A wave of ice rocks crashed into me. This was the first confirmation that Medina hadn’t been truthful, and it didn’t bode well for our mission—the worst part was that Varga hadn’t registered that deception earlier. But was he looking for it in her aura hours ago? No, because it was only after she’d left that we’d discussed Riza, Herakles, and Eira’s suspicions about her…
“Excuse me?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
“She knows the locations of all seven sanctuaries. She spent years advocating for them. Medina toured each of them, making sure our biologists were doing a good job,” the emperor explained. “In fact, she has been making efforts to establish an eighth. I’ve been told that the rosy fish populations in the freshwater sanctuaries were thriving, thus making enough eggs to set up a new colony. She mentioned it herself, just the other day.”
Looking around the table, I could tell what everyone was thinking. Medina was a very good liar—expert enough to get past Varga’s True Sentry radar. She had exquisite control of her demeanor, and she measured her words carefully. She definitely couldn’t be trusted.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that she—” Eira tried to speak, but I quickly squeezed her wrist beneath the table.
“We must’ve misunderstood,” I said, wearing a flat smile. “I guess she was talking about precise coordinates, perhaps to help us, since she won’t be joining us.”
The emperor seemed blissfully unaware of her deceit, and I decided to let it stay that way, at least until we figured out what Medina’s endgame was. Of course, I had every intention of handing her over to the emperor once I got my answers. I just knew I wanted to let this play out for a little while longer before pulling the plug.
Lumi mouthed a “Why?” at me, and I replied with a discreet wink. “We’ll have time to go over the last details for tomorrow’s search mission after dinner,” I said. “In the meantime, I have to say, the food has been fantastic. Looking forward to dessert.”
The emperor laughed and rang the bell. Within seconds, four soldiers came in and cleared the table. One of them moved around with the wheeled dessert cart, from which he served us. Tonight’s specialty resembled a layered cake, in delicious shades of pink, pale yellow, and white, the top adorned with a plethora of local fruits.
“The whole crew is with you on this,” Eira whispered to me, “but you have to explain your decision later. Most importantly, you can’t leave the emperor blind here. Make it right.”
The grave look in her eyes made me realize that she was right. She wasn’t the only one with this concern, either. I could handle any of Medina’s machinations, now that I knew she was up to something. The emperor, on the other hand, was still vulnerable, and everyone in my crew seemed to know it, as they shot me some of their more meaningful glares.
“Your Majesty,” I said, my spoon slicing through the soft dessert, “would you mind if I asked you something?”
The soldiers were already gone, having finished the dessert service. Emperor Tulla nodded, occasionally eyeing his plate. His serving was definitely appealing enough to make it harder for him to concentrate. It was equal parts funny and adorable—a side of him I hadn’t seen before. “Of course, son. Talk to me,” he replied.
“Can you please not tell Medina about this whole rosy fish confusion? There’s something we need to look into, first.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your Majesty, just… be careful,” I said, smiling. “Let us keep this entire conversation to ourselves, for everyone’s sake.”
“What are you trying to tell me? Spit it out already,” he replied, getting visibly impatient. I didn’t like where this conversation was going, and I regretted bringing it up in the first place. I’d wanted to please Eira and the crew on this, but it was clearly making room for difficult questions, since it was far too early to point fingers at Medina. We’d already ruined the career of one prime minister. We couldn’t keep knocking them down without solid proof. All I had now was purely circumstantial, and I didn’t want to worry the emperor.
“I’m not looking to make any accusations.” I sighed, feeling the crew’s eyes on me. Their silence on this was much appreciated. I’d sort of dug myself into this, and I had to make my way back to the surface as quickly and as smoothly as possible. “I’m just kindly asking that we don’t mention the rosy fish sanctuaries to Medina. That is all. Could you, please, just trust me on this?”
The emperor stared at me for a while, and I could hear the wheels in his head turning, ever so slightly, as he pondered a response. I didn’t need Varga’s True Sentry abilities to know that he was curious. He was dying to ask more questions, but I’d made it relatively clear that I wasn’t ready to answer any of them. I’d asked for his trust, instead. That had to count for something.
Emperor Tulla was extremely intelligent and had the purest of intentions. He’d met all kinds of people during his lifetime, and I was sure that Medina’s possible betrayal or shady machinations wouldn’t have come as a shock. Nevertheless, these were special circumstances. The endgame was far too precious for us to get embroiled in Cerixian politics again. Most importantly, I needed to get more dirt on Medina before I could tell the emperor everything.
He smiled with his lips, but not with his eyes. “I appreciate your thoughts and concerns, young prince. And worry not, you have my trust. I will do as you asked,” he said. I could almost hear the collective sigh of relief around the table, along with the throng of future questions that my crew would ask me—most involved a lot of cursing, for sure. They didn’t oppose me in front of the emperor, but they were bound to confront me later, in private, about my decision to not elaborate on Medina’s deceit.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” I replied. My palms were sweaty, feeling as though I’d just defused a highly complex bomb.
“You know, Medina might come across as shrewd,” the emperor said. “Perhaps even manipulative. But she is a loyal servant of the empire. I will be careful, as you advised, and I agree that it may be too early to make any accusations regarding her. I appreciate your diplomacy on this. Good to see you understand that indisputable evidence is a better weapon than one’s suspicions.”
Oh, there was so much to unpack in that statement. It was as if he’d read my mind and agreed with me, against my own crew, even. He had made a good point. Medina was definitely slippery and calculated, and yes, she’d lied about the rosy fish sanctuaries… but it definitely wasn’t enough to even formulate a solid accusation. I needed more, and Emperor Tulla seemed to know it.
No wonder he’d been leading an entire empire for years. He was remarkably measured in his judgments and responses. I had a lot to learn from this guy. Hopefully, we’d stop the ritual, and I’d arrange a few more visits to simply pick his brain. Emperor Tulla’s wisdom was a high-value asset, no doubt about it.
One quick look at the table, and I knew that the rest of the crew had caught on, too, without me having to explain it later. The way the emperor had chosen his words had made it quite clear: Don’t accuse without indisputable proof. They didn’t like it any more than I did, but they accepted it. We all took comfort in knowing he’d received our message about Medina, and left it at that, choosing to focus on the dessert instead.
We had a big day ahead of us tomorrow. I was better off planning for it, thinking about it, anticipating every single detail or obstacle, anything that could possibly go wrong in our search for Eirexis. No one would stand in our way—that much I’d already established with myself. Not Brendel, not the other Hermessi, and certainly not Medina, if that was her intention.
Amelia
Dinner ended quickly after that conversation. We took a few minutes in private with Taeral to discuss the whole Medina business, but the emperor had already made Taeral’s intentions clear, without Taeral having to explain anything. His wisdom was awe-inducing, if he’d been able to realize Taeral’s intentions before all of us.
The facts were pretty straightforward. We knew that Medina had lied about the rosy fish sanctuaries—she did know where they were, and she could’ve told us straightaway, but she hadn’t. She’d made us wait, instead, pushing us into the next day to start our search operation, for a variety of reasons, all cited as safety precautions.
We couldn’t exactly point the finger at Medina, as Taeral had later explained in more detail. It was too early in the game to oust her—that had to wait until we knew what she was up to. Right now, Medina was more or less in her element, and she was planning something. By keeping this knowledge to ourselves, we could work a sting operation into our overall mission, and we could surprise her later down the line. Something was bound to come our way, something dangerous and even deadly, and chances were that Medina could be involved.
With that advance knowledge, we could think several steps ahead and play smarter. We’d gather enough evidence to make a proper accusation, knowing that the emperor would act against her, swiftly and with no mercy whatsoever. If we went after her now, we risked some messy internal politics, and we didn’t know enough about the Cerixian justice system to get involved and succeed in our endeavor. Irrefutable proof, on the other hand, could pass in any world and in all the courts. It was universal in its veracity.
And so, with Medina unaware of the thinly veiled conversation we’d just had with the emperor, we made our way back to our rooms and prepared for the morning. My room was warm and cozy, and the bathroom had a cute little gift basket filled with fragranced soaps that smelled of mountain summers and tropical jungles. Naturally, I’d made full use of them, soaking for the better part of an hour. I needed the downtime, badly, especially knowing what sort of fresh hell we’d be in for the next day.
This was my pause before the true fight. The last few hours of much-deserved peace before we’d go out and sneak into Hermessi territory to retrieve Eirexis. None of us thought it would be a smooth ride. We all knew the elementals would be waiting for us in the right place, and that they would stop at nothing to end us before getting Thieron complete and back to Death. All we could do, in these circumstances, was to be sharp-witted and invisible, swift and effective. Every second mattered. Every ally mattered—which was why unmasking Medina’s objectives had become so important. She was posing as our friend, yet she’d lied to us.
As soon as I left the tub and wrapped myself in a large and fluffy pale blue towel, I had a brief conversation with Viola through Telluris. She brought me up to speed on some of the latest developments in The Shade, including the fact that they’d moved all the affected fae into the Calliope sanctuary, to make our island complex safe for the Hermessi children. Derek and Sofia were busy with the logistics, quietly reaching out to and interviewing supernaturals for the extraction mission. On Neraka, Harper, Caspian, Fiona, and Zane were plotting their scheme to help Ramin recover his Hermessi power by stripping his son of his elemental heritage. It sounded rather simple, but it was crazy and dangerous.
Then again, everything related to the Hermessi was crazy and dangerous.
“Gah, I really hope they know what they’re doing,” I mumbled, drying my hair with another towel in front of the vanity mirror in my bedroom. Fortunately, there wasn’t much to work with, as I was left with a short and spiky platinum-blond mess. I’d have to comb and style it at some point, but the heating pipes emanated enough warmth from the massive furnaces that heated the palace that all I could think of was curling up in bed and sleeping till morning. “Then again, we barely know what we’re doing.”
Truth be told, we’d been winging it from day one, but our instincts had yet to fail us. Nothing ever stayed the same with the Hermessi—as their powers increased with the number of affected fae, so did their ability to attack, hurt, and even kill us. Death and the Reapers were still a huge bleepin’ mystery, and we had no idea how long before the five million mark would be hit, for the Hermessi’s ritual. There were more unknowns in our future, but the few facts we did have were indubitable.
Our worlds could end. Our lives could come to a sudden halt, en masse. And the only thing that could stop it all was a scythe that had been dismantled and scattered across the dimensions. In other words, we were screwed.
“But not dead yet,” I added.
A knock on the door startled me. I jumped from my chair in front of the vanity mirror and walked over to answer it. As soon as I opened the door, however, I found myself wondering—who’d knock, to then run off before I could answer?
Glancing up and down the hallway, I couldn’t see anything. There was no one else out there. A familiar scent tickled my nostrils, though. Eva and Herakles had caught it earlier, as well. “Skit,” I whispered. “What the hell are you up to, buddy?”
Taeral had asked about Skit during dinner with the emperor, who’d said that the faithful soldier was now a permanent fixture in the palace detail. If we’d yet to see him, we would soon enough. “He’s bound to show up at some point,” Medina had added, smiling. “Skit is always running around with errands and orders from the emperor.”
I was inclined to believe that, though I’d lost my trust in Medina. The emperor had confirmed it. So, Skit was out here, somewhere. He’d gotten close enough to say hello, yet he’d hidden from our sight. “Why?” I wondered out loud.
My gaze dropped, and I stilled. Something had been left on the floor, right in front of my doorway. I crouched and picked it up—a ring, made of gold and fitted with a flat, dark green gemstone. Two letters had been engraved on its surface, but I didn’t recognize them beyond their Cerixian origin. I’d yet to learn their old language.
Someone had brought this to me. “Why?” I asked myself again. “Lots of whys coming out of my mouth, these days…”
Could this be some kind of message, perhaps? My mind, ever the agitated and multifunctional scoundrel, immediately began drawing multiple scenarios regarding the ring’s origins. They all seemed like the stuff of fiction, until I compared them to everything we’d endured, thus far. Then, they all became possibilities. It was only a question of finding the truth about this ring.
Instinctively, I stood up and walked across the hallway. I knocked on Raphael’s door, knowing he’d want to see this object, too. As soon as he opened the door, his gaze couldn’t focus on the ring, even as I showed it to him. Instead, it bounced around, darkened and aroused, confusing me.
“Someone left this at my door,” I said. “What? What is it?” I added, trying not to roll my eyes at him, given his blatant lack of focus.
“I’m not sure you’re aware, but you’re not wearing anything except that towel,” he replied, his voice low and gruff and sending shivers down my spine.
