Chapter 65 #2
Emeris raised her head enough for Gaeren to see a sweet smile cross her features.
“I’ve come to warn you of Mayvus’ power.
It seems you’re aware of her method of branding and her preference for blood magic, so it should be no surprise that she remains a threat.
We thought she’d been destroyed by the dragon.
But she has found some old magic to keep her alive. ”
“Old magic?” the king asked.
“We have yet to identify its source,” Orra chimed in. She made no effort to bow before the king and queen. Instead, she raised her chin high and clenched her jaw, her gaze darting around the throne room with disdain.
Gaeren nearly laughed out loud.
Enla turned a sharp gaze in his direction and shook her head slightly.
He bit his lip to hold it back.
“The fact is, Your Majesty,” Rildan said, bowing low like his wife, “General Nels has received word from his scouts that Mayvus is building an army near Ahmranan’s Viewpoint. It seems that she’s bringing soldiers from Ahmranas.”
Silence permeated the air for the briefest of moments. Even Gaeren felt a ripple of shock, though it was what they’d suspected before setting out on their hunt for the Sayhleen starbridge. Having it confirmed by Nels’ scouts brought a terrifying reality to the suspicion.
But then the king was laughing, nearly choking. “Bringing soldiers across the barrier?” he asked.
“Yes,” Emeris confirmed. “It’s likely the fortress at the Myndren Mountains has already fallen to her men.
When we heard her numbers were in the thousands, we set sail, both to find the other members of our party and to warn you.
She will not settle for the eastern province you gave her.
She will settle for nothing less than all of Rhystahn. ”
Gaeren barely held back his panic. Her numbers were in the thousands? Aeliana and Larkos would be sailing right past Ahmranan’s Viewpoint, assuming they could make it through the icebergs. Could they get past the crazy priestess undetected?
The king still chuckled, a strange noise that permeated the air as they all let Emeris’ words sink in. “Are you asking for our aid?”
Gaeren winced. Perhaps his own ambivalence toward the throne had made Emeris and the others think his father would be easily persuaded. Whatever hope they’d clung to was a waste. They never should have come.
“Yes,” Emeris said. “If we work together with the Recreants, we can defeat her.”
“You thought a dragon defeated her, but her old magic prevented its success. What makes you think together we can do better than a dragon?”
“Perhaps it has more to do with our motivation,” Orra said.
“The dragon sought revenge. He’d been her brand, and he wanted to pay back the woman who freed him by destroying the woman who’d imprisoned them both.
But you and us? We are motivated by freedom.
If we don’t band together to stop her, we will all become enslaved, just like the dragon had been as her brand.
If we don’t fight, we might as well march back to Myndren and offer up our blood to her. ”
The king scowled, likely remembering the fact that he and his wife had recently been branded by Mayvus, but unwilling to admit that truth before these strangers. “You expect me to take you at your word when I don’t even know you?”
“I expect you to send scouts to verify the truth of our words,” Emeris said. “But I also expect you to prepare for war, assuming them to be true.”
Gaeren glanced at the navy men. His parents already prepared for war, but on a different front.
“And what if your word isn’t enough?” the king asked. “What if I don’t want to send scouts all the way to the Myndren Mountains? What if I’m content to let you work out your family feud on the other side of the country?”
Gaeren sensed the pull to step forward, as strongly as if Enla had tied a string around his finger and tugged.
His boot made the barest of scuffs on the marble floor, and the light hit his princely uniform—something he’d sworn he’d never wear again but had slipped on in the hopes that it might soften his mother’s perception.
Though it would probably anger his father.
“I will vouch for their word,” Gaeren said.
“Will that change your mind in any way?” He held his father’s gaze long enough to see the man’s face turn a deep red, almost purple, before he unsheathed his sword and took to one knee, balancing the tip before him and leaning his forehead against the pommel.
“If these men and women say Mayvus is building an army from Ahmranas, then Mayvus is building an army from Ahmranas. I watched them cross a barrier. I have crossed two of them myself. The starbridges are real. The people crossing the barriers are real, and they are dangerous. If Mayvus is building an army, then we need to build one faster. Because if we don’t take an army to her doorstep and deal with this problem before it’s too big, she will bring an army to our doorstep, and it will be too late. ”
“It’s good to see you, Gaeren,” Emeris whispered from beside him, “safe and sound.” There was an unspoken question in her greeting.
“Aeliana is fine as well,” he said. “But we lost Holm.” He glanced up to see her falter in her bow. She raised her eyes to meet his, tears spilling over her cheeks.
“And Iris?” she whispered.
“Recovering from the loss,” he said.
She nodded, then swiped at her face and resumed her bow, her shoulders shaking.
“Did you mean to send Gullet? He had no note.”
This time Emeris looked up sharply. “We left Gullet with General Nels. So he could send word if Myndren was captured.”
Rildan and Marnok exchanged stricken looks, and Orra’s eyes slid shut.
Gaeren’s father cleared his throat, a reminder that his patience was never long-suffering.
“When you returned, we pardoned you from your defection.” The king’s words rang out with an edge that everyone else probably heard as authority.
But Gaeren knew the simmering anger that laced his father’s tone.
“But then you left again with treasonous remarks about your sister’s choices and ability to rule.
Why should we welcome you back with open arms, let alone take your word for these people who are suspected of being rebels in our midst? ”
There was little Gaeren could say to redeem himself.
So he let the silence ring out, choosing his words carefully.
“Because I’m your son. And before you are the king, you are my father.
And before Enla is a queen, she will always be my sister, and I her brother.
Because we are family.” He said the words firmly, nailing the truth of them in his mind even if he didn’t always feel them in his heart.
It was the closest he could come to forgiving his parents, especially his father’s abusive ways.
He didn’t understand their choices or their methods.
But the Sun had seen fit to place them in a position of power and authority, even if it was just so that authority could be stripped away by someone like Emeris or Aeliana.
Or by the people his parents were supposed to be ruling.
He wanted nothing to do with their way of leading the country.
But they were still his family. And he would give them that small measure of respect in the hopes that he might receive it in return.
His mother blinked rapidly before downing the drink Tobias passed her with an unladylike speed while avoiding his gaze. His father flicked his wrist until his palm faced down, a mirror image of his pardon for the sailor who’d spoken out of turn.
“Take them all to the dungeons.”