ALIE
The heart is the hardest thing to guard.
—Fragment of a poem found in a Caldienan monastery
He’s doing it.”
Alie hadn’t had a chance to register the fact that Jax was in her apartments. Jax was in her apartments, and it was the earliest hours of morning, and she was wearing nothing but a dressing gown over her chemise, a fact that made her cheeks blaze. He’d knocked as if his own personal hell were on his heels, and Alie hadn’t been awake enough to think it through; she’d let him in.
Now, mere seconds later, she was very awake and regretting that decision.
Jax looked more disheveled than she’d ever seen him. His hair was down, not constrained into its typical queue, falling ragged and golden around his shoulders. He wore plain trousers and a white shirt, with none of the Kirythean military insignia that usually marked his clothing. He looked, in short, like he’d gotten dressed and run here in as much of a panicked storm as Alie was feeling now.
She didn’t like the way it set a twist into her middle to know that she was his destination when something was wrong.
It was too late to kick him out, and whatever had him in such a panic was probably important. Alie sat gingerly on the arm of her couch, wrapping her dressing gown tight. “Who is doing what?”
“Apollius.” An unspokenwho elselurked at the end of the name. “We agreed that keeping the King’s true nature a secret for the time being was the best course of action. That showing our hand too quickly would do nothing but create chaos.”
Alie was fairly certain that creating chaos was more a feature than a problem, in Apollius’s eyes. But she remembered overhearing this argument on the wind, Jax telling the god to be cautious, Apollius agreeing. Apparently, He’d changed His mind.
“We need time for the situation here to stabilize. Time for you and me to take over the rule of Auverraine and cede control of the Empire to Apollius.” He ran a hand down his face, apparently clueless to the wayyou and mesent an odd frisson all through Alie, made her sit up straighter. “Showing the world who He is now will do nothing but incite panic, when we have the opportunity to make conquering Caldien bloodless.”
She sat up straighter, again, and this time it had nothing to do with thoughts of her and Jax as a unit. “What do you mean?”
He sighed, as if he hadn’t actually meant to say that part aloud. Jax sank into one of the chairs next to her still-unlit fireplace. “We have been in contact with the Prime Minister,” he said. “Relations between Caldien and Auverraine have been friendly for years, and Apollius reached out to Eoin to tell him how He’s reached peace with us. Inviting him here, to meet with me and see a way forward.” He gathered back his hair, as if he’d just realized it was still loose. “Our plan was to reveal His godhood in person to Eoin before we ever let the rest of the world know. Caldien may not be as religious as Auverraine, but being faced with a god would surely encourage him to see things our way.”
Alie said nothing, chewing on her lip. She’d only met Eoin once, when he was newly elected to his position. She’d been a girl, barely in her teens, but Severin had offered to be Eoin’s official guide in the Citadel, so she spent plenty of time with him. He’d looked at the icons and artifacts in the Church with more curiosity than anything, and spent quite a bit of time staring at the stained-glass windows that depicted the entire pantheon. She couldn’t decide whether she agreed with Jax’s assessment of him or not.
“So Apollius is planning to reveal Himself?” she asked.
Jax huffed a sound that was supposed to be a laugh, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands hanging loose between them. “Somehow, yes. I don’t think He intended for me to find out before He did it. I only know because I overheard Him speaking with someone who called Him Holy One.” He rubbed at his mouth. “So I suppose He’s already told at least one person the truth.”
Alie sat forward. “Do you know who?”
He shook his head. “I left before whoever it was exited His chamber. I don’t think it would go well for me if I was discovered eavesdropping on a god.”
A shiver pricked along her arms. Jax knew about her power, but she wasn’t sure if he knew how she’d been using it, if he meant this as a warning. “What makes you think Apollius revealing Himself will make Caldien relations go badly?”
He arched a brow. Bruised circles stood out beneath his dark eyes. “Because people are full of fear. Human nature is to rebel, to be afraid of power when there is no means for you to seize it. True power can only be had over someone if you convince them they’ll have a share.”
She thought it might be a realization, Jax saying so plainly exactly what Apollius had done to him. But the Emperor of Kirythea just stared pensively into the middle distance, seemingly unaware that he’d just indicted himself.
Her fingers itched, threads of air calling her from theatmosphere. “By that logic, it was never going to go well. Maybe it’s better for Apollius to keep Himself hidden indefinitely.”
“He’s their god,” Jax said plainly. “And once they’re given something new to fear, something only He can stop, they’ll rally behind Him. It’s only this first revelation that’s precarious.”
“You have something to make everyone afraid, then.”
“Apollius didn’t keep the other elemental avatars alive out of the goodness of His heart,” Jax replied. “We know they’re in Caldien. He has His reasons for letting them live.”
“Scapegoats,” Alie murmured.
“Exactly.”
Her heart kicked against the bottom of her throat, so hard she could nearly taste it. If Apollius could paint Himself not just as a god, but also as a savior, keeping the world from the harm the reawakened pantheon could cause, no one would stand against Him. “And yet He’s keeping me here, with no apparent plans to use me as a scare tactic.”
He glanced at her. “Because you’re my betrothed. And an Arceneaux.”
