Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

W e finally made it to the Wall and then trudged through the river like we had in the Wilds right before we’d claimed Onyx and Liana. Kohen’s warm hand in mine felt so natural that I’d forgotten we were even holding hands until the moment we stepped up to the Amersea border. He pulled his fingers from mine and offered for me to climb the riverbank first.

“After you, Empress,” he said formally.

We were back in Amersea, back to hiding our relationship or whatever this was.

My mind raced with everything that had just happened. We blew up the Red Palace, Liana and Onyx left us, and then the red rider saw me use my power! Now Finn was gone. Oh stars, Kohen killed Finn just to keep my secret. I felt sick, like a delayed processing. The image of his burned skin was embedded into my mind and kept coming up when I thought of him.

Lieutenant Colt and Captain Jade were missing. This mission would be deemed a success in most eyes, but in mine, it had completely failed. I’d failed my people.

The second we stepped onto land, there was a rustle in the bushes to our right. I pulled my blade just as Jade stepped out, covered in mud and soaking wet.

“Empress.” She bowed.

There was a bleeding cut above her left eyelid, but other than that, she looked okay.

Relief surged through me. She made it.

Her gaze peered behind Kohen and I, and my heart sank, crushing the sudden relief I’d felt.

“Finn?” Her voice shook, but she kept her cool. I had a feeling Finn, Colt, and Jade were all very close. I wanted to crawl into a black pit and hide forever.

Kohen bowed his head and placed his fist over his chest. “Died at the hands of a Luskin. Saved our empress’ life.”

The lie felt dirty, and guilt threatened to eat me alive, but Jade smiled. “A hero’s death is all he ever wanted.”

My gaze flicked to Kohen to see if any remorse or guilt shone there, but he was a mask of calm.

Remember, everything I do, I do to protect you , he’d once said to me. It was true. A harsh truth I was now living.

Jade stepped up before me and bowed deeply. “Now that you are back safely, I would like permission to go after Colt.”

My father warned me of this. Decision fatigue. Being empress was like being shot with a dozen arrows every second, and you had to catch every single one. Except the arrows were decisions you had to make. I couldn’t properly think about Liana, or Onyx, or the Red Palace, or even Finn. That was all in the past, and right now, I had to make another decision.

I wanted to tell Jade yes. I did. But a solo mission to go after someone last seen dangling from a Talanagi was suicide. Especially after we’d just bombed the Red Palace. No, we’d need to hunker down and get ready for a counterattack.

“Denied. Let’s get back to base. We can plan Colt’s rescue and extraction in the morning,” I told her. “We need to brace for retaliation.”

She hesitated a second as if she wanted to argue with me but then nodded, and we moved out. It took us a while to make it out of the Wilds, but when we did, there were over a dozen vehicles waiting for us. Jade had called them in through her creature, Danowen, who was waiting at base and had the gift of being able to mentally relay messages to anyone.

“What happened?” Commander Ledger asked. “All we knew from Danowen was that the building blew sky high, and then the empress was left behind by her creature, and attacked.”

I gave him a quick debrief as we got into the car. His face lit up at the confirmation that we’d completely flattened the Red Palace. I said that we’d been separated from our creatures in battle because I didn’t want him to know we weren’t exactly fully in control of Liana and Onyx. I would never force her to do anything. I told him exactly what Kohen said about Finn dying to protect me and that Colt was missing in action.

He nodded, and we traveled full speed back to base. “They’ll retaliate. We should all spend the night in the underground bunkers.”

I nodded. Sky Reach was constantly under fire. An elaborate maze of bunkers had been built to withstand attacks.

Within the hour I was ferried to a lavish sleep quarters fifty feet underground. As I descended all the steps, it felt like a tomb, but I tried to focus on the fact that it meant I was safe. Kohen and the rest of the base occupants would be sharing bunk beds. I was sequestered in a private suite that felt cold and lonely after growing up with three sisters. But I was too tired to care.

‘Liana, tell me you’re safe,’ I called through our bond. But got nothing. I tried not to let it bother me. She was immortal after all, but I didn’t like being separated from her.

I showered quickly, and the second my head hit the pillow, I was out.

I was ripped from a blissful sleep by a fist banging on my steel door. It felt like pulling my body from quicksand as I crossed the room and ripped the door open.

Commander Ledger was half asleep as well, hair flattened to one side and still wearing his bedclothes. “We have an urgent update that cannot be read without you present. Top-level clearance. Empress only.”

I shook myself, adrenaline forcing alertness to unfoggy my mind. Top clearance. Empress only. That was bad. Or good. I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t gotten to that level of training with my father yet.

I threw a baggy sweater over my tank top and followed him down the hall, noticing he had only one sock on. I’d never seen this man look disheveled. He was always put together, always tidy. This must be serious to have him presenting himself to me like this. I smoothed my hair as we walked, retying my braid and wiping my eyes. Was I about to walk into a room full of people looking like this? Would I ever sleep a full night again?

We reached a door where a soldier stood out front, back erect, staring straight into the distance. As we approached, he simply glanced at us and then opened the door. I stepped inside, not sure what to expect.

It was a small, dimly lit room with an envelope sitting in the center of a table and white gloves beside it. There were four chairs, all empty.

It was just Commander Ledger and I.

Interesting.

My heart beat furiously in my chest as I stared at the cursive font on the letter.

Empress Aisling.

“Who is it from?” I asked.

“It came via Luskin currier.”

Luska sent me a letter? I was pretty sure that was unheard of, but what did I know?

“Do they do this often?”

“Never,” the commander said flatly. “Wear the gloves. We don’t know if the paper is poisoned.”

Great.

I reached for the gloves, proud to see that my hands didn’t shake. Putting them on, I then grasped the letter and peeled off the back seal.

Commander Ledger paced the carpet as I pulled out a single note and read.

Empress Aisling,

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

I stopped reading, shock rushing through me. Holy crap. What did he just say? I killed the leader of the most war-hungry nation known to man?

“Prime Leader Vlek is dead from the attack,” I announced in a hollow voice, and Commander Ledger stopped pacing. He turned to me with a sadistic grin and whooped a fist into the air.

“Hang on,” I told him. “I haven’t finished.”

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 wonderful 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, surrender your country, lands, and ember to me, and I will not harm anything you hold dear, including your three beautiful sisters.

My hands shook as I read the threat between his words. Marry him! Was he insane? I didn’t even know Prime Leader Vlek had a son, or any children for that matter. I assumed so, as having heirs was smart, but if I didn’t know much about him, how did he know so much about my sisters? I read on:

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

My skin began to smoke with barely contained rage.

“What did it say?” The commander peered up at me with alarm, glancing at the smoke rising off of my body.

I set down the letter on the table so he could read it and took in three deep, calming breaths in the hopes that my skin would stop smoking. Marry him? Not gonna happen.

And too bad for him, he’d done the one thing I’d never show any mercy for. He’d threatened to kill my sisters. How did he know so much about me? I didn’t like that at all.

After reading the letter, Commander Ledger rubbed his jaw. “Vlek must have been working late in the building. That part is good news.”

“How does he know about my sisters?” I asked.

He sighed. “They have Talanagi. They could send spies over in the night and fly out by morning, and we wouldn’t know.”

We watched the skies pretty closely because we knew they had a lot of fliers, but maybe not close enough.

That was unnerving, but he was right. Look how we’d just flown into Luska unnoticed.

“What do we know about Vlek?” I asked the commander.

Commander Ledger winced. “We heard he had a daughter. I didn’t know about a son.”

We had been asleep for decades when we could have sent in spies to ferret out all the intel on this family. Now I was going to have to pick up where my father lacked.

“I want more eyes on the sky. I want reinforced borders around Riverine, and I want to send a team of spies to find out more about this Maxim,” I told him.

He nodded.

“And I want to send a reply,” I said.

The commander bristled. “What kind of reply? We should bring this to the admirals to formulate a response together.”

“The admirals have no say in who I marry.” Which I was ninety-eight percent sure was true.

“Well, then, let me talk this out with you. I have some thoughts?—”

“Get me Lieutenant Elaine Steele.”

His brows bunched together. “Your governess? You want to bring a nanny in on the only written communication we’ve received from Luska in decades!”

“A nanny?” My voice was cold as I stalked over to him, walking right up into his face.

He swallowed hard, suddenly realizing that he’d overstepped. “I only meant that Lieutenant Steele is out of practice in matters of?—”

“Out of practice!” I tipped my head back and laughed in his face. “The empress who stands before you, the one who just killed Prime Leader Vlek and leveled their palace, was created by Elaine Steele. Never forget that!” I snapped.

He lowered his gaze and nodded. “Yes, Empress. But imperial law states that in order for Lieutenant Steele to read that letter, she’d have to be an admiral or higher.”

I nodded in understanding. “Then make her an admiral. I’ll wait.”

I walked over to a desk, grabbed a piece of paper and pen, and then looked over at him.

His mouth opened in shock. “Oh, you’re serious?”

“Yes,” I said plainly.

“I advise against that. The admiral title is?—”

“Noted. Now, are you going to do as I have asked, or will I have to demote you and find someone else who can follow orders?”

A mask of anger crossed his face, but I held firm. He would always see me as the little kid who dated his son if I didn’t show him who I really was—that if you peeled back my skin, you’d find steel and concrete. I wasn’t soft, and he couldn’t intimidate me.

“Yes, Empress.” He saluted me and left the room.

Ten minutes later, Elaine stepped into the room with her hair in a messy bun and wearing a black robe. She was alone and wide-eyed as she stared at the note on the table, unable to read it from where she stood.

“Why did I just get sworn in as admiral in the middle of the night?” she asked me.

I grinned. “Because Commander Ledger pushed my buttons.”

That made her smile. “Aisling, what’s going on?”

I handed her the gloves. “Luska sent a letter addressed to me. Wear gloves in case of poison.”

She went very still then, raising one eyebrow, but nodded and donned the white gloves. As she read the note, her eyebrows climbed higher and higher. When she finished, she set the letter down, took off the gloves, and began to pace. Elaine was a fearsome warrior in battle, but the greatest thing about her was her mind. Second to my father, she had one of the best minds I knew. She got top marks in psychological warfare. She was a little insane in her revenge plots, much like Tetra, and that’s what I needed now.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I finally said after a few minutes.

“You have to reply,” she said, and I nodded. I agreed. The bastard asked for my hand in marriage and then threatened my sisters! That could not be met with silence.

She rubbed her hands together and grinned. “Oh, I’m so tempted to have you respond yes to the marriage proposal and feed him poison in his sleep.”

I nodded because I’d considered it, too. “But so much could go wrong. I wouldn’t even make it down the aisle likely, and it would involve my signing some type of peace deal.”

Which wouldn’t be peace. It would be a hostile takeover. They’d strip our mines, rape our women, and turn Amersea into a wasteland. I’d rather die.

“He threatened your sisters,” she growled.

I nodded. “I have nothing on him. I didn’t even know he existed before today. It seems my father was putting a lot of effort into maximum casualties and not into gathering intel. We need more spies.”

Elaine stopped then and met my gaze. “I have an idea.”

A thrill went through me because the look on her face was divine. Whatever idea this was, it was going to be good.

“Tell no one else of this letter. Order Commander Ledger to keep it quiet. Give me two days.”

I frowned. “Two days for what?”

She spoke in a string of such perfect Luskin, it took me aback. I knew she knew a little Luskin, but that sounded fluent. “What does that mean?”

“It means before I became your governess, I was training to be a spy. I speak fluent Luskin, and I’m going to get something from this Maxim that will scare him straight. We need to mess with his head, let him know you aren’t weak, and that if he touches your sisters, you will come for his throat while he sleeps.”

I frowned. “Elaine, when I said we needed spies, I didn’t mean you!”

“Why not me?” She put a hand on her hip.

Well, for one she was pushing fifty—but I’d never say that. “If he knows about the triplets, he might recognize you.”

She waved me off. “No one will recognize me. Not even you.”

What? But she looked so determined I didn’t want to say no.

“What about taking a team of?—?”

“No. I must go alone, or it will be suspicious.”

“Elaine, I can count the number of people I care about on one hand,” I told her. “If anything happens to you?—”

“I trust no one else with this. This young generation is too soft to do what needs to be done,” she growled.

Yikes, that sounded like good ol’ Elaine.

“Two days?” I asked her.

She nodded once.

“You’ll take Vespa?”

“I would never leave her,” Elaine confirmed.

Liana was still gone. I wished she was here to counsel me.

I blew out the breath I’d been holding. “Okay. I’ll see you in two days.”

I prayed I wouldn’t regret that.

We both stood there awkwardly, stiffly. I wanted to hug her but wasn’t sure if that was too emotional, especially now that I was empress.

Screw it.

I crossed the space and pulled her into my arms. She was stiff for a half second and then sighed, holding me close. “I never had children because I didn’t want a weakness people could exploit,” she said and pulled back to look at me. “And now I have four.”

“You’re one of the last weaknesses I have left,” I told her. “Don’t get caught and let them use you against me.”

She gave me a wry grin. “Every good spy travels with a cyanide pill in case of capture.”

“Elaine!” I scolded her. She’d better not.

She grinned. “Oh it’s good to be back in action. I’ll see you in two days,” she said and then left the room.

Her age wouldn’t stop her. If anything, she looked refreshed at the thought of sneaking into enemy territory and posing as a Luskin spy. And I just let her go? What was I thinking?

I peered at the letter and I knew.

My sisters . This Maxim a-hole had threatened my sisters. Elaine took their safety as seriously as I did. She wouldn’t let that go unchecked.

I folded the letter and then there was a knock at the door. Commander Ledger was there, this time showered and in Fleet-issued fatigues.

“Colt is back…” he said with an air of wonder in his voice.

“That’s great! Is he hurt?”

“No, but I think you’d better see this.”

I ran to my room, brushed my teeth and changed quickly. Five flights of stairs later, I was topside and staring at the blue griffin that had killed Colt’s creature.

Colt was riding it.

“You bonded him?” I staggered forward.

He nodded, grinning. “I’m still upset over the loss of Mara, but… it’s hard to explain. I couldn’t kill him. The bond started, and now I understand why he did it.”

I peered at Commander Ledger, who was watching Colt with interest.

“What are you thinking?” I asked him.

He glanced over at me with a questioning gaze. “Where did you find your Talanagi when you bonded Liana?”

Oh, that… well, might as well let that secret out.

“Luska side of the Wall. I found an old map that showed that’s where they are.”

“Those bastards!” Ledger slapped his thigh. “I knew it. I knew that’s why they had a higher concentration in their ranks.”

An idea sprang forth.

“I don’t think we should rip the Wall down. That would be a disaster. But what about at the next Lottery… we lead a select few candidates to where we know the Talanagi are?” I said.

To the Luska side of the Wilds is what I didn’t say.

The commander and Colt both nodded. “We need to even the playing field long-term,” Commander Ledger said.

It was decided. Next Lottery, we’d pick the strongest dozen candidates and show them where to find a Talanagi in the hopes we could add more of them to our ranks.

“Speaking of Talanagi, where is your creature, Empress?” Commander Ledger asked. “Didn’t you say she’d be back soon?”

I was starting to seriously worry, but I had way too much going on and I was too tired and hungry to let it affect me.

“She’ll show up,” I told him, then looked at Colt. “Congratulations on the new bonding. Let’s get underground until Luska is done with their retaliation.”