“I was sorry to hear about your friends,” I said. Had their loss driven her here? Maybe she was starting to realize she couldn’t do this alone.
Diah straightened. “Such is the cost of war, as you will soon come to know.”
Her words settled inside me like stones sinking to the ocean floor. “If we help each other, that cost might not be so high. Trendell has agreed to host a meeting and hear our proposal for an alliance. Join us there. Make your choice then.”
Slowly, Diah nodded. A knot in my chest released like a line snapping. We were moving forward.
* * *
After giving Diah the date and location, I returned to a letter from Caliza at the castle. This time, I skipped the fake visible conversation and flipped the letter over to sprinkle powder on the invisible ink on the back. Kiva hovered beside me as I read quietly aloud by sona lamp:
Thia,
I am so proud of you, and I know if she were here, our mother would be too. Thanks to you, we have a real chance to protect Rhodaire.
A letter arrived from Captain Mirkova. She said she sent you one too. I know it’s not the answer we wanted, but we can still do this. She’s staying in Korovi to proposition them for supplies.
I’ve convened the council.
I paused, exchanging looks with Kiva. Rhodairen rulers only convened the council during wartime, when the heads of all the houses gathered in the castle. They would eat and sleep there instead of their own homes, working together to prepare Rhodaire for battle.
I kept reading.
Illucia now occupies five towns on our outer border. My letters to their general and Queen Razel have gone ignored. Lady Turren has suggested we poison the towns’ water supply, as well as those of any neighboring villages (I’m starting to suspect she may be just as merciless as her father was). She says our greatest advantage is the heat, as he believes the Illucians are unprepared for a Rhodairen summer. But I’m not sure I can do that. It would mean evacuating the towns and quite possibly making them unlivable. I don’t want to destroy people’s homes.
Lord Rynthene has stripped one of his ships of identifying marks to send for you. It’s currently docked near the border in a fishing village on the coast. Elair. Do you remember it? Mother took us there once on our way to the Ambriels. You ate so much fried fish, it made you sick.
I miss you. Stay safe, and send word the moment you’re prepared to leave.
Love,
Caliza
Kiva tossed the letter into the fireplace, nudging it with the metal poker until it turned to ash. “Things are getting worse,” she said. “How much longer until we can move?”
“A few more days,” I told her. “Res is still too fragile.”
Kiva stabbed the hot coals with the poker. “Let’s pray Rhodaire has that long.”
* * *
My mind strayed as Ericen and I ran through drills in the misty courtyard. Even as I focused on the correct steps and forms of the new moves he’d taught me, I held tight to the cord with Res. It’d grown even stronger, and the more I focused on it, the more I felt him there.
The link between us thrummed, filling me with a sense of annoyance. Not my own but his.
It wasn’t the first hint of emotion I’d felt from the crow. It’d taken me a while to realize the wisps of feelings weren’t my own, and even now, I couldn’t always tell the difference. But with each passing minute, the connection between us grew stronger, like a rope pulling taut, and more and more of his emotions flared to life along it.
His magic had to be close to manifesting. I could feel it.
I only prayed it was enough to seal this alliance. Enough to stop Illucia.
My gaze flickered to Ericen, who was moving through a series of sword poses. The Centerian was in two weeks. If everything went according to plan, I’d be long gone by then. Would he be strong enough to win? And if he did, would he serve at his mother’s side in this war?
Would he fight against me?
As though he felt my eyes on him, the prince paused in his drills to face me, his bare chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. “Taking notes?” he asked with a catlike grin.
I didn’t smile. “What if you lose?”
