RE: Monarch

We escaped the castle with little issue. I got the sense that there were probably more Blackshields waiting for us before they were pulled away from potential ambush points to help excise the king from his snare. Aetherya bought far more time than I’d expected, which gave us breathing room to stop by the armory and equip Sera. She left the armory dressed as one of my father’s honor guards and shopped around until we found a gondola willing to venture to topside.

I took one more look around for unwanted attention before I joined them, taking a seat in the center and peeking through the curtains.

“See anyone?” Maya asked.

“No. Doesn’t mean they weren’t out there.” I squinted at a woman who seemed entirely too preoccupied with checking the quality of a produce stand’s potatoes. “If the King tapped Thaddeus for this, better to assume they saw us.”

“This still seems unhinged.” Maya shook her head. “To risk open conflict within his own capitol.”

Sera and I shared a glance.

“While I agree that it’s not normal, it’s hardly the first time.” Sera shifted uncomfortably.

“In a way, it’s almost like he encourages it.” I mused. “He’s brought multiple noble houses harboring treasonous intent to their knees in Whitefall. When that undertaking takes a violent turn—which it often does—he goes out of his way to see that violence done publicly in the middle of the day.”

“For all to see. He handles peasant rebellions and uprisings in the same manner.” Sera agreed.

Maya steepled her fingers. “So a show of power. Or reinforcement of authority. Still, that doesn’t entirely make sense in the context. Outcome notwithstanding, when the details of this leak—a king and prince at odds regarding the fate of a princess—it will paint the very picture of a house divided. The opposite of what he should want.”

The words lingered in my mind, even as the carriage driver knocked on the back panel signaling our arrival, and we emerged at the destination. A mix of around thirty regiment soldiers mingled around the square that housed the mission. I spotted Kilvius holding up a wall across the street, searching the faces and evaluating. When his eyes landed on me I nodded, only for him to scowl as Maya stepped out of the carriage behind me. Almost immediately, Kilvius turned and walked away. At the same time, Sevran flagged me down.

Maya put a hand on my arm and whispered. “Go. I’ll get Kilvius.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. She was being decisive in the moment, but the anxiety of an unplanned reunion was written all over her features.

“Least I can do.” She didn’t sound confident, but a sudden warmth and scrape of teeth against my earlobe stunned me long enough for her to slip away.

Behind me, Sera chortled like a lecherous old man.

“Shut up.” I muttered.

“Come now.” Sera’s eyes twinkled. “A lover that can tear you apart, and piece you back together after the fact? Anyone would be jealous.”

“Anyway,” I cleared my throat loudly as we approached Sevran. “Is this all we have?”

Sevran glanced around. “Still more en route. To be expected with such little notice. I ordered several of my soldiers to form a sentry line to the rear. If they actively pursued us, we should know the second they cross into Topside. Zin and Mari took your late arrival as an opportunity to scout. They’re still looking, but from initial reports, there're no signs of Black Shields where they shouldn’t be.”

My confidence wavered. I’d been so sure the King would move Annette here, but that surety had come from instinct. And my instincts had repeatedly failed me as of late.

“Aetherya?” I checked, already guessing the answer.

Sevran shrugged. “Nothing from the woman herself. A few of her banner mixed in with the rest. Safe to assume she’s been detained.”

My stomach twisted. If my father heeded the rules he set and Aetherya and her archers yielded once they lost the upper-hand, they should be safe. Problem was, he had a habit of bucking the rules once they no longer suited him. Poor Aetherya. I’d basically abandoned her to him. Just like I’d abandoned—

Sevran’s perceptive gaze cut my mental spiral short. “Gathering the most capable level-headed people you can find and giving them orders is only part of being a leader. The more difficult thing is to trust them to carry those orders out to the best of their ability. Aetherya volunteered. It was her prerogative to reveal the presence of archers on the rooftop and she did so willingly. Out of everyone, you took the greatest risk by confronting the king directly. The promise you made to us is untarnished.”

“You… fought father?” Sera asked, looking between us in disbelief.

Not really.

“With the exact brand of decisiveness and underhanded brutality the king himself so often employs.” Sevran threw back his head and cackled. “How furious he must be. What a blessed day.”

Both Sera and I stared at Sevran blankly. He didn’t seem to notice, his attention landing on Sera for other reasons. “You have been through much since we spoke at the tavern.”

In a gesture that completely surprised me, Sera bowed. It wasn’t overly low. No matter the internal dynamic of the regiment, she was still a princess. When she bent, it was mostly from the neck and shoulders. But it was far more deference than I’d ever seen Sera give another person willingly. “Reporting for duty.”

“Yet, where are your bannermen?” Sevran asked.

It wasn’t exactly a fair question. Sera’s actions in the mock battle likely drew the interest of many reserve soldiers, and possibly several who were already assigned. But forming a banner was a time-consuming process, and the mock battle only a few days ago. I braced for an explosive retort. Yet none came.

Sera struggled to keep her face neutral. The fire in her eyes burned. “A banner lieutenant without a banner to lead is still a soldier. And this soldier wishes to serve.”

“You would obey the orders of a Demi-human? Accept the commands of a commoner?” Sevran asked, without a trace of mockery.

Sera stepped forward, standing eye-to-eye with Sevran. “So long as those orders place the good of Uskar above all else? I will serve.”

Slowly, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

Sevran smiled. “Go, then. I suspect you’ll find many willing among the reserve and the remnant of Aetherya’s banner.”

For a moment Sera looked as if someone had slapped her in the face. “I’m… sorry?”

“Gather the cornerstones of your Banner, Lieutenant.” He looked her up and down in obvious approval. “You’d be wasted as anything else.”

Sera choked. “Thank you, sir.” Then turned on her heel and jogged towards the pack of soldiers, scattered around the road. Sevran watched her go, warmth seeping from him like a fire pit quenched in the dead of winter. “Before the healer got to her, how bad was it?”

I grimaced. “It seemed he avoided methods likely to result in permanent injury or scarification, but from what she said… he administered the interrogation himself. And he was insistent in his inquiry.”

“You yourself have been tortured, yes?”

“Yes.”

“I have not, though I’ve fought beside and commanded men who were not as lucky.” Sevran watched passively, as Sera struck up a conversation with a group of three soldiers in the distance. “Do you recall the symptoms that followed your ordeal?”

Empty.

“Bouts of sleeplessness. Fear. An emptiness.” I swallowed. “A constant echo of what happened to me, repeating forever in my mind’s eye.”

Sevran nodded. “Trauma has a way of unmaking a person. Altering allegiances, unseating priorities. It is distressing by nature. But once you move past the hurdle of the initial shock, it presents a period of malleability uncommon in life. A period within which one is most capable of change.”

Slowly, I realized he wasn’t just talking about Sera.

I swallowed. “And what would you advise?”

Sevran gave me a half-shrug. “Treat her with care, meeting any mistakes she might make with grace, all while keeping in mind she will be far more vulnerable in the aftermath, more likely to take any condemnation to heart. Give her time to fill the hollowness, not with your counsel or mine, but with her own. She will only be stronger for it.”

I gave him my thanks and stepped away, finding a quiet corner to summon my familiar. Once I’d given Vogrin a sample of my blood, he disappeared, slipping into a shadow and moving south, intending to search Topside in a grid-like pattern that would eventually collide with Mari and Zin’s path, forming something of a net. It wasn’t perfect. If we’d had time and mana to create the style of golems he suggested using to track down Thoth’s blood relatives, that would have been far more effective, but sending Vogrin himself was the best alternative that didn’t involve me draining my mana to almost nothing before the coming conflict.

A few minutes later, Maya emerged with Kilvius in tow. Their arms were intertwined. Kilvius was even smiling, leaning over to say something to her in his classic fatherly manner. Until he saw me looking and stepped away from her.

Kilvius crossed his arms. “So. Care to tell me why you’ve parked an armed regiment on the doorstep of my clandestine organization?”