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Gerard stepped through Lorelei’s portal alone, but he felt her worried gaze cling to his back until the portal sealed shut, leaving him alone in a dimly lit but familiar gallery of Imperial family portraits. A grand altar to Jovar at the far end cast a warm glow from the holy flames that burned in the marble bowl at its center, but their height indicated that they’d already had their hourly visitation from an Imperial priestess, leaving Gerard free to move past unobserved.

As high general of the Serafin Empire, he should probably have felt more concerned by the discovery that the Queen of Nornne somehow knew the palace layout and routine well enough to direct Lorelei’s portal to the safest spot for an arrival at this time. Tonight, though, he felt nothing but relief that no courtiers were there to be astonished and distracted by his magical arrival and informal appearance … which, he grimly accepted, was far from ideal for the meeting ahead. Unfortunately, by the time all the arguments in Balravia had finally ended, it had been too late to change out of his grubby uniform or even shave the unaccustomed stubble from his face.

Gossip would be unavoidable once the story of his return spread through the court—but at least it couldn’t slow his mission now.

At a purposeful stride, it was a mere eight minutes’ walk to the wing where Otto’s private councils were held. It could have been shorter, but Gerard took the back ways to avoid all company, and the only maid he nearly met along the way made enough noise to allow him to step swiftly out of sight before she could see him and spread the news. Only when he neared the guard post outside Otto’s private council chamber did he finally step into a central corridor and walk confidently to greet the two Imperial guards stationed there.

“High General!” They both stood to attention and saluted, but the covert glance they shared was too full of speculation for Gerard’s comfort.

Apparently, Otto had not been discreet with his opinions about Gerard’s recent decisions at the Kitvarian border. That did not bode well for the battle to come.

Still, he’d taken on worse odds before. With a firm nod, Gerard released them from their salutes and handed over his sword, as usual, for them to guard during the meeting. “I believe I’m expected.”

The younger guard opened his mouth, looking eager to expound on that topic—but was glared into silence by the older one, who merely said, “Yes, sir.”

Hmm. As members of the Imperial guard, meant only to protect Otto and his close family members from attack, neither of these men officially reported to Gerard, who headed the armies that fought for the Empire as a whole. However, in practice, few important secrets had ever been kept by the guard from the high general … until, of course, the last two weeks, when the late high priest’s downfall had seemingly come out of nowhere.

Uneasiness prickled against the nape of Gerard’s neck now, although he kept his expression unperturbed.

That older guard’s hesitation to share any excess information might be perfectly harmless. Still, he found himself suddenly glad, after all, of the precautionary measures Queen Ailana had enacted upon Lorelei’s insistence. The last high priest had been taken by surprise when the guard descended upon his undefended home and arrested him from his bed in the middle of the night, bundling him off to prison before his allies could even awaken to protest. The queens’ clever plan meant that Gerard’s own villa, two streets away, would be a far safer refuge.

Keeping his head high and his posture relaxed, Gerard stepped forward, and the others made way for him.

Of course they did.

Blowing out a silent breath once he was safely out of sight, Gerard strode down the final turn of the corridor to the massive, magic-deflecting iron door that protected Otto’s most private meeting room, and confidently turned the handle.

“Ugh!” Lorelei stalked back and forth behind Ailana in a small, round office perched dizzyingly high above the snowy Nornne landscape in a tower that looked, inescapably, like an icicle. Really, there was such a thing as going too far with decorating on theme! “What is the point of devoting your life to spywork if you can’t tell what’s happening when it most matters?”

“We saw General de Moireul walk past my ice to the meeting room.” Ailana spoke without lifting her gaze from the ice-covered desk, where an empty corridor was still on display. “The shard of ice my spy has placed in this outer corridor will melt long before their meeting is over, but I’ll keep watching until it does, just in case—and I have eyes on the streets outside to warn us if he’s attacked on his way home. Once he’s safely locked inside his villa, the mirror-box my spies have placed inside his house will give him the chance to contact us for help.”

“And if someone tries to murder him inside that council chamber, where he’s without his sword?” Lorelei demanded.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Ailana finally turned away from the ice to cock a skeptical eyebrow at her. “I may not have personally witnessed the entrance of every council member tonight, but I have never once seen a single armed guard or Gilded Wizard step into any of Otto’s private council meetings. The only people likely to be in that chamber right now are Otto and his highest advisors. Meanwhile, your paramour is the high general of the Serafin Empire and built like a steam train made of muscle. Do you really think he couldn’t fight all of them off by himself if necessary?”

Lorelei slumped against the closest rounded white wall, all the righteous indignation flooding out of her as she slid down to the blue-and-white tiled floor, summoning warmth to protect her skin from the chill. “You’re right,” she admitted. “I am being absurd. I just…”

“You’re just in love. Of course you are.” Shaking her head, Ailana turned back to her viewing post. “I did warn you this would happen, didn’t I? You can’t expect to keep your heart protected when you invite every man you like into your bed. You might intend to keep emotion out of the equation, but—”

“For your information, I fell in love with Gerard years before I let him into my bed.” Lorelei let out a sigh of her own as she contemplated her grubby skirts. “It wasn’t something I did by choice—although…” Her jaw tightened as irritation rose to overcome her other emotions. “Even if I had, what of it? I don’t recall hearing you lecture Saskia like this when she fell in love with Felix! If you could respect her choice, then why not mine?”

“Felix,” said Ailana with maddening patience, “is the Archduke of Estarion. Their pairing directly averted a war and granted us a major diplomatic advantage.”

“And mine won’t?” Lorelei snorted. “Gerard is the Imperial high general. If you, of all people, can’t see the advantage in that—!”

“You want to know what I see? What I truly see before me now, Lorelei?” Ailana spun around in her seat, an uncharacteristic flush high on her light brown cheeks. “I see my oldest friend and ally suddenly ready to shatter into pieces if anything should happen to the man she loves. After years of admiring your power and independence, I see your heart captured and sent out to wander the world, unprotected, in the body of a man who strides onto lethal battlefields by choice. In other words, I see every possibility of tragedy looming ahead of all of us because you couldn’t keep your own emotions locked under control, exactly like what happened before and ruined ev—!” She broke off with a snap, her eyes flaring.

“‘Ruined everything’?” Lorelei straightened against the wall where she sat, her gaze narrowing in on her ally’s face. “What happened to frighten you so badly, Ailana?” she asked quietly. “Back when Saskia first announced her troth with Felix, you told me you believed in true love because you’d seen it … and that was why you took such care to protect yourself against it. Did you mean that you’d experienced it yourself, before we met? Or—?”

“No.” Ailana’s voice was coated in ice. “True love will never be allowed to infect me.”

“Hmm.” Lorelei regarded her skeptically. “Is this related to what you mentioned about knowing the Imperial high priestess in the past? Was she the one—?”

“Enough!” Ailana snapped. She turned back to the ice on her desk, her spine rigid and her words tightly controlled. “I met the high priestess only once, when we were both far too young for that sort of emotional connection. She has nothing to do with this, I promise you. It was another couple who served as my example and taught me a lasting lesson.”

“So…”

“No more, Lorelei.” Ailana’s hands gripped the edges of her desk, new trails of ice spreading out from her clamped fingers to run along the wooden corners and legs. “I’ll watch out for your consort, as promised. Just … don’t ask any more of me right now.”