heir
Oberon was meant to inherit. He received the training, the tutors. I’ve never seen someone so naturally adept at both sword- and wordplay. When he disappeared, it was like someone had cut off my father’s arm. Worse actually. Oberon was something far less replaceable.
The king paced the floor as Esteria and Dacre entered the room.
“Esteria.” He rushed forward. Dressed in a thick gray robe, he was surrounded by guards and advisers.
She ran to meet him—not caring that Bhaltair, Malakai, Dacre, and several others were watching—and crashed into him so hard she nearly knocked them both to the floor. A sense of safety washed over her in stark relief, but she held back her sobs. Her father’s arms were shaking, and he whispered over and over in her ear, “My starfire. My starfire.”
He kept one protective arm around her shoulders as he addressed the others. “What happened?”
Dacre, who was quietly briefing the other guards, straightened. “We were set upon by five attackers on the way here. They’ve been taken care of.”
“They’re dead?” Aelius asked.
“Some of them,” Esteria whispered; she didn’t technically know what to make of the three men who’d been touched by Dacre’s ravens.
Dacre shot her an annoyed look. “Yes, they’re dead.”
Aelius nodded, breathing a heavy sigh. “A pity, if a necessary one. I would have liked the opportunity to question them, if only to discover what they want.”
Dacre’s eyes flicked to Esteria, but he only asked, “None of the other intruders were taken alive?”
“The ones we captured martyred themselves rather than be taken into custody,” Malakai stepped forward. Unlike the rest of them, he was still fully dressed in the clothes he’d worn to the ball. “Poison caps in their teeth. This lot seemed to have been particularly devoted to their cause.”
“Are we certain this was the Raze?” Esteria asked.
“We believe so.” Aelius finally released her shoulders and resumed his pacing.
The room wasn’t meant for it; it only took three strides before Aelius had to pivot and start over. They were beneath the river, and the chamber was bathed in a greenish glow through floor-to-ceiling windows.
“We’ve secured the palace.” Malakai’s voice was crisp and to the point. “But we’ve set rooms aside on this level for the night, just to be sure. Squadrons will patrol through morning, though the threat seems to be neutralized.”
Everyone gathered around the large wooden table, two maps spread across its surface. One of them detailed the palace complex, while the other was of Fargarde with red flags pinned all over it. One flag was tacked upon Brinewell and another on Solamere, where the university was. Esteria approached the table, resisting the urge to lean on it as her exhaustion took over. She would bet anything the flags represented Raze attacks, a theory that was all but confirmed when Dacre pinned a flag upon Vataracta itself.
“They are getting too bold, Your Majesty.” Bhaltair bowed his head. The sight of the odious man in his night clothes was jarring to say the least. Instead of humanizing him, his ruby linens hung like bloody flesh upon a skeleton.
“You think I don’t know that?” Aelius snapped in a way that stilled the room. After a long, tense moment in which several guards exchanged glances, Aelius closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. “Forgive me, my friend, I’m on edge. It’s not every day my daughter is almost kidnapped.”
Bhaltair bowed his head, but Esteria cleared her throat. “Are we certain they were after me?”
“No,” Aelius said at the same time Dacre said, “Yes.”
Aelius exchanged a look with his Ravenbefore saying, “We are not yet in agreement.”
“I fail to see how there can be any doubt.” The harshness of Dacre’s tone was cut with the barest sliver of respect. Not enough by half in Esteria’s opinion. As Domus’s arcana, he was powerful enough to make his own rules.
Upon the map of the palace, Dacre drew a line with his fingers between several markings. “Based on the entry points the intruders used and their patterns of pursuit, the dauphine is the only target that makes sense.”
Aelius faced the table, rubbing his brow. “I don’t care to think about another one of my children being taken from me, thank you.” Esteria’s heart plunged at the thought of her brothers, and Aelius seemed to realize what he said a moment later as he bowed his head slightly and softened his tone. “But I suppose that’s foolish of me. I’ll… cede to your guidance. For now.”
Dacre bowed, much more respectfully than before, as a chill crawled up Esteria’s spine. She’d never fully considered what it meant to fill her brothers’ shoes. It wasn’t just authority and power she was inheriting, but danger as well.
“Your Highness.” Malakai rested both hands on the table. “I am loath to bring this up again, but we must acknowledge that the Raze’s numbers are growing at an alarming rate, multiplying much faster than they could from entry through the weirs alone. I fear it is as we suspected, that they’re recruiting from within the borders themselves, recruiting from our own citizens.”
Aelius’s face was grave. “We’ve long considered the possibility, and I agree with you.”
“If I may be so bold…” Bhaltair stepped forward. “The timing of this seems most suspect. Especially with your departure planned for tomorrow.”
“Departure?” Esteria’s head whipped toward her father. “Where are you going?”
“Solamere.” Her father eyed the city on the second map. “The uprising there needs my attention. There’s a concentrated affront on the northern shoreline. I can’t cower behind these walls when terrorists threaten my people.”
“When were you going to tell me?” she asked hotly.
“I’m telling you now,” the king said firmly, and Esteria clenched her teeth.
“This does pose a problem.” Malakai studied the maps. “We intended to take the bulk of our forces, but if the Raze were to strike with another concentrated attack, those left behind might not be enough.”
“Meaning?” Esteria asked.
Malakai met her gaze. “That you might not be safe here.”
“Then I’ll accompany my father,” she said forcefully, and Malakai smiled fondly in approval.
“Absolutely not,” Aelius interrupted. “It’s not safe in Solamere.”
“It’s not as if it’s any safer here.” There was a snap to her words, a forcefulness. “I’d rather stay by your side if it’s all the same.”
“It’s not all the same,” Bhaltair drawled. “You’d be a distraction.”
“A distraction?” Esteria shrieked, whirling on him. “Who are you to—?”
“Bhaltair, that’s enough.” Aelius raised a silencing hand. “I will not have any rudeness directed at my daughter, and I will not have any dramatics in the room from anybody.”
Esteria’s mouth snapped shut, and she recognized the angry fire burning in her gut too late. She’d been shouting again or near enough. Bugger, why did her anger always have to catch her off guard? Five. Six…
“There is another solution,” Aelius turned to Dacre, whose eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You protected my daughter well tonight, and for that, I thank you. I do not believe anyone else would have been able to fight off five armed men single-handedly without sustaining any injuries.” Dacre shifted uncomfortably under the attention while Esteria’s gut churned in distaste. “Which is why I’m entrusting her safety to you. Get her out of Vataracta. To Direbreak perhaps.”
Esteria’s jaw dropped, but before she could say anything, Dacre was already objecting. “I cannot maintain my current duties while guaranteeing your daughter’s safety.”
“I understand that.” Aelius nodded. “Which is why we will reassign your other duties for the time being.” Dacre’s gaze darkened, but Aelius added, “It is not without precedent.”
Dacre stared long and hard at the king before nodding, but his expression could freeze stone.
“What do you mean there’s precedent?” Esteria’s gaze slid between Dacre and her father.
Aelius turned to face her with a sigh. “I sent Lord Nightingale to Brinewell.”
She stared at her father, mouth agape, as her world folded inward. “Because you didn’t think I could handle it? Or because you wanted to check on me?”
The guards in the room shifted uncomfortably, but Aelius’s voice was firm. “Because I wanted to protect you.”
“That was my first assignment on my own.” Her voice rose. “I already had twice the number of guards than would have been sent if I were anyone else.”
“I felt it would be safer if Lord Nightingale were there as well.”
“Safer for whom? He killed a dozen men.”
The king’s gaze sliced to Dacre, who nodded in confirmation, unashamed. Aelius’s lips pressed in a thin line, but he didn’t chasten the other man. No, he turned back to his daughter instead. “That’s between me and my Raven.”
“It should be between you and your daughter, your heir.” She stepped closer. “You’re already spread thin as it is, and I’ll be safer with you in Solamere than I’ll ever be anywhere with Nightingale.”
“That is not for you to determine.”
“So, you’d keep me locked up, then? Wasting valuable resources to defend me?” Five. Six. Seven. Eight…
“Esteria, you are young. Your life is not so resilient as to be disregarded.”
“But it’s my life.”
“And you’re not ready.”
“And how do you expect me to ever be ready by keeping me in a box?” Five “I am not some porcelain doll or a delicate flower or—”
Aelius’s voice sharpened. “But you are my child, which is infinitely more precious.”
She usually shied away from topics that came too close to her brothers, but this time was different. “I don’t want to be precious.” Six “I want to be useful.”
“If I may interrupt,” Malakai started.
“No, you may not.” Esteria’s retort was met with a pleased smirk. “I’ve been interrupted and ignored all day, and I’ve had enough. I will no longer be treated like a child.” Seven…
“Then I suggest you stop acting like one and listen to your father,” Aelius thundered.
His expression was furious, brows furrowed, chest rising and falling… and that’s when she knew that she’d lost. He’d never listen to her now. He probably never would. Her breathing came in haggard gasps. She was far too riled. Eight—oh, damn them all to hell.
“Well, if I’m such a child…” She would never forgive him for this. Never. “I suppose I should get to bed. It’s well past my bedtime.”
She stormed out, ignoring the guards who followed after her.
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