by Elise Kova
“My Lord, forgive me for troubling you so early.” Vi dipped into a low bow as Ophain answered his door. “Lord Twintle’s son has come calling for you.”
“Ah, yes, that is this morning.” Ophain looked back into his room where food still sat out amid a mess of papers.
“I’ve placed him in the sitting room. Do take your time, my lord. He’ll be comfortable while he waits.”
“Thank you, Yullia.” Ophain smiled at her. It was a wide, toothy expression. Whenever he smiled, all similarities with her father vanished.
“You’re welcome.”
Vi dismissed herself, but rather than heading back to Luke, she trusted the guard to do his job and instead headed for Deneya’s office. She didn’t like the fact that Luke was here, and if anyone would have a clue as to why, it’d be Deneya.
She knocked on Deneya’s door and waited. Then knocked again when there was no reply. Vi checked her watch. It was late for the woman not to have arrived yet. Luke’s presence was making her paranoid and Vi’s mind ran through every possibility of misfortune that could’ve befallen Deneya before she showed up.
“You had me worried.” The words burst from Vi as she nearly ran the length of the hall to the woman who’d just emerged from the spiral stairwell. Deneya blinked at her, startled.
“Worried? Why?” Deneya glanced around before adding under her breath, “And aren’t you usually the worrisome one?”
“Exactly, don’t take my title.” Vi fell into step beside the woman. “Now, unlock your office, I have something I need to ask you.”
“Say please.” Deneya stopped at the door, grinning at her.
“Please,” Vi said sweetly, batting her eyelashes.
“All right, in with you.”
Vi stepped inside, spinning in place to hold out an eager hand. “Do you have today’s matters?”
“I grabbed it from Ophain before coming here.” Deneya slid a slip of paper from the stack she held and handed it to Vi.
“So you saw Ophain, then. Did you see Luke, too?”
“Luke? Why would I?” Deneya asked, but then immediately followed up with, “Oh…”
“Oh? Oh, what?”
Deneya sighed, cursing under her breath in a tongue Vi didn’t recognize. She went behind her desk, setting down the satchel. “That explains it, then,” she mumbled, rummaging through the bag.
“Explains what? You seem to be having a very good conversation with yourself. Care to share?”
“Yes, sorry.” Deneya handed Vi another letter. On the outside was a broken wax seal. The wax was black, imprinted with two swords fesswise—the Twintle family crest.
Vi scanned the papers, reading aloud. She didn’t know if Deneya had the chance to read them yet, and the woman seemed to appreciate it when Vi offered another set of eyes.
“Lord Twintle has cast off his fleet for Oparium… seeks to establish a trade route with the South…” Her attention drifted to the docket for the day’s council meeting. “Councilor Luke, maritime.” Vi returned the papers to Deneya. “So Twintle is gone, and Luke is here in his stead.”
Deneya nodded. “Everything happened quickly last night. Though I can’t say why.”
“What did you find out?” Vi asked. Deneya had continued to case the city at night for information, searching in areas Vi didn’t have time for.
“Twintle had business on the seas, so he left.” Business by itself wasn’t particularly alarming. But when it came to the Knights of Jadar, Vi was suspicious of every movement. “It makes sense Luke is operating in his stead.”
Vi sighed. “I suppose it does. But I still don’t like it.”
“He’s likely just trying to move some of those rubies you found.”
“I’m worried it’s more than that.” Vi tapped her knuckles on Deneya’s desk in thought.
“How so?”
“In his last meeting with the Knights, he said he was trying to work with Adela to get the sword.”
“What? You didn’t think to mention the pirate queen’s involvement before now?” Deneya rounded the desk. “That seems rather important.”
“Things were quiet, the sword is gone and should be on its way to the East by now.” Vi shook her head. “I continued to hope that the mention of working with Adela was merely the ravings of a madman seeking to make himself look stronger and more influential than he actually is.”
“You’re right about Twintle being a madman.” Deneya folded her arms. “Mad enough to actually go through with it.”
“And if he’s gone out to sea, there’s a possibility you’re right.” Vi cursed under her breath. “Keep a close ear on the ground for any indication of Adela’s actions.”
Deneya nodded. “Though I suspect she won’t step foot on this continent herself… She has middle men for that.”
“Good.” Because if Vi saw her again, she just might kill her this time.
“There’s one other thing,” Deneya cautioned.
“Tell me it’s good news. I could use some.”
Deneya shook her head solemnly. “Your name is being whispered among the Knights.”
“My name?” Vi wished she could be more surprised. But she’d toed the line too boldly with Twintle following the warehouse incident.
“Not much else. But they’re cautious and suspicious about you. Be careful, and trust no new friends.”
Vi gave a bitter laugh. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m skeptical of everyone.”
“Even me?” Deneya arched her eyebrows.
“Even you,” Vi replied, though the words didn’t ring entirely true. Deneya had worked her way underneath Vi’s barriers. Just as Fiera and Zira had.
“You’re usually better at lying than that.” Deneya gave her a sly grin. Vi snorted in reply.
“Don’t push your luck.” She started for the door. “I’ll see you at the council meeting.”
“Drinks tomorrow?” Deneya asked, as though they were casual friends and not allies discussing espionage.
“Usual time and place,” Vi replied and stepped out of the woman’s office, bracing herself for the council meeting.
“You have to relax at some point,” Taavin scolded. “Being on edge all the time is killing you.”
“Being on edge keeps me alive,” Vi muttered. She was laid back on her bed, her head in his lap as he rubbed small circles into her temples. Even with the quiver of magic between the pads of his fingers and her skin, his touch could still relax her.
“It’s been, what, six weeks since Zira left?”
“Just over five.”
“Five, then. No real movements from the Knights of Jadar, Fiera is well, Zira is alive.”
“I don’t know for sure if Zira is alive.” She wished she’d found a way to communicate with the woman. No contact was for the best—it kept both of them and the sword safe.
“I have a feeling you’d know if she wasn’t.”
“How?” Vi opened her eyes, looking up at the man hovering over her.
He still had the crescent-shaped scar on his cheek—a mark of his old life. All of Vi’s scars had vanished when she had been reborn in this new age. Her body was unblemished in its remade form. Some part of her envied the man for retaining his marks. Her scars had been like war medals, showing all she had survived.
“I just do.” Taavin shrugged.
“Helpful.” Vi allowed her gaze to go unfocused as her eyelids dipped closed once more.
“When are you going to reunite with her and the sword, again?”
“Once I’m confident Fiera is safe. Likely after my father is born.” The statement had an odd ring to it, since Vi knew the Aldrik who would be born wasn’t really her father—her real father was lost with an old world. Her mind knew the truth, but her emotions were still catching up. “Fiera seems ready to pop any day now. Shortly after she gives birth, there will be a blessing on the child. I’ve already asked Fiera to start letting it slip around servants that the Sword of Jadar has gone missing and
lament over how it won’t be present for the blessing.”
“You intend to drive the Knights from the city, and away from Fiera, by letting them know the sword is elsewhere.”
“That’s my hope.”
“And you think the servants can get word back to the Knights?”
Vi bobbed her head yes. If Deneya was to be believed, word was getting out of the castle somehow. The most obvious break in the chain would be a servant, someone easily overlooked by most nobles.
“Everything just has to stay according to—” Vi was interrupted by a knock on her door.
“Who’s that?” Taavin whispered.
“I don’t know,” Vi mumbled. “Stay out of sight. I’ll release the glyphs if someone’s about to come in.”
He nodded, stepping into a corner of her bedroom as Vi side-stepped through the sliding screens into her sitting area. She opened the door to find an unfamiliar servant waiting there, a letter rested on a silver tray.
“Apologies for bothering you. A courier arrived with this and said it was of supreme importance.”
“What type of courier?” Vi asked, picking up the letter. It was folded into thirds, a wax blob holding it closed. There was no insignia to indicate who it might be from.
“A city courier. I have no other information, m’lady.” The young man bowed. “Good evening.”
“Good evening,” Vi replied before locking the door behind him.
“A letter?” Taavin asked as he emerged.
“Yes, and a strange one at that. It’s sealed, but there’s no crest.” Vi flipped it over. “Yullia” was scribbled on the front with the words “imperial guard” underneath. She pressed on the folds, popping the letter open like an eye. Like this, she could make out the words inside. “Not sealed well.” Vi frowned, thinking of Jayme reading her letters.
“‘I require you for a matter of grave importance. Meet me at the Hog and Bone Inn, room fourteen. Fiarum evantes,’” she read aloud.
“That’s it?” Taavin moved to her side, reading over her shoulder, confirming the answer to his question. “Speaking of suspicious things…”
Vi set the letter down on her chair, intentionally leaving it where it could be found by someone looking for her if something went awry. She grabbed a cloak from her closet and strapped a sword onto her hip.
“Wait, you can’t be thinking of going.” Taavin grabbed her wrist.
“Of course I am.”
“What if it’s a trap by the Knights?”
“Then I’ll kill them all and show them I’m not one to be trifled with. Then they’ll know their best course of action is to clear out of this city,” Vi said with all the vitriol she felt for the group.
“Think about this logically…”
“I am.”
“No, you’re acting on emotion and indulging your vendetta. You’re reaching for too much, Vi. First saving everyone, now eradicating the Knights of Jadar. Some things are meant to happen, and preventing them will be met with failure at best, or at worst…”
“At worst?” Vi prodded when he trailed off.
“At worst you could create a world where you’re not born again. Where there is no Vi Solaris.”
“If everyone I love lives long and healthy lives in that world, then so be it.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.” Ever since her vision at the docks, Vi had come to terms with the idea of not existing herself if it meant the world was safe. If Vhalla, Aldrik, and Romulin lived on, even if they weren’t really her family, it would be enough for her.
“And if you fail in this timeline and there is no new Vi—no Champion—they’ll all be condemned to death by Raspian’s blight.”
Vi bit the insides of her cheeks and scowled at the door. “I know all this. I’ll be careful, I promise.”
“Vi—”
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. Taavin vanished, though his words lingered. They clung to her like he had, holding her in place.
Was he right? Was she overreaching?
Vi shook her head and started forward, out her door, down the hall, and out of the castle. She had everything under control. She was the one with all the power, pulling the strings.
She had nothing to fear.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Vi kept her hood up and her head down all the way to the Hog and Bone Inn. The inn wasn’t far from the main entrance of the city, a fairly straight shot from the castle. But Vi took a longer route. She wandered down side streets and sprinted through alleyways.
She glanced over her shoulders and remained as alert as possible. But the night was quiet, and she arrived at the quaint inn without issue.
The building was four stories tall, long but not particularly wide. Its storefront was well lit with two iron lanterns and she could hear the sounds of mugs clanking and music from the bar within. Not wanting to raise suspicion by lingering, Vi entered and headed directly for a back hallway.
It looked like rooms one through ten were on the first floor, so Vi proceeded to the second. Sure enough, the first room she crossed had the number eleven painted on the door. Halfway down the hall was fourteen.
Vi stood outside the door, contemplating the latch for a moment. She could mask her face with durroe, see who it was first and then come back as Yullia. She could force entry and catch them flat-footed and off-guard.
Balling her hand into a fist, Vi went for the simple and most direct approach—she knocked, and held her breath as the door cracked open.
Her eyes met a familiar dark pair. They were framed by a short-cut fringe and hair that didn’t extend past the ears. Even though the woman’s clothes were different, Vi recognized her with ease. That meant anyone else could too.
“What in the Mother’s name are you doing here?” Vi half-whispered, half-snarled. Then looked around quickly to make sure the hall was still empty. Thankfully, it was.
Zira opened the door slightly wider, and Vi took the invitation, allowing herself in. The swordswoman didn’t speak until the door was closed once more and locked. “I had to come and warn you.”
“Warn me?” Vi did a quick sweep of the room. A bed against the wall to the right, a chamber pot in the corner to the left, a dresser… the lack of things made the sword’s presence all the more noticeable. “You brought the sword back? You even made a stand for it?” Vi balked at the little wooden stand, emblazoned with a silver phoenix.
“It felt right to give it a place of honor, even when I was on the road.”
“I told you not to let anyone know you even had it.” Vi spun, advancing on the woman. The conspicuous stand was the least of her worries. “Are you mad?”
“I had to bring it with me. I wasn’t about to entrust it to anyone else,” Zira said, defensive, holding her ground as Vi intruded on her personal space.
“Of course not, because you were supposed to take it East. By now you should’ve been past the Crossroads, by now it should’ve been long free of their reach.” Vi wanted to scream. She’d never been so angry. She never expected someone to make her feel more vicious than Jayme had.
But here they were.
“I am only here one night,” Zira said calmly, levelly, as though speaking to Raylynn during a tantrum. “Only one night to warn you.”
“You leave now.”
“Then let me say what I came to say. I’m here anyway.”
“Very well. Speak.”
“I did as you said—I went to the Nameless Company and waited. Eventually, word of my ‘death’ arrived back to me. I left the Nameless Company and traveled on the road through the deep Waste, places where the Knights of Jadar are strong. There, I learned that they’re planning an attack on the castle with forces they’ve gathered from Adela. They say they have powers beyond what we can imagine. Powers of the Pirate Queen and—”
Vi held up a hand for silence. She took several deep breaths, more like panting, to prevent herself from shouting. Her plans… all her careful plans… were
coming undone because of one woman’s foolish honor and ill-thought decision.
“I know about the plan to work with Adela,” Vi said, dangerously composed.
“You do?” Zira seemed honestly surprised. “They were speaking as though it was just coming together, as though—”
“Why do you think I sent you away?” Vi gripped the woman by the collar. Zira’s hands flew up, grabbing Vi’s wrists so hard the bones popped. But Vi continued to cling through the pain. “What do you think prompted the sudden urgency?”
“Unhand me,” Zira commanded, deadly soft.
Vi obliged, but only reluctantly. She spun away before she really did try to throttle the woman. Vi ran a hand over her hair, smoothing away the pieces that had escaped the taut braid she’d woven through and around a knotted bun.
“All right, listen.” Vi looked back to Zira. “We can still fix this. You take the sword and go now, tonight. It isn’t safe in this city.” Especially not with Twintle on the move. “Go back to the Nameless Company once more, wait just a week or two to make sure no one is following you, then continue on.”
“And you’ll still meet me in Cyven?”
“Yes. I’ll find the sword wherever you are, have no doubt about that.” Even now, it called to her. Perhaps it was all the work Vi had been doing to further explore and manipulate Yargen’s magic. But she felt it even more keenly than before—even with it wrapped tightly in layers of leather, even without touching it. “I’ll leave now. Wait just a little, to let anyone following me do so, then you slip out after.”
“All right.” Zira nodded curtly. “Yullia, I was only trying to—”
“I know.” Vi met her eyes. “I know you were trying to protect our Empress. But you must have faith and believe me when I say that protecting Fiera is my current, sole goal. All of this is for her, and her child.”
“Very well. I’ll trust you, and meet you in the East.”
