“Ah, don’t I wish?” Estalia said, her voice teasing as Rose blushed, and she made a beckoning gesture. “Come along. I’d like you to hear this as soon as is possible.”
Rose nodded and followed the beautiful succubus, glancing at Isalla as they stepped out into the beautiful hallways of the palace. Isalla had been exercising her wings, as Rose recalled, and after a moment she asked. “How are your wings doing?”
“They’re sore, mostly,” Isalla said, reaching back to brush the leading edge of one wing, a wry smile on her face. “I thought having them back would solve everything, but their muscles didn’t recover nearly as much as the rest of my body. I can manage about five minutes of flight right now. The healers think that’ll rapidly recover, though, since our wings are meant to recover from damage quickly.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Rose said, relief rushing through her. “I was afraid it might take you longer to recover, to be honest. I’ve heard of angels who couldn’t fly for months after a regeneration.”
“Really? I hadn’t,” Isalla said, looking startled. They were passing into the nicer parts of the palace, Rose noticed, where she knew that Estalia’s private chambers were. She only knew that because it was where she and Isalla were staying at the moment.
“It’s common because some people get the thought in their head that they can’t fly after they’ve lost their wings, and it becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Estalia replied absently, startling them with her interjection. “I’ve run into it before, and it’s why I made certain to have the healers tell you that you could fly from the beginning. Better to try and not get far than to have you cripple yourself.”
“That’s… interesting. I hadn’t heard of that before,” Rose murmured thoughtfully considering the different perspective, which prompted a laugh from Estalia.
“I’m speaking from experience, sadly. My mother, though… she had no patience for my whining,” the queen said, her voice a bit playful. “I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I remembered how to fly quite quickly when she threw me off a tower. She did have a mage ready to arrest my fall if it turned out I couldn’t fly, but it wasn’t necessary.”
“That’s terrible!” Isalla exclaimed, her eyes widening with shock that Rose felt echo through her.
“Take care not to say that to her face, if you have the dubious pleasure of meeting her,” Estalia cautioned, glancing over her shoulder. “She is far, far less forgiving than I am. Even if she agrees with my goals, Mother is… a product of her time. And her time was filled with warfare.”
“I see,” Rose murmured, a little unsettled by the idea. She remembered that Estalia had said that she was the third of her family to bear her mantle, but she hadn’t really put thought into her mother being alive.
“In any case, now we have information to share,” Estalia said, opening a door to a sitting room and stepping inside, holding the door for them. Rose stepped inside and almost stopped, staring at the woman in the room.
Inside the room was the leader of the angels who’d attacked them, the same angel who’d shot Kitania with the arrow that had taken her away. The angel was wearing a supremely simple shift, but she wasn’t in chains or restrained in any way. That startled Rose, but not as much as how the angel was kneeling, her head bowed so her dark hair obscured most of her face and her wings pulled in close. Rose would have expected the woman to have tried to escape, yet all she was doing was kneeling there, instead of spitting curses like she had been the last time Rose had seen her.
“This is Eziel. She was the leader of the angels who attacked all of you… and she deeply regrets what she’s done,” Estalia explained gently, closing the door and walking over to the angel, gently brushing a lock of hair behind the woman’s ear, who shivered at the touch. “She told me everything she knows, though sadly it wasn’t nearly as much as I’d like.”
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Eziel said, her voice trembling with anxiety. “I wish I could have told you more.”
Rose approached slowly, and didn’t even consider sitting, not when she was in armor and under circumstances like these. Isalla seemed to have the same opinion, since she stood next to Rose nervously, her arms crossed. Rose didn’t feel comfortable, and Eziel’s attitude unsettled her.
Glancing at Isalla, Rose asked quietly, almost dreading the answer, “So, what did you learn?”
“First of all, the arrow which struck Kitania wasn’t meant for her. Originally it was intended for me,” Estalia explained, and Rose saw Eziel flinch and cower a little lower at the explanation. “She wasn’t told much about it, unhappily. Apparently, it’s something one of their artificers had been working on, to pierce almost any defense, then to teleport the victim into the defenses of a mortal god. She simply doesn’t know which god. Isn’t that right, Eziel?”
“That… that’s correct, Your Majesty. They didn’t want me to have too much information, just to be safe,” Eziel admitted softly, looking up, and Rose almost recoiled at the tears in the woman’s eyes, along with obvious regret. “I’m sorry I shot her, Your Majesty. If I’d known what I know now… I never would have fired the arrow. I’m sorry.”
“I know you are,” Estalia said, patting the woman on the head gently, almost like a pet.
There was something horrifying about the situation, Rose realized. Estalia… she was going through the motions of comforting Eziel, yet there was a slight distance that Rose hadn’t seen in Estalia’s actions before. Her sincerity was usually palpable, and yet now… now the queen seemed to barely be tolerating the fawning attention and sorrow of the angel. She really was upset about what happened to Kitania, Rose realized. On the other hand, what had happened to Eziel was almost worse now that she saw the result. Rose hadn’t believed Kitania when she described how Estalia could use her power as a weapon. She hadn’t really believed Estalia either, not fully. But the difference between the fiery, angry angel that had attacked Rose and what Eziel was now… it brought home just how deadly Estalia could be. Rose didn’t hate Estalia, but it made her wonder a little.
“Now then, explain to Isalla and Rose what you were told to do to them, and what you know about your superiors and their plots,” Estalia directed gently. “I want you to explain yourself properly. Then I’ll consider forgiving you, Eziel.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, right away!” Eziel replied quickly, then took a deep breath as she looked at Isalla and Rose almost desperately, beginning to speak. “I was a member of the Society of Golden Dawn, a group of angels who believes that the Holy Council has become corrupt, and too willing to allow the influence of the hells to continue existing. I… was a fervent believer, until Her Majesty taught me how wrong I was. I was willing to do anything to wipe out the denizens of the hells, as well as any angels or mortals who stood in our way. I was told that we had multiple archangels in the society, as well as a minority of the council, and a new deity on our side, an archangel god called the Lord of Light.
“I’d never met him, of course. I was a former guard captain on Haven, and worked to quietly recruit others to the cause, at least until I was contacted by Sorm.” Eziel paused to take a breath, her gaze lowering to the ground again. “Sorm was one of the two superiors in the Society that I knew personally, and he was in charge of military matters. He’d just returned from the Evergardens, I know that much, and he gathered together sixteen of us and gave us our orders. We were sent to Firewatch to get information about you, Roselynn, and when we had a good idea of where you were, we were to enter the hells and assassinate you, retrieving Ember if possible. Along the way, we were to kill Isalla as well, and if… if Her Majesty got in the way, to use the arrow to eliminate her.”
“Sixteen? I only saw fifteen of you,” Isalla interrupted, her eyes narrowing slightly, focusing on a detail that Rose had missed. “Was one of you hiding?”
“Hiding? No, no!” Eziel’s gaze rose quickly as she shook her head vehemently, and Rose relaxed slightly at the protest. “No, when we realized that we wouldn’t h
ave to enter the palace, after some discussion we had the items which would have allowed us to breach the wards returned to the heavens. They were too heavy and bulky to transport easily, and it wasn’t worth the risk of them being found if they weren’t necessary. I kept the arrow just in case.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Your group was fairly powerful, but it wasn’t strong enough to face an elite guard of demons. Four of them took your group down,” Rose said, tapping her knee restlessly as she tried to make sense of what Eziel was saying. She was also tamping down her anger at the sinister plot. It was bad enough that they were planning to murder her and Isalla, but Estalia as well? That made it even worse. “Even then, escaping would have been incredibly difficult.”
“We weren’t prepared. The plan was for us to let the demon who was scouting leave, then we were going to use spells to help ensure our success and properly coordinate. Instead, Bradien attacked her when we weren’t prepared and threw our plans into chaos,” Eziel explained guiltily, lowering her gaze again. “As for escaping, we were to send a message to Sorm and they were going to open a portal to the heavens directly above the gate between Hragon and the hells. Choris was the one who knew how to message them, though, and you killed him.”
“To be fair, their skill didn’t have to be perfect to have a chance of success, Rose,” Estalia spoke softly, looking at Rose in obvious concern. “If they had arrived in the city and stayed hidden, then waited for you to visit one of the outer gardens without your armor, they very well might have been able to strike and flee successfully. Oh, we’d have pursued, but there’s no guarantee that we’d have caught up, if they had spellcasters who were prepared. An assassination is far different than a full-scale assault.”
“True,” Isalla said, chewing her lower lip nervously for a moment. After a few moments, she looked at Eziel angrily, asking bluntly, “Why did they want us silenced, anyway? What is it that they’re planning?”
“I… I don’t know,” Eziel said, looking down at the floor again. “I was just told that we couldn’t afford to have anyone who might know something dangerous out there, so you two were to be eliminated. That was it.”
“Of course it was,” Rose said, feeling a little sour as she scowled. “No wonder you said that none of the information could be acted on, Your Majesty.”
“None can be acted on now, but Eziel has contacts among the Society. She knows a few names, and that… that is something to investigate,” Estalia said, smiling thinly as she looked up at Rose. “It also means that I don’t have to unleash my full wrath on Firewatch since they weren’t directly involved. I’ll do my best to have them captured, Rose, and if at all possible, they’ll remain unharmed. Now, you have a decision to make.”
“What’s that?” Isalla asked, her eyebrows rising as Estalia’s statement drew her attention.
“As I said, Eziel has some contacts who you could use to investigate. There are a handful of people that I’d trust to guard you should you decide to follow the leads, and the sooner you follow up, the more likely you are to reach them before the Society thinks to clean up loose ends,” Estalia said, and brushed Eziel’s hair with her fingers again as she added, “I’m going to ask Veldoran if he can ward Eziel so she seems dead to divinations, but there’s no way to know if it will work. In any case, the other option is to wait until we’ve found Kitania. It would give the two of you more time to prepare, and me more time to get Isalla’s new armor completed. Each has their advantages, I will not lie. What you choose is up to you.”
“We wait,” Rose said promptly, looking at Isalla to ensure she agreed before continuing. “Acting without properly preparing was what got our enemies into this situation. We need to be sure we’re ready before we act. There are simply too few of us in comparison.”
“That’s true. But what about her? If you’re going to fake her being dead…” Isalla asked, looking at Eziel. Rose couldn’t blame Isalla for the mixed feelings she could see on her lover’s face. She both pitied and hated Eziel herself, after all.
“She has information that can be useful, and if they think she’s dead, they’re less likely to try to get rid of her contacts,” Estalia explained, then added with a wicked smile, “Also, as recompense for her extremely displeasing actions, once I’ve found and freed Kitania, Eziel is going to be her loyal servant for as long as they both live. Unless Kitania doesn’t want her, in which case she’ll return to me for my judgment. Which will be far less forgiving if she manages to alienate Kitania.”
“I’ll do my best not to disappoint you, Your Majesty,” Eziel said quickly, her head bowing still more. “I promise, I’ll do everything I can to make her happy with my service.”
“Good girl,” Estalia said almost absently, and Rose winced internally at Estalia’s tone.
“I think that we’d best try to put together what information we can. Is there any way we can get the help of your spymaster or such, Your Majesty?” Rose asked, frowning thoughtfully as she focused on the more important matter. “We’ll also need what names Eziel can provide, to see if we can figure out anything more.”
“I also know the names of some of the members of the Holy Council who were visiting the Evergardens,” Isalla offered nervously. “That might help correlate things a little.”
“An excellent idea. I’ve had Eziel write down the names she has, but before going any further I wish to ensure she’s as undetectable as we can manage. I don’t want to lose what leads we have at this stage,” Estalia said, her mood obviously improving. “Why don’t the two of you go get changed, or at least Rose, and I’ll send someone to find you?”
“Sure, I can do that,” Rose agreed, and Isalla nodded.
“That seems like an excellent idea,” Isalla said, looking at Rose with a bit of relief in her gaze.
“Good. Come along, Eziel. We have precautions to take,” Estalia said, gesturing at the angel.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Eziel replied, hopping to her feet and following Estalia from the room obediently. Rose watched them go, not entirely happy about the situation.
“That… was a little terrifying. She made it look so easy to do that to her,” Isalla said, her voice quiet.
“I’m not sure how easy it was, but you’re right about it being frightening,” Rose replied, shaking her head with just a bit of sorrow. “Remember, we’re only seeing the aftermath. On the other hand… remember how Kitania told us that she could use her power as a weapon?”
“Oh. Of course… that makes a lot more sense,” Isalla said, sounding a little subdued. Then she turned to look at Rose, worry in her eyes. “But… that also means she could do that to us, Rose.”
“Could, yes. But do you really think she would? She doesn’t seem to like the result, if you didn’t notice,” Rose replied, nodding at the door the two had passed through. Her feelings were mixed where Eziel was concerned, but she still trusted Estalia. Her faith in the queen was simply less absolute now.
“I suppose not, but… it worries me,” Isalla admitted softly.
“For good reason,” Rose agreed, and she hesitated before drawing Isalla into an embrace. It wasn’t the most comfortable hug, considering her armor, but at least it allowed her to be there for Isalla.
Chapter 5
Kitania resisted the urge to hum to herself, since she’d noticed it irritated Maura. Most of the other guards weren’t as friendly as Maura was, so she didn’t mind annoying them a little, but Kitania didn’t want to antagonize a person who wasn’t mean to her, like a few of the others could be. The day that one of them had decided to leave her food tray just out of reach had been… annoying. Fortunately, the woman hadn’t counted on how flexible Kitania was, and she’d been able to drag it into reach without spilling any of the water.
Fortunately, that hadn’t been long before Hanrith had arrived with a mage in tow, and the two had used truthtelling magic on Kitania before doing their best to interrogate her. She’d kept her answers short and to the point, and had ignored the pr
obing questions that went beyond how she’d gotten to the courtyard and what her intentions were. If they wanted to know where she was from, they could damned well ask. It felt strange to realize that had only been the previous day, but Kitania was doing everything she could to avoid going out of her mind from boredom. Or from showing weakness in front of the guards, for that matter, which was getting easier, almost like her emotions were going numb.
“Hm?” Kitania looked up as she heard the faint sound of footsteps, but these were different than normal. Most of those who came into the hall wore boots, though the mage had worn slippers. These had the distinct clicking sound of heels, which was new, and possibly meant an end to her boredom was coming.
A moment later, Maura looked up, and her eyes went wide as she stood quickly and saluted, then bowed her head as she spoke. “Your Grace!”
Kitania hesitated, then began to stand, curious just who the goddess whose domain she entered was. Then the woman stepped into sight, and Kitania’s thoughts came to a gibbering, screeching halt as she blanched and took a step back against the wall, whispering softly. “Ah, hellfire and brimstone…”
The woman who had stepped into sight was an elf, like those that Kitania had seen so far, but she was taller than they were. Even without her heels, which added an inch or two to her height, she would’ve been about six feet tall, and the elf had wavy red hair that fell to the middle of her back, while her eyes were a glowing leaf-green. The woman was pale-skinned and beautiful, with the slim body type of most elves, but she wasn’t quite as slim as Maura or the others Kitania had seen. She also was wearing a tight green dress that would allow her to move easily, embroidered with extensive copper patterns across the surface of the dress, and a belt at her side held a slim sword and a horn.
Kitania knew better than to underestimate the woman, though, because she could feel the aura around the woman, the mortal goddess. And she recognized her, which made the situation even worse as more than a little terror rushed through her.
Mortal Gods (Mantles of Power Book 2) Page 5
