Chapter 54
RAINIER
There was nothing admirable about starting a distraction for the Supreme’s forces. It required me to do things I detested, but I had to bring as many people away from the Seat as possible in order to make sure Em could do as she planned. All she had to do was get the Supreme to the font where her divinity was accessible—and kill him.
I’d seen what she was capable of in the Wend, but I was still nervous as hell. Not that long ago, I would have refused to allow this. Putting her in danger was the last thing I wanted to do, but with her abilities, she didn’t need me. I would have only added suspicion. Despite how much I hated it, how every instinct within me told me to protect her and keep her out of harm’s way, I didn’t listen. Each time I’d listened in the past, we’d only suffered for it. So I silenced my fears and helped her in the only way I could. I needed to draw the Supreme’s guard far away.
The only threat which could truly harm Lamera was fire. With rowhouses galore and narrow streets, a single fire could be devastating for the entire city. Despite the sour taste in my mouth, I had to use that to my advantage.
I hated to do it; these homes likely belonged to innocent people, but my options were limited. The moment Em and I parted ways, I started scouting locations. The first set of houses I walked by were clearly occupied, and I didn’t know how to handle rifting the people out for safety without getting caught. So I continued. The shadows merged into the dark of night as I walked down pristine alleyways, surprised to find not even a single rat in sight—let alone people milling about or living on the street. As densely populated as the Wend, I wondered how Lamera was kept so clean and tidy.
I eventually found my answer in cruelty. I stood at the corner of one of the busiest streets and a wide alley leading to more rowhouses I hoped were empty. I only hesitated because I saw a member of the Supreme’s guard poking at a pile of refuse. Only when it moved, did I understand what was happening.
“Get up, thief,” the guard said, and the person laying on the ground shifted.
Hair that might have once been blonde before turning grey with filth was uncovered from a dirty cloak. “I’m not a thief,” the woman said, but the guard didn’t care. He unsheathed his blade, and she reeled back toward the wall she’d been sleeping against.
“Sleeping on the street is a theft against the innkeepers,” the soldier began, “and loitering on His Holiness’s streets is theft against the gods. Now, get up.”
The woman stood, gathering her meager belongings, and the soldier slapped them out of her hands. “Won’t need that in the cells,” he said, sneering.
I knew I should have remained silent and not brought attention to myself, but I couldn’t watch this man treat another human with such disrespect over something so simple. She clearly didn’t have the money to pay an innkeeper nor a home to return to.
Keeping my face shadowed beneath my cloak, I walked toward the two of them. Unbothered, as if I had every right to be there, I pretended to ignore their interaction. The man was green, young and thoughtless, and all he did was step back as I approached, as if to let me pass between them.
So I did.
“Pardon me, miss,” I said, but as soon as I stood on the guard’s other side, I opened a rift. Far outside the city, there was a cow’s pasture that Em and I had used as a rift point to get to Lamera. It was there, hopefully on top of a pile of cow dung, that the guard landed when I shoved him through. He was still clambering to his feet as I let my rift shut.
The woman stood with an open mouth, staring, until she let out a laugh loud enough to draw attention. “Well, you have my thanks,” she said, before turning to gather the things the man had slapped out of her hand. “I suppose I should move before another guard notices he’s missing.”
“Can you help me?” I asked, hoping my kindness would pay off. “Are there any vacant houses near here?”
Her laugh continued, only softer. “Nothing in Lamera is vacant, only repurposed. The house I was staying in got raided by the guards, so it’s probably empty now. Someone lives next door, though,” she said.
“Take me there,” I demanded, then quieter, “please.”
She frowned, then looked me over from head to toe. Though she appeared desperately in need of a bath, she wasn’t too worse off for living on the streets. Her skin was toughened from the sun, and she was missing one of her incisors, but she didn’t seem to be suffering like so many did. I wondered what had caused her to end up here.
For a moment, I grew nervous over her indecision, hoping she didn’t recognize me. Without any novice garments that fit, I was in my own clothing. My boots were well-kept, and my cloak was relatively new. When her eyes wandered to the pommel of my sword, I put my hand on it to cover the intricate details. It was likely she knew I was well-off, but I hoped she didn’t know me for my true identity.
Because if she recognized me as the Vestian king, it was certain she would weigh her choices. What kind of life could she have in Lamera if she alerted the Supreme to my presence?
“It’s two streets to the east. The old woman with the yellow shutters is kind,” she said with a hint of a warning in her voice. “The houses on either side of hers are usually empty.”
“I’ll be sure to mind her safety, just as I did yours,” I said, and that seemed to appease her. “That said, I’d make my way to the edge of Lamera, if I were you.”
She only stared at me, the moonlight drawing attention to the large bruise on her cheekbone. “Good luck, Your Majesty,” she whispered, before scurrying down the dark alleyway.
After rousing a confused, elderly occupant from her sleep, and rifting her to an inn just outside of Lamera, I returned to the now empty rowhouse I intended to burn. I assessed my surroundings, dismissing the idea of using Em’s divine fire before the thought fully formed. Not only would it alert the guard and the Supreme of her presence, I didn’t want the innocent people of Lamera blaming Vesta for the destruction.
I supposed we were to blame, but I was beyond caring. The rowhouse I planned to start the fire at was abandoned, and anyone nearby would have plenty of time to leave their own houses before the fire spread.
I didn’t want to waste any more time, so I opened a rift and knocked over a street lamp onto the rooftop. I used my divinity to spread the flames. A strong wind fed the fire, and it grew nearly out of control within a matter of seconds.
After the flames spread to the next set of houses, I closed my rift and waited.
And waited.
By the time that set of rowhouses was ablaze, no one had raised an alarm. I didn’t want any innocents to die because of my fire, so I took action into my own hands.
“Fire!” I bellowed, just as I stepped through a rift that took me a street closer to the Supreme’s guard. “Fire!” I called again, before rifting once more. No one saw me, and my conscience cleared as screams rang out around me.
Perched atop a building halfway between the Seat and the fire, I watched and waited. Half the soldiers ran toward the flames with haste, but that wasn’t enough. I needed all of them to move. As one of their conduits attempted to pull water from a well, I closed my eyes and focused my own divinity on the water source.
I was stronger. The soldier was unable to do anything because the water was in my control. Eventually he gave up, and instead pulled on the rope to hoist a bucket up. I allowed it, instead focusing on moving the earth. Just a hair, not enough to be detected, I shifted the ground beneath the well. The water found the crack, and I forced it through. Within moments, the well was dry. And if this conduit were of average ability, it would be rather difficult for him to summon the water from beneath the cobblestones.
“Help!” he shouted, and finally, more soldiers followed. The severity of the situation became clear when their conduit, who was adept with water, was unable to handle the fire on his own.
Still though, a small company of soldiers waited. Stationed at intervals on the massive staircase, they stood watch. Positioned at rest, two dozen soldiers refused to move to put out the flames.
So I forced their hand.
Rifting to the west of the Seat, I stepped onto the thatched stable roof. Close enough to the imposing Seat of the Myriad, if the stable caught on fire, the remaining soldiers would have to move. Otherwise, the ancient building could light, bringing the history of the Myriad down along with it. After opening a rift from the rowhouses to the stable roof, it was only a matter of seconds before the blaze spread. Leaping from the rooftop, I kicked the gate in and went stall to stall, freeing the horses.
Terrified shouts echoed outside, and as I stepped back into the moonlight, I understood why. The spreading fire wasn’t the cause for the screaming—a dragon was. Irses’ enormous form blocked the moon, casting most of Lamera in threatening shadow.
“Fuck,” I murmured as I stared up at him. The dragon had found us and given us away in one fell swoop.
The soldiers who had responded to the fire couldn’t help themselves. Looking up at Irses, they all but stopped in the street to stare. Not wanting to be caught where I shouldn’t be, I slowly stepped back into the shadows, thankful for the dragon’s distraction.
“With a beast like that between her thighs, no wonder she yearns to conquer. How can the Vestian king satisfy a dragon’s whore?”
Two of the soldiers laughed, one elbowing the other.
“If she’s the dragon’s whore, does that make him the dragon’s cuck?”
I wasn’t sure the actions were entirely my own as I used my divinity to remove the air from their lungs. The three of them collapsed, and I decided I wouldn’t mind if Lamera burnt to the ground after all.