Chapter 23 #2
The scent of nut coffee and raised voices drew me towards the debate room where Raine had agreed to offer their support. The first rays of the sun burned through the window as everyone turned. A rebel rushed up to Matthias, presenting him with a silver band he snapped onto his wrist.
‘Evellum,’ he said, a sheepish smile on his face as I turned away from the cursed alloy. My fingers twitched, and I narrowed my gaze, glancing around the room.
Raine sat next to—
I peered closer. It couldn’t be…
‘Isbeth!’ I cried. I’d wondered why the room was so cold.
I rounded on Matthias, who seemed oblivious, slumping in a chair.
He’d known. Why had he failed to mention his mother was here?
The mother who’d forever sneered at me when she came to visit Matthias at Bronzehold.
The one who’d taken me aside and warned me I wasn’t good enough for her son the last time she’d visited.
Oh, I was going to enjoy this.
I bet she was overjoyed to learn who her new daughter-in-law was. ‘Should I call you Mother?’ I asked, sitting between two rebels.
My vision shook as she finally met my gaze, a sweet smile on my face as her jaw twitched.
‘Don’t be silly.’ She sat higher in her chair. ‘You may call me by my proper title; “dowager queen”, or as you’re now family, “the king’s mother”.’
‘I think “old queen” has quite the ring to it, don’t you?’
Raine signed, their eyes boring into Isbeth’s.
‘They’re saying: “Ladies, this really isn’t the time for a domestic”,’ Jeremiah translated for me.
Matthias snorted and a weight slammed into my stomach at the darkness in his eyes.
A darkness I’d often seen mirrored in those of his brother.
He clutched the band of Evellum, pressed it against his skin, and my heart lurched as I realised why he’d been given such a strange gift.
What it would do to the Vyrium in his body.
The rebel who’d been glued to Matthias – Sacha – spoke the rebel leader’s words.
Even if I could sign, Raine was too far for me to see what they said.
‘On our way, we came across a battalion of the empress’s cavalry.
The fog set them into disarray and if we act swiftly, we can cause the maximum amount of damage. ’
‘Act?’ I asked.
Raine nodded. ‘Take them prisoner, confiscate weapons, horses…’ I think they raised a brow, and I nodded, understanding my role, ignoring the twist in my guts that my gift may not be enough.
‘Apparently, they’ve already lost a number of vessels and supplies thanks to the creatures of the sea…
and you, so she’s trapped into moving across the land.
Your secret is out now, Your Highness. News of your gift has travelled.
’ Isbeth bristled, as though she despised the thought I was of some use to them.
‘But, if we take out this force while they’re not expecting us, we can cut off her forces. ’
It all made sense. I took in the blurry faces around the table, realising all eyes were on Matthias.
‘Perhaps you might persuade your husband. We need to act now. We can be ready within the hour—’
‘Rebels.’ Matthias slammed his fist on the table. I jumped, my heart hammering as he leaned forward. Clearly his presence here was not of his own choice. ‘I cannot ally my throne, my name, with rebels.’
‘As you can see,’ I said, trying to calm my pulse. ‘My husband makes his own choices. I thought I’d persuaded him not to go ahead with a life-limiting tattoo, but as he resembles a decomposing toad, it’s clear I failed.’
‘Sorrow.’ His voice broke, and I glanced away.
I half-expected him to break out that smile of his.
Perhaps he was saving it for later. ‘You know how The Alliance will react if I work with the Midnight Insurgence. My father almost lost everything because he wanted equality and justice. I’m not in a position to do this.
I’ll lose everything. He sacrificed so much to hold our throne and pass it on. I can’t lose it, Sorrow. I can’t.’
I lifted my gaze to his. My breath stuttered at the sight of his desperation. But this was bigger than his crown.
‘You have lost everything.’ His eyes closed, expression broke, but damn him. He needed to hear this. ‘Where is your throne, Matthias? Who’s sitting on it right now, because it certainly isn’t you.’
‘Sorrow…’
My eyes flicked to Isbeth. She shook her head, a warning to go easy on her son. Sod him. He needed a huge dose of truth.
I rounded on him again. ‘You lost everything. We lost everything. All you had to do was talk to me, to us, before you tattooed that shit onto your back.’
His eyes cracked open, wide, filled with pain. His mouth worked as though he needed to speak, before he slumped in the chair and gripped his hair once more.
‘While you’ve been acting on the whims of that bitch, we’ve worked together.
The only way we’ll defeat her is to act as one.
Not an Alliance, or an Insurgence. Not a fractured Sister or Brotherhood.
Not a group of power-mad monarchs watching their thrones slip away, but one.
Every person capable and willing to fight.
It isn’t you allying with rebels, Matthias, it’s us.
A whole continent, fighting for freedom. ’
His hand moved as he turned to face me, his eyes not quite meeting my own. I knew his reasons for avoiding the rebels, but this was more important than preventing his ever-slipping crown from falling off his head. His chest heaved, and I sat straighter. I would not go to that man.
Not yet anyway.
He nodded, his hair, clumped and dull, fell into his eyes. ‘Fine, but I get to go too.’
‘No,’ Isbeth said, suddenly sitting forward. ‘I’ve lost Ifan. I’m not—’
‘You lost Ifan when you sent him to Carush.’
The room stilled. Matthias’s eyes, cold, sharp, so like his brother’s, locked on his mother. Raine laid their hand on hers.
‘So, I will be fighting.’
‘And who will you be fighting for, Matthias?’ I asked, for once grateful for the swirls of my sight as his reaction was lost to me. ‘Us or that bitch you so willingly tied yourself to?’
‘You, Sorrow,’ he said. Pablo placed his head on my lap, a warning rumbling through his chest and I turned away from my husband. ‘I fight for you and you alone.’
‘Good,’ Raine signed. Even my heart lurched as Isbeth sniffed, wiping her cheeks. Matthias was many things: impulsive, hot-tempered and erratic, but never cruel. Bitterness was not one of his flaws. ‘We get a few hours’ sleep. Be prepared to move at noon.’
Chairs scraped as rebels and Asmarans moved, eager for some rest before we launched an attack on the cavalry. Isbeth strode away from Matthias as though she couldn’t bear to be near him.
‘Mother?’ he called as the former Queen of Asmar swept from the room. Within a moment, the only souls left with me were the wolf and the man I couldn’t bear to face. Pablo stood, his eyes boring into him.
Matthias hissed as he stood, clutching his stomach. How would he even fight like this?
‘Sorrow.’ Gods, his voice. Tears sprung up behind my eyes. I heaved in a deep breath. Buried them deep. ‘Sorrow. I…’
Pablo laid his chin on my lap as I leaned back in the chair, refusing to meet his gaze.
‘I can’t do this, Matthias.’
He limped forward. The wolf raised his head, growling.
‘Not with that… thing on your back anyway.’
Matthias winced, twisting the Evellum band that appeared to make no difference. ‘Where… where will you sleep?’
I laid my arms on the table, placed my cheek across them and gazed out through the hazy, leaded windows. I didn’t respond.
‘Sleep well, love.’ He hesitated, waiting for me to say something.
I rested my head again, unable to even look at him right now.
All those nights when I’d craved the welcome respite of sleep, clinging to the memory of the precious moments within the bower, when I’d give anything to place my hand in his, my head on his shoulder.
And now he was here, a heartbeat away, where the touch I so desperately craved could lead to my downfall.
A tear slipped onto the table as I wondered if I’d ever trust him again.