She slowly sat upright, the sheets sliding off her body and revealing her porcelain-like skin. She was wearing some sort of bodysuit that almost resembled a swimsuit, given how little it covered.

She looked at him with the open expression, the one that had appeared gradually during their time at the third citadel and hadn’t fully left since.

"You’re back," she said.

"I am," he replied, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

He looked at her for a moment. She looked back without explaining herself, which was completely consistent with how she normally acted.

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"A while," she said simply.

He accepted that and moved toward the chair by the window, sitting down with the particular weight of someone whose body had been making requests for the last several hours that he’d been ignoring.

Ning Xiaoyu watched him settle.

"I heard about Victor," she said, throwing her long legs over the edge and rising on her feet.

"Yes."

"Do you have a plan?"

Damon nodded. "I do."

He heard the faint sound of her footsteps approach him from behind as they talked.

"Are you going alone again?" she asked.

"Ivy leads the exchange. I enter from the south."

She was quiet for a moment, turning that over with the same seriousness she applied to everything.

"I want to come," she said.

"No."

She didn’t argue immediately, which told him she’d expected the answer and had prepared for it.

"I’ve been training with Nyla every day since you left," she said. "I’m faster than I was. Stronger." She held his gaze steadily. "You said there would be no room for the weak when you returned."

"And you think you’re strong?" he asked.

She didn’t reply immediately.

Instead, she moved in front of him, sitting on top of him with her arms resting on his shoulders.

"Strong enough," she finally replied.

The room was quiet around them, the citadel settling into the night outside the window.

He looked at her, noting the composure in her posture, the resolve burning behind her eyes. The fact that she had just been waiting in his room as if that was her rightful place.

"The exchange happens at noon," he said finally. "I’ll get there early. But you can’t join me."

Something shifted in her expression, not quite disappointment, but the shape of one settling just beneath the surface.

"Why?" she asked.

"You’ll join Ivy. My task requires me to move fast, but she’ll need strong people with her."

"I’ll be ready at ten," she said.

He looked at her for a moment longer than necessary.

Then, just as he was about to say something, the door behind them snapped open.

"You damn wench! Get your paws off him!" Nyla’s voice cut through the room like a hammer through a wall, which seemed quite appropriate given her personality.

She breathed raggedly, her golden brown skin flushed, hair loose from whatever she’d been doing before she apparently decided this was more urgent.

Her eyes were locked on Ning Xiaoyu with the particular intensity of someone who had been patient for a very long time and had just run out.

Ning Xiaoyu didn’t move from her position. She turned her head toward the door with the composed, unhurried manner she applied to everything, regarded Nyla for a moment, then looked back at Damon.

"She’s always so loud," she observed, speaking as if Nyla couldn’t hear her.

"I can hear you! And get off him already!" Nyla yelled, stepping into the door and slamming it shut behind her.

"How did you know I was here?" Ning Xiaoyu asked as she slowly rose from Damon’s lap, taking more time than necessary, enjoying Nyla’s reactions to how close she was to Damon.

"I came by your room, and you weren’t there. Then I saw Ivy and found out Damon was back, so I knew you were up to no good."

"Up to no good? Damon and I have ’training’ to do," Ning Xiaoyu replied with a teasing smile, which Nyla did not enjoy one bit.

"Yeah? You want training?" she summoned her golden hammer, raising it high before–

"That’s enough," Damon said, rising to his feet.

Both girls went still.

Not because of the words, they both heard him say that before, but because of the tone, which was final and absolute.

Nyla’s hammer lowered slowly.

Ning Xiaoyu’s teasing smile settled back into composure.

"We have a mission tomorrow," he said, looking between them. The tone carried enough weight that even the citadel outside seemed quieter for a second. "Victor’s life depends on how well we execute it."

He suddenly turned to Nyla.

"Nyla, just like Ning Xiaoyu, I want you to join Ivy during the exchange."

Ning Xiaoyu raised a brow while a faint smile settled on Nyla’s face at hearing him say he wanted her to do something. The frustration drained out of her face almost immediately, replaced by something warmer, the particular brightness that appeared on Nyla’s face whenever Damon’s attention focused on her.

"I won’t disappoint!" she exclaimed.

"Good. The exchange happens at noon. Be ready two hours before that."

She nodded.

"You two should get some rest," Damon said in a slightly softer tone, his gaze shifting between the two girls. "You have important roles to play. I need you at your best."

The two girls exchanged a quick glance at one another before turning back to him and nodding almost simultaneously.

"We won’t disappoint," Ning Xiaoyu said before summoning her armour, which covered what the bodysuit left exposed, and turning toward the door.

Nyla’s gaze remained on Damon for a moment longer before turning around too and leaving Damon’s room a second after Ning Xiaoyu.

With the quiet of his room finally restored, Damon stood in the middle of it for a moment. Then he moved toward his bed, settling down on the soft cushions and letting sleep claim him the second he closed his eyes.