And I never forgot that they were still fighting.
It was a quiet night, now. But these kinds of things always happened on quiet nights.
It had been a quiet night when the Moon Palace was attacked.
It had been a quiet night before Neculai’s kingdom fell.
And it was especially quiet here now, given that Septimus had pulled away his Bloodborn forces, leaving the Rishan here to guard the armory, scattered and disorganized due to a last-minute change in orders.
Nothing was supposed to happen tonight, thanks to Septimus’s decision.
But I just thought about Septimus, and that little fucking smirk, and his very casual change of plans.
People, especially Nightborn and Shadowborn nobles, were far too quick to dismiss the Bloodborn as mindless beasts. They were bloodthirsty bastards, but they were smarter than anyone gave them credit for. If they weren’t hobbled by the curse, which cut down their numbers and their lifespans, I had no doubts they could’ve taken over Obitraes. Hell, maybe the world.
It was upper-class arrogance to underestimate them, and I didn’t have the luxury of that.
“I want more guards here,” I told Vale.
A lesser general would have told me I was being overly cautious. But Vale, to his credit, didn’t question me.
“What do you suspect?” he asked quietly.
“I…”
I don’t know.
Damn my pride, but I wasn’t about to say those words aloud, especially not to Vale.
It was the truth, though. I didn’t have a concrete theory. I didn’t think Septimus would openly turn against us—at least, not yet. He’d locked himself into this alliance, too. He’d have to work harder at getting out of it than this.
But sometimes, there’s just something in the air.
I sniffed and shot Vale a wry smirk. “You smell that?”
“What?”
“Blood.”
I leaned back against the stone wall, my hands in my pockets. “I’ll stay here tonight.”
“But—”
“Pull whoever we can spare from their posts throughout the rest of the city. Put them here.”
A pause. I could tell that he wanted to call me stupid for staying here personally, even if—especially if—I suspected something might happen.
But he just said, “As you wish, Highness.”
And without another argument, he spread his silver wings and launched into the sky with a whoosh. I lifted my chin and stared after him as he disappeared into the soupy mists.
I settled at the stone lip of the wall and unsheathed my sword. It had been a while, but there was a comforting familiarity to the way my muscles had to move to wield it. I lay the blade over my lap, taking in the dark steel, the faint red smoke rolling from the blade. I knew it by heart. Like an old friend.
I almost wanted something to go wrong tonight. Give me something to kill. I missed it. It was simple, easy, straightforward. The opposite of these last few weeks.
At least, it used to be.
The memory of Vincent’s face in his final moments flitted across my mind, unwelcome. Nothing simple about that.
I pushed that thought away, leaning back and watching the thick clouds drift across the sky. Waiting for something. Even if I didn’t know what.
Let them come.
I was looking forward to it.
9
ORAYA
I knew something was wrong before the explosion hit.
I was no stranger to gazing longingly out this bedchamber window. An entire life locked in this room had that effect. But these last couple of weeks, I’d been doing more than gazing. I’d been waiting.
Waiting for a mass exodus of Bloodborn and Rishan soldiers.
Waiting for a mass exodus that didn’t come.
The Bloodborn left a few days ago, and though it wasn’t quite the scale of movement that I’d been expecting by the way I’d heard them talking, it was enough to keep me hopeful. I’d thought the Rishan would be following tonight.
But hours passed, and the Rishan didn’t move. A knot of unease tightened in my stomach as I watched and waited, growing with every passing minute. I tried to use the mirror again, this time to warn Jesmine, but was met with nothing but misty clouds in my pool of blood. Apparently, she’d already moved. The attack was already underway.
Soon, I was pacing the length of the windows, eyes glued to the armory in the distance, mind racing.
Jesmine was a strong, competent general, I told myself. She wouldn’t have moved unless she had verified that she had a path to success. And the conditions of the night were ideal. Cloudy, to hide Hiaj flying in the skies. Many of the Bloodborn had left. That was something. It just wasn’t the skeleton force that I’d been expecting. Unless I’d missed something.