Sworn to Defiance

by Terah Edun

  Ciardis furrowed her brow. “What change?”

  The emperor smiled. “Why...your own. You see, little Weathervane, I’ve been aware of your gifts since the day you fell into my audience chamber out of a Aether Realm portal, my son by your side.”

  Ciardis filed that information away while she flashed back to the time she and Sebastian had emerged from the Aether Realm after restoring the Land Wight’s bond with the prince heir so long ago. She and Sebastian hadn’t meant to journey to the audience chamber, but it didn’t matter now. What mattered was that according to Maradian he had been posing as Sebastian’s father for at least a year back. In fact, Ciardis remembered that he had had a mysterious illness then.

  “And then I met you again when you returned from your surprise visit to the northern battlefields,” said the emperor. “You had changed. Your aura was brighter and your will stronger. But more than that I felt the hint of an Algardis strain in your gifts. Usually not seen outside a mated pair of the imperial family. I wondered if you and my son had been up to things even my spies hadn’t been made aware of.”

  Ciardis flushed. Despite the situation it was still embarrassing to think the emperor had people spying on her personal life with his son.

  “But then I received negative reports. That you hadn’t consummated anything. Although even if you had, this wasn’t the type of gift that came so easily,” the emperor said with narrowed eyes, oblivious to her discomfort. “That kind of bond comes once every few generations and disappears again from the family line just as quickly. It can be forced, but...”

  Lillian snarled, “My daughter didn’t force your son.”

  The emperor sent her an amused look as he continued on unabated, “I highly doubt it seeing as it’s an intrinsic tying of souls. Not many would be willing to be bound mind and soul to another for eternity, especially someone they forced into the bond.”

  Ciardis was beginning to wonder if the emperor had a point in this rambling mess. Although he hit on several points accurately, very much to her surprise.

  The emperor continued, “But imagine my surprise again when you return to my audience chambers yesterday and your magic had metamorphosed again. Its power sharper. Its edge refined to a dangerous hone. I had to wonder if you were keeping secrets from me, Ciardis Weathervane. But I couldn’t understand how such gifts could have manifested. It took me all day. But then I realized I could test you. To see if my theory was true.”

  Ciardis’s eyes were wide at the emperor’s words. Her mother had been a guinea pig, then? All that anguish, all that sorrow, so that he could test his bloody theory?

  He concluded, “And here we stand...with the proof I needed. You have forged a seeleverbindung with my son and the daemoni prince, haven’t you?”

  Ciardis felt her mouth open as she said without thinking, “And what if I have? What’s it to you?”

  An undercurrent of rage and pain flowed through her words.

  She heard Thanar curse under his breath and Sebastian tense on her right. They waited to see what the Emperor of Algardis would say in return.

  Chapter 27

  The emperor and the youngest Weathervane watched each other for a tense moment.

  Then the emperor spoke. “I would congratulate you, Lady Companion Weathervane, on successfully forging the most powerful bond in the land and becoming the second-most powerful person in my empire in one fell swoop.”

  Ciardis raised an eyebrow. He sounded like he thought her actions had been deliberate.

  She opened her mouth to correct him. “Well, actually it was a mi—”

  Then Thanar and Sebastian cut her off as both of them subtlety pinched her back. She nearly jumped at the double pinches of pain but kept her expression from jumping...barely.

  She had to wonder why they’d pinched her instead of mind-speaking with her but she got the message. Keep her mouth shut about the seeleverbindung. She’d been about to tell the emperor it had all been a misunderstanding.

  She swiftly changed that sentence to, “—mistake not to do it sooner. I’ve just been so busy and we’ve been running around crazily.”

  She knew she sounded like a simpering idiot, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say on such short notice.

  The emperor turned and sat back down on her throne.

  “Now that I know, this has implications for my rule,” said the emperor.

  “Implications, Father?” asked Sebastian softly. Only Ciardis understood that the soft timber of his voice hid a deadly undertone. He was ready to rip the man to shreds with her bare hands.

  “Implications,” repeated the emperor.

  “Such as?” asked Thanar tightly.

  The emperor flicked curious eyes to the daemoni prince. Then he leaned over eagerly. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.”

  Thanar started to move forward as he said, “No, we haven’t.”

  Only Ciardis’s out flung arm kept him from proceeding forward.

  The emperor raised a curious eyebrow. “It looks as if your bond mate wants you to stay right where you are.”

  Ciardis didn’t give a right fig if Thanar tore the hated man limb from limb, but she knew that in their weaker states they wouldn’t get out of the palace alive. Even with Vana and Terris waiting outside.

  So she waited and she watched as Thanar said, “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Your Imperial Majesty.”

  “And I yours,” said the emperor smoothly.

  “Now,” said Lillian, “perhaps you can tell us why you’ve brought us here aside from that spectacle?”

  The emperor turned cold eyes on Ciardis’s mother. “Watch your tone, Lady Weathervane. You are still imprisoned under my terms. I am kind now, but that can change in a minute.”

  Ciardis shivered at the obvious threat in his words and wished she could wring his neck without consequence.

  The emperor then steepled his hands while resting his chin on the peak. “So what shall I do with your triad?”

  “Do?” said Sebastian stiffly.

  The emperor turned curious eyes on his son. “Well, I can’t have my own son more powerful than I am.”

  Ciardis snarled. “Sebastian’s been more powerful than you his entire life. You’ve just been siphoning that gift for a good dozen years.”

  She was speaking as if Bastien Algardis stood before them, but she knew she could accuse Maradian Algardis of far worse and be just as accurate. She wouldn’t live past the end of the day but it would be the truth.

  “I’d watch your tone and words, girl,” the emperor said coldly. “I am fond of your...unique abilities...to stir trouble now and don’t intend to harm any of you, but that can change quickly.”

  Sebastian put a warning hand on her wrist and she slowly dropped the restraining hand from across Thanar’s chest.

  Ciardis frowned. Knowing the emperor wanted something. Not sure what else she had to give.

  “How can we serve you?” Lillian said with her hands outspread, palms up in a sign of respect.

  A smile flickered on the emperor’s face. “Your daughter and her compatriots here can serve me by leaving my city and not coming back...without the head of a wyvern from Kifar.”

  Ciardis blinked. He couldn’t be serious. It couldn’t be that easy. Well, easy was a matter of relativeness. There was nothing easy about capturing a wyvern. But it felt oddly suspicious that the emperor wanted them to journey to Kifar.

  “Why?” she croaked out harshly.

  “Because it was Marissa’s pet and I despised Marissa,” said the emperor. “And I’m genuinely curious at how my western cities have fared under quarantine.”

  “You mean banishment?”

  The emperor smiled. “I meant what I said. So go, Weathervane. Go with my son and the daemoni prince. Find the wyvern, and if you return with it alive, I will allow you entrance back into my court.”

  “And if we don’t?” asked Thanar.

  “I’ll have your heads on pikes lining
my city gates,” the emperor said blithely.

  Ciardis paled. “Sebastian is your only heir.”

  The emperor gave her an amused look. “I can always make more.”

  “He’s your son.”

  Again, the emperor said, “I can always make more.”

  Uncomfortable silence descended until Sebastian bowed at the waist. “Very well, Father, we will do as you have commanded.”

  “I know,” purred the emperor satisfied.

  “May we have leave to exit the city after tonight’s burial?” said Sebastian.

  “You mean your send-off for Barnaren?” said the emperor.

  Sebastian nodded.

  “Permission granted.”

  With no more to be said, they all turned to leave.

  “And my son,” the emperor said.

  Sebastian turned back. “Don’t expect to ever make such a spectacle again without my approval. I will preside over this send-off with my blessings, but don’t push your luck.”

  Sebastian said nothing, the safest way to not offend his father once more.

  “Weathervane,” said the emperor as they were almost out the door, “I would like a private word.”

  Ciardis flinched and turned.

  Thanar didn’t mince his words. “Not a chance.”

  Ciardis wasn’t feeling too welcoming of the initiative either. But she knew enough not to resist. She figured it would do no good and the emperor’s eyes were already flashing with anger. Ciardis Weathervane had been prepared to kill the man a few minutes before without a backwards glance, but that was when she had almost lost her mind and her will to live after seeing what she thought he had done to her mother.

  Then Lillian stepped forward. “Perhaps I can be present, Your Imperial Majesty?”

  The emperor flicked a disinterested gaze to her.

  Lillian hurried to add, “To be assured of her virtue.”

  For the second time that morning, the emperor threw back his head and laughed. Ciardis was beginning to think he was insane.

  “Her virtue?” he chortled. “What would I want with her virtue? But very well, stay, Lillian Weathervane. You may witness this conversation, but my son and the daemoni prince will leave.”

  Ciardis felt Sebastian trembling with visible anger by her side but he couldn’t disobey his father. Not like this.

  Ciardis made it easier. She reached over and pushed both of males through the opening doors.

  “Go,” she whispered. “I’ll be along.”

  Through the open doors she glimpsed Terris’s tense face. She didn’t have time to explain the destruction in the room, the torn chairs, and the dead bodies. She just shook her head at the questions in her friend’s eyes and pushed at the unmoving males in front of her.

  “If it will make it easier for you,” said the emperor dryly, “I will make a gesture of good faith. One of my guards will exit as well.”

  Sebastian and Thanar looked at him and the emperor gestured for one of his guards to leave his post. The man walked out the door with no complaint. Ciardis watched as Thanar’s eyes met Sebastian’s. Reluctantly Thanar nodded, and with brief touches of Ciardis’s cheeks, they left her alone with the emperor, her mother, and the emperor’s guard.

  Ciardis turned around. Wondering what the emperor could possibly want now.

  “I’ll be quick and to the point, Ciardis Weathervane,” the emperor said with narrowed eyes. “You’ve risen in my court rapidly. Made enemies faster than I can blink and tossed threats aside like old news.”

  Ciardis stared at him warily.

  “But make an enemy of me,” he said, “and I promise you that day will be your last.”

  Ciardis stiffened. “Know that was never my intention, Your Imperial Majesty.”

  “Intentions and actions are two very different things. Make sure you know that,” he admonished softly.

  “I do,” responded Ciardis Weathervane just as softy.

  She was careful not raise her voice in alarm or back a threatening gesture when she continued, “But I will no longer be blackmailed. I will not cower in your presence and I do not fear you.”

  The emperor replied, “We all know only two of those things are true. Wishes will not make your dreams of strength and courage a reality.”

  “No,” she agreed, “they won’t. But desperation might.”

  “Careful, Weathervane or I’ll take that as an idle threat.”

  For a moment emperor and Weathervane eyed each other across the room.

  Then Ciardis lowered her eyes. She had to know something and she knew the emperor would answer her truly. If only because he had nothing to lose and nothing to gain by lying.

  “Was your intention to just threaten your son or your will to act on it?”

  She didn’t like how he’d spoken to Sebastian. She wondered if was merely the gesture of an uncle masquerading as a father trying to intimidate a powerful son or an emperor truly afraid to lose his dominance at court.

  The emperor smiled. “My will is my own and I never make idle threats.”

  Ciardis looked away, released an angry breath and turned back. She waited for the emperor to say more or dismiss her from his presence.

  “One more thing,” the emperor said. “I promised my support in the fight against this...blutgott if you won the support of the nobles’ court. To my everlasting surprise, you have.”

  “Your son has,” retorted Ciardis.

  “With you by his side,” said emperor. “I never could have imagined Sebastian with the backbone to do what he has done. He’s turned his life around. It’s admirable.”

  Ciardis wasn’t sure, but it sounded like praise coming out of Maradian’s mouth—and bitter envy.

  Ciardis nodded. “You will announce your support, then?”

  The emperor nodded. “I will, and you, Ciardis Weathervane, will announce your engagement. Your secret has been kept long enough. Tonight the entire empire will know that the Weathervane companion will join the imperial family in matrimony.”

  Ciardis blinked and her jaw tightened. She wasn’t a fool. Maradian would benefit from her presence in his household. His enemies, those that he had, would see her as an asset that he could use against them.

  Still she gritted her teeth and assented. “Your will is my command.”

  Marardian flicked his eyes to Lillian’s face. “See, Lillian, I told you. Our families will be united into the world’s most powerful dynasty.”

  Ciardis turned to look at her mother’s face but it was carefully blank.

  “I couldn’t be more pleased,” Lillian said stiffly.

  “I know,” crowed the emperor.

  Ciardis spoke. “Perhaps it would be a sign of goodwill to have my mother freed, then?”

  The emperor snorted. “Goodwill for whom? No, my wife was beloved by the citizens of the empire. If Lillian will not be imprisoned, they will want to know why. They will want the murderer’s head. I cannot prove it was Lillian. But I cannot disprove it either. She is safer in custody.”

  No, thought Ciardis, she isn’t. But since you killed Empress Teresa, there is nothing we can do it about it...yet.

  Frustrated, Ciardis wondered why her mother didn’t say something, anything to plead her case. But Ciardis knew Lillian was in a precarious situation. She was at the mercy of the emperor’s patience and her family couldn’t protect her. She had to stay silent.

  “Now I am through with you,” said the emperor pleasantly. “You may go and I will see you at the river tonight.”

  Ciardis turned away at the blunt dismissal. She quickly looked behind her and asked, “The river, Your Imperial Majesty?”

  “Where Barnaren’s send-off will happen,” he said with an irritated wave of his hand.

  She nodded and watched silently as the sole remaining guard came forward to escort Lillian out through a hidden panel in the wall. Ciardis paced forward as the door to the outside hallway opened. For a moment her neck itched and she felt the malevolent stare of th
e emperor on her back.

  She was tempted to turn around. He was alone. She was alone. She could kill him. But she didn’t dare. She didn’t know what kind of powers Maradian possessed but to replace a seated emperor and fool the entire court for close to a decade, she knew they had to be great.

  So she walked out until she heard the door slam shut behind her with the weight of the footmen to either side. From all around her descended Terris, Sebastian, the lord chamberlain, and Thanar.

  Sebastian was the first to speak. “What did he want afterwards?”

  “To spread his usual brand of threats and malevolence,” Ciardis said with weary eyes. “Standard fare in the Emperor of Algardis’s court.”

  “Where’s Lillian?” asked Terris softly.

  “He ordered her back into custody,” Ciardis said stiffly.

  Terris’s eyes filled with compassion as she reached forward and took her friend in her arms for a hug. “Aw, love, I’m so sorry.”

  Ciardis sniffed. “It’s okay. She’s alive, she’s whole, and one day we’ll get her back. One day.”

  The others around them nodded and then Ciardis stepped back.

  “Shall we go home?” Ciardis asked, “We have quite the meeting to prepare for tonight.”

  “And a blutgott war council to convene before then,” reminded Sebastian.

  Looking at the two, she let out a tentative smile. “So you both know now about the seeleverbindung now.”

  They nodded.

  “You’re okay with this?” she asked Sebastian tentatively. She wasn’t really ignoring Thanar, but she knew he had already known.

  “Hell no,” said Sebastian.

  Thanar snorted.

  “But for now there’s nothing we can do it about,” Sebastian said, cupping her face. “We can only fight one battle at a time, and this isn’t one of them.”

  She shrugged. He was right. This was a fight they would have out another day. Today they had faced the emperor and lived. This afternoon they had to face their first war council and survive. Tonight they would send off a war hero and thrive.

  Chapter 28

  Two hours later, Ciardis was walking back to the arena where they had faced down a horde of angry nobles and converted them to their cause.