Void System: Every Heroine Makes Me Stronger

The driver’s 5th breath came on its own.

Severin heard the 6th scrape through behind the clean screen.

"Still here," Tressa said. "Don’t try to sit."

Cloth shifted as she adjusted the support beneath the driver’s shoulders. Tressa said nothing. The next breath came anyway.

That much had taken 3 days.

Tressa stepped around the screen and washed her hands at the shelf. She wore a clean work dress beneath a plain apron. Water and soap had reddened her knuckles.

At the table near the window, an older woman waited beside a folded sheet, a small iron key, and a tied leather packet. Another villager stood beside her as witness. Severin waited near the window, silent while the older woman laid out Mereford’s terms.

The older woman pushed the packet across the table. "For the outbreak and the 3 days since. 6 Gold. Count it."

Tressa untied the cord and set the coins in a line. She counted once, then again more quickly.

"6."

"They’re yours." The woman tapped the folded sheet. "The room at the back is yours for 14 days. Longer if he still needs care. Meals here, and 8 Silver for each day you work."

Tressa opened the sheet. Her eyes moved over the short lines before she touched the key.

"If he can travel before the 14 days?"

"The room is yours for all 14 days. You may keep working or stop. The 6 Gold stays yours."

Tressa glanced at Severin. "And if I tell him no?"

The older woman kept her eyes on Tressa. "Your answer to him changes none of this."

Tressa closed her hand around the key. "I accept."

The witness marked the bottom of the sheet. The older woman left with the witness.

Tressa put the coins back into the packet. Before she moved toward the rear passage, she returned to the driver.

A relief worker had taken her place beside the bed. Tressa drew the screen aside, checked the blanket beneath his shoulders, and pointed to the hollow above his collarbone.

"Watch there and his mouth. If the breaths shorten, send for me before you move anything. Don’t lay him flat."

The worker nodded.

Tressa waited for the next breath, let the screen fall closed, then crossed the short passage. She unlocked the rear room herself and looked back at Severin.

"We can speak here."

He followed her inside.

The room held a narrow bed, a washbasin, and a wooden chest beneath a shuttered window. Tressa set the coin packet and folded work note on the chest. She closed the door and slipped the key into her apron pocket.

"That was the village’s offer," she said. "What is yours?"

"Work first." Severin stayed near the foot of the bed. "When the dungeon claim earns coin, I want you working with me. You keep the injured alive when you can. You tell me what care they need, what it costs in supplies, and whether moving them will make it worse."

"You don’t have the coin now."

"No."

The answer made her brows rise. "You say that easily."

"Pretending would not create it."

Her mouth almost formed a smile. It disappeared before she asked, "What happens if the claim fails?"

"The work does not begin. You keep the 6 Gold, this room, and Mereford’s work. You owe me nothing."

"And if it succeeds?"

"At least 8 Silver a day and food. We set the rest after the claim pays. I will not promise more before it does."

Tressa rubbed a reddened knuckle with her thumb. "Can I leave?"

"Yes. You keep what you’ve earned. If someone is under your care, tell whoever takes over what you know before you go, when you can do it safely."

"If someone is dying and you don’t like what I tell you?"

"You tell me anyway. Hiding a bad fact would be disobedience, not service."

She studied him. "And after I tell you?"

"I decide what my people and property risk."

A log settled in the stove outside the room. Tressa looked once toward the door, listening. Nothing changed in the main room.

"Then I will take the work," she said. "When it exists."

"That settles the work."

Her shoulders lowered a fraction.

Severin let the silence stand for a breath. "It does not settle what I want from you."

"What do you want?"

"You. Crisis Hold makes you more valuable to me. It is not the only reason. I want you beside me as my woman."

Tressa’s hand went still against her apron.

"You do want Crisis Hold."

"Yes. I want both. I won’t insult you by pretending otherwise."

"Why me?"

"You acted before anyone gave permission. You kept working after it ended. When a man tried to promise me your labor, you told him no before I said a word." Severin held her gaze. "And I want you."

Her next breath was slower.

"There are things you need to know before you answer," he continued. "I already have a wife. She accepted before our marriage that I would have other wives. I will not promise you otherwise."

Tressa did not answer at once. "Does she know you’re asking me?"

"She knows there will be other women. She does not know your name or that this conversation is happening."

"Will you tell her?"

"Yes."

Tressa looked toward the closed door, then back at him. "If I choose you, what are you asking me to obey?"

"I lead between us. In my household and in private, you obey after I’ve heard the facts."

"Even when you’re wrong?"

"Especially then, you tell me why. If a body is failing, if my order would kill someone I mean to keep alive, or if the danger has changed, you speak before I decide."

"And after?"

"After I know, I decide."

Tressa’s brows drew together. "If I find I cannot live that way?"

"You leave. The work is not payment for being mine. Your coin and earned pay remain yours."

The room stayed quiet long enough for a basin to scrape faintly in the main room. No one called for Tressa.

"I can stay here," she said.

"Yes."

"It would be safer."

"Yes."

"Most people would tell me to take the room and stop looking for more danger."

"They would be right about the danger."

That nearly brought the smile back. "You make agreeing with them sound unhelpful."

"It doesn’t answer what you want."

Tressa breathed in and let it out. "Here, I can help Mereford. With you, I may help more people. I may also watch you put more of them at risk."

"Both are likely."

"And you still want me to say when the cost is too high."

"I want the true cost before I choose it."

"Then I choose you," Tressa said. "You lead. I’ll follow once you’ve heard me. But I will not go quiet while someone is dying."

"Good," Severin said. "Then you are mine."

He wanted to pull her close. He kept his hands at his sides.

Not until she heard the rest.

"Something else," he said. "It does not change what you just chose."

Tressa waited.

"When we sleep together, a hidden power of mine can copy 1 ability you name. You keep yours."

Her breath caught once. "Would it take Crisis Hold away from me?"

"No."

"If I refuse?"

"Nothing changes between us. Nothing changes with the work."

"Why tell me before?"

"Because I won’t wait until you’re in my bed to ask."

Tressa glanced at the narrow mattress, then back to him. A flush rose beneath the freckles across her nose, but her voice stayed practical.

"Only 1 ability?"

"1."

"Can you take another ability without telling me?"

"Not from you. Only the name you give me."

Tressa held his gaze.

"Crisis Hold."

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