“Not according to the guard records.” Rebec took a step forward, looming over Eira.
“I had him frozen but not dead, what more control do you want?”
“How about you don’t shout to the world that you’re Adela’s spawn?” Rebec hummed.
A frown pulled on Eira’s lips. “I didn’t—”
“But you did,” Deneya interrupted with a sigh. “The magic you used has Adela written all over it. It’s more damning than you making a trident of ice in Solaris. Whispers that you might be Adela’s acolyte have already reached the queen’s inner circles and I am helpless to stop them.”
“Or that you might even be Adela herself, reborn with some dark power,” Lorn added. “Given how you look.”
Eira kept forgetting that to the people on Meru, Adela was more than a myth. She was flesh and blood. She was death given cold shape. Eira could get away with using the magic she’d read in the journals more on Solaris than she could on Meru.
“Well, I come bearing gifts again, at least.” Eira sought to divert the topic, reaching into her satchel. “I lifted these off the man before the Swords of Light saw.” She placed the scroll case and the small bag next to the parcel.
“What’re they?” Lorn asked, leaning in for a closer look.
“I don’t know, I didn’t examine them at all. I figured I’d wait for orders before doing anything with them.”
Rebec snorted. “Don’t act like you suddenly give a scrap about our orders.”
“I—”
Eira was cut off by Deneya taking the scroll case and twisting open one end. She turned it over, tapping lightly to loosen a curled piece of paper. Deneya unfurled it, Lorn and Rebec reading over her shoulders as Deneya slowly and purposefully read aloud.
“Order is secure. Payment in full. You have three days.”
Deneya opened the bag next. Dark beads rolled out, matte against the sheen of the table stain. They were smaller than marbles, unassuming, but Rebec let out a gasp and Lorn stepped away. Clearly, they knew something Eira didn’t.
“I thought so,” Deneya grumbled. “Bloody Pillars.”
“Do you think they’re really working with Carsovia?” Rebec asked her leader.
“How else would they get explosives? The Carsovian Empire has the beads under tight control.”
“Explosives?” Eira asked no one in particular.
Ducot was the one to answer. “Those little black things are called flash beads.” He motioned to the dark granules. “It’s a rare mineral, mined and processed in the Empire of Carsovia.”
“The Empire of Carsovia?”
“Here.” Deneya moved back to the central table and Eira followed. The head Specter rolled a small map over one corner of the massive, detailed map of Risen that dominated the table’s surface. “Solaris, Meru.” Deneya moved her finger, corresponding with the different locations. “The Kingdom of the Draconi is on the island of Dolarian here, and the Twilight Kingdom is in this forest to the northeast of Risen. This little peninsula down south is the Republic of Qwint. They broke off from Carsovia, hence why they’re so eager to work with us and expand their bargaining power through a treaty.”
“Then this is Carsovia?” Eira asked, motioning to the land by Qwint.
“Yes…and this, and this, and this, too. All of it is Carsovia.”
“Is this map to scale?” Eira whispered.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Deneya pursed her lips.
“It’s massive.” Meru was about double, nearly triple the size of Solaris. Carsovia was at least double the size of Meru…and that was based only on what Eira could see drawn out. Carsovia’s borders spilled off the edge.
“It is. And what you see is only about half of it.”
How could one empire be so large? Solaris had nearly ripped at the seams trying to unify four small kingdoms. What was Carsovia like? Was it a monstrous, unified force? Or was it riddled with infighting? Constantly tearing apart and stitching back together?
“Is Meru at war with Carsovia?” Eira asked.
