"This one isn't most. But thank you."

"You think she would fail to hate you if you didn't wield the knife yourself, then?"

"It is a possibility."

Hum. "She'll be one of those older girls when she's ready for the ritual," she says. "If you have trouble now - you can torture her until she hates you once we're ready. A perceived betrayal might make the resonance more effective, too..."

"Always finding the bright side."

Grin. "And if you earn enough of her loyalty, she might be useful as more than future fodder in the meantime, if her potential is truly so high."

"What's another ten or twenty years, after all." Kiss. "My hero, coming to my rescue once again."

Delighted kiss! And, since the serious business seems out of the way...

Mm, yes, she must be sure her lieutenant hasn't been feeling neglected.

Neglect is the only thing she'd ever hold against her Lady. 

Eldarra can think of one or two other things she'd like the fallen hero to hold against her.

She's welcome to try. 

Surely she's learned by now that Eldarra always succeeds in the end. Is a fresh set of lessons required?

Getting her lieutenant to dislike anything Eldarra does to her seems like it might be the only achievement out of her reach.

A challenge, then.

One she's up for her side of. 

Excellent.

(She's going to need a significantly stronger healing spell by the end of the night than Lily did.)

A sure sign it was a good night.

(And, alas, Eldarra doesn't discover anything other than enthusiastic consent by the time she gets tired. Maybe she'll have better luck next time.)

Continual experimentation is key.

She's still in a very good mood when it comes time for Lily's lesson.

Lily finds that pretty suspicious at first. 

That seems like a her problem.

Hmm. She lets it drop, mostly, focusing on learning magic - but, over lunch, she keeps glancing at the Demon Queen until blurting out, "Are you going to start hurting me again?"

"Well, as to that... I'm considering two options there. Would you like to help me choose?"

...Slow nod. "Yeah." 

"The first option is that I continue to cultivate your hatred during the entire course of your training. The second... is that I ensure it all at once, at the end."