“And what will I actually be doing while I’m ‘dead’?” Zira asked.
“Take the sword and go to the Nameless Company, visit your daughter, and stay hidden for a time. Let no one there know you have it.”
“But they can know I’m alive?” Zira arched her eyebrows.
“Am I wrong to say I trust the Nameless Company to keep the secret?”
“Not in the slightest.” She grinned with pride. “The Nameless Company would all die fighting before they gave up my secrets… and we don’t discuss the business matters of others.”
“Go and hide there.” Vi took a deep breath. “After a month… maybe two—enough time that things have calmed here—begin to head East with the sword.” The crystal weapon needed to get as far out of reach as possible from the Knights of Jadar. And the East had managed to keep a crystal weapon safe before. She hoped they could do it again. “I’ll meet you in Cyven. Linger near the old senate hall there.”
Zira looked away and Vi could almost see the wheels turning in her mind as she ran over everything once more.
“If I leave now, wait two months, and then head East, there is a chance I won’t make it back for the birth of Fiera’s child.”
“I know.” Fiera was already well into her second term. The primary cleric overseeing her care was fairly tight-lipped about exactly when she suspected the baby had been conceived, which meant Vi’s suspicions about her pregnancy during the wedding were likely well founded.
Aldrik’s legitimacy was shaping up to be a thinly veiled lie. He had surely been conceived out of wedlock. But the Emperor was adamant that nothing untoward had happened before their wedding night. And if the Emperor declared his wife could have a child in less than the normal term, such would be the official truth as far as the rest of the Empire was concerned.
“I promised her—”
“I’m sure,” Vi interrupted, somewhat harshly, “this will not be easy for any of us. But Fiera understands the sacrifices of her position. She always has. And part of why I am doing this now is for the safety of her and the babe. I want the sword gone well before she’s vulnerable.”
I don’t want her to die, Vi stopped herself just short of saying. She wouldn’t risk this world’s failure for revenge on those who had wronged her family. But she would risk it to save lives.
No matter what Taavin insisted, Vi wanted Fiera to live. Her father needed a mother, the Empire needed its Empress. Her job was to prevent the Crystal Caverns from ever being tampered with, and who was to say—perhaps preventing Fiera’s death was the key to all that.
If Fiera lived, the Emperor might remain a more measured man. He might never seek out Vhalla to open the Crystal Caverns. He might even ease some of his brutality in the North.
When Vi looked at everything through that optimistic lens, the future had never seemed brighter.
“We have to do this,” Vi said softly, pleading. “We must, at all costs, keep the sword safe. This is greater than you, or me, or even Fiera. More hangs in the balance than I can explain.”
Zira approached her silently. Vi felt the weight of her stare and was struggling to keep her knees locked under the pressure it put on her shoulders in addition to all the pressure that was actually there. Zira reached out, resting her hand lightly on Vi’s white knuckles. With a reassuring magic only mothers seemed to possess, Vi stopped trembling.
“I will take the sword tonight and go.”
“Mother bless you,” Vi breathed in relief.
“While I gather my things, go and wrap it in leathers for me. I want it bundled so tightly that you can hardly tell it’s a sword at all.” Their roles had switched, and now Zira was giving the orders. “Then meet me down in the dungeons.”
“The dungeons?”
“You remember the way, I trust?”
“It was the first area of the castle I had the pleasure of touring,” Vi said with mock delight. How far she had come from that night. “Let’s move quickly, there’s no time to waste.”
* * *
Vi waited in the hallway that led down to the dungeons. It was a singular pathway—easy to block and defend against any kind of breakout. A guard lingered farther on, keeping watch. Though, judging from his heavy snoring, the only thing he was watching were the insides of his eyelids.
“Sounds like Topperen is on duty tonight,” Zira murmured as she approached. “I was hoping that would be the case.” She passed an iron key to Vi.
“What’s this?”
“A key to the cell we need to get to.”
“You’re not locking me away again, are you?”
