Bernard sat at the head of the long table with Wesley to his right. Ranged down the right were men in dark suits, seated in terms of rank, with the prime minister in the chair next to Wesley. On the other side of the table sat Kote with several high-ranking military officers, all of them in uniform.
Kote stood at her arrival, as did the officers with him, while everyone else remained seated. They bowed to her, and she inclined her head at their show of manners.
“Welcome home, Your Royal Highness,” Kote said before retaking his seat.
“Gentlemen,” Eimarille said calmly. “It is my understanding you wish to cross the eastern border.”
“What are you doing here, Eimarille? You’re supposed to be managing the mess in Amari,” Wesley said, appearing startled by her presence.
“I would assume you’d be absent from such a meeting as well, husband. You tend to prefer getting drunk with your contemporaries rather than participating in politics.”
Wesley flushed, half rising from his seat. “You’ve no business here.”
“On the contrary. The ruling of Ashionismy business, and I have every right to be here. Or have you forgotten what name I carry? Because it certainly isn’t yours.”
A tense pause followed her words, and Eimarille let her attention settle on Bernard. The king stared back at her through narrowed eyes, jaw clenched in a way she knew meant he was displeased.
“What I decide to do for the good of Daijal will not be waylaid by your hysterical argument, Eimarille,” Bernard said into the tense silence.
She raised an eyebrow. “Do I sound hysterical?”
“Your actions speak for you. You have no say here, and my word is law. The high general will implement my orders and expand our military presence into Ashion.”
“Quite so. You just will not be the one in charge.”
“Eimarille, you are making a fool of yourself,” Wesley snapped.
Bernard pointed a finger at her, gaze snapping with anger. “You forget your place.”
“My place?” She raised her chin slightly, staring him down. “Perhaps you should remind me. Are you speaking of the one I had in Ashion when I was a child or the one you were ordered to give me here in Daijal when the Twilight Star brought me to your court after you sent Blades to murder my family?”
Someone sucked in a harsh breath on the politicians’ side of the table, but no one spoke. She could feel Kote’s gaze on her, warm and heavy. Eimarille knew if she asked it of him, he and his officers would hold everyone at this table at gunpoint.
“Reunification has always been our family’s goal,” Bernard bit out.
“Your idea of reunification is not mine.”
Bernard laughed, the sound holding no humor in it. “I will not permit you to entertain this fallacy of power you seem to think belongs to you.”
“Permit? I will bequeen, and you will be nothing but ash.”
Bernard stood, planting both hands on the table before him, leaning forward. “Get out.”
Eimarille raised one hand, fingers splayed, and let the aether flow through her until it took the shape of starfire burning against her palm. “Your bloodline started the first civil war, and now you wish for a second. I will make it happen, if only to undo what your ancestors wrought, but you won’t live to see it. You lost the right to starfire generations ago and had to stealmyroad in an attempt to remake yours. But you never could see the pitfalls I built you.”
Bernard jerked back, face going as white as the heart of the starfire Eimarille held in her hand. His mouth opened, but whatever he was going to say got lost in a scream when Eimarille thrust her arm forward and set him ablaze with her magic.
Starfire was the purest form of the aether, raw energy that burned white gold. The heat of its passage over the table had the politicians and Wesley pitching out of their seats with panicked shouts. Kote and his officers moved with far more precision. They stood quickly, pistols already in hand, and aimed the weapons at the men across the table from them.
“Don’t move,” Kote barked out.
“Eimarille,” Wesley forced out, hunched over as he watched the burning column of starfire that used to be his father stumble backward.
She rotated her wrist until her palm faced outward and her fingers pointed at the ceiling. Magic coalesced around her arm, glittering motes of power that could never be contained by a clarion crystal–tipped wand.
Eimarille used her magic to send the burning body that was Bernard crashing through the window. The force of her magical push cracked the heavy table right down the center, breaking it in two. She made a fist, letting the starfire flicker around her curled fingers. The door behind her opened, and Eimarille didn’t have to look to know that Terilyn had arrived.
“Mama?” Lisandro said in his sweet voice, sounding curious rather than scared.
