Chapter 24 #2
War was a game—a bloody, brutal one but a game like any other. Each side was driven by pride, a desire to conquer or protect, a desperation to survive, but those motivations didn’t plant themselves. Even the most shadowed, twisted wants of a person’s heart must be tended for roots to sprout.
“What does your mother fear more than anything, Prince?”
He considered. If I wanted to beat Kakias, I had to fully encompass her. Because she was more than any warlord vying for power, she was shaped by complexities. They’d presented their edges in the volcano, but a heart beat in the center, I was sure of it.
“Loss, I’d say.” Barrett finally swallowed, looking down at his hands.
His words echoed what Dax had implied during the raid.
The queen was afraid of losing what she cared about.
“My mother had a difficult childhood. Being the sole heir to her father’s throne and power made her a target for predators, and it…
she was left with scars.” I opened my mouth to inquire what he meant, but Barrett quickly continued, “She’s afraid of losing anything.
It’s why she allows so few in.” Including me, he didn’t add, but it weighed the downturn of his lips.
I didn’t know how that connected to her current motives, given that she was guaranteeing there would be loss on both sides, but I didn’t push Barrett further.
I briefly wondered if he was regretting his place here, but he lifted his chin, an unremorseful glint in his eye.
Dax grasped his hand atop the table, and the two Engrossians were silent.
“Until we have a response from the chancellors, there isn’t much planning that can be done.
Danya is right; we scheme—we don’t rely on numbers.
We plan as if this war will be fought with only Mystique armies.
” I planted my hands on the table, leaning forward.
“Because there is not a future in which we fall prey to whatever Kakias has planned.”
I dismissed the meeting. Malakai had not spoken a word the entire time, and when we finally locked eyes as he exited the room, my heart crumpled in my chest, a piece stretching out to him.
I slammed a rope around it, tugging it back where it belonged.
He would have no more of me, nor I of him, despite the sadness that sank like a rock in my stomach.
My body and mind were being stretched. Spirits, my very soul was. An impossible mountain of pressing needs demanding my attention, and I did not know how to solve any of them.
I had spent every spare moment researching Damien’s prophecy. Angelcurses and things once lost. Annellius and sacrifices of strong warriors. Rina had come to me with information on a number of suspicious curses, but nothing sounded like what Damien spoke of.
The shade of heart…seek the seven…blood of fate, spilled in sacrifice…
But even as I sat here now, that second pulse in my body thrummed, and I was certain it was connected. That was the Angelblood alive in my veins, but I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to wield it. Was it a weapon or a threat? A sin or a savior?
Recently, I’d been searching for patterns among the seven clans that could be hiding similar tasks or demonstrate what seven items I needed to unite. Nothing stood out.
Threads, that was what I had. A tangled mess of clues and no indication of which ends belonged together. They were pointing toward something, though.
It wasn’t the first prophecy the Angel had given me, but the stakes were higher now.
Not only did I risk following the last’s lost fight should I fail, but Mystiques were relying on me, and my future as Revered was being challenged.
Alliances were being withheld. I rubbed my hand over my eyes.
Spirits, I needed to sleep for four days.
“Tired?” The chair beside mine scraped back.
“You can tell?” I opened one eye to see only Barrett and I were left.
“You look exactly how I felt every day before leaving the Engrossian Valley Palace. I’d been staying up nights to prowl through my mother’s plans. Barely slept until I got here.”
“You seem to have recovered nicely.” His cheeks were still hollow, but he no longer looked ill, instead naturally defined.
“I feel safe here,” the prince admitted, toying with the sigil ring on his index finger. I watched it twirl, and the second pulse in me quickened, my own fingers fidgeting.
“I’m glad.” I smiled weakly at him, but his face fell. Full lips almost set in a pout.
“I have to ask…”
“No.” I shook my head. “Please don’t.” My voice cracked with the pressure of secrets. “I can’t say why, but there’s a reason I’m not telling anyone, and I need you to keep it a secret, too.”
His eyes—Malakai’s eyes—swept over my face, and I felt like they almost saw me as deeply as his brother’s used to. “Okay. For now.”
I took it.
“I actually wanted to apologize, though.” Barrett leaned back in his chair, crossing one ankle over his knee.
“For what?”
“If my arrival caused any…tension between you and Malakai. I can stay away if it’s driving you apart.”
“Thank you, Barrett, but it’s not necessary.
” I fought the current of pain threatening to swarm me, swam against it until I surfaced.
My spirit gasped for breath as I voiced the truth to this man who was so recently an enemy but had become a kindred spirit.
“We were already on this path; we just needed to admit it. Besides, you leaving would be hiding from the problem, which is what we’d done for far too long before you arrived. ”
“He sees it as me or him, doesn’t he?”
I gnawed my lip as the question did my heart. “I think part of him feels that I betrayed him by allowing you into our lives, but that’s nothing to do with either of us. That’s a scar from his father.”
“And you won’t coddle him.”
“I can’t make choices based on his pain when the entire continent could be at stake.”
Barrett nodded. “Well, I’m glad to hear it’s not my fault. I’d hate for my brother to blame me for him losing the woman he loved.” He laughed, lips twitching in a pensive smile.
“Give him time.” I hesitated, but stretched a hand across the table and held his. Part of me had expected him to recoil, but he didn’t. “He’ll come around to welcoming you into his life.”
He’ll heal, I didn’t add, but I hoped it was true.
Whatever Meridat saw in the Apex Moon was in my favor. She sent word confirming her earlier sentiment during the Rapture: The Soulguiders would ally with us officially against Kakias in whatever war may come.
After reports of the raid and the clear threat the Engrossians posed, Titus’s agreement came a few days later from a tight-lipped Vale, though he made it clear this was an alliance with the Mystiques. His approval of my position still hung in the air, and Vale gave no indication as to why.
The Seawatchers gave their allegiance, too, but they couldn’t offer much in way of physical troops.
Their warriors in the Western Outposts would stay there to fortify the border against the Faelish Waters, and those in the east would be split.
Half would defend the coast; half would come to our aid.
It was a small help, but it was something.
Danya and I spent long afternoons planning where each clan’s troops would be stationed, defending the circumference of the mountains.
Esmond’s response was not quite as encouraging.
Brigiet had passed on the alliance, claiming their territory’s location made it too tumultuous of a deal.
But she did agree to offer the help of their healers—to both sides of the war, if Kakias requested it.
I couldn’t fault her reluctance, but I did take out my frustration in the training arena.
“Easy, Alabath,” Tol hissed as I came within a hair of slicing his rib cage.
“Watch your left,” I clipped.
He tensed for another attack. “Noted.”
We danced across the dirt, and I stewed over the one outstanding response: Aird.
The Mindshaper chancellor had yet to write back.
After his initial refusal to support my appointment and our altercation on palace grounds, I had little hope that he’d come to our aid.
Still, I’d included an additional plea in his letter that I hadn’t shared with the others.
A reminder that while his territory framed the southern tip of the mountains, the range was under my jurisdiction as Mystique leader.
Should we choose to cut him off from resources, his people would suffer.
But should he choose us, we’d offer access to the precious streams of magic within the rock.
The threat was ash on my tongue as I swung at Tol, but Aird had forced me into it. The truth was, the Mindshapers had the largest army of any minor clan, followed by the Bodymelders. If he allied with Kakias, we’d be in trouble.
Tol’s sword grazed my thigh, pushing Aird from my mind. Dammit if Vincienzo hadn’t actually been working hard these past months. He’d always been skilled—he was infuriatingly good at everything—but he’d gotten better.
“Cypherion’s lessons seem to be paying off,” I teased.
Tolek raised his brows, dodging my sword. “Surprised?”
“Only because normally,” I huffed over the clashing of weapons, “I would have taken you out by now.” Around us, the arena was a masquerade of sparring partners.
We’d expanded into the garden, taking over part of the lawn for workouts.
Younger trainees practiced in arenas in the city rather than the palace grounds.
“What if I was going easy on you?” Tol taunted.
“Were you?”
He laughed at my skepticism. “No. You’ve always been too good for me.” But as he said it, he got his blade under my sword arm and held it against my throat. I’d been wrong to think he wasn’t a challenge. Tolek Vincienzo was anything but easy.
“Yielding to me, Alabath?” Our chests rose and fell in unison, faces only an inch apart, his breath hot against my lips, my favorite smirk lifting his.