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“Yes, it does,” Neil said, grasping Peter’s hand, then raising it to his lips for a kiss.
That wasn’t enough for Peter. He smiled at Neil as though Neil had been responsible for the sun rising that morning, then leaned into him and gave him a loud, sloppy kiss.
“Ugh, you two,” Ox growled. She stood, throwing her napkin down on the table. “You’re disgusting. I can’t stomach the sight any longer. I’m going back down to the boat to see if I can convince Captain Andreas to take me home before I vomit, or before someone grabs me and shoves me in a dress.”
I laughed. Ox was deeply entertaining when she was disgusted by things. Whether she’d come to a new understanding with her father or not, I could tell from the lack of real tension in her body that her trip to Good Port wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be.
As soon as Ox and Katrina, who got up to go with her, left the room, I glanced across to Peter and Neil again, and then Jace when it became clear Peter and Neil were off in their own little world, and asked, “Where is Magnus?”
“He’s at the meetings with Olympus and the others,” Lefric answered me before Jace could, which clearly annoyed Jace.
“They didn’t want to delay getting started with negotiations,” Jace continued from there. “Magnus and Jorgen both want to talk things through as quickly as they can, because both are eager to get home to the kingdoms they’re supposed to be ruling.”
“And to make certain everyone knows about the faire in ten days,” Sebald said. “Though I think they’re cutting it far too close for it to be much of a faire. People from places like Meadowbrook and Edikton aren’t going to be able to get there in time.”
“At least they’re trying to do something to throw the cities a bone,” Jace said with a shrug.
“I know this is probably a stupid question,” I went on, “but has anyone heard anything else about the eastern forest or General Rufus and his plans?”
My friends paused in the middle of eating or drinking—or kissing, in the case of Peter and Neil—to stare at me.
“You’re the one who knows all about that,” Lefric said. “I never would have imagined that one of King Julius’s main generals would turn on him.”
“Technically, he isn’t turning on King Julius,” Sebald said. “It sounds like he’s just abandoning him.”
“And destroying the mountain pass,” Lefric said. He glanced to me again. “Is there anything else you haven’t told us about how or when exactly he plans to do that? I mean, I know you said before the snows start, but how soon before? Right away? When the first flakes fall?”
“He was in Seymchan briefly when we were all first captured,” I said with an uncomfortable shrug. “So it can’t be immediately.”
“Unless he’s already got men and maybe a second keeping them in line positioned in or around the pass,” Sebald said, his brow creased in thought.
“If you ask me, we should just let him destroy the pass,” Jace said, stabbing a sausage on his plate with particular glee. Gennadi arched one eyebrow at him silently. “It would be best for us all,” Jace responded to him as though he’d shouted a lengthy argument. He glanced to the rest of us and said, “The Old Realm is a problem we don’t need if we’re to do what Magnus wants to do and concentrate on building up the strength of the frontier. I say we let General Rufus take care of that problem for us.”
“I think I actually agree,” I said. We would have to worry about General Rufus, to be sure, but not right away.
“We have to find a way to get word to Conrad that he needs to come home immediately,” Neil said.
Those simple words brought everyone at the table to silence.
Conrad. He was the one thing in the Old Realm that needed saving. He was the one person all of us might have cared about more than King Julius or General Rufus—or any leader of another kingdom anywhere on the frontier or beyond—and he was the one person none of us had the ability to reach.
“We need to send him a letter right now, warning him about what’s to happen,” Lefric said, banging his fist on the table.
“But if we send him a letter and that letter is intercepted, wouldn’t King Julius have enough warning to stop General Rufus and to send another army into the frontier?” Neil asked.
Peter let out a breath and said, “Honestly, between Hadrian’s death and everything happening right now, right here, there’s a very good chance spies are already on their way to the Old Realm to inform King Julius about it all.”
“So….” Lefric began, a nauseated look hitting his face. “So you’re saying there’s a chance that spies will tell King Julius what’s happening? And if they do, I bet General Rufus will find out.”
“And he’ll destroy the mountain pass immediately instead of waiting for the snows,” Jace said, his eyes going wide.
We were all struck dumb as we realized what that meant. Conrad was already trapped in the Old Realm. None of us could warn him what was happening before it already happened.
“How did people cross the mountains to get into the frontier in the first place, before the pass was constructed?” Sebald asked in a quiet, worried voice.
None of us answered him. We were all thinking the same thing. In order for Conrad to get home, he was going to have to literally climb a mountain. Or maybe sail all the way around the continent to Good Port. Either of those things took years. It would be years until we saw Conrad again, years until the Sons were all back together.
If we ever were.
