“Why?” She didn’t look right at him, eyes on the lilies waving in the soft breeze instead. “You barely know me, why care so much about my safety? Because I’m the key to you having a legitimate claim on Auverraine? Because of my god-affliction?”
“No.” He sounded slightly offended. “Because you’ll be my wife. My responsibility.” He paused. “Because I care about you.”
Gods dead anddying.
Alie sighed. “Fine.”
“Fine?” Clearly, he didn’t expect her to capitulate so easily.
“Yes, fine.” There was no point in arguing. She planned to be long gone before he could send her to Laerdas or anywhere else.
He nodded, relief clear on his normally stoic face. Jax lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Good.” Then he was gone, slipping through the gate, headed back to the Citadel.
Alie closed her eyes. Took a deep breath. Went to find Alexis.
The acting Priest Exalted hadn’t gone far. They stood near the Citadel Wall, arms crossed and foot tapping. “Took you long enough.”
“I have to act like I tolerate him.” Alie chose not to interrogate why that brought a new wave of blood to her already-blushing face. “What happened?”
“War is coming,” Alexis said simply.
She frowned. “We knew that—”
“Alie, the Caldienan navy is sailing on Auverraine as we speak.” Alexis sounded dispassionate, but their pulse beat so hard Alie could see it in their neck. “I heard from my contact. Power in the Rotunda has changed hands. They’re coming, and Gabe and Malcolm are coming with them, to get rid of Jax and stop the Empire.”
Stop the Empiresounded good.Get rid of Jaxmade her stomach knot. Alie nodded, palms going sweaty again. “This is what we wanted.”
“Yes.” Alexis sounded as unsure as she felt.
Alie took her leave without saying goodbye.
But she didn’t even make it into the Citadel before she was stopped again, this time by a bloodcoat she didn’t recognize at the door. He angled his bayonet in front of her, blocking her entry.
“Excuse me?” She had no time for this.
The bloodcoat was unfazed by her rudeness. “You’re to go to the royal apartments,” he said. “King’s orders.”
As he spoke, two more bloodcoats approached from behind, boxing her in.
Here we go, Alie thought.
In the back of her mind, an anxious gust of chill wind.
They didn’t lead her like a prisoner. That was reassuring, she supposed. The two bloodcoats casually walked her up the turret.
The bloodcoats opened Bastian’s door. Alie stepped over the threshold. They didn’t follow her, closing the door with a sound like a sepulcher. Leaving her alone with the god wearing her half brother’s body, seated at the edge of the fountain in the middle of his solarium.
He looked… haggard. That was the best way to describe it. Still handsome, because it was apparently an impossibility for Bastian not to look handsome, but exhausted, as if he’d spent the time he should be sleeping running miles from some unknown assailant. For a moment, Alie thought maybe it really was Bastian, that his exhausted appearance meant he’d finally tamped down Apollius and regained control for good.
But when He looked up, His eyes were golden.
Alie stood as tall as she could, chin tipped up, hands in fists by her sides. “You called?”
A wine goblet was clutched in His hand. Apollius took a long drink, bloodshot eyes closing. He set the goblet down forcefully, swallowed hard. “Let’s stop dancing around this.”
Her clenched fists shook, just a little.
“You have something that belongs to Me.”
