Page 16 of Tree of Ash (The Runic Saga #2)
Personal Bias
Anara
Anara analyzed the vein in Torsten’s forehead, wondering what it would take for it to actually burst. She leaned back in the seat next to Larissa, yet her body was as tightly wound as a grandfather clock.
“What do you mean, you don’t know the prophecy?” Torsten asked through clenched teeth.
Larissa raised her chin. “If you remember my mother, Torsten, you’ll remember she didn’t like talking about the prophecy. Not even to me.”
Torsten’s hands clenched upon the table.
Beside him, Halvor looked down, his eyes troubled behind his spectacles.
Even Speaker Skaei’s usual composure was lacking its normal serenity.
At his father’s side, Darien spun his sapphire ring around his finger, but Anara retained her predatory stillness, waiting to see which way the tide would turn.
Torsten exhaled sharply. “What did she tell you, exactly ?”
“Exactly?” Larissa shook her head. “Nothing. All I know is what I overheard or inferred over time. The Norn gave my grandmother the gift of the galdr but warned her that the peace between kingdoms wouldn’t last. Then the Norn prophesied to my mother that I would be the only one who could restore peace, but at a great cost. My mother feared that cost so much that she hid my identity from our people my entire life. That’s all I know.”
“It’s not enough,” Torsten muttered, glancing at the four empty chairs at the end of the table. “The council members will be here soon. They will want to be reassured that you can actually defeat Shiko before we risk open war.”
Politics , Anara thought bitterly. It was one of the many reasons she’d been glad to leave the Vienám the first time.
Larissa paled. “You promised if I rallied the Vienám that you would march on Perle and help me find Halla.”
“I’m not a dictator, Lovisa.” Torsten sat tall.
“The generals represent their people here in the Vienám. If they are not reassured, they may advocate to not march their people anywhere. Even if I were to force them, would you want unwilling soldiers forced to die for you? Is that the type of Queen you plan to be?”
Darien twisted toward his father. “So, we reassure them without telling them the whole prophecy. We tell them the Norn have sworn Larissa to secrecy.”
Anara tapped the ruby pendant that hung around her neck. “They already think Larissa has been living with the Norn for some time, and no one would want to argue against the goddesses of fate. It would work.”
Torsten glanced to his left. “Halvor, what do you think?”
Halvor removed his spectacles, wiping them against his shirt. “We’d be lying, Your Majesty. It would be a precarious way to start a war.”
“More of an omission than a lie,” Speaker Skaei added, her fingers pressed against one another.
The soft thumps of footfalls down the hall sounded in Anara’s ears. “Choose quickly, Torsten; the council members are nearly here.”
Seconds ticked by; the footsteps grew louder, though Anara knew only she could hear them. Torsten’s nostrils flared. “If they ask about the prophecy, I will answer their questions, but Lovisa”—his sharp eyes locked on Larissa—“Norn help you if you are unable to uphold your end of this war.”
Anara hissed under her breath just as the knock sounded at the door.
The incoming council members took their seats, oblivious to the conflict still lingering in the air.
Anara ignored Ishaan, who’d chosen the seat across from her, and met Darien’s gaze, her own frustrations reflected in his eyes.
Though Larissa accepted the greetings of the generals with a calm voice, Anara noticed the rapid rise and fall of her chest.
“Welcome.” Torsten pushed a large map toward the center of the table. “There is no time for pleasantries, so let’s get straight to it. Currently, we are situated in the middle of the five kingdoms . . .”
Anara’s eyes skimmed over the map she knew from heart, having traveled so much of it.
The Vienám was nestled deep at the center of the map surrounded by the Nordryggen Mountains on all sides—the only reason Anara had not discovered its existence earlier.
Diamant, Shiko’s commonwealth, resided in the top north segment, but Torsten ignored it along with Smaragd, which lay to the northwest, and Rubin to the northeast. He placed his finger on Perle, which was near the southwesternmost point.
“We will march on Lystheim first,” Torsten ordered. “The city of Perle is the least guarded and therefore the easiest to capture. We’ll need to locate her Regent swiftly, a man called Hammon. He’s ruthless enough to order his men to fight to the death even if it’s a losing battle.”
Anara knew of Hammon—more specifically of the gallows he used to string up the citizens that displeased him.
“If we depose him early on, we can end the fighting sooner and move the Vienám within its walls,” Torsten continued, walking his fingers to the neighboring commonwealth in the east. “From there, we advance on Safír. We’ll have two commonwealths under our control before Shiko is able to send reinforcements from Diamant or Rubin.
At that point, we will decide whether to take Smaragd or Rubin next, but the fight north will certainly become more difficult as Shiko realizes the strength of the Vienám.
I anticipate she will send her Regents and draugr s to wear us out long before she joins the fighting herself. ”
“With any luck, the False Empress will not truly see us as a threat at all,” Halvor added. “More than likely, she will remain in Diamant until we come to her and wait to strike us down then. She believes herself to be undefeatable.”
“That is where Princess Lovisa changes things.” Speaker Skaei inclined her head toward Larissa.
“The Norn predicted long ago that there would be an end to the peace, but that one would be able to set it right. That one is Princess Lovisa; it is why Shiko burned down half of Perle to try and find her.”
“It’s war we propose, gentlemen,” Torsten finished. “A bloody war, but with every chance of success.”
Anara’s blood thrummed at the idea. After decades of running, she was ready to hunt, but the council members’ faces betrayed their own hesitancy.
General Sture pulled at his large walrus mustache with such force, Anara wasn’t sure how it stayed on. “You mean for us to attack? Now ?”
Anara tilted her head toward the man. “Would you rather hide in the mountains for another few decades, General?”
“Princess Anara,” he addressed her, but his darting eyes would not meet her own. “It is not wise to fight unless one is certain of victory.”
“If I remember correctly, it was Smaragdians’ refusal to fight Shiko the first time that gave her the momentum she needed to claim Evrópa before.”
His expression soured. “I believe a good deal of Rubinian draugr also assisted in that process.”
“Exactly why I’m willing to pay our debts,” Anara bit out, ignoring the way Ishaan’s lips tightened at her words.
“ Now is the time,” Torsten broke in. “We waited because we didn’t believe we could win before. We can now.”
“Because of Princess Lovisa?” Ishaan asked. “I’m sorry, but I’m not familiar with the wording of this prophecy. How is she able to kill Shiko when so many others have failed?”
“Because the Norn have said so.” Torsten glared around the table. “They have commanded Princess Lovisa to withhold their prophecy for the time being”—he raised his hands at the instant protests—“and I am not one to argue with the goddesses of fate.”
An uneasy silence grew as none dared to counter the words of the Norn. Anara took small pleasure in their discomfort.
“Why Perle first?” General Aiko asked, scrutinizing the map. “Surely, if Your Majesty reclaimed Safír first, your people in the city would rush to your side, increasing our armies.”
“Are you insinuating that the people of Perle wouldn’t do the same for their lost Princess?” General Soren demanded, a vein bulging in his neck.
“Of course not,” Aiko answered with a wave of his hand. “But Perle is the weakest of the commonwealths; there is no tactical advantage to reclaiming a city filled with half-starved citizens. Many will be unfit for war.”
“General Aiko is not wrong, tactically speaking,” Ishaan agreed.
Halvor lowered his glasses, wiping them against his sleeve. “Generals. I, too, eagerly wish to reclaim Safír, to see if my family still lives, but sometimes there is more to our choices than personal wishes and tactics.”
Aiko scoffed. “But—”
Anara growled; she would rather go up against another draugr than listen to old men bicker for another moment.
“We’re wasting time. Perle might be the weakest in numbers, but it is also the least defended.
If that is not reason enough, General Aiko, King Torsten has made this promise to Princess Lovisa, and he can’t go back on it now. ”
Torsten’s face tightened. “I am well aware of our agreement, Princess Anara.”
“I hate to say it.” Aiko’s well-oiled voice grated against Anara’s ears.
“Though I feel someone must for the sake of the Vienám. Perhaps the Princess might consider releasing King Torsten from the agreement. Surely, Princess Lovisa must see that reclaiming a city filled with able fighters must take precedence over any personal bias.”
“You overstep, General.” Darien’s irritation was ill-concealed.
Though Aiko bowed his head, Anara heard the words he whispered against his chest. “Hardly any whiskers on his face, yet he scolds me.”
Larissa rose silently without show, but it was enough to silence the room. She flattened her palms on the table. “I am reclaiming Perle. My mind won’t be changed. If you have a problem with that, I will go myself with whoever will join me.”
Anara grinned openly in delight at Larissa’s threat . If she were to go, it was clear that the Vienám would be split in half, as many would follow her.
“Your people are ready, Highness,” General Soren chimed.