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I swallowed considerably; afraid no words would surface from my rapidly drying mouth. “In my defense, she tried to hack offmy leg. I apologize if you are offended.”
“Oh, no.” Tyr shook his head with amusement. “Quite the opposite. Being the General, I’m partial to a good brawl. I train some of the sea folk in the terrace levels of this castle. I thought if it were true, you might be interested in joining us for some practice.”
I did not hide the direction of my gaze as it moved from the tops of his curled hair to the white shine of his boots. There was nothing in his posture that would give away exactly why he would offer to train what would be his lover’s adversary. Under the pressure of my scrutiny, the immortal shifted back even further into the seat, the perfect display of male bravado.
Harmless, to be sure. So, I agreed.
“Kalen has been saying I need to get back into the swing of things. So if the Queen allows it, I would enjoy a chance to spar with you.”
“Fantastic,” he said with a playful wink. I blushed back deeply.
Tyr raised in his seat next to me, his mouth next to my ear as I held completely still. “Just between us girls, Aconitia deserves far more than your fist in her face,” he confessed. His voice was like molten sap, so hot that it warmed my cheeks and so sweet that I didn’t feel I could pull away. From his seat across the table, Kalen gave me a swift kick to my calf.
“I do apologize for taking such drastic measures, Preserver,” Ione spoke up from the head of the table. “After hearing of your arrival into my faction, I should have simply offered an invitation. I fear that our last conversation left me sure neither you nor Gwynore would come on your own accord, so I did what I deemed necessary.”
“Kidnapping us was necessary?” I couldn’t help myself. Pulling away from Tyr’s charms, I sat up straight against my chair to look at the High Mer. I knew I was being untoward, but that seemed to be the course among the three of us.
“In terms of diplomacy, yes it was.”
Kalen sneered. “I won’t hold it against you, High Mer. We were on our way to the palace, and it is nice to see that a Sage still adheres to the pomp and circumstance of war.”
At that proclamation, Tyr straightened in his seat, his expression dead-panning to utter seriousness. Most of the other guests also became static, and side chatter dropped at once. For a moment, Ione’s eyes brightened across the table.
“War,” she said in a tight voice, then licked some of the wine from her lips. “You are certainly getting ahead of yourself, Preserver.”
Kalen didn’t miss a beat. “Far be it from me to cause alarm, but as queen surely you can see the path we are headed down. You and your family make a habit of disagreeing with each other which in turn makes a job of fighting in your honor for the rest of us.”
“Yes...” Ione chewed, though she had nothing upon her tongue. It was a subconscious habit I doubt she even knew she had. But I kept count of it as she thought through her next words carefully. “Yes, I guess you are right,” she conceded. “Disagreements between the Sages have been known to cause fallout within the factions. But this particular hardship is unlike those we have suffered before.”
“How so?” Kalen uncrossed his ankles, raising forward, curious.
“It is singular in the respect that it is a family matter. Nothing else.”
“I didn’t realize the partygoers of Leoth, and so many other factions that attended our last ball were of familial relation.” His face, so carefully composed moments ago, let in a small dimple at his cheek. “You must have many,manycousins, Ione.”
The dinner party turned to each other with perplexed glances. Some of the lords and ladies then turned their faces towardstheir queen, hiding their outright confusion, but only mildly. No one, it seemed, knew anything of what had happened in Leoth. Which was impossible.
Ione, herself, was present when the first fatal arrow had made its landing. And even if she did not know the extent to which Leoth had been devastated, nearly three weeks had passed since the attack. If rumor of my return had reached the coast, then news of Sythe’s attack on the Light faction should not have been far behind. Ione shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of so many, and it was the only moment since I’d met her that she seemed to cower. She looked down to her lap, refolding her dinner napkin. The moment was fleeting, and Ione rediscovered her footing.
“I had heardrumorof a very devastating attack in Leoth,” she said, the other’s at the table meeting her with gasps and whispered, “Oh, dear’s,” as the she continued, “but I was not sure how reliable such a rumor was until you confirmed it this very moment, Preserver.”
Kalen said nothing, but nodded his head and offered an undignified, “Ah.”
“I must offer my apologies and condolences to your faction—”
“I must say I would rather you offer your support.”
Ione scoffed. “Your frustration is valid, Kalen, but you know what it is to rule. Many suffered in Leoth, some from my faction as well, and despite the fact she is my sister, I cannot control the Shadow Sage any more than you can. To choose a side would be to offer Aegedonia up for retaliation. I say that not even you would take that risk if you were in my position.”
“No. I would not,” Kalen agreed. Ione’s shoulders pulled back even tighter against her frame. “That is, if I thought that the sacrifice of even one of my people was worth the lives of many.”
“That is a principle by which most rule, Preserver,” was Ione’s reply. Her hands came up from her lap, the napkin she’d takenthe time to neatly fold now crumpled in her left fist against the table. “You should know thatany of the choices I have made and will make, whether you deem them right or wrong, are to protect my throne and my people’s livelihoods.”
Kalen did not answer, he did not need to. He was smart enough to let the High Mer bury herself. Her words were far from an admission that she’d had a hand in the attack on Leoth, but combined with the fact that she had hidden such an occurrence from the noblemen of Aegedonia—from her General for Mother’s sake—well…
The people of Aegedonia would never think anything of it, the noble families may become suspicious, but they would hold that suspicion close to their hearts for fear of being dubbed traitors. But Kalen…Kalen would know. Furthermore, I would know. Even if that was the thinnest rope by which we could hang her, Ione’s favor with her own people now hung precariously in the balance. And a queen’s favor was her fate.
Ione of all people had to have known this. Had to have been thinking of it all the while she stared down the Preserver, taking stock, trying to decide whether he was worth the risk.
