Strongest Incubus System

The trip back to the mansion was quieter than Damon expected. Morgana kept the signed declaration on her lap, reading the same lines a few times, as if she still needed to confirm it would not disappear. House Voss acknowledged that the contract had been established under illegitimate conditions, withdrew the charge, annulled the interest, renounced any future claim, and committed to cooperating with the investigation into Lord Havelock. It was an objective victory, written, signed, and witnessed.

Even so, Damon noticed that Morgana did not seem satisfied.

Not completely.

She was relieved, yes, but the relief came mixed with something else. Tension. Anger. Perhaps even fear. Not for herself, he thought. Morgana did not have the kind of fear that made someone shrink before blades. It was another kind. The fear of understanding that her enemies were willing to cross the line from financial pressure into illegal arrest, forged orders, and the use of crestless knights. That changed the size of the problem.

Damon looked through the carriage window, watching the trees pass by. ”Havelock did not do this alone.”

Morgana folded the document carefully. ”No.”

”It was too risky for a trade councilor to act without support.”

”Yes.”

”And too stupid.”

She looked at him.

Damon shrugged. ”If it worked, he removed you from circulation for a few hours. Maybe a day. But if it went wrong, as it did, the attempt becomes proof of conspiracy.”

”You are assuming they expected it to go wrong.”

”I am assuming they thought I would not be able to act.”

Morgana fell silent.

That part was harder to deny.

The rumors about his recovery were still confused. Some people knew Damon had awakened, but few knew how much he could already do. To many nobles, he was probably a fragile survivor, useful only as a symbol. That mistake had cost Caldrick dearly and, with luck, would cost Havelock even more. But it also announced something important to Morgana’s enemies: Damon was not merely a symbol.

She leaned her shoulder against the side of the carriage. ”This will spread.”

”Yes.”

”That you destroyed four knights and almost killed a baron.”

”I did not almost kill the baron.”

”You lifted him by the neck until he lost control of his bladder.”

”That is different from almost killing.”

”Politically, not by much.”

Damon thought for an instant. ”He signed.”

Morgana closed her eyes for a second, as if trying to decide whether to scold him or thank him again. ”He signed because he thought you would tear his head off.”

”Then it worked.”

”Damon.”

”I know. Delicacy. Diplomacy. Public image. Not turning every meeting into urinary trauma.”

She pressed her lips together.

For an instant, it seemed she would manage to remain serious.

She did not.

The laugh came low, more tired than cheerful, but it escaped all the same. Damon watched in silence, satisfied with that small flaw in her posture. Morgana seemed to have carried the entire duchy on her back for so long that any laugh from her sounded almost like an act of rebellion against her own exhaustion.

”Urinary trauma must not enter the official reports,” she said.

”I agree. Perhaps ’intense emotional persuasion.’”

”That is horrible.”

”Elizabeth would approve.”

”Elizabeth would approve of too many things if they were efficient.”

The carriage passed over a narrow bridge above an almost dry stream. Damon felt his body complain about the effort of the fight in a discreet way, like weight in the bones and stiffness in the muscles. It was not incapacitating pain, but it was a warning. He had improved a lot, but he was still not whole. Ester would know that just by looking at him. She was probably already waiting at the mansion with that murderous expression of someone who would smell imprudence from twenty meters away.

Morgana noticed the change in his posture. ”You are tired.”

”A little.”

”Lie.”

”Moderately.”

”Damon.”

He sighed. ”Yes. I am tired.”

She put the document inside the folder. ”When we arrive, Ester is going to kill you.”

”Technically, she has been trying to avoid that.”

”Today she may make an exception.”

”She will say I pushed too hard, that my control is still unstable, that I should have called the guards, and that destroying a table with a knight does not count as assisted negotiation.”

Morgana tilted her head. ”Would she be wrong?”

Damon looked outside again. ”Not completely.”

That admission seemed to surprise her a little.

He did not comment.

The fight against the knights had been simple, but revealing. The short ice sword he had used did not break on the first impact. That was good. The structure Ester had taught him had worked. But Damon had also felt the difference between training and combat. In the field, he could build slowly, correct, analyze. In the room of the manor, everything had needed to be born in an instant, and the blade had come out imperfect. Strong enough, but imperfect. If the enemy had been better, perhaps that would have mattered far more.

”I did not lose control,” he said after a few seconds. ”But I used more force than I needed.”

Morgana observed his face. ”Are you saying that to me or to yourself?”

”To both.”

”And?”

”And I need to train more.”

”That is the conclusion that will make Ester furious.”

”Everything makes Ester furious.”

”No. You make Ester furious. The rest of the world merely contributes.”

Damon accepted that with a small nod, because there was no possible argument. The rest of the path continued in silence, but it was a better silence than before. Morgana was still worried, of course. So was he. But there was a difference between returning home defeated by debts and returning with a concrete lead, an annulled charge, and an enemy frightened enough to talk.

When they arrived at the mansion, Aria was the first to appear in the hall.

She had a pile of papers in her arms and a quill stuck in her hair, which suggested that the office had won a battle against her. As soon as she saw the two of them entering, she opened her mouth to make some comment, but stopped when she noticed the state of Damon’s clothes, Morgana’s expression, and the ice clinging to some edges of his cloak.

”What happened?”

Morgana raised the folder. ”Voss forgave the debt.”

Aria blinked.

Then looked at Damon.

Then back to Morgana.

”Out of goodwill?”

Damon answered before Morgana could choose a more elegant version. ”He pissed himself.”

Aria stood still.

The quill fell out of her hair.

”Sorry. What?”

Morgana walked past her toward the corridor. ”Call Elizabeth and Ester. We need to discuss Havelock.”

Aria kept staring at Damon. ”No, wait. I am still stuck on the part where someone pissed himself.”

Damon walked slower than he would have liked. ”He was emotionally convinced.”

”You scared a baron until he peed?”

”That sentence makes everything sound more childish than it was.”

”I need to know everything.”

”You will probably know it in three different versions before dinner.”

Aria smiled as if she had received a gift. ”Today became interesting.”

Ester’s voice came from the corridor before she even appeared. ”Why is there ice on your cloak?”

Damon closed his eyes.

Morgana, traitor, quickened her pace.

Ester appeared with her arms crossed, looking first at Damon, then at the ice marks, then at the way he distributed his weight between his legs. The evaluation lasted less than two seconds. The judgment, probably less than one.

”You fought.”

”Broad definition.”

”Damon.”

”There were knights.”

”Knights where?”

”Trying to arrest Morgana.”

Ester’s expression changed immediately. The irritation did not disappear, but it was pushed back by something colder and more focused. She looked at Morgana, who stopped near the corridor entrance and nodded once.

”A false order. Four crestless knights. Caldrick Voss handed us over to Havelock after Damon... intervened.”

Aria raised a hand. ”Intervened until the man pissed himself.”

Ester looked at Damon again.

Damon raised his hands. ”He brought that on himself.”

Elizabeth appeared a few minutes later, summoned by a servant who had probably run faster than necessary after hearing the word Havelock. She entered the smaller room with a calm face, but sharp eyes. Morgana placed the documents on the table, including Voss’s declaration, the false order, and the names of the captured knights.

The mood changed immediately.

It was no longer an absurd story about a frightened baron. It was a political escalation.

Elizabeth read the false order first. ”The seal is good.”

Morgana nodded. ”Too good.”

”Then someone had access to a real seal from the Council of Guarantees or to a high-quality copy.”

Aria leaned over the table. ”I can compare it with the seals from the old archives. If it is a copy, perhaps the pressure or the lateral cut will expose it.”

Elizabeth handed the parchment to her. ”Do that. Carefully.”

Aria took the document as if it were a dangerous relic. ”I am always careful.”

Ester made a low sound.

Aria pointed at her. ”With documents.”

Morgana sat at the table, but this time she did not seem to sink into it. She was tired, yes, and the tension in her shoulders remained obvious, but there was focus. ”Caldrick said Havelock threatened to buy House Voss’s debts with Verden and take his warehouses. That means Havelock has ties to Verden or to someone capable of moving credit between duchies.”

Elizabeth placed the false order on the table. ”And that he wants you out of the negotiations before you find something bigger.”

Damon, leaning against a nearby chair, crossed his arms. ”Or before Aria finds it.”

Aria raised her head. ”I like being considered a documentary threat.”

”You are,” Elizabeth said. ”And that is probably why we need to double the security of the archives.”

Morgana looked at Damon. ”Are the knights imprisoned?”

”The Arven guards brought them right behind us. Three conscious, one complaining a lot about the wall.”

Ester looked at him. ”You threw a man against a wall?”

”He was in the way.”

”Of what?”

”Of my irritation.”

Ester pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose. ”I am going to examine you as soon as this meeting ends.”

”I am fine.”

”You will be examined.”

”Yes, ma’am.”

Aria widened her eyes. ”Wow. He obeyed quickly.”

Damon looked at her. ”I have evolved.”

Ester answered without emotion. ”He is afraid.”

”I have evolved in that aspect too.”

Elizabeth ignored the exchange, keeping her attention on Morgana. ”The next step needs to be careful. If we accuse Havelock without enough proof, Halbrecht can say Arven is fabricating enemies to escape debts. If we remain quiet, he tries again.”

Morgana rested her fingers over Voss’s declaration. ”Then we use Caldrick.”

Damon tilted his head. ”How?”

”He will send a reply to Havelock saying the operation failed, but that he managed to plant doubt. He will ask for new instructions.”

Elizabeth smiled faintly. ”Bait.”

”Yes.”

Aria opened a slow smile. ”I like this plan.”

Ester crossed her arms. ”I do not.”

Damon looked at her. ”You have not even heard all of it.”

”I do not need to. When Aria likes a plan and you look interested, it usually means someone will end up bleeding, exploding, or lying to dangerous nobles.”

”Technically, the lying part will be Caldrick’s,” Aria said.

”Not helping.”

Morgana remained quiet for a few seconds. Havelock’s name seemed to weigh more than she wanted to admit. Perhaps because he was a respectable public figure, perhaps because he was directly connected to her stepmother’s agreements, perhaps because there was finally a face behind part of the network that still strangled Arven. Damon observed her hand over the document and noticed that her fingers were steady. Not relaxed, but steady.

She did not look like someone about to collapse.

She looked like someone choosing a target.

”I want Havelock exposed,” Morgana said. ”Not dead. Exposed. I want his contacts, his contracts, and whoever inside the Council is helping him. If we kill the man, the others retreat and clean their tracks.”

Damon nodded. ”Makes sense.”

Ester looked at him, surprised by the absence of a violent suggestion.

Damon noticed. ”What?”

”Nothing.”

”You expected me to suggest freezing him in a public square.”

”I did.”

”I thought about it. But I did not suggest it.”

”What inspiring progress.”

Elizabeth sat elegantly beside the table. ”Damon may have a useful function in this.”

Ester slowly turned her face toward her. ”No.”

Elizabeth continued as if she had not heard. ”The rumor of what happened with Voss will spread. We can use it. If Havelock believes Damon is impulsive, violent, and difficult to control, perhaps he will try to provoke another reaction. We can make it seem that Morgana is containing an unstable weapon.”

Damon looked at her.

”Should I be offended?”

”Not if it is useful.”

Aria tapped her fingers on the table. ”That is good. Very good. Havelock may try to use Damon as proof of coercion. But if we know that in advance, we can prepare witnesses, records, and perhaps even make him admit he set up the situation.”

Morgana looked at Damon attentively. ”Could you pretend to lose control without actually losing control?”

Damon fell silent.

The question was simple.

The answer was not.

Weeks earlier, he would have said yes out of pride. Now, after training with Ester and the fight at the manor, he knew that pretending to lose control could be more dangerous than truly fighting. The Celestial Ice Body responded too quickly to intention. If he allowed anger to truly rise, even as acting, perhaps the cold would follow.

”I do not know,” he answered honestly.

The room went quiet for an instant.

Ester relaxed a little, as if that were his first sensible answer of the day.

Damon continued. ”I can look threatening. I can break an object. I can freeze a table or a glass. But pretending that I am losing control requires getting too close to losing it. I still do not trust that.”

Morgana nodded slowly. ”Then we will not do that.”

Elizabeth did not protest. She merely adjusted the plan mentally. ”In that case, we use the reputation without staging the risk. We let others exaggerate the story for us.”

Aria smiled. ”I can help with that. Without directly lying. Just leaving incomplete sentences near the right people.”

Ester looked at her. ”That is lying.”

”No. It is rumor gardening.”

Damon let out a short laugh, but soon stopped when Ester stared at him. ”Examination after the meeting. Understood.”

The conversation continued for nearly an hour. They decided that Caldrick would be kept under discreet surveillance, that House Voss’s declaration would be immediately registered in the ducal notary office, and that the captured knights would be interrogated separately. Aria would be responsible for comparing the false seal with old records. Elizabeth would send a message to Mirath to verify financial movements connected to Havelock. Morgana would prepare a simple public response, avoiding accusing Halbrecht too early.

Damon listened more than he spoke.

That, by itself, was noticed.

When the meeting ended, Morgana gathered the main documents and left with Aria to organize the records. Elizabeth remained for a few minutes, speaking with a servant about security, until she also left the room. Then only Damon and Ester remained.

She closed the door.

Damon looked at her. ”That seems threatening.”

”It is medical.”

”Worse.”

Ester approached and grabbed his wrist without asking permission. Her Qi entered carefully, traveling through the icy veins, examining points of tension. Damon stayed quiet. His body was tired, and the energy had truly become irregular near his right shoulder, where he had formed the sword during the fight.

Ester noticed.

Of course she noticed.

”You forced the structure of the blade through your entire arm,” she said. ”Not only through the palm.”

”It was fast.”

”And wrong.”

”It worked.”

”It worked because your enemies were mediocre.”

Damon sighed. ”That sentence hurts because it is true.”

”If it had been someone good, they would have followed the tension to your shoulder and broken your weapon along with your joint.”

He looked at his own arm. ”Then I need to correct that.”

”Yes.”

”Today?”

Ester tightened her hold on his wrist a little more.

”Today you are going to sleep.”

”That technique seems overrated.”

”Damon.”

He raised his free hand. ”I know. I am going to sleep.”

She released his wrist, but did not move away immediately. There was something on her face that was not only irritation. She was worried, of course, but she also seemed less desperate than before. Perhaps because he had admitted limits during the meeting. Perhaps because, even fighting, he had not fallen apart. Or perhaps because, for the first time in a long time, Ester could scold him for recklessness without fearing it would be the last conversation.

”You did well today,” she said.

Damon blinked.

”Sorry, can you repeat that?”

”No.”

”I need to confirm I heard correctly.”

”You heard.”

”You said I did well?”

Ester turned toward the door. ”And now you are ruining it.”

Damon smiled. ”It still counted.”

She opened the door, but stopped before leaving. ”You protected Morgana without completely losing your head. That is more than I expected.”

”Was that another compliment?”

”Do not abuse it.”

She left before he could answer.

Damon remained alone in the room for a few seconds, looking at the closed door. Then he leaned back in the chair, letting the air out slowly. His body hurt a little, his energy was tired, and the political situation had just become more dangerous. But strangely, he felt more stable than before.

Not because everything was under control.

Nothing was.

But now there was movement. Enemies revealing names. Debts being annulled. Morgana laughing inside carriages after terrible days. Ester praising him by accident. Aria practicing rumor gardening. Elizabeth turning threats into strategy.

And Damon, for the first time since waking up, began to understand that perhaps his strength did not need to solve everything alone.

It only needed to be in the right place.

At the right time.

With enough control not to freeze the entire world in the process.