“Were you going to kill me?”
Rielle startled to hear the Archon’s mild voice. “I…I beg your pardon, Your Holiness?”
His unblinking smile crept inside her like a nightmare. “I could feel it, you know. I could feel the empirium moving inside that dragon as it licked my face. It was angry at me.” He cocked his head, considering her. “You were angry at me. For those children, I know.”
Was this a challenge? Rielle’s hackles rose. “Yes, I was angry. I wanted to frighten you.”
Lord Dervin threw up his hands. “My king, is this the talk of someone we can trust to stand beside our children, much less parade about recklessly in front of thousands of people?”
“Frighten me you did,” the Archon continued, ignoring the outburst and leaning forward across the table. A new light glinted in his eyes. “I didn’t think you would kill me. Not yet. But I wondered how far you’d go.”
Not yet. A thrill skipped down Rielle’s body. She could not look away from the Archon’s narrow, bright gaze. Those eyes seemed to see everything inside her—the power even now leaping high in her blood, the presence of Corien sitting pensive in her mind, and the truth.
That truth was this: a dark kernel of regret stewed inside her, and if she could go back and live the trial over again, that hard black knot might just be enough to change her mind. To not stay the dragon’s claws and instead let it feed.
The Archon’s smile grew, as if he could see Rielle’s thoughts plainly on her face.
A sharp knock on the great hall doors disrupted the agitated silence, and when a page entered, Rielle relaxed slightly, glad for the distraction. Audric stood near, arms tense at his sides. She wanted to turn in to him, to hide her face in the warmth of his chest. She didn’t want to hide there forever, just for a while. Was it so wrong to wish for that?
“Father?” Audric’s voice carried a new note of worry. “What is it?”
Rielle glanced up at the king. He held a small, curled slip of paper—a message from the royal aviary—and on his face was a stark absence of expression. He had retreated somewhere; he did not want to be reading this note in front of an audience.
“Three attacks,” he said flatly, “along the border. Castle d’Avitaine. The Castle of the Three Towers. Castle Barberac.” He paused, his mouth in a hard line. “Seventy-three Celdarian soldiers have been killed. Six—two from each post—survived and fled south to the nearest villages.”
“My God.” Queen Genoveve’s hand went to her throat. “Did their reports include what attacked them? Or who?”
“‘It came during the night,’” read the king. “‘It came without sound and without warning.’”
An eerie silence bled through the room.
King Bastien stopped reading. Audric snatched the note from his hands.
“Audric—” snapped the king.
“‘I’d turn in the dark,’” Audric continued reading, “‘and another would fall. White as bone their faces were, and still, like they’d been caught in the middle of a scream.’”
The king stormed around the table, ripped the note from Audric’s hands, and crumpled it in his fist. “These northern posts are bitter and cold. A pale face is no strange thing.”
Audric watched him gravely. “Two survivors from each post can be no coincidence.”
“Can’t it? Don’t start raving at me about your mad theories, Audric.”
“The signs have been clear for some time now.” Audric ignored his father and addressed the entire table. “The longer we wait to face them head on, the deadlier the consequences will become.”
“Signs!” Bastien laughed harshly. “Storms and revolutions in distant lands, soldiers being killed on a border between unfriendly nations. Yes, indeed.” His voice took an unfamiliar, sarcastic turn. “I’ve never heard of such things happening. Truly, we are at the brink of some magical undoing.”
“And what about Lady Rielle? You cannot look at her performance in the trials and call it anything but extraordinary.”
“He has a point,” said Tal quietly. “I’ve worked with Rielle for years, and the prophecy—”
“Magister Belounnon,” King Bastien snapped, “until I have asked for your opinion, you will take care to remain silent in my presence.”
Tal met the king’s gaze with only a little flare of defiance, but it was enough to make Rielle’s heart swell with love for him.