Councilor Ludvig had not been idle, and his official retirement from Isteran politics in no way put a damper on his love for spying and intrigue.
“Odalia has done little since their abortive attempt at invading Kion,” he reported, spreading a fan of reports on the empress’s table. “Frankly, I’m surprised. It’s not in the duke’s temperament to give up so easily, especially after such heavy losses. I have read reports of them fortifying parts of the city by increasing their soldiers on watch, which is not unexpected. I see no siege preparations despite the rise of military activity, but they do not appear to have plans to mount another attack. The Odalians are fearful and unsure. The king has not shown himself for some time, and neither has the duke. As far as my spies are aware, Prince Kance remains stable, though there is no change in his condition.”
The old man frowned. “Personally, I think Holsrath plays a waiting game, to see what we would do. News of Daanoris would have reached him by now. Surely you can wait before attacking?”
“Lady Mykaela and Lady Polaire are better, but they will only grow weaker in time again,” Empress Alyx pointed out. “If there is a remote chance that we can recover her heartsglass, then we should do so before they take another turn for the worse.”
“A pretty theory on paper, Your Majesty,” said Zoya, ever the pragmatist. “But sneaking two asha, who are not exactly at the peak of health, into hostile territory makes for difficult logistics.”
“Polaire and Mykaela are rallying at the moment, Zoya, but Mykaela will die, and Polaire, in her stubborn refusal to relinquish Mykaela at the cost of her own life, will soon follow.” Althy sighed. “Your Faceless book deals very much with the process of using the Heartshare rune, Tea, but it says very little about repercussions. Which is not surprising, as Faceless think little of the consequences of their own actions. But it is very clear on one point—Heartshare is a temporary fix. In time, they both will die, and we cannot measure the when of it.”
“Then what do you propose?”
Althy grinned, grim and purposeful. “Perhaps we should ask Polaire and Mykaela themselves. It is their lives at stake.”
“Let’s do it,” Polaire said immediately.
“Polaire!” Mykaela protested.
“I love you, Mykkie, but I am not going to be tethered to you any longer, knowing you can weaken again at any moment. I can still fight, and I defy any asha to say otherwise. The sooner we find your heartsglass, the better chances we have of winning this war.”
“I didn’t have the chance to apologize to you,” I told Polaire. “I made assumptions that I shouldn’t have, and it was wrong of me not to trust you. I’m so sorry. If I could take back all the words I said…”
The brunette smiled and wrapped me up in a hug. “You are so much like me, Tea. Perhaps that is why I chose not to tell you, knowing full well you would act the way I would. I love you even at your most troublesome, you silly girl. You are stronger than I give you credit, so it’s time I should start.” She smiled coyly. “Kalen seems to have come to the same conclusion.”
Nothing got past Polaire.
We were four and they numbered in the hundreds of thousands. But the fighting ceased; they retreated. They knew: our seven daeva outnumbered them all. It was the golden-haired asha who rode out to greet us, gesturing at the others to stay back. I saw some of the elder asha ignore the command, though they stopped several feet behind her when the bone witch approached. Unlike Lady Mykaela, the older asha sweated profusely under the hot sun, and the silk of their hua stuck to their skin in the least appealing ways. There were other asha and Deathseekers among the army—I saw glimpses of hua in muted colors and men dressed in heavy black. My zivar glowed almost as bright as their heartsglass.
“Tea!” Lord Fox broke through the ranks and stopped beside Lady Mykaela, frustration and anguish etched across his face.
The Dark asha smiled at him. “I told you they wouldn’t listen.” She gestured back at the city. “All seven daeva at my command. But do you see the palace burning? Do you see chaos, anarchy? I spared the people as much as I could. I came here to kill a cruel man, no matter what falsehoods those old fools told you.”
“Wretched little girl!” one of the elders sputtered, her face red.
“And the corpses?” Lady Mykaela asked.
“Stragglers I collected from graves on my journey here. If my undead did not attack, you would have done worse to Santiang. Do not ask me to choose between the lives of an army you raise against me and the lives of citizens who did not ask to take up arms.”
“They are only Daanorians,” the elder snapped and almost immediately hunched over, choking and pawing at her throat.
“And you’re an ugly old woman hiding her mediocrity in expensive clothes. One Daanorian is worth more than a thousand of you.”
“Tea!” Lady Mykaela exclaimed.
The old woman took in a shuddering gasp of air. The bone witch turned to her former mentor, her voice matter-of-fact. “Where is Empress Alyx?”
“Returning to Kion,” It was Lord Fox who responded. “I’d convinced her that you mean no harm to Daanoris, and she seeks to boost Ankyo’s defenses.”
“Daanoris is intact, and I have reached an understanding with the Empress Yansheo.”
“Empress Yansheo?” Lady Mykaela asked. “What has become of Emperor Shifang?”
“Emperor Shifang died many months ago. We have since disposed of the impostor.” Lord Kalen stepped forward, a large sack in his hand. He tossed it to the ground before them. “You might recognize his head.”
Wary, Lord Fox stooped down to retrieve the sack, ripped it open. He sucked in a noisy breath. “Usij,” he said bleakly. My knees buckled.
“We have no intentions of fighting any of you. Do not stand in our way,” Lady Tea pronounced.
“We are wasting time,” another elder snapped, the same one who had accompanied the empress to the palace. “You will return these daeva to their graves, and you will return with us to Kion, where you will be summarily tried for your crimes.”
“My crimes, Mistress Hestia?” The bone witch mocked her. “My crimes? You were there the night they died, Elder. You have no intentions of returning me alive to Kion. Even now, your scheming mind plots ways to kill me.”
“You killed your own flesh and blood!” the elder hissed. “That alone merits the executioner’s axe!”
“And I will pay for that sin soon enough. But not today. I know you will not allow me to stand trial, Elder. Would you really allow me to provide a full accounting of what happened that final night?”
“You—you—” Mistress Hestia stopped, her eyes bulging. A peculiar change was coming over the woman along with some of her fellow elders. A queer gurgling sound began at the base of her throat, lower than her thin voice could manage.
Lady Mykaela stepped back in alarm, and so did the bone witch, looking as startled as the rest. Mistress Hestia clutched at her throat, stumbled, and fell to the ground. Her tongue lolled out as she jerked and spasmed, turning bloated and black.
“What did you do, Tea?” Lady Mykaela gasped.
“I haven’t done anything!”
The elder moaned one last time—and insect-like wings sprouted from her back.
29
“Getting into Kneave,” Zoya growled, spitting out a mouthful of hay, “sounds infinitely better on paper than it is from inside a wagon.”
Unlike the Odalian army that had showed up at Ankyo, there was no Kion army attacking the gates, but there were Kion asha and Deathseekers gathered around the city, led by Alsron and Shadi, staying out of view until they were called upon. Besides, the azi was an army all on its own.