“Fiera.” The Emperor paused. Vi wondered if she was the only one who caught the brief expression of thoughtful surprise. “You were just a slip of a girl when last I saw you.”
“It has been ten long years.”
“Thank your father for that.” Tiberus sheathed his sword, no more pleased than she was. “Speaking of, let us head to the castle. Perhaps now he will be more inclined to discuss the annexation of the West.”
“My father is dead.”
Vi tried to catch the eyes of the other three soldiers to see if they should stand as well, but an unspoken conversation was unfolding among them. Vi remained where she was.
“How do you—”
“Know?” Fiera wiped the blood from the crystal blade nonchalantly, incredibly calm given all that had transpired. “I know because I know my father, and he would’ve never surrendered this city to you. He would be a king of rubble before a servant to a foreign crown.” She sheathed the weapon and Vi shifted her weight over her knee. She couldn’t attempt to take the blade at this moment. Her best chance was to continue letting things play out and look for an opportunity. “I know because I have seen this future in the flames.”
“Unfortunate you couldn’t have seen a path to victory earlier,” Tiberus said arrogantly.
Fiera didn’t rise to the bait. “Your victory was the goddess’s will.”
Tiberus, for his part, didn’t seem the slightest bit unnerved by the proclamation. He didn’t so much as nod to address that he’d heard the incredible statement. But Vi could see in his eyes that he was filing away that particular tidbit for later.
She’d read that her grandfather had claimed it had been his divine right to unite the continent. Now Vi wondered if that idea had originated from him, or Fiera.
“Come, all of you. We start for the castle,” the Emperor declared.
Soldiers fell into step around them and more were gained along the way as they trudged through the empty city roads. It seemed Imperial soldiers were patrolling around every corner of Norin, putting down the last fighters still loyal to the West. Tiberus’s ploy to invade by sea had paid off.
Vi allowed herself to be shepherded along. Taavin had said to get close to the sword and Fiera. This likely wasn’t what he’d had in mind, but the result was the same, which surely counted for something.
They walked in silence all the way to the large city square opposite the castle. Here, crowds of Western soldiers had been gathered. They were penned in by rings of Imperial troops that brandished weapons at them as though they were livestock.
“You three, with the rest of them,” Tiberus commanded. Then, to Fiera, “You’re with me.”
“But—” Vi’s objection was cut off by another.
“Princess, don’t go with him,” the long-haired woman in the group objected. “He will slaughter you with the rest of the blood of Jadar. Run now with the blade and—”
“Get in line with the rest of your lot,” one of the Imperial soldiers growled, pointing his sword at them and motioning to the masses of surrendered Western soldiers.
“Princess!”
“Come on.” Vi grabbed the woman’s elbow as Fiera and Tiberus started along the castle’s lowered drawbridge. “We have to trust that she knows what she’s doing.”
“And who are you to say that?” The woman jerked away. “You’re not one of us,” she said to the Imperial guards. “She’s not one of us!”
“She looks like one of you. Now get in line.”
“This is the will of the head of the Knights of Jadar,” the short-haired woman to Vi’s right said, giving the other woman a firm shove toward the opening in the line of Imperial soldiers. “Obey your commander.”
“She’s not our commander, not anymore,” the man grumbled under his breath. “She murders the Knights she’s sworn to lead. She kneels before foreign kings. She shames the Knights of—”
“Stay your blasphemous tongue.” The short-haired woman just kept pushing.
The opening in the line of Imperial soldiers closed behind them and Vi found herself among a mass of Westerners, packed shoulder to shoulder with barely enough room to move around. This city square was large, but it was quickly filling to capacity. Half the people were coated in soot and blood. Vi took a deep breath, scanning the eyes of the Imperial soldiers brandishing swords in their direction.
Those swords were once intended to protect her. Her stomach knotted as her brain tried to readjust her instinct. Nothing was right. Not even her skin seemed to fit in the same way it once did.
“Are you all right?”
“What?” Vi brought her attention to the short-haired woman at her left. The other woman from Fiera’s guard, who had threatened Vi at dagger point, was still whispering in hushed tones with the man.
