“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Can you stop the fires? If we send you out with dragon scouts, can you stop the fire in the White Mountains and make it safe for our army to travel?”
“We can bring storms that will make the Pleiades tremble,” Aquella said, her pale blue eyes fixed on mine. “Darinda and her Order will feel the rains we bring here even inside the Summer Lands.”
The Summer Lands. The nymph version of Heaven. The place where the souls of those we lost were said to wait for us to come and find them again at the end of our own time in this realm.
“How long until it’s safe for the army to move through the forests and into the White Mountains?”
“Give us three days,” Aquella said cautiously. I could see the fear in her eyes at sending her people out to face a fire that had already killed all but one of the dryads.
“When will the army be ready, Rhys? Not just here, but ready to march. How long?” I asked.
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Five days, a week at most. In one week we can make you an army the likes of which this world has never seen, an army that would make our own world tremble.”
“Do you think we can spare a week?” I asked. I could hear everyone in the room draw in a breath, waiting for his answer. Did we have seven more days before war came to Nerissette?
“If we can find a way to stall Bavasama from taking more action, it may give us enough time.” Winston cleared his throat. “Send her a message. Ask for terms. Apologize for how you treated her.”
“No. I’m not apologizing to that woman. She killed Darinda.” I turned and narrowed my eyes at him, gripping the handles of my chair. He had to be insane if he thought I was just going to send someone to her and try to negotiate more peace after what she’d done.
“We lie,” Winston said. “We send a fake ambassador to Bavasama and let her think we’re trying to prevent a war while, in reality, we’re preparing to march an army over her border.”
“If we send an ambassador, there’s a very good chance she would kill said ambassador. In fact, I’d expect her to. I won’t throw away someone’s life that way.”
“I’ll do it,” Gunter of the Veldt said from the back of the hall. Everyone fell silent, turning to look at the next Steward of the Veldt, his blond hair cropped short and the left sleeve of his jacket pinned up where his hand had once been. “I’ll go.”
His mother, Arianna—Stewardess of the Veldt—reached for his arm, tears in her eyes. “You can’t. You’re still wounded. If something—“
He pulled away from her and lifted his chin higher. “I can do this, Your Majesty.”
“No.” I shook my head. He’d already lost enough in battle last time. I couldn’t ask him to risk his life in a fake-out plan.
“Your Majesty.” He came forward, his chin held high, and kept his eyes fixed on me.
“I said, no. She’ll kill you.”
“My life is a worthy sacrifice if it keeps you safe for even a minute longer. I can no longer fight, but I can do this. I can do my part to keep our home safe—to protect my queen, my lands, my people.”
“Gunter.” I swallowed.
“Let me act as your messenger, my queen,” he said quietly. “Let me do my part and buy you the time you need to raise an army.”
“Your Majesty—” John started.
“Fine.” I couldn’t meet Gunter’s eyes. “Stall her as much as you can while still staying safe. We’ll bring the army to you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Gunter said and then stepped back.
“Meanwhile, the rest of you, start preparing your troops. Plus, anyone who needs to evacuate the Borderlands, tell them to go to the keeps of their nearest noble. I’ll expect all of your households to make the refugees welcome.”
“Your Majesty, the cost,” Arianna said, her eyes wide.
“Keep track of it. I’ll deduct it from your taxes. Now, we’re done talking about expenses and negotiations and fake ambassadors. From here on out the only thing I want to hear is how we’re going to go about conquering Bathune. Everything else is on hold until that’s over.”
“Your Majesty,” a high-pitched voice called out, and I watched as an older woman in blue silk hobbled forward. “The army is not the way to solve this. We have angered the Pleiades by rejecting the will of Fate. We must make amends. We must make offerings and beg for their forgiveness.”
“I intend to make amends. I mean to make amends to every person who gave their lives to keep us safe. Everyone who died today.” I narrowed my eyes at her before turning to look at all the other people in the room, my knees knocking together even though I was sitting down. What if they refused to fight? What if they wanted to surrender instead? What if they wanted to go back to letting the wizards run their lives for them?
Stop, I reminded myself. You’re the queen of this land. You are the Golden Rose of Nerissette, Queen Alicia, First of Her Name. That makes you responsible for these people—all of them. You’re the royal version of a parent, and like Mom always used to say, “Sometimes as your mom I get to ask what you think, but sometimes I have to tell you what to do, and then it’s just going to have to be my way, whether you like it or not.”
Today was going to be one of those days where they were going to have to do things my way—even if none of them—or even I—liked where it was going to take us.
“Forget the dead. How are we going to make amends to Fate when you’ve locked her own wizard inside the terrors of the Bleak?” a man shouted from somewhere in the middle of the crowd. “How will we rectify our mistakes?”
“You’re worried about how I’m going to explain to Fate that we’ve got a war going on?” I looked around the room, scanning the faces of the nobles who were stunned by what they saw as blasphemy against the creature they stubbornly still believed ruled their lives. Once I reached them, I let my eyes linger on Mercedes and Kitsuna, two of my closest friend who their make-believe deity “Fate” had not been kind to.
“Allie,” Winston said, his voice filled with warning.
“I’m not,” I said, my voice flat. “I’m not explaining myself to anyone. Especially some made up fairy-tale witch.”
Another voice called out, “Then what will we do?”
“Lord Sullivan is going to build Nerissette an army, and we’re going to take it over the mountains to fight. Then, when we’re done, no one, and I mean absolutely no one, will ever attack our homes and our families again.
“That is how we’re going to honor those who have died and how we’re going to please the stars. Not by begging for mercy or making sacrifices but by making sure that the sacrifices that have already been made are the last. No more men in this country will die from invaders trying to take our land. Not while I’m queen.”
“The will of the Pleiades—” someone shouted.
“Isn’t my problem. If your gods don’t like the fact that we’re going to save ourselves, then they can come down out of the sky and defend us themselves. They can stop letting people die for no good reason because, you know what?”
I watched as they all froze and stared at me, mouths open. Apparently, no one had ever seen a Golden Rose at the end of her rope before. Too bad. It was time they learned what a ticked-off queen looked like.
“I’m sick of waiting around and watching good people die while we wait for the Pleiades to give us a sign that it’s okay to quit getting the crap kicked out of us by every bully who can put together an army.”
“Your Majesty,” Lady Arianna said, her eyes wide with astonishment. “That’s—”
“Tomorrow, I’ll be appointing a regent to handle the day-to-day running of Nerissette, and then you and I will be joining Lord Sullivan and the Crown Prince as we take an army to go visit the neighbors. Let them see what an invasion feels like for once. Anyone got a problem with that?”