The fluttering flag and its bearer move closer to us. We stand and wait, unwilling to give up our position. With everything around us flattened, we have a clear line of sight should anyone try to suddenly attack.
The sun’s early rays strike the figure’s shining armor, glinting and startlingly clean in contrast to the muck and blood on us and all around us.
A woman, I realize. Her dark hair is bound tight, bearing an ethereally beautiful face. She’s almost upon us, and I stare at her prominent cheekbones, delicate jaw, slender neck. Her rich brown skin reflects the oranges of the sunrise.
So much beauty wrapped around something so deadly.
She’s more than a mere soldier, I can tell immediately. She holds her shoulders back the same way Siegrid does, as if she owns the ground she walks upon by virtue of the touch of her foot.
This must be the Siphon general we heard about.
She comes right up to us and doesn’t flinch when Anassa snaps her teeth. She stares, then cranes her head to look up at us. She plants the white flag into the ground by her feet, and her hands fold behind her back.
That subtle motion looks like an insult on her, like she’s telling us that even if we decided to attack her now, she wouldn’t need her hands ready to destroy us.
A bead of sweat slides down my spine. Her nostrils twitch like she can smell it. But instead of baring her fangs, shedipsher head. It isn’t a sign of deference.
It’s barely an acknowledgment.
“I am General Ruby Navarro, representing King Lucien Brightbane of Astreona as his ambassador,” she says in an alluringly silky voice. “You are the queen, are you not? King Lucien has a ceasefire proposal for Queen Meryn Sturmfrost.”
Shock ripples through my body, nearly knocking me off Anassa.
“You’re joking,” I blurt out, my eyes sliding over to Stark. Confusion lights in his gaze as well.
Five hundredyears of war paused with its first ceasefire? When the Siphons have the ability to gain more ground in Nocturna than ever before?
I quickly recover and put some metal in my voice. “What is the meaning of this?”
Ruby arches an elegant brow. “Our battle is not with you, Your Highness, nor with your people,” she tells us plainly. “It’s time for Astreona and Nocturna to unite against our common foe.”
She tilts her head so that her eyes darken with malice.
And she hisses his name like it’s a curse. “Alistair Brightbane.”
25
MERYN
Lord and Lady Grunfall have a long-abandoned country house right near the border between Nocturna and Astreona. It’s been ravaged by the never-ending war. But it’s far enough from the current major zones of conflict that it seems like a safe zone.
For… peace talks.
Thankfully, we were given a day to consider our next move. Not that I used the time for thinking—instead, I slept like the dead thanks to the effects of the intense magic Stark and I had wielded.
I haven’t had time to think about that, yet, either.
Stark and Siegrid agreed to accompany me to the meeting, and the three of us move at a steady lope toward the manor house. I focus on Anassa’s labored breathing beneath me and occasionally sneak glances at Stark and Cratos when I know Siegrid won’t notice.
These things keep me grounded. So does the birdsong.
Stark and I haven’t talked more about what happened out on the battlefield. That… connection between us. I can’t stop thinking about it. But we’ve allfirmed up our mental walls now that the immediate threat is gone, so I can’t tell if it’s still on his mind.
The ruined Grunfall manor comes into view, and I notice it’s on a slight rise with sight lines in all directions. It would be difficult for anyone to approach undetected, whether Bonded or Siphon.
If this is to be an ambush, it’s not catching us by surprise.
I insisted on meeting outside, of course. If this whole thing turns out to be an elaborate trap, I refuse to be cornered inside the crumbling walls of this decrepit ruin.
