Page 24 of Lies That Blemish (The Ember War #3)

Valor

I thought I’d lost my innocence in the Wilds, but I was wrong. It was standing before my sister’s council of admirals as the interim empress that my childhood died. I’d never again be that slightly carefree girl who snuck out and stole cookies from the kitchen or thought of ways to prank Elaine. Young Valor was dead. Now, I had to become Aisling. Perfect strong Aisling. I’d never be as good as her, but I could try.

Commander Ledger read the note Kohen gave him with wide eyes, and then he peered over at me.

“I need to swear you in. Temporarily,” he said.

I nodded.

“She’s a child!” Admiral Caruso argued.

“Does she even have a power? She didn’t start boot camp yet. She’s untrained,” Admiral Blade growled.

My sister once told me that being empress was fifty percent confidence, fifty percent fake it until you make it. I was going to have to do that now.

“Are you questioning my eldest sister’s authority? Her judgment?” I asked Admiral Blade.

He shrugged. “Are you really going to lead us into battle, sweetheart? Are you even out of a training bra?”

Oh hell no.

Moving quickly, I pulled a small throwing knife from my waist and launched it at the admiral, skimming his ear.

The room erupted into shouts and gasps of surprise. Admiral Blade touched the blood droplet at his ear and peered at me with shock.

“You bi?—”

“I’d watch your tongue if I were you,” Kohen told him. “I’d like to take this time to remind the council that Empress Valor rides a Talanagi. Something none of you do.”

That made silence fall over the room.

As stressful as this was, I had to admit that Empress Valor had a nice ring to it.

“Why are you even here, Badshah?” Ledger asked Kohen.

“That’s King Badshah to you, Commander,” I reminded Commander Ledger, and his jaw ticced a little.

Kohen looked like he was trying to suppress a smile. “Because my wife asked me?—”

“Your what!?” I screamed, peering over at Kohen in shock.

The admirals in the room didn’t seem fazed by his comment, but I’d been blown back by it. Was he talking about my sister?

Kohen turned to me. “Aisling and I married in secret a few days ago.” Then he faced the admirals. “And I would do anything to protect her lands and people. Come to Imbria until we can figure out a plan to subdue Maxim and his bomb.” Kohen gestured to the letter, which I was guessing explained everything he was talking about.

“You would do anything?” Admiral Blade asked Kohen.

“Anything,” Kohen agreed.

The commander and Admiral Blade shared a look, and then the commander peered at Kohen. “Would you join Amersea again? One nation?”

“Yes. I believe that we are stronger together. We must join against Luska. I would be happy to unite our countries together again, but it won’t be like it was last time. Imbria won’t be fed scraps from the Fleet. We will build more bases in Imbria to beef up forces there. We will take Amersean tax money and rebuild all that you have bombed and broken and taken from us. Imbrians will be able to freely move to Amersea if they please, and vice versa. We will be seen as one, with Aisling and I ruling over it all together.”

The men bristled a little at that, but I thought it sounded beautiful and more than fair.

“That seems fair.” Admiral Caruso offered. “And if Luska has a bomb they plan to drop on Riverine, we should evacuate temporarily.”

The commander was skeptical of Kohen: “If I draft up everything you just said in writing, you would sign it today?”

Kohen nodded. “But I would ask that we wait to enact any measures until Aisling can go over the agreement as well to make sure she is happy with it.”

I inwardly swooned at how protective and caring he was being for my sister, even though she wasn’t here.

“Aisling may never come back again,” Admiral Blade said.

“She’s coming back,” Kohen growled. “I just haven’t figured out how yet.”

The room was silent for a moment, everyone lost in their thoughts.

“I will sign the agreement in Aisling’s place, with a clause that if— when —she returns and doesn’t like anything we have agreed upon, she can modify it,” I said. “Let’s get this bureaucracy over with and start the evacuation. I’d hate for innocent civilians to die while we are signing papers.” That got everyone moving.

People got up from the table and began moving to the edges of the room, taking out papers and huddling in the corners, whispering.

Kohen pulled me aside and gave me a small smile. “You did well. Aisling would be proud.”

I gave a nervous laugh. “Thanks. I felt like I was going to be sick talking to Admiral Blade like that.”

Kohen chuckled, but then his smile faltered.

I frowned, lowering my voice. “Have you seen Aisling come home? You know… with your gift?” I knew from his letter and what his brothers said in the Wilds that he could see the future. I was desperately hoping he’d seen Aisling come home.

He sighed, looking tortured. “Not yet. But… there are many paths that branch out in all different directions. I just need to find one that brings her home to me alive.”

My gut clenched at the word alive . Had he seen her brought home dead? I didn’t have the courage to ask.

“You see many outcomes?” I hadn’t thought that was possible, but now it made sense. We all made decisions every day, and each one might lead to a different world.

Kohen nodded. “But none of them show your sister…” He trailed off, and it felt like my heart stopped.

“What about sneaking in there? Just you, go through the Wilds like we did?—”

“I get killed. She stays Maxim’s prisoner. They have too many soldiers constantly watching for that. In the sky and on the ground.”

Dammit . No.

My mind raced. I wasn’t as good at strategy as Aisling, but I had played the same strategy games with Elaine. I just needed to think of something that?—

I perked up. “What if I created a distraction?”

Kohen seemed to consider it. “It would have to be a huge distraction, Valor, and I can’t condone you doing anything. Aisling would never forgive me if anything happened to you.”

“I’m not a child!” I snapped. “Not anymore. And it wouldn’t just be me. It would be the Fleet, which I’m in charge of until Aisling gets home.”

Kohen chewed the inside of his lip. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen that outcome.”

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe you have to trust, Kohen. You can’t wait for a vision to move in life. My sister could be dead by then. Just hear me out.”

He paled at that statement. “Okay. What do you have in mind?”

Aisling was going to kill me when she got home, but if she got home to yell at me, it was worth it.

“We draw their forces west,” I told him.

“West?” Kohen balked. “How are you going to get there? By boat? They’ll sink you before you can even pass the Wall. Amersea has never attacked from the west for that reason.”

I nodded. “But now we have over two dozen flying Talanagi. We draw them west while you sneak in from the east and save Aisling and Victory.”

Kohen’s mouth popped open. “No offense, Valor, but you and a bunch of untrained, barely bonded, not-even-sworn-into-the-Fleet-yet kids are going to lure the entire Luskin army west? It’s suicide.”

‘We could drop a bomb like you and Aisling did on the Red Palace in Luska,’ Zara said. ‘But on their west army base. It will draw all the attention.’

I relayed Zara’s idea to Kohen, and he reached up and rubbed his temples.

“It’s too dangerous.”

Another idea popped into my head. “What if I flew with Tetra? She could create a shield around our small group and protect us…”

I could see that he was warming to the idea.

“Kohen, are you really going to let Aisling marry that psycho?” I asked him.

He looked anguished. “Stars, I hope not. Okay. We’ll do it. But we have to convince the admirals. And we have to evacuate Amersea first because there will be retaliation.”

I peered at the admirals and nodded. “Leave them to me.” I might not be as powerful as Aisling, but I’d spent years learning the art of getting my way, and I planned to do that now. My eldest sister sacrificed a lot for us. I wasn’t about to let her marry the prime leader of Luska against her will.