A heavy pressure pinned me to the mattress. The compulsion to remain under the covers drained the last bit of vigor I’d summoned. My eyelids drooped as Bruns and Loris left. The door remained ajar mere feet from me. But in my current condition, it might as well have been miles away.
Unreachable.
* * *
Voices woke me...later. I had no idea how long I’d slept, but my stomach growled, demanding food. I sat up. A tray of sliced fruit, cheese and ham slices sat on the night table, along with a glass teapot. Heat radiated from the pot—one of Quinn’s hot glass pieces.
I wondered how Bruns managed to get one. Had he indoctrinated Quinn, as well? Many of the Keep’s magicians had joined Bruns’s ranks, but I hadn’t seen the young glass mage among them. Perhaps he was at another garrison. It made sense for the Cartel to commandeer as many as possible.
About to pour a cup of steaming tea, I paused as a knock silenced Bruns and his visitor. The other man left and—
“Come in, General,” Bruns said.
“I apologize for the road dust and mud, but Tia said you wanted to see me right away,” a man said.
There was no mistaking that confident, sly voice. Cahil, or rather, General Cahil of the Sitian army. The man who had gone from my friend to my enemy when he discovered he hadn’t been the King of Ixia’s nephew, and the years he spent planning to retake his kingdom from the Commander had been wasted. Cahil had joined with Roze and the Daviians until the horrors of their kirakawa ritual switched his loyalty back to me, but we’d never regained our friendship. It was obvious why Cahil now reported to Bruns. Cahil hated the Commander and Valek and had been itching for a fight since he was six years old.
I set the pot down quietly, slid from the bed and crept closer to the open door in order to hear them better.
“...new information about the Commander,” Bruns said. He repeated all the intel he’d stolen from me. “Seems the Commander might make his move after the Ixian Fire Festival.”
“How did you learn all this?” Cahil asked.
“From a reliable source.”
Ah. Interesting.
“That means nothing. Valek has spies all over Sitia. I wouldn’t trust—”
“Yelena Zaltana provided it,” Bruns said with an annoyance that bordered on anger.
“Now I know it’s fake. She’d never—”
“She’s in my custody.” Again the clipped tone.
Silence. “Is it true? About her magic?”
“Yes, and that makes her just as susceptible to Theobroma as everyone else.”
Cahil huffed. “She won’t ever be like everyone else. Don’t ever underestimate her.”
“She is in our control,” Bruns almost growled.
And then I realized, I’d left the bed despite Loris’s order. His command pulled at me, but it’d been reduced to an uneasy feeling, as if it was starting to wear off.
“Then I suggest you don’t wipe her mind.”
“Why not? She’s dangerous. You said so yourself.”
“If she’s cooperating with you, then use her. There isn’t another person in Sitia with her unique knowledge of Ixia’s security and the Commander. I’d bet she’d have good ideas about how the Commander plans to attack. Think about it. She’s been working as the Liaison for years. Plus dating Valek.” Cahil spat Valek’s name as if it tasted rancid in his mouth.
“Not anymore,” Bruns said.
A pause. A long pause. “What do you mean?”
“They’re married and are going to have a baby.”
I bit my thumb, waiting for Cahil’s reaction. At one point in our relationship, he’d hoped for more than friendship.
“I see.” Cahil’s flat tone said more than his words.
“Now there’s more at stake than her own life,” Bruns said. “Which ensures her continued cooperation.”
“Is there anything else?” Cahil asked.
“Yes. Where are we with the other garrisons?”
“We have taken over control of the ones in Moon, Featherstone and Greenblade. Master Magician Bain Bloodgood and the Councilors have been relocated to safety in the base in Greenblade’s lands. Master Magician Irys Jewelrose is at the Featherstone Clan’s, along with the stronger magicians. We believe the Commander’s army will head straight for the Citadel.”
“Have the magicians along the border with Ixia reported any activity?”
“Not yet. They each check in at dawn via the super messengers.”
“Send them orders to keep an eye out for Valek.”
Another longish pause. “You don’t know where he is?”
“He’ll be coming here regardless. I’d just like some notice on the timing.”
“From my experience, he’s probably already here, hidden among your soldiers with a dozen of his corps. And if he isn’t, he can cross the border without alerting anyone. If I was you—”
“You’re not. We have the situation well in hand.”
“All right. Then I’ll go check in with the garrison commander.”
Boots shuffled on the floor.
“Cahil,” Bruns called.
I imagined Cahil looking over his shoulder with his hand on the door.
“Yes?”
“What would you do in my place?” Bruns asked.
“I’d put a big bow on Yelena and deliver her to the Commander. It would keep both her and Valek in Ixia. Plus she’d hinder the Commander’s efforts. Yelena wouldn’t want war, and she’d do everything she could to stop him from invading.”