Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

‘ W e’re here.’ Liana spoke into my mind, and I leaped up from the table. I’d been sipping coffee in my room and browsing a book in an effort to stay awake. I took the stairs two at a time. It was just about 2 a.m. but the base was still crawling with Fleet soldiers. They saluted as I passed, backs ramrod straight against the wall.

I burst out of the door the second I hit the top floor, passing the two guards there and skidding to a stop before Liana and…

Who the hell was that?

A beautiful woman with long blonde hair wearing fishnet stockings, a red corset, and black leather shorts got off of Liana. As the woman approached me, I stared at her ample cleavage, then my gaze went to her face. She wore heavy makeup, red lipstick, and?—

“Elaine!” I hissed, staggering backward.

My eyes! I wanted to look away from my governess, but she grinned, ripping the blonde wig off of her head and saluting me.

“You. Have. Boobs,” I said stupidly.

She laughed.

I’d lived with the woman my entire life, and she’d always been so covered up. Button-up shirts, turtlenecks, hair in a bun, no makeup. This was… traumatizing.

“And I used them to infiltrate Maxim’s very innermost bedroom chambers,” she countered.

My eyes widened. “You what? Did you… with him?”

She grimaced. “No way. I put the charm on his guard, though, and then killed him.”

That sounded more like Elaine.

I peered at Liana, standing behind her, and I wanted to run to her and check on her, but my curiosity held me in place. Vespa, who I hadn’t noticed before, leaped from his seat in the saddle and came up beside Elaine.

“Liana said you got something that will scare Maxim?”

She nodded, “We are ready to write him back now, Empress, and with your letter you can include these.”

She pulled some black cloth from her bag and opened it tautly for me to inspect.

They were black silk boxers with the word Maxim embroidered into the waistband in gold thread.

“Ewww, are these his underwear?” I asked her. But I was grinning.

She nodded, unable to hide her own smile. “And when you send them back with a letter telling him to ‘Sleep tight,’ he’ll think we have a spy in his midst. Or at least a way to get to him if he messes with us. He’ll tear his innermost circle apart, searching for the traitor.”

Whoa. Okay, that was genius.

I yawned, and she patted my shoulder. “I’ll bring these to your living quarters, and we can work on the letter in the morning.”

I nodded. “I have to tell the admirals.”

Elaine shrugged. “You don’t have to do anything, but I agree you should. Let’s tell them after we’ve sent the letter so we don’t have to get their opinion on anything.”

Hah. I liked that.

“Deal.”

She left to go inside and hopefully change clothes because seeing her like this was like seeing your own mother indecent.

I finally walked over to Liana and hugged her neck, stroking her feathers. “I’m glad you both got home safely,” I told her.

I could sense that she felt some healing and closure at finally killing Drak for her mate, but there was something bothering her.

She peered down at me. ‘Aisling, don’t underestimate Maxim.’

I felt something inside of her, something I hadn’t ever felt from her before.

Fear.

‘It will be okay,’ I told her, and then wished her goodnight.

But that night, I tossed and turned.

Demon.

Absence of light.

Liana’s warning circled around my head all night long.

Early in the morning, after only a few hours’ sleep, Elaine shook me awake while holding a giant cup of coffee.

“We need to respond to his letter,” she told me.

I marched myself out of bed and shuffled over to the bathroom, where I got ready quickly and then chugged the coffee.

We sat down at the table and reread Maxim’s letter together quickly.

Empress Aisling,

Tonight, your attack on our Red Palace killed my father, Prime Leader Vlek.

I’ve waited two decades to take over the war efforts from my weak father. So, I wanted to say thank you for giving me this opportunity. I’m going to give you two options now, and I’d like you to choose very carefully.

1. Marry me, unite our people, and surrender your country, lands, and ember to me, and I will not harm anything you hold dear, including your three beautiful sisters.

2. Deny my hand, and I’ll strip your lands of their people, mine all of your ember, and kill each and every one of your sisters before forcing you to be my wife.

I await your reply,

Maxim

Smoke curled out of my nostrils and Elaine placed a calming hand over mine.

“You must be equally bold,” she warned.

I nodded, and then I wrote.

Maxim darling,

You are so welcome for helping rid the world of your pig-headed father. I cannot wait to also take your life and end the war, absorbing your people and lands into my own and finally giving them a proper leader.

My answer to your question is this…

If you ever threaten me or my sisters again, I’ll remove you of your manhood. Please accept the enclosed gift as proof that I can do that.

Sleep tight. I’ll be watching.

Empress Aisling

“It’s perfect,” Elaine said, folding the boxers on top and then placing them in a package before sealing. I was livid, pacing the floor and thinking about the audacity of this man.

“Liana said he has two creatures and that he’s evil,” I told Elaine.

She paused in my doorway, turning around to face me with a shadow of fear over her face. “I never saw him in my time there, but I did see the red rider you speak of. She’s his twin sister.”

Oh crap .

I sagged onto the bed, my heart racing in my chest. Red rider was Maxim’s twin! She was the prime leader’s daughter? Now it made sense why she said I killed her father that night. She knew my secret… She…

“Elaine, get inside and shut the door,” I said before my governess could leave and deliver the letter. I knew it was a risk, but I could trust Elaine. She’d proven that.

“I have to tell you something.” I couldn’t meet her gaze.

Liana sensed what I was about to do and her presence rose up in me. ‘You tell her, but no one else. Ever. Not your sisters or Tetra or anyone.’

If Elaine was going to be advising me, she had to know everything.

Elaine was very still, watching me like a mother watches a daughter who is about to confess something.

She waited, peering over at me with curiosity.

“I have a power I haven’t told you about. A secret power.”

She peered over her shoulder to make sure the door was indeed closed and then walked over to me until she was standing right before me.

“Who knows about this power?” she asked.

I swallowed hard. “Kohen, Liana, and… the red rider, Maxim’s twin sister.”

Did anyone else know? Maybe all of Luska for all I knew.

Elaine’s eyebrows rose when I mentioned the red rider knowing what my power was. “Is it what I overheard in your father’s office the night he died?” Then she lowered her voice. “The power to see the future?”

Crap . I’d forgotten about that. I’d burst into my father’s office and told him I had Kohen’s power so I could save the training center from the attack.

I shook my head. “That… was a lie,” was all I said because I didn’t want her to know about Kohen.

Now her brows knitted together in the middle of her forehead.

“Would telling me the truth put you in danger?”

I loved that she was always worried about my safety. It was proof I could trust her.

“Only if you told someone,” I said.

“I’d never tell a soul a secret you shared with me in confidence, Aisling.” Her voice was soft and filled with compassion.

I took a shaky breath and exposed my truth: “I can enthrall people. Control their minds.”

Her face fell as she stared at me in wonder, and then a fierceness came over her. “The red rider knows this?” she growled.

I nodded. “I had to use my power to help in the attack on Riverine.”

She chewed her lip. “Then Maxim knows. That’s why he wants you as his wife. He wants to use you to control others.”

My stomach bottomed out. She was probably right. “Well, he couldn’t. I’d control him before he ever got within ten feet of me.”

She appeared lost in thought. “Maybe… yeah, I hope so.”

She sounded unsure. The way she and Liana feared him made me fear him.

“Should we still send the letter?” I asked.

She nodded. “Absolutely. Nothing changes.” She walked to the door and turned to look over her shoulder. “And Aisling?”

“Yes?” I looked up at her.

“We never speak of this power again. It’s safer that way.”

I nodded, swallowing hard.

She let out a shaky breath and grasped the handle of the door to my living quarters, yanking it open and then shutting it behind her.

Now to call a meeting with the commander and the admirals…