Her eyes flashed a warning, and her spine went rigid. “I will not be told where I can and cannot go. And there are more important things to discuss, Lord Heron. Like the threat of war from a powerful country.” She moved toward Altair. “I know this letter must have been threatening to receive, but the best thing to do is to take action quickly.”
Altair shook his head once, and then he was gripping both sides of his head with his hands. A wave of unease hit me hard, tightening my chest like a vise.
Zara moved even closer, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Altair glanced at her, and as he did, his eyes seemed like a shadow passed over them, turning them black. Zara had said that the women’s eyes turned black when they were possessed by the Devourer. Was Altair losing control? I stepped toward her, wanting to pull her away from him. Her hand made the briefest contact, and then Altair jerked himself out of her reach. “Don’t touch me,” he said in a growl, while Lord Heron shot us both satisfied looks.
It began with silence, and I knew Altair was listening—to what, I could never be sure. I turned and took Zara by the arm. “We’ll give you time to think about what we’ve said,” I told him. Zara resisted when I tried to guide her to the exit, and I tugged more insistently. I would pick her up and carry her if I had to. Skies forbid, but there was still the real possibility that one day, she would be married to Altair. The thought was so abhorrent, my body went rigid, as though preparing for battle. I wouldn’t be able to shield her from the dark thoughts that overtook him, but for now, I would do what I could.
It felt like an arrow in the back when he spoke.Too late, I thought.
“I’ve already thought about what you said, and I think you’re right, Zara,” he said, deceptively lucid. She had turned at the sound of his voice, and my hand fell away from her arm. “It’s important to never show fear. My father would never have shown fear, and he just reminded me that, when my authority as emperor is questioned, a show of force is the correct response.”
“The First Daughter wasn’t challenging your authority, Majesty,” I cut in, “and neither was I.”
“Weren’t you?” Lord Heron said, and suddenly, all the former provocations I had suffered from this man triggered the violent side of me. I took several strides forward until he was backed against the wall, and I glared down at him. His eyes widened like a trapped animal.
“Do not dare contradict the First Daughter,” I told him, and he flinched at the growl in my voice.
“Enough, Talon!” Altair shouted. “Father does not like you to threaten his adviser.”
Reluctantly, I backed off. I kept my eyes on Altair, who seemed to be listening again to something none of us could hear. A glanceat Zara showed her brows furrowed in a look of concern, but she wisely kept silent.
“Better that we all sleep on this,” I said, though the thought of the letter from the king of Mistral had every muscle tense. Still, I knew Altair was in no mood for logic.
He was quiet again, listening with his eyes closed. I tried to tell myself he was listening to the crackle of the fire, but I knew it wasn’t true.
“We know what we heard,” he finally said. “But go.” He waved his hand at us. “Maybe we will talk more in the morning.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I wanted Zara out of there from almost the moment we set foot in the room, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to relax until she was safely behind a locked and guarded door. “After you, First Daughter,” I said, gesturing for her to go ahead of me so I could guard her back.
She looked at Altair, and I could see that she wanted to reach out to him, to connect with him in some way, but he had already disappeared within himself. Reluctantly, she turned and walked out into the hallway.
Once we had passed Altair’s guards and found an alcove to speak alone, she leaned toward me. “He won’t do anything about the letter or the sorcerer Ozul,” she said quietly.
“No.”
She turned to me. “Then we must continue with our own plan.”
I nodded. “I will speak to my riders tonight, and we will make for the west wing in the morning. But first, I need to find the spy—that’s the only way the king of Mistral could have known about the alliance.”
She looked at me sharply. “A spy?” She thought for a moment. “That does make sense, though. How else could a king far across the sea know of an alliance formed with a sorcerer?”
I nodded. “It could be anyone, though it would be unlikely for it to be an Eagle Rider. A guard, though, or someone who could get close to the emperor without being noticed, like—”
“A servant,” she said. “You and the others speak in front of the servants like they aren’t even there. There was a servant in the room just now, and none of you even glanced his way.”
I struggled to recall the man she referred to, but not even a single facial feature came to mind. All I had was a vague image of someone with brown hair and average height. That was the point, I was sure. To be of non-notable looks, making it difficult to recall what he even looked like.
“I’ll speak with the head steward, see who the servants closest to Altair are,” I said, and she nodded.
She looked pensive for a moment and then said, “There’s one thing I should tell you about my conversation with the wind spirit that was especially puzzling—now that we’ve had a letter from the country of Mistral. The wind spirit told me his name was Mistral.”
My brows furrowed. “What does that mean? This wind spirit has something to do with that country?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Or some past king decided to name the country in honor of the wind spirit. I don’t know, but I thought I should tell you since it’s an odd detail.”
I turned it over in my mind. I doubted it was coincidental. There was some meaning to it, but I didn’t know what it could be. Or if it would turn out to be a good thing…or a bad thing. “Mistral, as you may already know, is a relatively new country—it came into existence after my people had already left the continent of Darkhan.” I’d heard whispers before in one of the ports that the people of Mistral had an impressive power that made them formidable enemies, but no one knew anything about it.We had assumed they were lies spread as a deterrent for future attacks since the country was so small, but as far as we knew, Mistral didn’t produce any goods worth fighting over.
She nodded, looking thoughtful. “Yes, I knew of its geographical location, but it’s not a country we spoke a lot about—we’ve been too concerned with what’s happening on our own continent. Do you think they have any connection to your people?”
