A Queen of Ice (A Trial of Sorcerers #5)

Chapter 32

32

I knew it . The immediate vindication of seeing Vi emerge from the shadows into the light of the still-smoldering grasses had Eira sitting straighter. The princess wore loose-fitting and filthy clothes. Her hair, usually immaculately plaited, was drawn into a single, thick cord that ran down her back.

But despite the muck and grime, her eyes still shone bright with all the cleverness, determination, and cut-throat nature Eira had always seen in her.

“Your Highness.” Cullen’s initial term of respect became a hasty blurt as two other figures emerged. “Your Majesties.”

Aldrik and Vhalla Solaris looked equally worse for wear. Their wounds, overall, seemed superficial. But Eira didn’t think she was imagining that Emperor Aldrik seemed to favor one side a bit more than the other when he walked.

“Solaris competitors.” Aldrik ran a hand through his dark hair, but it fell messily around his face. A far cry from the usual slicked-back and set style he preferred. “What a stroke of luck.”

“Possibly.” Vi’s eyes had never left Eira. “If they’re still on our side.”

“Vi,” Vhalla said with a scolding tone, stepping forward.

Vi stopped her mother with a straight arm. “We can’t be too cautious.”

“Darling girl, that is Lord Cullen Drowel.” Vhalla’s smile could’ve lit up the night sky. “He would never betray me.”

Cullen had dismounted. He staggered toward the Empress and collapsed to a knee. Even in his profile, Eira could see how relief crumpled his features, folding his brow.

“Your Majesty, it is a relief to see you well.”

Eira fought a smile and lost. Cullen had been more worried about the Empress than his own father. She had been better to him, more consistently, than his own father ever had been.

“We have not acted against the interest of Solaris. In fact, the contrary.” Cullen’s voice had shifted back into the lordly tone Eira could recognize from their days at Court. From when she knew him as nothing more than the lofty “Prince of the Tower.” Her smile fell as an invisible knife twisted in her gut.

Olivin already had talked about the life of etiquette and nobility that had been taken from him. There had been enough longing in his voice that part of her yet worried she could lose him to it. Would Cullen fall prey to its siren call as well?

“Is that so?” Vi seemed to pose the question directly to Eira.

So she answered, “We have secured aid from Qwint, sent a ship back to Solaris with word to bring fresh aid, and have worked to clear the seas of the Pillars’ stolen armada. This way, there is a path for help to arrive.”

“Truly?” Vhalla asked, looking between Cullen and Eira.

“She speaks true.” Cullen stood his ground. “Eira has organized it all.”

“And how have you managed to clear the seas?” Vi knew. She was too smart and too connected not to.

“Oh, before I forget,” Eira said hastily, shifting focus to Vhalla. “Fritznangle is on his way to Solaris as we speak as well. If not already there.”

“Fritz?” Vhalla clutched her hands over her heart, face lighting up. A smile cracked even the Emperor’s usually stoic facade as he wrapped an arm around Vhalla’s waist. “I knew he’d make it. The Charem blood is strong, as evidenced by you.”

“The seas.” Vi wasn’t about to be dissuaded.

Eira shifted in her saddle and adjusted the grip on her reins, ready to bolt if need be. “Adela has graciously agreed to lend her aid to the cause.”

Vi barked laughter. “That old bitch.”

“Vi, that is no way for a princess to speak.” Vhalla’s mothering tone had returned, aghast.

“Or a future Empress.” Aldrik joined in.

Vi seemed unbothered by them both, her focus solely on Eira still. “What does she want in return?”

“She told me to tell you that she is only here to lend a hand. Nothing more or less.” Eira did as Adela had asked of her months ago— put in a good word with Vi Solaris . The arrogant smirk that Vi’s face fell into, eyes alight with pride, affirmed all of Eira’s suspicions. Vi was, in fact, the one that had somehow sent Adela away from Solaris and Meru. But how? The question burned Eira to the point that she almost demanded answers. Almost . “Though…I also imagine she’ll keep any ships she can salvage, or loot she can find.”

“Of course.”

“We can’t be working with pirates.” Aldrik scowled. “Adela least of all.” Considering Adela had admitted to Eira that she’d murdered the Emperor’s grandfather, she didn’t blame Aldrik for his tone or feelings on the matter.

“Right now, we can’t be too picky.” There was a begrudging tone to Vi’s words, but, for some reason, Eira suspected it to be inauthentic. Her eyes shone like laughter. She was deeply amused with this turn of events. “We can deal with the Pirate Queen, as is necessary, when the dust settles. But for now, the enemy of our enemy is our friend.”

Eira heard the subtext loud and clear—this fragile alliance would be over the second the Pillars were dealt with. Eira included among it.

“Why would Adela be the enemy of the Pillars?” Vhalla still wasn’t convinced.

“Adela has a personal grudge against Ulvarth,” Eira answered simply. There was too much wrapped up in Adela’s motivations to explain more than that. But fortunately, judging by Vhalla’s expression, it seemed that was enough of an explanation.

“For what it’s worth, I have found Adela to be surprisingly trustworthy,” Cullen encouraged Vhalla.

“Oh no…don’t tell me she captured you, too?” Vhalla rested a hand underneath his jaw. The movement was familial. It put a twinge of sorrow between Eira’s ribs.

This would be what brought Cullen back… He would find his path with the nobles in Solaris once more. He’d see the good of it—all the good he could do when he wasn’t solely at the behest of his father. And she…

She wouldn’t stop him.

How could she? If that was the life he was meant for, then she’d be happy he’d found it.

“I am all right,” Cullen assured the Empress.

“We should go help bring order to Hokoh. They look like they could use warming up.” Vi turned toward the city in the distance, still glistening with frost. Eira made more of a conscious effort to relax her magic.

“Lorn is there,” Olivin dutifully reported to Vi.

“Is he?” Vi sounded pleased. “Rebec had said he was going to see if he could solicit help.”

“Rebec is alive, even still?” Even though Lorn had said as much, Ducot still looked for further confirmation.

“She is, last we left Risen. She was the one to help us get out.” A frown tugged on Vi’s lips. “I’ve no idea how long she could last there. The Pillars were relentless.”

“It’s amazing you could escape at all—that you even survived.” Eira allowed the sentiment to carry a bit of weight. Judging by the lift of Vi’s eyebrows, she heard it. “Not that I’m not grateful for it, of course.”

“Never doubt the might of two of the strongest Firebearers to ever walk the earth.” Aldrik placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder proudly. Vi’s eyes just shone and she allowed her silence to be her agreement. But there was more to it. The woman had Lightspinning powers as well…and could frighten off Adela.

“What are your plans now?” Eira looked in the general direction of Risen. “That magic could be of use overthrowing the Pillars.”

“I know that Meru underneath the Pillars is bad for Solaris. And…” Vi’s words dropped off and her fierce stance relaxed. She followed Eira’s gaze, looking to Risen. “This is personal for me.”

“Taavin.” Eira scolded herself for being so dense. If he wasn’t here with them, then it didn’t bode well.

“They have him.” Vi’s hands balled into fists, white-hot flame licking around them. “They took him when we were trying to get out. He…”

“He stayed behind so we could escape,” Vhalla finished for her daughter, lowering her gaze.

“Since Hokoh is liberated from the Pillars and already has operations thanks to Lorn, we’ll use it as a southern base to collect our forces.” Vi turned back to the city before them. Her resolve was ironclad once more. The trace of emotion and doubt completely evaporated. But Eira had seen it. And she could sympathize. “Then we’ll move farther on to Parth. We’ll have enough momentum to take it, and we can use their wharf to collect the armada from Solaris and move for Risen in a few days’ time.” Her focus returned to Eira. “Can you get word to Adela?”

“I can.”

“What?” Ducot’s surprise was across his face.

“How?” Yonlin asked.

“I have my ways,” Eira said enigmatically. She and Adela had discussed a system before leaving. Though it had yet to truly be put to the test. “Shorter messages will be better than longer ones.”

Vi nodded. Her lack of surprise continued to reinforce for Eira that her magical abilities extended far beyond what most considered possible. “Can you ask her, now, if she’s seen the Solaris ship?”

Eira exhaled and released the last of her magic on Hokoh. She shifted her focus to the moisture in the air, the breezes that whispered of the distant sea. Her mind’s eye plunged into those cold waters and swam in their currents underneath. Through white-capped swells and out of the bay into the ocean beyond.

Brow furrowing, it took her a minute to locate Adela’s magic. And then two more to find the Stormfrost . A tether of power, thrown like a lifeline, raced up the side of the hull, skittered across the deck, and looped up Adela’s cane, coming to a stop on the back of her hand as a pool of dew.

Adela lifted and lowered her cane and Eira could almost imagine her saying, Out with it, girl .

With an invisible hand, Eira wrote across the deck of the Stormfrost at Adela’s feet in icy letters, raised from the permafrost on the deck: Solaris ships?

One tap of her cane reverberated through the magical connection. One tap meant yes .

Eira opened her eyes, but kept the connection with Adela alive. “She’s seen the Solaris armada.”

“Are they close?” Vi asked.

Eira closed her eyes again, forming the word on the deck: Close?

Another tap.

“Yes, they are,” Eira reported.

“Good. It will take you two days, likely three to get to Risen from here. I presume you’ll need an extra day to get into the city…” Vi stroked her chin in thought. “In five days’ time, we launch our attack on Risen. The Solaris armada will join Qwint’s, and whatever forces Adela might be willing to spare.”

Before relaxing her connection, Eira wrote one more message: Three days. Parth. Vi. Five days. Risen.

There was a much longer pause, then, a single tap.

“I can’t speak for Adela’s assistance, but I can say that she’ll aid the Solaris armada in getting to Parth in three days.” Eira relaxed her connection, for now.

“Are you some kind of new sorcerer?” Alyss whispered in awe.

“I feel like it some days,” Eira admitted.

“Then that’s it. In five days, we will retake Risen,” Vi proclaimed.