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The others turned to me in shock.

I tried to keep the surprise off my own face. Whatever her play was, I decided, I would back it.

“I can’t believe I missed your wedding!” Yudit said. “I’d have written a poem for it.”

“Explain,” the emperor snapped. He didn’t sound happy.

Ilyana was unruffled by his anger. “Sir Jules was the one who captured the Wild Freemartin. I never agreed to all that ‘on behalf of someone else’ nonsense.”

“If ‘Sir Jules’ captured the Freemartin, as you claim,” the emperor said, “then you can’t possibly be legally married. There’s a curse, isn’t there?”

“Ah, but Jules was not a man when the Freemartin was captured,” Ilyana replied without missing a beat. “Nor is Jules a woman now.”

A thunderous frown appeared on his face. “Not a man?” he said. “How very unexpected. I had no idea my army had been…sullied by an impostor in such a way. I wouldn’t have credited it.”

I realized that the emperor had known the consequences of capturing the Freemartin all along. And he hadn’t bothered to warn me. I was also beginning to think that he wasn’t particularly well-disposed toward women. Any women. Although given how many of his own men he’d turned into radishes, I doubted he cared much about their welfare, either.

Asshole.

“Since I also gave Jules the ceremonial ring of the Moersbadian royal family,” Ilyana went on, “that’s enough to seal the marriage.”

The emperor glanced at Dr. Pipt, who nodded assent. It was, apparently, legally valid.

“That ring is on your finger right now,” the emperor said to Ilyana.

“It was returned to me. The initial exchange is what counts. Look,” she said, “I can’t be your bride. But Jules brought me to you, just like you asked, so you should set Yudit free. And I’m not in the northern kingdoms, and never was. So call off the war. There’s no reason for it.”

The emperor’s expression shifted abruptly. He smiled. I could have sworn he was pleased by the way things had turned out.

“Well, now I know you’re lying,” he said in a conversational tone. “No one would voluntarily give up a ring like that one. I suppose it doesn’t matter, not at this point.” He began to walk toward us, fully at ease.

Ilyana’s changeable eyes widened in shock. “What do you know…How do you know about the ring?”

The emperor didn’t answer.

A number of things he’d said that didn’t quite add up suddenly clicked into place. “You never really wanted to marry her.” I stepped in front of Ilyana. “You’re not in love with her, and you’re not after an heir. You’re only after the ring.”

He kicked a low stool out of his way. It crashed into a desk. “Marriage, love, blah blah blah. Who needs it? That ring will increase my fairy gifts a hundredfold. I’ll be undefeatable in battle. My conquest of the north began tonight, and I’ll have seven thousand years of undying rule to get to the rest.” His smile widened into a cheerful grin. “That’s basic math. Nothing shall slay me before I reach the age of three hundred score plus a thousand! So who needs an heir, either?”

He’d never had any intention of calling his troops back. The search for Ilyana—or for her ring, at least—might have been real, but it had also provided him with a handy rallying cry. He’d assembled his vast army for the exact reason everyone had feared. The expansion of his empire across the entire world.

“You flailing mint-sopper,” Ilyana spat. “I’ll never let you have it!”

I plunged my senses into the earth below the building’s wooden floor, waiting for him to come closer. He was still too near Yudit. Any plants that I summoned would wither before they reached him.

I couldn’t afford to make a single mistake. The last time I’d fought him, I’d lost decisively. His fairy gifts made him an incredibly dangerous foe.

Possibly an unbeatable one. Even without the ring, he couldn’t die. Not yet. Not before midnight. Ten minutes couldn’t have passed already. We hadn’t been chatting for nearly that long.

“I suppose I could kill Sir Jules and marry a widow,” he said as he approached. “But to be honest, I’m running out of patience. I’ll just kill you both and take the ring off your corpse.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

The Wonderful Wizard

Ilyana glanced at the door to the vestibule.

“You can call for help, if you want,” the emperor said equably. “They might even come in, despite the standing orders. Who knows? Those are my hand-picked personal guards, though. I don’t particularly want them to see me murdering the most beautiful woman in the world, but if they do, I’ll deal with it.”