Part 1

Nearly 3 years after Rebecca Ashe returned to Lichfield, strong-arming her way back into the nobility, and throwing the entire region into turmoil in the process, collapsing at least 2 Kingdoms so far, Heather was bored out of his mind attending another stuffy party. He knew why Rebecca attended these, but he had no idea why Hamlin insisted on attending these as well.

"Heather, try to look more interested in this." Rebecca whispered, elbowing him in the ribs. "I promise you, tonight will be interesting."

"You say that every time, Rebecca." Heather whispered back, holding his stomach. "We're at some corrupt Earl's party and you're just here listening for blackmail.

"Look around idiot." Rebecca whispered, as she guided them toward a wall under the guise of a break from dancing. "That was the original plan, but there's people who shouldn't be here."

Heather casually looked around as he leaned against the wall. Nobody seemed to be out of place until he spotted her, a rusalka in a Gilnan Military Officer Uniform.

"That's a rusalka." He whispered to Rebecca, pointing at the rusalka.

"Exactly. That's Praetor Svetlana of the Spiritual Garrison. Did you spot the other uninvited guest? The woman in a black dress?"

Heather spotted the woman right away once Rebecca mentioned her. Skin whiter than snow, a black dress and black gloves all the way up to her shoulders. For a moment, the woman locked eyes with Heather and shook her head, before looking away again.

"That's..." Heather began.

"Quiet. Don't say her name out loud, I know exactly who that is. See what I mean? Something is going to happen tonight. I wouldn't miss this for anything."

"Jacob's been jumpy all evening too." Heather said. "He said something felt off when we arrived at the mansion grounds. So I've had enough, wait here."

"Where are you going?" Rebecca said, grabbing his arm as he tried to walk off. "Don't cause a scene you idiot!"

"I'm going to pull rank on Svetlana and find out what the fuck is going on." Heather replied, breaking free and staying on the outside of the dance floor while making his way over toward Svetlana.

Rebecca started to make her way over to Jacob after hearing this, getting ready for a quick exit.