Synopsis and Starting Chapter Chapter 1: The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
Chapter 2: The Encyclopedia Of Mana Manipulation
Chapter 3: Head Start
Chapter 4: My Life Now
Chapter 5: Let The Journey Begin
Chapter 6: Up The Mountain
Chapter 7: How I Wished
Chapter 8: Questions
Chapter 9: Ones Held Dear
Chapter 10: Road Ahead
Chapter 11: To And Fro
Chapter 12: Meeting
Chapter 13: Q & A
Chapter 14: What’S To Come
Chapter 15: The Other Side
Chapter 16: Next Step
Chapter 17: Companion
Chapter 18: Family
Chapter 19: Peaceful
Chapter 20: Proclamation
Chapter 21: Everybody Wins
Chapter 22: For Them
Chapter 23: Royalty
Chapter 24: Auction
Chapter 25: Aftermath
Chapter 26: Partners In Crime
Chapter 27: Worth Fighting For
Chapter 28: Examination
Chapter 29: Changes In Dicathen
Chapter 30: Sword And Body
Chapter 31: Last Leg
Chapter 32: Dire Tombs
Chapter 33: Dire Tombs Ii
Chapter 34: Dire Tombs Iii
Chapter 35: Rash Actions And Limits
Chapter 36: Precautions
Chapter 37: A Son, Brother, And Friend
Chapter 38: In The Meantime
Chapter 39: Introspection
Chapter 40: New Winds
Chapter 41: I’M Not That Nice
Chapter 42: A Ball
Chapter 43: A Ball Ii
Chapter 44: Xyrus Academy
Chapter 45: You Dare?
Chapter 46: Not Quite As Planned
Chapter 47: Wiser Than The Wise
Chapter 48: Attention
Chapter 49: Reminisce
Chapter 50: Disciplinary Committee
Chapter 51: Classes And Professors
Chapter 52: Classes And Professors Ii
Chapter 53: Classes And Professors Iii
Chapter 54: It’S A Pleasure
Chapter 55: Match Start
Chapter 56: This Is Going To Hurt
Chapter 57: Family Gathering
Chapter 58: Feelings And Old Memories
Chapter 59: First Day On The Job
Chapter 60: Confrontation
Chapter 61: Romantic Idiot
Chapter 62: My Team
Chapter 63: Baby Steps
Chapter 64: Field Trip
Chapter 65: Widow’S Crypt
Chapter 66: Widow’S Crypt Ii
Chapter 67: Widow’S Crypt Iii
Chapter 68: Widow’S Crypt Iv
Chapter 69: Widow’S Crypt V
Chapter 70: An Unfamiliar Burden
Chapter 71: Evolving
Chapter 72: A Confusing Day
Chapter 73: One Fallen
Chapter 74: A Will’S Last Breath
Chapter 75: Order Of Power
Chapter 76: Manifest Destinies
Chapter 77: Good To See You
Chapter 78: Allies?
Chapter 79: Meanwhile
Chapter 80: Meanwhile Ii
Chapter 81: Meanwhile Iii
Chapter 82: At Last
Chapter 83: Benefactor
Chapter 84: A Greater Scale
Chapter 85: Lineage
Chapter 86: Elven Kingdom
Chapter 87: Winding Down
Chapter 88: A Will’S Unwillingness
Chapter 89: A Stroll
Chapter 90: A Cursed Blessing
Chapter 91: The Start
Chapter 92: Collapse Of Xyrus
Chapter 92: Bird’S Cage
Chapter 93: Chosen Ones
Chapter 94: Arrival
Chapter 95: The Calm Before
Chapter 96: The Storm
Chapter 97: Outcome
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 155
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter 166
Chapter 167
Chapter 168
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189
Chapter 190
Chapter 191
Chapter 192
Chapter 193
Chapter 194
Chapter 195
Chapter 196
Chapter 197
Chapter 198
Chapter 199
Chapter 200
Chapter 201
Chapter 202
Chapter 203
Chapter 204
Chapter 205
Chapter 206
Chapter 207
Chapter 208
Chapter 209
Chapter 210
Chapter 211
Chapter 212
Chapter 213
Chapter 214
Chapter 215
Chapter 216
Chapter 217
Chapter 218
Chapter 219
Chapter 220
Chapter 221
Chapter 222
Chapter 223
Chapter 224
Chapter 225
Chapter 226
Chapter 227
Chapter 228
Chapter 229
Chapter 230
Chapter 231
Chapter 232
Chapter 233
Chapter 234
Chapter 235
Chapter 236
Chapter 237
Chapter 238
Chapter 239
Chapter 240
Chapter 241
Chapter 242
Chapter 243
Chapter 244
Chapter 245
Chapter 246
Chapter 247
Chapter 248
Chapter 249
Chapter 250
Chapter 251
Chapter 252
Chapter 253
Chapter 254
Chapter 255
Chapter 256
Chapter 257
Chapter 258
Chapter 259
Chapter 260
Chapter 261
Chapter 262
Chapter 263
Chapter 264
Chapter 265
Chapter 266
Chapter 267
Chapter 268
Chapter 269
Chapter 270
Chapter 271
Chapter 272
Chapter 273
Chapter 274
Chapter 275
Chapter 276
Chapter 277
Chapter 278
Chapter 279
Chapter 280
Chapter 281
Chapter 282
Chapter 283
Chapter 284
Chapter 285
Chapter 286
Chapter 287
Chapter 288
Chapter 289
Chapter 290
Chapter 291
Chapter 292
Chapter 293
Chapter 294
Chapter 295
Chapter 296
Chapter 297
Chapter 298
Chapter 299
Chapter 300
Chapter 301
Chapter 302
Chapter 303
Chapter 304
Chapter 305
Chapter 306
Chapter 307
Chapter 308
Chapter 309
Chapter 310
Chapter 311
Chapter 312
Chapter 313
Chapter 314
Chapter 315
Chapter 316
Chapter 317
Chapter 318
Chapter 319
Chapter 320
Chapter 321
Chapter 322: Echoes Of Accusations
Chapter 323
Chapter 324
Chapter 325 Painless
Chapter 326 Backlash
Chapter 327 Enough For Now
Chapter 328 Face To Face
Chapter 329: A Plea For Help
Chapter 330
Chapter 331: The Trial
Chapter 332: Broken Chains
Chapter 333: Attention
Chapter 334: Last Mercy
Chapter 335: Haunting Peace
Chapter 336: Protection
Chapter 337: Layers
Chapter 338 A Weapon Against Him
Chapter 339 The Central Dominion
Chapter 340 Burden And Stakes
Chapter 341 Ashes And Dust
Chapter 342 Duality
Chapter 343 Professor Princess
Chapter 344 Eyes Locked
Chapter 345 Socialite
Chapter 346 A Dim Spark
Chapter 347 A Stroll With Gods
Chapter 348 Melee Enhancement Tactics
Chapter 349: Hope And Lies
Chapter 350: Colleagues
Chapter 351: Minimally Catastrophic
Chapter 352: Relic, Revived
Chapter 353: Paradigm Shift
Chapter 354: Somewhat Teaching
Chapter 355: Just His Name
Chapter 356: Closure
Chapter 357: Blood Relic
Chapter 358
Chapter 359
Chapter 360
Chapter 361: The Second Ruin
Chapter 362: Fate Intertwined
Chapter 363
Chapter 364
Chapter 365
Chapter 366
Chapter 367
Chapter 368
Chapter 369
Chapter 370
Chapter 371
Chapter 372
Chapter 373
Chapter 374
Chapter 374.5
Chapter 375
Chapter 376
Chapter 377
Chapter 378
Chapter 379
Chapter 380
Chapter 381
Chapter 382
Chapter 383
Chapter 384
Chapter 385
Chapter 386
Chapter 387
Chapter 388
Chapter 389
Chapter 390
Chapter 391
Chapter 392
Chapter 393
Chapter 394
Chapter 395
Chapter 396
Chapter 397
Chapter 398
Chapter 399
Chapter 400
Chapter 401
Chapter 402
Chapter 403
Chapter 404
Chapter 405
Chapter 406
Chapter 407
Chapter 408
Chapter 409
Chapter 410
Chapter 411
Chapter 412
Chapter 413
Chapter 414
Chapter 415
Chapter 416
Chapter 417
Chapter 418
Chapter 419: One Of Mine
Chapter 420: Shackles
Chapter 421: Black Doors
Chapter 422: Black Doors Ii
Chapter 423: One Last Ruin
Chapter 424: Through The Djinn’S Eyes
Chapter 425: Unexpected Visitor
Chapter 426: Changing The Narrative
Chapter 427: Amends
Chapter 428: Hoping
Chapter 429: A Dream Yet To Happen
Chapter 430 Opposition
Chapter 431 Time
Chapter 432 Overdue
Chapter 433 Respect And Regards
Chapter 434 Fellowship Forged
Chapter 435 Entourage
Chapter 436 Obscured
Chapter 437 Scales Of Understanding
Chapter 438 A Broken Path
Chapter 439 Holding Ground
Chapter 440 A Loose Idea
Chapter 441 The Message
Chapter 442 A Snapped Thread
Chapter 443 Horns Of Exeges
Chapter 444 A Sword Struck
Chapter 445 The Truth Of Power
Chapter 446 Scarred
Chapter 447 A Certain State In Time
Chapter 448
Chapter 449
Chapter 450
Chapter 451
Chapter 452
Chapter 453
Chapter 454
Chapter 455
Chapter 456
Chapter 458
Chapter 457: Equivalent Exchange
Chapter 459
Chapter 460
Chapter 461
Chapter 462
Chapter 463
Chapter 464
Chapter 465
Chapter 466
Chapter 467
Chapter 468
Chapter 469
Chapter 470
Chapter 471
Chapter 472
Chapter 473
Chapter 474
Chapter 475
Chapter 476
Chapter 477
Chapter 478
Chapter 479
Chapter 480
Chapter 481
Chapter 482
Categories Genre: All, Fantasy, Martial, Ongoing Status: Ongoing ______
Total Chapters in book: 485
Estimated words: 1771831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 8859(@200wpm)___ 7087(@250wpm)___ 5906(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 1771831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 8859(@200wpm)___ 7087(@250wpm)___ 5906(@300wpm)
______
LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 485 Page No. 484 Page No. 483 Page No. 482 Page No. 481 Page No. 480 Page No. 479 Page No. 478 Page No. 477 Page No. 476 Page No. 475 Chapter 404
ARTHUR LEYWIN
“You’re doing the right thing,” Jasmine said, her steady voice rising above the noise of the crowds milling around below.
Lines of disarmed Alacryan soldiers queued uncomfortably in front of the rows of teleportation gates being manned by loyal Dicathians. Jasmine and I had found a flat rooftop to watch Vanessy’s soldiers work from above.
I let out a heavy breath. “I know.”
The resistance against my plan had been stiffer here than in Blackbend. The hostility between the two sides hung in the air like a viscous mist. Many of the Alacryan soldiers didn’t understand why their highblood leaders had given in so easily, and they were still eager for a fight. Their control here had been iron-clad, and the people of the city had suffered with nowhere else to go.
The city felt like a powder keg, and sparks were flying in every direction.
Even as we watched, I saw a Dicathian augmenter shove an unarmed Alacryan hard in the back when the man didn’t immediately move forward to close the gap in his queue. The man spun and pulled back his fist, which sprouted stone spikes, but the augmenter already had his sword in his hand, and the tip was pressed to the Alacryan’s chest.
“Just say the word,” Regis said as he lifted a leg off the edge of the roof. “I can piss down a stream of Destruction on them to set an example.”
I felt the same urge to intervene as Regis. It wasn’t in my nature to watch this strife and do nothing, especially since I could end it with a wave of a hand.
“You relegated management of this city to Commander Glory and the Helsteas for a reason,” Jasmine voiced, her perceptive gaze catching the slight shift in my posture that gave away my thoughts. “To intervene now is to show that you don’t trust them.”
“That’s true,” I said, forcing myself to relax.
As if conjured into being by Jasmine’s words, Vanessy appeared through the crowd and forced the fighting men apart, shouting down her man while promising swift justice to any Alacryan who brandished weapon or spell against the Dicathians.
𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝒏𝒐v𝒆lbin.𝑐𝘰𝙢, for the best novel reading 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚.
I stood up, letting Regis return back to my body. “We should get moving.”
Together, Jasmine and I hopped off the roof and marched across the broad street that connected all the portal frames.
Most of the portals were busy, sending a non-stop stream of Alacryans beyond the Wall into a small town in the Beast Glades, which just happened to be the location of the only surviving teleportation gate on the other side of the mountains. But a single portal at the very end wasn’t currently being used, as I’d requested.
As we passed through, heads turned in our wake. Every human emotion was present, written on the faces and burning from the eyes of those gathered there, many mingled together into an incongruous alchemy of uncertain feelings.
I kept my focus forward, however, letting the fear, hatred, respect, and adoration of both Alacryans and Dicathians spill past me without absorbing it.
The teleportation gate hummed to life as the attendant calibrated it for Etistin City, and the world lurched around me when I stepped into the portal.
It was a significant journey from Xyrus to Etistin, crossing nearly the entire breadth of Sapin. As the blurred landscape ripped past, I felt myself settle, leaving the problems of Xyrus behind.
My vision lurched, and the inside of the stone structure housing the receiving teleportation gate came into focus. It was empty. No guards manned the receiving gate, or guarded the iron-banded doors that led to a broad plaza beyond. Through one of the open windows that circled the structure, I could see the royal palace in the distance, gleaming white in the bright sun.
Jasmine appeared behind me a moment later. Her daggers came out, but I gestured for calm.
Beyond the open doors, no less than fifty battle groups stood arrayed throughout the plaza. The soldiers, standing stiffly at attention, wore their gray and red uniforms, but they were not armed or armored.
As I crossed the tiled floor of the portal chamber, our footfalls were the only sound save for the distant crowing of some sea bird circling the bay.
Standing out in front of the gathered force was the retainer, Lyra Dreide, her fire-red hair blowing like a flag in the steady breeze coming off the sea. She stiffened at the sight of me.
“Welcome, Lance Arthur Leywin,” she said, her honey-sweet voice carrying easily throughout the silent plaza. “I am Lyra of Highblood Dreide, retainer of Central Dominion and regent of this continent on behalf of High Sovereign Agrona.”
Jasmine let out a sharp breath as she appeared beside me halfway through Lyra’s speech. Exchanging a quick glance, the two of us stepped out of the wide double-doors and looked around.
A gap had been left between two lines of battle groups where thirty corpses had been neatly laid out on the cobbles. My first thought, felt with a flash of fury, was that it was yet another ploy from the Alacryans, and I was afraid of the faces I might see among the dead. Their garb, though, was Alacryan.
Behind the corpses were piles of weapons and armor.
Lyra Dreide followed the line of my gaze. “This is what happens to Alacryans who won’t follow orders.”
None of the remaining soldiers let their attention settle on the corpses. Those closest—the ones who would be able to hear the buzz of flies beginning to swarm the bodies—kept their eyes firmly forward.
Still, I remained wary of some trap, and so I activated Realmheart.
A ripple ran through the crowd, like wind stirring the leaves of a great tree.
Realmheart lifted my wheat-blond hair from my head, and I could feel the warm glow from my back and beneath my eyes. The fear I instilled in them shone from their own eyes, reflected back at me in the shape of the violet Realmheart runes.
And I couldn’t help but wonder, what did these men and women from that distant and alien continent see me as? Had I made myself a symbol for mercy, or could they only see me as an embodiment of death?
And, perhaps more importantly, regardless of which it was, would it be enough to overpower their fear of the asuras who controlled them?
“What is all this?” I asked, returning my attention to Lyra Dreide.
She raised a hand, and all of the soldiers present went down on one knee and bowed their heads. Slowly, she followed them, although she did not bow her head but rather kept an unflinching eye-contact. “This,” she said with a slow, exaggerated enunciation, “is my surrender.”
A subtle movement to my left made me turn. Jasmine’s fist was white-knuckled around the hilt of one dagger, and she was chewing the inside of her lip. For most people, it would have been little more than a faint tick, but I could read her surprise, caution, and distrust clearly.
I took a step closer to the retainer and looked down into her quick, curious eyes. “What are the terms of this surrender?”
Her tongue darted across her lips as she considered how best to respond. After a long moment, she said, “I have not come to bargain or plead with you, Regent Leywin. There are no terms. Alacrya’s forces in Dicathen surrender.”
“Then what’s keeping me from killing you now?” I asked. “Or these men?”
Lyra Dreide gave me a tight-lipped smile. “You offered men who were actively trying to kill you their lives, and yet you would slay those who now stand before you, unarmed and at your mercy?”
‘I told you you were starting to be predictable,’ Regis pointed out.
It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I argued.
Jasmine took a step closer to me. “Perhaps executing the retainer would make removing the soldiers simpler?”
Lyra cleared her throat. “Regent Leywin, I—”
“I’m not regent,” I interrupted, considering both Jasmine’s and Regis’s words. “Lance or general, maybe, but—”
“Excuse me, Regent Leywin, but I have ceded authority over this continent to you.” I glared at the woman as she interrupted me, but she didn’t back down. “Until such a time as you reestablish your own form of government, I believe that does, in fact, make you regent of Dicathen.”
“This is no place to have this conversation,” I said with a meaningful look at the crowd of enemy mages in their tidy rows. “Lyra of Highblood Dreide, you are, for the moment, my prisoner.” She bowed ever so slightly. “If I sense any treachery from you, you die.”
“Understood,” she said without missing a beat, a stark reminder that, in Alacrya, the price of failure at her position was always death.
“Is this all the soldiers in Etistin?” I asked as I turned toward the royal palace.
Jasmine and Lyra fell into step behind me.
“No, the greater bulk of our force here is still being escorted out of the city. Since Etistin has remained a hotbed of rebellious activity, there is a large force of troops here. Over sixteen thousand in the city alone, and nearly as many scattered throughout the surrounding countryside. The majority are currently being relocated into camps outside the city.”
“Don’t bother with camps,” I said over my shoulder.
A face peered down at us from the second-story window of a well-constructed estate: a girl, maybe seven years of age, her eyes wide as dinner plates and blue as the bay. I wanted to give her a smile, maybe even a wave, but I simply watched as she ran back out of sight.
“All Alacryans are being relocated beyond the Wall until this war is over,” I continued. Now that I was looking, I could see other signs of movement from the residents of Etistin. Lyra Dreide hadn’t told the people what was happening, I realized.
“Regent, perhaps I can—”
I stopped and turned, pinning her with a sober scowl. “Was there a part of ‘you are my prisoner’ that you failed to understand?”
She paused, waiting for me to finish speaking, then went on. “—offer you some insight into the situation in Etistin that might provide some options beyond just your current plan.”
Next to Lyra, Jasmine raised her eyebrows very slightly and slid a dagger partially out of its sheath. I gave her a subtle shake of my head.
I immediately found myself more curious than annoyed by the retainer’s daring. Groveling, begging, pleading…that was what I’d expected. Where did this boldness come from, I wondered.
When we reached the palace gates, armed Alacryan guards immediately laid down their weapons and marched away, following some pre-given orders. Several people curiously watched us approach from the palace entry, but scattered to get out of our way, and no one engaged with us.
I’d been in the palace briefly before the Battle of the Bloodfrost, but not enough to know my way around. Jasmine and I allowed Lyra to lead us through the grand entry and into a series of solars and apartments until we reached a private study.
I looked around curiously.
The room was tidy, but stuffed full of scrolls, maps, stacks of parchment, and books. Picking up a piece of heavy waxed parchment, I realized it was a detailed drawing of the palace itself. The piece below it in the pile was much the same, but from a different angle and with a cutaway revealing the palace interior.
I set the parchment down. Lyra and Jasmine were both watching me expectantly. “We need to fill the void left by your absence,” I said after a moment.
Lyra rested one hip against the side of the desk dominating the study and fiddled with the edge of a scroll. “Many of the previous Dicathian king and queen’s servants and courtiers still reside in the city. Some are imprisoned in the bowels of this palace, others have taken up new lives, new careers. I’m certain they will make themselves known when you publicly announce my surrender.”
What she said was true, but I knew I couldn’t just pull some courtier out of prison and tell them they were in charge of Sapin’s capital city. No, I needed people who knew the city well, who understood the politics and players, and who would immediately have public support.
“Wait here,” I said, reaching for my extradimensional storage rune.
The heavy metallic tempus warp appeared in my hands, and I carefully set it down next to a crowded bookshelf. Warmth flooded my body as I activated Realmheart again, through it using aether to manipulate the mana required to calibrate the device for Vildorial.
After a moment, a portal shimmered into existence beside the tempus warp.
“Would you mind bringing the Glayders here for me?” I asked Jasmine.
She nodded before vanishing through the portal without hesitation.
Lyra pushed away from the desk and approached the tempus warp, kneeling down to examine more closely. “Impressive. Only the High Sovereign himself is allowed to commission artifacts capable of such long-range teleportation.”
I continued to peruse the stacks of parchment and scrolls. “The Wraiths I killed brought it with them,” I said casually. “An emergency escape route in case things went poorly, I assume.”
She scoffed, standing upright, her lavender eyes settling on me. “That certainly backfired on them, didn’t it?”
I leaned against a shelf, arms crossed, and met her gaze. “You know a lot about what has been happening. On both continents, it seems.”
“That is my job,” she answered simply. “To know things. For example, perhaps it has occurred to you that the defense of Dicathen was rather ramshackle and ineffective? Well, it might interest you to know that Agrona’s attention has been forced back home. Treachery at the highest ranks. Maybe even civil war.”
Regis manifested from the deep shadows around me, his eyes wide with interest. “Ooh, do spill the tea.”
Giving no other indication that she was surprised by Regis’s appearance other than a step back from the shadowy wolf, the retainer plucked a scroll from the desktop and tossed it to me with a forced smile. “Scythe Seris Vritra somehow defeated or otherwise removed one of the Sovereigns and claimed half of Sehz-Clar for herself.”
I unrolled the scroll. It was a missive detailing the events of the rebellion in Alacrya. So Seris finally made her move, I mused. “But even if she had the support of all Alacrya, she can’t win a civil war against the Vritra Clan,” I said aloud.
“It does seem like an unnecessarily roundabout way of getting herself and all her followers killed,” Lyra answered. She shifted her weight and dug the toe of her boot into the polished wood of the floor. “Unless…”
I followed the thread the retainer had laid out for me. “Unless she isn’t trying to win. When exactly did this rebellion start?”
“Almost immediately after you destroyed a secret military facility in the dominion of Vechor,” she answered.
I frowned. It had been a week since the Wraiths ambushed me in Vildorial. More than enough time for Agrona to respond to their defeat. I’d made it more difficult for him to send additional soldiers to Dicathen, but not impossible. And even I couldn’t fight all his forces, especially if he sent more Wraiths or even Sovereigns.
A fact Seris would know well.
I recalled that first meeting, looking up—bloody, broken, manaless—from the bottom of a crater, Sylvie beside me, pinned to the ground by Uto’s blood iron spikes. Even then, before we had ever met, Seris had shielded me from Agrona’s servants.
Is that what she’s doing now? I wondered. There didn’t seem to be any other likely explanation.
“Do you mind my asking,” Lyra began, “what you will be doing next? With Vildorial, Blackbend, Xyrus, and Etistin under your control, it is only a matter of time until the rest of Dicathen falls back to you.”
“I’m expecting company after this,” I said vaguely, but at that moment, the opaque portal shivered, and a ripple passed over its colorless surface as Jasmine materialized.
Just behind her, Curtis and Kathyln Glader came through.
I smiled to see the wonder on both their faces. Kathyln took a faltering step toward the desk, her hand reaching slowly out, fingers trailing across the smooth mahogany surface.
Curtis’s focus was on me, a grin lighting up his square face, but then his head turned, and the grin collapsed into an outraged snarl. “What the hell is she doing here?”
Lyra, who had stepped back into the corner of the study, bowed to the Glayders. “Welcome, Lord and Lady Glayder. I understand this is—”
Suddenly Curtis was moving. Golden fire blazed from his fist up the length of his arm, which cocked back to deliver a mana-reinforced blow. But, quick as Curtis was, Kathyln was even quicker.
With a single step, she interposed herself between her brother and the retainer, her black hair flying behind her like a flag. Her hand came up and pressed against Curtis’s chest, forcing him to stop.
“Kat, this is the woman who—”
“I know who she is, brother,” Kathyln said, betraying no emotion.
Jasmine kept glancing in my direction, perhaps hoping for some guidance on whether or not to intervene, but I only watched. It would build resentment in the Glayders if I forced them to stand down or appeared to side with Lyra Dreide. They needed to work through this on their own. Besides, Lyra was a retainer. From what I’d heard, she’d put up a half-decent fight against Varay, Mica, and Aya all together. Even if the Glayders attacked her, I doubted they could kill her.
Kathyln had turned around, leveling an icy stare at Lyra.
The retainer cleared her throat. “I understand your hatred of me, but know that I only ever did as I was commanded by Scythe Cadell or the High Sovereign himself. After all, each one of us is but a piece on the board, it is the Sovereigns who—”
Kathyln’s hand crashed against Lyra’s cheek with a sharp crack, snapping the retainer’s head to the side. “Your excuses are feeble and pointless,” she said, completely in control of herself. “Regardless of whether you butchered our parents for fun, or only paraded their bodies around the countryside for fear of death at the hands of your own lord, you are a monster, and if it were up to me, you’d already be dead.”
“Ooh,” Regis whispered before I shot a glare at him.
Curtis, arm still blazing, pointing a fiery finger at me. “Arthur, what’s the meaning of this? Why did you bring us here? Why isn’t this creature’s head on a spike already?”
I pushed away from the bookshelf and closed the distance to Curtis. Reaching out, I rested one hand on his upper arm—the arm that was burning. Golden flames danced between my fingers. He kept the conjured flames in place for a breath, two, then suddenly they vanished, leaving the room feeling much darker and less warm.
“Because, at least for the moment, we need her.” Curtis opened his mouth to argue, but I kept speaking. “This city is in shambles. I need a strong hand to help lift the people of Etistin back up, to provide leadership and security after the Alacryans are gone.”
“You want us to lead the city,” Kathyln said, one eye on me, the other on Lyra.
“You know the city, the people. Your name means something here, carries a natural authority.” I released Curtis’s arm. “There is a lot of rebuilding to be done. I trust you to do it.”
Curtis glowered around the study, his eyes focusing anywhere but me or Lyra Dreide. “What about the Alacryans? Rumor is you’re sending them all beyond the Wall.”
“Yes, I—”
Lyra Dreide cleared her throat again and gave me a smile simultaneously apologetic and yet very much not so. “As I tried to suggest before, I don’t believe sending so many Alacryan soldiers across the entire breadth of the continent to forage off your Beast Glades is the only—or the wisest—course of action, Regent.”
Curtis’s neck and cheeks flushed red. “Who said you could speak, demon?”
Such brazenness, I thought, almost amused. “What do you suggest then?”
Curtis’s teeth ground together as he glared at me, shocked.
Lyra hesitated a moment, apparently waiting to see if the Glayders were going to interrupt her, then said, “We have many ships in the bay. Allow any Alacryan—or Dicathian—who wishes it to depart for Alacrya immediately. We have surrendered. It would be a sign of good faith, and a sound strategic decision as well, as the journey is a long one. Any soldiers who spend the next month at sea can’t be used against you, but they are also safe from the High Sovereign’s wrath as well.”
“A sign of good faith?” Curtis sputtered, but Kathyln took his hand and squeezed it firmly, silencing him.
“And…” Lyra started but immediately paused.
“Go on.”
“I would suggest that anyone who renounces their service to the High Sovereign be allowed to stay in Dicathen.” She raised her chin as Curtis scoffed, her lavender eyes looking down her nose into the deep brown wells of his. “Many of these men and women have been here for over a year, Lord Glayder. They have homes, families—”
“Bullshit,” Curtis snapped. “As if any Dicathian would willingly form a family with an Alacryan. What you mean is our people have been forced into slavery, sold off, their homes and lives stolen—”
“No,” Lyra said firmly. “In fact, the High Sovereign forbids such things. Our culture values purity of blood, and the Sovereigns were firm in their insistence that there be no intermingling of Dicathian and Alacryan blood.” She smiled, and there was a wicked sort of gleam in her eye. “But the Sovereigns are a long ways away, and love is a strange and powerful thing.”
“Love?” Curtis ground out. “As if the conquered can ever fall in love with the conqueror, except by force and fear.”
“You may have lived the last year in a hole in the ground, Lord Glayder, but I have not,” Lyra said sharply. “You will see for yourself soon enough.”
“Perhaps,” Kathyln said to Lyra, but she was looking at me. “I admit I’m uncomfortable with the retainer’s suggestion. Ships full of soldiers could just as easily circle the continent and attack from another direction. Or bide their time off the coast until the next major attack, then we would be dealing with a conflict on multiple fronts. If more of those Wraiths were to come…”
She made a good point. I understood the intention of Lyra’s plan, and it would be much easier to board the soldiers on boats than transport them all the way to the Wall, but that meant we were giving Agrona back several thousands warriors.
I glanced at Jasmine, who had been silent throughout the encounter. She only shrugged.
I found myself agreeing with Lyra’s judgment, but I was still wary of simply making decrees and expecting everyone to jump in line and follow orders. “The three of you will be working together on this. Lyra has surrendered, but her suggestions aren’t without value. However we proceed, everyone should be in agreement.”
There was a tense pause. Curtis turned to Kathyln, who held my gaze.
“I suggest we do as the retainer has suggested,” she said at length.
I expected Curtis to argue with her, but he seemed to be forcing himself to relax, releasing his balled fists and taking a deep breath. “If we’re going to allow Alacryans to stay, we should at least imprison them for a while…thirty days, if not more.”
Lyra frowned.
Kathyln’s brows rose as she considered her brother. “That will allow the ‘families’ some separation to ensure any such agreements are truly mutual, and protect both the people of Dicathen and the Alacryan soldiers. It’s a good compromise.”
A ripple of force disturbed the air in the study, casting a palpable veil over us and causing all five of us to turn in the direction it had come from.
“What in the—” Curtis muttered, his hand on his sword.
“So much mana…” Lyra said, her eyes widening.
I quickly activated Realmheart, and a smile slowly bloomed on my face as I recognized the signature of that mana .
I started for the door with Regis close behind, then stopped suddenly and turned to face the Glayders. “This should go without saying, but Lyra Dreide is my prisoner. For the time being, she will stay here and help you with the arrangements. I expect her to remain unharmed.” My focus shifted to the retainer. “When I return, I’ll decide her fate. Depending, of course, on how helpful she has been in that time.”
Three sets of eyes blinked at me uncertainly, but I knew I couldn’t spend more time lingering in Etistin. The next phase of the war was already beginning.
I pushed open the door and headed for the main gates, Jasmine a quiet shadow just behind me.
Once we were out of earshot of the study, I stopped.
“What’s up?” Jasmine asked as I turned toward her.
I gave her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I need to do this next part alone.”
She shrugged. “I figured.”
Then, thinking to Regis, I added, I need you to stay here as well. To keep an eye on Lyra. Stay out of sight and watch her. My gut tells me we can trust her sense of self-preservation, but I won’t risk the Glayders’ lives on that alone.
I felt Regis’s disappointment and frustration bleeding through our link. ‘I don’t know about this, Art.’
This is important, Regis. I don’t know Lyra, but I know Kezess. I won’t be in danger.
He sighed before turning to Jasmine. “I know this is weird, but do I have your consent to hide within the meat puppet you call a body?”
A shiver ran down her back as her red eyes widened with disbelief. “W-what…?”
I rolled my eyes and would have kicked Regis, except he’d already become incorporeal. “He’s going to stay behind to keep everyone safe, but I want him out of sight. Lyra shouldn’t know he’s here.”
Jasmine took a moment to compose herself, straightening her armor and smoothing the shocked expression from her features. “Whatever needs to be done.”
Without a sound, Regis vanished into Jasmine. Her jaw tightened as she clenched her teeth as the ball of aether that was Regis hovered around her core.
“So weird,” she ground out.
‘Hey, it’s not much better for me, okay?’ Regis thought, but by her lack of reaction, I assumed Jasmine couldn’t hear him.
“Stay safe. I shouldn’t be gone long,” I said. And you mind your manners, I thought at Regis.
Then I was marching through the palace again, now alone.
Outside, I found a roughly oval disc of opaque energy hanging before us. Shouts rose up from the palace as the few people who had snuck out to see what was happening rushed away from the area.
A blinding white silhouette appeared, stepping through the opaque disc to hang in the air before it.
Then the portal faded, revealing a man with platinum blond hair in a dark, military-style uniform, and his otherworldly eyes—each one like a window into a distant galaxy—settled on me.
“Arthur Leywin. It has been some time.”
“It’s about damn time,” I replied conversationally. “I wasn’t sure he would send you considering everything.”
Windsom’s expression remained placid. “I am Lord Indrath’s envoy to this world. And as such, I am here to fetch you.” Mana hardened into a shimmering set of stairs that led up to the portal. “Come, Arthur. Lord Indrath would speak with you.”
I gave a throaty chuckle. “Yeah, I’m sure he does.”
A/N:
I’m not sure if anyone caught on, but this line was a homage back all the way to the beginning of Volume 5 when Arthur said this line to Windsom when he came to break Arthur out of his cell. 😉
Total Chapters in book: 485
Estimated words: 1771831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 8859(@200wpm)___ 7087(@250wpm)___ 5906(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 1771831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 8859(@200wpm)___ 7087(@250wpm)___ 5906(@300wpm)
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