The silence that followed Protheus's greeting stretched for several seconds. Zoey watched Roy's face carefully, searching for any crack in his composure. She found none. The man was either genuinely unflappable or had spent decades perfecting his poker face. Probably both.
"A daemon," Roy said finally, his tone carrying a note of genuine curiosity. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting that. When I traced Miss Winters's connections, I assud her handler would be another magjistar. Perhaps soone from her teacher's circle."
"An understandable assumption," Protheus replied smoothly. "And one I've worked hard to cultivate. Anonymity is a daemon's greatest asset in a world that would see us exterminated."
"On that, we can agree." Roy settled back into his chair, so of the tension leaving his shoulders. "While I’ve never heard of you, considering you know Miss Winters here, I must praise your judgent."
"You flatter , Mr. Roy. I simply plan ahead. A habit born of necessity."
Zoey shifted her weight, already impatient with the verbal fencing. "Can we skip the part where you two complint each other and get to the actual negotiation?"
Roy's lips twitched. "Direct as always, Miss Winters."
"Zoey has never been one for pleasantries," Protheus agreed. There was sothing almost fond in his voice. "But she's right. Ti is a factor. The longer we speak, the higher the probability that soone in your organization notices sothing amiss. Currently sitting at 12% and rising by approximately 0.3% per minute."
Roy's eyebrow rose. "You calculate probabilities?"
"Among other things." A pause. "For instance, I can tell you that there's currently a 73% chance this negotiation ends with a mutually beneficial agreent. A 19% chance it ends in violence. And an 8% chance of... other outcos."
"Other outcos?"
"Interruptions. Betrayals. Acts of chaos that neither of us can predict. The world is rarely so neat as to fit into binary choices."
Roy considered this for a mont, then nodded slowly. "Very well. Let's improve those odds, shall we? Miss Winters has demanded I make a Heart Oath foreswearing the subjugation of humans. I assu you're here to ensure the wording is... favorable to your interests."
"I'm here to ensure the wording is precise," Protheus corrected. "Heart Oaths are not toys, Mr. Roy. The Balance of the World does not appreciate those who attempt to circumvent their spirit through clever technicalities. I've seen magjistars die screaming because they thought they'd found a loophole."
"I'm aware of the risks."
"Are you? Then you understand why I must insist on absolute clarity." Protheus's voice took on a harder edge. "Zoey's concern is simple: she doesn't want humans enslaved, hard, or oppressed as a result of your organization's activities. She supports your goals of magjistar freedom and magji creature liberation. She does not support replacing one form of tyranny with another."
"And if I agree to these terms? If I bind myself with a Heart Oath that prevents from pursuing human subjugation?" Roy leaned forward. "What do I get in return?"
"You get to live," Zoey said flatly.
Roy's smile didn't waver. "Besides that."
"You get Zoey Winters walking away from your organization without tearing it apart brick by brick," Protheus said. "You get to continue your operations against the OM, your advocacy for magji creatures, your crusade against the slave trade. All the parts of your mission that don't involve trampling humans underfoot." Another pause. "And you get sothing else. Sothing I suspect you've already realized."
"Oh?"
"You get legitimacy."
The word hung in the air between them. Roy's expression shifted, just slightly, just for a mont, into sothing that might have been genuine interest.
"Explain," he said.
"The MLF's greatest weakness has always been its ultimate goal. Freedom for magjistars? Admirable. Liberation for magji creatures? Righteous. But human subjugation? That transforms you from revolutionaries into villains. It gives the OM justification for their crackdowns. It turns potential allies into enemies." Protheus's voice was smooth, persuasive, utterly reasonable. "Remove that elent, and what remains? A liberation movent with legitimate grievances and the power to back them up. The OM can't dismiss you as monsters if you're not actually monstrous."
Roy was silent for a long mont. His fingers drumd against the desk, a rare tell that suggested genuine contemplation rather than performance.
"You're suggesting," he said slowly, "that binding myself with this oath would actually strengthen my position."
"I'm suggesting that it would change your position. Whether that change is strengthening or weakening depends entirely on your adaptability." Protheus paused. "My calculations suggest a 67% chance that the MLF achieves greater long-term success with a modified mission than with your current trajectory. The human subjugation angle was always going to be your downfall, Mr. Roy. I'm simply offering you a way to course-correct before the crash."
Zoey watched the exchange with a mixture of impatience and grudging admiration. She'd known Protheus was smart, his probability magji made that obvious, but seeing him work in real-ti was sothing else entirely. He wasn't just negotiating; he was reshaping the entire fra of the conversation to make Roy's surrender look like a strategic victory.
'He's good,' Inner Zoey admitted.
'He's terrifying,' Outer Zoey corrected. 'Remind never to play chess with him.'
‘We don’t even know how to play chess, dumbass.’
‘Oh right.’
Roy turned to look at Zoey directly. "And you, Miss Winters? What's your stake in all this? Protheus speaks of probabilities and long-term outcos, but you strike as soone more... imdiate in her concerns."
Zoey t his gaze without flinching. "I told you already. I don't want humans enslaved. Everything else, I don't really care about."
"You don't care if the MLF continues to operate? Continues to fight the OM?"
"My OM exiled . Tried to kill . Your OM turned a blind eye to slave auctions happening right under their noses." Zoey shrugged. "Why would I care if you make their lives difficult?"
"But you were sent here to destroy us."
"I was sent here because I was told you wanted to enslave humans. If that's off the table..." She let the sentence hang.
Roy studied her for another long mont, then let out a breath that was almost a laugh. "You really are remarkably simple, aren't you, Miss Winters? No offense intended."
"None taken. I know how I work."
"And what you are is soone who could have crushed the mont I revealed I knew your identity. Instead, you're standing here, negotiating in good faith, because the outco you want doesn't actually require my destruction." Roy shook his head slowly. "Protheus was right about one thing, you are an anomaly. Most people in your position would have simply killed to be safe."
"Most people aren't strong enough to kill you and walk out of this mansion afterward," Zoey pointed out.
"Most people aren't strong enough to do what you did in that plaza today." Roy's voice carried a note of sothing that might have been respect. "Very well. Let's discuss the specific wording of this oath."
…
The negotiation took longer than Zoey expected. She'd assud they would hamr out a simple statent, "I won't enslave humans", and be done with it. Instead, she found herself listening to Protheus and Roy dissect every possible interpretation, every potential loophole, every conceivable way the oath could be twisted or circumvented.
"The phrase 'enslave humans' is too narrow," Protheus argued. "It could be interpreted to exclude forms of bondage that don't technically et the legal definition of slavery. Indentured servitude. Debt bondage. Forced labor under threat of violence."
"Then we expand it to 'deprive humans of their freedom,'" Roy countered. "Though that raises its own issues. Imprisonnt is a deprivation of freedom. Would this oath prevent from detaining humans who attack my people?"
"Self-defense exceptions are standard in oath construction. We can include language that permits defensive actions while prohibiting systemic oppression."
"Define 'systemic.'"
"Organized efforts to subjugate, control, or diminish the rights of humans as a class, rather than actions taken against specific individuals in specific circumstances."
Zoey's head was starting to hurt. She'd never been good at this kind of thing, the endless parsing of words, the search for hidden anings. It reminded her of the contracts her stepdad used to make her read before signing anything, back when she'd first started fighting professionally. Plus, she was at best a C student on her good days.
'Just punch sothing,' Inner Zoey grumbled. 'This is taking forever.'
'We can’t. It’d ruin everything and we would’ve wasted our ti already for nothing.'
'It's boring is what it is.'
Eventually, after what felt like hours but was probably closer to forty-five minutes, Protheus spoke with finality.
"I believe we have acceptable language. Mr. Roy, please repeat the following oath exactly as I state it. Any deviation will require us to begin again."
Roy straightened in his chair, his expression solemn. Whatever levity had existed earlier was gone now. Heart Oaths were serious business, and they both knew it.
"I, Roy of the Magji Liberation Front, do swear upon my magji, my mahna, and my life this Heart Oath to the Balance of the World." Roy repeated the words, his voice steady and clear. "I swear that I will not enslave, subjugate, or systematically oppress humans as a race or as a class. I will not organize, command, or permit actions designed to strip humans of their fundantal rights and freedoms for the purpose of establishing magjistar supremacy over them." Roy's mahna began to stir as he spoke, responding to the weight of the oath. The air in the study grew heavy, thick with potential.
"I swear that my pursuit of freedom for magjistars and liberation for magji creatures will not co at the cost of human bondage. I will fight for equality, not dominion. For justice, not vengeance. For a world where all thinking beings may live free, not one where the oppressed beco the oppressors."
The pressure in the room increased. Zoey could feel it against her skin, like standing too close to a bonfire. Roy's voice had taken on an echoing quality, as if the words were being spoken in multiple registers at once.
"This I swear, with full knowledge of the consequences should I break this oath. May my magji gates seal. May my mahna turn to poison in my veins. May death claim swift and without rcy should I betray the spirit of these words."
"So I swear," Protheus intoned from the phone. "So witnessed."
"So I swear," Zoey repeated awkwardly, the words fumbling at her mouth. "So witnessed."
The pressure crested, and then released. Zoey felt it like a wave passing through her, a ripple in reality itself as the Balance of the World acknowledged the oath and bound it into existence. Roy gasped, one hand going to his chest, his face pale but composed.
"It's done," he said quietly.
"It's done," Protheus confird. "The oath is sealed. Any attempt to violate its terms will result in imdiate and severe consequences. The Balance does not forgive, Mr. Roy. Rember that."
"I'm not likely to forget." Roy took a steadying breath, then another. Color slowly returned to his face. "That was... more intense than I anticipated."
"Heart Oaths always are. The greater the restriction, the greater the binding." Protheus paused. "For what it's worth, Mr. Roy, I believe you've made the correct choice. The probability of the MLF's long-term success has increased by approximately 23% as a result of this oath."
"How reassuring." Roy's dry tone suggested he wasn't entirely convinced, but he didn't argue. Instead, he turned his attention back to Zoey. "Well, Miss Winters. It seems we've reached an accord. What happens now?"
Zoey considered the question. The mission had changed, that much was obvious. She couldn't destroy the MLF now, not without betraying the spirit of the agreent they'd just made. But she couldn't exactly stay, either. Roy knew who she was. The other mbers would find out eventually. And there was still the matter of...
"Alia," she said. "The Chief Peacekeeper. What are you going to do with her?"
Roy's expression shifted into sothing more calculating. "Ah, yes. Our reluctant guest." He steepled his fingers. "Originally, I intended to use her as leverage, a hostage to ensure the OM's cooperation, or failing that, a symbol of their impotence. But given our new... understanding... perhaps a different approach is warranted."
"Such as?"
"Negotiation." Roy smiled slightly. "You said yourself that Chief Patil was investigating the slave auctions. That she's not like the other Peacekeepers. If that's true, she may be soone we can actually work with."
"You want to recruit her?"
"I want to talk to her. Explain our position. Show her the evidence of OM corruption that she's been trying to uncover on her own." Roy spread his hands. "If she's truly a woman of principle, she'll recognize that our goals, our real goals, now that human subjugation is off the table, align more closely with hers than with her superiors'."
Zoey frowned. "And if she doesn't?"
"Then we release her anyway. A gesture of good faith to accompany our pivot toward legitimacy." Roy's smile widened. "Protheus isn't wrong, Miss Winters. The human subjugation angle was always going to be our downfall. With it removed, we can operate more openly, build broader coalitions, apply pressure through channels that don't require constant violence."
"You sound almost happy about this."
"I'm... adapting." Roy rose from his chair and moved to the window, looking out over the mansion's grounds. "I won't pretend I'm pleased about being outmaneuvered by a common-born magjistar and a daemon. But I've built this organization on the principle that our cause is greater than any individual ego, including my own. If binding myself with a Heart Oath is what's required to ensure the MLF's survival and success, then so be it." He turned back to face her. "The question now is: what will you tell your allies? They were expecting you to dismantle us from within. How will they react when they learn you've made a deal instead?"
Zoey shrugged. "I'll tell them the truth. The mission changed. You're not a threat to humans anymore."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that." Zoey t his eyes steadily. "I'm not like a politician or anything, Roy. I don't do complicated explanations. The job was to stop you from enslaving people. You can't enslave people anymore. Job done."
Roy stared at her for a long mont, then let out a laugh, genuine this ti, with real warmth behind it.
"You really are sothing else, Miss Winters." He shook his head. "I think, under different circumstances, we might have been friends."
"Probably not considering you called a gully earlier." Zoey has no tolerance for racists.
"Fair enough." Roy glanced at the phone still sitting on his desk. "Protheus. I assu this concludes our business?"
"For now," Protheus replied. "Though I suspect our paths will cross again. The world is changing, Mr. Roy. Old structures are crumbling. New alliances are forming. Those who adapt will thrive. Those who don't..." He left the sentence unfinished.
"Understood." Roy picked up the phone and held it out to Zoey. "I believe this belongs to you, Miss Winters. Unless there's anything else?"
Zoey took the phone, but hesitated before ending the call. "Protheus. The others. Peter and Jelena. What do I tell them?"
"Tell them the truth, as you said. The MLF is no longer pursuing human subjugation. The slave auctions have been disrupted. The Peacekeepers have been exposed." A pause. "Their mission was never to destroy the MLF, it was to protect Dhara's people. That mission has been accomplished, albeit through unexpected ans."
"And ? What do I do now?"
"Now?" Protheus's voice carried a note of sothing that might have been amusent. "Now you co ho, Zoey. Your work in Dhara is done. And I suspect there are matters requiring your attention elsewhere."
"What kind of matters?"
"Nothing confird. Just... whispers. Movents. A probability spike in certain unpleasant scenarios." Protheus paused. "We can discuss it when you return. For now, focus on extracting yourself cleanly. The less chaos you leave behind, the better."
"Got it." Zoey ended the call and pocketed her phone. She looked at Roy one final ti. "I'll be leaving tomorrow. and Tiffany."
Roy's eyebrow rose. "Tiffany is going with you?"
"She seems to think so."
"Ah." Sothing flickered across Roy's face, resignation, maybe. Or acceptance. "I suspected as much. She's been... difficult to predict, ever since you arrived."
"That's one word for it."
"She's valuable, Miss Winters. Powerful. Loyal to a fault, clearly, given how quickly she's attached herself to you." Roy's expression grew serious. "Take care of her. She's not as stable as she pretends to be."
"I don’t think she pretends at all."
They stood in silence for a mont, two people who had been enemies minutes ago and now existed in so strange middle ground that neither of them had words for.
"Goodbye, Roy," Zoey said finally.
"Goodbye, Zoey Winters." Roy inclined his head slightly. "Try not to destroy any more cities on your way ho." He chuckled.
"I’ll try." She left the study without looking back.
Reviews
All reviews (0)