I shrugged. Should I tell him of Zier’s suspicions that the well of power was overflowing to him as well? It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Hayle to still do the right thing, but I wasn’t sure if it was true. There was no need to burden them with what was no more than a theory.
No, it was all just a theory, and we would deal with the fallout afterwards, if there was one.
Hayle placed his finger under my chin, lifting my face to his. “What is it, Avie?”
“Thetalof Ebretha has to be destroyed. I can all but hear the Goddess screaming it in my head. But it means going back to Fortaare, and we barely made it out of there with our lives already,” I whispered.
“We’ll make it work, beautiful. We haven’t come all this way to fail at the last hurdle. We aren’t rushing in to save Zier’s neck this time, so we can plan. We’ll have backup plans for our backup plans. If this is what you think needs to happen, then that’s what will happen.” He kissed my lips softly. “There’ll be a war distracting the Baron of the First Line and his soldiers. They don’t know that we know thetalof Ebretha even exists. We may be able to just stealth in and out.”
We were still researching when Lucio rushed in an hour later. His eyes were too bright, and he looked… stressed. “We’re officially at war. It’s time to call in your markers, Hanovan, because it’s about to come to bloodshed.”
Fuck. I’d known it would come to this—Feodore Vylan was never going to just hand over power and slink off into obscurity—but I’d naively hoped that it could be solved diplomatically. So stupid. Feodore Vylan would shed the blood of every member of his Line to maintain his power.
I looked over at Vox to see he was wearing his mask again. Whatever was going on inside his head was hidden behind that politically neutral expression.
Lucio swallowed. “There’s more.” He hesitated, and my heart began to thunder in my ears. “He’s marked you all as traitors. There’s a reward of ten thousand gold coins for your capture.”
Ten thousand fucking gold coins?That was generational wealth. There were people who’d murder their own families for that. That kind of money could buy the Eleventh and Twelfth Line enough supplies for a year for both their Baronies.
Every person in Ebrus had just become a potential threat. Money made villains of us all.
Nineteen
Vox
It didn’t take long for someone to show us the flyer for our arrest. It even had pictures. They’d used my official family portrait, which must have burned, and even Hayle looked amazing in his photograph. Kind of wild and free. Lierick and Avalon merely had sketches, and they were terrible likenesses, so maybe they’d be safe walking among the population. They’d added on Zier’s at the top, like he was the ringleader in our traitorous rabble.
I’d be annoyed, if it wasn’t so typical of my father. Even in a coup against him, he didn’t think I was anything but a trophy obtained by someone he assumed was smarter.
Lierick said his spies had half of the Dawn Army marching toward Fortaare from their main base in the Fourth Line Barony, just outside of Ovl. My father had also called a Conclave, which was to be expected, I guess, but who would go? Obviously not Zier, who would be executed on sight, so did that mean the Eighth Line didn’t get a vote? Would the Baron of the Second Line have some serious brass balls and walk into the heart of enemy territory to take his place at the Conclave table?
There was so much uncertainty, and my father wasn’t a fool. If the Conclave didn’t go the way he wished, he’d seize the powerfrom them all, if he could. He’d be so laden down withtalsthat he’d jingle when he walked.
The only person who could stand against him was me. I had to go to the Conclave, but not as the Heir. I had to go as a potential Baron.
I fucking hated it.
We sat around again at the meeting table with the mysterious Baron Hanovan, Taeme beside his father, and Zier, who looked as worried as I felt. He saw too much, Zier Tarrin. I didn’t know much of his history, but I did know the previous Baron of the Eighth Line had been a prick. Apparently, that wasn’t an exclusively Upper Six problem.
“We have to attend the Conclave. If we don’t, there’ll be no one to stand against Feodore’s bullshit, and the Lower Lines can’t hold their own against him and Rovan, even if everyone else has turned against him. I’m not entirely convinced the Fifth is on board, as you say,” Baron Taeme told Hayle, making his jaw tighten.
“Everyone has ten thousand golden reasons to stab us in the back. But we can’t go into the Conclave like cornered rats,” Hayle huffed.
Viktor Taeme made a rude noise. “Son, if you think you’re stepping a single foot inside the First Line Barony until all this is over, you’ve lost your mind.”
Hayle patted him on the back. “The fact you think you can stop me is sweet, old man. I either go with you, or I go with Vox. Either way, I’ll be there to protect both your backs.”
The feeling in my chest at his words was gratitude, but it was more than that. I loved that fucking asshole. I loved him so much, and it wasn’t a love that was born from lust. It was pure affection, and honestly, I wasn’t sure I deserved his loyalty.
Viktor Taeme eyed me, and I held his gaze. I wasn’t going to contradict Hayle in front of these people. I wasn’t his parent or his boss; we were equals in every way.
“Vox shouldn’t go either,” Baron Taeme said instead. “We’ll need him to stand as Baron once Feodore goes to meet his maker.” So casually they talked about murdering my parents, yet I felt nothing but relief that this would soon be over.
I shrugged. “You don’t stand a chance in that room without me. He will murder you all as soon as the door closes behind you. You need me there.” The last place I wanted to be was in the Hall of Ebrus. The last place I wanted Hayle to be was there.
I still had to convince Avalon to stay within the safety of the fortress here in Hamor. It would be a near impossibility, especially if Hayle, Zier, and I were in Fortaare.
Arthur Hanovan watched me the way a man would watch a venomous snake that just crawled into his home. Lierick sat beside me in a not-so-subtle statement. I hoped that he would also stay in Hamor, with Avalon. He would almost have to, because without an Heir, the Second Line would fall back into obscurity. Maybe that was an angle to keep Avalon here.
