CHAPTER 54: JOLG’YLMAATH BOR’GOKUZ

"So..." Lyra mused, legs crossed in front of the row of grapevine trellises leading to the Royal Battlefield. "Do we still call her ’Demon Lord’ then? Or should we call her ’Demon Lady’? Or... what did that guy tell you in Fairy World? Johannesburg or something?"

"’Jolg’ylmaath’. Isabella called her ’Jolyne’."

We’d been debating that topic, amongst other things, for the past few days now. Isobel had fallen into her Advisor role almost immediately, though what that meant for us was that she’d become the overbearing nanny of the House–forcing Lyra and me to clean every square inch of the place in lieu of any maids or butlers because it was a "prime opportunity to learn this House more intimately". To her credit, she was right. After three days of cleaning, sweeping, mopping, landscaping, and dusting, I knew this place like the back of my hand now. I still had to keep my promise to Lord Marquis to learn the place, though, but I’d say being its groundskeeper was a decent step in that direction.

Lyra and I were taking a break by the archway leading to the Royal Battlegrounds, now. Decently shaded and just out of the view of Isobel’s room. That meant we wouldn’t be getting chewed out for at least ten minutes!

"Right," Lyra said. She thumbed at the strap of denim suspenders. I wasn’t sure why she felt the need to dress like a farmer–or how she’d managed to rope me in to doing the same–, but here we were. "I’ll say Jolyne. It’s way easier to remember. Jolyne Greaves."

"No, it’s Bor’gokuz. I still have to ask Isobel how that all played out."

"You haven’t spoken to her?"

"She’s been so busy lately that I haven’t had a chance. She’s taking her role very seriously."

Lyra laid back on the grass, staring up at the sky. "That’s good. She was a good pickup." She snorted. "Look at us, preparing to kill the Demon Lord with the help of her... what is she? Half-sister?"

"I think so, and I told you, Lyra, we aren’t killing her. We have to spare her. That’s what Isabella told me to do." I took a deep breath, also lying back to face the sky. "And I don’t think the House is taking any compromises. Isabella said in no uncertain terms that if I disappoint her, she’s gonna haunt me forever."

"You scared of a ghost?" Lyra asked, eyes taunting.

"One that works with the goddamn Fairies?! Yes!" I answered immediately.

Lyra laughed at my indignation, but not for long. When the final embers of laughter faded, she spoke again, voice somewhat heavy. "What does this mean for us, Lloyd? We’re here. We’ve completed the first step of the plan, but... now what? I know we still have to do House stuff, but I mean, what after that? What do we do after we have an army and a Quintessential Quartet or whatever?"

"Isabella made a point of saying that Jolyne’s men were free game, as were her closest allies. She seemed a bit eager for us to do that, actually," I mused, remembering that moment.

She’d casually revealed that the only reason she would’ve allowed Isobel to become the ’Demon Queen’ in those other timelines was because she was destined to be Jolyne’s only real friend. What did that mean for this timeline, though? Even if Demon Queen Isobel was her friend, she wasn’t a good person by any stretch. Two toxic people as friends don’t suddenly make one another better. Now, though, that friendship simply wouldn’t be. Without anyone by her side, would that make Jolyne worse

? More aggressive? Or would it make her easier to beat? With no real friends beside her, did that mean that our confrontation could take a different turn? Was it possible to defeat her without having to fight her at all?

I vocalized these thoughts to Lyra, who’d been casually nodding through my spiel while playing with her suspender straps. When I’d finally finished, she leaned up from her seat and shot me a confident smile. Part of me truly looked forward to what she had to say, because I’d been thinking about all of this by myself for the past few–

"Gonna be honest, Lloyd, I have no fucking idea how to answer any of what you just said."

The other part of me knew that Lyra’s intelligence picked and chose when to show up at the table. I sighed in defeat, prompting Lyra to raise her hands in defense.

"T-that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about it! I just don’t have the right answers! I mean, I spent the past 690 years thinking Isobel was an unsavable Demon just to have my preconceived notions thrown into the garbage. It’s easy for me to say that we should disregard Isabella Greaves’ suggestion and do what we always do, but who knows what the future has in store for us now? As far as I’m concerned, everything is on the table." She smiled, playfully jabbing a finger into my cheek. "Cheer up, Lloyd. Don’t stress yourself over this. We’re all in this together."

That was... fair. Perhaps the fact that I alone had just one more time to get all of this right was starting to hit me. Even so, this run up to this point had already been so out there and unpredictable that trying to now plan for the future seemed almost useless.

"You’re right," I finally said, turning to Lyra whose finger still pierced the fleshy part of my cheek. I tried to remove her finger, but she dug in deeper.

"You’re right, I’m right. Look at us. Just over a week ago, we were stressing about how to beat the Demon Lord, and now we have both a method and a litany of information we didn’t have! This is the best start we’ve ever had! Hell, we even dismantled the House of the Unblinking Eye before it could even form!"

"Ehhh, not quite," A voice called from ahead of us. It was Isobel, wearing a white long-sleeve dress with a black corset that hugged her figure well. Her hair was tied in a bun, and she even wore glasses–something she’d taken to doing over the past few days.

"Not quite...? What’s that supposed to mean?" Lyra asked.