upon Freugne and Edan’s amorous raptures, only the muffled ticking of clocks permeated the first floor’s parlor.

Finally, around noon, Freugne emerged shuffling in slippers while opening the door.

“…Um.”

“Ah, my apologies if we caused any disturbances last night.”

“No, not at all. I was simply wondering if you had rested well.”

“Mmm, yes. Quite reinvigorating, beyond my expectations.”

While her gait exuded lingering languidness, Freugne’s countenance radiated vibrance.

Having uninhibitedly indulged long-suppressed urges, her exuberance proved unsurprising.

Her hips and physique felt mildly sore, but within endurable limits permitting prospective encores – necessitating ongoing conditioning regimens.

-Crreeaak-

As Freugne excused herself for bathing, Edan cautiously peeked outwards after a brief interval.

Confronted by his visibly fatigued mien, Sithe floundered momentarily before ultimately exchanging subtle nods of acknowledgment. Reciprocating wordlessly, Edan trudged towards his own quarters with leaden steps.

Shortly after, a damp Freugne reappeared droplets dripping from her hair, spotting the ajar door and flashing an enigmatic smirk.

“Hmm……”

“…….”

“He went in there, didn’t he?”

Her finger pointed towards Edan’s room. Recognizing any discretion as futile, Sithe could only acquiesce with a resigned nod.

Licking her lips suggestively, Freugne promptly barged into Edan’s chamber, eliciting muffled yelps.

“How delightful……”

While potentially mortifying for Edan, Freugne and Sithe might have even preferred this accelerated candor.

Observing their awkward, furtive dalliances had become somewhat taxing for Sithe.

Outwardly resembling romantic courtship, yet hindered by Edan’s internal conflicts prompting hesitant recoils, while Freugne reveled in stimulating his squirms – their sluggish progressions had inevitably stagnated around tentative physical intimacies.

In any case, Freugne seemed to have shed some lingering burdens haunting her until the previous day, a positive development overall.

Nevertheless…

An inexplicable disquietude persisted within Sithe’s core.

---

While Freugne had indulged in a momentary dalliance…

It did not signify her complete disengagement from the organization’s affairs.

Without even resorting to clairvoyance, the captured Demons – subjected to inverted suspensions while forcibly ingesting tea through their nasal cavities – had swiftly divulged all answers amid anguished objurgations against their previously reticent dispositions.

With promises of preserving their lives under certain conditions, they had even disclosed hidden entrances into their lairs.

And without a moment’s hesitation, the tactical deployment of Sithe had commenced.

“Ah, Madam President! You remain unharmed!”

“Unharmed, kkhuelk. Although not entirely unscathed. Yet my life persists, at the very least. Kkolok!”

Disregarding her seared flank, Sithe’s blazing offensive magics had enabled the successful retrieval of the Earl of Norton from his captive, memory-expunged confinement.

The Demons had seemingly refrained from terminating him outright, perhaps intending some rudimentary hostage ploy to negotiate safe passage. But having already endured one such farcical ‘hostage situation,’ Freugne harbored no inclinations towards compromise.

With only meager captors safeguarding the Earl, the final remnants of Demons within Londinium soon found themselves charbroiled and unceremoniously tossed into adjoining cells.

Their previously incarcerated compatriots regarded the newcomers’ sizzling states with pitying gazes.

“We’ve secured all Demon ingress routes into Londinium. While some traverse the underground aqueducts, most infiltrate by submerging within the river’s currents.”

“They actually passed through there? Unprotected and unclothed?”

“Their baseline physiological capacities do surpass humans’. Yet they rarely emerge completely unscathed – many succumb to assorted afflictions shortly after arriving, withering away.”

The Thames bisecting the city centrum may have substantiated that grim factoid about drowning victims outnumbering asphyxiation cases. But its notorious infamy remained well-established.

Stringing security meshes across its breadth and preemptively intercepting any Demons attempting ingress from the Pfalzian Commonwealth would effectively sever all viable infiltration routes.

While the Earl’s condition proved suboptimal, his retrieval at least represented partial recompense for the organization’s earlier oversight.

Admittedly, fully restoring shattered trust proved impossible – any forcible reconciliations would inevitably bear indelible fracture lines.

Yet the organization’s structural integrity persisted resolute.

Several days prior, before Edan’s incarnation had progressed from Mark 2 to Mark 3…

Upon witnessing his phantasmagorical resurrection, Sithe had not ascribed it any profound significance.

She had simply accepted that reality – Freugne’s capacities had always transcended comprehension, rendering any attempts at rationalization inherently futile.

“Did anyone else witness that just now?”

“…I saw it too. Perhaps we’ve collectively descended into madness.”

“Sshhuuip, the throbbing ache from that pebble strike feels all too vivid. Evidently no mere delirium.”

But for the surrounding operatives, the situation had differed starkly.

The organizational leader’s position had always harbored inherent mysticism –

One factor enabling Freugne to command their allegiance, as insubordination or defections only materialized when adversaries’ capabilities could be gauged.

And their fearsome, incomprehensible leader (or not?) had just:

-Crrruunch-

-Crraaack-

In the same instant they recognized his susceptibility to injury, pain, mortality – a mere human after all.

“Kkhuelk, kkhah. Huuu.”

Resurrected.

Respawned intact, as if nothing had transpired.

While panting as if resurfacing from submersion, that literal resurrection from death had proceeded with minimal ceremonial pomp.

No malefic rituals akin to folkloric witchcraft, no sacrificial altars or human immolations to facilitate his reincarnation into this realm.

Since time immemorial, death had represented the most terrifying enigma.

Hence, people commonly postulated preconditions like virtuous lives ensuring favorable afterlives, or notions of auspicious reincarnations upon mortality.

Then what appellation befitted one who had returned from that very demise?

While the existence of extraordinary abilities had become commonly acknowledged wisdom among the erudite, none had ever encountered such capacities.

If an ability, it represented unfathomable potency. If not, it remained overwhelmingly awe-inspiring, or perhaps dreadful.

“I suppose Lady Freugne’s assertions ultimately proved accurate?”

“Well, in that eventual outcome… I suppose so.”

Transitioning from being regarded as a delusional madwoman to a rational being became an ancillary boon for Freugne.

While some had initially doubted their own senses when confronted by such mind-benders, it had swiftly become apparent that this had not constituted mere Demon-induced hallucinations.

Edan had resumed his routine scholastic commutes, attended academic councils and symposiums, unfailingly present during military armaments deliberations.

“Why, I encountered him not long ago – he seemed quite haggard and careworn.”

“Unsurprising, considering his overwhelming workload. I’d likely collapse from overexertion myself.”

“No, he had previously managed such burdens without issue. So in my assessment, he may be experiencing some form of aftereffects.”

“Yet the organization continues operating smoothly, does it not? That should suffice.”

Immense powers invariably demanded commensurate tolls, an age-old adage.

Even the legendary hero of antiquity had reportedly suffered chronic dry-eye syndrome as the price for his beam-emitting ocular prowess.

Viewed through that lens, expending vitality as resurrection’s cost seemed a fairly reasonable tradeoff.

Unable to truly comprehend the incomprehensible, the operatives opted for such rationalizing hypotheses.

In any case, their disquietude notwithstanding…

The organization had endured, unbowed.