By the time I made it to the Guild, I'd managed to put my hair out.
Well, mostly. The tips still glowed faintly, but I was hoping no one would notice.
Spoiler: everyone noticed.
"Nice look, Kael," muttered Joren, the other poor soul stuck on Cleaning Duty.
He jabbed a thumb toward my head.
"Trying out the 'human torch' aesthetic?"
"It's… complicated," I muttered, pushing past him toward the rows of enchanted chamber pots. Each one shimmered faintly, humming with residual magic. My job was to empty and scrub them without losing my sanity.
"You work here?" Lyra's voice was dripping with disbelief. "This is your grand mortal quest?"
"It's called paying rent," I whispered under my breath.
"You could be conquering kingdoms, and instead you're elbow-deep in… oh. Oh, that's disgusting."
The first pot made a rude gurgling noise as I tipped it out. A puff of green smoke shot up, and Lyra gagged in my head.
"Nope. I'm out. Summon me when we're doing something less horrifying."
"Not how this works!" I hissed, trying to swat away the smoke.
Unfortunately, magic in these pots sometimes… reacts. Today, it decided to react in the form of a tiny explosion that knocked me backward into the next row.
When the smoke cleared, half the room was staring at me. Also, my boots were on fire.
"Kael," Lyra said, far too cheerfully, "I think I'm falling in love with your disasters."
"Not helping!" I shouted out loud, earning several confused looks from coworkers.
That was when she walked in. Not Lyra — she was still invisible to everyone else — but Tessa, the Guild receptionist. Bright smile, perfect braid, sunshine personality. Basically everything I wasn't.
"Kael," she said sweetly, "are you on fire?"
"Careful," Lyra purred. "She's looking at you like you're a stray dog she wants to adopt."
I tried to answer, but my tongue decided to tie itself in a knot.
"I—uh—it's just—"
"Tell her it's my fault," Lyra whispered wickedly. "I dare you."
Tessa tilted her head, clearly expecting an actual answer and not just me stammering like an idiot.
"Do you need the healer? Or a bucket?"
"I'm fine," I lied.
"You are not fine," Lyra said smugly. "You are on fire. And also, your heartbeat just doubled. Is that because of her?"
I ignored her and reached for the next pot, praying nothing else would blow up.
Naturally, it blew up. This time it wasn't smoke — it was light. A flash so bright it lit up the entire room, throwing sparks into the air. When my eyes cleared, I realized two things:One the fire in my hair was back and two Lyra wasn't in my head anymore. She was standing. Right. There.
Well, "standing" might not be the right word. She hovered a foot above the ground, her long crimson hair flowing like a living flame, her golden eyes glowing like molten metal. And that dress — or maybe "wrapping of enchanted silk barely qualifying as clothing", swirled around her like smoke.
Everyone froze. Even the enchanted chamber pots stopped humming.
Tessa blinked. "…Kael?"
"Hi," Lyra said aloud for the first time, voice dripping with velvet smugness. "I'm his."
My brain is completely short-circuited.
"You're what?" I yelped.
"Your power," she clarified sweetly. "And—" she shot me a sly look "—your girlfriend."
Tessa's expression did something complicated. Surprise, disbelief, and maybe a little "I'm suddenly rethinking every conversation we've ever had."
Joren leaned against the wall, grinning like he'd just found a new favorite tavern story. "Kael's got a girlfriend who lives in his head. Makes sense."
I groaned. My life was over. The Guildmaster showed up exactly thirty seconds later.
That's thirty seconds too soon for me to even think of an escape plan.
Master Haldren was built like a mountain with a beard — broad, grizzled, and carrying a walking stick that doubled as a lightning rod when he got annoyed. Which was… often.
"What," he said slowly, looking between me, the hovering flame goddess, and the smoking chamber pots, "in the seven hells is going on?"
"Oh, you must be the leader," Lyra said, floating closer to him with an amused little tilt of her head. "Your aura is… crusty. Very crusty. Are you always this cranky or is it just the beard?"
The man's eye twitched.
"Kael. Who is this?"
I opened my mouth. Closed it again. My tongue was useless.
"She's—uh—"
"I'm his girlfriend," Lyra announced again, smiling wickedly. "Also his weapon. Also the reason his hair's on fire. Which, by the way, is adorable."
Someone in the back snorted.
Haldren's gaze darkened. "Weapon?"
"Technically," she said, twirling in midair like it was a dance, "I'm his latent magic given form. All that power bottled up in him had to go somewhere. Lucky for me, I got a personality and legs."
"Legs?" Joren muttered. "Buddy, you didn't just get legs, you got—"
I threw a chamber pot at him. The Guildmaster sighed like a man realizing his week just got longer.
"We'll discuss this in my office," he said, pointing at me. "Now."
I groaned. "Can I… maybe finish my shift first?"
"No."
Lyra clapped her hands together, delighted.
"Oh, a private meeting? Wonderful. I can tell you all about the dream I had where Kael—"
"Lyra," I warned.
She smirked.
"Fine. I'll save the juicy details for later. But I'm not leaving your side. Ever."
Haldren's office was the most intimidating room in the Guild. Weapons on every wall, a map of the kingdom full of angry red marks, and a desk so large it could crush a small cow.
I sat in the chair opposite him, trying to look like a responsible adult. Lyra, of course, floated behind me like an overly smug halo.
"Explain," Haldren said, folding his arms.
I opened my mouth—
"He doesn't know," Lyra interrupted. "Because until about half an hour ago, I was just a lovely voice whispering in his mind whenever he was lonely, angry, or about to die. Today, his magic finally overflowed and poof—" she gestured at herself, "—I got an upgrade."
Haldren's eyes narrowed. "Overflowed? Why?"
"Because," she said in a sing-song voice, "his power is growing faster than his control. Like… an unstable star. Eventually, something *big* is going to come looking for him. Something that can feel that power."
My stomach dropped. "You could have opened with that!"
"I was busy introducing myself as your girlfriend. Priorities, Kael."
Haldren leaned forward, his voice dropping into that deep rumble that meant danger.
"If what you're saying is true, then this Guild and possibly the city is in danger."
"Not if you train him properly," Lyra said with a shrug. "Oh, and keep him alive. The alive part is important."
I muttered, "Gee, thanks for clarifying."
"You're welcome, hot stuff."
Haldren's gaze flicked between us like he was weighing whether to order my execution or start drawing up a training schedule.
Finally, he said, "From now on, you and… your magic—" he clearly struggled to say that with a straight face, "—will be under direct supervision. You'll be assigned to the A-team."
My jaw dropped. "The A-team? I clean chamber pots!"
Lyra grinned. "Not anymore, you don't."
Haldren stood, the weight of his final decision
.
"You'll join them tomorrow morning. First mission at dawn."
I gawked. "First mission? I don't even have a weapon—"
"You have me," Lyra purred, floating closer until her lips nearly brushed my ear. "And I'm far more dangerous than anything in that dusty armory."
"That's not comforting," I hissed.
"It should be," she whispered, and the room suddenly felt warmer.
Haldren slammed a folder onto the desk. Inside were sketches of monstrous, shadow-like beasts, claws like daggers, eyes burning like coals.
"These appeared near the Western Rift last night. Reports say they drain magic from their victims—sometimes the life along with it."
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
"Yeah, uh, sounds like something I should *not* be anywhere near."
"Which is exactly why we are going," Lyra said, smiling like she'd just been handed free dessert. "They'll smell your magic from miles away. And if I'm right…"
She leaned back, eyes glowing faintly.
"…they're already looking for you."