by Radu Aldea
Felix invited them all to join him in the banquet hall. Most of them politely declined claiming they were tired and wanted to retire to their rooms. They must’ve completed the journey in record time and pushed themselves and the horses to the limit. Christian, Aleyna and the young woman Maya was suspicious of accepted the invitation, though.
So present in the banquet hall were Maya, Aleyna, Felix, Davina, Christian, the young woman nobody had been able to identify and she didn’t introduce herself, and Felix’s omnipresent shadow, at least that’s what she called him. He was a human who belonged to Nestor and was sent here to watch Felix’s every move. He had one of those following all his powerful clients, which convinced Maya more than anything else that his days were numbered.
“Why are the Arvillii invading my territory,” Nestor’s man aggressively started the conversation. If she had been in Christian’s place she would’ve slapped him.
“Who said anything about an invasion? We’re just here for a friendly visit. In hindsight, we should’ve sent word beforehand, but we didn’t have any ravens and we traveled as fast as any messenger,” Christian answered politely. He was very charming even when he was lying.
“Who are you?” Unlike her companion Aleyna wasn’t trying to be pleasant.
“I am Lord Nestor’s emissary,” he answered very full of himself.
“I see! And you just happen to be here by accident or are you in the villa all the time?” Aleyna asked and she watched Felix, Davina and the shadow carefully.Apparently, she didn’t need an answer. “All the time, then. And Lord Felix and I assume other clients of Nestor had agreed to these emissaries?”
“I am a guest, just like you. I don’t believe you have introduced yourself?”
“I haven’t. We have not agreed to your presence so you must leave now,” Aleyna said calmly. Maya hoped that Nestor’s fool wouldn’t see what was coming. If Christian had tried appeasement and failed Aleyna was more aggressive. Maya realized they had planned this in advance, but the roles they had chosen suited them.
“Did Rufus and Kara have watchers in your house?”
Christian snorted, which was an appropriate response to the question asked by the other young woman of their party. That definitively proved to Maya that she was not a battle-senator and was not familiar with the private dealings of the powerful, which made her wonder why was this senator here. She had a pretty good idea what kind of function the young woman was performing. Only one reason they would bring a weak senator with them, really.
Maya tried to imagine how Marcia would react if she had a spy following her everywhere. Or Reyna. That one would snarl even worse. As powerful as Kara was she would never dare do something like that. The whole family would turn against her, just like they would on Nestor at the first opportunity. If the master of Riffland thought he was in control he would have one hell of a surprise very soon, because she didn’t think the Arvillii would let him stay in charge of the family. They were going to remove him; she just wasn’t sure how.
“Felix understands that any conversation you have with him must be in my presence.” The shadow had actually attempted that with her too. While she was in the house he found it easier to follow Maya and she still managed to have private conversation with Felix and especially Davina. And it was impossible to stop all contact between Christian and Felix. Even if they didn’t meet in person without the shadow present, they both had hundreds of soldiers under their control. Nestor’s man was alone and he couldn’t possibly spy on everyone.
But Aleyna was not going to ignore the affront. “The guest law is absolute, but it’s not there to protect interlopers. And one might consider that forcing yourself on an unwilling host is in itself a violation of the guest law. We are ready to enforce it.”
Maya remembered she had offered a very similar interpretation not so long ago. Whether the southerners believed in it was of no consequence. They were going to use it to eliminate Nestor. Personally she believed the purpose of the guest law was to preserve a modicum of civility and not to allow the powerful to oppress the weak even more.
“We know what happened at Therburg in minute detail and we are not pleased,” Christian spoke and the charm had been replaced by steel resolve. “We are well aware of the insults your master has hurled at us. This was supposed to be a friendly visit, but you are determined to start a conflict. I will oblige. If you don’t leave, we will, and if we do I will give the order to ten thousand soldiers to cross the Arais. You want an invasion, you will get one.”
Nestor had forgotten Suttland was an enraged colossus and to poke at it was not a good idea. Maya wondered what he would do. His arrogance and pride would make him want to stare Christian down, but logic dictated he should acquiesce to the request.
“Whatever she had promised,” Aleyna said looking at Maya, “she can’t deliver fast enough. Cuttland doesn’t have enough troops in the area to help. Most of them are in the east and north. So you better think very carefully before you give us an answer. I hope you refuse.”
Maya asked herself if Suttland was willing to fight a war on two fronts, because there was no question they had the ability. She sensed no deception when Aleyna said she wanted this war or on Christian when he spoke of the ten thousand soldiers. They were probably ready and the invasion of Riffland was part of Suttland’s strategy. On the other hand, Suttland couldn’t fight everybody. And the fact was they weren’t. Nestor couldn’t rely on his clients in case of war and in the east Essland’s senators could not unite even when invaded. Some of them must’ve thought that by fighting Suttland they opened the door for Cuttland’s supremacy, which was, as far as they were concerned, the least favorable outcome. In her opinion, Nestor’s clients would be better off with a distant oversight from Suttland than his tyrannical rule.
Felix’s shadow left the room. Nestor was rational for once and he must’ve been convinced of Christian’s resolve. “He won’t forget this. You just made an enemy for life.”
“We already had an enemy. I’m Aleyna.” That caught Felix and Davina by surprise as they both knew of the human and had assumed she was dead. “I must apologize, but I don’t know who you are. Please excuse my shameful lapse.”
Aleyna had changed her tune, now she was all smiles and not at all apologetic. The human was clearly interested in Maya and thought that by being nice she would find out more. “I am Maya, emissary of Robert Castus,” she answered returning the smile.
“I’m Thea. You have no guards with you. Have you come all this way alone?”
“Yes! I am all by myself. No soldiers, no servants!”
Aleyna was watching her with suspicion. She didn’t even bother to hide it. The human had tilted her head and was staring at her. Maya was sure she had done something to attract her undivided attention. She had been right to be most concerned with Aleyna. What was the human thinking? She wished she knew.
“That absolutely cannot stand,” Thea chimed. “I have brought servants with me and I’d be more than happy to lend two of them to you for the duration of our stay.”
“I offered her the same and she refused,” Davina told Thea.
At that moment she had thought the kid was being gracious, yet she had a rule that had served her well and wasn’t ready to abandon, so she politely declined. Now Maya was thinking that Davina and Thea, although there was a significant difference of power between them, had something in common. And she really didn’t like diviners. “I didn’t want to inconvenience my host. A roof over my head is more than enough for me.”
“Why don’t you have your own? I hear you are a battle senator and even if you weren’t, you’re entitled to part of your family’s income.” Thea was being curious.
“I think you have been coddled in Suttland. In the rest of the empire you are entitled to whatever your patron sees fit to give you. I was given nothing and I asked for nothing.” Therefore, I have nothing, but Maya didn’t voice the conclusion. She didn’t have to. They all understood and Aleyna was stil
l looking at her in that irritating way.
“Diviners, huh! Can’t live with them, can’t charge them with breaking the guest law.” Christian tried to lighten the mood in the room, which had become tense. It worked, because even she found herself smiling without meaning to. In fact, everyone in the room had relaxed except Aleyna and Davina. The kid looked horrified. Damn, people weren’t supposed to know.
“You are wrong. I’m not a diviner and I’m just under two hundred.”
“You are a diviner and you can control about two hundred and fifty people.”
“You are wrong, Aleyna.” Maya could hear Davina’s desperation and felt sorry for her.
“Actually, she’s not. You are closer to Christian than your father regarding power.”
Davina looked like a deer caught in a trap and Felix was no better. A predator might try to chew its foot to escape. The kid didn’t have such an easy option.
“Don’t worry, honey!” Aleyna was trying to calm Davina. “Nobody here is going to say anything to Nestor or use the knowledge against you. You were right to hide it from him.”
“She might!” Davina meant her and Maya felt offended. She had been nothing but nice to the kid and had done nothing to elicit such a reaction. Then she remembered that although very young Davina was a senator and their first lesson was not to trust anybody.
“Let me tell you a secret,” Aleyna addressed Davina. “You know why she doesn’t have any soldiers or servants. Because she doesn’t want people to know how powerful she is. Do you think Robert wouldn’t give her enough gold to keep a few servants and a home? And when senators aren’t interested in wealth and comfort there is only thing that motivates them: power! And I doubt Robert Castus knows what kind of snake he is nursing, but if she tells on you I’ll make sure he does. She claims that she is a senator of medium power and that works well for her. If Robert would learn of her true abilities, and she is more powerful than you, Davina, I think he wouldn’t be pleased. Whatever games she is playing with the Casti and now is trying with us I don’t think it’s in her interest to tell them about you.”
Shit! She hated when her worst fears came to life. Maya had avoided diviners all this time, only to have her plans thwarted by this human. It didn’t even matter if Aleyna was wrong. The suspicion alone was enough to ruin everything. “I am as powerful as I claimed to be.”
Aleyna chuckled. “You know what kind of senator doesn’t have guards or walks into hostile territory alone? The kind that thinks she can kill everybody, which is why we are here. Because senators like this sometimes are wrong. Kara was killed by humans and we come to see if the priests of the Sun have something to do with that. And before you deny it, Maya, there’s an easy way to prove you are exactly who you claim to be. Take over one of our guards and let the diviners do what they do.”
Maya was never going to do that and now she understood how being trapped felt like. This human was serious trouble; no wonder Kara had kept her all this time. She wanted to shut Aleyna up, but there was nothing she could do. Even if she killed everybody something told her that the senator who controlled her was not in this villa.
“Look! We don’t care about what you are planning to do to the Casti. You can do whatever you like, we won’t say anything. Just don’t play games with us!”
“Who is controlling her?” Maya asked Davina. The answer was what she expected. A powerful senator, who was not part of this party. She suspected it was Marcia. However, she was interested in something else Aleyna said. She didn’t uncover any connection between Kara and the priests. In fact, she had gotten nothing although she had roamed all over the province. The only success had been that senators in Cuttland had found the priest’s family and surprise, surprise they weren’t immune, but as she suspected they were killed just the same.
“Why did you come here? You have your own priest, I suspect. There’s no need for pretense. You must know that the priests had nothing to do with it.”
“Actually our investigation has been inconclusive.” That was Christian.
How could their investigation be inconclusive? They were senators and there would be no doubt one way or another. Then Maya realized the southerners knew something they were not saying. They didn’t come here to invade, although they would if they were forced, but to investigate. “What do you know?”
“Nothing we want to share,” came Aleyna’s curt answer.
Chapter thirty-nine
Kara felt rested, although she had made love to Michael and had been awake for half the night. Nothing compared to a sound sleep. She wouldn’t have felt safe, but Michael had set alarms at every entrance to their room and had assured her he would know if someone attempted to get in. It was a wizard thing, one that the sisters were not able to replicate.
She trusted him to know what he was doing and that his bubble of silence was working. They used it all the time when they were alone so their conversation and other activities would remain private. Kara had learned the hard way that Lucian’s villa was built so he could spy on his guests. The room he had given her was one where every whisper traveled to another location. There one of his men was listening. When she uncovered this she had been irate. Now she understood that she could use it to her advantage.
The rest of the time, when they were not alone, Michael behaved the way she asked him to. Kara adored him when his eyes flared because she was particularly obnoxious and infuriating, which was often enough. He seemed to question her without words. Was this really necessary? And she would answer in the same manner. Yes, it really was!
The two sorceresses had been suspiciously absent the day before. She had hoped to get them alone, but something seemed to get in the way. Lucian was equally elusive. Their talks were meaningless and everything important was avoided, which was fine with her. What she didn’t appreciate was wasting a day. She just hoped this morning would be different.
They got lucky. The sisters were in the garden by themselves. This was their opportunity to have a private conversation with them. They followed the sorceresses to the garden and Tamzin seemed to be waiting for Kara. The empress must’ve know they were coming, so did the other one, but only one of them was anxious when they both should’ve been.
“Good morning, empress! How was your sleep?”
“Troubled, thank you for asking! How was yours?”
“Very restful. I slept like a rock.” Tamzin had been coldly polite and Kara decided to be a bit warmer. Truthfully, she had nothing against those two. Too bad they were who they were. Now that the pleasantries were out of the way she could get right down to what was important. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you since yesterday, but I couldn’t get you alone.”
“I needed time to think. You must understand, me wanting you and your family dead, it’s nothing personal.” Kara almost laughed because it was so absurd. It was also true. They had never met, she even liked Tamzin, but that didn’t change the fact they were locked in a conflict that was not of their making. “I will do anything to protect my sisters.”
Kara understood this kind of loyalty as it mirrored her own. She would do anything to protect her family too. “Even if it costs you your life?”
“I fully expect to die here. I only ask you to let Alexandra go. She has nothing to do with all this. She even pestered me to make an alliance with Suttland.”
Kara knew when someone was lying to her and Tamzin wasn’t. She was ready to sacrifice herself for Alexandra, for the other sorceresses. “We’re the same, you and I. We’re both ready to sacrifice everything to protect those we care about. You cannot imagine the kind of horrors I would bring onto the world to keep them safe. Or to avenge them.”
“I had the feeling.” Tamzin sounded defeated.
“That being said, I am not the Conclave’s biggest problem.”
That got their attention. They didn’t even realize how much trouble the sorceresses were in. Kara was not absolutely sure she was right, but the more she thought about it the more plausible i
t became. Fighting the Conclave had been an option, letting it self-destruct was a better one. Truth could do a lot of damage when used properly.
“The sorceress that led the soldiers to you was almost certainly under the control of a senator, very likely our host. You cannot blame these two for that,” Michael told her.
That stunned Tamzin and Alexandra. They truly believed her when she said sorceresses had not been involved in the attempt on her life. She had been lying, of course, but she didn’t want that knowledge to get to Lucian. That a sorceress was either following the orders of a senator or was acting of her own free will. The former was more likely than the latter, considering senators had killed her father. If the sorceress acted of her own free will, either someone ordered her to do it or she had made that mistake all by herself. She had done nothing to that sorceress, Kara didn’t even know who she was, so her actions couldn’t have been the result of personal enmity. This exercise in logical reasoning was moot. She had known who was responsible since the attack and she had figured out why a while later. “This is not about that. And you are probably right, that sorceress was under senatorial control, and believe me, they think that’s their worst nightmare come to life.”
“You think the Conclave is compromised?”
“Where there’s one, there’s a second, a third and so on. The funny thing is that unlike wizards, sorceresses can’t escape our control. Some of them, like these two, are immune, but the others are more vulnerable. I guess it’s the Goddess’s way of balancing the world. So yes, I think the Conclave is compromised. Funnier still is that they think that’s their worst problem.”
“The Conclave being taken over by senators, yes, that’s our biggest fear.”
Alexandra really couldn’t imagine anything worse. Kara could. Bad leadership should’ve concerned them more. She knew exactly who the Reverend Mother was and the sorceresses had messed up there. “Let me enlighten you! A senator always gives birth to senators and a senator close to the three hundred barrier doesn’t have children of medium power.”