Page 50

It was Anya who spoke next, reluctantly rising. ‘I think it’s time we took this to the war room.’

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

WILDER

Since their meeting that morning, someone had transformed the formal dining space into exactly that: a war room. Maps covered one end of the table, while an enormous model of the midrealms covered the other, complete with mountainous terrain and colour-coded climates. Markers had been positioned all over the model to indicate the various forces throughout the kingdoms: from units of Guardians stationed in outer villages to King Artos’ considerable armies.

Wilder noted the thick black Xs that had been marked in the far reaches of the model. ‘What are those?’

‘Suspected reaper lairs,’ Anya answered, folding her arms over her chest and surveying the replica before them with a critical eye. ‘Ideally, if Artos wasn’t forcing our hand, we would have opted for a three-pronged attack. One to the lairs, one to Artos’ main army, and one to the Heart of Harenth.’

Wilder raised a brow. ‘His palace?’

‘It’s a symbol of his strength,’ Adrienne said from across the table. ‘To bring it down would weaken not only his position, but his image.’

‘But he is forcing our hand, by marching on Aveum,’ Thea countered. ‘We’re compelled to address that attack first, lest he defeat Queen Reyna’s armies and bring them to heel. If he manages to swallow her forces, we don’t stand a chance.’ She pointed to the markers stationed in the winter kingdom, signifying the main army there. ‘If he takes those numbers and turns them into howlers or worse, we may as well pack up now.’

Wilder looked to Torj. ‘How long until the army reaches Aveum?’

‘From what I learnt, they’re advancing on foot, with a small unit of cavalry. No shadow wraiths in the mix yet. If it remains that way, I’d wager it’ll be no more than two weeks until they reach the foothills of the mountains.’ Torj pointed to the spot on the replica where the terrain became uneven.

Cal let out a low whistle. ‘This takes apprentice training to a whole new level.’

‘Hate to break it to you, Callahan,’ Kipp retorted, ‘but I think we’re well past training now.’

Torj gave a rough laugh. ‘He’s not wrong, Apprentice… Consider this graduation.’

‘Focus,’ Anya cut in. ‘So, what I’m hearing is that we need to go to Aveum. We need to convince Reyna to take up arms against Artos, not roll over for him.’

‘How do you propose we do that?’ Wilder asked. ‘Between the Daughter of Darkness and her Delmirian heir accomplices? Not to mention a company of supposed fallen Warswords and an army of shadow-touched that the world will only see as half-wraiths?’

Thea squeezed his arm. ‘Do we have any proof that the arachne attack on Aveum during the eclipse was by Artos’ hand?’ she asked the others, scanning the strained faces around the war table.

‘Actually, yes,’ Wren replied, stepping forward, a small, familiar vial in her hands.

Seeing it, Wilder remembered that Torj had given it to her in the Singing Hare. It was the gift of Harenth to a newly forged Warsword, a poison none of them had ever used. Torj had landed himself in hot water by declaring it a ‘woman’s weapon’.

The alchemist glanced at the Bear Slayer before she spoke again. ‘Farissa and I made a study of this after we left Aveum,’ she told them. ‘It’s not poison, not in the way that you mean. It can’t be used to kill or incapacitate, not directly. But because of that, most Warswords have deemed it useless in the past.’

‘What is it, then?’ Thea pressed. Wilder was keenly aware that it was another one of the Warsword gifts she was yet to obtain because of him.

‘Simply put, it’s bottled empath magic,’ Wren told them. ‘And its properties match those that were used to meddle with the Pools of Purity in Aveum after the arachne attack. This little vial here directly links Artos to the horrific consequences of that attack, including King Elkan’s death.’

‘How does it do that?’ Anya asked, brow furrowed.

‘Farissa reached out to the Master Alchemist at Vios. Empath magic was found in King Elkan’s system post-mortem… Artos told Reyna he’d done it to ease the king’s suffering in his final moments, but with the link to the pools as well, there’s no denying that Artos was responsible for the attack.’

Torj let out a whistle. ‘So in other words, his handprints are all over this?’

‘Exactly,’ Farissa concluded at Wren’s side. ‘We discovered that for a brief time, a few drops of this elixir will give the user control over their target’s emotions. Not quite poisonous, but just as powerful, just as dangerous in the wrong hands.’

‘How did you uncover that?’

Farissa gave Wren a sideways glance. ‘We experimented.’

‘On each other?’ Audra gaped. ‘Farissa, you’re telling me you experimented with a drug you know nothing about, on a princess of Delmira?’

‘It was my idea!’ Wren interjected.