“I know, I’m sorry.” I drop my gaze to the table, half-expecting several Rhyfelwyr to burst through the door and drag me away. Into the dungeons I’ll go until they decide what to do with me. Execution? No, it won’t be that simple. Even if they mean to punish me, they’ll want a way to use my magic.
I flinch when Seren pats my hand—gently, like she knows my pulse is skittering like a frightened mouse.
“Don’t fret,” she murmurs. “We understand. The Swynwragedd are not accustomed to doling out death. That has always been the arena of Rhyfelwyr and Rhyfelwyr alone. If we wanted you to fight as they do, we would have trained you accordingly. As it is…”
Lowri clicks her tongue again but offers no objection.
I glance between them, scarcely daring to hope. “You’re not angry with me?”
“No,” Seren says, smiling gently. “We wish you would have told us, of course, but that hardly matters now. We’re impressed by the strength in your magic, in death and in life. I know you’re concerned about your partner, but Osian is doing well. Far better than we could have anticipated.”
Relief floods me. “When I stopped by his room earlier, he wasn’t there. Even though I swore his resurrection felt different than the others, I thought I might have been wrong to hope he could survive it.”
“Ah yes, he’s in the lab,” Lowri says. “Where he’ll remain for some time.”
“The lab?” I frown.
“He’s the first of your resurrections to walk among us for longer than a few moments. We intend to run a series of examinations. Determine how much of his body functions as though he were truly alive. We want to understand what this magic is capable of. And what its limits are.”
I suck in a sharp breath. “For how long?”
Seren meets my gaze without blinking. “For as long as necessary. You understand what this means, don’t you? If you can raise someone fully, you could, in theory, bring back one of the gods.” Her lips curve. “We would possess quite the weapon. Useful for the war, wouldn’t you say? We certainly won’t win otherwise.”
“Careful, Seren,” Lowri snaps.
The color drains from Seren’s face. She’s said too much.
We have been at war with our neighboring kingdom for so long no one remembers peace. But it’s always been skirmishes in the borderlands. No one has ever dared push for full invasion. We’ve been too evenly matched to risk annihilation. But to hear Seren doesn’t believe we’ll win…
“Why?” I breathe. “I thought the Kingdom of Gelyn’s army was as broken as ours.”
Seren exhales slowly. “Oh, Angharad. It’s—”
“If we tell her,” Lowri cuts in, “every Rhyfelwr and Swynwraig inside this castle will know by dinnertime.”
“I swear I won’t tell a soul,” I say quickly. Mostly because I don’t want to be the one to drop this bad news in anyone else’s lap.
“We should tell her,” Seren murmurs. “We’ll need her magic if we want to accomplish what we’re planning.”
A pause. They both turn their inscrutable gazes on me.
“Very well,” Lowri concedes.
Seren nods. “It’s not the Kingdom of Gelyn that’s coming for us. It’s a human kingdom from the western continent, or so we believe. Our scouts spotted their ships near the southern islands and sent a falcon to warn us. They’re still two months away, at least. But it could be two years, and it wouldn’t matter. We don’t have the army to defend our shores.”
For a moment, I can only stare at her, her words spinning wildly through my mind.
War is all I’ve ever known, but it has always felt distant. Something that happens miles from our city in the borderlands. Something the king and his soldiers handle while we, the Order, contend with the growing rebel threat. What’s more, the Kingdom of Gelyn is our enemy, yes, but they’re an enemy we understand. We know their strengths and their weaknesses. We know what magic they wield, and what they lack.
These humans…we know nothing.
Then Seren’s meaning settles fully into place.
“And you want me to bring a god back to life so we can beat them?”
It’s…madness.
“Perhaps.” Lowri steeples her fingers beneath her chin. “Only if we can be certain it will succeed. We cannot afford unintended consequences where a god is concerned. Which is why we’re conducting these examinations on Osian.”
