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Silence fills the tent as several sets of eyes flicker to the emblem on my chest. An answer to their unspoken question.
“But she’s the one who brought the poison!” one of Gaellar’s captains exclaims.
“Queen Neilina is to blame for the poison in Ybaris, regardless of how it arrived. And she should bear the full brunt of everyone’s anger. You have heard many things over the last weeks and months. Some were outright lies, some were exaggerations. Know that what I say to you now is the truth and only that. King Barris was a good ruler. He and I wrote to each other several times over the years. He was a tough negotiator, but he was fair, and his love for Ybaris and its people was deep. We had every intention of honoring our alliance. My father, King Eachann, considered him a friend.” An unexpected lump rises in my throat. “Islor had no part in his death, but I will gladly avenge it.” I look to Kienen, hoping he sees the truth in my declaration.
“Queen Neilina never wanted an alliance and has been working against King Barris’s wishes for years, going so far as to summon Aoife to create a poison meant to kill Islor’s immortals.”
“Yes, her daughter’s blood!” the same captain complains.
“Yes, her daughter. But the Romeria who sits on Ulysede’s throne is not the one she birthed. One only needs to look to her caster abilities to know that. And this Romeria? She is the only being in our entire realm who can help save Islor and Ybaris.”
“King Atticus has declared—”
“King Atticus is not here!” I bellow. “He did not come to help fight Neilina. He did not even answer the rift army’s call for aid!”
A few beats of silence hang.
“And where is Queen Romeria?” another captain asks, looking around the tent. “If she is this powerful key caster who can save us, why is she not here to do so?”
I could have this officer dragged outside and flogged for the way he speaks to me, but it wouldn’t help morale and, besides, he’s right. As much as I don’t want her in immediate danger, Romeria is the best weapon we have.
And she is not here.
I don’t know where she is.
“The queen of Ulysede had another important task to attend to. She will join us when she is able.” It’s a white lie but also the truth. I know Romeria too well to believe she will remain in Ulysede while we are at war.
If there is a way to get here, she will find it.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
ROMERIA
“The wielder of the elements was not long for this world, anyway.” Lucretia weaves around where I sit on the floor, my back against one of the gargoyle statues. I’ve been here for hours while Ulysede’s mortals help settle all those who arrived from Cirilea. Lucretia’s frugal white smock is gone, replaced by gauzy black. She may as well stroll around naked. “I could sense the cracks in her affinities. They were waning quickly.”
“Is that supposed to comfort me?” I would rather Gesine be here as a seer than not at all.
I can’t even tell Zander the horrible news because she’s no longer here to guide the taillok. He would have expected a letter from us this morning. He will be beyond worried about me—the last thing I want for him when his focus needs to remain on the rift.
“She died valiantly in battle. Is that not what these beings strive for?”
“We weren’t in battle. We were running from it.” I don’t feel a millisecond of regret for Boaz’s death. I hope it hurt, but I know he was gone in an instant. “And that’s not what Gesine strived for.” She loved history and knowledge.
She respected prophecy.
She was my friend.
A fresh tear rolls down my cheek.
Lucretia swoops in to catch it with her thumb. “My masters will be here soon. I have your outfit picked for you.” With a sweep of her hand, she draws my attention to a gunmetal gray and gold dress with a fitted bodice. Ethereal-looking feather wings extend beyond its back, reaching halfway to the floor. They remind me of an angel.
I don’t know whether to laugh or scream. In the end, I shake my head. “I’m in tears over my dead friend and you’re trying to get me into a party dress? With wings? Do you seriously not care what is about to happen to all these people?”
“I do not fear as you do.” She stands and glides over to the gown, her fingers running over the steely feathers. “I have faith that the Queen for All will triumph.”
“At what cost?” According to prophecy, I’m supposed to bring peace, but the only thing I seem good at doing is bringing more death. “Besides, Queen Neilina has all the casters.” I’m only one person.
