“My name is Cassandra Mercer.”

  “Ah, now I see.”

  Cassandra watched the man turn towards the desert landscape, a small smirk playing across his face, his outline sharp compared to the impressionistic painting.

  She’d never seen a style of suit like that, devoid of almost all color. It matched his hair.

  “See what?”

  “Everything.”

  “Oh really?” Cassandra said as she watched his dark brown eyes flick up to meet hers. He was shorter than she was, but confident in his stance. She could tell he was sizing her up, just as she was him. But she’d done her research prior, not that it had yielded much.

  “If ‘Thad’ sent you, then this would be an alley, and you would be much less pretty.”

  “Oh, you think I’m pretty?” Her playful question, a knife meant to disarm the man.

  “Gorgeous, though you already knew that, Ms. Mercer, you don’t need my validation.” Jason parried with a smile.

  “Do you always openly flirt with your rival's family?”

  “I’m not sure I would categorize your brother as a rival? As we’re not competing for anything. Not that it would be a challenge to win, no offense. Though I’ve heard your capabilities far outclass your brother's. Was that a purposeful choice? To only invest in one child?”

  “You would be smart to keep your opinions of my family to yourself.”

  “Are you going to slap me? We already know my feelings on that.” Jason said with a sly smile.

  “Is this a game to you?”

  “Yes, do you no longer wish to play? I can leave you with the paintings, Ms. Mercer, if that’s truly what you wish. Though…” Jason turned to face her, a single finger tapping on his lip in contemplation. “I want to see where this goes. Why did you come and find me, Cassandra?”

  “I heard my brother tried to fight you. I wanted to see for myself what the fuss was about.”

  “If you call your brother pretending to make amends with me while his lackeys attempted to ambush me a fight, then your information channels are lacking. They didn’t even end up fighting me, and I was the one with the knife.”

  “You pulled a knife on my brother?!”

  “I didn’t stab him if that’s what you're concerned about. However, I wonder why this appears to be new information for you. Do you know your brother’s healer attacked him instead of me?”

  “That I was aware of. Though there seems to be a lot I don’t know about my brother at the moment.” Cassandra said, looking away for a second at the desert painting.

  Thad and the boys had gone on their first contract today, and so far, hadn’t returned. She wondered what trouble he’d gotten himself into now. It was only supposed to be a day trip.

  “So, to clarify,” Cassandra said, turning back to face Jason. “You not only pulled a knife on one of the Mercer Family’s Heirs but also said unkind things about my mother.”

  Jason gave this bashfully soft little smile that stood in stark contrast to the hard lines of his suit and his reputation as an affliction specialist. It was perplexingly charming, and Cassandra didn’t appreciate that.

  “For your mother, please convey my unreserved apologies. I didn’t know who your brother was at the time, and he actually asked me if I knew who his father was. You don’t walk away from a line like that.”

  “A man of dignity would.”

  “Based on our conversation so far, what makes you think I care for dignity? I’m always willing to beg for what I want.”

  “Do you think you can disarm me so easily, Jason?”

  “Cassandra, you have power, influence, connections, wealth, knowledge, and looks that could kill a lesser man. What possible advantage could I have over you?”

  Thalia watched as Cassandra took a seat beside her in their family’s private booth.

  “Well?”

  “He’s dangerous, did you know he pulled a knife on Thad?” Cassandra said, crossing her arms, her brow furrowed.

  “A bold move for an iron ranker. Why didn’t Thadwick tell us?”

  “I don’t know, though I have been unable to predict him over the last few weeks.”

  “That’s somewhat surprising.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Well, you both had been working together so well, I just assumed you were talking more. I mean, I’m not even sure where this nickname business came from.”

  “He started it, the day after the accident.”

  “That does seem to be the catalyst for a lot of changes in his life. What do you think of them?” Thalia asked, looking towards the orchestra as it warmed up.

  “It’s like he’s a different person, but not. It makes me wonder what he could’ve been if we’d brought him with us when we left the city.”

  “Your father wouldn’t have had that.”

  “Well, father hasn’t seemed keen on having anything to do with Thad for years.”

  “He’s interested now.”

  “Of course he is,” Cassandra said with a frown. “The last time Father took a personal interest, Thad had to take the adventurer's assessment twice in a row. Which only made the family look bad in the eyes of the Remore boy, with whom he was trying to network. It would’ve been faster for me to have drinks with the man.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Our intel let us know the Remore boy wouldn’t have been very receptive to your feminine charms.”

  “And you thought Thad’s charm would be sufficient?”

  “Of course not, but your father had poor visibility of your brother's abilities and Remore’s principles. And I wasn’t informed of his decision until Thadwick had already lost his adventure society membership.”

  “Speaking of Remore, his connection with Asano may end up causing issues if he and Thad continue to antagonize each other. I’ve heard Remore is personally training Asano.”

  “Now, why would he do that?” Thalia mused.

  “The Vane problem.”

  “Ah, I always despised Cressida. I’m glad the church of purity finally cleansed that household from the board.”

  “That’s the thing, mother, while the Church of Purity claims the credit for the removal of the Vane family, it was Asano’s arrival that clinched it.”

  “The Church of Purity working with a man like Asano?”

  “No, in fact, the Priestess of Purity, that Laselle girl, left Remore’s party after he joined, but not before finishing the contract.”

  “The Laselle family, I wasn’t tracking one of them joining the church. Do we know them?”

  “Yes, Anisa, zealous girl. Dangerously committed.”

  “Oh, Anisa Laselle, I’d wondered what happened to her. She joined the Church of Purity, an interesting choice considering her… history.”

  “It was an amicable separation from all accounts, sent her on her way with essences and all. You know, I always felt for the girl. She never fit into the noble circles, nor would her family make space for her in them. I guess once a bastard, always a bastard in their eyes.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “You would ask that, wouldn’t you, Thad?” Dustin said as they walked away from the adventure society.

  “So much for being good at navigation,” Neil added, which made Thad rub his hands over his face in exasperation.

  “I can’t know where to navigate unless I know where we’re going. And neither of you answered my question. Also, why go shower and change clothes first just to come back here to turn in the contract?”

  “You smelled like a swamp,” Dustin said with a shrug.

  “I fell in a swamp, and is it just pick on Thad hour right now?” Thad said, throwing his hands in the air.

  “Well, we have to make up for lost time, you were passed out most of yesterday and this morning. We tried picking at each other again, but your reactions are just more… entertaining.” Neil said, throwing a smirk at Thad as he stopped in front of a bar called the Adventure’s End.

  “What does that even— Oh, that’s a fitting name. Wait, I thought you guys didn’t like going to bars.” Thad said, looking up at the sign.

  “We don’t like going to bars to get blackout drunk and sleep with the first person who shows us barely any attention,” Dustin said, giving a side eye to Thad.

  “Point taken, and I like to state for the record that I’ve been on my best behavior, guys.”

  “And we appreciate that, Thad, but we’re not here because we want to be; we’re here to prove a point,” Neil said, putting his hands on his hips.

  “Well, I wouldn’t mind having a little fun,” Dustin added.

  Phoebe Geller sat at the bar as her temporary teammates chatted beside her. She’d been recruited for her two stars, which the contract required. And, the team was friendly, and the contract had gone smoothly, so she’d accepted joining them for drinks afterward.

  She also knew her brother’s team would be meeting up as well shortly after they’d finished going over their loss to Humphrey’s friend, Asano.

  “Remember us?!”

  Phoebe turned to see three men approaching the bar.

  The Mercer team? Odd for them to be in the Adventure’s End.

  The leonid bartender didn’t seem that impressed.

  “Finally did a contract, huhh?”

  “Yep, as you can see—” The healer started, only to be cut off by the leonid.

  “Good for you, so did everyone else here tonight.”

  “I thought this would be more cathartic,” the Defender said, turning slightly away from the bar and catching eyes with Phoebe. He gave this shy smile that didn’t fit the imposing figure he had. It was surprisingly cute.

  “Are you going to order something or what?”

  “Of course we are.” The Mercer scion said, realizing that his team appeared to be floundering. He then paused and seemed lost himself.

  “Umm… What’s there to order?” he said, looking over to the Healer, who gave him this exhausted expression, like he had been dealing with these sorts of questions all day.

  “Just give us three of whatever she’s having, wait, no, make that four.” The Defender said, gesturing to Phoebe with a smile. The leonid rolled her eyes, but went off to make their drinks as Dustin moved a bit closer, leaning back on the bar.

  “I’m Dustin, by the way.”

  “Phoebe Geller, I don’t think I’ve seen your team here before.”

  “Well, you’re going to be seeing a lot more of us, now. Or, at least I hope you do. See more of us, that is. I mean. Only if you want to, of course.”

  What had started smoothly started to devolve as Phoebe watched the man before her start to get flustered, only leading to more talking. She let him continue, enjoying the show.

  “I mean, you could see us in other places, and that would be fine too. People can see each other anywhere, really. Right? Like if we were outside and I saw you, I would be like— oh, there's that Phoebe Geller. Yep, just—”

  “Dusty, do you want to go see your drink over here, maybe?” Thadwick Mercer said as the Healer shook his head in the background, holding two drinks.

  “Oh, yeah, yep, that’s where I shall be, it was lovely seeing, I mean meeting you, Phoebe,” Dustin said, only then noticing the two drinks beside him, which he then hastily picked up and turned back to Phoebe, placing both drinks beside her as he followed his group over to their table.

  “Thanks, it was nice seeing you, too, Dusty,” Phoebe said with a perplexed laugh, now looking at the three drinks in front of her.

  “You know one of those was yours,” Neil said as Dustin reached the table.

  “Nah, he gave her mine,” Thad said, handing over his drink to Dustin, who looked mortified and proceeded to take a long drink.

  “Why did I just keep talking?” Dustin asked himself as he placed his head down on the table.

  “You started so strong,” Thad said encouragingly.

  “Kind of lost the plot in the middle there though,” Neil added, which just made Dustin groan into the table as Thad reached over and lightly patted him on the back.

  “What, planning on getting wrecked tonight, Geller?”

  Phoebe turned to see Leco, the temp team’s leader, judging the three drinks now sitting in front of her.

  “No, actually about to bring the extra drink over to this guy.”

  “Oh, which guy?” Leco said, scanning the bar’s crowd.

  Phoebe nodded her head over to Dustin, who was still lying head down on the table, Thadwick of all people appearing to comfort him.

  She didn’t know the guy, but she’d heard how Humphrey’s society assessment had gone, and it hadn’t painted a flattering picture of the Mercer scion.

  This image of him trying to be a good friend was, to say the least, odd.

  “Oh, you're taking the drink to Mercer?”

  “No, his frontliner. You should have seen him defend his chances at a normal conversation. Quite entertaining.”

  “I’d give Thadwick Mercer a drink.” Another member of the temp team said, which earned her admonishment from the crew.

  “What!? he’s hot and rich. And look, he doesn’t even look that much like a tool right now.” The girl said, taking one of the drinks in front of Phoebe and walking over.

  “Jeena!” the team leader snapped, marching after her teammate, who had already made it to the table and leaned onto Thad with a sultry grin.

  “Brought you something.”

  Thad looked over at the woman with surprise, leaning slightly away from her as she placed a drink right in front of him.

  “Oh, um, hi, appreciate the thought, but no thanks.” He said with a strained smile, which the girl didn’t even notice.

  Dustin lifted his head, seeing Thad getting hit on without even trying, and gave Neil a look of, here we go again, only to notice Neil staring at the woman and Thad with a complex expression that Dustin couldn’t interpret.

  “What, I thought you were some kind of lush.”

  “I’m trying new things.”

  “Oh, and new people, I hope.” The woman said with a devilish grin.

  “Ok, Jeena, we’re taking you home, before you make a bad decision. I’m so sorry,” Leco said as she tried to whisk away the young woman.

  “Oh, I would be the best bad decision you ever made!” Jeena said with a wink.

  “Not interested in making any more of those, flattered though,” Thad said as he saw the rest of Jeena’s team appear beside her, along with Phoebe Geller, holding two drinks in her hand.

  The team’s disappointment was palpable.

  “It was nice working with you, Phoebe, but we’re going to head out.” The woman said, nodding her head apologetically at Phoebe, who looked faintly amused by the whole turn of events.

  She watched the group leave before turning back to Dustin and placing the drinks down on the table.

  “I guess I’m drinking with you guys tonight. Interesting seeing you again, Dusty.”

  Dustin immediately blushed despite his dark skin, a dopey smile on his face.

  Man, he loved this bar.

  Jason and Cassandra meeting for the first time.

  Phoebe