Page 43 of What Fury Brings (Wrath and Fury #1)

I hear you’ve misplaced your heir. I might know where he is. I’m guessing my bedroom, but it’s also possible he’s visiting the baths. I’d have to check.

I found him wandering the streets of Medos and have taken the poor dear in.

He’s been my special guest for the past two months.

Now that I’ve had my fun, I’m prepared to give him back.

My generosity will cost you, though. I want Andrastus.

I’ll trade you a son for a son. Your heir for the spare.

This one’s a bit too rebellious for my tastes anyway.

Kindly collect your prince at your earliest convenience, but if you show up empty-handed, no deal.

Sincerely,

The better general, Olerra

Olerra gave the letter to a messenger with strict instructions to deliver it directly into the king’s hand. By then, her rooms were ready, and Olerra shut herself within. She kept a guard outside this time, in case Glen tried to force her way inside again.

Ydra came to visit Olerra that night, but Olerra told her she wanted to be alone. It was enough knowing that Ydra was there for her if she needed it.

Olerra didn’t know what she needed. She spent hours alone with her thoughts, but she was no closer to making anything feel better. How long would it be before the nobility sought her out to demand if it was true that she was Giftless?

Olerra sighed deeply and didn’t fall asleep until many hours later.

The knock came in the middle of the night.

At first, she thought it might be Andrastus.

Then she remembered that Andrastus was Sanos, and he wasn’t in the palace.

He was being held by the queen somewhere.

Her despair from earlier returned, but she tried to forget it as she threw on a robe.

Olerra rubbed the sleep from her eyes before turning the handle.

“What is it?” she asked.

Vorika, charged with Olerra’s personal spy network, stood before her. Olerra felt her stomach sink, fearing the news must be terrible if the woman risked waking her.

Olerra let her into the room before closing the door.

“It’s Atalius,” Vorika said. “You wished to be notified at once if there was any movement.”

“Go on.”

“He’s coming here.”

“To Zinaeya?”

“Yes. The king has rallied a force three times the size of what you faced at Shamire. Our spies say he’s coming for his son.”

Olerra woke all the way up at those words. Since she’d just delivered the note and it took a week to reach the Brutish capital, there was no possible chance this was a response to her words. And if her spy was already here, then that meant Atalius had decided to march days ago.

“How far behind you on the road is he?” Olerra asked.

“A couple of days at most, General.”

Olerra let out a mirthless laugh. “So curious that I receive word of Atalius’s march on the same day that my cousin learned my prince’s true identity.

” There was only one reason for it. “My crafty cousin. She has some nerve starting a war to further keep me from the succession. As if disclosing everything else wasn’t enough. ”

“General?” Vorika asked in confusion.

“It’s simple, really. Glenaerys decided to hurry up the succession battle between us.

She thought to inform Atalius that I’m the one who has his son to start a war.

To keep me busy. Yet in doing so, she learned that I nabbed the wrong prince.

” Olerra blinked slowly. “That’s why she decided to test if I had the Goddess’s Gift today.

She had a backup plan in place in case everything went horribly wrong. ”

Vorika took all the news in stride. Since the woman dealt in secrets, there was no need for Olerra to ask her to keep hers. She kept the woman well compensated.

“Are there any orders for me, General?”

“Keep watching. Have the spies send reports if anything changes. In the meantime, it seems I have work to do.”

Olerra strode to her closet and changed into fresh clothes and her leather armor. Her aunt said that she wasn’t in the market for a new general. Olerra would do her duty to the best of her ability until anything changed.

She had to get an early start on preparing the city for their guests.

Olerra woke her soldiers from their beds. Thick bells were struck, and the barracks emptied in under five minutes, as her women were trained to do.

Ydra was absent, as she was staying on her estate, but Olerra sent word to rouse her. She would arrive as soon as she could.

They were one thousand strong staying at the palace, training and preparing to be stationed throughout the kingdom. They all stood before her now, crammed into the training field, spears held upright, swords strapped to their sides, helmets donned. They awaited orders.

Olerra walked along the outside of their ranks as she spoke.

“Some news has started circulating about me. I don’t know what you’ve heard already, but let me set the matter straight. I was born without the Goddess’s Gift. My cousin recently deduced this and has started to spread the news like wildfire.

“So here is what you need to know. I am your general. The queen is not appointing anyone new. I have yet to be bested by any of you in combat. There is no man I’ve met on the battlefield who I have been unable to kill.

And while this all means that I may have lost all rights to the throne, as the nobility would never vote for me when the goddess has overlooked me—this does not make me any less of a formidable opponent to our enemies.

“King Atalius marches on Zinaeya. He will be here in a matter of days. We have work to do, but if there is anyone who is unable to do their jobs, now knowing my true nature, leave now, for I don’t have time to deal with dissent.”

She paused here. Ten seconds. Thirty. A minute.

Not a single soldier moved.

Olerra hid her relief. She may not be enough for those in the palace, but she had earned her place here in the training fields, putting women in the dirt, showing off her skills with the sword and whipblade.

She nodded to the crowd. “Good. Listen carefully for your assignments.”

They dug ditches outside the city walls, sharpened logs to points, and placed them carefully around the perimeter. The main gates were reinforced. They brought people from nearby cities within the walls so Atalius couldn’t hurt them on his march.

Zinaeya was already strategically built with large walls and larger towers throughout. Olerra walked the entire perimeter, looking for any weaknesses to reinforce.

At some point, Ydra showed up.

For the first few minutes, she was silent at Olerra’s side, looking over everything with a second pair of eyes. Around them, women were busy with shovels and axes, digging the trenches and sharpening stakes.

Ydra finally spoke. “He’s at my home. The queen asked me to keep an eye on him. Not sure if she’s more afraid of what you might do to him or what he might try.”

Olerra kept her voice emotionless. “I trust he hasn’t been too much trouble?”

“No. He’s keeping the boys company. They love having him around for some reason.”

Olerra kept a steady pace, not slowing or looking away from the walls. “It boggles the mind.”

“Yes, indeed.” Ydra stepped closer so their conversation was less likely to be overheard. “So would you like to discuss how we took the wrong prince or how to bury your cousin in one of these trenches so she’ll never be found again?”

“Talking won’t solve anything. Everything is shit.”

“Yes, Sanos told me everything that happened. Good thing, too. I would have hated to resort to torture.”

Olerra huffed a breath that might be mistaken for a brief laugh. “Torture? You? The gentle heart who saves little boys as a hobby?”

“The prince claims my presence is torture, so naturally I haven’t allowed him a moment’s peace without me there.”

It hurt to talk about him, but it would hurt worse not to know. Ydra was safe and wouldn’t judge, so Olerra dared to ask, “Has he said anything about me?”

“He talks of little else. He misses you. He wishes he could take it all back. He doesn’t want to leave Amarra. He wants everything to continue as is.”

“And is he hoping I will start a war simply to keep him? That I will ignore all sense and choose love?”

“I don’t think he’s thought that far ahead.”

Olerra found a crumbling brick in the structure up ahead. She called a worker over to see it replaced. “I have a kingdom to think of. I cannot put everyone in danger for him.”

“I know that. He knows that.”

“Then what does he want from me?”

Ydra tapped a hand on the pommel of her sword. “Maybe you should go talk to him.”

“I’m a bit busy.”

“Being a coward.”

No one else could get away with saying those words to her. Still, Olerra found her dominant hand tightening into a fist. “Careful,” she warned.

“You are being a coward, though. He now knows your secret. Everyone knows it, but you’re most concerned about him knowing it.

Because that means you can’t trust him to be around you.

What if now he takes advantage of knowing he can overpower you if he tries?

You’re still letting what happened to your mother control you. ”

Olerra let the words strike her skin and fall to the ground. “I already beat him. I’m not scared of him.”

“No? You’re not scared that now he knows everything, he might not want you?”

“It doesn’t matter, Ydra!” As some of the soldiers looked up from their work, Olerra lowered her voice. “He’s going home. I’m trading him for the real Andrastus. We’re stopping a war. That’s all I can do for my people now that I cannot rule over them.”

“There has to be another way. Something we haven’t thought of yet.”

“I never thought of you as a romantic.”

“I don’t think I was one until I watched you two.”