Bastion bared his fangs in a vicious growl and slammed a quill box onto the table, unfolding the piece of parchment tucked under his arm. Myrddin and Adelaide lingered by the door, looking shaken as Piper and padded over to the tub to sink to her knees and splash her face.
“Sign this.” Bastion jabbed his finger at the document, where an elaborate gold and red seal was stamped at the top. “I’ll run it to Maximilian myself if I have to.”
Lilac stared at the lengthy document packed with tight scrawl, then back up at him. Bastion looked like he’d walked through a firestorm himself; his cloak was singed at the sleeves, his hair sticking up at odd ends with twigs in them. “What happened?”
“Sign it!” he bellowed, snatching her by the wrist.
Garin was between them, his fist clamped over Bastion’s jaw. “I will dislocate your skull from your body,” he breathed, slamming Bastion back against the vanity. “Do not talk to her that way. She’s not signing anything unless she chooses to.”
“She will if she wants her kingdom and Brocéliande to have a chance at survival.”
“The French have laid siege to Rennes, starting with their chapel,” said Adelaide urgently. “There’s been report from the magic folk. Lorietta and I were about to be on our way here to inform you, when those two showed up for some blood.” She pointed a black and silver talon at Bastion and Piper. “Lori’s downstairs helping your chef with preparations.”
“And? Have they retaliated?” Lilac asked, her stomach crawling.
“They’re protecting their own. Using charms and wards where warranted, mostly over the businesses and the orphanage. Many don’t want to expose themselves.”
“They’ll only intervene if it seems their militia is overwhelmed,” added Bastion. “For now, they’re watching from the shadows.”
“Already.” Garin swore furiously under his breath and shoved Bastion aside. “How many?”
“Two dozen. Maybe more.”
“It’s likely they thought it was where you might hold your ceremony, Your Majesty.” Piper toweled her face off.
Lilac gripped the edge of her vanity bruisingly, her vision swimming as she stared at the crest at the top of the scroll. She couldn’t even bring herself to read it. She didn’t need to. The sigil alone, Maximilian’s black eagle over a golden shield, was declaration enough.
A symbol of union, of domination. Of inevitability.
“The contract is preliminary,” Garin advised behind her, as if he heard her pulse racketing in her chest. “It is the ceremony that officiates it, for the public and church records’ sake.”
“What do you think they’re doing downstairs?” Bastion glared accusingly at them.
Garin’s eyes flashed dangerously. “They’re setting up for her wedding?”
“Everyone is scrambling. They’re going to marry her, then crown her immediately after. Ceremonies have been postponed, the ball canceled, and arriving visitors are being turned away far down the road.”
Lilac’s heart slammed against her ribcage.Preliminary, Garin had said. A word meant to reassure her, but it landed like an iron anchor upon her chest. The ceremony would make it real, rushed or not.
“What of my father?” Lilac asked, mouth dry. “He and his men?”
“They’re downstairs briefing the guard. Arrived just after we did.”
Garin nodded cautiously. “You told them, I assume?”
“Ihadto.” It must’ve been difficult for Bastion to address Henri alone. “I had Piper bring me to him, I had no choice. That’s when they began setting up for the ceremony—the entire castle’s been notified.” His lip curled in disdain toward Lilac. “Rupert informed your parents you’ve returned and are safe in your tower, but there’s only so much time that will buy you.”
“Time,” Myrddin commented with a faraway look, “is a strange and fickle thing. There’s never enough of it, is there?”
“Where are the others?” Garin pressed. “The coven?”
“The inn’s been secured. As for the vampires, I’ve sent some of them to monitor Rennes, mostly to keep watch over France’s movement as they’re likely to travel in the evenings,” Bastion said brusquely. “The others are at the Mine. It would be foolish to expect them to stand in for Lilac’s lack of soldiers. They don’t have a means of protection for battle in the daylight.” He glanced at Lilac, exhaling. “But they are ready to stand by her in the night.”
Hope swelled with guilt in her chest. “I won’t have them fight for me. Not with their hawthorn ammunition.” Lilac looked at Garin. “But I don’t understand, why didn’t we hear anything?”
“I placed a temporary two-way sound spell over the room,” Myrddin muttered, eyes flicking toward the door. “It’s safer this way. Especially during a feeding.”
“Safer?” Bastion’s scoff was menacing. “None of us are safe.Thisis what happens when you invoke a thrall bond. We’re one misstep from full-fledged war, and you set yourself on fire for her.”
