I bring my hand out and stare at the red. It drips onto my cloak.
Every memory of her causes pain in some form. Either mental or physical. Maybe if there is nothing left but pain to feel when my thoughts go to her, I’ll learn.
She’s your destruction.
I wipe my palm against my thigh and push farther back in my seat. The wall is coming up close. Time to ready myself.
The first unit of Otherworlders are lined up before the wall. The Iron Grinders in front of them pump puffs of steam into the frosty night air as the drill heads burrow, boring holes into the hard earth. Lake’s second unit has already taken out the sentries posted on the wall walk, but we only have minutes to tunnel under before the next shift takes their place.
Luckily, I know the inside workings of my kingdom and Court. I know the number of sentries. I know the shift changes, the enforcers and their commands. I grew up watching their training, and was instructed by not only the king himself, but by every general in our defense strategy.
I never thought
I’d one day use this knowledge to breach my own palace, but hell, it’s lucrative. Loyalty is a shifty beast, submitting to whoever wields the most power.
I’m not here to threaten or harm my people. Though I’m sure some will die, there are casualties in every war. Only the strong persevere. Thinning the herd, my father would say. So really, I’m doing Perinya a kindness. Taking out the weaklings. And whoever Kal has appointed in charge of my affairs is probably the weakest of all. They deserve to be thinned out.
I wonder who has been chosen, and what selection process she used to decide. Throwing my cloak over one shoulder, I laugh to myself. Probably someone she deems as stubborn and chauvinistic as me—substituting what she’s missing. Or maybe someone completely opposite despite me. Someone she can control and manipulate easily, while trying to subtly convert our country over to her monarchy.
Whoever the ass is, he won’t be seated in my seat of power for long.
The whirring of the Iron Grinders muffles, and I look down the row of Otherworlders as their heads dip below the surface of the ground. That day in Cavan, when Kal discovered how the Otherworlders sacked her empress’s palace, comes back to me in clear detail.
I should be worried that, in her knowledge, she’ll have a plan in place for this type of attack. Have maneuvered sentries and shift changes around to throw me. Or stationed more guards in Court; ready for this very envision. Hell, I’ve been hidden away for a while, giving her enough time to prepare for it.
Only I’m confident the aftermath of the blast is her top priority. She’s too…iron-willed. A savior. Just like when she ignored a direct order to get me out of Cavan, she’ll rush into the battle on her high horse spouting women’s power to save everyone.
And I’m counting on it.
I’ve waited long enough. It’s time I recover the last shard and end this foreplay.
Lake throws up a fist, signaling me. We’re through.
I nod, and he splays his fingers wide.
I unsheathe my sword as forty Otherworlders spring from the tree line and rush the tunnels.
? 4 ?
Kaliope
THE SCENTS OF SANDALWOOD and oleander crowd my nose as Kaide and I enter the palace chapel. I quickly look around, making sure we’re alone before I nod to Kaide. He pushes a pew up against the doors as I head for the secret door.
“Still say it’s foolish for a safety chamber to be located in the most obvious place,” Kaide says.
As I pass a marble statue of the Goddess Rae, I look up at her head held high, bow strung taut with a golden arrow, her shimmering cloak pooled around her pale feet—and I scowl. Logically, I agree with Kaide, but I say, “The empress’s faith is her safety. There’s no other place in Perinya she’d choose.”
“In my country,” Kaide says, grunting as he barricades the doors, “man is his own god.” He turns toward me, a furrow between his brows. “The body is the temple, and the mind the spirit. We only fight as a means of defense. Not for power.”
“And what is the state of your country now, Kaide?”
His scowl deepens and he opens his mouth, then closes it.
I hold up a hand. “I’m not disagreeing with you. Only stating the obvious.”
He nods. “Very well. Point taken.”
During the Otherworlders’ raid, Kaide’s home was burned and his people enslaved. That’s why he chose to become a Nactue—that and to seek revenge on the monsters who stole everything from him.