Orthos and Ziel watched her with flat looks.
Little Blue cheered.
Malice gazed into the shadows of Fate.
The future was always difficult to see, represented only in silhouettes of what was to come. Details could be gleaned by impression and interpretation, but generally the circumstances surrounding the futures she glimpsed were a mystery.
Now, it was foggier than ever.
The Dreadgods loomed large in every direction she looked. Even when they died soon—which was a disturbingly likely possibility—they still ruled over the destiny of the world for years to come.
Lindon was the same. She could see his broad shadow looming in every direction. Even, perhaps especially, when he died.
So many complex factors and relationships made the right path difficult to spot. There was no outcome where she didn’t lose something.
At least, no outcome she could see. Which was why she kept looking.
She felt the battle between Dreadgods play out, as she’d foreseen. There was virtually no future in which Lindon didn’t go to war against the others. The trick now was to prevent him from winning.
Going to the battlefield herself was out of the question. He’d already forced Northstrider to advance. Malice did not participate in fights she couldn’t win.
But she could see her daughter in her immediate future. This wasn’t a towering statue of darkness, like many of the more definite or significant futures, but rather a flickering shadow. An event that was likely to happen, but could have many outcomes.
Malice had to push toward the one she wanted.
She broke herself out of the trance and called her granddaughter’s name. “Charity. Mercy is on her way here. Split her off from her friends and send her here.”
The Sage of the Silver Heart did not respond directly, but Malice sensed her acceptance. And her reluctance.
Malice would have to reassure Charity soon. For a woman who had awakened the Heart Icon, Charity’s heart was too easily swayed. But that was likely to cause only minor problems in the immediate future, and Malice could handle Charity before she became a more serious obstacle in years to come.
She’d prefer to nail down her granddaughter’s loyalty immediately, but that was the problem with living in apocalyptic times. The world-ending crises had to be solved first.
Malice moved through shadow to the audience chamber of this dark castle and arranged herself on her throne. She adopted a stern attitude and filled the space with the pressure of her will. The presence of an empress.
She was not pleased with her daughter, and Mercy should feel that as soon as she arrived.
That was soon enough. Darkness passed over, and Mercy came stumbling out of the shadow. She glanced around for a moment as she realized she was alone with her mother.
Mercy didn’t fall to her knees immediately, as Malice had expected. She focused more sharply on her daughter.
This time, Mercy did fall to one knee and bow her head. “Mother. Will you speak to me for a moment?”
Malice let her displeasure into her voice. “The first words out of your mouth should have been to beg for my forgiveness.”
“Will you help us defeat the Dreadgods?”
Mercy lifted her head and gave an earnest plea.
For a moment, Malice was stunned. That was more spine than she had expected out of her compassionate daughter.
But that resolve was aimed in the wrong direction. Malice gave a scornful laugh. “Of course not! Don’t you see how much suffering the world has endured since the tournament? I wasn’t the one who made it that way! That was your friends.”
Mercy nodded. “It has been bad. But we can make it better!”
“Can you even comprehend how many people have lost their lives? The world was better before all this chaos.”
“Better for who?”
Malice was tired of all this back-and-forth. In fact, her anger burned hotter than she expected.
With Strings of Shadow, she grabbed her daughter and slammed her to the floor. “Why do you think you understand anything? You want me to bow to an ignorant child because he has stolen the power of the Dreadgods? I was ruling the world before his grandfather was born!”
Malice had begun raising her voice, but so what? It felt good to scream, and she deserved it. “You think I wanted to leave the Dreadgods around? You think I like risking my life to push them away whenever they act up, for the sake of Golds who don’t even know who I am? I hate them! But this is the world, Mercy! Wake up!”
The world rippled with the force of that last command. It wasn’t quite a Sage working, but Malice’s will was strong enough that it almost became one. Mercy needed to see the truth.
A hand covered in amethyst armor tore its way out of the Strings of Shadow. Mercy radiated the full force of a Herald…and a little more. Her hair drifted up as wisps of living shadow, which Malice knew from experience was very difficult to veil.
Taken aback, Malice scanned her daughter.
“Herald,” she said in surprise. “You concealed it well. There are a few instabilities, but we can get those fixed.” Then she sighed and withdrew the pressure of her willpower. “Well. I admit I went too far, but I think you get the point. Even though you advanced too fast, congratulations are still in order.”
Bloodline armor faded to essence around Mercy’s body, and she gave Malice a sad look.
Irritation returned in full force. That looked like pity in Mercy’s eyes.
“You’ve been alone too long, Mother,” Mercy said sadly. “You needed someone to stand up to you.”
That struck uncomfortably close to home as Malice remembered Fury.
Which, of course, only made her angrier. “You stood up to me, didn’t you? Where did that get you? I should have taught you a more lasting lesson.”
“I wish I had done it sooner. I ran away because I was afraid of you, but I never realized how much you needed me. Let me tell you what everyone else is afraid to say.” Mercy took a deep breath, and Malice prepared to slap her into the next room depending on what words came out of her mouth.
“Mother, you sound evil.”
Malice blinked.
“Are you listening to yourself?” Mercy went on. “‘I should have taught you a more lasting lesson,’ ‘You should have begged for my forgiveness,’ talking about how no one should stand up to you…Mother, I feel like you’re going to toss me into an active volcano. I’m afraid the next words out of your mouth are going to be ‘Guards, seize her!’”
Mercy was the picture of courage, but there was a distant twinkle in her eye.
Suddenly, Malice felt absurd for holding onto her anger. It slid aside, and she began to laugh. As though she’d been waiting for that moment, Mercy joined her.
They laughed together for a long minute, and Malice enjoyed the sensation. She even wiped a single tear from her eye. “I may have gotten carried away,” she admitted. “You speak as a queen for too long and it tends to linger on the tongue.”
Mercy was beaming. “You see? We can still talk about things! I know a lot has happened recently, but we can get through it together.” Mercy hurried up to Malice’s throne, and Malice stepped down to meet her.
“Ascend, Mother,” Mercy urged her. She took Malice’s hands. “We’ll go together! Take the whole family along!”
Malice was still annoyed by the topic, so she tried to tug one hand away, but her daughter held on. Malice raised an eyebrow. “Look how far you’ve come, holding on to me. But I still intend to stay here. I won’t be chased out of my kingdom by anyone.”
“We don’t want to fight you, Mother. Even Lindon doesn’t. He wanted me to come here and resolve things peacefully.”
Of course he did. He might be able to crush her with raw strength, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do some damage first. Power only became leverage when you knew how to use it.