Chapter 33: Chapter Thirty-One – The Fox and the Hare

“Lady Otrea—”

“Ess-kah-me,” Eskame huffed. “You’re going to give us away if you don’t get in the habit of using the correct name.”

The two of us were sitting together on the bed in my room. Eskame had demanded she get to sleep beside me, and I wasn’t really in a position to refuse. So I sent Kyra and Eurycelia back to their rooms, both looking like kicked puppies as they left.

“Eskame, why the little sister act?”

“Why not the little sister act? It’s genius really, nobody would expect the great and powerful Otrea Ladnier would allow herself to be treated like a child. Assuming you can get with the act and stop acting so rigidly around me, it’s a perfect disguise.”

“It’s hard not to be stiff around you, since I know who you are.”

“Seriously Bernice,” Eskame sighed. “Okay, how about this. That is your favor to me. For as long as I’m in this body, you must treat me as if I truly am your little sister. Is that fine? I’m already doing so much for you, and now you have one less thing looming over your head.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Please don’t kill me if I treat you too familiarly.”

“I’m never going to kill you Bernice. You’re a demigod, I have so many uses for you once you come into your own.”

“Such as?”

Eskame quietly looked at her hands, chewing at her lip before looking up at me. “If you get powerful enough it is possible your magic could peer between realms. Maybe we could even trace a soul, and see where it went. With my magic I can call spirits here, and banish them. But I cannot see from where they came, or where they go. Your power could open up a whole new set of possibilities. It’ll be exciting to try.”

“You really do seek all the knowledge in the world, huh?”

“Once you get to my age, new knowledge is about all you can look forward to. Though this is fun, I’m looking forward to this. It’s been over eight-hundred years since I was a child. So it feels like a fresh experience.”

“How do you appear if someone uses [Analyze] on you.”

“You can try it if you like. I’ve placed a curse of [misdirection] around myself. I believe only Eurycelia is gifted enough in [Charm Magic] to see through it. What you see should confirm our story.”

[Analyze]

---