“Maybe. And maybe I’ll show you if you continue to be useful to me.” Vi couldn’t tell if the curve of her mouth was a roguish smile or a more threatening display of teeth. She was in a deadly mood.
“I’m useful enough to keep Zira alive like you asked.” Pushing off the column, Deneya walked over to her. “I also saw who delivered the first blow,” she said in a hushed tone, looking out over the city while Vi stared absently into the cathedral.
“Meet me later in the usual place, then.”
“Usual place?” Deneya groaned. “It’s dark and dull and hard to get to. Let’s go out tonight.”
“It’s secluded and no one will overhear us.” Vi shot her a glare. Deneya just grinned as though her goal all along had been to rile Vi up.
“My office instead? I have their fire whiskey, good stuff—”
“Fine.” Vi was beyond arguing. She still had work to do. What they were doing could be a game to Deneya, a fun opportunity to meddle with the affairs of the Dark Isle. But every action had the highest stakes for Vi. “I don’t know when I’ll be there, so you’d better wait.”
“All the more reason to meet in my office.” Deneya strolled down the steps. “I’ll have my books and bottle to keep me company while I wait.”
“Keep your head about you,” Vi called down.
“Won’t be a problem.” She raised a hand, touching the scarf on the side of her head, just where the tops of her ears would be.Elfin. The woman was elfin, Vi realized. That was why she was never without a scarf.
Vi shook her head and went inside, heading right for Fiera’s door. She knocked softly.
“It’s me.” She heard the locks disengage and the door cracked open, Zira brandishing the sword. She relaxed the moment her eyes met Vi’s and opened wide the door.
“You find the bastards?”
“Unfortunately not. They blended into the crowd.” Vi stepped inside, still locking the door behind her. “Is everyone all right?”
“Tiberus is—”
“It is just a nick, do not fret,” he interrupted Fiera. “I’ve had worse out in battle. You, however, will need to see a cleric.”
“You worry for nothing,” Fiera mumbled, glancing askance.
“We’ll arrange for a guarded carriage to take you both back to the castle. There, you can both be looked at by clerics,” Vi said. “And following, we’ll need to discuss protection of the sword going forward.”
“I have every intention of sealing it away.” Fiera shifted in her seat.
“Sealing it away?” Tiberus muttered. “Why seal away a weapon like that, when you could turn it against your enemies?”
That was the last thing Vi wanted. She stepped forward, kneeling before the Emperor and Empress. For a brief second, her breath caught in her throat at the sight of them—a regal couple, young and strong. She was witnessing a moment that even the most skilled painters never could have captured. A moment she should never have witnessed.
“My Emperor and Empress,” Vi started reverently. “I am your loyal subject. I defer to you in all things. But if you will, I implore you to accept council from this lowly one.” She was laying on the decorum thick, but Vi knew enough about Tiberus now to know he was one to appreciate it. “The Knights of Jadar will grow in strength with or without the sword in their possession. They see it as their right.”
“Which it certainly is not,” the Emperor snapped. “Treasonous scum.”
“It is not,” Vi agreed. “But reality and the perceptions of men rarely overlap.”
“What would you have us do?” Fiera asked.
“Hide it as you intended,” Vi said delicately. “But it needs to be a place no one will know—a place they cannot even hunt you to find.”
“How do you suggest I do that?”
“Give it to me,” Vi said boldly, her gaze unwavering. If she didn’t exude confidence, how could she ever expect them to invest it in her? “Give me the sword, and then not even you will know of its location. You cannot be captured or killed to find it.”
“You think we should trustyouwith the sword? You overstep much for a guard,” Tiberus said down his nose at her.
“She knows her place and acts within it.” Fiera reached out to touch her husband’s hand lightly. “It is something I have considered before. Furthermore, she’s right… this is not something either of us should do. We do not live for ourselves any longer. We live for our Empire—and for our unborn son.”
