AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then we are still in accord?” Cassia asked carefully.
Nivalis looked at her with chilly dignity. “As I said, Caelum is not up for negotiation. But my lord’s vote is.”
Lio watched another thread of their plan unravel before his eyes.
“You would side with Segetia?” Solia asked neutrally.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Lord Deverran answered, “unless my wife receives the answers she needs about her sister’s fate.”
Cassia had been right. Nivalis was too clever.
Lio mentally tallied the votes they thought they could win, those they knew were lost to Flavian, and many more that were still in flux. In every prediction they had made about the outcome of the Council, they had counted on Deverran abstaining or siding with Solia. They could not afford for him to change sides.
Cassia kept her composure. “We heard the news about Pakhne from Mage Ariadne. I’m so sorry, truly. I know the pain of losing a sister. After going to Orthros with Pakhne, I feel her loss.”
“Don’t you dare,” Nivalis snapped. “Do not sit there with your carefully crafted words and twist the truth. Pakhne, exhaust her magic healing one woman in childbirth? Impossible. I was there the night her magic first manifested. She and our mother and I were all worn to the bone from caring for our younger siblings through the frost fever. Mother and I fell ill first. Only Pakhne seemed immune. We were on the brink of death when it happened—her healing rushed out of her upon all of us.” Nivalis took a breath to compose herself, and Deverran gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “She saved our mother’s life and mine. She kept our siblings with us long enough for everyone to say goodbye. She wasn’t even ill, after doing that for five people.”
Lio swallowed, his throat aching. Oh, Goddess. Nivalis had already buried the rest of her siblings. Pakhne had been the only one left.
“I deserve the truth,” Nivalis said.
Cassia blinked rapidly. “Your questions are better addressed to Pakhne’s temple sisters. Why would we know what befell her?”
That was the piece that didn’t fit. Lio had to surface from this empathy and think.
“It is not important how I know,” Lady Nivalis replied. “But I do know you were all in Lord Hadrian’s camp when it happened.”
Who could have told her? Trying to heed Cassia’s earlier warning, he thought of which Tenebran mortals had known the truth. Only Lord Hadrian, who had made it clear he was in no position to communicate with Nivalis’s family.
The realization struck Lio, horrifying and obvious.
The Collector knew.
Carefully and swiftly, Lio swept a spell over Nivalis and Deverran. He sensed no influence from the Mage of Dreams.
But he didn’t need to possess them to whisper in their ears. After the Collector had abandoned Pakhne’s body and fled, he could have used any number of his servants to tell Lady Nivalis what had happened. A trusted soldier. A dear handmaiden. A friend, a relative.
What remained of Pakhne’s family was ensnared in the Collector’s web. Lio owed it to her to do his best to protect them.
He stepped out of the shadows and dropped his veil. Lady Nivalis nearly jumped out of her skin, and Lord Deverran’s hand went to his sword.
Solia held up a hand, glowering at Lio. “This is Ambassador Deukalion, our ally from Orthros. He is here to protect us.”
“Protect us?” Lady Nivalis faced him. “Nothing has been the same since Pakhne went to your godsforsaken land. What did you do to her?”
Cassia opened her mouth—to defend him, he knew—but then stopped herself. Silently, he thanked her for letting him choose his own words.
“You are right. You deserve the truth.” At least, as much of it as Lio could give her. “Did Pakhne tell you of the necromancer who visited Orthros with the other mages?”
“Yes,” Nivalis said. “The Gift Collector. The one who sabotaged the negotiations. Lord Flavian says he has killed here already. Does he have something to do with this?”
“Yes.”
“It’s your fault that he’s here. You Hesperines. Why else would he come, if not to hunt you? But why would he hurt Pakhne?” Nivalis dragged a hand across her eyes, as if she hated her own tears. “She truly believed in the treaty. She tried to protect you, didn’t she?”
“No,” Lio said, “I tried to protect her. You have my word, Lady Nivalis. I did everything in my power to save her.”
“Then why didn’t you?” she cried.
