“How do you feel, then?”
“Used!” she snapped without hesitation.
“I need Hythria and Fardohnya at peace, Adrina. I can’t face Xaphista any other way.”
Adrina turned to Damin for support. “Even if this marriage stays my father’s hand for a time, the Hythrun Warlords will never accept me as their High Princess.”
“She has a point, R’shiel.”
“The High Arrion will support you – she’s your sister isn’t she? There are already Harshini in Greenharbour. With the Sorcerers’ Collective backing you and once it’s known that the demon child has sanctioned your union...”
“The demon child is still a legend in Hythria,” Damin reminded her. “The only way this will work is if you return to Hythria with us. If you want to stop a civil war and want the other Warlords to believe in the demon child, then you’re going to have to show them the demon child.”
“I can’t go to Hythria, Damin. I have to take care of something at the Citadel. Tarja will need my help when he’s recovered and I still have to figure out how I’m going to deal with the Kariens.”
“None of which you will be able to give your full attention to, until Fardohnya and Hythria are at peace,” Damin pointed out, turning her own argument back on her. “What’s the hurry, anyway? It’ll take months before Tarja and the other captains can get the Defenders under their command organised enough to mount an effective resistance. The Citadel is under the control of the Kariens and you’re not going to be able to do anything about that until you’ve destroyed Xaphista. The war in Medalon is over for now.”
“I have to return to the Citadel. You don’t understand...”
“No, you’re the one who doesn’t understand,” Adrina cut in. “You want to change the whole world to suit your liking, then run off on some personal vendetta while the rest of us get killed trying to carry out your orders. Nobody wants to see the Kariens brought to their knees more than I, R’shiel, but Damin is right. If you want us to do this, then you’re going to have to do it with us. Your mission to the Citadel will have to wait.”
R’shiel glanced at the two of them and sighed. They were both such stubborn, strong-willed personalities and she needed this marriage to take place. She would have called on Kalianah to intervene, but Damin was one of Zegarnald’s favourites. The War God would know she was up to something if another god interfered with Damin.
Frustration welling in her, she was forced to concede that they were right. Sending Damin back to Hythria with Adrina as his bride without proof of the demon child’s existence would be akin to a death sentence.
“Very well, I’ll come. But only long enough to convince the Warlords. After that, it’s up to you two.”
Damin glanced at Adrina, who nodded in agreement, although her scowl made it clear that she was less than enthusiastic about the whole idea.
“So, I’m to be the High Princess of Hythria.”
“First a princess of Fardohnya, then Karien and now Hythria,” Damin remarked. “You do get around, Adrina.”
She turned on him angrily and R’shiel left the tent to continue her search for Brak, before she became even more embroiled in their argument.
Damn them, she though as she strode through the camp. Damn them for being so obstinate. Damn them for being right.
Brak had told her once that destiny had a way of catching up with you. Well, maybe it had. But just because it had caught her, didn’t mean she couldn’t make things happen her way. She would bring peace to the south, even if it meant delaying her inevitable confrontation with Loclon. That she would have to face him before this was over was as certain as her destiny was to destroy a god.
Any god... or all of them. It didn’t really matter which...
The trick, R’shiel decided, as she moved through the firelit Defenders’ camp, would be to manage affairs in such a way that nobody realised what was happening until it was too late to stop it.
Glossary
AFFIANA — Innkeeper in Testra. Brak’s great-great grand niece.
B’THRIM SNOWBUILDER — Villager from Haven. Elder sister of J’nel.
BASEL — Sergeant of the Defenders stationed on the southern border.
BEK — Prisoner at the Grimfield. Sentenced to five years for arson.
BELDA — Sister of the Blade at the Grimfield.
BERETH — Former Sister of the Blade. Now a pagan.
CRISABELLE CORTANEN — Wife of Wilem Cortanen, Commandant of the Defenders.
DAVYDD TAILORSON — Lieutenant of the Defenders attached to the Intelligence Corps.
DAYAN JENGA — Quartermaster of the Defenders stationed in Bordertown. Younger brother of the Lord Defender.
DENJON — Captain of the Defenders.
DRACO — First Spear of the Sister and ceremonial bodyguard.
FOHLI — Corporal of the Defenders in the Grimfield.
FRANCIL ASHAREN — Sister of the Blade. Member of the Quorum. Longest standing member. Mistress of the Citadel.
GARET WARNER — Commandant of the Defenders. Head of Defender Intelligence and second most senior officer in the Defenders.
GAWN — Captain of the Defenders posted to the southern border.
GEORJ DRAKE — Captain of the Defenders. Tarja’s best friend.
GHARI RODAK — Rebel Lieutenant. Brother of Mandah.
GWENELL — Physic. Sister of the Blade in charge of the Sisterhood’s Infirmary at the Citadel.
HARITH NORTARN — Sister of the Blade. Member of the Quorum. Mistress of Sisterhood.
HEANER — Mistress of the most notorious brothel in the Citadel.
HELLA — Joyhinia’s maid at the Citadel.
HERVE RODAK — A Rebel from Testra. Mandah and Ghari’s cousin.
J’NEL SNOWBUILDER — Died in Haven from complications of childbirth without naming the father of her child.
JACOMINA LAROSSE — Sister of the Blade. Member of the Quorum. Mistress of Enlightenment.
JOYHINIA TENRAGAN — First Sister of the Sisters of the Blade following Mahina’s impeachment.
JUNEE RIVERSON — Probate at the Citadel.
KHIRA — Pagan Rebel and Physic in the Grimfield.
KILENE — Probate at the Citadel.
KORGAN — Deceased. Former Lord Defender. Rumoured to be Tarja’s father.
LENK — Corporal of the Defenders at the Grimfield.
L’RIN — Innkeeper of the Inn of the Hopeless in the Grimfield.
LOCLON — Wain Loclon. Lieutenant of the Defenders and Champion of the Arena. Promoted to Captain following the Purge.
LOUHINA FARCRON — Sister of the Blade. Appointed to the Quorum following Joyhinia’s elevation to First Sister.
LYCREN — Sergeant of the Defenders in the Grimfield.
MAHINA CORTANEN — First Sister. Mother of Wilem.
MANDAH RODAK — Formerly a novice and now a pagan rebel from Medalon. Elder sister of Ghari.
MARIELLE — Prisoner at the Grimfield, sentenced with R’shiel.
MARTA — Probate at the Citadel.
MYSEKIS — Captain of the Defenders stationed in the Grimfield.
NHEAL ALCARNEN — Captain of the Defenders.
PADRIC — Pagan rebel.
PALIN JENGA — Lord Defender. Commander in Chief of the Defenders. Brother of Dayan Jenga and rumoured to be R’shiel’s father.
PENY — Court’esa working for Mistress Heaner.
PROZLAN — Sister of the Blade stationed at the Grimfield, responsible for discipline among the female prisoners.
R’SHIEL — Probate. Daughter of the First Sister.
SUELAN — Sister of the Blade. The First Sister’s Secretary and Harith’s niece.