Author's Note: I'll be posting two chapters a day for the first week as the story gets rolling, then 1 chapter a day after that. If you've read to this point, I hope you're having fun!
Lydia was still watching him with visible awe and not a small trace of trepidation. She really thought he was a lizardman in disguise, just because he’d said so. He was thrilled by this new possibility—only he could lie—but he didn’t feel right teasing her about it.
“Lydia, I’m not actually a zarovian.”
“But...” The poor woman now looked like her brain might explode. “Lord. You just...”
“I told you I was.”
“I heard you say that. Is this your rarity? Did you change what people hear?”
“No, I lied. That means I said something that isn’t true.”
“But no one can speak words they do not believe.”
She looked to be having real trouble with the words “truth” and “lie”, but in a world where people could only tell the truth, would they even have a word for anything else?
“So everyone in this world must always tell the truth?”
“Mortals may only speak what we believe.”
“Right, but I thought that was the blood pact.”
“No, lord. The Eidolons do not allow anyone to speak that which we do not believe. A blood pact simply compels us to answer any question posed by our manor lord.”
So even without a blood pact, people in this world couldn’t lie... but they also didn’t have to answer. They could keep their mouth shut unless they were compelled to answer by a blood pact, which took advantage of this ‘everyone must tell the truth’ magic.
Lydia really did believe this. And if she was right, Drake might not even have to kill anyone if it came to conflict, because any idiot who challenged him would also believe anything he said. That ability alone suggested he would make one hell of a manor lord... if this was true.
He mentally reviewed every interaction he’d had since he woke up on that table. The old lord had made no attempt to convince Drake he was actually a friend, and he’d actively dictated his every move. He had been shockingly forthright about his intention to force Drake to carve up Westin and summon a demon, sharing his evil plan just like a monologuing supervillain. Drake had assumed the old lord relayed his plan because he was a fucking moron, but now... what if he’d told them what he planned because he couldn’t lie?
Moreover, Lydia had also deceived him... but only by omitting uncomfortable truths about the blood pact. That suggested lies of omission were acceptable unless you compelled a person under a blood pact to answer a question. Drake needed to do another test before he could trust this new, weird wrinkle in his new, weird life.
He focused on Lydia. “If it’s okay, I’d like to try an experiment with you.”
She nodded cautiously. “I will assist if I can.”
“Do you have a coin I can borrow?”
“I do not have any coins, but we can retrieve some from the treasury.”
“So what do you have on you? Items, I mean?”
She plucked a handkerchief from the front of her maid uniform. “I have... this?”
“Perfect. Could I borrow it?”
Once she handed him her handkerchief, he raised it in his left hand. “Now, say ‘You’re holding my handkerchief in your right hand’.”
“You told me to say you’re holding my handkerchief in your right hand.”
She’d reflexively changed his lie to a truth. Yet he’d already decreed the blood pact couldn’t force her to answer his questions or tell him the truth, so there had to be something else behind this. Some other aspect of this world’s magic.
He tucked his hands behind his back. “I’m still holding your handkerchief in one of my two hands. Understood?”
She now watched curiously. “I understand.”
“Now say ‘you’re holding my handkerchief in your right hand’.”
“I cannot do that, lord.”
“Why not?”
“I am no longer certain with which hand you are holding my handkerchief.”
So she needed certainty to speak as well. Now to see how easily he could fool her. “Lydia, I am holding your handkerchief in my right hand. Can you say it now?”
She nodded with relief. “You are holding my handkerchief in your right hand.”
He produced his left hand... and showed her the handkerchief.
An expression of horrified wonder crossed her features. “Incredible.” Then, any trace of warmth she’d previously displayed vanished. She pushed back in her seat.
Drake immediately realized why that might be. “You’re going to have a hard time trusting me now, aren’t you?”
“I have seen what you can do with my own eyes.”
“Which is why you might not trust me. The reason you’ve gone along with everything I’d told you so far is because you didn’t know I could lie.”
She nodded grimly. “Given what you have just proven you can do, it will be difficult for me to trust any words that come from your lips. If we are to partner as we have proposed... that could present a problem.”
He was such an idiot. He’d been this close to getting his steward on his side, because she had eagerly believed every single word he said, and now, he had just revealed he might be lying about all of it. Still, this was a setback, not a failure. He could still salvage this.
“So what would it take for you to trust me again?”
Her brow furrowed. “You have already ensured I will never again be harmed by any perversion of the blood pact. That alone makes me want to trust you, and... I do, lord.” She took a breath, visibly gathering herself. “I apologize if my reaction seemed harsh. You shocked me. What you can do should not be possible.”
“So me being able to lie is as strange to you as blood pacts are to me?”
“I suppose that could be the case, lord.”
“So how can I reassure you I’m not going to lie to you?”
“I need to understand how you can do this. How you can speak words you do not believe. The Eidolons do not allow us to do that, so why do they allow you?”
“Well, Lydia... could it be because I’m from another realm?”
She visibly considered that. “So in your world, you are powerful enough to speak words you do not believe? Is that why the former lord abducted you?
“I don’t think so,” Drake said. “Because in my world, everyone can lie.”
She gasped. “How do you live like that?”
The stark horror on her face would have been comical if he didn’t know how deeply she must feel it. “We use common sense. We also don’t generally lie to our friends or allies, and since I need you as my ally, I’m not lying to you right now.”
“But how can I be certain of that?”
“How about I tell you how I handle it in my world? How I trust people I know can lie?”
She nodded hopefully. “That could be very helpful.”
“I judge people by their actions. If someone’s lied to me before, I’m less likely to trust them. And if they’ve always told me the truth, I generally believe them. And if I don’t know them at all, and I have doubts, I consider what they have to gain or lose.”
“You mean in terms of negotiation?”
“More like their motivation. Like... let’s say I walk up to some kid who’s standing by a broken cookie jar, then ask if he broke it. If he says no, I know he might be lying because he knows he’ll get in trouble if he admits to breaking the jar. He’d lie to avoid being punished.”
“And what motivates someone to tell the... truth?”
“If it’s in their best interest,” Drake said. “Let’s say a woman ran up to me and told me her cat was stuck in a tree. I ask her which tree, and she says the big maple down the street. I’d almost always believe her, because she obviously wants help getting her cat out of the tree. Lying to me means she won’t get the help she wanted.”
To her credit, Lydia looked to be wrapping her mind around his ability to lie a lot faster than he’d wrapped his mind around their blood pact. “So self interest is a factor.”
“Sometimes.” Drake snapped his fingers as he saw a way out. “And that’s how you can judge whether I’m lying to you!”
She eyed him dubiously. “How is that, lord?”
“You already know I’ve accepted this title. I want to keep it. And I’ve now given you the ability to kick my ass if you decide I’ve become a threat.”
“How does that relate to this?”
“It’s self interest. My self interest. Lying to you about how I plan to run this manor will harm me, because the moment I start acting like the old lord, you’d know I was lying and stop helping me. You might even kill me. Since I want to stay alive and succeed as a manor lord, telling you the truth about my intentions is now in my best interest. See what I mean?”
Lydia didn’t dismiss his petition out of hand. It was still frustrating to know he could have made her believe everything if he’d never asked her about lying, but... if they truly were going to run this manor, as partners, he should be able to trust her with this.
She focused on him with keen intensity. “So what you are saying is, if I am unsure if you believe your words, I should consider whether it would benefit you to... lie.”
“I’d like you to accept I won’t lie to you because we’re partners who want the same thing. But we can start with self interest if we have to.”
“And the longer you go without lying to me, the easier it will be for me to trust you.”
“That’s how it generally works in my world, yes.”
“So why not simply swear not to lie to me?”
“Because I might have to someday. I don’t know why, but I can’t tell you I’ll never lie to you again. That would also be a lie.” He paused. “What I can say is I won’t ever lie to you without a good reason. I don’t think I can do this job without your support.”
Lydia settled both her hands on her knees. “Very well, lord.”
Relief and excitement flooded him in equal measure. “You believe me?”
“What you can do is terrifying, but so are the abilities of many manor lords. Your actions since you arrived continue to reassure me, and not just because you have given me... choice. I have seen nothing to suggest you would use your ability to harm me. So I will believe you.”
“Terrific!”
“Until you give me a reason to not believe you.”
“That’s generally how we do it in my world.”
Lydia nodded firmly. “As strange as your ability is, it will give us a huge advantage when negotiating with other manors. So, as your steward, let me assure you that your blood thralls are up to the task you have set before us. They will not fail you. I will not fail you.”
“That’s great Lydia, but... could we talk about the terminology here?”
“What terminology?”
“Blood thrall. In my world, that’s what we’d call a slave.”
She actually looked offended. “It is a title of honor, lord!”
Drake frowned. “You’re joking, right?”
“Only those who have been chosen by a manor lord and chosen to take the blood pact can claim the title of blood thrall. I know you have concerns, but here, serving a manor is the highest calling one can obtain.”
“Sure, but, couldn’t we call our people something else?”
“Like what?”
“How about allies?” Drake said. “Buddies?” He grinned. “Bosom companions?”
Lydia watched him with new concern. “Do you believe these words?”
“I’m teasing you, Lydia. It’s not quite the same thing as a lie.”
“I see.” She considered that as well. “So you are speaking words you do not believe, but with the intent to amuse rather than deceive me.”
“I guess?” Drake shook his head. “And I just failed miserably to amuse you. This cultural barrier is something else.”
“What is that?”
“The fact that we grew up on two entirely different worlds with cultures and customs that are so different from each other. It’s why you think lies are terrifying and I think blood pacts are slavery. That means we’ll sometimes view the same things differently.”
“So you speak of belief divergence? We have that. With other lands.”
“I think so. Yes. That’s exactly what I’m talking about, except we each call it something entirely different. Case in point.”
Lydia considered. “I could only imagine you meant the different ways different realms build their walls to keep out invaders. I was not sure how that was pertinent.”
Drake chuckled. “Yeah, this is going to take some work. But we can do it, right?”
Lydia nodded firmly. “I believe we can, lord.”
Author's Note: I'll be posting two chapters a day for the first week as the story gets rolling, then 1 chapter a day after that. If you've read to this point, I hope you're having fun!
Lydia was still watching him with visible awe and not a small trace of trepidation. She really thought he was a lizardman in disguise, just because he’d said so. He was thrilled by this new possibility—only he could lie—but he didn’t feel right teasing her about it.
“Lydia, I’m not actually a zarovian.”
“But...” The poor woman now looked like her brain might explode. “Lord. You just...”
“I told you I was.”
“I heard you say that. Is this your rarity? Did you change what people hear?”
“No, I lied. That means I said something that isn’t true.”
“But no one can speak words they do not believe.”
She looked to be having real trouble with the words “truth” and “lie”, but in a world where people could only tell the truth, would they even have a word for anything else?
“So everyone in this world must always tell the truth?”
“Mortals may only speak what we believe.”
“Right, but I thought that was the blood pact.”
“No, lord. The Eidolons do not allow anyone to speak that which we do not believe. A blood pact simply compels us to answer any question posed by our manor lord.”
So even without a blood pact, people in this world couldn’t lie... but they also didn’t have to answer. They could keep their mouth shut unless they were compelled to answer by a blood pact, which took advantage of this ‘everyone must tell the truth’ magic.
Lydia really did believe this. And if she was right, Drake might not even have to kill anyone if it came to conflict, because any idiot who challenged him would also believe anything he said. That ability alone suggested he would make one hell of a manor lord... if this was true.
He mentally reviewed every interaction he’d had since he woke up on that table. The old lord had made no attempt to convince Drake he was actually a friend, and he’d actively dictated his every move. He had been shockingly forthright about his intention to force Drake to carve up Westin and summon a demon, sharing his evil plan just like a monologuing supervillain. Drake had assumed the old lord relayed his plan because he was a fucking moron, but now... what if he’d told them what he planned because he couldn’t lie?
Moreover, Lydia had also deceived him... but only by omitting uncomfortable truths about the blood pact. That suggested lies of omission were acceptable unless you compelled a person under a blood pact to answer a question. Drake needed to do another test before he could trust this new, weird wrinkle in his new, weird life.
He focused on Lydia. “If it’s okay, I’d like to try an experiment with you.”
She nodded cautiously. “I will assist if I can.”
“Do you have a coin I can borrow?”
“I do not have any coins, but we can retrieve some from the treasury.”
“So what do you have on you? Items, I mean?”
She plucked a handkerchief from the front of her maid uniform. “I have... this?”
“Perfect. Could I borrow it?”
Once she handed him her handkerchief, he raised it in his left hand. “Now, say ‘You’re holding my handkerchief in your right hand’.”
“You told me to say you’re holding my handkerchief in your right hand.”
She’d reflexively changed his lie to a truth. Yet he’d already decreed the blood pact couldn’t force her to answer his questions or tell him the truth, so there had to be something else behind this. Some other aspect of this world’s magic.
He tucked his hands behind his back. “I’m still holding your handkerchief in one of my two hands. Understood?”
She now watched curiously. “I understand.”
“Now say ‘you’re holding my handkerchief in your right hand’.”
“I cannot do that, lord.”
“Why not?”
“I am no longer certain with which hand you are holding my handkerchief.”
So she needed certainty to speak as well. Now to see how easily he could fool her. “Lydia, I am holding your handkerchief in my right hand. Can you say it now?”
She nodded with relief. “You are holding my handkerchief in your right hand.”
He produced his left hand... and showed her the handkerchief.
An expression of horrified wonder crossed her features. “Incredible.” Then, any trace of warmth she’d previously displayed vanished. She pushed back in her seat.
Drake immediately realized why that might be. “You’re going to have a hard time trusting me now, aren’t you?”
“I have seen what you can do with my own eyes.”
“Which is why you might not trust me. The reason you’ve gone along with everything I’d told you so far is because you didn’t know I could lie.”
She nodded grimly. “Given what you have just proven you can do, it will be difficult for me to trust any words that come from your lips. If we are to partner as we have proposed... that could present a problem.”
He was such an idiot. He’d been this close to getting his steward on his side, because she had eagerly believed every single word he said, and now, he had just revealed he might be lying about all of it. Still, this was a setback, not a failure. He could still salvage this.
“So what would it take for you to trust me again?”
Her brow furrowed. “You have already ensured I will never again be harmed by any perversion of the blood pact. That alone makes me want to trust you, and... I do, lord.” She took a breath, visibly gathering herself. “I apologize if my reaction seemed harsh. You shocked me. What you can do should not be possible.”
“So me being able to lie is as strange to you as blood pacts are to me?”
“I suppose that could be the case, lord.”
“So how can I reassure you I’m not going to lie to you?”
“I need to understand how you can do this. How you can speak words you do not believe. The Eidolons do not allow us to do that, so why do they allow you?”
“Well, Lydia... could it be because I’m from another realm?”
She visibly considered that. “So in your world, you are powerful enough to speak words you do not believe? Is that why the former lord abducted you?
“I don’t think so,” Drake said. “Because in my world, everyone can lie.”
She gasped. “How do you live like that?”
The stark horror on her face would have been comical if he didn’t know how deeply she must feel it. “We use common sense. We also don’t generally lie to our friends or allies, and since I need you as my ally, I’m not lying to you right now.”
“But how can I be certain of that?”
“How about I tell you how I handle it in my world? How I trust people I know can lie?”
She nodded hopefully. “That could be very helpful.”
“I judge people by their actions. If someone’s lied to me before, I’m less likely to trust them. And if they’ve always told me the truth, I generally believe them. And if I don’t know them at all, and I have doubts, I consider what they have to gain or lose.”
“You mean in terms of negotiation?”
“More like their motivation. Like... let’s say I walk up to some kid who’s standing by a broken cookie jar, then ask if he broke it. If he says no, I know he might be lying because he knows he’ll get in trouble if he admits to breaking the jar. He’d lie to avoid being punished.”
“And what motivates someone to tell the... truth?”
“If it’s in their best interest,” Drake said. “Let’s say a woman ran up to me and told me her cat was stuck in a tree. I ask her which tree, and she says the big maple down the street. I’d almost always believe her, because she obviously wants help getting her cat out of the tree. Lying to me means she won’t get the help she wanted.”
To her credit, Lydia looked to be wrapping her mind around his ability to lie a lot faster than he’d wrapped his mind around their blood pact. “So self interest is a factor.”
“Sometimes.” Drake snapped his fingers as he saw a way out. “And that’s how you can judge whether I’m lying to you!”
She eyed him dubiously. “How is that, lord?”
“You already know I’ve accepted this title. I want to keep it. And I’ve now given you the ability to kick my ass if you decide I’ve become a threat.”
“How does that relate to this?”
“It’s self interest. My self interest. Lying to you about how I plan to run this manor will harm me, because the moment I start acting like the old lord, you’d know I was lying and stop helping me. You might even kill me. Since I want to stay alive and succeed as a manor lord, telling you the truth about my intentions is now in my best interest. See what I mean?”
Lydia didn’t dismiss his petition out of hand. It was still frustrating to know he could have made her believe everything if he’d never asked her about lying, but... if they truly were going to run this manor, as partners, he should be able to trust her with this.
She focused on him with keen intensity. “So what you are saying is, if I am unsure if you believe your words, I should consider whether it would benefit you to... lie.”
“I’d like you to accept I won’t lie to you because we’re partners who want the same thing. But we can start with self interest if we have to.”
“And the longer you go without lying to me, the easier it will be for me to trust you.”
“That’s how it generally works in my world, yes.”
“So why not simply swear not to lie to me?”
“Because I might have to someday. I don’t know why, but I can’t tell you I’ll never lie to you again. That would also be a lie.” He paused. “What I can say is I won’t ever lie to you without a good reason. I don’t think I can do this job without your support.”
Lydia settled both her hands on her knees. “Very well, lord.”
Relief and excitement flooded him in equal measure. “You believe me?”
“What you can do is terrifying, but so are the abilities of many manor lords. Your actions since you arrived continue to reassure me, and not just because you have given me... choice. I have seen nothing to suggest you would use your ability to harm me. So I will believe you.”
“Terrific!”
“Until you give me a reason to not believe you.”
“That’s generally how we do it in my world.”
Lydia nodded firmly. “As strange as your ability is, it will give us a huge advantage when negotiating with other manors. So, as your steward, let me assure you that your blood thralls are up to the task you have set before us. They will not fail you. I will not fail you.”
“That’s great Lydia, but... could we talk about the terminology here?”
“What terminology?”
“Blood thrall. In my world, that’s what we’d call a slave.”
She actually looked offended. “It is a title of honor, lord!”
Drake frowned. “You’re joking, right?”
“Only those who have been chosen by a manor lord and chosen to take the blood pact can claim the title of blood thrall. I know you have concerns, but here, serving a manor is the highest calling one can obtain.”
“Sure, but, couldn’t we call our people something else?”
“Like what?”
“How about allies?” Drake said. “Buddies?” He grinned. “Bosom companions?”
Lydia watched him with new concern. “Do you believe these words?”
“I’m teasing you, Lydia. It’s not quite the same thing as a lie.”
“I see.” She considered that as well. “So you are speaking words you do not believe, but with the intent to amuse rather than deceive me.”
“I guess?” Drake shook his head. “And I just failed miserably to amuse you. This cultural barrier is something else.”
“What is that?”
“The fact that we grew up on two entirely different worlds with cultures and customs that are so different from each other. It’s why you think lies are terrifying and I think blood pacts are slavery. That means we’ll sometimes view the same things differently.”
“So you speak of belief divergence? We have that. With other lands.”
“I think so. Yes. That’s exactly what I’m talking about, except we each call it something entirely different. Case in point.”
Lydia considered. “I could only imagine you meant the different ways different realms build their walls to keep out invaders. I was not sure how that was pertinent.”
Drake chuckled. “Yeah, this is going to take some work. But we can do it, right?”
Lydia nodded firmly. “I believe we can, lord.”
