Chapter 30 #2
But the last week had ripped away too many of her shields. Desperately, she closed her eyes and forced herself to slow her racing heartbeat. Sylvana, help me, I pray to You with all my heart. Help me save him, I beg You!
It was useless. She knew that much even as she sent up her plea to the goddess she’d worshipped all her life. As Sylvana’s chosen avatar, her purpose in the world was to prioritize the divine mission she’d been set, not to risk everything to save her own lover.
She felt no hint of any divine response to her prayer. Still, when she reopened her eyes to face her two allies again a minute later, at least her body and mind were safely back under her control.
Her shields hadn’t been miraculously rebuilt, but she’d found a more important core of certainty at her center.
“Darling friends,” she said softly, “I won’t lie to you.
I believe that he’s alive, but I cannot swear to it.
Still, if he is, and if I don’t even try to save him…
” She shook her head with slow inevitability.
“I have to try everything I can, but I’m not so reckless that I don’t see the risks.
I won’t force you two to walk into danger with me.
I’ll release you from our vows of alliance if you’d prefer. ”
“Well, of course we’re not going to just leave him there.” Saskia’s brows lowered together into a scowl. “Do you think I’d abandon Felix in that situation?”
Lorelei let out a hiccupping laugh of startlement. “Darling, I’m surprised you even managed to leave him safe at home tonight. Was he truly happy to let you walk into danger without him?”
“Ah…” The witch queen looked abruptly shifty, her dark eyes lowering and pale skin flushing. “I … may not have mentioned quite how much danger we’d be in, or where we were going tonight.”
“Saskia!” Ailana let out a heartfelt groan as she reached to massage her forehead with elegant brown fingers. “Who do you think he’ll blame if you do get hurt?”
“Felix would never blame either of you,” Saskia said defensively. “He knows me.” She lifted her chin mulishly. “Anyway, I have a whole argument prepared to explain why his coming would only have put me in more danger. He’d have been a potential hostage for the Emperor to take against us.”
“Good luck convincing him of that,” Lorelei said dryly. She’d never seen a man more sweetly besotted with his partner—nor more shockingly capable of convincing stubborn Saskia to see reason. “I foresee a long night ahead of you once he finds out what you’ve done.”
Saskia shrugged, clearly confident in her adoring partner. “He likes General de Moireul. He’ll understand.”
“Hmm,” Lorelei said and turned to their other ally.
Ailana was still frowning. “I meant what I said to you before,” she told Lorelei, “but the situation has undeniably changed since then. If we don’t know exactly where we’re going, we can’t hope to slip in and out without being identified.
We have to be prepared for this act, tonight, to be taken as an open declaration of war upon the Serafin Empire from all three of our nations. ”
Lorelei’s sigh was heavy, but it held no regret. “We’ve known for years that war was coming. It’s why we formed our alliance in the first place—and we couldn’t have a better general on our side once we do rescue Gerard.”
Saskia nodded in grim assent.
The political direction of the continent as a whole had been aiming towards this moment ever since Otto II took the Imperial throne. It had only ever been a question of when, not whether, it would finally happen.
Ailana said tightly, “I do take your point. But we can’t just leap into the center of that enormous palace and expect to find him without a plan.
We need to—ah, wait a moment.” One of the long, divided skirts of Ailana’s cool blue riding habit had suddenly begun to vibrate, no doubt carrying a message from one of her countless spies.
Eyebrows rising, the Queen of Nornne reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out a miniature mirror-box. “I beg your pardons.” She turned away from the other two queens to open the lid … and then, for the first time since Lorelei had met her, she let out an audible gasp of astonishment.
Ailana’s whole body went as still as an ice sculpture as she stared into the mirror.
Lorelei traded a swift, astonished glance with Saskia … and then both queens abandoned all semblance of courtesy to hurry after their ally and peer together over Ailana’s slim shoulders.
Gazing confidently into that mirror was a smiling face that Lorelei recognized both from younger portraits and from recent newspaper stories.
Light freckles covered the woman’s strong nose and generous cheekbones, while a tall, gold headdress atop her deep-red hair announced the divine authority of the new, famously silent high priestess of the Serafin Empire …
… Previously known to the world as the Imperial Princess Clothilde.
A sudden breath of fresh spring air brushed past Lorelei’s cheek in an unseasonal caress, and she tipped back her head with a prayer of gratitude, eyes stinging and warmth filling her chest. Neither of her allies had abandoned her—and neither had her own goddess, after all.
“Oh, good, Ailana, you are there,” the high priestess said through the mirror, sounding as comfortable and relaxed as if she made this sort of illicit magical call every day.
“Forgive the intrusion, but sending a message through more regular channels would have taken too long, and I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible: General de Moireul has been sentenced by my brother to a private execution, tonight.
I can tell you exactly where he’s being held, but you and your friends will have to hurry if you hope to save him …
and even if you don’t succeed, you will owe me an impressive favor afterwards. ”