Vallan lets out another scoff, louder this time. He presses his body forward over the short table, leaning closer to me. “Perhaps you’d prefer if I jokingly bend you over this table and claim you all over again, brat princess? Make the others watch?”
Garroway laughs, high and tight. “No one will bewatchingif that happens, sir.”
I shoot a razor-sharp smirk at Vallan, matching his energy. “Maybe I’ll actuallytrynext time to slice you up—”
“Try? You were pantingplenty, silverblood.”
“Everyone shut up before Ifuck you all!” Skartovius shouts. The room falls quiet as his voice carries to the high ceiling. He rubs his temples when our trio of gazes snaps over to him. “All this bickering is giving me a headache.”
Garroway elbows his master. “You don’t need to threaten us with a good time, Master. It’s just good-natured ribbing, isn’t that right, guys?” His face sinks when he flips his eyes from meto Vallan, the two of us still locked in a smoldering stare-down. “Guys?”
Skar taps the map with his fingers. The noisy moment goes by the wayside. Vall and I stand back, no longer inches from each other’s faces. Our eyes move to the map, which is a hand-drawn affair of Olhav proper and its five wards, color-coated for my benefit.
In the middle of the map in a large circular pattern is the Judgment Ward, attuned red due to Aramastun Wyvox’s preference for the bloody color.
Overlord Aramastun’s domain centers the other four Ministries. To its left and up, northwest, is Barnabac Craxon’s yellow Military Ward—my most frequented area of Olhav. To the left and down from the center, southwest, sits a large slice of multi-colored lines—Overliege Liolen Sesk’s Commerce Ward.
Right and down from Judgment, southeast, is an area I’ve kept away from in my travels to Manor Marquin: the emerald-hued Faith Ward, lorded over by Overlady Valenthia Yurlyth.
And finally, where Skar continues to tap his fingers, is the gray-colored district sitting northeast from the center, the Intelligence Ward of Overlady Alacine Mortis.
Skar says, “With Sephania returned to us, we need to draw attention away from her. This, as we know, is where most of that attention will be coming from.”
“Because only the Spymistress is aware of Seph’s Loreblood?” Garroway asks.
“Just so,” Skar answers. “At least that is my hope. If it were not true, the other leaders would be clambering after her by now.”
“It’s only been days since her escape,” Garro points out.
“Even so, these are ambitious, cutthroat noblebloods. The most powerful monsters in the land. They would not rest ontheir laurels if they knew their peer was enacting a plan to become more powerful.”
It’s interesting to hear Skar call his own kind monsters. He isn’t wrong, but I can’t help but wonder where his resentment for other noblebloods originates from.
“Fair point, Master,” Garroway points out.
“We need to use this information to our advantage,” Skar says, “and isolate Alacine before drawing her out. She is obsessed with Sephania’s Loreblood, which means she is prone to mistakes. It could be our one chance to strike.”
Vallan says, “Your strategy, brother, is to use our girl as a decoy?” There’s anger behind his tone.
“With your bloodsight to track her for impending harm, it could work,” Skartovius replies. His tone is indifferent to the grumbling behind Vallan’s words.
“I agree,” I say, vouching for his ruthless strategy. I am willing to put myself in harm’s way if it means putting a stop to this and protecting people like Palacia, Sister Cyprilis, the Chained Sisters, and all the others. “Change doesn’t come from standing in the shadows. It comes from fearless action, taking the battle tothem, head-on.”
Skartovius gives me a proud smile, and it makes me warm inside.
“There’s a difference between fearlessness and recklessness,” Vallan growls, ruining the moment.
“Is there?” I quip. Our little public spat lingers in our biting words. “I see no discernible distinction between the two.”
“Do we truly attack her head-on, as Seph suggests?” Garroway asks. His voice is more serious now, taking in the gravity of our meeting.
I see why Skar wanted to do this meeting in the smallest room possible: This rhetoric alone, if discovered, is tantamount to treason against Olhav’s leadership. We are openly speakingabout slaying an Overlady of the Five Ministries. This sort of thing, from what I’ve noticed in the past, is usually relegated to smoke-filled taverns and back-alleys.
“Not exactly, graybird. Alacine is too strong in her own district. We can’t compete with her there.” Skar inclines his sharp chin to me. “While I applaud Sephania’s tenacity and grit, we need to act wily. Brute force won’t get the job done. It will be difficult to outwit Alacine Mortis, which is why I’m hoping for her bloodlust to draw her out. She knows the Loreblood is powerful and will come for Sephania to obtain it. We just need to be ready, if not outright inciting such an outcome.”
His final words linger in the air. Our eyes sweep and lock with one another. There’s no secret to what he’s saying, and I now see why he is the de facto leader of this trio: The nobleblood is smart, surely; more than that, he understands how towin.
“Which is where diversion comes into play.” He moves his fingers across the map, from Alacine’s district to the other four wards. “Keeping the other leaders’ eyes averted from Alacine will give us the chance to concoct our ploy and strike.”
