Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-One
Sierra
It was so surreal seeing Jon, Lady Lordes, and most of all Mari Trajan, the Alpha Queen, after so long apart. So much—and yet so little—had changed in the time I’d last seen them. I had never seen Ander so happy, nor Fadon. I’d woken up this morning in Demos’ arms, and he had told me that Fadon and Ander had gone to meet up with their sister. It was the first bit of joy I’d experienced since my visit to Providence two weeks ago.
Now, as my mates and I sat on lush cushions around a low-lying table in the queen’s fancy tent, where braziers hung in corners warming the opulent space, gratitude flowed through me.
Mari had brought three-quarters of her army from Goth Mor Helle and had been camping here—tucked in a hidden ravine in the woods—for the past few weeks, knowing that we’d be arriving at some point. It was in thanks to Lady Lordes who had seen it in a vision. Apparently, she had just recovered from a long bout of visions that had her bedridden for the better part of a month.
“We knew you’d need us, Fadon,” Mari was saying. “We just hoped we would make it in time. Without Lordes’ Sight, there would have been no way off Great Mountain.”
“How much do you know?” Demos asked the queen, not beating around the bush.
She set her tea down and looked at him seriously. “Everything that matters.”
Aside from my mates, it was only Mari in the tent, so I knew that she could have been more specific if she chose to. Did Lady Lordes know about Lucius being the true heir to the throne? By the way Mari only eyed Lucius with the same indifference she’d shown him last time they were together, at Goth Mor Helle, I could only assume that that knowledge was still kept only between us.
“Elementals,” she said, shaking her head. Her ebony hair was down, and she looked like a fancy porcelain doll, young and fresh and deceptively dangerous. Then she looked at her older brother. “All those reminders from Caziel, from Zion, about us having short memories, ignoring the Old Ways. I can’t help but think we’ve been naive, Fadon.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, other than the obvious. It seemed that all of us had forgotten the Old Ways, and now we were victims of our own growth in society, relying on things we could only sense with our eyes, our ears, our pride. Was it that “forgetting” that had made the elementals so vulnerable? Was it possible our belief was what held them up?
“It’s more proof,” Fadon said, agreeing with his sister, “that the Owl’s influence has grown.”
“Speaking of, we found the culprit, the one who had aided Servant Sarbo,” she said. A fierceness shone in her eyes. The true queen revealing herself. “She has been dealt with.”
Fadon pounced on it. “Name?”
“Tina. Little bitch maid who came with the last caravan from the Aires. They picked her up somewhere along the road. Jon got the information from one of the servants.”
“Good. At least that’s solved.”
Mari seemed to have lost interest in the topic, however, and now cast her dark gaze onto Lucius. “So. You married my sister, I heard.”
Lucius didn’t blink an eye. “I did. Not pleased with that, I see.” He smirked.
Mari’s expression gave nothing away as she met my eyes. “Are you happy, Sierra? At least tell me that.”
“I am, Your Majesty. I’m sorry that things with Ander didn’t work out.”
I still hadn’t forgotten that Mari had known all along that marriage to Ander had been doomed, yet the queen hadn’t said a thing about it, all that time I’d been at the manse. But I understood, in a way. Ander was her brother, and she had been the one to arrange the Fealty Agreement.
Mari reached out and grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry, too. It was a hasty move on my part and, quite honestly, I should have put Lysander’s wishes into account. But…” She glanced at Fadon, then returned her gaze to me, releasing my hand, a smile, playful and seductive played at her lips. “I see you are still my sister. Taking Fadon as a mate, as well as the handsome Servant.”
I blushed, and I’m sure Demos did as well, though he sat outside of my view.
She grinned at Demos, enjoying discomfiting him, no doubt. “Oh, and I brought your beautiful silver mount with us.”
“My thanks, Queen Mari.”
Fadon cleared his throat. “Yes, well. After this is all over, I promise to speak with you about my plans regarding my future as captain, Mari.” Fadon, who sat beside me, placed his hand on my thigh. Through the bond I could feel his anticipation at being alone with me.
“Yes.” Mari nodded thoughtfully. “Soon, lots of changes will be made. A new era.
Across from me, I noted Lucius looking thoughtful as well. My heart went out to him. I wondered what he was thinking as he sat here in his half-sister’s presence, in the queen’s camp, all these Ongahri soldiers that could have been, should have been, his to command.
But I knew Lucius well enough to know that, though he might wonder what could have been, he was satisfied with what was. He was inherently a good man. Although, did he long to be closer to his siblings? No man was an island.
While I mused, the conversation turned to the current plan of taking on the Owl. Mari went over what information she had gathered, and Lucius and Demos enlightened her on what they knew. They told her about the weapon, about their thoughts on Servant Sarbo having warned the Owl in advance. But when Demos brought up Boriel, that she was being held hostage in the Basilica’s dungeon, I could tell she had a hard time understanding.
“But who is this man who is holding her? And how will he be stopped?” she asked him.
“There is only one way, but only if the timing is right. As to who he is… Let us just say that, if all the evil in the world were to embody one being,” Demos said, causing me to shudder, “Well, I dare not say his name. Just know that he needs no name.”
I watched Mari swallow, watched her lovely eyes track Demos’ face. She only nodded.
“Sierra.”
I turned, hairbrush in mid stroke. It was late, and I had been waiting for Fadon, Demos, and Lucius to finish up with their meeting with the queen and her advisors before settling in for bed. Finally I would be able to sleep in my own private tent, one with a heated brazier, and most importantly, I’d be clean. A bath had been waiting for me earlier, and I blessed Mari’s generosity in loaning her servants to me.
Phobius stood at the entrance to my tent, looking like a dark sentry from a fairy tale. Sinful and tempting. Again I wondered why he was single, but then again, Demos had also been single his whole life, before me.
“Yes?”
“Remember that conversation we had in the forest? The day you learned what my brother and I are?”
I sat the brush down and stood. “Yes. You have a plan, don’t you?”
“I do.” He came inside, gently shutting the tent flap behind him. “It will require a lot of subterfuge, I’m afraid. Are you up for that?”
Was I? If it meant saving Titus and ending this, I was in.