A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

It was as if Lilith was struck by lightning. She halted in her tracks, and the shadowflames on her fingers quickly died down. She looked at 'Aaron' with shock and incredulity. "You— What did you say?" she mumbled softly.

Inwardly, Erik snorted victoriously, and somewhat smugly. Clearly, he wasn't the only one who'd been thinking about the other for the past few years. Instantly, a speck of his anger was satisfied, and a feeling of superiority rose inside him. Being able to fool Edda like this was helping him postpone the desire to rip her throat out. At least for a little while.

Outwardly, however, his sly grin returned. "Oh? It seems my suspicions were correct. I had no idea your name used to be Edda, my Lady, but I know your hair used to be golden and your eyes used to be blue, before The Primarch ascended you."

They learned about ascension from Aaron, who explained that the Humanitas Sangh's leader, the Primarch, used unknown methods to 'ascend' those that became confessors. Supposedly, this process increased the confessor's power, and strengthened their body, to better combat Runebound.
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While Lilith was still processing this information, Erik continued talking slyly, "So, when he began to describe you, I quickly understood it could only be your divine beauty he was talking about, Lady Lilith!"

Inwardly, both he and Elora forced themselves not to puke, and only barely succeeded. Aaron was an incorrigible, backstabbing suck up, so Erik could only pretend to be the same.

Fortunately, his deception bore fruit.

Lilith finally recovered from her shock, and her lips curled up into a cruel grin. Then, she began to laugh, wildly, and walked back to her throne.

"Hahahaha! Eight years! Eight years it took that little worm to return from wherever the fuck he went, but now he's back!" she exclaimed loudly, before continuing to laugh. "Hahaha! I bet he's come looking for his mommy! Hahahahaha!

I can't believe my luck! Soon, I'll have them both crawling around on their knees for my amusement!"

Her cruel laughter echoed through the hall, while Erik and his wives seethed. Yet, he kept his calm. Lilith may have her back turned towards him right now, but her omnisense was still firmly locked on to him. Any strange behaviour would instantly give away the game.

When she reached her throne, Lilith turned around, and dropped herself on the seat with a pleased, and sadistic grin. She continued to giggle madly while looking ahead, but her gaze went straight passed 'Aaron', and into the distance, her thoughts miles away. Likely thinking about how to best capture him.

'Is this really Edda?' Erik suddenly couldn't help but think, completely caught off guard by her behaviour. Eight years ago, he was understandably surprised by her betrayal and cruelty, but he'd never seen such an insane edge to her.

But then, he frowned inwardly, 'No… No, it's not… This is Lilith… Edda simply never existed.'

On the one hand, that thought actually caused him some relief. If Edda never existed, then he'd never been betrayed, only tricked. On the other hand… if she was Edda, and simply decided later in life to betray him, than at least all the moments they had before that wouldn't been a complete lie.

Either way, he sighed inwardly, and put aside his thoughts. Focusing back on Lilith, he grinned slightly. "Is my information satisfactory to you, Lady Lilith?" Erik asked her in a sickeningly ingratiating tone. "Do I have your permission to be looked after by your healer?"

He couldn't stand talking to her like this, but he knew it was necessary for now. He'd found Edda, and that would have to do for now. Revenge would come later, particularly after saving his mother.

As if suddenly remembering that Aaron was even there, Lilith waved him away towards one of the doors dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Just be ready to march again in a few hours," she scoffed indifferently.

Her expression suddenly lit up again, and her pretty lips curled into a bloodthirsty grin. "I believe I'll be joining myself this time… Screw the Primarch's orders about guarding the city."

Suddenly, a surprising amount of rage passed through her eyes when she seethed furiously, "This time, he won't be getting away from me…!"

Once again, she began to sink into her own thoughts, looking far into the distance, and occasionally grimacing angrily, or giggling viciously.

"Her mind seems to be a little chaotic…" Elora muttered inside Erik's mind. "But that's good for us. There's still a lot of holes in our story, but she clearly doesn't care or realize. She's given her permission, and she's clearly distracted, so let's go!"

They had prepared some explanations to fill in the holes, but it clearly wasn't required. Erik's involvement was clearly some kind of trigger for her, making her ignore everything else.

Erik wondered shortly why she cared so much about this, and whether it was really just about the past and getting to kill the man she was forced to pretend to love for so long, or if there was another reason.

But he quickly discarded those thoughts as not immediately important. Instead, he nodded inwardly at the fairy, and shot a last look at Edda, before quickly hobbling through the doorway that Lilith had previously waved at.

There, two guards stood on other side of the door. He'd noticed them before, but since they were just weakling second-rankers, he didn't care.

Since Lilith had given her permission, one of the guards opened the door, while the other went through ahead of it. Neither of them said a word, likely not wanting Lilith's attention to fall on them, considering her current, chaotic mood, but the intention was clear. They wanted 'Aaron' to follow the guard that went ahead.

"Remember, we can't do anything strange until we're out of Lilith's omnisense range," Elora quickly reminded him. Erik nodded, and quietly followed the guard. Perhaps the real Aaron would have been more smug or snide right now, but, at this point, Erik preferred stealth over deception. It's not like Lilith was paying any more attention to him.

Thus, he quietly followed the guard, as they moved through a hallway. Fortunately, it truly was a palace they were in, so it didn't take long before they left the 15–20-meter (49-66 feet) radius of Lilith's omnisense.

Yet, Erik didn't do anything yet. Now that he was in, it was finally time to find his mother, but first he had to get rid of this guard, which meant he had to wait for a quiet spot…