Page 20 of A Reign of Embers

Whatever trouble Sabrelle has planned, it’s here.

Chapter Eight

Aurelia

After Jinalle has finished adjusting the last bit of lacing on my gown, I stare down at the sheathed sword I hastily set on the vanity. The belt now circling my waist feels insubstantial in its lightness.

“Go on,” I tell my maid. “I’ll come out to meet the delegation in a few minutes.”

She ducks her head and scurries out the door. Moments after it clicks shut behind her, the panel in the wall by my bed slides open.

Raul emerges on his own. I don’t know if my other lovers have even heard the news that more delegates from Valerisse have arrived.

He strides straight to me and tugs me tight against his massive frame. “You can handle her, whatever she thinks she’s going to throw at you. Both the tribune and the godlen.”

My laugh comes out choked. “I wish I wasn’t having toface two formidable foes at the same time. Do you think—should I go out like this, like I normally would? Or should I bring the sword?”

I turn away from him, resting my fingers on the polished scabbard. Marching out to meet Valerisse’s representatives with a weapon of war at my hip would be matching their aggressive tone. Presenting myself as a warrior rather than a peacemaker.

My body balks at the idea of even hinting at violence, but maybe that’s what’s needed at this point. Both those loyal to me and those faltering in their loyalties need to see I’m willing to fight with more than just words.

Sabrelle certainly won’t be impressed by my typical hand-length knife.

Raul cocks his head, stroking his knuckles over my cheek as he does. “Are you ready to use it if it comes to that?”

Rather than answering automatically, I picture a scenario, prodding my will. My spine pulls straighter. “Yes. If that’s what it takes.”

“I wishIcould take on the challenge for you.” He turns my face toward him and claims a kiss so searing it stokes the flames of determination inside me.

I lean into Raul, soaking up his strength and the faith he has in me, and reach for the sword. He lets me fasten it to my belt myself.

Am I imagining things, or does it already feel easier in my hands than it did when I wielded it during my training session less than an hour ago?

Raul gives my arm one last squeeze. “I’ll round up the others, and we’ll be watching outside. You always have us at your back. Don’t let anything shake you.”

Once he’s vanished back into the hidden passages, I gird myself and reach for my bedroom door.

Marc remained outside with my other personal guardswhile I hastily changed clothes. When he takes in the sword I’ve re-donned, his mouth shifts with a slight curve of approval.

Nobles have gathered along the main staircase to wait for my arrival—one of the main reasons I took the time to swap my combat training gown for a properly formal one. I have no idea who Valerisse has sent today, but it won’t do my cause any good if they look more imperial than I do.

As I walk past the members of the court, they stream along behind my guards. The additional soldiers Captain Evando assigned to me form a wider ring of protection, skirting the walls. When we pass through the doors into the palace’s front courtyard, they pull in closer.

Apprehension taints the fresh mid-day air. More of the court has already swarmed out to peer at the delegation alongside the regular guards posted around the entrance and throughout the grounds. It isn’t much of a spectacle, though.

A couple of soldiers who I’d say look a little uneasy flank a slim, middle-aged man in the red tunic and trousers of a Sabrellian devout. A pointed beard extends his equally pointed chin.

Next to him hunches a younger, burlier man with tangled hair drooping over his sullen face. The younger man’s hands are shackled behind his back with the devout holding the short chain. Another chain runs between the prisoner’s ankles.

The murmurs of the nobles dwindle as I descend the steps between them. Several paces from the delegation, I halt and fix the new arrivals with a firm stare. “What’s this about?”

The devout clears his throat and offers me a thin smile that makes my gut squirm. “My godlen and all those who want to see Dariu under a true ruler would like to know whether you’ll fulfill the rite you cheated her in before. Ibring another traitor to the empire before you. Will you battle and slay him as he deserves and as Sabrelle would wish?”

How much was he guided by his patron godlen and how much by Tribune Valerisse? For him to have appeared here now, I’m not sure there was time for the message of my refusal to reach the tribune and her response to make it back to the capital—but she may have assumed my reaction and already prepared for it.

I open my mouth—but before I can say anything, a ruddy glow flares around jailer and prisoner. For the space of a couple of heartbeats, crimson light hazes their hair and skin.

As I blink, the supernatural glow fades, but the voices around me rise in volume again. There’s no denying that public statement.

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