Chapter fifty-eightThe crowd hly five hundred people was more than Harmony expected. Had they gathered all the city’s members? Still, it is much smaller than many of Ambrosia’s certs. A stage with a podium was waiting built to the dimensions she’d requested. Plenty of room for her and Hyath. Bodyguards would be posted around it.

  Madam Peatree took the podium first. “Today we have a special guest at the Grave Society. A Neancer who has joihe aristocracy. One who will open the Asdant Games in Hazeldown. She climbs Nae’s Garden alone in her bid to bee greater. Please give her a warm wele, Lady Harmony White!”

  The appuse that followed Harmony and her familiar as they repced Peartree oage leasant. Now the eyes told a different story. Some were filled with awe, others jealousy, amusement, disi, curiosity, and other emotions. [Awareness] helped make it easier tnize people’s array of subtle emotions. The g died down as she reached the podium.

  “Power.” Harmony gzed the word with authority with a hint of death from her css. That was why they were here to see her and it was the root of those emotions when they looked upon her. Whether she gai through luck or skill. With that word, the crowd's attention sharpened.

  “I have it. You want it. That wasn’t always the case. This is my path. Daughter of a beggar, hard starts lead to having neancer as your first choice.” No specific act among many o be listed. How close to death did all of them o get for that choice? Have they also felt hot blood turn cold? Tasted decay to survive? Accepted they might not survive to that first choice of css and profession? “In Hazeldown whose streets act like veins to feed Old Bones, I weighed my options as you all must have. Neancer. Maid. Service to the living and the dead iwined into my being. There I made a decision to never be alone.”

  “Pether.” Hyath’s deep croak shook the crowd. He'd enha with the authority he carried for her, his fvor of deep shadows causing the afternoon light to darken briefly in his presence. And with that, Harmony could feel his pride for her. There was no doubt that she wouldn’t have survived without him.

  “You have that with your unity here, beside you are those who could help you achieve it.“ Or hamper it. That she didn’t say even as she saw that happen here. That art of their choices. Who are your friends, and what promises would you make?

  “To groower I bined my maid and neantic skills.” [Dust] and [Manipute Dead] swirled together pulling the day's work from the crowd and creating a gray cloud that settled into a pile off to the side, leaving them all noticeably er. A statement rebellious to the teags of Thibodeaux she saw in the here. “That work became the advantage I leaned on to earn a prestigious p the staff of the generous Lady Coodly. And to bee indispensable I leaned into that bination of css and profession. Hours in the dungeon, makih beautiful. Rest and ging hair, shaping skin, polishing nails.”

  Running her hands back through her hair, Harmony transformed hers into long golden curls simir to Ambrosias', brightening her lips to a blood red, spshing color to her cheeks. Then with a shake of her head, those gold curls turned into a bright blue to match her dress. “Even now, Honorable Lady Coodly seeks someone who hoheir skills to do the same, having tacted The Grave Society in the hope of finding another who do the same. A path open to you all if you don’t want to be limited to only how important you’ve made yourselves assisting climbers of the Garden.“

  Some of the crowd reacted to this. Peartree’s face held a slight frown, but for every unfortable hint several more held looks of i, ption, or excitement. A path other than decay.

  “I ’t say that drew the eyes of Haz’el Ri to me. The Prince came after. As did Duke Darren’s sacrifice. Songs of my rise, as a muse to someone equally amazing.” It was hard to not turn a gaze towards Ambrosia as she watched from the side of the crowd. “What elevated me to a Lady? F luck through skill or fate aligning with who I am? A gift with a cost as many e with.

  Now it has brought me here to you, a society dedicated to neancers, while I climb Nae’s Garden my way. Where your support will help me as my experience may help you.” Now it eartree’s turn to smile. This is what she wahe ability to say The Grave Society at least helped. Politid propaganda were the to pay for the cost of this exge. That quote, if any, will find its way to newsheets.

  “For I believe ih’s power. ” [Shadowed Graves] burst forth, shaped by [Style and Grace] touched by [Beauti] reag for the thrill that es when fag and embrag the end. The awe of finality. No random effect this time, the crowd would feel it and as the sky and ground turned dark, eyes widened and breaths were held. A few quivered and dropped to their k the mix of fear, desire, and appeasement. A brief moment they’ll recover from even as it lingered.

  “See what I’ve aplished. What we aplish.”

  Hyath slipped into the shadows. His part to py was not done. A moment to leave and a moment to return. Rising out of the shadows, Harmony could feel the strain as he returned astride the severed head of the bastard of the fourth floor, the giant snake’s head drawing gasps from the crowd. A few stepped back, everee stumbling a foot or two. It was the reason she’d asked for the stage to be so big.

  That little book from the Grave Society talked about the bane of that guardian. Where they could find the furthest root of a tree lord and pump [Rot] in until it died. The snake had always been an issue. It hunted neao the point where the text warned practitioo only work that floor with a trusted and reliable team who heir skills for the fifth floor. Fearsome because it killed, where others called it the bastard the book called it a bane.

  Removing the head hadn’t been difficult. Transp it, however, had been. Hyath, for all his help, had been exhausted, yet loved his oversized trophy despite the fact he’d dotle to fell the beast, but her victories were as much his as hers. Such is a [Familiar Bond].

  “Gheh. Gheh. Gheh.” The shadow toad chucked. A ugh that hadn’t been part of the pnned speech.

  “For you, an example of my power.” Authority ah coated the word o time as she finished her presentation. Now she had had more than the Grave Society’s attention, she had many of their members' i. Would it shake things up, or ge how they do things? Only time will tell. As a dramatic exit, she slipped into the shadows with Hyth back to the Inn, ending [Shadowed Graves] and leaving the snake head as a gift. Ambrosia and the bodyguards would have to make their way back as pnned.