Juno felt displaced. The Overlord had done what he'd set out to do. He'd subjugated everyone in his path and destroyed his biggest threat and now there was peace. Technically. Juno wasn't entirely sure where things went from here, and the longer she stayed in the tower, the more she missed her home. Everlight. She lived here now, underground, and it was all very impressive and imposing and dripping with power, but no amount of decorating could cover up rough hewn stone and lava and all the distasteful little monsters running around.

She missed the sun. And tropical breeze. And servants she could ogle. Maybe above all, she missed being someone that was envied and desired. It seemed like all she really did here was look pretty and give advice about Empire politics. The Overlord was smitten with the Nordberg girl, and how did she compete with an elvish queen? Former queen? Whatever.

With his mother in the tower, his time was fully occupied. She'd been lurking for days now, the Overlord trailing after her like a duckling when he wasn't face-first in his First Mistress's substandard bosoms. He insisted in private that he was keeping an eye on her, but Juno wasn't sure how much of that was true. Some of it, maybe, but definitely not all. The Overlord was a conqueror, not a politician, and the longer Rose went without any outward challenges to his power, the less of a threat he considered her. It was sloppy. She'd told him as much, for all the good it had done.

Juno had wedged herself onto a ledge just behind a cascading lava flow, a private space she'd found out of necessity. To think, mostly, something she had far too much time to do of late. The private quarters didn't feel like home, and that was the only place in the tower that was remotely habitable, so she'd squirreled some things away down here. Today she wasn't thinking, though. Today she was having a sulk. He'd taken Kelda to bed, alone, again, on his insistence, and they'd been having quite a lie in. A loud one. She was tired of hearing it, and she wasn't about to talk to Dark Fae, and so here she sat, a beautiful and capable young woman all alone in a luxurious, silk lined grotto of her own making. Tragic, really. She was being thoroughly wasted and she was sure she was going to lose her tan.

"-likely do you think?"

"Very," it was Dark Fae. Juno perked up, hunkering down a bit her little getaway. It hadn't occurred to her that others might come out here, to the more unfinished — neglected was maybe a better word - portions of the tower. No one important, anyhow. She'd had to drive more than a few minions out, "She has a very tight grip on him despite her utter lack of cunning."

Kelda, of course. Why were Rose - and it was Rose, there were no mistaking her - and Dark Fae discussing Kelda? Juno was very interested, but something stopped her from coming out of her spot. She'd never meant it to be a hiding spot, but just now it was serving that exact purpose, and she allowed herself to enjoy the thrill of low stakes intrigue. It had been months! Keen as she was to slag off the Nordberg wench, however, Dark Fae wasn't too keen on her. And neither was Rose. That was the impression she'd had on their first and only meeting. Nothing so intense as hatred. Disinterest, was a better word, which was much worse in Juno's opinion.

"And the Empire woman?"

"Barely worth noting," Dark Fae said, "She's cleverer than she seems, but it's all surface and politics. Very little substance."

Juno didn't even dare to breath, covering her mouth with both hands, listening intently and not daring to move a muscle. Dark Fae had clearly ingratiated herself with Rose, but to what end? Even if he was tolerating her, Juno didn't think the Overlord would allow his mother to outright manipulate him. Then again, he did just about whatever Gnarl said, didn't he? How much agency did he really have? He was more like a force of nature than anything else, something to be directed.

Both women were silent for so long Juno suspected they had left, but she didn't dare peek to check. Her patience was rewarded.

"Are either of them versed in magic?" Rose wondered. Dark Fae scoffed and Rose exhaled a disappointed sigh, "Well, there's no accounting for taste, is there?"

"None."

"He's just a boy," Rose said, sounding weary, "Barely past his twentieth year. Raised by his own minions, raised by Gnarl, that insufferable little manipulator. He's done well, but can you see him holding power? All he's done since he's conquered his enemies is either try to get stories about his father out of me or let his Mistress lead him around by his privates."

Juno wasn't sure how she felt about all of this. Questioning the Overlord seemed ill advised, but Rose had been a Mistress. She'd borne the former Overlord a son. She'd... well she'd done quite a bit in the thirteen years she'd abandoned her son, as it turned out, and Juno had no idea what her motives were. It occurred to Juno that Rose was dangerous, and that she hadn't thought so right away made her feel like the 'insipid cow' Dark Fae (incorrectly!) refereed to her as. She'd been invited in and hadn't made any moves to leave, and now she was talking about her son behind his back.

He's not invincible. Kelda had said that once. Kelda was too busy enjoying her Witch Boy's suddenly undivided attention to notice something was amiss. Usually, she was the first one to express outrage and suspicion about things.

"When do you mean to do it?" Dark Fae asked quietly, "He's still suspicious of you. Not as much as he was, but with Gnarl in his ear..."

"Tonight," Rose said, "After the evening meal. He'll be relaxed and distracted. Do you have it? Are you ready?"

"Yes. Everything is in place."

"Good," Rose said. And then again, more quietly, "Good."

Juno's heart was pounding. So much for low stakes. What were they going to do? Were they going to kill him? Was she going to kill her own son? Was he going to kill her? The Overlord was... not outright bloodthirsty. He'd murdered his way through those who had opposed him, but he'd spared just as many. He was... pragmatic, she supposed. He'd have more power overall if he had actual subjects to do his bidding. Much more productive than rotting corpses, living people. He'd brought herself and even Dark Fae in at least in part for the advice and power they could give him, and even Kelda served her purpose (one that Juno refused to articulate even in her thoughts, they weren't friends), and with his mother's guidance he'd overcome intimidating, borderline impossible odds.

And now it all seemed foolish. Pointless. He'd come all this way for his own mother to plot against him, or maybe worse, he'd become a pawn in a plot his mother had devised thirteen years ago. Juno didn't know what to do. A part of her, a rather large part of her, wanted to just leave. Now. The Netherworld gate was just in the throne room, a very short walk from her little home away from home (away from home). She could go back to Everlight and hide from whatever was coming. At the very least? She'd be out of the way, and not collateral damage in a conflict she had no business being a part of. It was cowardly but she'd be alive, and above all else, Juno very much enjoyed being alive. What was the Overlord to her anyway, besides a means to an end? That's what she was to him, after all. Something pretty to get advice from, a change of pace from the usual old and wrinkly source. This wasn't what she'd signed up for, at all. She'd signed up to be properly spoiled, to be treated like a queen without having to do any of the actual work such a lofty title entailed.

Her only other choice, realistically, was to go to Gnarl. Gnarl would know what to do and what order to do it in. He probably already had a plan, or several, but lacked sufficient information to act on any of them. Gnarl didn't dislike her. Mostly he stared at her breasts, which was disgusting, and aside from that being something she was used to long before she lived in an evil Overlord's harem, he never made any cross or cruel remarks about her. It'd been Gnarl who'd encouraged the Overlord to collect Mistresses in the first place, with an emphasis on the plural. In a roundabout way, Gnarl was the reason she was here and alive and not burned at the stake by jealous Empire harpies. She wanted to leave. She wanted to go home and lounge on the beach and have very handsome, shirtless men bring her food, and she didn't want to deal with whatever terrible thing was simmering in the shadows. Maybe if both parties weren't terrifying sorceresses she'd crack her knuckles and make fools of them, but she was in over her head.

And if she left without even tipping off Gnarl, what guarantee was there that whatever they were doing wouldn't end in Everlight's destruction? The Overlord had spared it and spared most of the people, but it seemed that soon, without intervention, it would no longer be up to him.

She'd tell Gnarl and then she'd leave. That was a good plan. Gnarl would sort things out and Juno would have a lovely, hard-earned vacation, and it would all work out without her having to get blood on her toga. Perfect.

Juno wished it were easier to tell time underground and she lingered in her spot for (what felt like) a long time, needing to be absolutely sure neither Rose nor Dark Fae were lingering. Even when she slowly crept out her heart was hammering, certain they'd known she was there all along. That they were playing with her, toying with her, both of them with sharp daggers behind their backs. But that was paranoid, surely. They had much bigger, much bluer fish to fry than someone with so little substance. Jealous old hags, the both of them.

All she'd wanted was to secure a position in a new regime, to escape being murdered by jealous 'friends' and neighbors. She'd just wanted to live and now look what she was involved in! All this stress was going to give her premature grey hairs! It was unacceptable. She deserved better.

The ledge were clear when she emerged from behind the lava flow and Juno tried to act natural. She lived here too, after all, and she was allowed to go for a walk without explaining herself. There was no reason for anyone to be suspicious of her. Juno paused in the rough archway that opened up into the throne room, scanning it. Mostly idle minions. There was Gnarl, by the throne. By himself, reading from a book that looked bigger than he was. Perfect. She'd tell him and jump into the gate and he'd be too busy stopping a coup to worry about where she'd run off to.

Juno took a step forward and a cold, iron grip closed around her upper arm, another covering her mouth. She was yanked backward, her yelp muffled and her struggles useless. It was Dark Fae that spoke in her ear.

"Very poor manners, eavesdropping on your betters," Dark Fae purred, "Did you think nobody knew about your pathetic little nest? You humans are so predictable."

Juno sucked in a deep breath, as deep as she could with Dark Fae covering her mouth, but before she could make a fuss suddenly Dark Fae's frigid hand was around her throat instead of covering her mouth. She shouldn't be so strong or so cold but she was. Magic. Bloody magic. It wasn't fair! She struggled, shaking her head, as Dark Fae dragged her further away from the throne room, back toward where she'd just come.

"You would've done well to stay out of this. Maybe you would have lived," Dark Fae said, releasing her by throwing her towards the ledge. Juno wasn't sure how she avoided going over, coughing for air and pinwheeling her arms frantically, but she managed to skid down onto her knees, her upper body flopping precariously over as she scraped her hands and tore the delicate silks of her toga scrabbling for purchase on the rough stone. Dark Fae grabbed her by her hair but stepped a foot on the small of her back. Juno was too afraid to do anything. To scream, to cry, to protest, anything to get Gnarl's attention, but she was frozen. All she could see was the bubbling lava below, all she could think was that one wrong move would allow her to inspect it much more closely than she ever cared to, "Nothing to say?"

"I was just running away," Juno said in a rush, voice still hoarse from being choked. She was a practiced, natural liar and contrary to popular belief, she wasn't stupid, "I was just going for the gate. To go home. I hate it here. It's dark and ugly and lonely. I just want... please don't kill me, Dark Fae. I won't say anything. I'll just go. Like I planned."

"If I killed you and say you ran off, nobody would even question it," Dark Fae observed. The cruelty in her voice was almost unimaginable. She was always so soft, even with her sharp words, and Juno wondered how much of what she said was even true to have turned on the Overlord so easily. What had her actual motives been, joining him? Faced with death or servitude, Dark Fae had made a choice, and she'd made it in a way that had somehow left her completely free from suspicion. Juno couldn't believe she'd given such a two-faced bitch an orgasm. The injustice of it only added a sharper edge to the fear sliding slowly between her ribs and into her frantically beating heart.

"Please," Juno said, fighting tears. She didn't want to give her the satisfaction, and she knew they'd be wasted on her anyhow, "Please don't kill me. I'm useful. I know the Empire, and I can help you keep control of it."

"You'll be my Mistress, then?" Dark Fae ground her heeled boot more sharply into Juno's back, making her cry out. Her voice was wickedly sweet, "You're a bit too duplicitous for my taste. Tsk. It does seem a waste to kill you. There are so few pleasant things to look at down here."

"Please don't kill me," Juno hated feeling so powerless. She'd felt a lot of things since coming to live in the tower, but fearsome as the Overlord was, he'd never made her feel like this, "Please, I'll do whatever you ask. Please. Please!"

"Hush," Dark Fae hissed, giving her hair a twist that made it feel like it was being ripped up out of her scalp. Maybe it was. All at once, the pressure (and the shooting pain) relented and Juno nearly pitched over again at the suddenness of it. This time, she was allowed to scramble back, huddling against the savage rocks like a shivering child, drawing her knees to her chest. Dark Fae towered over her, her expression one of bored disgust.

"I'll do anything," Juno said, disgust for herself bubbling up and making her feel nauseous, "Please."

"Anything?" Dark Fea repeated. Juno couldn't bear to see her smile and looked away, squeezing her eyes shut and pretending the heat on her skin was the sun and not molten rock.

Anything.

AN: guess who lost their outline for this story and then found it again like, a week ago? THIS GUY!