“I let you out of my sight for a few hours and you get into a duel to the death with two dozen burns,” Tenira grumbled.

I leaned back into my chair. “In my defense, he started it.” Then I glanced at Kajare, who was hovering around me and looked like he really wanted to fuss. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”

In the heat of the moment, I hadn’t spared much attention for him, I’d been too focused on Hajake and dealing with the threat. But it would have really sucked if Kajare had been affected more badly by his brother’s attack while I’d been out flying and fighting.

Kajare leaned in to kiss my cheek. “I’m fine. This went pretty well, all things considered.”

I shifted my weight and rolled my shoulders, trying not to wince. Now that the excitement was over, at least for now, I felt like I’d picked a fight with a few speeding trains and got rolled over by a bus afterwards. I was sore in places I didn’t know had muscles. Of course, I could have tried to repair that with shapeshifting, but I was leery of using my ability too much, especially in such a subtle, insidious case.

The sunlight coming in through the colorful window of the room was getting dimmer, indicating that dusk was progressing quickly. The tapestries and statues didn’t liven up the place as much as the decorator might have thought. For once, I was tempted by the array of drinks a servant had left on a tray, but I wanted to keep my head clear and I’d already decided not to use the shapeshifting.

We all fell silent for a minute, occupied by our thoughts, until Aston knocked on the door. His expression was suitably somber as he spoke. “Things have been prepared, my lady. You should join them now.”

I nodded and levered myself upright, then glanced at my girlfriend. “I’d like to have you there as well, Tenira.”

She bobbed her head and exchanged a look with Kajare before we left the room together.

“Aston,” I said, glancing at my guard and feeling lucky that this time, at least, he wasn’t moping about being unable to protect me. “How’s the security situation?”

A shadow of a smile flickered on his face. “It’s handled, my lady. Everyone in your retinue is properly guarded. We foiled one attempt to get to Jian and captured a few people identified as intermediaries for Hajake before they could vanish. Everyone of higher status who we know was involved seems to be wary of drawing any attention, so they’re just sitting on their hands.”

I nodded, allowing a smile on my face. I’d leave the cleanup of that sort of mess to the Terbekteri. Even if Terki was reluctant, I had a feeling Liali and Salira would be happy to clean house. And probably strengthen Salira’s position in the process, but that’s just a bonus for me. So long as I don’t get bogged down with it, I don’t really care. Although, come to think of it, maybe Elia will get the opportunity to make some gold here.

As if summoned by my thought, we met Elia after the next corridor. She’d been leaning against a marble statue of some extinct spirit beast. When she saw us, she straightened up and sauntered towards us.

“I’ve got to say, this is all going rather well so far,” she said. “Now for the finish, right?”

I hummed. “You don’t see any problems for us going forward?”

“Not really,” she shrugged. “I didn’t get a really good read on Terki. Eighth stagers.” She snorted. “But enough to know he’s serious about this. That man hasn’t remained king by being blind to reality, or suffering betrayal lightly.”

I cocked my head. That was an interesting tidbit, but, judging from Elia’s face, all I would get out of her right now. So I just nodded and gestured for her to come along as we continued walking. Along the way, a dozen more Imperial guards joined us, looking perfectly coiffed, and fell into tight formation around us. Either Aston was not taking chances or he wanted us to make an impression. I was inclined toward the latter.

Aston stopped and opened the big double doors of carved metal with a flourish, letting them scrape against the ground just a bit, before a few guards preceded me into the room. It was a throne room, with an empty ornate chair sat on a dais on the other side, but no court filled it today. Just members of the Terbekteri royal family and a few of their guards. Two of them, cultivators in the seventh stage, flanked the prisoner who was kneeling on the stone floor, clad only in a pair of shorts with his arms and hands bound by manacles heavy with enchantments. Hajake raised his head and turned it towards us as we entered, his gaze far less clear than usual.

I had to suppress a smirk as I moved forward, listening to the faint echo of our footsteps cutting through the silence of the room. Kajare left my side and chose a position halfway between me and the rest of his family, so he could look at Hajake with them. His face was set in a faint frown, his eyes closed off.

Salira stepped over to him and they hugged for a moment, though they remained quiet. I exchanged a smile and a nod with her as well, glad that she’d finally arrived. Unlike Kajare, I couldn’t guess how she felt about this, but the fact that she was here at all indicated she wasn’t going to shed any tears over the matter. Unsurprising, considering the animosity I’d sensed between her and Hajake during our visit months ago.

I took another step forward, fixing my gaze on Terki now. “It has been decided, then?”

“Yes.” Terki straightened up, and his family members copied him. He stepped forward until he loomed over Hajake, and cleared his throat.

“Prince Hajake of house Terki, you have been found guilty of high treason, sedition, consorting with enemies of the Kingdom, and conspiracy to usurp the throne. Your guilt can only be expunged by blood, and so your fate is death. I, Terki, King of Terbekteri, declare that it be so. The sentence will be carried out immediately.”

I smiled slightly. I wanted to kill him myself; one of the few indulgences I allowed myself in this matter. As Terki stepped back, I grabbed Hajake’s shoulder, turning him a little so everyone would have a good view. If they want to watch, who am I to deny them?

Then I got my spear from my storage ring. Fides’ tip shimmered slightly in the light of the lamps lining the hall.

Hajake shifted around, struggling to stand. I waited, letting him struggle until he finally managed it. I could let him die on his feet, I supposed. I would have preferred to make it a slow, painful death, but Hajake was still Kajare’s brother. I didn’t want to upset my husband any further, this was bad enough already. Just Hajake’s death would be enough.

“Do you have any last words?” I asked him calmly.

I had to give Hajake that much, he was going out with dignity. Clearly, he knew his situation was hopeless, and didn’t try any escape attempts. I could see the fear lurking in his eyes, but he put up a stoic facade.

After a moment of hesitation, he nodded, then turned his head to look at his family. He said something to his father in their native language. I’d picked up some of it from Kajare, enough to get the feeling that he was apologizing. Then Hajake said a few words to his brother, though this time I couldn’t make much sense of them. Kajare frowned, but nodded at his older brother. I already knew I’d have to resist the urge to ask him about it as soon as this was done. If he wants me to know, he’ll tell me.

Then Hajake turned back to me and took a deep breath. “I regret my failure, nothing else. Do it, girl.”

I narrowed my eyes, taking aim. The next moment, Fides thrust into his chest, the strength I put into the blow enough to strike deeply. Hajake gasped and jerked. I twisted the spear, then pulled it out. I knew I’d hit the heart. For a moment longer, he remained on his feet, before he crumpled. Just to be perfectly sure, I stabbed down again, into his throat this time. Then it was over.

I knew there was a smile on my lips when I returned my spear and spared him another look, a small and not very cheery thing. It didn’t last long, and I turned away without looking at him again. One enemy down.

Salira’s face might as well have been made of stone, while her eyes clung to the corpse. Kajare’s jaw was clenched, but he wrenched his gaze away to look at me. Liali could have been watching a mildly interesting play, while Terki didn’t look at it at all, simply watching me with no emotion on his face.

“Well,” I said. “That’s done. Shall we move on?”

I had the feeling that Terki would not disregard me now, and I didn’t think it was just wishful thinking.

The day was far too nice for what had been happening, I decided. In the morning, there’d been dark clouds coming in, bringing the promise of rain. But the clouds had cleared up and there were only a few white tatters in the blue, while the sun burned down strong enough to show that even the beginning of winter could not defeat its warmth, scything through the air that seemed to grow colder every day.

It was a testament to the weirdness of my last almost two years that I couldn’t help but wonder if the Greater Spirit of the Sun had nudged things. I’m sure it’s all very symbolic, but that might be reading too much into things.

“You’ve been quiet since we left the palace,” Kajare said.

I refrained from pointing out that we were still in the palace, this was just an outlying park. We could still see the wall ahead that led into the richer part of the city. “You’ve been quiet,” I countered.

He rolled his eyes. “So what?”

I stopped and turned to my husband, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Kajare, are you really okay?”

He bit his lip, but met my eyes unflinchingly. “I’ve been better,” he admitted. “Hajake was a bastard, but he was still my brother. Still, I’m not as affected as I thought I might be. Not nearly as much as when you were missing, even. I suppose I’m just glad that matter is dealt with.”

“Mostly,” Tenira muttered, frowning into the shadows of the trees. “Wait, where did Elia go?”

I glanced around, noting that Elia was nowhere to be seen anymore. For someone whose qi affinities were fire and light, she was pretty good at hiding. “Probably going around the palace, stirring a few hornet’s nests, having fun and hiring out her truth-saying talents,” I said. “There’s more than enough going on, with all the clean-ups from Hajake’s little coteries – excuse me, ‘conspiracy to usurp the throne’.” Privately, I wasn’t sure if Hajake had really gotten that far, even if the throne had been his end goal. Not that it mattered, since he was guilty of treason anyway.

“When you killed him, I thought you were happy about it,” Kajare said quietly. “Now, though, I’m not sure what you really feel.”

I didn’t answer at first, just kept walking a few steps, listening to the birds singing and letting the shadows of the trees’ leaves play over my skin. I thought back to my discussions with the Terbekteri King. “I feel like all of this cost us something, even if it was a victory,” I admitted.

It definitely was a victory. The threat Hajake posed had been removed, and an infection in the Terbekteri’s power structures was going the same way. Although I now saw the fault lines in the alliance more clearly, especially between me and Terki, and it had cost us time and energy we could have better spent elsewhere. Though dealing with Hajake had been paramount, and for all my mixed feelings about the Terbekteri royals, I’d kept the alliance in place, if not strengthened, and knew Terki would do his part.

I’d accomplished my secondary objective, as well. When the time came, I’d have the ships I needed.

“You’re already making plans again,” Tenira commented.

“Inaris doesn’t stop thinking that easily,” Kajare said, shaking his head but with amusement in his voice.

I sighed and glanced at Kajare again. “I’ve been thinking more about the Kingdom, its internal politics, and its futures,” I admitted, then hesitated for a moment. “I guess I may get a little more involved than I thought. Though I suppose that was already a given, with Salira.”

“You want to back her,” Kajare said, the look in his eyes sharpening. “For the throne? I can see where that would seem like a good idea.”

I nodded. “I think she has the ambition for it, if she gets the chances she’ll need. Even besides the fact that this would help break Terbekteri of some of its patriarchal inclinations, which would be a good thing, she’d be a good fit. She’s a follower of Rijoko, but wouldn’t let that get in the way of making the best decisions. We’ll work together well.”

Left unsaid was that I thought I’d be able to control her, at least better than another candidate, but I suspected they picked up on it anyway.

Kajare didn’t answer right away, so I touched his arm and smiled at him. “I hope you’re not upset with that.”

He exhaled and shook his head. “No, you’re right about her. How deep would you go into this?”

“Not very. I’d just give her some support, maybe make our opinion clear to Terki, help her accomplish this. I don’t intend to go too deep into intrigue in a court that’s not even mine.”

Tenira snorted a little. “You’re not exactly the resident machinator of the Imperial court, either.”

“True.” I grinned.

We kept walking, as the path curved around and brought us back into sight of the main mansion. This wasn’t a very large park. I took another deep breath, using my sense of smell to get a sense of our surroundings at the same time as I enjoyed the scents. The trees had lost almost all of their leaves, and while they’d been cleared from the path they were still strewn across the grass between them like a colorful carpet.

But my attention was brought back to more practical matters when two guards hurried towards us, their faces telling me they weren’t bringing good news. I suppressed a sigh and waited for them to bow before I asked. “What is it?”

One of them replied, “There’s a commotion at the military headquarters, my lady. Captain Aston is handling the situation. There are also two squads of elites on spirit beasts coming in from the direction of the Velisha capital.”

I scratched my cheek. “Great. Just what I was missing. Let’s go.”

As we started walking, this time at a faster pace, Tenira sighed. “I suppose it was too much to hope for this would not get a response.”

Kajare snorted. “Come on, I don’t think they’re idiots. How bad can it be?”

We both turned to glare at him until he glanced away and cleared his throat.

“King Varis is rebelling, isn’t he?” I asked.

The mansion was starting to resemble a kicked beehive, with all the guards going on alert, and even from here I could sense the accumulation of qi at the headquarters in the neighboring complex.

“People will always be idiots when it’s least convenient,” Tenira said, with the air of quoting something. “So, yes. Besides, two squads of elites?”

I resisted the temptation to finger my storage ring and suppressed another sigh. At least I could try some of my other ideas out and see how they worked.

Tejoka

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