At the same time as Ema faced down the Queen of Lyriumia, Leo wandered down one of the Palace corridors on a higher floor. Colt was beside him. Why the Terpolite and his own presence had been requested by the Old King, Leo had no idea. Stranger still was Colt giving him the occasional suspicious look . . . Leo sighed. No time like the present to get it out. He took a deep breath and—

“I know who you are.”

Colt’s suspicion became full-blown shock.

“We—Lvaane and I—figured it out.” He shrugged. “We know Tara brought you back to gain intel on Amneris.”

The Terpolite nodded, unable to meet his gaze. “That she did.”

“Have you told her?’

Colt grimaced. “Amneris figured it out. You would have to ask her what happened on Terpola,” he continued. “It is not my place to tell.”

End of discussion.

Leo wanted to know. Gods, he wanted to know what that meant. Even so, he had the strangest feeling that would be a bad idea.

The pair arrived at the door leading into one of the Palace’s many conference rooms. The four guards recognised Leo immediately, switching from slouching to standing straight. He decided to let them off. This time. There were more important matters to tend to than whether or not his men were standing properly. 

Like many of the rooms within the Palace, this one was painted a creamy white. Large glass windows were covered by pale blue curtains—obviously more for show than blocking out light. A massive oval shaped table large enough to sit thirty people comfortably with room for extras sat at the centre of the room.

Lvaane sat at the far end of the table, though strangely not at the rounded head. Leo and Colt took up two seats opposite him. The Old King folded his hands before him. Leo cringed internally. That meant the topic was serious. He suddenly regretted not asking Nikki to come along. She was far better at these things than he.

“I never thought I would see the day you return to us,” the Old King said.

Colt bowed his head slightly. “I did not believe I would come back.”

“Does my daughter—”

“Yes.”

Leo begun to wonder if he’d only been invited to this obviously catch-up session as a courtesy. No, that probably wasn’t the case. There was far too much going on to have time for one of these, especially right now. Tara and Enliatu may be the biggest threats but there were still other things like Lyriumian criminals, people trying to tip the balance, keeping the items safe, making sure all the people were cared for, those attempting to escape the Labyrinth who needed constant surveillance—

“You have managed to prevent Tara from getting the items?”

Leo jumped, sitting up a little straighter and pretending he’d paid attention to the whole conversation. “Yeah, they are under constant guard in a safe location.”

The Old King nodded. He turned back to Colt. “You were unable to get the ones from Tara?”

He shook his head. “No, Sir. At the time, escape was our main priority.” A pause. “I doubt we will be able to convince Tali to go back any time soon.”

“She was pretty eager to get home,” Leo agreed.

“Understandable.” Lvaane sighed. “We will have to wait or find another way.”

“With all due respect, Sir,” Colt started slowly, “Tara would, by now, have her items under constant guard. She would be expecting us to get them and so would have a trap waiting. I doubt any of us would want to be caught in it. Besides—”

“She would attack here?”

“Probably.”

“That’s why I posted extra guards,” Leo explained. “There’s no way to know for sure if she will attack again, but we are prepared for if she does.” Probably.

The Old King looked far from satisfied with this answer but appeared understanding. They had done all that was possible for the moment. Short of launching a full-scale attack on Terpola—which was against the rules of the worlds—there was nothing else to be done. Leo hated waiting. The suspense made him itch.

Lvaane raised a hand to his head, as though in pain. Leo made to ask but was waved off. The Old King’s expression went from annoyance to agony in a matter of seconds, arms braced on the table and hands pressing against the sides of his head, eyes squeezed shut.

Colt and Leo jumped up, rushing to his side.

The Old King spoke, “An attack has been launched on Iraliya. Go. Help them.”

Colt and Leo exchanged glances. There was no way that was good. Even worse considering that’s where Leo had placed the items under guard, not that Colt was aware. No doubt the attack was from the Terpolites. How had they found out so fast?

Leo was about to yell for the guards when one barged into the room. “The Queen had collapsed,” he panted. “She says Iraliya is under attack.”

“Keep an eye on the King.” Colt dashed from the room.

The guard turned to Leo. “Sir?”

“You heard the man,” Leo said, running after Colt.

If both Amneris and Lvaane sensed the threat to Iraliya, the both of them in considerable pain, it must be a strong attack. Definitely the Terpolites. There was no doubt in Leo’s mind now. They were the only ones stupid enough to break the rules the Gods themselves put in place at the beginning of Creation. The two worlds could attack each other indirectly or within the universes—it was part of how they kept balance—but they were not permitted to attack each other’s worlds directly.

Leo sent a message to the rest of the Court through their mind link. He did not wait for the message to be acknowledged before taking action.