Page 56 of A Reign of Embers

Raul pushes back his chair to stand up, with a wave of his hand through the air. “Fuck that. You don’t need our families to win this war. You made it this far without a speck of help from them. I won’t be able to do anything at all with Valerisse staked out near Rodrige anyway.”

“I wasn’t up against a god before, and I’m not sure how much support I can count on from the other godlen no matter what I do.” A tight smile crosses my lips. “And I think you’d manage to get to your mother. You have a powerful giftand a trickster god on your side. Her support might be the most important piece of this puzzle.”

Bastien sucks a breath through his teeth. “I still don’t see how you can be sure a message directly from us would be better than one written. Axius might be right—the local rulerscouldsee it as a signal of weakness. That would undermine everything we’d say.”

“Not if you say what I couldn’t say in front of him.”

Even Raul goes still. Lorenzo gazes up at me, his brow knitting.“What are you thinking, Rell?”

I look down at the table and then back at them. “The mess we’re in isn’t just about defeating Valerisse. I already needed to find a way to set your countries free without the Darium citizens thinking I’m dissolving the empire willy nilly. I don’t want you to go home and simply talk up how wonderful I am. I’m going to send letters with you, signed and marked with the imperial seal, confirming that if they support my claim on the throne, it’ll be proof enough of their loyalty that we can remove Darium oversight from their territories.”

For a few moments, the princes only gape at me. Neven lets out a choked sort of laugh. “An answer to both problems tied together with a bow.”

Bastien’s expression has turned pensive. “Even with the seal, they’d worry that you might go back on your word…”

This is the hardest part. I place my hands on the table to steady myself.

“But you’ll leave the letters with them,” I say. “They’ll have proof of the promise I made. And as an additional show of trust… I’ll admit to a crime that would end my reign if they ever revealed it. If I fail to deliver on my end of the deal, they can unseat me.”

For a few seconds, none of the princes manage to speak. A strained noise escapes Bastien before he forces words fromhis throat. “You mean—you’d actually confess—if they want to lash out at you?—”

All of them can no doubt guess the most obvious crime I could acknowledge. I gather all my resolve.

“It’s the only way I can give them a guarantee. As you said, they’re not going to trust mere words. I’m handing them more than that, because I believe we can convince them of the better future we’re envisioning for the empire.” A tight smile crosses my lips. “Don’t tell me you’re losing faith now.”

“Of course not,” Raul says in a growl. “But to take that chance…”

I meet his gaze steadily, ignoring the wobble running through my nerves. “And if I don’t? I came here as a pawn, and for so much of my time as empress I’ve still been controlled by what everyone else expects of me. If I want to make a real change, I have to put my own neck out there.” I pause, and my voice catches. “If I could do it without putting you all at risk too?—”

“Aurelia.”Lorenzo springs to his feet and wraps his arms around me.“We don’twantyou to face this challenge on your own. Whatever you need from us, we’re here. Even if it means leaving you for a short while.”

A sudden burn forms behind my eyes.

Bastien squares his shoulders. “You know we’re all in, whatever it takes. And itwillonly be a short while, because we’ll be returning as soon as we’ve done all we can to ensure our families’ support. That should be more proof in itself—that we want to come back even though we don’t have to.”

Raul still looks anguished. “You can’t seriously be going along with this mad idea? If those letters get into Valerisse’s hands?—”

Blinking back the threatening tears, I set my gaze on him. “I’m trusting you all to make sure they don’t.”

Silence settles over us. With the immense sacrifices theymade to their godlen, they’ve got stronger magic at their disposal than almost anyone in the world. Even if I only wanted to send regular messages, they’d be the most likely to get those missives safely to their destinations.

Lorenzo’s embrace tightens around me.“We’ll do whatever we have to do to convince our parents and come back to you with good news.”

I lean into him, too choked up to reply.

Raul strides over and tucks his head close to mine on the other side. “I don’t want to make the decision even harder for you, Shepherdess. I know how carefully you think things through. I just hate the thought of leaving you undefended—for any amount of time.”

I sputter a guffaw. “How worried do you thinkIam? I’m asking you to go riding across a country on the verge of war, probably by yourself. At least I’ll still have my guards and a significant portion of the army around me. I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think it’s our best possible chance.”

“We know that, Star,” Bastien says raggedly.

Raul presses a kiss to the crook of my jaw and draws back, wary of the guards who could enter at any moment. Lorenzo brushes his lips against my temple and eases away with equal reluctance.

I inhale slowly, doing my best to steady my nerves and my voice. “It won’t be right away. We’ll want to discuss the most ideal phrasing for the letters to persuade each of the ruling families. You should consult with Axius and possibly other soldiers on the safest routes for crossing the border unnoticed. And we should come up with at least the start of a strategy for how the other countries can support me most effectively if they agree.”

Bastien nods. “But we won’t want to leave it too long. We might not have much time.”

“Yes.” That’s true too, as much as I wish it wasn’t.

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