Her gaze finds Syrenne.
“When the Hidden Accords fall, the humans will hunt us. The witches will burn again. The sorcerers will scatter or die. The elementals will fade to whispers. The smaller bloodlines, the ones too solitary or too few to organize a defense, will be lost altogether. Whatever magic we have given to your boundaryends with us. The Veil may seal. Permanently. The wanderers will not return. The diplomats will not cross. The Tides who move through human cities and the Gales who carry messages on human winds will be cut off from the realm they came from. Thessivane will endure. But Thessivane will be alone. Take that into consideration as you cast your vote.”
She inclines her head to Lanthar and returns to her place.
Beside me, Maximus doesn’t move.
Lanthar returns to the open floor.
“The alliance has been presented. The opposition has been heard. The evidence has been offered. The consequences have been named.” He addresses each in turn. “The courts will vote.”
My pulse is in my throat.
“The Court of Stone votes in favor of the alliance,” Veyran says. He says it without looking at Syrenne. Without looking at us. He turns to Lanthar. The gold in Stone blazes.
One.
“The Court of Ember votes against the alliance.” Syrenne is clear. Nothing in her tone sounds like resentment. The heat around her flares once and dims.
Expected. One for. One against.
The Tides delegation goes silent around Maeven. He’s the one we couldn’t read. He’s the one who could end this here.
“The Court of Tides votes in favor of the alliance.” He says it simply. The mist at his court’s feet spreads outward over the stone, touching Stone, touching the place where I stand.
Two.
Maximus hasn’t moved. His stillness goes deeper.
Gales is last.
I turn. The whole hall turns. Ithara stands. She leans into her listening angle.
A breath. Two.
“The Court of Gales abstains.”
She keeps her reasons behind the same smile she wore when she said “Two” in the corridor.
Two for. One against. One abstained.
“The majority have spoken,” Lanthar says. “The alliance is ratified.”
We did it.
Maximus exhales.
The gold in the walls blazes. All of it. Every vein, every thread, every line running through the amphitheater’s stone. They voted. It’s done.
The water channels flow in a new direction. Toward Stone and outward, connecting the open floor to the walls, threading through channels that weren’t there a moment before. New pathways.
Lanthar inclines his head. Toward us. Toward me.
I don’t know what to do with that. So I stay where I am.
Maximus’s hand presses flat against my back now.
I turn. Mira is behind us where she’s been since we came in. Hands open at her sides. From his seat at Stone, Lanthar’s gaze finds her. She meets his eyes. Three seconds. Four. Then she looks away.
