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“Lyros is right,” Cassia cut in, “we need to focus on Flavian’s role in our plans.”
Hoyefe crossed his arms, standing back to admire the sketch. “He’s rather appealing, for a Tenebran barbarian. I dare say his sword skills and roguish dimple win hearts all across the kingdom. I can tell there’s a story here.”
Cassia steered them back to the subject. “Flavian doesn’t lack political acumen. His flaw is his desire to please everyone. But we can use that to your advantage, Solia. If he were a more ambitious man, it would be harder to persuade him to give up the plot I constructed for him.”
Solia glanced between the sketch and Lio, but seemed to decide she had more pressing concerns. She plucked a sky-blue pin out of the dish and twirled it between her fingers with quiet menace. “And where is the king?”
“Still inside Solorum Palace,” Lio said, “as far as we know.”
Cassia swallowed. Solorum might be hundreds of miles away, but it didn’t feel far enough. She was on the same continent as the king again.
Yes, she was. And so was Solia. They were closing in on him, she reminded herself.
Solia pinned the capital. “Coward. I look forward to my reunion with my father after all these years. I have such surprises in store for him.”
Cassia was not ready to think that far ahead. If all went according to plan, there would come a moment of reckoning when the king’s fate would be decided. She feared if she delved into her heart too closely, she would find vengeful wishes not befitting a Hesperine peacemaker.
She put a hand on her sister’s. “You must not reveal yourself to Lucis until we are fully prepared to confront him. We must conceal your presence in the kingdom from him and his spies at all costs.”
“Don’t worry,” Solia replied. “I know when to hold my fire. I must first secure the Council’s mandate and win Lord Hadrian away from Lucis. Then I will have the legitimacy and the forces to quell any retaliation he attempts.”
“Lio…” Cassia brought him into the conversation, knowing that Solia would not, although they needed his insights. “How do you think the Mage Orders will respond at that point?”
Solia interjected, “I am keeping my magic a secret for the time being. They will have no grounds to object to me.”
“True,” Lio replied, “and they may decide it is in their best interests to discard the deposed king. It’s possible they will officially recognize the Council’s decision and start courting your favor. They may regard a woman as easier to control, and you can use that miscalculation to your advantage.”
“That mistake will be very dangerous for them,” Solia mused.
Lio hesitated. “It is also possible they will decide that keeping Lucis on the throne is more favorable to their ambitions. We must prevent the Mage Orders from fighting at Lucis’s side in a civil war against you and the Allied Lords.”
“Yes.” On this, Solia did not hesitate to voice her agreement with Lio. “That is not how I want my reign to begin.”
“We can provide you with the bargaining power you will need, if it comes to that.” Lio fixed an orange pin beside the brown and green ones. “Chrysanthos, Dexion of the Aithourian Circle. For his acts of sabotage during the Solstice Summit, we sent him to Tenebra as the Allied Lords’ hostage.”
Solia gave a low whistle.
“What makes this man a valuable prisoner?” Kella asked.
Lio explained, “The Order of Anthros rules supreme over all other Mage Orders, and the Aithourian Circle is a small group within it that holds the greatest power. They control all war mages in the shadowlands. Men with the affinity for fire, lightning, or other magic with battle applications are forced to join the Aithourians in Corona, capital of Cordium.”
Cassia stabbed a pin into Corona, the so-called Divine City. “The Dexion is second-in-command and future successor to the Aithrourians’ leader. But also, secretly, his bastard son.”
Hoyefe shook his head. “Tracing one’s parentage through one’s mother is so much more sensible. But the Tenebrans’ preoccupation with sires and shame is useful to us in this case, I suppose.”
“You have a prize hostage for me, along with secrets I can use to blackmail him?” Solia arched a brow. “This will certainly improve my position if the mages support Lucis…and when it is time to reckon with them about my magic. Have the Orders made any official response to the Council yet?”
Rudhira crossed his arms. “They have quietly provided a war circle of Aithourian mages to reinforce Lord Hadrian’s soldiers.”
When had the envoys brought this bad news? Cassia bit back a curse. “At least we can rely on Lord Hadrian to be unhappy that they’ve been foisted on him.”
“We will have to plan our approach to him carefully.” Lio grimaced.
“Very carefully,” Rudhira warned. “Those Aithourians may well be able to detect you through your veil spells, and they will certainly alert the king to any Hesperine presence.”
“Would you show me where Lord Hadrian’s army is?” Solia handed him a blue pin.
Rudhira placed the pin to the west of Patria, between there and Solorum. “He is entrenched here, a buffer between the lords and the king.”
