The whites of Delphine’s eyes shone against the darkness. I yearned to know what she was feeling, if she was receptive at all to my plea. Did she understand she was our only hope?
I snuck another glance at Genevie, but her pensive and almost-strained gaze told me nothing of Delphine’s intentions. Maybe the king’s niece had learned to hide her emotions from Auraseers the same way Anton had.
Delphine brushed past me and plucked her candle from the table. Before she reached the door, she swiveled back to me, her cloak rustling over her dress. “I will speak to the king. I would have done so without your impassioned speech. But you are wrong to think having the king’s ear means anything in Estengarde. My dear uncle is a puppet. Monsieur de Bonpré is the monster who truly rules this kingdom.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE NEXT DAY I ASKED EVERY SERVANT IN MY PATH TO TELL Madame Valois I’d like to speak with her, since they were disinclined to show me which of the castle’s four hundred and forty rooms belonged to the king’s niece. Delphine didn’t seek me out. I prayed she was busy imploring her uncle and godfather to save Madame Perle or stall the execution. Perhaps her influence was at least enough to grant me a visit to the dungeons. One visit might be long enough for Madame Perle to crack me open and release my power.
My gut squirmed with doubts again. What if I remained broken? I needed an alternate plan in case I couldn’t be Estengarde’s grande voyant and Riaznin’s Sovereign Auraseer. But as the hours ticked by, I couldn’t think of anything, not even a way to help Anton achieve the alliance we’d traveled here for. Feliks’s ultimatum gnawed at the back of my mind. We had little more than three weeks before we reached the deadline he gave me.
With nothing more to do but anxiously bide our time until Delphine’s ball tomorrow, Genevie and I spent the day with Anton in his vast guest chambers. His great bed with red feather plumes atop the canopy took up only a small fraction of the space. The rest of the room was filled with tastefully arranged groupings of velvet and mahogany furniture. The room I shared with Genevie was a closet by comparison.
Seated at a desk, Anton dipped his quill in an inkwell, busying himself by drafting the alliance treaty. I stood at a nearby window, nervously picking at my nails. He kept sending me sympathetic glances. I’d broken the news to him this morning about Madame Perle.
“Une amande needs an E in the middle,” Genevie said, pointing out a passage on his paper, “or else you are talking about an almond and not making amends.”
Anton gave a self-deprecating groan and scratched out the word. “Perhaps you should write the treaty, or I might walk away from Estengarde with a stuffed picnic basket and nothing more.”
She drew up a chair. “You write it as best you can, and I will help you refine the language in a clean draft.”
I drifted closer, watching them for a moment. My pulse quickened as another solution sprang to mind. “What if you negotiated the imprisoned Auraseers’ lives as one of the terms in your alliance treaty? Perhaps the king will be satisfied if they are banished to Riaznin.”
Anton sighed and reached out to clasp my hand. “We can’t solve another nation’s injustices when we haven’t even conquered our own,” he said gently. I remembered what he’d told me in his tent a few days ago: I won’t be able to defeat Esten prejudices, as well.
Genevie looked up at me. “Even if the king is persuadable, banishing the Auraseers to another nation would never satisfy Floquart.” Her arms folded over her stomach when she said his name. “He will say banishment insults the king’s regime and diminishes the people’s faith that the monarchy can handle its own problems.” I noticed for the first time that her Riaznian speech was no longer broken, like when she first came to the convent. Her time spent traveling with our regiment had improved her vocabulary. “Floquart will make sure all the Auraseers die.”
Anton shook his head in bewilderment. “Is it only me, or does Floquart’s hatred for Auraseers seem personal?”
“I know that to be true.” Genevie’s eyes darkened. “He is the kind of man who strives for excellence and superiority, but he only feels that way when he is crushing others to the ground.”
“And Auraseers have an ability that he can never attain,” I added grimly.
She nodded, her gaze lowering. “That is enough for us to merit his contempt.”
Just as I despaired I might never meet Madame Perle and regain my power—because how else could we stop a man like Floquart?— someone knocked on the door. The three of us exchanged a look. We weren’t expecting any visitors.
Anton rose, crossed the room, and opened the door halfway. After some murmuring with whoever was there, he turned to me. “It’s for you.”
I analyzed his expression. His brows weren’t lowered in warning, only furrowed with curiosity. Could Delphine be the visitor?
Anticipation spiked through me. I hurried over on light feet and swung the door wider. My chest fell. It was only a maid in a mop cap.
Her narrowed gaze scraped over me, and she wrinkled her ruddy nose. “Auraseer Petrova?” When I nodded, she reached beneath her shawl and removed a sealed note. In broken Riaznian, she said, “I promise to Madame Valois I give this to only you.” She passed the note with a pinched frown, as if it was against her better judgment.
I thanked her and shut the door, not giving her another opportunity to sneer. I wouldn’t let Esten prejudice bother me in this moment. “Delphine must have spoken with her uncle,” I said, grinning at Anton and Genevie.
Genevie crossed to where I stood near Anton. “What does it say?”
I broke the seal and unfolded the message, hurriedly scanning its contents.
My shoulders wilted, but at the same time, hope kindled inside me. “Nothing about any conversations with the king, but Delphine has discovered where Madame Perle is—and it’s not the dungeons with the other Auraseers. King Léopold has her sequestered in a room directly adjacent to his chambers.”
“Why?” Genevie asked.
“Apparently she was caught trying to help the other Auraseers escape, so the king had her moved to a more secure location.”
“Of course.” Genevie’s brows pulled together. “Madame Perle is too valuable to the king to be executed or even imprisoned somewhere filthy.”
“Do you know any secret entrances into the king’s chambers?” Anton asked Genevie.
She gave a sorry shake of her head.
He scratched his jaw and started pacing. I was surprised to find him so anxious to plot with us. He wasn’t exactly thrilled when he’d found out Genevie and I had been sneaking around the castle last night. I braced myself, knowing he would hate what I planned to do next.
I held out the note for him and Genevie to read. “Delphine claims she can help me into the king’s chambers on the night of the ball. I think she wants me to free Madame Perle.”
Anton’s jaw stiffened. “No.”
“No?” My defenses sparked, even though I’d predicted his reaction.
“Go and visit Madame Perle, but leave any freeing to Delphine. The king won’t punish her if she’s caught. And if you’re caught for being there, you can say Delphine brought you.”
“But—”
Someone knocked on the door again, and Genevie startled.
“Floquart?” I asked, all my nerves at attention.
“No.” She placed a hand on her chest and took a steadying breath. “I am sorry. Your quarreling distracted my senses.”
Anton glanced at me, and I folded my arms. He sighed and opened the door, this time wide enough for all three of us to see who was standing there—another servant, this one male and more finely dressed than the first. On a silver platter, he presented a large envelope, then snapped his heels together and said, “Pour Monseigneur Anton Ozerov.”
Anton took the letter and closed the door. “The king’s seal,” Genevie said as Anton ran his thumb over the embossed lion and crown symbol.
He opened it. Inside were two letters, one in Riaz
nian and one in Esten. He read the first aloud:
“‘The intelligence you requested, my dauphin.’”
The second letter Anton passed to Genevie. “You can translate it better.”
She swallowed, a little self-conscious, and then straightened her back. “It is dated two weeks ago,” she began.
Anton nodded. “The time it would take a courier to travel here.”
Genevie continued:
“‘Unto His Majesty, the King of Estengarde,
I bring more news regarding the wars in Riaznin. The infantry and cavalry belonging to the former emperor, Valko Ozerov, are converging on Torchev. From a separate direction, the Shenglin army is also approaching. If both forces continue at the pace they are traveling, they should arrive at the capital in five or six weeks’ time. We have reason to believe they are now working together. The former emperor was recently seen meeting with the Shenglin commanding general, Jin Pao. Gifts were exchanged. But rest assured, Your Majesty, no foreign soldiers have yet to breach our borders.
Your loyal subject,
Ambassador Bertrand’”
A rush of dizziness assaulted me. I turned desperate eyes on Anton. His face was ashen. “Valko was supposed to ask Jin Pao to retreat,” I said weakly.
Genevie looked between us. “Pardon?”
“It was Valko’s plan when I . . .” When I agreed to help him. Valko was going to take me to meet Jin Pao last spring. The general was an old acquaintance of his, from Valko’s years of hiding near the Shenglin border. Using my power of persuasion, I’d intended to compel Jin Pao to call off the invasion, but I’d come to my senses and broken my fleeting agreement with Valko. I could never trust him or take an action that would place him back in power again. Now Valko had persuaded Jin Pao on his own, perhaps with Dasha’s help, and for a different and darker purpose. With the strength of Shengli’s formidable army, Valko could wipe out Free Riaznin’s troops and our crumbling democracy, once and for all.
I sucked in a long breath, fighting to slow my racing heartbeat. “Valko has formed an alliance with the Shenglin.”
The silence in the room grew so thick it seemed to pulse like a living thing.
My legs went weak, ready to buckle. How could Valko do this to Riaznin? He never wanted peace with Shengli. When I’d been his sovereign Auraseer, he’d plotted to invade their nation and expand his empire. But after the revolution and his abdication, the Shenglin attacked Riaznin first while the fledgling democracy was forming.
Anton turned aside and cursed, dragging a hand over his face. I found the nearest chair and clutched it for support.
Genevie watched us with worried eyes. “Everything is not lost. You still have hope if you can forge an alliance between Free Riaznin and Estengarde.” Her words sounded less like comforting statements and more like desperate questions.
I didn’t know how to answer. I’d never imagined this complication. Free Riaznin’s chances at winning the wars—one war now, us against Valko and Shengli—were more remote than ever. We desperately needed the Esten alliance. And my power.
Anton flexed his jaw and grabbed the draft of the alliance treaty from his desk. He strode for the door. “I’m going to find the king and settle this. I need to get back to Torchev.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“I NEED YOU TO TEACH ME HOW TO BLOCK OUT AN AURASEER,” I said to Anton that night. The candle in my hand flickered as I shut his bedroom door behind me.
He hadn’t been sleeping, either. As I entered, I’d caught him pacing near a tall window in his untucked shirt and trousers. A few glowing candles in the room illuminated the ends of his hair. It was disheveled like he’d been tugging his fingers through it for hours. Anton had requested another audience with King Léopold, and I’d searched for Delphine again, but the king sent a message reiterating he would not meet with Anton until the day after the ball, and the servants said Delphine couldn’t admit me to wherever she was in this enormous castle. “You want me to do what?” Anton asked me.
I realized how strange my request had sounded. “I know I’m already blocking aura, but when I get my power back”—I forced myself to say when—“I’ll become vulnerable to Dasha again. We have to assume she’s doing Valko’s bidding now.” My stomach pinched, and Anton rubbed a hand over his face. “I need to start training so I can be prepared for her.”
“Sonya . . .” He crossed the room to me, his brows lifted. He smoothed my unbound hair behind my shoulders, his touch gentle, his eyes loving. “Do you really want your power back?” His forehead creased. “That power?”
The way he asked it, the tender scratch of his voice, made me consider the question without my defenses flaring. In truth, I didn’t miss the tremulous instability and dark temptations that came hand in hand with my power to bend emotions. But . . . “How else can I save Dasha?” Or Anton from his brother. Or the people of Riaznin. Or the Esten Auraseers.
“Sonya,” he said again, the barest whisper. I heard his sympathy. I felt it as he stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. But I couldn’t feel it inside me, where I ached to know his aura once more.
I stepped around him, blinking back my forming tears. I wouldn’t cry now. Crying wouldn’t help anyone. “During the battle at the convent, Dasha was able to manipulate the auras of over one hundred people, including us,” I said, refocusing myself. “You almost broke her hold. I felt it. And Valko broke my hold when he shot me, so I know it’s possible. I think the key must be calming every emotion, like you used to do so I couldn’t tell what you were feeling. Teach me how you did that.”
Anton ran a hand through his hair, mussing it even more. “I’m not sure where to begin,” he said, moving to sit on a nearby couch. “Training myself to subdue my emotions took over a year before I moved back to the palace.” His rebellion against Valko had involved careful planning, including learning to dodge the awareness of his brother’s sovereign Auraseer—me, and before me, Izolda.
“You breathe differently when you’re actively blocking someone,” I prompted, setting my candle on an end table before I sat beside him. “And you pretend to make eye contact, but your gaze is a little off, like this.” I scooted closer, curling up on my knees so he could see me better in candlelight, while I lowered my eyes to the upper bridge of his nose. “Is that the basic trick of it?”
He gave me an amused look. “Blocking an Auraseer requires more than just steady breathing and skewed eye contact.”
“You also meditate,” I supplied, clasping my hands in my lap, determined to be an exemplary student. “I remember sensing your body relaxing, but I don’t know how you did it.”
“You have to empty your mind. Think of nothing.”
I stared at him blankly. “But that’s impossible.”
He broke into a soft chuckle, his gaze warm, like that might be the most endearing thing I’d ever said. “Truthfully, Sonya, I don’t think meditation is in your nature.”
“No, no, I can do this.” I sat up taller and tried to exude calm. “I’ll think of nothing,” I instructed myself. I picked at my fingernails, waiting for nothingness to come. But too many somethings got in the way. Kira. Was she safe with Tosya and the Esten Romska? Dasha. Even if I could save her, could I reverse the damage Valko must have done by influencing her? Genevie. Was she sleeping soundly or having a nightmare about Floquart? Nadia. Had she found any Riaznian Auraseers, or was she alone at the convent? I scratched my arm. “How long does it take to think of nothing?”
Anton bit down on a smile. “Try focusing on your heartbeat and your breathing. Don’t try to control your breath, but notice how your chest expands and contracts with it. Every time your mind wanders, bring it back with your breath.”
I squared my shoulders. Clenched my hands. Nodded. Focus, Sonya.
“You’re all tense. Relax.” He reached over and shook my body loose. I moved into a cross-legged position on the couch. “Now close your eyes.”
“But I won’t be able to close my eyes if
we’re ambushed.”
“Which is why you should savor the opportunity now.”
I huffed but humored him. Eyes closed, I concentrated on all that was happening inside me. My stomach gurgled. I should have eaten more supper. My legs ached, still sore from the long ride to Estengarde. The muscles in my back pulled with tension, growing tighter every hour we were forced to delay in this castle. “Listening to my body isn’t helping,” I complained. “It’s still making me think.”
“Separate your body from your emotions. Try not to quantify what every fluctuation inside you means. Just acknowledge it. Make peace with it. A sneeze is nothing more than a sneeze, for example. It doesn’t mean you’re catching a cold.”
My head hurt as I struggled not to struggle. All I felt was frustration. “I can do this,” I told myself, balling my hands into fists.
“You can’t force yourself to meditate. You just have to meditate.” Anton kissed my neck.
“Not helping,” I said, keenly aware of how my belly tingled at his touch.
He drew me into his arms, reclining on the couch with me. “You should go to sleep, my love. You’re not going to learn how to block aura in the middle of the night when you’re exhausted.”
I fidgeted, trying to relax. He was right, of course. Idly, I rubbed the threads of a torn seam in his shirt, but my gaze trapped on my candle. I let its flame sear spots in my vision. “I can’t fail,” I murmured, and I meant more than blocking Dasha. First I had to regain my power through Madame Perle—tomorrow.
Anton’s lips pressed warmth on my head. “We can’t fail,” he amended. His fingers flexed as he tightened his hold around me. He might have felt a similar foreboding because he said, “Please tell me I have no choice but to kill my brother . . . assuming he doesn’t kill me first. I’ll do my best to imprison him again, but I fear when we meet, it will be on the battlefield. I don’t see how else this war will end unless one of us dies.”
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