Epilogue II
Raina
Raina stepped through the portal at Tide’s End and smiled at Cyra. Her friend stood waiting for her, and Raina was relieved to see Cyra’s eyes were back to their usual silver, not red like they’d been a couple days ago.
True to her word, Cyra had arranged to meet with Raina earlier in the week to keep her abreast of important events.
Unfortunately, the news hadn’t been good, and Raina was horrified to learn Cyra’s brothers had been turned into symbionts, the creatures they’d fought at the gambling den.
Brix was currently locked in a holding cell under Tide’s End where Cyra visited him daily, but Jaylan had been taken by Magdalene.
Raina shivered to recall what Cyra had looked like when she’d seen her last. Cyra’s eyes had kept a steady red glow, and her expression was harder than Raina had ever seen it. She’d been distant, cold.
Cyra apparently also had wings now, which she’d shown Raina. They were giant feathered red ones that stretched out from her back, although those were gone for the moment now too.
Raina stepped forward and threw her arms around Cyra. Her friend hugged her back, but the embrace was reluctant, not as warm as they usually shared.
“I’m glad you reached out,” Raina said. “I’ve been worried.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine,” Cyra said, her smile forced.
“And how is Brix?” Raina asked.
Cyra’s smile fell. “No better. I visit him early in the morning when he’s still asleep because once he wakes, I only have about a minute to talk to him before the symbiont takes over. Apparently caronium has no effect on the creatures.”
Raina gave her a sympathetic look. “Well, I’m here now if you need to talk or need something to take your mind off-”
“Actually, I asked you to come because there are some important things we need to discuss with you,” Cyra interrupted.
Raina frowned. We?
It was only then she noticed they weren’t in the great room or Cyra’s bedroom where they usually met. They were in Bressen’s study.
Raina finally saw the lord sitting patiently behind his desk with one leg crossed over the other.
Raina’s head snapped back to Cyra. “What’s going on?”
Cyra gave her a tight smile. “Bressen and I have some things we need to discuss with you,” she repeated.
Raina recalled the message Cyra had sent her. “Can you come to Tide’s End today?” She’d assumed it was a social invitation, but apparently not.
“What is it?” Raina asked.
“Why don’t you take a seat,” Bressen suggested, gesturing to one of the two chairs across the desk from him.
“I’ll stand,” Raina said.
“Raina, please,” Cyra said as she sat down in the other chair.
Raina clenched her jaw but dropped into a chair.
Cyra and Bressen exchanged a quick glance, and Raina growled. “Just tell me!” she said. “Come out with whatever it is you need to say.”
Cyra’s face turned to resolve. “We’re hoping the first part of our news will be good,” she said.
Raina raised a brow. “But you’re not sure if it is?”
“That will depend entirely on how you take the conditions,” she said.
Raina opened her mouth to ask what she meant, but Bressen cut in.
“I’ve been negotiating with the High Council for a few weeks now for a way to officially make you part of the Triumvirate,” he said.
Raina’s mouth fell open.
“The council’s been dragging their feet long enough in selecting a new ruler of Polaris,” he went on, “and with war imminent, we need the Triumvirate at full strength. I convinced the council, with Aidan’s support, that it was time for them to cede control.”
“And…they agreed to cede it to me?” Raina ventured.
“Yes,” he confirmed, “Although you weren’t their first choice, nor probably their second.”
Raina furrowed her brows. “Then why are they giving me power?”
“Because you were my first choice,” Bressen said, “and I’m good at making people see things my way.”
Raina’s brows shot up. “You took over their minds?”
“Nothing that extreme,” he said. “But I can be…persuasive.”
Raina nodded absently. Bressen didn’t make a habit of hurting people, but he was still extremely powerful, and together with Cyra, people tended to want to remain on their good sides.
Raina frowned as she remembered what Bressen had said.
“Why would I be your first choice?” she asked him. “Do you think you’ll control me? That I’ll just go along with whatever you say because I’ll be grateful to you?” She crossed her arms and leaned back defiantly.
“Raina,” Cyra started to admonish her, but Bressen cut in.
“Actually,” he said, “you’re my choice because I know you won’t just go along with what I say. But I also think you won’t go against me just because you can. You’re smart, you’re fearless, and I’ve seen enough to know that you have a good head for politics.”
Raina blinked. She hadn’t expected the compliment.
“Thank you, my lord,” she said hesitantly, uncrossing her arms.
Bressen scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. “You haven’t called me ‘my lord’ in months. Don’t restart now, or I’ll take back everything I said.”
“Fine,” Raina said, “but what about being only half perimortal and illegitimate?”
Bressen shrugged. “Ursan was a powerful perimortal, and he must’ve passed at least some of that on to you. Your powers are probably on par with those perimortals of average abilities, and your lifespan will likely be closer to that of a perimortal than a mortal.”
Raina winced at the mention of her lifespan, but Bressen didn’t notice.
“Ursan was also generally well-liked in Polaris,” he went on, “so we’re banking that people will accept you more willingly than someone they don’t know. To be honest, the field of contenders is a bit sparse.”
“Yet the High Council still would’ve chosen someone else over me?”
Bressen nodded. “They were hoping to maintain at least some power, but you’ve been gradually chipping away at their authority. They were looking for someone they could control.” He smiled at her. “And as you’ve said, that’s not you.”
“So how did you manage to convince them to let me ascend?” Raina asked, still not quite believing this might happen. Then she remembered what Cyra had said. “There are conditions. What are the conditions?”
To her surprise, Bressen actually looked down, not meeting her eyes.
Raina turned to Cyra. “What are the conditions?”
“There’s really just one condition,” Cyra said, “and it’s meant to strengthen your position as much as possible.”
“What is it?” Raina asked, suddenly wary.
“You have to understand-,” Cyra began, but Raina slammed her hand down on Bressen’s desk.
“What is it?” she repeated.
Cyra exhaled. “You need to accept a betrothal to a Prince of Kern.”
Raina’s jaw went slack. “Say that again,” she said after a few seconds. “I can’t have heard you correctly.”
Cyra threw an angry glance at Bressen. It was a rare show of tension between her and the lord, and Raina wondered about the reason for it.
“You heard me exactly right,” Cyra said with a resigned sigh. “As a condition of making you a Triumvirate Lady and the ruler of Polaris, the High Council stipulated that you marry a Kernish prince.”
Raina was silent as she struggled to wrap her mind around this. They were going to make her…get married?
She barked out a laugh as the ridiculousness of it all sunk in. “How many Kernish princes are there? Do I get my choice?”
Cyra looked to Bressen.
“There are three Princes of Kern,” Bressen said, “but I’m afraid you don’t get a choice.
It’s the third or nothing. The first prince, the eldest, will inherit the Kernish throne, so he isn’t available.
The second prince will inherit the throne if – gods forbid – something happens to the first. The heir and the spare, so to speak.
The youngest prince was the one Kern was willing to part with.
Since he has no claim to anything, being the consort to a Triumvirate Lady will actually be a step up for him, which is one of the reasons Kern agreed to this alliance. ”
And there it was.
“Alliance,” Raina said. She nodded her head knowingly. “That’s why you arranged this. Not because you really wanted me to ascend to the Triumvirate but because we need allies in this war you expect, and one of the best ways to make easy allies is through marriage.”
To her irritation, Bressen smiled. “As I said, you’re a smart woman.”
“Bressen,” Cyra reproached him, but she didn’t offer any denial.
“So I have no choice in this,” Raina said.
“Of course you have a choice,” Bressen said, leaning forward. “You can accept both, or you can refuse both. You don’t have to get married, but if you choose not to, then you give up the Triumvirate seat as well.”
“And what happens to me if I refuse both? Do I go back to being a servant?” Raina asked. She turned to Cyra with a scornful look. “I hear you have an opening for a new lady’s maid again.”
Cyra’s grin had a hard edge. “After you’ve been living in a palace with servants of your own? Not a chance. I’ll end up helping you get dressed and bathed instead of the other way around.”
“So then what? They kick me out and I fend for myself?” Raina asked.
She hated to give up the luxury and comfort she’d grown accustomed to, but she could go back to working if she had to. She’d been taking care of herself for a while now. She could do it again.
“You’d have to leave the palace,” Bressen said, “but you’re still Ursan’s daughter. The High Council would set you up somewhere comfortable, and you’d still have the inheritance Ursan left you. You don’t have to work if you don’t want to. You just wouldn’t be a ruler.”
“And they’d be fine with me living in peace? The person who eventually ascends the seat won’t see me as a threat and send assassins after me?” Raina crossed her arms again. “Talyn would tell me if anyone approached her with a job, right?”
It didn’t ease her mind that Bressen took a couple seconds to answer.
“If you don’t accept the appointment, I can’t guarantee anything,” he said finally, “but you know Cyra and I will do everything in our power to make sure you’re safe. As for Talyn, she works for me now, so rest assured you’re safe on that count.”