She wanted a confrontation, not a fight to the death. If Lith was even one bit similar to her, only one of them would come out alive before she could explain her reasons. Even then, the Crown would probably execute the survivor for treason, it would be a lose-lose situation.
"Please, try it anyway." She asked.
Lith forced himself to think about his father back on Earth, to Carl's death, to all those people that plagued his existence so far. Jirni could feel the killing intent rise bit by bit, but it was nothing much. Then she found it difficult to breathe.
An air spell was surrounding her head, sucking the air out.
"Nice trick. I can see those two almost die of fright. Now stop."
Lith obeyed, still blinded by the emotional pain.
"Now show me what you did to the last one." She offered him her hand.
"Do it only once."
Lith pretended to chant and as soon he touched Jirni's skin she felt a burning pain ravaging her flesh with an intensity she had rarely experienced. Yet she endured it without batting an eye, leaving Lith deeply impressed.
"Do you recall anything about black hands and mystical eyes popping out from the shadows?" Her question left Lith flabbergasted.
"What? No."
She stared in his eyes, finding only genuine surprise.
- "Seems that Raynart was really delirious after all. That or one of them is lying without knowing it." She thought. –
"Did you tell Phloria about that night?"
"No." He shrugged. "There's no point in making her worry about what could have happened. She has my Ballot now, so she's safe."
As a man hunter and a constable, that was the answer she had been looking for. Lith was able to care, otherwise he wouldn't have sacrificed his safety for someone else's sake.
If he really gave Phloria his Ballot before the assault, then it couldn't be part of a ruse, since the Poltus boys had followed them after meeting them by chance. She could easily check the timing, Linjos was the only one that could reset a Ballot.
As a mother in search of a husband for her daughter, that piece of news made Jirni's heart flutter. She decided not to push him. They were still young, but that was a good sign.
"Thank you for protecting my family." Jirni said offering him her hand, which he promptly shook.
"One day I hope to be able to return the favor. Could you please tell my little Flower to come in?"
Phloria barged in a second later, slamming the door behind her.
"Mom, this is too much, even for you. Stay out of my love life!" Jirni had no idea what she was talking about, but she had learned that suspects with a guilty conscience would often talk too much, so she remained silent.
"How could you put me under surveillance? I asked him out two days ago and you already come here in high uniform to interrogate us? We did nothing wrong!"
"You didn't?" Jirni kept her face expressionless.
"We just kissed. Once! I have the right to date who I want. I will not allow you to control my life." Phloria's face was red due to rage and embarrassment. She was really happy that the dorms were soundproof, she had yelled quite a bit.
"Oh sweetie, that's marvelous! I'm so happy for you." Jirni hugged her tight, finally letting her joy out.
"I was starting to fear you'd die single. You listened to my advice and courted Lith instead. He even gave you his Ballot, now everything makes sense. Good girl, mom is proud of you."
Phloria froze, panic quickly replacing her outrage.
"Didn't you know it already?" She squeaked.
"No, I just wanted to see you. I'm here on official business for yesterday's accident. I'm glad you choose to share the good news with me."
Phloria thought she was going to die out of embarrassment, but her heart stood still and the earth refused to open up and swallow her.