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Chapter 51

Role-playing

The days passed with alarming speed, but Tes made no attempt to grasp at them. Aside from being too busy, she wanted to face the pending confrontation more than she wanted to evade it. Only when her father was dead and the worst of the Centoi nobles quelled could she allow herself to embrace the joy she’d only permitted that one night with Ber. In the meantime, she did her best not to worry too much over her pregnancy.

Tomorrow, she and Ber would disguise themselves before going into the city to the one official portal into Centoi. It only traveled one way, allowing any civilians from Centoi to return to their country in peace. Toren had ordered it set to a city far from the border to give the innocent plenty of distance from the Llyalian army, but he’d also chosen that location for another reason.

It was only half a day’s walk to the forest where Lady Selesta waited.

After one final armor fitting, Tes had spent the afternoon with Speran. Now that he was napping, she found herself with a rare span of free time. So she followed her husband’s energy signature all the way up to the tallest tower in the palace. Thanksto her training, she wasn’t even winded by the long climb up, but Ber cast a frown her way when she stepped up beside him.

“I wish you’d rested instead of—”

“I’m fine,” she interrupted. “It helped my restlessness to come find you.”

With a resigned sigh, Ber turned back toward the window. “It’s been centuries since I’ve seen the like of that.”

Tes followed his gaze to a broad stretch of open ground outside the city. Even in the afternoon light, she could make out the glow of the massive portal that had been conjured beside the forest’s edge by the army’s mages. Silver glinted and flashed across the field, though, so she had to squint to make out the soldiers standing in formation as they awaited their turn to walk through the portal.

She’d heard the kings both reference the transport of supplies and warriors over the last few days, but the actual sight of it sent a hard lump plummeting to the pit of her stomach. This was no theory. No vague possibility. These troops would be crossing the border into Centoi, marching against her people. And this scene was being repeated all across Llyalia.

Would the border towns heed the warnings? Heralds had been sent to warn them that only supporters of King Ryenil’s terrible reign would be harmed, but misplaced loyalty might be a real problem. Her father had been king for millennia. Surely, her people would be torn by what to do.

As Tes frowned down at the Llyalian army, Ber slipped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “They’ll do their best to act with honor.”

“I know.” She let herself relax against her husband. “But I’m not sure how much support my father has along the border.”

“Very little, I would wager. In addition to the proclamation detailing the reasons for the broken truce, my brother also included a magical replica of some of Ryenil’s letters to DukeHesslefyn. Considering how much those towns rely on trade with Llyalia, I imagine they’ll be furious at your father.”

She tilted her head back so she could see Ber’s face. “A magical replica would require someone keyed to my father’s seal on the paper. I…” Her husband’s smirk answered what she hadn’t had time to ask. “Oh, of course. You were his heir after I was gone, so he would have given you access.”

“I couldn’t change his words or alter the paper in any way,” Ber said. “But I was allowed the right of reproduction. He grew paranoid about allowing his scribe to handle some of his proclamations.”

Tes laughed. “For once, his excessive caution is to our benefit.”

Silver rippled below as another line of soldiers stepped through the portal, dulling Tes’s humor. That her people had evidence of Ryenil’s perfidy soothed a little of her worry, but it didn’t stifle it all.Gods, let only the guilty be struck down by the warriors who invade Centoi,she prayed toward the sky.

But only time would tell if the gods were kind enough to listen.

The dim lightof the secret passages matched Ber’s spirits as he and Tes slipped out of the palace not long after dawn. His throat still burned from the tears he’d shed after bidding Speran goodbye, and the final words he’d exchanged with his brother hadn’t made him feel much better. There was no way to know if he’d fall in combat. The thought of never seeing his family again…

Tes’s hand wrapped around his. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“My messed up family is the reason for every estrangement you’ve had from yours,” she replied. “And now from Speran, too.”

With a soft snort, he shook his head at her. “Your family is mine now, if you’ll recall, and neither of us are responsible for what Ryenil has done.”

“I could tell that Toren didn’t want you to leave.”

“He didn’t want you to leave, either.” Ber peered at the edges of her profile, the starkness of her expression in no way softened by the dim light. “My brother worries for you as much as he does me.”

Tes frowned at him. “Did you tell him about the baby? I would have expected him to protest more if you had, but at the same time, he looked at me in the strangest way at times.”

“I did not, but I believe he guessed.” Ber hesitated. “When I first found out that you were keeping the pregnancy a secret, I was…distraught. I had to give him some reason, so I said you had an ailment.”

Her cough sounded suspiciously like laughter. “Anailment?Really?”