probably from the debris flying in all directions a moment ago. The others were all right, though shaken, and I didn’t blame them. Marius was with Marcelline, and Wildgrave Ozanne was beside Lieutenants Casimiro and Valery. As sorry a ragtag group as I’d ever seen, but at least most of us had Talents. If ever there was a time to wish Margrave Royston was on your side—and at your side—it was right about then. Even if you did have to hope he wouldn’t blow you sky-high along with the enemy.
But no Royston, so Fiacre, the Wildgrave, Marcelline, and I would have to make do.
They called our glorious diplomatic leader “Fiacre the Spider” because of his particular skills, paralysis like a web around his enemies. I’d seen the Wildgrave, if he had time to practice his arts, bring a man back from the brink of death; the question here was only whether or not he’d have the time before we were all brought down under the Emperor’s superior numbers. And Marcelline—thank bastion for darling Marcy. She could bend metal to her will, and, considering the number of swords we’d have to go up against, I probably could have proposed to her on the spot, with Lord Temur the officiating officer at our wedding. That is, if he agreed to play the part.
Lord Temur, though, looked like he had other plans in mind for the evening. All the expression his face had been lacking ever since the first day I’d met him was out in full force. In fact, one might even have said he was grinning like a maniac and grimacing through the rest. I didn’t blame him. How many of the men he’d killed were friends, brothers in arms, soldiers he’d known since he was a little boy? Armies worked on the same principles the world around, and bastion if I was sure I couldn’t’ve done what he had.
“Here’s the plan, then,” I said, done with taking stock.
“Forgive me.” A cool voice, hard as metal that Marcy couldn’t bend, came from behind me. “But it would seem you have made a mess of my palace.”
Temur’s shoulders stiffened, and I could feel all the short hairs on the back of my neck jump to attention. I knew that voice just as well as Temur did, and the look on Fiacre’s face as he stared over my shoulder would have told me everything if I hadn’t already managed to piece it together for myself.
I shifted my weight from one leg to the other, then, because there was no avoiding what came next, I turned around. Best to get it out of the way as quick as possible—that left less time for anticipating things.
There he was: Emperor Iseul, in all his glory. His eyes were glowing mad and that necklace around his neck, creepy as ever, caught the barest hint of the light, flashing red. There was blood in it, or I was a jackrabbit’s grandpa. The whole rest of him was impeccable, though, like the image out of a nightmare. He was cool, calm, poised, without a single hair out of place. In other words, he hadn’t just been fighting off dozens of damn soldiers the way I’d been, and he’d probably been preparing himself for this inevitability all along. He was ready to fight me; he was eager. It wasn’t like the playing ground was even. But fuck it, because I had a plan.
“Leave the others out of it,” I said, holding up my empty hand. I was between the rest and him. “I’ve used all my magic up, Your Highness, but we’ve got a fight to finish.”
“Ah,” the Emperor said. “An interesting brand of duty, I must admit.”
“Fighting you’s the only reward I want,” I said, “for saving your life.”
Everyone was real quiet after that, and I was satisfied even if the Emperor didn’t let on that I definitely had him there.
“Very well,” he said at length, and, with a flick of both arms that startled everyone around us, began to tie back his long sleeves.
We had an audience—just like last time, only more. There were the people on my side, the bare handful of them, and all of the bastards rooting for him—an assortment of guards and warlords whom I did and didn’t recognize, men caught up in the various blasts and those who’d only just joined us.
“I give you my word that none on my side will interfere,” I added, while he readied himself. “So long as you