Chapter 203: Friend or Foe?
Morgana remained motionless for several long seconds, the folder still clutched to her chest as if it were the only thing keeping her anchored to reality. The silence in the room seed heavier than any shout she had exchanged with Damon minutes before.
Elizabeth was the first to move.
"You’ll need ti," she said, crossing her arms again. "Denial, anger, disgust... it all cos in waves. You don’t need to answer anything now."
Morgana let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Ti?" she looked up, her eyes gleaming dangerously. "If half of this is true... I don’t have that luxury."
She opened the folder again, turning the pages more carefully now. Not like soone in shock, but like soone trained to observe. Dates. Repetitions. Patterns. Routes that coincided with "diplomatic" trips. Nas crossed out, replaced by others.
"He always said certain shipnts were ’too sensitive’ for ," she murmured. "That I didn’t need to know everything."
Elizabeth nodded slightly.
"Control of information is the first shackle a tyrant places on his own children."
Morgana closed her eyes for a mont.
The image of the father who had taught her to ride, to wield a sword, to speak with poise before the court... clashed violently with the figure described in the reports. The two versions coexisted, overlapped, and neither yielded space.
"If I side with him," she said softly, "I beco an accomplice."
"Exactly," Elizabeth replied, without softening her tone.
Morgana took a deep breath and, for the first ti since arriving at the mansion, turned slowly to Damon.
He was still kneeling, slightly crooked, clearly exhausted, with purple marks beginning to appear on his abdon and shoulder. His hair was disheveled. His expression... cautious.
"Did you know all this?" she asked.
Damon hesitated.
"So things," he admitted. "Not everything. But enough to know that Arven wasn’t... safe."
Morgana gritted her teeth.
"So when you ran away..."
"I wasn’t running away from you," he said quickly. "I was trying not to beco a tool. Or an example."
She looked away, annoyed with herself.
Elizabeth cleared her throat, drawing their attention.
"Before this turns into a belated confession session," she said, "we need to make sothing clear."
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
"Changing sides isn’t a symbolic gesture. It’s not so pretty political drama for a bard to sing about later. It’s dangerous. Irreversible."
Morgana raised her chin.
"I’m not afraid."
Elizabeth smiled slightly.
"I know. What worries
is what you’ll do when you realize you still love people you’ll need to take down."
The impact of those words was palpable.
Morgana swallowed hard.
"What do you want from ?" she finally asked. "Exactly."
Elizabeth stood up again and walked to a side table where a folded map lay. She unfolded it precisely and pointed to several marked areas.
"Arven isn’t an isolated case," she explained. "But he’s a central node. Routes. Funding. Political influence. If he falls... others tremble."
She looked directly at Morgana.
"You know the inner workings. The people. The unwritten codes. You can go where my agents don’t go without raising suspicion."
Morgana followed the map with her eyes.
"You want
to be an infiltrator."
"I want you to be a bridge," Elizabeth corrected. "And, when necessary... a blade."
Silence returned.
Damon felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Elizabeth..." he began.
She raised her hand.
"No," she said. "This isn’t your decision."
Morgana took a deep breath, carefully closed the folder, and placed it on the table.
"If I do it," she said, "it won’t be for you. Not for politics. Not for revenge."
She looked up, her gaze fixed.
"It will be because soone needs to end this. And because... I’m tired of being shielded from the truth."
Elizabeth stared at her for long seconds.
Then nodded.
"Good answer."
Morgana exhaled slowly.
"But there are conditions."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.
"Naturally."
"First," Morgana pointed at Damon. "He’s not a disposable piece. Not bait. Not an ’acceptable’ variable."
Damon’s eyes widened.
"Morgana—"
"Be quiet," she cut him off, without looking at him. "You’ve already tried to die today."
Elizabeth analyzed the scene with a curious glint in her eye.
"I agree," she said. "Damon is too expensive an investnt to waste."
"Second," Morgana continued, "if I find out you’ve omitted sothing as big as this..." she tapped the folder lightly "...I won’t be on your side."
Elizabeth smiled, satisfied.
"Fair enough."
Morgana hesitated for one last mont.
Then she held out her hand.
"Show
everything."
Elizabeth shook her hand.
The grip was firm.
Definitive.
"Then," Elizabeth said, "welco to the real ga."
Damon watched the two of them, his heart racing.
He had the strange feeling that, at that mont, sothing much bigger than all of them had just changed direction.
And, for the first ti since he’d left Arven...
He wasn’t running.
...
Aria was crouched behind one of the outer columns of the courtyard, in a position she swore was perfectly strategic.
From the point of view of any rational person, however, she was obviously spying.
"...Idiot," she muttered to herself, her eyes fixed on Damon and Morgana near the fountain.
She observed every detail with exaggerated attention.
The way Damon leaned slightly forward when listening to Morgana.
The way Morgana gestured more than usual when speaking to him.
The fact—absolutely unacceptable—that they were laughing.
Aria clenched her teeth.
"Of course... laughing. Great. Fantastic. Wonderful reunion," she whispered, biting her thumbnail hard. "He almost died yesterday, and today he’s already smiling with a troubleso little duchess..."
She peeked a little further to the side, trying to see better.
"And he still looks at her like that..." she murmured, her voice coming out thinner than intended. "What way, Damon? What way is that?"
She bit another nail.
Then another.
"If he thinks he can just—"
A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder.
"AAAAAAAA—!"
Aria jumped so high that she hit her knee on her spine and almost fell forward, spinning awkwardly in the air.
"DON’T KILL ! I SWEAR I WASN’T DOING ANYTHING WRONG!"
She spun around, her hand instinctively reaching for the dagger that wasn’t there.
And then she froze.
In front of her was Lily.
The succubus tilted her head slightly, her eyes shining with pure amusent, a mischievous smile plastered on her face. The small wings on her back trembled slightly, as if she were holding back a loud laugh.
"Boo," Lily said calmly.
Aria put her hand to her chest.
"YOU... YOU—!"
"Cute?" Lily suggested, winking. "YOU DAMNED DEMON!
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