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Julie sat at the table, watching my aunt with a sour expression on her face, and sipped her coffee.
“Is the office that place where you did a ridiculous dance?”
“Yes.”
“And you have no other dwelling? No palace, no fortress?”
“No.”
“You make me want to stab you.”
“I have that effect on many people.”
“How is it you’re still alive?”
“I’m hard to kill.” I drank my coffee.
“Not that hard.”
“You couldn’t do it.”
“I didn’t really try.”
I looked at her from above the brim of my cup. “You tried. I was there.”
Julie grimaced.
“What’s wrong with you this morning?”
“She doesn’t like my banner.”
Why me? Why? I counted to five in my head.
Curran walked through the kitchen door. “What’s wrong with the banner?”
“It’s blue,” Julie said.
“Why is it blue?” my aunt demanded.
“Because it’s the color of human magic,” Julie said.
“It’s the color of every human mage out there,” Erra snapped. “It’s not fit.”
I raised my hands. “I don’t care about the banner.”
My aunt reached over and smacked me upside the head. Magic exploded against my skull.
“If you do that again, I will drop your knife into a manhole for a few days.”
“Don’t make empty threats,” Erra said. “You won’t survive the next few days without me. When you want to threaten someone, you must mean it.”
“I mean it.”
“You remind me of me.” Erra groaned. “You are the punishment for all my transgressions.”
I smiled at her.
“Always remember you are a queen,” Erra ground out. “Banners are important. They are symbols. When a scared child barely old enough to hold his weapon comes to a field of battle to raise his spear for you, your banner will be the first thing he sees—and the last, as he lies dying, gazing at the sky. Your banner tells him what he is dying for.”
“Well, what banner should I have?”
“You are the only living female within our bloodline. You would inherit In-Shinar from me as I inherited it from my mother, while your father would hold Im-Shinar. The oldest female of our blood always holds In-Shinar and flies its green banner. It is your right.”
“Nobody knows what Shinar is,” Julie said.
“Her father does.”
“Will her father recognize the banner?” Curran said.
“Yes,” Erra said. “He will.”
My father would see the banner of his own family on the other side of the battlefield. It would hammer home the point: he was fighting a civil war.
“Let’s split it,” I said. “Green for Shinar and blue for Atlanta.”
“Green with a blue stripe,” my aunt said.
“Fine,” Julie grumbled.
“Go across the street,” Curran told Julie. “George’s cousin owns a textile shop. See what they can do for us. We need large banners. A lot of large banners.”
“Finally,” Erra said. “Someone who understands. Bring me samples, child. The shade of green must be exact.”
Julie got up, sighed to let us know she was suffering, and left the room.
“This still doesn’t solve the problem of our not having an army,” I said.
“What are Roland’s typical tactics?” Curran asked.
Erra sighed. “He will make a fist out of his troops and punch your Pack fortress with it. Straight-on assault with overwhelming force. Im has been taught tactics and strategy, but he has no interest in it. That’s why he relies on others to lead his armies and only assists when he has to.”
“He would’ve fought Grandmother,” I thought out loud. “She didn’t seem pleased, so it must’ve taken a lot out of him. The last time I saw him, he seemed tired. Then he’ll get home and find a burned-out ruin. That will make him livid. Erra’s right. He will want to crush the Pack with one blow.”
“We need soldiers,” Curran said.
“The Guild won’t fight without a lot of money on the table,” I said. “We can’t afford it.”
“Pay them out of your dowry,” Erra said.
“I have no dowry.”
“Your father will give you a dowry.”
“We are preparing to fight him on the battlefield.”
“Those two things are completely separate,” my aunt said. “No princess of Shinar ever went to her wedding without a dowry.”
“Even if we had the money,” Curran said, “at this point, the mercs aren’t trained to fight as a unit. Give me six months, and we can field them, but right now they would be fodder. We can pick up a few choice fighters from the Guild, but no real numbers to speak of.”
“Fine. Who else do we have?” Erra asked.
“The god of terror and the dark volhv,” I told her.
“The one from yesterday? The handsome one?”
“Yes.” Roman would just love that. He was so disturbed by Erra yesterday, he didn’t even crack any one-liners. He just sat quietly with a freaked-out look on his face when she demanded that we explain the fight to her. I would have to wait for the right moment to drop that one on him.
