Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 106: For All

Toren Daen

Renea seemed out of place in this clinic. Where the walls were a bleached white with old paint creating an atmosphere of sterility, the leader of Bloodstone Elixirs was a vision in black. She stood out as a dark spot amidst a panorama of light.

"What do I aim for?" I echoed the woman's words. "That's a more complicated question than you think it is, Lady Shorn."

Renea sat down in a nearby chair–one reserved for visitors–and faced me directly. "We have time, Lord Daen. You are an enigma; one I wish to unravel. At first, I suspected you aimed for glory. Why travel through the Relictombs otherwise? Then you rejected my offer of support, claiming you don't wish to be tethered to another's power. Now you spend hours of your time tending to strangers in an empty clinic. You ache for the wounds of these people as if they were your own." She tilted her head. "It is not glory you seek; that much I know. So what is it?"

I tapped a finger against my thigh. "You've seen what this place is like," I said after a moment. "No water. No shelter. Every other person you see is one missed meal away from starving to death."

"So you wish to elevate these people?" the demure woman asked. "Feed them? Clothe them?"

I furrowed my brow. "Yes and no," I replied. "I'm just one man. I'm a powerful mage, but I can't do it all myself. It's the infrastructure that's doomed these people. The system itself grinds them into the dirt. So what if I eliminate a family that distributes blithe? A greater power will just mosey on in," I said with a disdainful snort.

That was what happened with the Joans, after all. I cut the problem out at its root, but the parent plant came to roost next.

"If you were to accept my previous offer," Lady Shorn said, "Those goals could be met. Bloodstone Elixirs is powerful, Lord Daen. We could distribute clothes. Food. Water. Everything these people need to survive and keep their bellies warm."

Beside me, the young girl shifted in her sleep.

I frowned. "And that would be dependent on joining you, then?" I said with a hint of disdain. "You've finally found what I want, and now you give me an offer I can't refuse? Binding those I care for to your leash?"

The woman shook her head slowly. "No," she said. "If I were in your position, I would not accept that offer, either."

I stilled. "You were just trying to convince me that your help would be good for these people," I said, confused by the dark-haired CEO's constant wordplay. "You make me an offer, then tell me I shouldn't accept?" I said through clenched teeth.

Lady Shorn ignored my question, inspecting the sleeping girl for a long moment. Then she turned back to me, and the look in her eyes seemed to dig into my soul. "I see that resentment you keep hidden in your eyes. Some part of you hates me, deep down. Why is that?"

I tapped my foot, the pale woman's words disrupting the careful equilibrium I'd reached from playing the violin. "You gave Karsien Dornar Joan's name and pointed him in the right direction," I said, measuring each word. "Set him on a path to taking 'Flint' down. All the while, Blood Joan distributed their death drug. Then you send letters afterward, congratulating us on our success. Then the Doctrination sweeps in, making life hell for even more. And you only intervene when you think you can get something from me." I felt my eyes smolder as I stared down Renea Shorn. "You're playing politics with the lives of all these people. People I care for. And all for what? So you can collect us into your company?"

Lady Shorn brushed a lock of midnight hair behind an ear. "I'm a creature of politics, Lord Daen," she replied. "I array my pieces on the Sovereign's Quarrel board, laying them bit by bit. I am selfish, in my own way. But there is something you misunderstand."