“We’re cuddling,” Fei said. “I’m allowed to do that.”
Anna shot Nathan a questioning look. He shrugged in response.
“Somebody has spent too little time with his pets,” Seraph said while striding over to the balcony railing. “You’ll build a reputation like Theus if all you do is bed your Champions, Nathan.”
“Last I checked, I’m not bedding you,” Nathan said.
“Wait, you’re not?” Anna asked.
“Surprised?” Seraph asked.
“Very.” Anna didn’t elaborate on why she seemed to think Nathan was sleeping with Seraph. Instead, she took a seat next to Nathan. “I spoke with Milgar again. He’s satisfied with your plan. More than satisfied, so long as you can pull it off. The war with Trafaumh has already turned messy again and he can’t spare any Bastions or Champions.”
The past two weeks had been a blur for Nathan. Following the surprise offer from the dark elves and his conversation with Ifrit, Nathan had been forced to make a sudden decision about whether to go on the offensive against the Federation.
Some long discussions with Alice and Anna had resulted. Alice had even extended the time it took her to return to Aleich, so she had more time to talk to Nathan before she was surrounded by courtiers and guards in the palace. Supposedly, Charlotte had been upset.
“That’s fortunate,” Nathan said. “Even if it wouldn’t have mattered.”
“I’m glad you feel that you can dismiss one of the most powerful people in the Empire,” Anna said. “Please teach me your secrets of ascension so that I can also ignore him.”
“That’s not what I mean. The dark elf offer is the best choice we have,” Nathan said, feeling that he was trapped in some sort of time loop. How many times had he said this over the past two weeks?
Not enough, apparently. Anna looked at him skeptically.
“If the Regency Council ousts Torneus, then the Federation destabilizes,” Nathan explained for the umpteenth time. “Even if they don’t, their decision-making ability will suffer. They’ll be vulnerable to demonic invasion, rebellion, civil war, or foreign invasion. If the dark elves want Torneus’s head, then they may even take it themselves. And the faeries may even use the Federation’s territory as a way to appease the elves.”
“You keep mentioning that. What is wrong with Arcadia?” Seraph asked. “I’ve only caught bits and pieces.”
Nathan sighed. “It’s complicated, and I don’t care to explain in detail again. Short version: only elves and faeries have voting rights in their democracy. But a lot of bureaucratic positions are controlled based on magical power, and faeries are inherently stronger than faeries. Ergo, faeries control the nation, even though elves have the vast majority of the votes. And that’s not even mentioning the huge beastkin population in the far north that nobody sees.”
“Why do you even know this?” Anna asked.
Because it had been important to the preventing the destruction of the world at one point, and a lot of beastkin had fled from Arcadia in the aftermath of its civil war.
But Nathan couldn’t exactly explain what happened in his timeline, so he shrugged and said, “It helps to know how other nations are run sometimes.”
The other women gave him a skeptical look. Even Fei.
After Leopold had revealed that he had suspected Nathan of hiding things all along, the possibility of others knowing the truth had risen. Nathan wondered whether these three knew, or at least suspected, the truth or something close to it.
“In any case, if the Federation collapses, it means that a large number of active demonic portals become unprotected. Not to mention the Houkeem Desert.” Nathan fixed Anna with a glare. “That is the crux of the dark elves offer, and Sureev explicitly brought it up. We hand over Torneus to the Council of Aurelia. They provide the military and diplomatic support to ensure the Empire can occupy the entire Federation. No instability. Then the Empire takes over the demonic portals and the defense of the Houkeem Desert.”
“And you’re happy to go from supporting peace at all costs to the complete capture of a foreign nation?” Anna asked.
“No, I’m not. But life is about taking the least worst option. And right now, I have the chance to prevent the Federation from becoming a foothold for a demonic invasion of Doumahr. Given how close we’ve come in the last year to that, I’d be a pretty shitty Bastion to refuse the offer,” Nathan said.
Anna grimaced and looked away.
Something soft tickled Nathan’s chin, and he instinctively stroked Fei’s ears. She giggled, nuzzling against his neck.
“Well, at least she’s able to enjoy the conversation,” Seraph said wryly. “For what it’s worth, I agree.”
“You do?” Anna asked.
“I do.”
“Aren’t you the one who compares Nathan to Torneus half the time?” Anna pressed.
How nice to know that Seraph did that when he wasn’t around.
“I do. He’s certainly proving my point lately. Spreading stories about Fei among the beastkin populace in the Federation. Talking up the freedom of beastkin in the Empire. Siding with the dark elves with a plan to conquer the Federation. There’s ambition, and then there’s rising to the top while crushing everything before you.” Seraph smirked and her eyes turned to Nathan.
The look in those eyes was the opposite of what Nathan expected.
There should have been judgment, fear, hatred, or at least some sense of wariness. Nathan had begun to take steps that he felt were beyond the pale. He knew that his younger self would despise what he had become.
But this was what it took to stop problems before they occurred.
Instead, Seraph’s eyes glimmered with a mixture of respect and pride. What she was prideful of, Nathan didn’t know.
“I guess I’m just small-minded,” Anna muttered. She looked away, hiding her expression from Nathan.
Seraph shrugged, then strode over to where everybody was sitting.
“Before I leave you two to sort out your issues, I want to confirm our strategy,” Seraph said.
“There’s nothing to sort out,” Anna said, scowling at Seraph.
“I think there is. Aren’t you his countess?” Seraph smiled at the noblewoman.
Anna turned away again.
“Let’s get this over with,” Nathan said. “Forgive me if I don’t help with any visual aids. I’m a little preoccupied.”
“It’s fine. Just don’t start doing anything other than petting her hair or fur,” Seraph teased.
“I already said we’re only cuddling.” Fei pouted.
After gesturing for Seraph to move on, Nathan waited for her to brief him.
“There are two binding stones between us and Tartus—both controlled by Theus—plus the binding stone near Tartus itself,” Seraph explained. “I don’t know who controls that one.”
“Why not? Shouldn’t that be public knowledge?”
“It was, but the Bastion in command died over fall. Taken out by demons in the Houkeem Desert. Torneus hasn’t publicly announced his replacement, but you’ve said that the stone is still active, so…” Seraph shrugged.
“He has an ace up his sleeve, or so he thinks.” Nathan frowned. “I can’t help but think he’s given it to Theus.”
“After his failures?” Seraph scoffed.
“Theus may be incompetent, but he’s under Torneus’s thumb. Now that Torneus is backed into a corner, who else can he rely on?” Nathan asked.
The other Bastions Nathan had fought against were currently in the Houkeem Desert, according to Seraph. While it was possible that an entirely new Bastion would emerge to surprise Nathan, he couldn’t help but think that Torneus would rely on the one Bastion he could reliably manipulate. Even if Theus was so stupid that he had gotten himself killed early in Nathan’s timeline.
“Whatever the case, we only need to take two of the binding stones,” Nathan said. “The one in Forselle Valley, and the one near Tartus.”
Tartus lay
in the center of the Federation, but that left it vulnerable to Nathan. Normally, it was shielded by Bastion fortresses in the north and south. But the fortresses to the south belonged to regents who didn’t support Torneus. Duke Terrius controlled the binding stone immediately south of Tartus, and King George the one south of Gharrick Pass.
If both of those regents didn’t protect Torneus, then Nathan could take Tartus with minimal resistance. All he had to do was deal with the binding stones under Torneus’s direct control. And one of those was far enough north of the city that it could be bypassed entirely.
“I still think that’s too risky. We could end up fighting two Bastions at Tartus, and reinforcements from the rest of the Federation,” Seraph countered. “Just because we can bypass a fortress, doesn’t mean we should.”
“Time spent taking another binding stone is time that may cost us everything. The other regents are more likely to intervene the longer we take to capture Torneus. While George has told us that he is willing to stand down if we only attack Tartus, he’s not exactly a man of his word,” Nathan said drily.
“You don’t think he has a spine somewhere under all that flab of his?” Anna said.
“I don’t think his behavior has anything to do with his weight, but if he thinks that we’re going to lose against Torneus, he’ll change his mind in an instant.” Nathan’s lips thinned. “While I’ve pulled Leopold’s Champions forward to defend the border, I’d rather not rely on them. Open war with the Federation would be brutal.”
That was the crux of Nathan’s plan. This decapitation strike would end the war before it really began, and Leopold’s Champions wouldn’t be involved.
Leopold had given Nathan the authority to command the entire Imperial Army on the eastern border. Nathan had confirmed this fact with Alice, who had acted as his relay with the Emperor and Archduke von Milgar. While it was risky to alert them to the fact that Leopold had passed on the power to him, Nathan knew that using it without the permission of the Emperor was stupid in the first place.
But what would be stupider was using it at all if he didn’t have to. As such, Leopold’s Champions and most of the Imperial Army held defensive positions along the border. The offensive would be undertaken by Anna’s soldiers and Nathan’s Champions alone.
Oh, and an exceptionally large sum of money had been mysteriously transferred to Anna by unknown sources. If one looked very closely, they might be able to trace it back to the archduke. That money ensured that Anna’s county remained solvent despite the expenses involved in paying for such a huge military campaign.
“Have you confirmed Theus’s location?” Nathan asked.
“He recently traveled north to Tartus from Duke Terrius’s territory,” Seraph said. “I lost track of him in the city.”
“What are the chances that he’s cowering in the city, too scared to fight us?”
“High enough that several of Leopold’s Champions are trying to bait us into taking that bet,” Seraph said.
“That’s rather mean of them,” Fei said.
“Given half of your knights are betting their year’s wages that Nathan will crush Torneus without needing any help, I don’t think you can complain about gambling,” Nathan said.
Fei winced and hid her face in Nathan’s chest.
The gambling rings had become more about pride than making money at this point. Fei should have shut them down before they became this bad. If Nathan needed to call for reinforcements, he wanted to do so without worrying about his soldiers losing their shirts.
He made a note to speak to Mae, who was the Champion that Leopold had left in command of Forselle Valley.
“Anything else?” Nathan asked Seraph.
“Sunstorm’s reported that the soldiers on the border are increasing, but none of them have made any moves to invade yet,” Seraph said.
He grunted. “We have to assume the best if we want to pull this off. That’s why Leopold’s Champions are there. Have Vera, Sen, and Sunstorm prepare to march from Fort Taubrum to Tartus as scheduled.”
With that, Seraph left the balcony. She dragged Fei out by the ear. The yowls of the catgirl echoed up the stairwell for a solid minute before the heavy door at the bottom of the stairwell slammed shut.
“So, shall we talk about our issues?” Nathan asked aloud.
“Is that something you usually do?” Anna responded.
“It worked with Alice, surprisingly.”
“Ah. Of course.” Anna’s tone became acidic.
A long pause.
“I thought you liked Alice?” Nathan asked.
“I never said I didn’t.”
Anna’s back remained turned. This conversation was going nowhere. Had she always been so pouty and childish?
No, Nathan realized. But he had been paying a lot more attention to Alice while she had been visiting. He spent enough time around women—and had been in enough relationships—to recognize jealousy when he saw it.
“Is this a conversation we can have now, or should it wait until after the battle?” Nathan asked. He kept his tone calm.
There wasn’t anything to keep his hands busy, so he stood up and walked over to the railing. Leaning over it, he stared out at the lush field below him. Blades of newly grown spring grass blew in the wind. A wave formed across the valley as a gust whistled past.
The Forselle Valley was highly arable, but much of it was uninhabited. Too much tension over borders. Towns and villages were few and far between.
“Once you capture the Federation, what do you plan to do?” Anna asked.
Nathan almost didn’t hear her. He wondered if that was intentional, as if she wanted her question to remain unheard and this problem to remain unresolved.
“Consolidate,” Nathan said without hesitation. The topic had been on his mind for a while.
“Consolidate? Consolidate what?”
“Everything, really. Champions, allies, resources, defenses, soldiers, political power.” He didn’t want to do the last part, but Nathan was beginning to realize that it was necessary.
“So, you don’t have a new destination in mind? You plan to stay here even after everything.” Anna sounded almost relieved.
“No, I do have one in mind. But it’s not like I can go there instantly. It’s like how you had to wait until you had a Bastion before you began your reconstruction plan for Gharrick County,” Nathan said. “If I get ahead of myself, I’ll fall over at the next hurdle. Except I’m not running a race, so the consequences are a touch harsher. I’ve come too close to that over winter.”
“Really? Things seemed to go rather well for you,” Anna said.
“I was on a razor’s edge half the time. If the negotiations hadn’t split the regents, we’d be in a much worse position. The cascade and the early arrival of the Messenger was nearly a disaster, as we were barely strong enough to hold off the Twins. And now…” He grimaced.
The preparations for this offensive were rough, to say the least. He’d had weeks to prepare for a war that he should have been preparing for all winter.
The Federation had been preparing for war. If the regents hadn’t gotten cold feet and turned on Torneus, Nathan’s plan would be the definition of insanity. He had too few Champions, a hostile political faction opposing him in the Empire, and far fewer troops than necessary.
But the stars had aligned, so to speak,
Despite Ifrit’s advice, Nathan couldn’t help but think this felt too good to be true. He hadn’t spoken to Kadria recently. He wasn’t sure he wanted to. The idea that he might be playing into a predetermined event bothered him.
In the end, Nathan resolved himself to trust Ifrit’s wisdom. Doing anything else left him spinning in circles. Once Torneus was out of the picture, Nathan could stabilize himself. Then he could gain enough power to avoid another mess like this one.
“Now we’re in a war that I wanted to avoid,” Nathan said, finishing his earlier thought. “I’m leaning on you to provide the soldiers, but we haven
’t had the time to recruit many. Even the beastkin are wary, despite the pay.”
“True, but that’s why I’m here, aren’t I? If you need me, I guess I’ll have you to myself for a while then,” Anna said, smiling. It didn’t reach her eyes.
“I do have several Champions.”
“Maybe, but I’m your only countess. So long as you’re the Bastion of Gharrick Pass, that will remain true, won’t it?”
Anna stood up and turned toward the exit. At this angle, he couldn’t see her face.
As Anna left the balcony, Nathan stared at the creaking iron gate she left open.
Eventually, he followed her downstairs. He had a war to win. It was important to tackle life one problem at a time.
He’d confront Anna about this later. Whatever she might be worrying about, Nathan still needed somebody to help him handle the day-to-day administration. He wasn’t about to let somebody like Anna slip from his fingers due to a little jealousy and confusion.
Chapter 30
“They say that a Bastion’s fortress tells you a lot about them,” Seraph said.
“Really?” Fei asked, tilting her head. “What does Nathan’s say about him?”
Nathan glared at Seraph. She winked back at him.
They were encamped on the Federation side of Forselle Valley, staring up at the fortress that belonged to Theus. It was known as Castle Forselburg, although the original castle had been destroyed in a demonic invasion nearly two hundred years ago.
The sun set in the distance, shading them in its crimson rays. Thousands of soldiers dug defensive ditches, cooked meals, erected tents, and patrolled the perimeter of the encampment. Battlemages formed ritual circles to block communications in and out of the enemy fortress.
The journey here had been uneventful. Theus hadn’t even harassed them with his Champions. The border forts had been abandoned, although there were signs of recent occupation.
Nathan’s scouts had followed the tracks of retreating Federation soldiers for the past several days.
The tracks didn’t stop at Forselburg, where the binding stone was. Some of the scouts had continued to pursue the Federation farther, but many had stopped. The fact that most of the enemy soldiers were retreating from the frontier was enough for Nathan.
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