“What happened?” Malakai asked, stepping closer to his brother.
But it was Dax who answered, “Bant paid us a visit last week.”
“Hewhat?” I gasped, fear flaring bright within me.
“He showed up in the valleys.” Barrett’s hands curling at his sides were the only thing giving away his anger.
Dax scoffed, growling, “Attacked them is more like it.”
“There aren’t many accounts of what actually happened,” Celissia explained, her face pale.Most firsthand viewers died, she didn’t need to add, and my breath froze in my lungs. Many of those present had not escaped Bant’s attack. “But he did something to the pools. Whether he was using the dark magic within or tampering with the Blackfyre somehow, we don’t know.”
“Why are we just hearing of this now?” Malakai asked.
“All of our stores of Mystique ink went up in flame,” Barrett said coolly. “As did any we tried to procure on the ride here.”
“Flame?” Ptholenix’s thread of fiery magic curled in my gut, orange Angellight flickering in my palms. Barrett nodded solemnly, as if to say he had the same suspicion, and the air around the six of us prickled with anticipation.
What were the Angels up to?
Barrett went on, “The heretics were pleased to offer themselves. They dove right into the tar pits, sacrificed for Bant’s favor. The few who made it away—carrying the weight of the message forward—” he added, fingers curling into quotations in the air, “went on a rampage through the capital. Pillaging in the name of the Angel.”
“And Bant didn’tstopthem?” Malakai grumbled.
“Why would he?” I suggested as the fear dripping through me coalesced into burning wrath. “Whatever this was, it was likely on Echnid’s demand. And the god has made it clear that while he wants to uplift his warriors, he doesn’t mind who dies to do it.”
Even if it left him with fewer subjects.
“Surprisingly,” Barrett said, his smile grim as he dragged a ringed hand through his hair, “this worked in our favor.”
“With everyone enraged over the Angel, more are now supporting Barrett’s claim,” Dax elaborated, wrapping an arm around his prince’s waist.
Barrett’s eyes turned glassy. “And thanks to Bant, the vast majority of dissenters support a Mystique alliance.”
I closed my eyes against the sting. Against the tangle of relief and hope that dared to well in the back of my throat. “An actual Engrossian-Mystique alliance.”
The first true one in…Spirits, I didn’t even know how long. It was caused by the despicable actions of the very Angels we were meant to honor—the ones whose ancient feuds pitted us against each other in the first place. And now, we would stand against them.
Tol’s hand slid across my shoulders, massaging above my wings. With a crooked smirk, he asked, “Celissia, have you heard anything from the sorcia?”
Tolek told me he’d suggested she write to her sorceress relatives for aid. They were as involved in this godly war asanyone. Their goddess, Thallia, had been the one to forge Echnid’s lock in the Stone Realm.
But Celissia’s lips set in a frown. “They sent an outright rejection. Claimed no part in this war.”
“By the fucking Angels,” Tolek swore.
It was a different sting of betrayal than Bant’s vehement actions. One from people who lived on Ambrisk, who would suffer the wrath of the Warrior God as we all would, and yet chose to do nothing simply because this war was not on their doorstep.
But even if we didn’t have the sorcia, thanks to Bant, we had all seven Gallantian Warrior clans to stand against a god.
And thathadto mean something.
“And while we’re on the topic of partnerships…” Barrett said. “When I declared to my people that we would be supporting the greater alliance, I told them I would do so with the man I love by my side.”
“Does that mean…” I began, eyes flicking between him and the other Engrossians. Based on Celissia’s and Dax’s wary glances, this was the part of Barrett’s behavior that had been troubling them.
But the prince positively grinned. “If there’s time before a god tries to kill us all, we have a bonding ceremony to plan.”
Tolek whooped and immediately said he’d speak with Jezebel and Erista to see what could be done, muttering about how at least one person let them plan a proper ceremony, but Malakai whispered to his brother, “You’re sure this is a good idea right now?”
