Chapter 10

Chapter 10

T he temporary war room in one of the many palace conference spaces smelled of coffee and sweat and frustration.

“I told you: if we can convince one of the wealthier merchants to use a few of their ships, we can sail out to the Kizar fleet and surprise them?—”

“Which merchants? Do you really think any of those greedy oafs would let us use their precious vessels?” Matheo snorted. “You’re brave, Ryland, but be realistic. Even if we garnered a few ships, what then? The Kizar fleet is larger, faster, and better equipped than any Onitan ship. They’d sink us in a matter of minutes—even with the element of surprise on our side.”

Ryland, a younger Marked City Guard captain and one of the men who’d been raised with Sebastian and the others but were not Selected by Mariah to her Armature, deflated. “I was just trying to offer an idea that might put an end to this mess.”

Sebastian slumped further in his chair, barely listening. He was … so tired. Their latest skirmish had ended yesterday after a lengthy three-day stand-off, and despite his body craving a much-needed night of sleep, rest had avoided him.

Dark, aching nightmares had wrenched him awake in the middle of the night. Feelings of sorrow and pain and loneliness bellowed into his mind, worming their way into his subconscious.

By the haunted looks in his fellow Armature’s eyes, he knew they’d endured the same. The implication of them all experiencing a shared dream set them on edge, driven sharper by exhaustion.

“Perhaps, once this mess is over … it might be time to consider reforming the Onitan Navy. There are records of one existing long ago, nearly as mighty as the Kizar fleet. If it existed once, it could exist again,” General Emer, Royal Infantry insignia emblazoned on his chest, rumbled from the end of the table, scratching his full gray beard.

Across the table, Feran chuckled.

“Let me get this straight, General Emer,” Feran said, voice low as he slowly stood. “After nearly two decades of teaching us that, and I quote, ‘Onita needs no navy because our magic and technology are so far advanced from any neighboring threats it would simply be a waste of resources to maintain,’ you are now changing your mind?”

The General glared at Feran. “The circumstances have changed, boy. I taught you to adapt when the times called for it.”

“Or, perhaps, you are simply trying to save face after being proven wrong ,” Feran seethed.

Sebastian sat up straighter in his chair, eyes darting between the two men as they leaned closer over the table.

“I asked you these questions eighteen years ago. Do you know what we could have accomplished in eighteen years? We could have ships in that bay right now, ships that could face the Kizar fleet and defend the city while we do the job we swore and bound our souls to do: protect our queen. ” Feran’s fingers dug into the wood, lips pulled back in a snarl.

The aging General blinked his shock, stepping back.

It was bad when even Feran—even-tempered, observant Feran—was ready to draw blood from a man they’d known for over half their lives.

Sebastian rose to his feet. “You’ve made your point, Feran.”

Feran’s dark, fury-filled stare snapped to his. Drystan stepped to Feran’s side, resting a hand on his shoulder. Feran held Sebastian’s gaze for a second longer before loosing a heavy exhale and collapsing back into his chair.

Sebastian nodded to him. Feran simply fixed his stare on a swirl in the wood, scratching at the table with a finger.

“Perhaps”—Trefor glanced warily between Feran, Sebastian, and Emer—“there are improvements we can make to the trebuchets? Ones that might increase loading speed and distance? I found a few interesting notes in the library …”

Sebastian lowered himself back into his seat as the tension slowly dissipated, replaced by Trefor’s thoughts and a few interjections by other Armature, City Guard Captains, and Royal Infantry Commanders. He had nothing to offer—not anything they weren’t already discussing—so his mind wandered.

The conversation he’d had with Ciana the night before, after he’d returned from the battlements … It still didn’t sit right with him. How it had happened, the things she’d said, the things he’d said.

The way it had ended.

Why didn’t she understand? They were fighting for their lives just to keep the city from being overrun. The last thing he needed was to be worried about whether she was safe.

Even if the Kizar pirate’s magic broke past the wards, it was still a long distance from the Bay to the palace. And Sebastian desperately needed that distance between the pirates and Ciana to exist.

He wouldn’t lose any more best friends to the darkness of this cursed city.

Her words intruded into his thoughts, unimpeded.

“ If you think it’s any safer in here than it is out there, then you’re more lost than I thought .”

Perhaps she was right; maybe he was lost.

That didn’t change his opinion, though. They would find another way to search for Mariah, one that didn’t require Ciana leaving the most fortified place in the city.

Besides … Ciana’s point no longer stood. They were safer here in the palace. It wasn’t this location that had been Mariah’s downfall, but the actions of the one Armature who’d gone missing with her.

Sebastian’s fist tightened. If Andrian really was behind Mariah’s disappearance …

It didn’t matter how long Sebastian had known him. He’d kill Andrian himself.

“We can likely start implementing some of these changes this week,” Orryn, a Marked City Guard captain said. “It may take some time to find craftsmen suited to the task, but?—”

The lights around them flickered.

And then went out.

Sebastian shot to his feet, the room around him deadly quiet. They stood there, waiting, counting in the dark.

One. Two.

The darkness grew louder.

Three.

Sebastian’s hands reached for his sword, the empty place in his soul where the bond had been cracking open.

Four.

Steel clinked as warriors shifted on their feet.

Five.

The lights returned, flooding the room with warm illuminance. Sebastian saw his dread, his anguish, and his fear reflected on the faces of the other men around him.

Quentin stepped forward, expression uncharacteristically hard and serious, a knife poised between his fingers. “They’ve never gone all the way out before.”

Sebastian grimaced. “No. They haven’t.”

Quentin’s green eyes blazed. “If the magic fails completely, no changes we make to the trebuchets will matter. The wards will be gone, and the pirates will wipe out the battlements in a matter of minutes.”

“Are you suggesting a solution, Quentin? Or just pointing out the obvious?” Sebastian’s patience wore thin. He was exhausted and felt his sanity slipping further and further from his reach.

“We can’t abandon the battlements,” Quentin said, “but we need our queen back. Or else it won’t matter.”

Sebastian opened his mouth, about to thank Quentin for the reminder, when the doors swung open. Delaynie, auburn hair hanging loose around her face, burst through, cheeks flushed a rosy pink. Quentin whirled, and Delaynie’s eyes landed on the red-haired warrior first before jumping to Sebastian.

“We have some new arrivals. You need to meet them. Now.”

Two women stood in the cavernous throne room, a City Guard beside them, clothed in draping, paneled garb.

Sebastian halted at the sight of them. He instantly recognized them, memories from the Porofirat —Mariah’s presentation ball—flashing through his mind. “I know you.”

Their eyes had already sharpened on him, flashing his direction the moment he stepped into the room. One of them, her flowing skirts a pristine white, gold jewelry clinking softly, stepped forward, inclining her head. “And we know you, Armature.”

“What are you doing here?” His feet finally unrooted, and he took several steps forward, Quentin and Delaynie on his heels. The rest of the Armature followed, and out of the corner of his eye Sebastian saw Ciana rush out of a hallway, hair wild about her head.

The woman smiled. “We are here to help.”

“I’m sorry,” Ciana said, a little breathless as she approached. She fixed a hard stare on the newcomers. “Who are you?”

Sebastian was about to answer but was too slow.

“My name is Kiira,” said the woman in white and gold, brushing a dark-skinned hand down her chest as she again dipped her head. “And this is my twin sister, Rylla.” The other woman—Rylla—was nearly identical to her sister, quirked her lips into a half-smile. She crossed her arms, dark gray paneled skirts swirling and silver jewelry tinkling.

“We are the youngest daughters of Ambassador Enoch, the first Kreah Ambassador to Onita in nearly one thousand years,” Rylla said proudly. “We met Queen Ryenne—and your queen, Mariah—at the Porofirat . Queen Ryenne granted us permission to explore Verith and Onita while on our travels, and we decided to remain in Verith and experience the largest city on the continent for ourselves.” She glanced once at her sister before meeting Sebastian’s stare.

“It was in the city that we heard … rumors.”

“Rumors of what?” Ciana snapped, her tone urgent. Sebastian whipped his head to her but she dutifully ignored him.

“Rumors,” Kiira answered, “surrounding the new problem with the pirates from the Kizar Islands. Rumors that they are only here, plaguing your people, because your queen is not.”

Sebastian’s veins flushed with ice.

He hadn’t given much thought to the beliefs and opinions of the common people these past few weeks. He was dedicated to protecting them, to keeping this city and its occupants safe from the threat on the Bay. But how they interpreted that threat, what they believed caused it, and why their queen—or queen apparent—wasn’t out there, helping to defend them or broker peace … those weren’t things that had crossed Sebastian’s mind.

He should have considered how it would look, what rumors might run rampant.

“What are the people saying?” he gritted out, chest heaving with effort.

“I already know,” Ciana said, lifting her chin. She still ignored him, directing that rich, amber gaze at Kiira. “The people are saying that Mariah has abandoned them. That the queen apparent has fled the city and has no intentions of saving them.”

Kiira and Rylla shared a grim look. That was the only confirmation Sebastian needed. He didn’t know how Ciana had learned of such rumors. But truthfully, that was the least of his concerns.

The people knew Mariah was gone.

And, worse, they believed she’d abandoned them. Vanished into the night, leaving them to suffer and die.

“I take it,” he said, forcing the words through clenched teeth, “that you are not inclined to believe those rumors.”

Kiira shook her head. “We have only met your queen twice, but the moment we heard the people talking … we knew this was not the truth. We knew there was more to the story.”

A pregnant pause followed Kiira’s words. The Kreah sisters waited for information, and Mariah’s court just … waited.

Sebastian was the decision-maker. The leader. But at that moment, he didn’t know what to do. He was paralyzed by his choices, by his mistakes, by his failures. The weight of all he’d lost and all he’d destroyed rested on his shoulders, wrapping around his ribs, and he worried he’d crumple right there on the marble throne room floor.

“Mariah didn’t abandon the city.”

Ciana’s golden blonde hair was still wild about her, her freckled cheeks still flushed rosy-pink, but her small frame had straightened, amber eyes clear.

It was only then that she turned his way. Not seeking permission, but … telling him she would share the truth. She would make this decision when he could not.

He simply inclined his head, and she turned back to the Kreah sisters.

“Mariah didn’t abandon the city,” Ciana repeated, “because she was taken. She has been missing for nearly eight weeks.”

Kiira blinked in shock, and Rylla’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean,” Rylla said slowly, “that she was taken?”

“She vanished, early one morning, along with one of her Armature. Her only unbonded Armature,” Quentin interjected. He toyed with the knives strapped in his baldric as he stepped up beside Sebastian.

Kiira and Rylla shared a look. “And what steps have you taken to find her?”

Sebastian grimaced. “We were about to search when the pirates arrived.”

“So … you have done nothing.” Kiira’s words sounded harsh in her Kreah accent, an accusation that pierced Sebastian’s flesh.

“If you’re here to offer help,” Ciana said, “then we won’t turn you away.”

The sisters shared a glance.

“We will help you,” Kiira declared.

“Besides,” Rylla said, a sly smile spreading across her face, “we have certain skills which might prove helpful.”

Delaynie crept forward cautiously. “What do you mean, certain skills?”

Rylla shifted on her feet. “You Onitan’s have your magic—not just the energy you call allume , but gifts that can control the elements of fire or wind. Or the gift of light borne by your queen.” Her smile widened. “Us in Kreah have similar gifts. And our goddess is most generous with them.”

Sebastian’s alarmed confusion slammed into him. “Your goddess? What goddess?—”

Pale blue light, as bright and vibrant as the day sky, flashed through the throne room, and Sebastian’s mind emptied.

Rylla was gone, and in her place stood a great black cat, hazel eyes gleaming as its tail swished through the air. The hint of fangs peeked out from beneath its jaw, its paws as large as a human hand.

“Oh, my gods …” Ciana breathed out. She stepped closer to the rest of them, hand covering her mouth.

This was impossible. This magic … it did not exist in Onita.

At least, not recorded.

“There is nothing to fear,” Kiira said, a smile in her voice. “She may have changed forms, but it is still my sister.” The black cat beside her sat back on its haunches. “This is the magic of Kreah.”

“Wait,” Ciana said. “Having Kreah magic … makes you shifters ?”

Kiira nodded. “It is symbolic of our goddess, Rulene.”

Sebastian’s head spun, caught in a vortex. He considered himself read, but never in his over three decades of life had he read such things.

“If this is true,” he said, “than this would be the best kept secret on the continent.”

“It is not the end of the secrets kept from Onita, I fear.” Kiira grimaced. “But not by choice. Many thousand years ago, Onita decided to isolate from the rest of the continent. No knowledge would enter or leave. The memories of the other magic, of the other gods, was quickly lost to time.”

Drystan crossed his arms over his chest. “Then how do your people remember?”

Kiira narrowed her near-black stare. “Our people never forgot.”

“I believe them,” Ciana whispered. Everyone again turned their attention to her, Sebastian’s mouth hanging agape once again.

Ciana swallowed. “Before the Winter Solstice, we met a woman from Leuxrith. She said she was a priestess of Callamus and told us of the other gods. I remember her mentioning Rulene, the patron goddess of Kreah.” She glanced at them all, stare lingering on Sebastian. “If this is what it takes to get Mariah back, then we don’t have any choice but to trust them.”

Sebastian clenched his fists, more shock and misplaced anger rushing through him.

Ciana had known about this … and had not told him. She had kept this secret from him, this information that changed everything about what they knew of their world. And for that, he was furious .

But … he also knew she was right.

With a clipped nod to Ciana, he shifted to Kiira and Rylla, the latter’s hazel feline gaze sharp and unnerving as it prickled his skin.

“If you truly can help find our queen … then your aid is what we desperately need.”