Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand Page 0,66

necessary nor productive, General Rakallo.”

The Grand Magister of the Holdfast shook his head. “I disagree, Your Highness. We cannot consider Rielle an ally or an asset. She is a weapon, and right now she is in Corien’s arsenal.”

Queen Fozeyah sat with her fingers steepled at her lips. “Can she be killed?”

Now Evyline was the one surging to her feet, her eyes bright with indignation.

Audric reached for her. “Evyline, please sit down.”

Queen Fozeyah held up her hands, the shining dark coils of her hair falling back over her tawny brown shoulders, left bare by the wide neck of her gown. “Queen Rielle is loved by many in this room. But we must ask ourselves these questions and be prepared for any eventuality if we want to survive this.”

“Anything can be killed,” came Ludivine’s haunted voice. “But could we get close enough to do it?” Her desolate gaze moved to Audric. “That I do not know.”

“Killing her may not be necessary,” Audric said quietly, and he hated how glad he was to see Ludivine’s small, approving smile in response.

General Rakallo’s mouth was thin with exasperation. “Your Majesties, can we truly trust this man to be part of our strategizing? He is blinded by love. He has been deceived by Queen Rielle before, and he can be deceived again.”

“Yes, I love her,” Audric said, and he had never meant the words so passionately. As if it were a crime to love her, this fearsome, inexplicable woman with her temper and her bravery and her surprising, glittering mind.

“And yes,” he went on, “she deceived me, and when I discovered the depth of her lies, I let my anger and fear overcome me. I told her she was the thing she had feared becoming—a monster. I rejected her humanity; I dismissed everything that is good in her.” His voice broke. “And there is so much good in her. Courage and resilience, and such a capacity for love that anyone lucky enough to earn her trust could live off the power of her adoration alone.” He looked around at the gathered council, silently pleading with each of them to understand. “I pushed her away. And now she is with our greatest enemy. Were it not for my error in judgment, my weakness, she might still be with us.”

He took a slow breath, fighting for calm. “She has been burdened from birth with a great and terrible power. For months she has been judged, tortured, worshipped, and reviled. And despite all of that, she stayed with us—until I made the mistake of condemning her. We cannot win her back without love. And without her, we cannot win.”

The room was silent as the council members watched him with varying degrees of pity, embarrassment, sadness. Anger.

“Queen Bazati,” he said, his voice steady but his stomach in knots, “Queen Fozeyah, you cannot allow this news from the north to affect today’s vote. I beseech you, speak with the assembly before the vote is called. Let me speak to them. Celdaria will be the first front of this war—that I can promise you. Corien will want the poetry of beginning his conquest at the seat of my power, and with Merovec on the throne, the city will fall swiftly. He is utterly unprepared to face such an army. He is paranoid and fearful, as the letters from Red Crown attest. I’ve shown them to you. You’ve read them and have heard reports through your own underground. He does not understand angels. I do. He does not know Rielle.” He smiled softly, his heart in tatters. “I do. And if we want her to come back to us, she must have a home to return to.”

Then he looked around at all of them, willing them to understand. “To prepare for the true war ahead of us, we must amass as strong a force as possible in the place where Corien no doubt intends to strike first: Âme de la Terre. And before we can do that, I must reclaim my throne. I can do neither of these things without your army. Together, we can be our world’s first line of defense against Corien when he comes. Unless you would prefer that he face whatever ragged army Merovec patches together.”

Queen Bazati’s expression was implacable. “I understand your argument, Audric. I supported your petition to the Senate, as did my wife.” She sighed, staring at the table, and then straightened to address the entire council. “But I cannot speak to the Senate before the