“My Light, glad you’re alive,” Derring said, smiling kindly.
“That makes two of us,” Yemi replied, bypassing the group to take her usual chair at the table, marked by grooves in its edges from summers’ worth of grinding down pencils during her tutors’ stale math lessons. “Where are we, then? I assume you’ve been briefed that weare taking back the Rock. We need your help to determine what that looks like.”
“Yes, I’ve handed over the Drakes’ schedule. The west wing is being renovated for the Kept. Cerro is hoping to convert most of the royal grounds for the purposes of the faith.”
“Naturally.” She would deal with Cerro. “Armaments?”
“The new forces are heavily reliant on firearms, but beyond the palace guard, the military hasn’t been fully kitted out with them yet, as they have to be imported. The cloud bridge is still under construction, so military response to an attack on the palace will be slow, but their weapons have range.”
Yemi waited for Derring to find their next words, bracing herself for the almost assured unpleasantness that would be in them.
“Your most vocal support had been among the navy,” they continued, “though sometime last week a flotilla was sent out, officially on an exercise. A sort of exhibition for the new leadership. Details are scarce, but I have it on good authority that a number of the soldiers who didn’t return were in your camp. Commander Hurand was one of them.”
“Dahlia’s culling the opposition,” Cutter said bitterly.
“Hurand is dead,” Yemi deadpanned. The room was silent, even if the air between them was thick with unasked questions. “I saw it with my own eyes. I fully intend to avenge him.”
“What of the people? How accepting of this takeover are they?” Nova chimed in, changing the subject. She must have known it was better to move on before the right question was asked.
Derring sighed. “Well, the mood at thepalaceis that no one’s convinced you’re dead. It’s assumed that you’ve fled and are maybe abroad, bolstering support for an eventual return.”
“Eventualmeaning ‘some years down the line,’?” Cutter clarified.
“Really?” Yemi cocked an eyebrow, feeling a small thrill at just how unpleasant she could make this for Dahlia. “I hope they like surprises, then.”
“They’re counting on the apathy of the locals. People who haven’t chosen a side but just want to live their lives. To this point, the Drakeshave had the more animated base. Even those who adored the Bear Queen and believe in your right to the throne aren’t moved to act on it.”
Pity,Yemi thought. But it was understandable. The fatigue of war was palpable all over the country. Dahlia was placating the people by not involving them or attacking them directly and forcing a fight. They were instead choosing rest.
“But that isn’t the real problem,” Derring said reluctantly.
“Well then, what is?”
Derring paused, for once in their life apparently unsure of how to ask a question. “Is it true that you had a prisoner’s tongue cut out?”
The room looked at Yemi.
“Shit.” Nova sucked her teeth while the others exchanged wary glances.
Yemi frowned and her face grew hot. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“The man survived, and the people who didn’t need a lot of help believing you were some unhinged tyrant… well, they got what they needed.”
“When did word get out?” Nova asked, her head down on the table.
“Recently, I suppose. My Li—Yemaya. They’ve toppled the Bear Queen’s statue at the basilica and on the grounds.”
Nova’s head popped up. “Theywhat?”
“Who is ‘they’?” someone asked, but the conversation had been replaced in Yemi’s ears by a buzzing sound, a loud, moving drone as if she’d stuck her head in a hornet’s nest. She’d taken too long, failed to look after her mother. She’d thought at least her parents could be at peace, that she could inherit their war without their needing to be a part of it anymore.
Nova brushed by, subtly dragging a finger along Yemi’s back to return her to the present. The buzzing stopped.
“There is a… committee,” Derring was saying, their composure wilting a bit under a barrage of questions. “Its goal is to dissolve the Mer presence from Ixia. Move fully into a human future. That would first entail the removal of the Blackgate line from the royal tombs.Their likenesses are next. Engravings, paintings, photographs of the royals from you back to your grandparents. The only reason the Rock itself isn’t flattened entirely and converted to an arena is because of the Kept. Dahlia agrees with them on a continued devotion to the sea but sees pulling you from history as a perk.”
“Of course she does.”
The room tensed at the sound of Yemi’s voice. They were worried, waiting for the outburst. Yemi was careful with the set of her jaw, the key of her voice, the position of her hands so as not to frighten anyone. How could she use this moment of excruciating pain and fury, so high she could barely breathe, to be a leader instead of herself?
