Inside the council room, his father stood in front of a large, rectangular table with a section of the center painted to show the city of Metilai. Lerek knew the section could be turned over, where another map, this one of the continent, was depicted.
Men of various ranks and nationalities were inside, pulling Lerek up short. He’d never seen anyone other than his father, uncle, and their own military leaders in this room.
As he looked over the other faces, Lerek wondered at their inclusion. He had a feeling there was something else at play here, and not only the fact that they happened to be here for his succession feast and now were in the middle of what appeared to be a siege.
As soon as his father saw him, he motioned him over with a scowl. Despite the dark expression, he looked haggard.
Lerek had marked the changes in his father upon his return, knowing it owed to the events of the last year. The loss of one son and the disappearance of another. The war looming with the Spartans that, truthfully, the emperor had instigated. Throw gods into the mix, and Lerek no longer wondered what worries burdened his father other than the usual minutia of running an empire.
“No one’s breached your walls in over a century,” a man beside Lerek’s uncle, Peleon, remarked. Lerek recalled meeting him earlier. He had a smushed-in face with thick, dark lips andeyes constantly appearing as if he was squinting. Lerek could not remember where he was from.
“That’s what you said a minute ago,” the man continued, flinging a corpulent arm in Peleon’s direction. “You have more than one exit out of Metilai. I daresay maybe even a secret exit. Let us make use of it now?—”
“They won’t attack,” Peleon huffed, his face ruddier than usual. He looked as if he’d been holding his breath.
Glaring at the man who’d spoken, he added, “It’s the vanguard, nothing more. If they attack now, we will easily rout them. No, they are waiting.”
“For what?”
Lerek spun around to look at the new speaker, a man with golden curls held back from his face with a black strip of leather. His skin was tanned as if he spent much of his life outdoors, his grey eyes flashing with impatience.
“I do not know, Romulus,” Peleon seethed. Lerek watched a vein in his temple throb. “Whatever it is, we’ll be ready. In the meantime, we do not panic.”
“We already know of your defeat at Ravos at the hands of the former tracker, Terena Luca,” the man, Romulus, said. He looked around at the others, who nodded and mumbled in agreement. “And if the rumors are true, she had an army with her, led by the Olympian god, Hermes. Perhaps his army is on it’s way here now.”
The din erupting at his words made Lerek wince, despite the elation flooding his chest. His father shouted to be heard and his uncle screamed at a man near him, one of the Offeni royals.
“How is that possible?”
“I thought all the gods were killed? You said there was no truth to the?—”
“SILENCE!”
Lerek watched his father as the room quieted slowly. The emperor’s face was as red as an apple, his heaving breaths making his shoulders bounce as he glared at everyone.
“Terena Luca will be handled,” his father said into the sudden stillness of the room. “And the dinner goes forward as planned.”
A chorus of protests erupted, and for several long minutes, the din of the various conversations was loud enough to make Lerek’s ears ring.
“And what of the rumors? What of Hermes?”
The emperor thumped on the table so hard, some of the war figurines on the map fell over. The room quieted as Lerek’s father glared at them all.
“I look around this room, and I do not see leaders,” he sneered, his dark eyes darting around at everyone. “I see muling babes, whining about rumors, crying about a tracker brat who is so insignificant, I’d forgotten all about her until her reappearance in Ravos.
“The only reason my men were there was to take back the prince! If General Peleon had stayed, I assure you, that rabble would not have won in Colinas.”
“And what of the Spartans?”
Lerek’s eyes darted to Romulus, the most outspoken of his father’s guests. He must be more important than Lerek had first thought, although he could not place where he was from.
“You’re worried about a hundred warriors? I havethousandsunder my command. Do you see me losing my composure?”
Sullen silence thickened in the room as Lerek watched his father’s sneering countenance.
“You were all invited here for a reason, so you are all made aware of the situation. We will continue with the festivities as planned, regardless of the wolves at our gates. You will be assigned additional guards for the duration of your stay.Updates will be provided as needed, and if the situation changes, we have an evacuation plan ready.
“But we are not there yet. So, comport yourselves as men befitting your stations.” His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as his lip curled up. “Or you’ll be the first ones thrown to those wolves.”
