After twenty years I was an adult this year. I just needed to complete an exam and I was free. Free to carve my own path in the world.

  Torian and I had talked a little and it wasn’t set in stone that I was becoming a member of the Iron Legion, but it was a pretty good chance.

  The truth of my birth was hidden once again, and although the booklet hadn’t uncovered itself in years Cecilia remained patient, I don’t think that’ll last much longer though.

  Mariel and I had grown more intimate, and Jerek and I had grown to be even more like brothers.

  I couldn’t recognize that annoyingly pompous idiot I first met a decade and a half ago. Mariel had grown a lot too, she felt like my glue. I had once been the protector of her, and now she’s protecting me.

  Physically I could protect myself, but without a proper anchor to sympathy I’d be someone else entirely.

  The Book n’ Blade path often had a unique final exam. It didn’t happen a whole lot even in the capital so there wasn’t a regulated test. It was random.

  For me they determined if I held my own against my parents in a mock-battle, I’d pass. I didn’t have to draw blood, I didn’t have to disarm them, just simply hold my own.

  I trained to no end for this. I needed to pass with flying colors. After the years of silence from Nythris, I needed another figure to learn from. So Torian was my top choice, which meant I had to impress him with my exam to join him. Even if it’d annoy Veran.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Especially if it’d annoy Veran.

  I went through the motions of life. It was almost a sense of normal.

  School, training with Jerek, dates with Mariel, occasionally going through a dungeon, even a few outings at night to ease my conscience.

  I knew something was coming, but I was prepared for it. I knew my very existence was illegal, so I tried making the most of my life before anything happened.

  And something was going to happen.

  Although I could read intent, that was typically in a fight. However, I was perspicacious enough to predict the future.

  The future held a lot of uncertainties though.

  No matter how often I just went through the motions I felt a yearning for something larger. I especially felt that with Gravewake.

  Gravewake wasn’t heavier, but my grip on it occasionally dragged during training. As if it knew my head wasn’t clear and I needed change for clarity.

  It felt impatient.

  Every action I made, or every step I took felt like a game of poker.

  I was dealt a hand. My choices were check, raise, or fold.

  If I checked it was playing things safe, letting the empire simply run its corrupt course and I’d watch what its outcome was.

  If I raised it would mean I’d get more involved in the system, potentially even compromising myself if I raised too much on a bad deal.

  Folding wasn’t actually an option. I couldn’t turn myself in.

  I wouldn’t allow it, there were people who I needed to try to help.

  Unfortunately, I could only check and raise for so long.

  Eventually the house would reveal their hand.

  If I won that probably would mean I went under the radar.

  If I lose, I may lose Jerek and his family’s nobility, or end up dead. If I lose, Mariel’s family would likely be hunted and killed. My parents and their friends would be hunted and killed.

  Billions vs less than a hundred.

  Good odds.