Strongest Incubus System

Morgana’s office looked different now that there were no documents scattered across the floor, guards entering every minute, or some threat hidden behind every report. The windows were open, allowing the afternoon air to pass through the curtains, and the main desk could finally be seen in full. There were still stacks of papers, contracts, and seals over the wood, but they had been organized into clear groups, each one marked with small labels prepared by Aria. After a month in which every piece of paper seemed capable of revealing a crime, a false debt, or a missing child, that simple order already felt like a victory.

Damon occupied almost the entire sofa near the bookshelf, lying on his back with one hand over his face. The arm marked by Vorn remained bandaged, although the dark blue lines had already receded to his wrist. Ester was not there, but she had left enough instructions to fill two pages, all of them partially ignored by him. Aria sat on the opposite arm of the sofa, holding a small round fruit and a short knife, while Morgana and Elizabeth reviewed the documents gathered over the last month.

Morgana started from the beginning, perhaps because she still needed to hear aloud that everything had truly happened.

”The former Duchess spent years manipulating my father, forging debts, diverting resources, and making room for Valcair’s agents. When we took over the administration, Arven owed money to creditors who did not even exist, possessed false Council orders, and had half its records altered.”

Elizabeth placed a contract on the stack to the left.

”We discovered that Havelock acted as an intermediary between Arven’s administrators, Darius Kelm, and Seraphine’s representatives. The financial structure had two objectives: weaken the duchy and guarantee access to the mines without raising suspicion.”

Aria cut the fruit’s peel into a long strip, listening as she worked. Morgana continued.

”Then came the old registry office. Havelock tried to destroy the records and ended up captured. That was when we found Seraphine Valcair’s name, the references to the Subterranean Heart, and the documents about compatible hosts.”

Damon moved the hand covering his face, but said nothing. Elizabeth separated another group of papers.

”The former Duchess’s records showed that she did not understand the complete plan. She believed she could control the Heart and restore Arven’s strength by using a conductor. In practice, Seraphine was using the duchy as a testing ground to find someone capable of reacting to the roots of living cold.”

”Someone like Damon,” Aria said, removing a seed with the tip of the knife.

”Unfortunately,” he replied without uncovering his face.

Morgana looked toward the sofa for an instant before continuing.

”Meanwhile, the agents were searching for children descended from the old mining families. Lia, Elin, and Toma possessed marks capable of responding to blood and silver bells. They needed the children to open the first stages of communication with the Heart.”

Elizabeth added that the kidnappings were not isolated cases. There were lists, routes, false physicians, family records, and payments made over the course of years. Vara Leth transported children and messages. Maeve Korrin conducted the rituals. Caelis Vorn created marks, erased identities, and prepared people to function as tools. Seraphine kept every agent separated enough that no one knew the complete plan.

Morgana moved on to the events in the mine. They had rescued Elin near the ventilation shaft and found Toma inside the ritual. Maeve had been captured. Damon’s approach had made the Heart accelerate, revealing that the cold inside him possessed a real connection to whatever existed beneath Arven. Nera later confirmed that the Heart was not a mineral, artifact, or ordinary creature, but an ancient root connected to the structure of the earth itself.

”Then Seraphine came personally,” Elizabeth said. ”She brought Lord Joren Mael, the scribe Halder Mays, Caelis Vorn, Iris, and a dismantled bell. She pretended to be interested in regional stability while evaluating Damon, the children, and the Heart’s reaction.”

Morgana placed Mael’s confession letter on the desk.

”She also expected to use the Council to remove me legally, assume administrative control of Arven, and descend into the mines with official authority.”

Aria finished dividing the fruit into small, equal pieces.

”But it was a very bad visit for her.”

Elizabeth almost smiled.

”She lost the bell, left Iris behind, exposed Mael, and provided confirmation that she feared Nera.”

”After that, everything became more irritating,” Damon murmured.

Morgana agreed with a tired nod.

”We discovered the Tomb of the First Snow, Xue Lian’s history, and the reason Seraphine wanted Damon. The Heavenly Ice Body, the elemental root, and the sealed memories formed the three parts of an inheritance capable of revealing the fortress and the original core that could control or transplant roots.”

Elizabeth looked toward Damon.

”Seraphine believed you would serve as successor, vessel, and path.”

”She believed too many things.”

”Even so, she was partially correct,” Elizabeth replied. ”The map reacted to you. The doors recognized your choices. Vorn’s mark found the memory. The guardian appeared.”

Damon finally removed his hand from his face and stared at the ceiling.

”That does not mean I accepted the job.”

”No one said you did,” Morgana replied. ”In fact, the map seems to have reacted precisely because you refused.”

Aria raised one piece of fruit on the tip of the knife, checking whether any seed remained. Elizabeth resumed the summary. Seraphine’s network had begun to collapse when Damon turned Iris into a source of information, used the broken coin to follow Orven, and captured Mael and Sella inside the channels beneath the city. After that, they found the eastern passage erased from the maps, the mechanism built by Vorn, and Edran Sorn being used as a conductor to force the Heart to awaken.

Morgana breathed before mentioning the final confrontation.

”Damon dismantled the rhythm of the mechanism, saved Edran, and captured Vorn. Then we used Mael’s seals, Iris’s codes, and Halder’s documents to send a false message. Seraphine believed the third door would open inside the mine and came personally.”

Elizabeth placed the final piece in the center of the desk.

”She brought an artificial root constructed from silver, bone, and fragments of bells. She tried to use Damon to reach the original core, but he returned the energy to the environment, destroyed the circle, and opened the third door without surrendering the root.”

Morgana concluded.

”Seraphine, Caeris, Vorn, Mael, Halder, Sella, Orven, Havelock, Vara, and Maeve are imprisoned or under custody. The Council received the evidence. The false debts were annulled. The legitimate creditors accepted new terms. The children are protected. The Heart returned to its natural rhythm. My father is recovering, the compromised administrators were removed, and the mines remain closed until we can inspect them safely.”

The silence that followed was not heavy. It was simply the result of hearing an entire month compressed into a few minutes. Damon passed a hand through his white hair, looking from Morgana to Elizabeth as though he still expected someone to add another conspiracy hidden inside a wardrobe.

”That felt like it lasted forever,” he said. ”I am fucking exhausted.”

Aria, who had finished cutting the fruit, leaned forward and placed one of the pieces directly into his mouth before he could ask what she was doing. Damon chewed by reflex, frowned, and then raised his head slightly.

”Hm, what is this? It is good.”

”Honey starfruit,” Aria replied. ”It grows in the valleys south of Arven. It has a terrible peel, annoying seeds, and tastes much better when someone else cuts it.”

Damon opened his mouth again.

Aria placed another piece inside without comment.

Elizabeth watched the two of them for several seconds.

”You two are very relaxed.”

Damon chewed before answering.

”I already did too much. Relaxing is the least I deserve.”

”You remained lying down while we reviewed an entire month of conspiracies.”

”I participated in the month. That should exempt me from the summary.”

Aria agreed while cutting a smaller piece.

”The logic is sound.”

”You are feeding his laziness,” Morgana said.

”I am literally feeding him. The laziness already existed.”

Damon extended a hand to take the fruit himself, but Aria moved the plate away.

”Now you need to wait.”

”Why?”

”Because I cut it.”

”That does not answer the question.”

”It answers enough.”

Elizabeth returned to the documents before the conversation became a dispute over the fruit.

”Now that Arven’s problems are over, it is time to return to Mirath.”

Damon became still for an instant. The word felt strange after so many weeks hearing only Arven, mines, Heart, Valcair, and Xue Lian. Mirath had existed the entire time, with its own responsibilities, people, and problems, but it had seemed too distant while every day brought a new threat.

”I almost forgot about that place,” he said.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

”I hope you do not say that in front of the people who spent six months waiting for you to wake.”

”I can say I was busy.”

”You spent half the time unconscious.”

”That was the peaceful part.”

Morgana sat behind the desk, now without the same tension she had carried when assuming control of the duchy.

”When do you intend to leave?”

”After the Council collects Seraphine and the other prisoners,” Elizabeth replied. ”I will not leave anyone important under local custody without formal guarantees. We also need to confirm that the children reached their destinations, arrange Iris’s protection, and decide what will happen to Nera.”

Damon looked toward Morgana.

”Will you be all right?”

The question came out simply, but it interrupted the movement of her hands over the papers. Morgana had spent the last month being treated as a duchess, commander, and target. Few people had directly asked whether she could continue after everyone left.

”I will,” she replied. ”I still have problems, but now they are normal problems. Overdue taxes, closed mines, families waiting for compensation, and administrators who do not know how to work without stealing.”

”That does not sound normal.”

”For a duchy, it is almost peaceful.”

Aria offered Damon another piece. He accepted it without taking his eyes from Morgana.

”If anyone tries to repeat what Seraphine did, send a letter.”

Morgana smiled faintly.

”A letter to Mirath?”

”No. To me.”

Elizabeth crossed her arms.

”You live in Mirath.”

”Details.”

”You also cannot cross half the continent every time Morgana encounters an administrative problem.”

”If it is administrative, she calls Aria.”

Aria pointed the knife at him.

”Do not involve me.”

Morgana observed the group and released a breath that seemed to have been trapped for weeks. For the first time, the office was not a battlefield. Damon was sprawled across the sofa, Aria distributed fruit as though she had authority over his diet, Elizabeth organized the departure, and the papers in front of her represented problems that had ended rather than threats beginning.

Damon closed his eyes again. Mirath meant reuniting with the people left behind, answering questions about his white hair, explaining why he carried a mark on his arm, and probably hearing Ester repeat that he needed to rest for weeks. It also meant leaving Arven, where he had nearly died, changed bodies, and discovered a route to an impossible fortress.

The Tomb of the First Snow continued waiting.

But it did not need to be reached immediately.

”When we return to Mirath,” Damon said, his eyes still closed, ”I want a bed that is nowhere near a mine, prison, ritual, or underground passage.”

Elizabeth answered without raising her eyes from the documents.

”I can arrange that.”

”And food.”

”That too.”

”No meetings for at least three days.”

”That I cannot promise.”

Damon released a deep sigh.

”I knew Mirath had problems.”

Aria placed the final piece of fruit into his mouth.

”At least they may have more honey starfruit there.”

Damon chewed slowly and decided that, so far, that was the best reason to return.

For now, any simple reason already felt sufficient to him.