Their first day of travel was far from ideal. Though it was significantly better than the previous eighteen months, which was saying something. Azutan did not receive nearly as much hostility as she had anticipated from the soldiers of the other six kingdoms. They grudgingly cooperated, now that they knew they were under the direct rule of the king and not just the orders of an arrogant princess. Azutan did not really see the difference—they were prisoners either way—and she did not particularly care, especially after she had sent Sin to soothe their delicate egos.

On the other hand, the soldiers from her own brigade were plenty indignant. They were outright furious with the fact that they had to leave home again so quickly, and they were still seething after Azutan had told them they couldn’t bring their families. It was to make traveling more efficient and to shorten their time spent away from Ares, but the soldiers wouldn’t see it that way. She didn’t mind. She did not care to accommodate them when they had no choice but to obey.

Azutan sat on her cot, a map in one hand and a pack of dried beef shreds in another. The summer heat filled her tent with a musty, unclean smell. She hated the heat. Winter cold, at least, could be solved with a few extra layers of coats. During the summer, however, due to public image, she was forbidden from wearing those light dresses and chemises the commoner girls sported. Instead, she was forced to sweat in a general’s uniform.

She scrutinized the map as she munched on her snack. Sin had wanted her to determine the order of the kingdoms they would be visiting by the next morning. He had suggested that they start with the strongest of the kingdoms and then work their way through their neighbors. Azutan considered the idea but had a feeling this plan would take too long. Vulcan, the most influential kingdom, would be on the other side of the continent, and reaching it would take nearly four months of travel. Her soldiers would be tired, and morale would be low. She preferred starting with the weakest kingdom and working their way to the top, meaning their next destination would be Hades. It would cut down their travel time by half and give them time to constantly restock on supplies. They would also be traveling in a pleasant crescent moon shape that led them back to Ares at the end of the journey, only taking a month to reach each kingdom’s capital.

She tossed the map away and poured the rest of the beef pieces into her mouth. Then she extinguished her lantern light with a ruthless puff of air and retired to her cot. A proper general would have stayed late into the night making mental preparations for her mission, but tonight, she couldn’t be bothered. Tonight, she was the princess who was chased out of her own kingdom within a month of returning from a two-year departure, the girl who never wanted a military career or the title of Ares’ heir that came soon after it.

General Azutan knew that she could never truly go back to the life of Azutan the girl. From the moment the king chose her for the throne instead of her younger brother, she had already lost the right to choose.

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The next morning, they prepared to set out again. Though Sin clearly had some worries he was not expressing fully to her, he agreed to her plan of visiting the weaker kingdoms first. The two of them then started their daily routine by checking in on the rest of the war camp. Sin was the one who talked to the prisoners, solely for the fact that he didn’t trust the idea of Azutan having an exchange with them without saying something to offend them. But it was just as well. She suspected they had taken a liking to him, despite their predicament. Sin was an effortlessly likable person.

Unlike herself, it appeared.

“…overbearing little—”

Azutan paused outside the barrack. The soldiers inside roared with laughter.

“I wonder how she ever won the throne from her brother?” a woman’s distinctively sharp voice spoke.

“Well, we can’t exactly blame her. The king’s judgment must be getting impaired. Not to mention his vision.” There was another bout of laughter. “Who would ever think that the proud and mighty princess would treat her own soldiers this way?”

Azutan’s eyesight dimmed as her pulse roared by her ear. There was no one who dared to speak about her father in this way. No one because they had never escaped her wrath once she found them.

“Shut up!” a voice said nervously. “If the princess learns of this, who knows what she’ll—”

“How would she hear of this?” asked another, affronted. “It’s before the crack of dawn, not even the officers are up yet…” Nevertheless, those in the barrack began to lower their voices until Azutan could barely perceive them.

Azutan didn’t listen to the rest. She had already stalked off. Strangely, her cheeks had reddened, and she almost felt…upset. A proper general would have marched in there and administered the appropriate punishments to those who had spoken ill of the royal family. But there was work to be done, and a journey to Hades to make. She made a mental vow to punish those insolent soldiers another day and carried on with her duty.

For lunch, Azutan headed over to Sin’s tent to debate war tactics, a pastime they had shared since Azutan was a clueless child in the military. Though for the past nine years, she noticed their discussions gradually shifting from topics of war to the governing of a kingdom. It amused her how she had not noticed Sin’s influence until it was too late. If she had been much sharper when she was thirteen, she would have realized that her father had much higher ambitions for her than some general in the military during times of peace. By now, Sin’s debates had taught her all that they could, so they were only a means to sate her boredom.

“Hello, Azutan,” Sin greeted her as she settled down onto the thick rug in his tent. “I trust that everything has been running smoothly?”

“Yes,” she answered curtly. Sin took the hint and didn’t ask more. “What are we discussing today?”

“Ah,” said Sin. “The thing is, Princess, I had wanted to put off our usual debates for today and start talking about the status of the kingdoms we’re about to make peace with.”

“Oh.” Her voice didn’t betray any of the disappointment she felt. “Fine.”

“Now,” he began, sitting down across her with an armful of papers, “we first need to figure out how we’re going to deal with the…backlash.”

Azutan must have made a petulant expression somewhere between discomfort and irritation because Sin gave a sigh. “Princess, you are fully aware that your so-called ‘conquering of the continent’ is a half-truth at best and a blatant lie at worst. What you did was march into each kingdom, throw their government into complete disarray, capture a few important people to use as leverage, and waltz back home so that your government can clean up your mess.”

“And it worked really well,” Azutan replied defensively.

“Indeed,” Sin sighed. “It really was quite impressive. However, you need to understand that this time, it won’t be as easy. The kingdoms are preparing for a confrontation, and this time, you are in a position with everything to gain or everything to lose. Righting your wrongs will be an arduous process. Azutan, you must be careful in building your reputation as the next ruler of Ares.”

She scowled. She could not say she cared about maintaining appearances for her kingdom. The Areans were creatures of war, and the rest of the kingdoms all knew that. Only recently had Ares entered into a period of tranquility, and even then it was becoming clear that Ares was not about to turn into a peaceful kingdom overnight. Already the Areans were feeling the costs of refraining from plundering the coastal villages and the islands scattered throughout the bay. Hence why establishing good relationships with the other kingdoms who were much more self-reliant through peaceful means was so important to her father. Sin and her father, two people whom she respected above all else, were so set on reaching a state of interdependence among the Seven Kingdoms when conquering the entire continent was fully attainable. It hurt her head just to try and understand them.

“Though there is some good news,” Sin continued. “Your father has considered your need for some backup and has requested that your brother join you in your mission. He is currently in Hera and will meet up with us once we reach there.”

Azutan could hardly consider that good news. Her mood darkened.

The royal family was a piece of work. Her father, King Tyrannus, was a kind and respectable man. Though he was a virtuous ruler now, it did not mean he was always one in the past. Only a few years ago, when Ares was still attempting to expand its territory to the far east, right where the lush fields met the roaring sea, people would only ever praise his unyielding strength and fear his displeasure.

Her mother, Queen Lydia, was clever and witty with her husband and favorite staff members in the palace, manipulative during her years in the Court that were thankfully long past, and completely neglectful of her children. Or rather, child.

Vince, her younger brother by two years, was very obviously the spawn of their mother and suffered no mistreatment from her. In the past, he followed behind Queen Lydia like a tiny shadow almost as much as he did with Azutan. He even followed her into Court during the times she actually participated in politics. It was undoubtedly where most of the tricks and schemes that he still implemented liberally to this day.

Having Vince at her side would be similar to having a scorpion in her boot. To make matters worse, Sin trusted him wholeheartedly, and he would always chastise Azutan when she expressed her misgivings about her younger brother. It was likely Sin expressing guilt for supporting Azutan on her unintentional path to the throne when it was clear to the entire kingdom which sibling wanted it more. Suddenly the scorpion had life insurance.

Though she had to admit he could be a great help. Unlike his sister, Vince did not possess the skill to make a room full of people despise him upon first meeting.

“Princess?” Sin prompted.

“Right.” She had spaced out. “I’ll have one of my scouts relay a message to him today, I suppose.”

“Are you and your brother still not on good terms yet?” Sin probed.

“I didn’t realize you had been waiting for us siblings to fix ourselves into a decent family,” Azutan snapped. “Unfortunately, you might have to wait a bit longer. Perhaps a good few years after my coffin has been lowered into the ground.”

Sin sighed, very accustomed to hearing her say similar things over the years.

“When are we reaching Hades?” Azutan asked, hoping to get back to the topic at hand.

“Three weeks until we reach the outskirts, at the pace we’re moving,” noted Sin. “Shall I arrange for us to speed up?”

“That would be helpful,” said Azutan, thinking of her soldiers. The less time they spent on the treacherous mountainous terrain on their way to Hades, the happier everyone would be. “Should we be expecting any resistance—er, hostility—from the Hadish once we arrive?”

“Naturally, seeing as you managed to give them quite a scare two winters ago. But I doubt we’ll encounter a conflict on the scale that you have in mind. The most they can do is send their urchins to pickpocket us.” Sin seemed amused at the thought.

It did seem a little ridiculous to expect a revolt from them. Unlike the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, Hades was really just a city-state. Not only was it the smallest kingdom, it was by far the most corrupt. Azutan despised the state of Hades. The whole place was overrun by thieves and criminals. The king himself was a mere figurehead barely capable of ruling over a group of toddlers, much less a kingdom. The merchants were the true rulers of Hades, the Four Great Merchants most of all, and Azutan had often thought that the reason they had not taken the throne yet was because none of them could care less to fight over the crown. It was shocking how no other kingdom had seized it yet—if any of them could even be bothered to do so. Though however much Azutan looked down upon Hades, she did enjoy the company of one individual Hadish.

“I’m going to stop at Hades for a few extra days,” she decided. “I want to try and find Saleisha.”

Sin rubbed his chin. “The orphan? What did she do to you?”

“Nothing,” Azutan felt a little offended. “We’re friends.”

Sin raised an eyebrow.

Azutan gave him a cool glare. “And? What about the rest of the kingdoms?”

“Bacchus, Demeter, Hera, Venus, and Vulcan,” Sin carefully arranged his papers onto the rug. On each one was a map of the respective kingdom’s capital city and a few of Sin’s detailed notes. “The ones we have to worry about the most are Vulcan and Venus. Their societies are far too progressive to accept us easily. They could very well maintain the status quo and stand independent from the rest of the kingdoms without bringing any harm to themselves. Our worst-case scenario would be if either of them—or heaven forbid, both of them—decided to declare war on Ares. Venus has an abundance of wealth; any Veni there could contend with the Four Great Merchants of Hades. It is also the kingdom that unified the currency of the Seven Kingdoms and is the only one permitted to mold irons. And no one knows what kinds of technological breakthroughs Vulcan has made in the past ten years since they’ve been keeping quiet. You have made a lot of powerful enemies, Princess.”

Azutan didn’t hear the last point; instead, she was too busy noticing the way Sin spoke of the kingdoms, almost as if he were at war.

“I plan on talking my way through Hades, Bacchus, and Demeter,” Azutan replied. “As for the rest, I might need your and my brother Vince’s help. I want to forge alliances that will give us an edge. A few pretty words won’t make that happen.”

Sin chewed over this. “I…understand what you mean. However, I must remind you again that your father does not wish for us to use methods of exploitation.”

“I know that,” said Azutan, annoyed. “But I’m not even conquering anything this time. And this is me we’re talking about. What more could you want? A few flowers for your birthday?”

Sin sighed heavily. “I’m afraid I’m a bit too old for flowers.”

“We should get moving now,” Azutan said, ignoring him. “If we want to reach Hades in a reasonable amount of time.”

“Very well,” Sin agreed reluctantly. Azutan knew that his mind was rapidly thinking up ways he could dissuade her from her habits of forceful diplomacy the next time they spoke.

Just before riding out, Azutan sent for her personal scouts and messengers. They were her most trusted men and women, held in almost as high a regard as Sin and most certainly above her soldiers.

“I have a job for you all,” she said as they lined up before her, clad in their luxurious pine green uniform.

“Anything, Princess,” replied the lead scout, Talis, a Vulcan man twice her age.

“I want a team of at least six messengers to run letters back to Ares,” said Azutan. She paced around the dry forest ground and stopped beside a bush of drooping roses. “Tell them to find us at our war camp next to Hades—make sure to include coordinates.

“I want another team to scout out Hades for me. Following this meeting, you will go to Sin, and he will tell you the details.

“As for my last assignment…The rest of you will be tasked with keeping tabs on my soldiers. Any running off at the mouth, any hint of a conversation that undermines me, or Sin, or even one of my own scouts, and you have my permission to punish them as you see fit. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir!” The group saluted her, all looking very pleased. They all enjoyed their jobs, Azutan knew, and would give up a heap of iron instead of returning to soldier life.

“Everyone is dismissed.” As her scouts all dispersed from the clearing, she stooped down to pluck a rose stem from the rest. Though it was not a rare breed, Sin would appreciate it all the same.

And so, for the entirety of the next two days, Azutan and her brigade of soldiers traveled the rest of the way to Hades. Their first sign of nearing the city was the thinning of the forest, which eventually gave way to open grassland, then valleys and sights of seabirds, until finally they arrived at the eastern borders of Hades.

From her vantage point on a hill an hour away from the outskirts of the city, Azutan could easily see that Hades was a mess. The buildings and houses were short, perhaps only two or three stories tall, nothing like the magnificent architecture of Ares, or really any other kingdom. Several structures were evidently worn and neglected, even from where she stood. The air quality was terrible; she counted eight smoke spirals with a single cursory glance alone. She could smell it too—the whole city stank from the greedy merchants and the results of their immoral treatment of the lower class.

“Set up camp,” she ordered her lieutenants. “No need to try and hide it. If the Hadish find us, they find us. They can’t do much to us anyway.”

Her lieutenants saluted her, then scurried off to carry out her orders.

“News, Princess.” She did not hear Sin approach. “Your scouts have returned.”

“Excellent.” She unmounted her horse. “Have them sent to my tent. After a quick dinner, we can set out under the cover of darkness.”

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Azutan was a somewhat lax general, evident in the fact that she didn’t have a proper meeting tent—people were just invited into hers. Bending the rules helped when you were a princess, of course. She also had fairly close relationships with her hand-picked men and women (each of them had made her smile at least once in her life) and was not unkind to them. However, it did not mean respect and distance were thrown out the window during the conversations. Her soldiers, her underlings, were not her friends. No, Azutan only had a handful of those.

“Report.” Lacking any wooden tabletops to rap her knuckles on, Azutan opted for the side of her ceramic bowl.

“Yes, General Azutan!” Talis stood. Even at his full height which was a head above hers, he wouldn’t be able to touch the ceiling of her tent if he stretched out his arm.

“Sit down.”

He sat back down hurriedly, then began: “Nine men reached Hades just before sunrise a day ago. We were able to find information on the state of the city, the recent activity of the lording merchants, and, er, possibly the whereabouts of the young thief, Saleisha.

“The Hadish are more or less carrying on fine despite the fact that we, ah, conquered them. The ones who are nervous are the merchants. Trade has been halting for them. The other kingdoms don’t have time to deal with them now that they’re preparing their counter-strike on Ares. Their debts are piling up and their reputation is sinking. The merchants fervently fear for the future of their wealth.”

“Undoubtedly,” said Sin, nodding.

“And what of Saleisha?” asked Azutan.

“Ah. We were residing in an inn at the heart of the city the previous night when, er, we were robbed. Half of our iron, all gone. And all of us slept right through it. The only reason we found out that someone had stolen in at all was because one of us opened the pantries and—”

“Let me guess,” Azutan sighed. “You found your socks in your beef packets.”

“Er, not exactly, General. There were about a hundred live spiders in there. It was…” Talis struggled to find the right word for the trauma he had experienced.

Sin raised an eyebrow. “Why, she’s stepped up her game.”

Azutan set down her bowl, her appetite diminished by the arachnid prank. “It’s a good thing Saleisha is already aware of our presence in Hades—she’ll pay me a visit once she feels like it. Oh, and I nearly forgot. Are the chests and the scouts in position…?”

“Yes, sir. Thankfully, the thief was not present early enough to steal those.”

“Excellent.” Azutan stood. “Well, if that’s all, Sin and I will be heading out now. Enjoy your evening, Talis.”

They stepped out into the night. The air was chilly and a bit stale. There was a slight breeze coming in from the direction of the sea, bringing the smell of dead fish and copper. Azutan wrinkled her nose. There was a reason why she had stayed far, far away from the Arean navy and had picked the military instead.

They found their Hadish prisoner waiting a few feet away, as if afraid to step near her tent. He and Sin greeted each other politely. Azutan chose to ignore him. As the son of one of the four most powerful merchants of Hades and the heir to his mother’s fortune yet with none of her skill, the man did not win many favors with Azutan.

“Shall we go?” asked Sin grandly, gesturing toward the seaside city.

“Oh, yes.” Azutan gazed down at the city of Hades. “This will be a very fun night.”

The trio started down the hill.

No sooner had they reached the edge of the city were they surrounded by five masked figures, each bearing knives, hatchets, and no doubt more sharp objects beneath their belts. Sin’s twin revolvers were out in an instant. Their Hadish prisoner whimpered and cowered behind Sin. Azutan did the same, though with much more dignity.

“Princess, did you not bring any weapons?” Sin spoke in a low voice.

“Beg pardon, but what would I use them for?”

He sighed. “You can at least try to look threatening.”

“And get stabbed in the eye two seconds later?”

“Friends!” A female voice boomed, and the speaker held out her arms invitingly. “We wish you no harm! We’re only looking for a bit of money, is all. Kindly give up all your iron, and we’ll let you continue on your way.”

“Alas, I don’t think any of this is necessary.” Sin brandished his pistols. “You won’t find any money on us. We’re only wasting each others’ time.” He didn’t notice Azutan frantically shaking her head at him.

“No money?” one of the thieves laughed. “Oh, I’m sure we can get a profit out of you. Your guns and the lady’s cloak will be able to pay our suppers three nights in a row. Now, we can settle this quietly if you just—”

“Hold it.” Azutan stepped in front of Sin, dragging the sniveling Hadish merchant by his lapel. She shook him harshly, letting his hood fall and revealing his face. A few of the thieves gawked at him. “Know who this is?”

There was a silence as they failed to place a name to his face and instead took in his fine clothes which had been hidden underneath his cloak. Really, they only consisted of a tunic, a coat, and a pair of breeches borrowed from Sin’s wardrobe in haste. Expensive, sure, but nothing resembling the finery of true royalty. Thankfully, the street thieves didn’t know this.

“This is the son of the richest man in the city—Tresvar Calvo’s boy. Lay one finger on this man,” asserted Azutan in her most commanding voice, “and the city watch will be after you like hounds on a blood trail.”

They shuffled nervously.

“Any of you willing to be on the run for the rest of your life just because you were greedy for a little iron?”

“The yellow-eyes could be bluffing,” one of them muttered.

She turned the full weight of her gaze on him. “Am I?”

Their gazes slid from her to the man, then back again, and by some unspoken agreement, they backed away into the shadows of the nearby alleys.

“Now that was fun.” Azutan flipped her hood up.

“Er, Princess,” said the merchant in a meek little voice. “I’m not actually the third son of Tresvar C—”

“Oh, I’m aware. Aren’t merchants supposed to be more intelligent than this?”

Sin coughed into his fist, and Azutan grudgingly began to walk again, this time at a more brisk pace. They headed straight for the heart of the city, passing beggars, thieves, and a dozen more pairs of eyes peering from the shadows.

Azutan knit her brows together as they passed. The people in Hades were hopeless; it was a problem not even money could resolve. There was no lead an honest life, and there was little anyone could do for each other. Those who had the slightest edge above the others did not hesitate to prey upon them. The luckiest Hadish were the ones who managed to leave the kingdom. Independence, distrust, manipulation…perhaps Azutan was a hypocrite for scorning the kingdom of Hades. Ares would easily deteriorate to such a state if she ruled.

“Through here, Princess.” Sin beckoned to her, and she hastily followed him through a narrow empty street.

“Why are we using this path?” Azutan glanced up. Between the rooftops of two short buildings, she could see the looming gray wall that separated the rich from the poor.

The merchant surprised her by answering. “There’s a faster entrance through the wall if you’re one of the Four or their family.”

Azutan narrowed her eyes. “That seems too convenient. If this is a trap—”

“Now, Princess.” Sin shot her a warning look. “What could Master Larsold possibly gain from harming us? We have your troops waiting just a few miles away. If we leave for too long without a word, they will send people after us. So if anything, Master Larsold and the entirety of Hades should be careful with how they treat us.”

Sin’s voice was smooth and amiable but the merchant was positively sweating by the time he concluded his point with a tight-lipped smile.

But she didn’t drop her guard, not even after the merchant led them safely through the wall. Here among the people who had become thoroughly familiar with trampling others to achieve their goals was where caution became a necessity.

Here were the rich and powerful, or at least, what passed for it in Hades. Despite that, the merchants still posed more of a threat than Azutan and Sin did, which vexed Azutan greatly. The last time she had been here, less than two years ago, she had simply swarmed the city with her soldiers, kicked down the door to the Merchant’s Chamber, and made enough pretty threats to compose a song with. She had also kidnapped Mistress Larsold’s son beforehand, which restrained the merchants’ hands considerably. But this time, her options were limited. The Hadish could arrest her, put her on trial, but she couldn’t very well threaten to obliterate the kingdom.

Things are so much easier, she reflected, when one doesn’t have to worry about playing the good guy.

The three of them took off their outer cloaks and coats to reveal the somewhat formal clothes they wore underneath. Something Azutan had noticed about the Hadish upper-class was that they dressed somewhere between well-paid servants and low-ranking nobility. She would rather die than tell anyone this, but she rather liked the comfortable summer dress she wore. It was so much more preferable than her usual military uniform.

“Princess, keep your eyes hidden,” hissed Sin as he handed her a pair of optics.

She slipped them on and lowered her gaze to the ground so as to not give passersby any reason to focus their attention on her appearance or her eyes. They then headed toward the Chamber at a brisk pace.

The Merchant’s Chamber was probably the largest structure in Hades. It was around the same size as some of the mansions back in Ares. Simply walking around the perimeter of the building was enough to make anyone sweat buckets. It was surrounded by a tall barbed wire fence and four corner watchtowers. It was intimidating enough to make all the Hadish pedestrians on the streets give the Chamber a wide berth.

So when Azutan approached the nearest watchtower and gave it a good kick, the guard glancing over the side nearly dropped his sandwich on her.

“What d’you think you’re doing?” he roared.

“Saying hello,” said Azutan, matching his dialect by slurring her syllables to the point of obscurity.

“This area’s off-limits tonight. There aren’t any meetings in there; each of the Four o’ busy with their own work. So if you’re here to sort out your husband’s money problems, you’ve come to the wrong place, sweetheart.”

“First of all,” Azutan said slowly, “do not call me sweetheart. Secondly, if I had a husband, he would be so very lucky to have me worrying about his financial troubles when I have so many of my own to sort through. And lastly, I am here to deliver Master Castin Larsold. Open this gate instantly or have Mistress Larsold decide what to stuff you with once she’s finished with you.”

This didn’t have quite the effect as she had hoped. The guard laughed, bits of his sandwich spewing out of his mouth. “Now that’s the most creative one I’ve heard all week! So ‘orry to disappoint you, dearest, but I get about five idiots a day claiming they’ve somehow managed to rescue Larsold from those accursed Areans, all of them ‘oping for an audience with the Four. If only you all had the nerve to knock on their mansion doors instead!”

“W-wha—” sputtered Castin Larsold. “But I’m the real thing!”

“Sore you are, son.” The guard took a giant bite out of his sandwich. “Now are we done here? You aren’t gaining entry, and I’ll ‘ave to arrest you if you stay any longer.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Azutan felt a smug smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “We’re done here.”

In that instant, the guard’s head vanished over the top of the ledge. There were a few muffled grunts and then a deciding thump. Azutan glanced around to see if anyone noticed the commotion. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be minding their own business; either that or it wasn’t uncommon for someone to hassle a guard of the Chamber.

“All clear.” Azutan looked up to see Sin looking down from where the guard was a moment before.

“Can you open the gate?” she called.

There was a pause as Sin disappeared again to find whatever button or lever he was looking for. A minute later, the gate clicked and slowly swung open. No alarms went off. Azutan slipped through, dragging the merchant with her, and closed the gate with a bang. The pedestrians were staring at her now, but it was more out of curiosity than suspicion. Sin appeared over the ledge again and gave her a wave.

“Give me one of your guns!” Azutan held up a hand.

He tossed one of his prized pistols down to her. She caught it and gave him a nod in thanks.

“Keep watch over the gate,” she ordered. “And make sure to keep an eye on the other watchtowers. Dress up in the guard’s clothes if you have to. But make sure to change back once you head inside the Chamber.”

“And when will that be?” he asked.

Azutan smirked. “When the carriages start showing up.”

Sin decided not to ask the questions that were probably burning on his tongue. “Best of luck then, Princess.”

She turned and strode up to the Chamber’s side door, remembering the first time she had done the same two years ago, and pulled out two lock picks. Within a few seconds, she had charmed the lock, then stepped back and kicked the door open. Old habits die hard.

Immediately, the pair of guards standing beside the door charged at her from opposite directions at once. They were the buff type, capable of introducing her face to the floor in less than two seconds, even if she were armed with enough knives to make a hedgehog kiss her shadow in reverence.

She seized Larsold by his lapel and pressed the barrel of Sin’s gun to his temple. Larsold froze in fear, and the two guards came to an uncertain halt before her.

“Now,” she said, her tone icy. “We don’t want this to be ugly.”

“W-what are you—” Azutan gave him a few reminding taps with the gun barrel to shut him up.

Azutan slowly looked from one guard to the next. “This is Castin Larsold. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. If you don’t want me to put a bullet through his head, you had better listen to me.

“Inform the rest of the Chamber’s staff of my arrival and tell them not to do anything stupid. Also, bring me the Four and their families. I don’t care how you do it. Bring them to me in less than two hours. Do remember to tell them what’s at stake.

“Oh, and you can arrest me now. Put me in a dark room and lock me up or whatever. With my hostage, of course. You have my word that I won’t harm him while I’m in there. And if you try to disarm me or incapacitate me in any way, Larsold will permanently cease to have access to a functioning brain. Are we clear?”

The guards wore twin expressions of pure bewilderment, but they nodded.

Azutan and Larsold were led down into the dungeons of the mansion and were placed inside one of the larger and more luxurious cells. The servants and employees they passed on their way were given a brief run-down of Azutan’s demands, with the guards using many agitated agitated shrugs and panicked hand flaps to demonstrate their words. The staff obviously didn’t know what to do with them. She smirked. Now that was a big improvement from pure hostility.

The door slammed shut on their dimly lit cell, and Azutan heard the jingle of keys as the guard locked them in. At last, she eased her grip on Larsold and lowered her gun. Larsold sank to a shuddering, boneless heap at her feet.

“Sorry about that,” Azutan said grudgingly. “But you really ought to grow a spine.”

Larsold peered at her with wide eyes. “Were you—were you serious?”

“About shooting you in the noggin? Please.”

She scanned her surroundings and spotted a bench lying against the back wall. She sat down and removed her optics. She then slid the folded military uniform out of her knee-high boots and threw it on over her summer dress. It was thin and came with a skirt, something she didn’t normally wear, but she wasn’t about to change out of her dress and into pants in front of Larsold.

She pulled on a pair of white silk gloves and allowed herself a smug smile. When the guards open the door, they would find themselves facing Princess and General Azutan, and they would know it.

“Here’s what you need to do.” Azutan turned to face Larsold. “When the Four finally come and before you start screaming ‘Mother,’ I need you to help me get this game started. I need you to pretend like you were in on this from the start, that you were cooperating with us. I need you to act like there’s something in it for you, and eventually the Four. Through you, the Four will begin to grudgingly trust me and hear me out. Or at least you can prevent them from running me through with a sword.”

“How do I do that?” Larsold asked plaintively.

“Oh, just act like you trust me or something. Go along with what I say. I trust that you’ve had a lot of opportunities to imitate a cheerful little subordinate in your life.”

A while later, the door opened to reveal the same pair of guards from before and a wealthy-looking woman who Azutan presumed was Mistress Larsold. Azutan had already pressed her gun to the side of Larsold’s head, and upon seeing this, the Mistress made a noise somewhere between a sharp gasp and a shriek.

“Unhand him at once, you lowly filth!”

“Lowly filth, am I?” Azutan stepped into the light.

Mistress Larsold’s face hardened before hissing to the guards in a voice that sounded metal scraping glass, “I was under the impression you had locked up a street urchin.”

“We—” They spluttered, cutting off once they caught sight of Azutan’s eyes. “Arean royalty,” one of the guards whispered.

The corners of Mistress Larsold’s mouth pulled into a sneer. “Princess Azutan.”

“It’s good to see you again.” Azutan gave her a mock curtsy without lowering the gun or hold on Larsold or her hold on Larsold. “It seems I have finally found the time in my busy schedule to return your son to you. It would be so kind of you to allow me to hold a meeting with the Four in exchange.”

The woman glowered at her. “I suppose I’ve no choice, do I?”

“Not even a sliver.”

Azutan gave Larsold a meaningful glance. He cleared his throat. “Mother, it’s all right. Princess Azutan has agreeable intentions and reasonable requests.”

The Mistress’s gaze darkened. She looked from Larsold to Azutan with a sour expression on her face. Azutan nearly grinned at her.

She was then marched to the front of their little parade as they headed up from the dungeons. She still held Larsold at gunpoint but was careful to give him an appreciative nod that the others didn’t catch. They emerged from the dark stairwell and immediately ran into Sin.

This time, Azutan really did grin. She tossed him his gun and turned to stand beside him, facing the guards and the Mistress. Larsold awkwardly followed suit. The Mistress froze, hatred glimmering in her eyes.

“How did you get in here?” one of the guards demanded.

“Through the front door,” answered Sin with a hint of a smile.

“What about the guards?”

“Indeed, what about them?” Sin twirled his pistols with his fingers in a careless way.

“So you’re all here then?” Mistress Larsold was still eyeing her son with cold fury. “Ready to have another go at Hades, are we? I wonder, is the Prince of Ares lurking around here somewhere as well?”

“You should hope not,” replied Azutan in a cold voice. “Shall we go?”

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They filed into the Chamber’s council room as if they were war prisoners being prodded with bayonets at their backs. She supposed it wasn’t far from the truth.

The council room was structured very oddly. It was oval-shaped with the speaker’s box at the highest level on the left side of the room, which was where Azutan sat. The entrance was located on the right side of the room, and pathways and stairs ran from the entrance to the speaker’s box at an angle, reminding Azutan of a crown braid. It didn’t seem like a very efficient room in which to hold a meeting, but it was luxurious and a bit dizzying, which was all that mattered to the merchants.

The Four and their families took seats close enough to the speaker’s box to hear Azutan but far enough to show their wariness. They had also brought bodyguards, each of the young men and women looking as belligerent as Sin had in his earlier years. Thankfully, no one seemed to be having any real thoughts of putting a knife to Azutan’s throat. Larsold’s betrayal had given them pause and sparked their curiosity—all but Mistress Larsold seemed interested in what had brought it on. Sin’s towering presence beside Azutan didn’t hurt either.

Guards shut the doors with an air of finality. Larsold looked almost mournfully at the sealed exit. Sin nodded to her. Azutan stood from her white, throne-like chair. The stage was hers.

“The Four Great Merchants of Hades.” Azutan’s voice was strong. It carried through the council room with a faint echo. “How honored I am to be in your presence once again. As you all are aware, we did not get off to a good start last winter—” Larsold flinched imperceptibly. “—but I intend to change that.”

Most people in the room were staring at her coldly. The rest looked at her in condescending amusement.

Azutan stalked over to the low railing of the speaker’s box and slammed her foot against the top. The speaker’s box shuddered, and the merchants closest to her stiffened in alarm, some already shifting closer to the exit.

“I made a mistake in coming here last winter.” The words tasted bitter, but Azutan did not let it show. Lying was not always a pleasant job. “I wrongfully took advantage of Hades, and I threw your city-state into panic and turmoil. For that I apologize, and I wish to repent. I promise to restore peace in the other nations which will conjointly return trade and business to Hades. I now seek to fix the problems I have caused for you and to form an alliance between us.

“You are well aware of the state of the Seven Kingdoms. Each looks after their own, and it is not uncommon for war to erupt over minuscule offense or disagreement. Ares has not had a war in this past decade. We intend to keep this peace—forevermore.”

The merchants whispered among themselves. They did not look convinced by Azutan’s words.

“Of course, words can lie,” said Azutan in acknowledgment. “But money cannot.”

She clapped her hands together, and the doors were flung open. A pair of her scouts hauled an over-sized chest into the room. They set it down below the speaker’s box and threw open the lid dramatically. The iron within gave off a shine so bright, everyone in the Chamber was momentarily blinded by it.

“This,” she boomed, “is an apology for the financial troubles you have had so far. And this…”

A second pair of scouts heaved in another crate, this one even larger than the last. Inside were mountains and towers of iron; on the side, there were even a few bottles of rich Arean wine. The merchants were leaning forward in their seats now to get a closer glimpse of all the goods contained inside.

“I understand that Ares has not been the most agreeable kingdom. We mostly trade among ourselves, and we do not interact much with any of the other kingdoms except during times of war. This I intend to change. This second gift is to the start of building a bigger and better business relationship with Hades.”

For the first time, Mistress Larsold was looking at her without an expression of loathing. “Th—that’s enough money to buy a quarter of Hades!”

“You’re being too generous, Mistress. Perhaps a third.”

The oblivious merchants conferred, their voices low and excited. Without prompting, Larsold had wandered over to several nobles to speed the discussion along. Perhaps he was more useful than Azutan had initially thought.

“We have given your request much thought,” said one of the merchants. “We find your offer very…attractive. But we would like to speak to Lieutenant General Sin before we come to a decision.”

“By all means.” Azutan took her foot off the railing and stepped back, allowing Sin to step forward.

And thus began a game of heavily veiled suspicions in confidence and their sugared unwillingness to comply directly with the Princess of Ares. Sin fielded each one the best he could, putting on an extremely believable mask of patience and tolerance. Azutan watched on in amusement. When it was all finally over, Sin looked ready to chug a bottle of liquor in one go, but his work had paid off. The Four Merchants all agreed to an alliance and trade business with Ares, if uneasily and apprehensively, but it was a step. At this point, Azutan could let the Arean government handle the rest, so she could move on with her mission.

Later, Azutan approached Larsold who was waiting outside the Chamber with his mother for their carriage. Both their postures changed dramatically when she drew near.

“I’m here to apologize.” Azutan directed this to Larsold. “It would be a waste of time to try to convince you of my sincerity because I can tell you right here and now, it’s only a courtesy. Here’s the real apology.” She tossed him a small pouch that jingled with the irons within. Larsold caught it, eyes widening in surprise. She turned away before she could hear what he said next.

“Well?” said Azutan as she returned to Sin’s side.

“An improvement, Princess,” he acknowledged. “But while Hades is an exception, you’ll find that the other kingdoms will not be so easily pacified with wealth and an incomplete promise. You will need to sharpen your diplomatic skills sooner or later if you wish to honor your father and become a favorable queen.”

“I know.” Azutan pressed her lips into a sour line. She did not know why she expected anything but a reprimand.

To her surprise, she and Sin had a carriage waiting for them as well.

“What’s this?” Azutan peered into the vehicle, taking in its luxurious silk seats and curtains. The exterior shone with similar showings of wealth. Even the four horses wore expensive-looking harnesses. “Who arranged for this?”

“My master did, Mistress.” The driver up in the front seat answered. He tipped his hat to her in greeting.

“And who’s your master?”

“The person who arranged for this.”

Azutan scowled, while Sin gave a laugh. He climbed into the carriage. “Come now, Princess. Are you really going to reject a gift from the merchants?”

She scanned the street. All the others in the Chamber had left already. “I don’t think—”

“Mistress, you’ve dropped your locket.” The driver pointed at the ground behind her.

My—

She sucked in a startled breath and whirled around, scanning the ground but finding nothing. At the same time, her hand jumped to her neck, feeling for the familiar cool chain. It was there. “What do you—”

There was the sound of the carriage door slamming. Azutan turned just in time to see the driver do something to the lock and jump back into his seat frantically. She screamed—too late—as he lashed his whip across the backs of the horses and sped off, taking Sin with him.

For the second time that night, Azutan called for a meeting with the Four. Though this time, there was a lot less threatening and manipulation involved. She was grateful for the fact that the merchants seemed truly concerned about Sin and that they were using their best efforts in trying to find him.

But it wasn’t enough. The merchants’ hired scouts reported that five carriages exactly as she had described had been spotted around the city, each of them heading out of town. So whoever had taken Sin had prepared decoys. Or were the scouts actually accomplices? Had they been bribed? It was making Azutan’s head hurt. In the end, she declined the merchants’ help with a polite, but terse, thank you and opted for a much more unpredictable, but effective, method.

Saleisha.

The two had met many years ago when Azutan had been taken to tour all seven of the kingdoms along with Vince. The orphan girl had tried to rob them—Arean royalty!—and Azutan had always grudgingly admired her for it. From that moment on, every single time she visited Hades again, she had always been forced to seek the girl’s help, and through that, they had eventually become friends. Azutan did not think it was a good time to break her streak.

Now, Azutan was wandering near the docks, furtively glancing around, trying to spot a flash of copper red hair or a thief’s fingers slipping into unfamiliar coat pockets. She knew that Saleisha liked to linger near the docks, where fishermen who had just had a long day’s work behind them became easy and weary marks. With only a few hours until dawn, the docks were relatively empty, and Saleisha didn’t seem to be there. Azutan grabbed a fistful of her cloak, frustrated. She didn’t have any other idea of where the young orphan might be.

“Need anything, miss?”

Azutan turned warily upon realizing that the question had been aimed at her—she had never been addressed as ‘miss’ before. She had almost forgotten that she was dressed in modest clothes and had worn optics to cover her bright yellow eyes. The one who had spoken was a young man wearing a common sailor’s suit. He was probably only a few years younger than she was; his voice was not yet deep.

“Do I know you?” She narrowed her eyes.

“Well, I certainly hope so.” The sailor reached up and peeled off his thin mustache. He then pulled off his cap and down tumbled locks of copper red hair.

“Saleisha,” said Azutan, awestruck.

“That’s my name!” Saleisha agreed and gave her a hug. Azutan did not usually like physical contact but accepted it from Saleisha. She was the equivalent of a clingy puppy, impossible to resist. “What brings you here?”

“Quick, Saleisha, tell me.” Azutan took the other girl by the shoulders. “Have you seen Sin?”

“Sin? Your lieutenant general?” Saleisha’s face lost some of its mirth. “No. Why?”

“Someone took him.” She tried to calm herself. “He was abducted in a carriage. The Merchants’ scouts reported five of the same carriage in the city, and I told them to bring them all to me, but by that time they had already—”

Saleisha held up a hand. “Wait. Who? Who took him?”

“If I knew that, would I be coming to you?” Azutan snapped. She regretted it immediately afterward.

“Describe them at least,” Saleisha said composedly. It was odd how in situations like these, the other girl had more sense than she did.

“The carriage driver was…he’s big…dark-haired…maybe a few inches taller than me.” Her memory was foggier than she had expected. Which Arean noble has ever given their driver a second look, much less the crown princess?!

“That’s like about half of the old blokes in the city,” replied Saleisha testily. “Is there anything you recall that’s unique? Anything peculiar? Even his shoes or something.”

Azutan shook her head, mentally kicking herself.

Saleisha looked thoughtfully out to sea. “Describe the entire scene then. Give me every detail—anything you can remember.”

Azutan did, racking her brain for every little event leading up to Sin’s abduction. It was difficult, as her memory was greatly affected by the pure shock and disbelief she had felt in those moments. In the end, it didn’t seem like any of the information she gave Saleisha was helpful.

Fortunately, she was wrong. “Four horses, did you say?” Saleisha raised her eyebrows.

“What about it?” asked Azutan. “Is that so unusual?”

“Yes, in fact.” Saleisha peeled off her white gloves and waved for Azutan to follow. They started walking away from the docks. “Horses are quite expensive, and a carriage is perfectly capable of functioning with only one. Hades is quite small—a horse wouldn’t break a sweat even if you were to run it from one end to the other.”

“So…” Azutan struggled to make sense of Saleisha’s foreign logic. “You’re saying that whoever took Sin is taking him out of Hades. And they needed four horses to travel to their destination.”

Saleisha nodded.

Azutan glowered at the ground, thinking hard. “Those useless coin-kissing merchants don’t even have border watches. Otherwise we could have asked them in what direction the carriage—or carriages—went.”

“Exactly,” Saleisha agreed.

“Where are we going now?” asked Azutan.

“My hideout,” Saleisha replied, steering Azutan to a seedy district of the city, perhaps even more neglected than the one she had entered in. “The merchants may not be able to help us, but my lackeys might.”

Azutan had never been to her dwelling before, had never had a problem big enough to require more than a few hours of Saleisha’s help, much less that of her apprentices. Saleisha had once compared her care for them to raising feral kittens—making sure that they were mature enough to live independently before their inevitable disinterest in having an authority figure in their lives. It was a solitary existence in Hades, and no one wanted to be too close in an environment where it was the norm. This was something Azutan could understand.

Saleisha’s hideout was tucked inside the attic of a musty, aged building used for market days that rarely happened in the district anymore. The most accessible opening was a three-story high boarded-up window that really wasn’t boarded-up at all but instead was covered by a stiff black curtain. They climbed in using a rusted ladder that was stuffed inconspicuously behind a row of empty wooden crates. Saleisha kicked it back down before Azutan had fully shifted her weight from the ladder, nearly causing her to lose her balance on the thin windowsill. They pushed through the thick curtain, and Azutan was only able to get a single cursory glance of the shadowed room before her attention was captured by the knife at her throat.

“Put that down,” Saleisha commanded.

The boy holding the knife backed away warily but did not put away his blade. Azutan quickly took in his neat brown hair, clean face, and simple clothing before peering at the room. It was dark but immaculate. There were sparse furniture and decorations, but everything was well cared for.

“Take a seat.” Saleisha indicated the armchair opposite her as she sat down. To the boy, she said, “Get the others. And two cups of coffee.”

A moment later, he returned with two steaming mugs of coffee which Saleisha accepted graciously and Azutan drank solely for the purpose of staying awake the next day.

“So, first.” Saleisha set down her cup on a small mahogany table. “We should work through your suspicions as to who was behind Sin’s abduction.”

“I don’t have the slightest clue,” Azutan admitted truthfully. “Sin and I have a lot of enemies. Well, it’s mostly me actually.”

“That’s another problem,” Saleisha noted. “Why would anyone take him, but not you?”

“I don’t know,” said Azutan, frustrated. “Pretty much anyone from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms has a reason to spit at me, but for their grudge to carry over to Sin…

“None of this makes sense. It couldn’t have been anyone from Hades—I’m sure no Hadish has a reason to antagonize me now. And there’s no way it could have been anyone from Ares either. My soldiers and scouts are very vigorous about treason. Plus, no Arean that’s not from my brigade has been anywhere close to this city. Whoever abducted Sin must have been close to here or already lying in wait.”

“Someone from Bacchus, perhaps,” Saleisha said suddenly. “Their tribes have been moving closer and closer to our borders. Of course, we’re pretty friendly with them, so we didn’t have much of a problem with it. But we never thought that they had some ulterior motive for living closer to our borders.”

“Bacchus.” Azutan contemplated this. “Sin and I were going to go there next, after Hades. But it seems so unlikely…The Bacchus are not the type of people to resort to petty games like abduction when they could storm their enemies with a few hundred thousand warriors strong. Plus, how would they expect to hide a prisoner on the Farsight Plains?”

“It is unlikely,” Saleisha agreed. “But it’s the best plan we have so far. I’ll tell my subordinates to hurry to Bacchus and see if they can spot the carriage you described.”

When her lackeys entered the room, she gave them clear and detailed instructions as to what their mission was and what they should do if they found Sin. Halfway through her lecture, she turned to Azutan.

“Any idea if Sin would leave behind any clues?” Saleisha asked.

“Oh, definitely,” Azutan replied immediately. “Sin will cause as many disturbances as possible. I just don’t know if he’ll be able to pull off an escape.”

Saleisha nodded, then dismissed her lackeys.

“Meanwhile, you and I can go to Bacchus and sort out the political business,” Saleisha said to Azutan. “That’s what you came for, right?”

Azutan nodded. “Thank you, Saleisha.”

Saleisha smiled and lifted a finger as if to poke her playfully in the forehead. Azutan jerked away and seized her wrist. On her thumb was a clump of glue-like material.

“You were about to peel my eyebrow off,” Azutan accused as Saleisha began to roar with laughter.

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After Azutan went back to her brigade to organize her soldiers and brief them on their duties in their mission to find Sin, she stole away for a moment to consume more coffee in an attempt to push aside her fatigue. She and a select few scouts then met up with Saleisha at the western border of Hades.

“Why the soldiers?” Saleisha asked curiously.

Azutan shifted in her saddle. “The Bacchus are very…It’s hard to explain. My soldiers will be needed, you’ll see, though maybe not in the way you presume.”

And so they set out west, heading into the middle of the continent, and into the great expanse of the Farsight Plains.

The Plains were an endless valley, filled with grass, grazing animals, a few trees, and little else, nature-wise. They stretched all the way out to the horizon—sometimes one could go hours with nothing in all four directions but the unreachable line where the sky brushed the land. Bacchus was considered the largest kingdom because it had the entire Farsight Plains contained within it. The other kingdoms preferred their cities and tall buildings. The Bacchus lived in nomadic tribes, though that didn’t stop their villages from becoming enormous. Each village was simple, but around the same size as Hades.

The Bacchus were also the least involved in politics. They left everything to their “queen,” who was similar to a figurehead because a ruler was needed to become a part of the Seven Kingdoms. The Bacchus cared less about the laws dictating the rest of the continent and more about the right to remain in the Farsight Plains. They didn’t fear much from others, as they had the surest knowledge of their lands that no mapmaker given ten years could replicate. An invasion of the Plains would be far from wise for anyone. For the most part, the Bacchus were respected and left alone.

As Azutan rode into the Bacchus village a few miles into the Farsight Plains, within sight of dozens of armed warriors standing guard around the settlement, she reflected that while the Bacchus did not have a reason to fear the rest of the world, she had plenty to fear from them.

“This isn’t good!” shouted Saleisha over the rushing wind of the plains. She sat behind Azutan in her saddle, having never had the opportunity to learn how to ride a horse.

“I can tell that for myself!” Azutan yelled back.

They neared the warriors and dismounted (Saleisha with some difficulty). Within moments, the Bacchus warriors surrounded them, their spears leveled, their eyes indiscernible under white clay masks.

“I am here to ask of Bacchus whether there have been any carriages of wealth in the kingdom,” Azutan spoke first. With the Bacchus, it was best to be bold and honest.

“We will not answer any of your questions until you have answered ours first,” commanded one in a rough voice. “Who are you, first of all?”

In answer, she lifted back her black riding hood. The early morning light would make her yellow eyes gleam especially bright. Indeed, the Bacchus warriors’ pause indicated surprise.

“Princess Azutan of Ares,” hissed one.

“General Azutan today,” she corrected.

“What is your business here? You should understand that you are not very welcome here.”

“I understand that perfectly well. And I think I have already stated my business.”

“Is that so?” One warrior lowered their spear to stare at Azutan intently. She took it as a sign of grudging respect. “Are there no kingdoms for you to throw into jeopardy today? No daughter of the Queen to unjustly seize?”

“I regretfully inform you that there are none. And I’ll have you know that your beloved Princess Drinateq drank through half of my soldiers’ supply of alcohol. She’ll be appearing shortly, very much far from sober, along with the rest of my army.”

“Army?” a warrior demanded.

“Army,” Azutan agreed as scattered dots in the distance came into view, revealing a hundred of her own soldiers riding across the grassland headed directly towards them. Princess Drinateq sat upon the horse at the front, her traditional robes of orange and purple distinct against the blander grassland. Azutan could hear her high, excited laugh from hundreds of yards away. The warriors were frozen in shock.

Despite her weariness, Azutan was able to smile. “I suggest you let me in.”

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Azutan sat in a rough wooden chair, her wrists lashed together with a coarse rope behind the back rest. Her ankles were also tied to the chair legs, and two armed guards stood behind her. She knew that, in addition, four guards stood outside the tent entrance. She felt a little flattered.

Saleisha was given similar treatment, and she had smiled in genuine delight through the entire process. Azutan didn’t doubt that she could free herself in a second if she so wished.

Queen Lasara herself sat leisurely on an embroidered throne before them both. She had, by some coincidence, been in this tribe for a while now, ever since the tribe had moved closer to Hades. Her three tall daughters sat cross-legged at her feet, Drinateq a little tipsily.

“Azutan Arestern.” Lasara rolled the faintly-accented words with a distasteful air.

“Just General Azutan will do, Your Majesty,” Azutan corrected.

Lasara tilted her head, her dark eyes bearing down on her. “I have always wondered, Princess. Why have you always forsaken your family name so?”

“Too many a’s, too many vowels. Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue,” she answered. “And my actions as an individual have nothing to do with the Arestern legacy.”

Lasara twisted her lips in amusement. “Legacy? I do not see a legacy. I only see your royal family’s conceited attempts to create an all-powerful kingdom with your ignorant delusions.

“And you are wrong, young Princess, your actions have everything to do with your family name. You fancy yourself a general once you leave the gates of your capital. You may not be queen yet, but you are certainly more than an army officer or a wayward princess to those of us on the outside.”

Azutan could not think of a response stronger than a scowl. “If you will excuse me, Your Majesty, I grow tired of this talk. You would surely believe me if I told you that I have already heard this discussion many times before. Now, about my request for an alliance.”

“Ah, yes, that.” Lasara toyed with the many bracelets on her wrists. “You dare suggest an alliance when only a little over a year ago, you threatened to set fire to our grasslands and villages, before kidnapping my daughter? You should consider yourself lucky my warriors did not skewer you the minute they recognized you.”

“Oh, please.” Azutan rolled her eyes. “No one was actually going to burn down the Farsight Plains.”

“Your soldiers and cannons were very convincing. And you very much did kidnap my daughter.”

“Your daughter is fine!” Azutan jutted her chin at Drinateq, who bared her teeth at her in a not too friendly smile. “And, indeed, I do dare suggest an alliance. I acted on my own conscience a year ago. I now return to work for the intentions of my kingdom as a whole. This is a mission of duty, not one of personal gain.”

“Is that so?” Lasara mused. “I find this just as difficult to believe as those threats you made a year ago.”

“Then you agree to the alliance. If I recall correctly, you reacted quite quickly to anything that spewed from my mouth. As you are now.”

Lasara folded her arms across her chest. “I would like to hear what the terms are, first of all.”

You’ll find that the other kingdoms will not be so easily pacified with wealth and an incomplete promise, Sin’s voice echoed in her head.

“Ares merely wants assurances from your people of the Farsight Plains,” said Azutan. “Bacchus rules the entire center of the continent. We hope that should anything arise in our more delicate relations with the kingdoms in the west, Bacchus does not open its plains to any potential invaders of Ares. We all know very well that the Farsight Plains can easily turn the tides in any conflict in the Seven Kingdoms.”

“You bargain for our neutrality.” Lasara chuckled. “Surely you are more ambitious than that, Princess. Is Bacchus of no other use to you?”

“Kings and queens throughout history have always set the precedent of not demanding too much from Bacchus,” Azutan answered in all seriousness.

“You speak of peace yet you prepare for war. Were you hoping that I would not notice your intentions like those charming Hadish merchants you spoke with recently?”

Lasara had seen through her, but Azutan had not the energy to act surprised. Once again, she had not quite succeeded. She could imagine the dark furrow of Sin’s brow, could predict what words he would use to scold her. But imagining was not enough when Sin was gone. Azutan could not spend so much time on this alliance with a notoriously solitary kingdom when rescuing Sin was clearly the priority. Bluffing would have to do.

“My intentions are to complete the tasks my father assigned me: returning your daughter to you and expressing my deepest apologies and my kingdom’s goodwill to you personally. All of this I have done.”

“Done in not the most convincing fashion.”

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, if I had come in here with my hands raised, ready to kiss your boots, you would have called me a fraud and put an arrow through my skull without another thought. Similarly, if I hadn’t requested an advantage over our dear Heran friends while the opportunity was right in front of me, wouldn’t you be suspicious of me right now?”

Lasara paused for a long moment. “What will Bacchus receive in return from this alliance? What is our compensation for having one less royal mouth to feed in these past months?”

“What do you have in mind?” Azutan asked smoothly, relieved that negotiations were finally going in the right direction. She could already guess.

“Your mines.” Lasara’s eyes glittered. “I must admit: your kingdom’s guns, armor, and tanks are quite impressive. Though we may not use your mineral resources so tastelessly, it’s awfully selfish of you to not share.”

Azutan pretended to resist the idea. “Bacchus has been on good terms with Vulcan for a very long time. I don’t believe you haven’t tried to acquire the same things from them.”

“Oh, we have, we have. Vulcan is very advanced, but even they do not possess the vast deposits that Ares takes for granted. Besides, it is much less of a hassle to trade with a kingdom closer to you, no?”

“Weren’t you just admonishing me for thinking of potential war? What do you need the weapons for?”

Lasara smiled. “What? When did I say I would use the metal solely for weapons? Resources make technology and technology makes an advantage. As you said, why would I pass up the opportunity for that? Who knows, maybe we’ll take over Hades one day and finally rule that mud hole right. As much as I dislike the taste of seafood.”

Azutan really hoped she was joking. But she knew it was most wise to move on to more pressing matters instead of convincing the queen to let the Hadish do what the Hadish did.

“And as for the second matter,” she said, her tone dropping sharply. “I am in pursuit of a luxury carriage. You will notice that my friend has already slipped out to investigate.”

As expected, the attention of everyone in the room immediately turned to Saleisha’s empty seat. Lasara’s jaw dropped.

“How?” she demanded.

“That’s not important,” Azutan smirked, despite herself.

“We did take in a carriage last night,” said Lasara. Azutan’s heartbeat quickened. “In fact, that’s the whole reason why this tribe moved so far east. We received word that my spies and smugglers have recovered the irons that the Hadish merchants have filched from us for all these years.”

“You were stealing from Hades?” Azutan was deeply impressed.

“Stealing back. Regardless, what was delivered to my feet was not cold coin but a pile of sweaty carriage drivers and their promises to return favors to Bacchus if we allow them to stay a few days. We assumed that they were unfavorable merchants running from debts, so we’re keeping them at the edge of camp before we figure out what to do with them.”

“Have you identified the one who orchestrated all this?”

“No, I do not believe that the mastermind himself has shown up.”

“I see.” Azutan pursed her lips. Was Sin’s final destination truly not meant to be Bacchus then?

“Why the interest, Princess Azutan?”

“The true purpose of their stay in Bacchus is not to escape from anyone in Hades. Rather, Bacchus is a temporary stop in order to throw me off. My friend Lieutenant General Sin was abducted in one such carriage,” she declared. “I demand to see the men you took in at once and free him.”

“If that’s the case,” said Lasara slowly, “you may do whatever you wish with them. Then you should leave. My daughter Drinateq will accompany you one last time as you’ll surely need the help.”

“You’re very considerate of my abilities,” Azutan said dryly as she was untied. “But one last thing.”

She shook off the loose rope and patted down her clothes before crossing the room to lean over Queen Lasara, bringing them eye-to-eye. “I really hope that you didn’t capture Sin in order to force me to the table. If I learn that all this was your doing…”

Lasara smiled, her long dark lashes casting shadows over her eyes. “Believe me, Princess Azutan, if I wanted to have a nice long chat with you I wouldn’t need to spend so much effort.”

Azutan stepped back, satisfied, and gave a moderate bow. “That is all, Your Majesty. Thank you for your hospitality. I hope we won’t see each other again for a year or two.”

The guards at the entrance pointed in the direction of the carriage, and then she ran, Drinateq not far behind.

The carriages were parked in front of a small tent. A herd of tired horses grazed nearby. It was unmistakably the spot, even before Saleisha barreled out of the tent and crashed into Azutan head-on. Even if Azutan had not been caught by surprise, it still took little force to knock her over. The two of them lay sprawled on the grass, gasping for breath.

Saleisha wasted no time. “That one!” She pointed to the carriage in the middle of all the others just as one of the carriage drivers entered the scene. He greeted them with a loaded gun in their faces.

For the tiniest fraction of a second, Azutan could imagine the bullet flying at her, puncturing her face and skull. She could see herself falling backward, could see the great black iron gates of the Demeten faith open wide before her. She flinched at the rare instance of experiencing true fear.

And then Saleisha slammed into the man.

The gun was fired, Azutan ducked, and then Saleisha was kicking the man to the ground, stolen gun in hand. Drinateq returned without Azutan realizing she had left her side, dragging three unconscious carriage drivers by their ankles. Drinateq jutted a thumb behind her. “Knocked a few out back there.”

Azutan shook herself and jumped in to help, binding the culprits together with the coarse rope that had been used to tie up Saleisha. At the same time, Saleisha worked on the lock of the carriage Sin was trapped in.

The door swung open, releasing a slightly disheveled Sin wearing the same clothes he had been abducted in. He first looked over Azutan, Saleisha, and Drinateq to see that they were unharmed. Then his eyes dropped to the pile of bodies at his feet. “Well.”

Azutan felt nothing but relief. But she could only nod in agreement as she looked down at the mess they had made. “Well.”

Saleisha crouched down carefully beside the man she had stolen the gun from. He was now out cold. “Think he’ll know anything about who’s behind this?”

“He better. Bring him inside the tent,” Azutan ordered. “And Drinateq, give me a bottle of the strongest spices you have.”

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The unconscious man didn’t stir. Azutan sighed. She tipped his head back and poured some of the spices into his nostrils. A second later, he came to, his eyes bulging, and started coughing.

“Good morning.” Azutan set down her spices. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

“It wasn’t me!” the man screamed at once. “I’m innocent, I swear! He paid me—he—”

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” Azutan said in a calm voice that silenced him in an instant. “I would like your names.” This was directed to the two other carriage drivers selected for questioning as well.

“Don’t have any,” a partner spat. The other said nothing.

“You’re One, then,” said Azutan impatiently. “And you’re Two, for the time being. The quiet one can be Three. Now, I would like you to tell me who your boss is.”

“We don’t know!” The carriage driver, rechristened Two, started to sob. “We never saw his face! He just came to us in Hera, gave us orders and irons, and—”

“Our employer took great pains to ensure that you would never find out his identity.” One interrupted swiftly.

“So be it,” Azutan said slowly. “Then I wonder…How does your employer know about my locket?”

Three’s face went blank with shock. One whirled on Two in fury. “That was supposed to be the last resort.”

Two was now sobbing in earnest. “I-I’m sorry—”

“Do you know what he could do to us if he finds out?”

“How very interesting.” Azutan fingered her necklace. “Because there are only four people in the world besides myself who know of its existence. Sin, my father, my mother, and my brother, who gave it to me.”

“And I had assumed that you got rid of it,” added Sin. “So I’m guessing there is no one other than you who knows that you still wear it.”

“Quite right,” Azutan agreed. She held up the pendant in front of her eyes. It really wouldn’t be such a big deal if it weren’t made of iron so stunningly white it looked like glass. And the fact that the Arestern siblings did not give gifts, even when they had been on good terms. “So that narrows things down quite a bit, doesn’t it?”

It couldn’t be Sin. Her father was an unlikely suspect as well. When he wanted something, he did not play games, and he did not remember which iron accessories his daughter liked to wear. Her mother had not been involved in political matters for years, and Azutan assumed that abducting Sin was a political move, one meant to weaken her. Yet she did not want to rule Queen Lydia out due to the memories of her childhood in which her mother was the most unpredictable person she knew.

And Vince? He had given her the locket after their fight when Azutan had been named crown princess. It had been a halfhearted truce. But this entire operation did not seem like Vince’s style. Vince was careful when it came to clashing with her. He would not simply leave an opportunity for her to discover his hand in the events.

“Our boss is a thief and a spy!” Two heaved a shuddering breath, hysteria making him nonsensical. Azutan couldn’t tell who he was more afraid of: her or the anonymous mastermind. “Please—spare us—he might’ve just spied on you! It’s not our fault, it’s not our fault—”

“Oh, please.” Azutan gave him an irritated scowl. “Calm yourself. No one’s going to kill you.”

Her words were like a trigger. Before Azutan could do so much as lift a finger, Three ripped apart his bonds. Azutan heard a loud flick and flame came to life in the hand he held the match. He kicked the sniveling Two to the side as Sin and Saleisha lunged for him. They were too late—Three had tossed the match onto the dry grass where it began to spread, licking up the canvas walls. He was out of the tent before Sin and Saleisha could recover their wits.

“Azutan!” Saleisha yelled, and she was shaken out of her stupor.

She ran toward the exit, past the two panicking carriage drivers despite her lamenting conscience. Just as she was about to catch up to Three, he whirled around as though expecting her.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” His voice was high with desperation while his face still looked stone-cold. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back into the burning tent. A section of the wall tore off, still aflame, and struck her across the back. Azutan stumbled, stunned, watching the third man run for his life. She hit the ground, hearing several voices screaming, but not entirely sure which one was her own.

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10 years ago
Azutan dug her spear into the ground in annoyance. The wooden dummy standing ten feet before her barely had any scratches.

Around her, the army of Ares worked preparing horses, loading supplies, and collapsing tents. They had been traveling for over a week, their destination one of the military camps along the western border. The purpose of their journey was to carry out the king’s annual inspections and to deliver the eleven-year-old princess to her new home.

Azutan felt an irrepressible wave of contempt as she imagined it. Waking up before dawn everyday to train with sweaty children twice her size was all due to her mother, who suggested sending her away in the first place. The idea of having one of the Arestern children affiliated with the military from a young age was not an illogical one, but no one seemed to be concerned with the fact that Azutan did not want to leave the comfortable palace where she had lived her entire life.

“Azutan!”

She turned just as her little brother crashed into her arms. “Vince!”

Her mother had not come with them to see her daughter off, but Vince had. He was an exception.

“Vince?” She pinched his ear when he didn’t budge, his face still buried in her dress. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re reaching the camp tomorrow,” came his muffled voice. “Father said so.”

Azutan stroked his hair. “And? You’ll be staying there for a week as well. It’s not goodbye yet.” She had said the exact same thing every day since they left the palace.

“I want to stay there with you,” Vince finally looked up, his golden eyes pleading. This was not just about her leaving. “It’s not fair.”

“I’m supposed to be here and kick people until they listen to me. You belong in the Court, Vince,” Azutan reminded him, but she knew it wasn’t true. Vince belonged everywhere.

“But you don’t want to go. And I want to go.” This was also about him not going.

Vince didn’t know how to express it but Azutan understood what he meant. It truly wasn’t fair. Sometimes it seemed as though the two siblings were the only ones who knew which of them was going to end up on the throne.

“In a year, you’ll be able to convince Father to take my place,” Azutan consoled him. “Or maybe he’ll make us both stay here in the sun while he sits in the palace all day.”

“Then can I kick people?”

Azutan tugged her short spear from the ground and placed it in Vince’s tiny hands. “The kid soldiers there will fear you so much they’re going to kneel down and ask you to kick them.”

Vince seemed satisfied with her answer.

She couldn’t have anticipated Sin’s company, her father’s decision, and Vince’s fury. She couldn’t have anticipated the delight she would receive from rising in the army’s ranks. Nor could she have anticipated the hatred and rivalry she would spark with Vince when she had been on his side, had seen the injustices done to him through his perspective. Because Azutan was made of contradictions.

The first thing Azutan became aware of when she woke was the smell of precipitation and grass. The second was how irritatingly dry her throat was. She tried to sit up before noticing how much her back hurt.

“Water,” she rasped.

Saleisha, who was sitting at the foot of the bed, gaped at her, then rushed to get her a glass of water, all while screaming, “She’s awake!”

Azutan lifted her throbbing left arm and examined it. It was covered in white cloth bandages. A hint of the burns peeked out on the back of her hand. She set it down as Saleisha came in, followed by an apprehensive Sin and a concerned Talis.

“How long?” Azutan asked, accepting the glass of water Saleisha handed her.

“Nearly four days,” answered Sin. “We’re currently in the middle of the Farsight Plains. How do you feel, Princess?”

“Like I nearly got burnt alive. What happened to the culprits?”

“We saved the two inside the tent, but they don’t have any important information. I think they really are hired men just following orders. The one that escaped—”

“He escaped?” Azutan could not keep the incredulity from her voice. “From the middle of a Bacchus camp?”

“He was clever!” Saleisha protested.

“And we were all quite preoccupied with you,” Sin reminded Azutan. “We had to rush you to the healers and physicians. It was difficult to pinpoint one man running from the fire when half the camp was running in the same direction.”

Azutan couldn’t argue further but she knew that Sin and Saleisha had considered the same things she was now. If the escapee managed to reach his employer, if the architect of this scheme realized their failure, would they make another attempt?

“It’s possible that he’s currently hiding in Demeter, where we can catch up to him,” Sin was saying. “And speaking of Demeter…”

Azutan knew what was coming before it did. They were about two weeks of travel from the outskirts of Demeter. She was unlikely to recover fully, but a burn injury had no right to hold her back.

“I’m perfectly fine, I can go,” said Azutan, attempting to sit up to prove her point. Unsuccessful, she passed off the motion as simply shifting to a more comfortable position.

Sin sighed. “Princess, this is no time to be stubborn. You must rest before you worry about Demeter. It would be wise to send me and Saleisha as couriers, and perhaps…”

But that was unacceptable—Demeter would not listen to a Veni commander and a Hadish thief over the Arean princess. Her scouts and soldiers, no matter how much she trusted them, were even less appropriate.

“The Dementens will just have to wait,” Azutan announced. “Negotiations cannot begin until I recover.”

Saleisha drummed her fingers on her knee. “What if there’s a way to speak to the Demeten while you recover? What if there’s someone else important they recognize other than you?”

“And who might that be?”

Half an hour later, Azutan sat in her formal tent, fully dressed and awake, at least on the surface. Her injuries made her movements stiff, but she wouldn’t need to move around much whilst propped up on cushions. Sin and Saleisha stood on either side of her in their concern, having suggested against Azutan’s decision to move out of bed.

One of the scouts stepped forward. “General Azutan, presenting Rathaline of Company Six. Her family is—was among the most powerful supporters of the Demeten church. She left Demeter at a young age along with—”

“I can explain the rest,” a cool voice interrupted. Azutan blinked—something about it sounded vaguely familiar.

The woman stalked in. One glance told Azutan all she needed to know. A careless gait, an impudent raised chin, a messy uniform. She was tall, taller than everyone else in the room, and had long dark hair worn loose. She would have looked a lot like Azutan herself if not for the dark eyes, faint smirk, and distasteful attitude.

“Right.” The scout left the tent hastily after one look from Rathaline. Azutan did not like how she managed to intimidate him. Didn’t she know that Azutan’s personal scouts and spies outranked all foot soldiers in the Arean military?

“How odd.” Azutan’s tone was sharper than she intended. “I didn’t think you Demetens would have any incentive to leave your motherland. Aside from your devotion to your church, your family also had connections and wealth—I doubt you could achieve the same by serving in a foreign military.”

“My family didn’t leave Demeter,” Rathaline replied stiffly. “I did, along with my siblings. We thought that it would be wise to have ties with Ares, the kingdom likeliest to conquer the rest. Turns out we were half right.”

“‘Half right?’” Azutan idly drummed her fingers on the wooden table. “The rest of the Seven Kingdoms remains very much unconquered.”

Rathaline gave her a cool look. “Shortly after I became a soldier in your army, you marched to Demeter and upended the kingdom, the church, and my family. Now we have nothing, and I am still in the wrong army. Deserters are punished quite harshly, as you know.”

The tent was completely silent for a few heartbeats. Saleisha shifted uncomfortably— clearly Rathaline had left out important details when they had spoken. Finally, Azutan laughed. “That explains a lot. Your voice sounds very familiar. I do recall you voicing your opinions about me a few weeks back. But no matter.”

Azutan turned to the others. “Sin, you’re in charge of this mission, naturally. You will travel with a team of your choosing, and you will set out once you deem yourselves ready. I will travel with you personally until we are out of the Farsight Plains in order to contribute to the preparations.”

Sin cleared his throat. “Ah…the medic wishes for you to stay in this camp until you are fit to walk, Princess.”

“That was not a request.”

Sin gave a nod, though he did not look happy.

“I will travel in a carriage instead of on horseback, naturally,” Azutan said begrudgingly. She then addressed her scouts: “Did you send news to Ares?”

“Yes, sir, the government officials are on the way.”

“Excellent. Let them have fun chasing after us.” Azutan downed the rest of her water. “And as for you, Rathaline.”

Rathaline bristled.

“As a soldier under my commander, you are forced to obey my commands and participate in the negotiations with Demeter. I believe that with your help, a peaceful arrangement can be made. After this is over, you are released from the Arean military and free to do whatever you wish. Your siblings in the kingdom will be notified and you may still return to gather your belongings, though I will not transport them for you, nor may you travel with us.”

Rathaline’s eyes widened. “Are you being serious?”

“In a situation like this, it’s difficult to not be. Well? Will you follow your orders?”

Rathaline looked from Azutan to Sin, then back again. She nodded.

“Then I believe you three have work to do.”

Azutan exhaled softly as Sin, Saleisha, and Rathaline left the tent, leaving behind a welcome silence. She closed her eyes. Though she had just swept away one problem, Rathaline’s words gave her the impression that she had just ushered in several more.

Later that evening, seated in the very carriage that had taken Sin, Azutan was enjoying herself immensely. Though she would rather behead herself than admit it, she did not think she could be on a horse until her burns had completely healed.

Sin sat next to her, a steaming drink in his hand. He didn’t say it, but Azutan knew that the reason he was here had less to do with discussing their plans and more to do with making sure she didn’t exert herself.

“Demeter shouldn’t be too difficult,” Sin observed. “Once we return the High Priest’s brother, the Demetens will have little reason to start a conflict or close themselves to us. No one wants a war with Ares, not even through trade.”

“Depends on how much Hera has gotten to them in the past year and a half,” Azutan said thoughtfully.

“Do not worry, Princess. The Demetens seldom change their ways.”

“I’m not worried,” Azutan replied immediately. “And there are exceptions.” She glanced ahead to where Rathaline rode on horseback.

“She did not abandon her home kingdom, she merely left it temporarily. She is still a devout follower of the Demeten faith, as Saleisha has told me.”

The sole religion of the Seven Kingdoms, aside from the sparse beliefs that had spread from overseas in the past centuries, was stemmed from the ancient peasants of Demeter: wise, peaceful, and greatly respected for feeding the entire continent in times of great disaster and need, or so history went. The three attributes remained more or less the same to this day, although Azutan found it hard to identify any of them in Rathaline.

“Would the Dementens let her in then? Even after she left them?” asked Azutan.

“Miss Rathaline? I doubt the Demetens will have the most concern about her presence in their kingdom, considering who will be accompanying her.”

“You’re right,” Azutan said dryly. After pondering for a few moments, she said, “There’s something else I need to talk to you about. While you’re in Demeter, I need you and the scouts to investigate your abductors and their boss. They said their boss was in Hera, but there might be a chance of him currently residing in Demeter, seeing as it’s the closest to the Farsight Plains.”

Sin nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

“I can’t wait to catch the wretch.” Azutan would have cracked her knuckles had her hand not been covered with burns. “We might as well plan our revenge now for when we finally do.”

Sin chuckled. “I’ll let you have the pleasure, Princess. I am more interested in why they targeted me instead of you. No offense, of course.”

Azutan was quiet for a moment. “Do you think…they’re originally from Venus?”

“Ah, perhaps.”

There then followed an awkward silence that typically occurred when one mentioned Sin’s past. Sin was not one for making rash, irresponsible decisions because he had already made the largest one possible years ago: leaving Venus to join the Arean military while, unbeknownst to him, his family was suffering from debt and financial exploitation. The Letyre family collapsed, and Sin had not seen them since.

Azutan watched as Rathaline rode ahead, distancing herself from the other soldiers. That made three of them with lingering regrets.

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“What now?”

The tent flap was thrown open aggressively as Rathaline tromped into the tent.

“You were invited,” said Azutan, rolling two smooth stones between her fingers, “to a game of War. Leave your shoes outside.”

“What is this?” Rathaline’s nostrils flared as she surveyed the scene before her: Azutan and her scouts situated on cushions surrounding a massive map of the Seven Kingdoms lying flat on the tent floor; the mess of stones and wooden game pieces scattered beside each player; Saleisha snacking on a plate of meat rolls in the corner after having been eliminated early for cheating; Sin sitting at the sole table, reading through reports.

“I’m sure you know the rules already. The gambling is quite intense among the soldiers, I hear.”

Rathaline sneered. “Do you not realize how much I can’t stand you?”

Azutan’s scouts slowly ceased their whispering, looking nervous. No one attempted to move a piece on the board in secret.

“What a shock.” Azutan discreetly nudged the position of one of her troops. “And here I thought I was imagining all those spiteful glares. Oh, is it my turn now?”

“Plen’y of people despise Azutan,” added Saleisha, her mouth stuffed with food. “You’re not wery special.”

“Thank you, Saleisha, that warms my heart.”

Rathaline’s temper peaked. “And you expect me to work with a Hadish thief? What use is she? All she does all day is lie, cheat, and scam her way through the camp, we’ll be lucky if she doesn’t rob half of the church!”

“Are you somehow suggesting that Saleisha’s value is far beneath your own?” Azutan’s tone was light.

“I think I was being a lot more straightforward than suggesting.”

Saleisha wiped her mouth. “The pampered always exaggerate things.”

“Pampered? I’m the one forced to serve in the army that brought the downfall of my family while you’re the one indulging yourself due to the Areans’ favor!”

The scouts were watching the heated exchange with great interest, having been fairly disconnected from any drama while serving directly under Azutan. Azutan stole a few enemy pieces from the board, not looking up.

“If you’ve been a Hadish orphan all your life, you would know when to take advantage of any luxuries as well.” Saleisha’s tone was conversational, but her eyes warned of danger. “But you don’t, do you? You’re like everyone else—you assume you’re better than me because you haven’t had to share my experiences, and yet you use yours to dismiss mine. Was it really Azutan’s fault that your family fell from grace? Or is sending all the potential heirs of your family to the other side of the continent just a really bad idea?”

Rathaline stood silent and still, evidently not expecting such an outburst from Saleisha. Azutan glanced up at Sin at the last part, but he was watching Saleisha in contemplation.

Azutan finally spoke up. “Is this mission going to work? Having you two at each other’s throats in front of the High Priest of Demeter might be in poor taste.”

Saleisha and Rathaline both glanced at her in surprise, as if they had forgotten about their audience.

“Are you thinking of removing one of us from the team?” Rathaline sneered. “I thought you made it clear that you really don’t have a choice in that regard.”

Azutan sighed as she captured her last fortification. “I’ve been in a pretty good mood the past two days, despite just being injured and nearly burned alive. I’ve been pretty lenient with you, Rathaline. Although you’ll be released from my army as soon as our business in Demeter is finished, that does not mean I cannot have you arrested and tried in the Arean court for being such a nuisance to Arean royalty and the military. So unless you change your attitude now, you’ll be sent straight back to Ares with a prison sentence. Do you understand?”

Rathaline looked at her with an impossibly cold expression.

“Also,” Azutan added, “I win.”

The tent was silent again, this time out of shock as her scouts observed the map which only minutes ago had an even number of territory claimed by all players, but which was now completely swept through by Azutan’s pieces.

Five days later, they reached the borders of Demeter. Not minutes after that, Sin, Saleisha, and Rathaline set off. Azutan had recovered enough to stroll around camp, but she was still not in any condition to ride. She spent the days cooped up in her tent, writing letters.

The first was to her father.

Your Majesty,

I have successfully drawn the attention of Hades and Bacchus, and they have agreed to negotiate with us. I have been injured in Bacchus, though it is no fault of the people of the Farsight Plains, as far as I am aware. Investigations are underway, but I do not expect results until we reach the far West, where our enemies are numerous. I am currently in Demeter and have sent Lieutenant General Sin in my place. I will be fit to return to my duties in a week or so.

I find this mission far less loathsome than I thought I would. Father, I wish you well.

Azutan

The second was a terse notice of Rathaline’s release, along with a crate of irons, both of which would be given to her indirectly after she returned from Demeter.

The third and last letter was addressed to Vince. This one she burned in the campfire outside her tent.

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“Have you heard from your sister, Your Highness?”

“Not for the past two years,” Vince smiled as if it were an inside joke. He was dressed in a suit of an older fashion that added almost a decade to his nineteen years. His black hair was freshly cut and the cloudy weather eliminated all competition for the gleam of his golden eyes. Perhaps some would tell him that he looked like his sister, Princess and General Azutan Arestern, but many more would say that she looked like him.

Mrina, the woman he was speaking to, had her head bowed slightly as if in reverence. Vince would never be able to understand Herans and their superfluous respect, but he wasn’t about to complain.

“Your Highness, this is whom I was tasked to bring.” Mrina stepped aside to reveal a Heran official, slouching as if hoping to hide behind her. The man had a shaved head and was wearing a long, multi-colored robe, as was the tradition for men above the age of fifty in Hera.

“So you received my latest message?” asked Vince.

“O-oh, yes.” The official dabbed at his shining forehead with a handkerchief. “I must say, I did not expect you to be this straightforward.”

“You will address him as Master Vince,” Mrina corrected automatically.

Vince ignored her. “But why the ever not? Being straightforward is wise. It saves so much time. Why would I run around pleasing every Heran higher-up when I could just corrupt half the Council and spend the extra time touring this beautiful city?”

The man balked, even though his last statement was a lie. The centuries-old buildings of Hera were too rigid. It was even uglier—if one could believe—than the architecture of Ares. On top of that, he hadn’t actually bribed half the council. But the man didn’t need to know that.

“Half the Council?” The Heran official fiddled with his collar. “You—Master Vince, you never mentioned that in the letters. How…?”

Vince shrugged. “No one refused me. Yet. And I’ll wager that you won’t either.”

“But…the council…how could so many disregard their duty…?”

“Ah.” A fly buzzed by his face. Vince flicked it away in disdain but used too much force—its crushed body landed between the official’s feet. “Being a bit hypocritical, aren’t we?”

“You must understand. This is quite the shock—”

“You’re surprised that you’re the only one disloyal enough to betray your Council? You think you’re the only one who’s working your nonexistent hair white and only getting paid half the wages of the nobility in the other kingdoms?” Vince had to bite his tongue to refrain from laughing. “Perhaps you should take a look around you and see how many of your fellow aristocrats are living much better lives now that they work under me.”

“I-” The Heran official dabbed at his forehead again. Vince could see his mental gears turning, could see the manipulation that he had so carefully executed in the past year finally tipping the moral balance. “I accept, Master Vince. I’ll do whatever you ask.”

“Excellent!” Vince handed him a bank note on the spot. The man’s jaw dropped. It was a value equivalent to a year’s wages in Ares and much, much more in Hera.

“I’ll be back in two days with instructions for you. Keep low and don’t speak of this to anyone, but that goes without saying.” Vince turned to go. “Oh, and if I find out you intend to take the money and make a run for it, I’ll hire someone to hunt you down. You’d better believe I can afford it.”

Vince could nearly hear the man gulp. “I give you my utmost loyalty, Master Vince, please trust—”

“Trust?” Vince spat. “You just betrayed your entire kingdom. I don’t want your loyalty. Just do as I say and everything will be just fine.”

He watched the Heran official stumble out of the narrow little shop, standing outside the window when he failed to take another step, left with the weight of the bank note and his own decisions.

It was remarkably fun dealing with people when Vince always had the upper hand. Most of a person’s problems, he observed, could be solved if they were richer.

“Mrina!” he called lazily.

“Your Highness.” Mrina was at his side in a flash. She closed the shutters on the windows of her small office and sat at the side of her desk, leaving the main seat to Vince.

“What news do you bring for me today?” Vince asked as the Heran official finally left the view of the window.

“Demeter has agreed to an alliance with Ares,” Mrina answered immediately. “It seems that your sister is making good progress. Though this time it seems that she sent the lieutenant general and two other girls to do her bidding. My sources say that she may be injured.”

Mrina paused as though waiting for his reaction. His face remained placid. “Go on.”

“But, Your Highness, does this not mean that your previous scheme has failed?”

Vince waved a hand. “I never expected those men to succeed anyway. They were simply rather annoying individuals that owed a significant amount of favors to me. Sending them to capture Lieutenant General Sin was so they could pay off a bit of their debt. If they succeeded, all the better! If they failed—well, I would’ve gotten rid of them without ever lifting a finger. Quite efficient, isn’t it?”

“Ah.” Mrina nodded. “I had no idea you had such motives. Forgive me for asking.”

Vince waved for her to continue.

“The Arean officials have reached Hades and Bacchus. I hear word of several trade contracts being written. Nothing else is yet to be set in stone, although things are progressing smoothly. Also.” She hesitated, looking thoughtful. “I believe Demeter has settled down, the church has been silent these few weeks. Your sister will likely enter the kingdom in a few days.”

Vince nodded. “So it goes according to our plans. Is that all?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Two days later, he met with the Heran official again in a secluded location. Vince handed him a thick scroll of instructions and watched the man’s eyebrows slowly attempt to merge with his hairline the more he read.

“This is unacceptable,” he whispered at last. His hands were shaking.

“This is necessary,” Vince corrected.

“You are asking for a reelection of Hera’s Council!”

“So I am.” Vince tried to sound as sincere as possible. “You know as well as I do that the Council is corrupt, and you are one of the reasons why. Reform the system and replace the officials—that is the quickest way to eliminate the problem.”

Not to mention the quickest way to arouse the interests of the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. The more commotion made in Hera, the more likely his father was to reconsider…

“Forgive me, Master Vince, but these do not seem like the measures taken by someone who truly cares for the kingdom’s well-being—”

Vince stepped close, smiling as if the official had just stumbled upon a secret. “Are you questioning me?”

“N-no,” he stammered at once. “I was just…”

“Good.” Vince handed the official a large sack. The man’s eyes widened some more as he heard the irons jingling inside. “Payment. Contact the people I ask and you will receive double this amount soon enough. I will inform you of when we will speak again.”

With that, Vince headed to the southeast gates of Hera. He walked at a brisk pace, his heart hammering in anticipation. It was not his wish to keep the meeting short, it would be better for him to manipulate the pitiful man a bit more, but time did not serve him this time. Mrina’s most recent report left no room for doubts. It was finally time for a small reunion. Finally.

There was a game that existed only in Ares. It was a game that decided the next ruler of the entire kingdom. The participants were the descendants of the king and queen, and the rules were simple. The monarchs decided their successor through a series of trials of which the descendants had no knowledge.

Vince had lost once. He had lost everything. But this time, he would win. This time, he set the rules.

He passed a man with a dark green suit, three boys with black hair, and a shorter woman with bright eyes.

Wait.

He spun around and looked at the woman he had just passed. She was walking in the opposite direction in a rushed manner. She was accompanied by a tall man in a long blue coat and two other women dressed as though they were deliberately trying to look inconspicuous. Could it be?

Vince glanced around once more, as though seeing the crowd clearly for the first time. Now that he was watching for it, he noticed a lot of pine green clothing.

He turned and approached her group slowly, a smile blooming on his face. The first to notice him were the two women standing on either side of Azutan, their eyes narrowing in unison, but the first to recognize him was Lieutenant General Sin, who raised a hand to alert Azutan.

At the same time, Vince called out: “Sister.”

“This concludes our terms,” Sin finished. He stood before the shadowy curtain, behind which sat the High Priest of the Church of Demeter who would not show his face to anyone outside his family and his most trusted cardinals. Beside the curtain was his son who was taken hostage by Azutan. The past two months of his return to Demeter treated him well—he looked completely in his element dressed in the burnt orange robes of the church. Although he met Sin’s gaze with indifference, Sin knew that he still held a grudge against him and Ares.

At least he did not let lingering grievances affect the negotiations. Father and son conversed in low voices through the gray curtain while surrounding cardinals chimed in from time to time. Sin waited, not a single trace of impatience on his face. Behind him, Azutan’s scouts were starting to become restless—they had been standing holding council for six hours.

Saleisha and Rathaline had long since slipped away to tour the city together. For the past few weeks, their mutual boredom gradually overcame their animosity. Sin did not mind as the two of them had already proved their worth for the mission by gaining their access to meet with the High Priest. He was responsible for the rest.

“We acknowledge and are deeply grateful for the sincerity of your proposal,” the High Priest finally spoke as soon as the cardinals finished offering their advice. “And while we eagerly agree to forget all that had happened within the past two years, we cannot be so quick as to establish an alliance. You must understand: Ares and Hades are the only two kingdoms in the West, but those of us in the East must comply with the wishes of the East. It would be unwise for Demeter to make a decision for the rest of the kingdoms.”

The Church was singing the same tune for the past month. They did not take Princess Azutan seriously, partly because she was not there to meet them in person and partly because an alliance with Ares was not a pressing issue at hand. Azutan may have been ordered by King Tyrannus to negotiate with each kingdom, but Demeter had no such obligation to reach a conclusion immediately. Things would only change once they brought Hera and Vulcan, the two great powers in the East, to their side.

Sin’s expression did not reflect any of his thoughts. He simply gave a bow to the High Priest and each of his cardinals respectively. “On the behalf of Princess Azutan Arestern, I thank you for your response and I await further news from Demeter. May we meet again on pleasant terms.”

This would be their last meeting for now, and everyone present was aware. Azutan could not waste her time on Demeter, not when Hera loomed before her like a lofty mountain, powerful and unwavering.

Privately, Sin did not know whether Azutan was ready for such a task, and he regretted the fact that he could not help her more. Could anyone? Was there really an Arean in the Seven Kingdoms who could possibly negotiate with the Herans?

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“You were right, you know.” Rathaline suddenly stopped in her tracks, her face tilted to the left as though scanning for something among the rows of neat houses. They were strolling through the richer parts of the kingdom, where farmlands gave way to tranquil cities. They were not as grand as those in Ares and not as disorganized as those in Hades.

“I know,” Saleisha responded immediately. It was only after she paused to think did she realize that she had no idea what Rathaline was referring to. “About what?”

Saleisha and Rathaline did not speak much in the past month as they had quickly discovered that they enjoyed each other’s company far more in silence than in flippant conversation that could lead to fights at any moment. Saleisha was surprised that an exception would be initiated by Rathaline instead of herself.

“You said that Azutan didn’t cause my family’s downfall.” Rathaline lifted a finger to point at one of the houses. “And you were right.”

Saleisha peered at the building. Perhaps she was ignorant of Demeten architecture but the house did look a tad wealthier than the rest. “You live here?”

“Used to,” Rathaline corrected. “Until my family lost favor with the Church.”

“There’s quite a bit of land. You could have grown your own orchard.”

“What I’m trying to say,” Rathaline continued, a hint of annoyance creeping into her tone, “is that my family made a mistake. Several, actually. We have always been heavily exploiting the farmers who worked on our lands and our connections to the Church. The High Priest turned a blind eye to it, but as a precaution, my siblings and I were sent to Ares, which was perceived as the most stable kingdom for us to live in. My older brother has a business running in the capital and my sister works in the Arean Court. I joined the military at their encouragement, and now…”

“And now you’re still here,” Saleisha finished.

Rathaline turned and began to walk again. “Azutan taking the High Priest’s son hostage was the last straw for my family. Thinking us traitors, the Church severed all ties with us. My family left Demeter for Vulcan shortly after. I received their letters, but I never saw them again.”

“And do you plan on searching for them?”

“What, leave for Vulcan? After I’ve finally returned to Demeter?” Rathaline looked scornful, a bit more like herself.

Saleisha waved a hand. “You can’t possibly think of staying. There’s nothing here for you. You don’t have family, friends, or any means to begin a life of your own.”

Almost, Saleisha added internally, like what Hades is to me.

“I can’t leave either,” Rathaline countered. “You heard Azutan. Once I leave the military, I won’t be able to travel with any of you. It’s even less likely for the Church to cover the expenses of a trip to Vulcan.”

“Then don’t leave.”

Rathaline whirled around. “What?”

“Stay in the military.” Saleisha raised her chin to meet Rathaline’s eyes, full of confidence. “Travel to Vulcan with us. If you can’t find your family there, return to Ares with us. Your siblings can take you anywhere you want after that.”

Rathaline paused, digesting her words. Shockingly, Saleisha discovered that Rathaline was not immediately rejecting her proposal.

“…That won’t work,” she said at last. “Azutan will find a way to leave me in Demeter, she won’t tolerate me in her army.”

Saleisha laughed and began to walk. “Who can say? I’m starting to tolerate you.”

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Azutan was worried about Saleisha and Rathaline. Originally, she had been equally worried for Saleisha, Rathaline, and the state of Demeter after the two of them were through with it, but she had flipped a coin and decided to only focus on one thing at a time.

She was currently staying on an abandoned plot of land close to the northwest border of Demeter. The climate was too dry to grow many crops and the grass was more unruly to walk upon than a pile of boulders. She and the remainder of the army had skirted around Demeter from the south. They were planning to meet up with Sin, Saleisha, and Rathaline on the northwestern border. From there, it was a month of travel to Hera.

Azutan had almost fully recovered from her injury and was bored out of her mind. She had passed the time by visiting the nearby farms and stocking up on supplies and stray kittens with no place to call home. The farmers seemed to take a liking to her for her ever-growing collection of feline nuisances, a phenomenon she could not quite understand nor reject.

On one occasion when she had helped a family relieve themselves of tabby that proved a threat to their chicken coop, the mother had the audacity to clap Azutan on the back and proclaim her “not as bad as they say.” Azutan was still unsure of how she was supposed to interpret this gesture. She had never been a nice person, but this was the first time someone thought her kind.

Ever since then she took extra care to travel with her yellow eyes hidden behind a pair of contacts.

She encountered a surprising number of people who passed by the abandoned farm as they trickled into Demeter. They were likely travelers from other lands—the kingdoms of Minerva or Artemis or something along those lines—as Demeter had always been the most welcoming kingdom of the Seven. Azutan could not help but envy their lifestyle.

“General Azutan? Lieutenant General Sin has just—” The scout who had poked his head inside the farmhouse faltered. “Er, is this a good time?”

“It is no matter,” Azutan said briskly, dropping the pigeon feather. The cat she had been playing with stood up and blinked in annoyance at the interruption. “What was that about Sin?”

“The lieutenant general has returned, as have the young thief and the Demeten soldier.”

Azutan stood quickly. “Bring them to me immediately.”

Whatever she expected, the last thing she thought she’d see was Saleisha and Rathaline standing outside, absorbed in their conversation. She stood there dumbfounded as Rathaline began to laugh over a shared joke.

Sin sighed as he stepped to Azutan’s side. “What a relief to be back. Those two have been insufferable.”

“What happened?”

“I’ll let Miss Rathaline tell you herself. We may need to form a squad of guards to keep them out of trouble from now on.”

He then glanced around at the walls of the squat wooden building. They were covered in pages of notes gathered by her scouts on the hunt for the one behind Sin’s abduction. So far, they had found nothing more useful than mere speculations of where the man might be based on the untrustworthy sightings of the local farmers. “No luck?”

“No,” Azutan said sourly.

“It is very hard to find one person in the Seven Kingdoms,” Sin mused. “But there is no need to be so caught up with this, Princess. As long as we are careful from now on, I doubt our culprit would dare to try a second time, especially after seeing what happened to his last few hired hands.”

“Right.” A kitten climbed up her boot. Azutan returned it to the ground by the scruff of its neck. “We head onward to Hera then.”

“I will begin the preparations for the army. And Princess, what about the cats?” Sin gestured to the small huddle around her feet.

“What about them?”

“Shall we take them with us?”

Azutan was taken aback. “Why would we do that?”

“Ah. So would you like to dump them on the neighboring farms?”

“No!” Azutan cleared her throat. “I’ll have my scouts carry them with us and prepare some extra food.”

Sin looked amused as he left, with Saleisha following him, leaving only Azutan and Rathaline in the farmhouse.

Rathaline stood to the side, watching the cats with the expression of someone who very much wanted to coddle them, but resisted in the name of their pride.

Azutan broke the silence first. “I’ve prepared your letter of resignation, all I require is your signature. I’ve also weighed out this month’s wages in irons, and by tomorrow you can—”

“I don’t want to resign,” Rathaline interrupted.

Azutan blinked twice. “What?”

“I would like to stay. Please.” Rathaline stood up straighter. “I lied to you—my family isn’t in Demeter. They’re most likely living in Vulcan, or at least I know my siblings are still in Ares. I would like to stay in your army and find them.”

Azutan paused, surprise still in her eyes. “That sounds more like an idea of Saleisha’s than your own.”

“I know,” Rathaline gave a wry smile. “Which is why I have another proposition. I swear to help you in any way that I can in your mission to negotiate with each of the Seven Kingdoms, but I want to be outside the chain of command. Like Saleisha is.” She added as an afterthought.

“And why is that?”

“I can’t be of much use running around under officers who I despise,” Rathaline said simply. “And you might find that I’m very handy to have around.”

Azutan doubted that very much, but she also knew that Saleisha would throw a tantrum if she rejected the wishes of her newest friend. “Very well. From now on, you report directly to myself and Sin. You may resign from the army at any time, but should you do so in the middle of our travels through the kingdoms, you will not receive accommodations from the army.”

“I won’t,” said Rathaline, “but thanks.”

“And Rathaline,” Azutan called just as she stepped over the threshold. Rathaline turned. “Next time, don’t bring an attitude to a game of War. You’ll need it for the actual playing.”

The sun was setting when Azutan left Demeter, coloring everything red and casting long shadows behind the trees, the plants, and herself. She walked in sandals on an elevated dirt pathway between plots of land, her army trailing silently behind her. Even Saleisha and Rathaline were uncharacteristically quiet by her side. Amber splashed the water pools that fed the roots of crops they passed, reflected from the light of the retiring sun. A row of farmers stood a short distance away from the procession—all of them were people Azutan recognized. When they waved, she found herself waving back. Azutan did not think she would be able to experience such tranquility again in a long time.

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Supposedly, the gates of Hera were difficult to breach. It was nearly impossible for four people with anonymous identities to enter, much less an Arean princess accompanied by an entire army. But of course, Saleisha had only laughed and used two weeks’ time to construct delicate profiles for each infiltrator. Azutan was so impressed that she didn’t dare interfere.

“So who am I again?” asked Azutan on the day of the infiltration.

“The niece of a rich lord, who’s going to be Sin. You’re upset because you’re being forced to become the heir of your father’s business and property, and you’re not allowed to pursue your own dreams. Your uncle is supervising you on your adventure of exploring the real world.” Saleisha, who was twisting her hair into a very unsuccessful bun, paused to smirk up at her. “See, I had to make you really bitter because your attitude wouldn’t fit much else.”

“Thanks.”

“It could be much worse. Look at Rathaline.”

“And pray tell, what for?” Rathaline suddenly appeared at Azutan’s shoulder.

Saleisha shook her hair loose as her bun fell apart once again. “You’re going to the pitiful maid who used to own a fortune, but sadly had everything taken away from her when her house got swept up in a hurricane.”

“A hurricane?” Rathaline sniffed.

“Of course. There are far too many in Hades.”

“I’d rather be her.” Rathaline jutted her chin at Azutan.

“Well, I don’t want to be you,” pointed out Azutan.

Saleisha waved at her with an air that indicated she didn’t have time for them. “I spent a lot of time crafting these profiles. The authorities shouldn’t find fault with our identities if we don’t break character. Just remember that you may need to answer specific questions about the kingdom that you’re from…”

“By the way.” Rathaline turned to Saleisha. “Who are you going to be?”

“A renowned and wealthy teacher from Hades,” Saleisha said loftily. “It’s partially true.”

“And it’s entirely true that I’m the crown princess of Ares,” argued Azutan.

“You’re not getting the point at all!”

“And you’re just messing around!” shouted Azutan and Rathaline in unison.

Sin coughed from behind them. He seemed to be suppressing a smile. “We will be entering Hera in twenty minutes. Perhaps now would be the time to put on our costumes?” He was already dressed in the clothes of a rich lord, ready to play the role of Azutan’s uncle. He handed her a folded noblewoman’s dress and a pair of expensive slippers.

Azutan returned to the tent a few moments later, fingering the cuffs of her new gown and trying not to show too much ecstasy at wearing it. Saleisha and Rathaline were both dressed in comfortable shirts and trousers, clothing for the middle and working class. Rathaline was busy stuffing short knives in her sleeves and pockets.

“You might want to hold off on that for a while,” Azutan told her. “We will most definitely be checked for weapons before entering Hera.”

Rathaline scowled. “So we’re just going to march in, defenseless?”

“We’ll be fine. I’m here, remember?” Saleisha led the way out of camp, unbothered. Azutan followed grudgingly, not accustomed to having words stolen from her mouth, much less by Saleisha.

Along with Azutan’s scouts, they came to Hera’s gate in groups of three or four. Azutan knew they were all nervous to some degree. Not only did they have to play their fake identities just right, but they also needed to place all their hope and trust in Saleisha, who, the closer they got to the looming gate and the troops of armed soldiers and inspectors stationed in front of it, seemed less and less like she knew what she was doing. It really didn’t help that they had no weapons of their own.

“Names?” the inspector asked curtly as Azutan and Sin stepped up to the front of the line.

“Stephen August Wallow,” said Sin in a voice adjusted to sound eloquent and smooth. Azutan was deeply impressed. “And this is my niece, Ashrelle May Wallow.”

The inspector, a woman about Sin’s age dressed in a stiff uniform and wearing rather impressive-looking spectacles, peered at them over her optics. Azutan forced herself to be calm as the woman looked from her to Sin, likely trying to distinguish any family resemblance, of which there was, of course, none.

“Well…” she continued, sounding unsure. “What is your business in Hera?”

“My niece wishes to seek more opportunities in other kingdoms rather than follow the life her father gave her at home. I am accompanying her as a guardian, and we are traveling with friends” —Sin indicated Saleisha and Rathaline behind them—“who have also heard of the types of marvelous lives one can gain in Hera, truly the most prosperous and wonderful kingdom.” He emphasized this with a broad smile.

To Azutan’s utter shock, the inspector began to return it. “As long as you’re well informed of how we do things in Hera, everything should be in order.”

“Oh, not to worry, we’re aware, well aware. I’ve always admired Hera’s strict traditions, they leave so little room for mishaps…”

Within minutes, they were let into a large courtyard and garden, beautifully decorated and carefully kept. Azutan could not believe how easy it was.

“What was that?” she hissed to Sin.

Sin drew himself up impressively. “Art.”

“You mean the flattery? The blatant lies?”

“Precisely. Art.”

He was not the only one who was proud of himself. Saleisha’s smug grin only grew wider and wider as more and more of Azutan’s scouts passed the inspection. They milled around casually and avoided eye contact with one another, waiting for Azutan’s signal.

At last, once she was sure no more scouts would be joining them, Azutan pretended to brush her skirt as if there was some dust on it, and the group began to move out. They slowly began to head north and onto the streets. There were many people, but the Herans didn’t notice the foreigners as much as Azutan thought they would. Gradually, a sense of security began to envelop her. They managed to infiltrate the greatest kingdom of the West without being recognized. She almost believed that they would have a smooth journey from then on.

Until around her, Sin, Saleisha, and Rathaline tensed. Until she heard a voice: “Sister.”

She turned around to come face-to-face with a snake.

Her brother had gotten taller. He was no longer the precious little nuisance always trailing behind her, so easy to pinch, so easy to hug. They would not be protecting each other anymore, with Azutan shielding Vince from their father’s strict gaze, and Vince distracting their mother’s disapproving look. The only thing they had in common now were their sharp yellow eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Azutan asked before Vince could speak. She carefully kept her expression neutral.

“But haven’t you heard?” The look Vince gave her was innocent enough to arouse her suspicion. “Father sent me to Hera a year ago, after your initial visit here. I’ve been working with the Council ever since. In fact, I’m sure I’ll be of the greatest assistance to you as my work here is already in its final stages.”

“Is the relaxed security of the gates your doing?” Sin looked impressed.

Vince gave a smile in response. “I do believe that the Councilors are beginning to listen. However, we’ll need an internal reform on a completely different level in order to—”

“And when do you plan to tell us the details of this plan of yours?” Azutan interrupted.

“Right away, of course. Once we move somewhere a bit more private.” Vince glanced around.

They did so, Azutan walking a few strides behind Vince and Sin, who began conversing amiably. Saleisha and Rathaline fell back to keep pace with her.

“How come Sin calls your brother ‘Your Highness,’ but not you?” asked Saleisha.

“Because I don’t like the way it sounds,” Azutan answered with derision.

“Sin seems to like your brother,” noted Rathaline. “Unlike you. Does this have something to do with the succession trials?”

“Succession trials?” Saleisha looked at her expectantly.

“Yes,” Azutan said curtly. “Vince blames me for the loss of his throne.”

“His throne? Hasn’t it always been yours?”

“No, in Ares, the throne is given to someone in the royal family who is most suited to becoming the next ruler,” explained Rathaline. “There’s supposedly a year-long competition that’s held in order to determine this. It is usually done in secret, with the agreement of both Arean rulers, so the Arean public won’t be able to know and interfere. In fact, sometimes the potential heirs themselves don’t know when they are being tested.”

Azutan nodded. “And that was the case for me and Vince.

“We were tested when I was twelve and Vince was ten, which is a little bit earlier than the usual testing age. And during that period…I can be absolutely sure that I did not show any interest in the Arean throne.”

Rathaline raised an eyebrow. “No interest in flaunting your royalty? Forcing people to do what you want? But you do it so wonderfully. All the time.”

“Well, it’s fun sometimes, all right? But I’ve always disliked being responsible for anyone, not even Vince, much less an entire kingdom. I don’t believe I’m selfless and wise enough to ignore my own wishes and prioritize that of others.”

Saleisha coughed. “You’re definitely right about that. But what about Vince? What would Vince do if he were king?”

“Oh, he would do whatever he wanted, and then convince everyone that his decision was actually the best for them.”

The three of them mulled over this.

Saleisha shook her head. “The king and queen should have skipped this entire generation.”

“But you’re a bit like the queen, Azutan,” said Rathaline thoughtfully. “I heard rumors in the military that she doesn’t actually want the status and power that comes with being the queen. Perhaps that’s why she chose you.”

Azutan bristled a little at being compared to Lydia. “The rumors are correct. My mother loves my father, not her throne.” Nor her daughter. “But I’m sure that I was not her pick for the heir. No, our current situation is the result of my father’s decision and his alone.”

“Which is why Vince bears a grudge against him too,” Rathaline finished.

They continued in silence for a few minutes before reaching Vince’s supposed private place to talk, which turned out to be the inn where he was staying. After discussing Vince’s failed succession trials, Saleisha and Rathaline did not seem too eager to enter.

“Please, have a seat,” he said as he poured them all some tea. Azutan didn’t touch her cup, but she did sit on the windowsill, a childhood habit. Rathaline picked the chair closest to her and Saleisha settled down on the floor between them.

Vince held up a plate of biscuits. “Would anyone like—”

“Just get on with it,” Azutan snapped. She crossed her arms.

Vince set down the plate with no comment. Sin reached over to pluck one with a murmur of thanks.

“I first started planning the corruption about a month ago,” began Vince. “My plan is to infiltrate Hera’s Council and control the entire kingdom against them. From there, we can establish new ruling powers, influencing the kingdom in the dark, and an alliance will be as good as had.”

For the first time since reuniting with Vince, Sin gave a frown. Azutan was positively seething. It was a good idea. It made her wish she had thought of it.

“It will never work,” Azutan spat. “Corrupting the entire Council will take much too much time, and too much can go wrong.”

Vince nodded at that. “That’s what I thought as well. Which is why I only swayed one Councilor. I intend to make it appear to him as if the majority of the Council has already agreed to my propositions. Soon he will realize that no one is backing him, but by that time, it will be too late—Hera will become Ares’ plaything.” Vince’s eyes shone like a hawk’s. “He will be our puppet, he will be our spokesman, and he will also be our scapegoat.”

Sin had leaned forward to place his chin on his laced fingers, his expression dark. Rathaline shifted uncomfortably. Saleisha was sipping her tea, looking as if she couldn’t care less, and she probably couldn’t.

Azutan wasn’t sure how she felt. She did like the plan, but it went against her moral code which was to inherently disagree with anything that came out of Vince’s mouth. “You said ‘soon he will realize that no one is backing him.’ When is this ‘soon’?”

“I intend on having him reveal both his treason and Ares’ proposal of an alliance in the same Council meeting sometime within the next month or two. Before that, we’ll be doing a number of things to encourage the kingdom to side with him.”

Azutan narrowed her eyes. She did not like how Vince was speaking as if it were already decided that he would be leading the mission.

“What do you mean?”

Vince gave a nonchalant shrug. “Destroying reputations, disrupting aspirations, undermining authority, isn’t that what you do best, sister? I daresay you’ll be the one helping me in this aspect.”

Azutan stood, looking her brother square in the eyes. They were as still as statues for what seemed like a small eternity. She did not miss Sin’s expression. “We will discuss things further tomorrow after I have met with the Heran official we intend to use.”

If Vince had any problems with that, it didn’t show. “Of course. The Councilor is named Kastellan. Shall I give you instructions on where to find him?”

“No need,” Azutan rejected coldly and out of habit. She brushed past Vince on her way to the door with Sin, Saleisha, and Rathaline at her heels. She didn’t bother to say goodbye.

Once outside the inn, she turned to her friends.

“Saleisha, Rathaline, could you two find us a place to stay? Preferably far, far away from here?” Azutan tossed Saleisha a pouch of irons. She looked inside with almost too much disinterest to trust. “Sin, could we go speak to the Councilor?”

Sin nodded. “How do you intend to find him, Princess?”

“It’s easy.” Azutan let her fingers trace the outlines of the city’s silhouette. “We just need to look for the rich houses.”

“I know you’re not very happy with Vince’s plan,” Azutan said after a few minutes of wandering.

“I do not like how he’s going to use the innocent Heran man, no.”

“I know.” Azutan’s eyes swept over the street. “Once we speak to him, we can find a way to help him, provide him with an escape from Hera.”

“You’d do that, Princess?” Sin was nearly successful in keeping the shock out of his voice.

Would she do that, if her motivation wasn’t to please Sin and to prove to him that she was ultimately better than Vince? She wasn’t sure. “Of course.”

It took an hour of touring Hera before they slowly realized that, in fact, there were no rich houses. No parts of the city were sectioned out for nobility. No gradually cleaner, wider streets. At last, they resorted to simply asking a passing fruit seller for directions, their hopes low. Unexpectedly, the woman only looked them up and down as if she couldn’t believe any Heran could be so ignorant and pointed down the street.

“Vanbrough Kastellan,” said Sin as he scanned the nameplate before the house. Azutan winced at the overly extravagant Heran script.

“And we were looking for a mansion,” she muttered under her breath, noting the house’s cracked tiles and discolored walls. “Do we just knock?”

“I’m not very informed in the social etiquette of this kingdom, but I do see a door.”

Azutan stepped forward and raised her fist. However, before her knuckles made contact, the door cracked open. She nearly stumbled back into Sin in surprise. A man peered out at her, young, but with dark circles under his eyes which gave him a paranoid look.

“Can I help you?” His fingers curled around the door’s edges.

“No, but I can help you,” she replied in her most authoritative voice. “I am the sister of the man who is about to destroy your life, and I would like to chat.”

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The Councilor poured them tea, which Azutan drank. He paced around nervously before them, as if not entirely sure he wanted to hold a conversation with them.

“Are you well informed of Master Vince?” asked Sin. Azutan took that to mean, “Do you know who we are?”

Kastellan shook his head. “I wouldn’t say so, no.” Azutan watched a bead of sweat make its way down his forehead.

“Why did you agree to help Vince?” Azutan leaned forward, lacing her fingers together.

Kastellan licked his lips. “Money. Even though Councilors are paid well enough already, it’s…still not enough.”

Discreetly, Sin made eye contact with her. He raised his eyebrow, and Azutan nodded.

“You’re a member of the Council,” she began slowly. “One should think you would be the most financially comfortable out of every other citizen of Hera.”

“What do you understand about Hera?” Kastellan turned to her with an indignant expression. But that wasn’t all. Azutan knew he was hiding something—she herself had been perfecting that expression for many, many years.

Azutan waved a hand around them. “You have a highly regarded job. And yet you live among the common people as if an ordinary neighbor. It took us nearly two hours to find your house, but if this were Ares you could spot an aristocrat’s estate a mile away. It’s not difficult to see why you would accept bribes.”

“I am starting to wonder whether you truly have an interest in helping me,” Kastellan tried for a cold tone. Azutan must have struck a nerve.

“Good,” Azutan shot back at him. “Keep doing that. Wondering, I mean. But your best course of action from here is to continue meeting with my brother lest you arouse his suspicion, and escape Hera on the fastest horse once he’s done with you. We’re happy to arrange this for you, and the next time we visit will be to inform you of the date of your leave.”

“What?” If Kastellan had not been standing already, he would have sprung to his feet. “What are you—you can’t just—” he continued to splutter.

Sin was looking at her with a slight frown. He had trusted Azutan with the finer details of their plan to aid Kastellan, but Azutan felt as though she had somehow betrayed him by keeping Kastellan in Hera until Vince’s scheme was finished.

“He’s going to send someone after me, isn’t he?” Kastellan demanded.

“No,” said Azutan dismissively, then realized that Vince had never confirmed that.

“He has spies watching me, doesn’t he.” Kastellan didn’t seem to hear her. “That’s why I can’t try to escape too early. That woman that’s always following him around. And now you two—” He turned to face Azutan and Sin with a wild look in his eyes. “You, you’re his sister. What if—”

“Shut up,” Azutan advised, setting down her teacup. “I wouldn’t be caught dead working for my little brother. Nothing’s going to happen to you if you listen to us. You’ll be able to escape it all and build a new life elsewhere. You definitely want to avoid Hera for quite some time, however.”

Kastellan was shaking. “This is all preposterous.”

“Glad we both understand the feeling.” Azutan stood to go. “Thanks for the tea. Remember to keep up the act around Vince when you meet with him. We’ll meet again.”

They let themselves out.

“Would Vince send an assassin after him?” Azutan wondered as they walked down the street at a lax pace. “It would be Vince’s way of putting him out of his misery once he’s the outcast of the entire kingdom.”

“You’re going to let Vince use him before we smuggle him out,” said Sin. It wasn’t a question.

Azutan glanced at him beside her. “We both know that we can’t possibly win Hera’s favor through just means. Vince’s plan is extremely convenient. It would be a waste to throw it away. And with us here to watch over Kastellan, the worst that can happen is a period of exile.”

“I understand,” sighed Sin.

“I’m sorry,” she said. For once, she meant it. Sin nodded.

“We have a lot of work to do in these next few days,” he commented, attempting to make the conversation lighter.

“Unfortunately,” Azutan muttered. “Rathaline and the scouts can arrange a way for Kastellan to leave Hera safely and hastily. Though I suppose we should let Saleisha handle some of that, especially if it involves bribing. She also needs to poke around the Council a bit, see if Vince has any other bits of his grand plan he isn’t telling us about. He wouldn’t want to reveal all his cards to me if he had the choice. Meanwhile, we will work directly with Vince and monitor his actions. Though if he succeeds in operating without us, we’ll have to ask Saleisha to tail him.” Azutan paused. “We do rely on her an awful lot.”

“She needs a pay raise,” Sin agreed.

“I’m sure she already took half the money in that bag I gave her today, I’ll need to snatch back the rest once we meet up with her,” Azutan said ruefully. Suddenly, she froze on the spot, and Sin quickly followed suit.

“I forgot to tell them—”

“A rendezvous point,” Sin finished for her.

They were standing awkwardly before the lawn of Vince’s inn. There was no one else in sight, and the sun was setting at a rapid pace. Azutan wondered if they would have to book rooms at the very inn Vince was staying at, then forbade herself from thinking such miserable thoughts.

“Shall we book our rooms elsewhere?” suggested Sin, evidently picking up on her thoughts. “We’re going to meet everyone in the town square every morning anyway if Miss Saleisha and Miss Rathaline don’t show up.”

“Let’s first wait a few minutes.”

They sat down on a nearby bench just as the street lights were beginning to flicker on. Sin, ever the man of literature, pulled out a book from his coat. Azutan stared aimlessly at the modest doors of the inn, through which Vince was sleeping, or sitting, or eating dinner serenely, having no idea that she was this near.

Her mind wandered inexplicably to the conversation she had shared with Saleisha and Rathaline earlier in the day. She wondered, not for the first or tenth time, what her father had been thinking on the day he announced Ares’ heir to the entire capital city. She wondered what her mother had been thinking, for she had always favored and supported Vince while she found fault in everything Azutan did. Azutan felt as though her mother should have spent less time taking out her bitterness over Vince’s loss on Azutan and more time speaking to her husband about his ultimate decision.

Her father had not returned a single one of her letters since she first left Ares nearly two and a half years ago while her mother had not spoken to her for longer. Azutan paused her train of thought and looked toward Sin reading beside her. There was always someone by her side anyway.

“So you’ve been here all along?”

Azutan started and twisted around just as a hand fell on her shoulder. Rathaline was bent over, panting as if she had just run a long way. She was also scowling. “I looked everywhere for you! Why didn’t you tell us where to find you?”

“Sorry about that.” Azutan blinked, surprised and a little touched at the fact that Rathaline had run around the city trying to find them.

“Come on, let’s go.” Rathaline slapped her shoulder carelessly as if they had known each other for years. “Saleisha’s waiting—you’ll want to hear this.”

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They’re taking forever, Vince thought in frustration as he looked out the window. He tapped his fingers across the armrest of the chair in anticipation. He was beginning to sweat, though it was more from the heat of the inn lobby’s fireplace than his nerves.

Minutes ago, he had opened the lobby door just as his sister and Lieutenant General Sin passed by. He had shut the door as quickly as he could. They didn’t seem to notice him, thankfully.

It wouldn’t be a problem if Azutan and Sin saw him heading out. What business of it was theirs? But he didn’t want to risk it. Vince had to admit, Azutan was clever, almost too clever. She would connect the dots eventually.

He peered out the window again. There was another girl by Azutan now, talking to her. He remembered her being part of their group, but couldn’t recall her name. He only stood up after they left. What was even the point of them coming here? To keep tabs on him? But it seemed so unlikely.

Vince shook his head as he walked out into the night. Well, it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t give them anything worth keeping tabs on.

He whistled as he walked, taking care to act as nonchalant as possible as he headed to one of the twenty or so spots he kept visiting in the past week. It was an old church building surrounded by small roads that were empty of passersby all except Vince. Although Herans practiced their faith, they were naturally not as devoted as the Demetens. The loss of this church would barely be felt. Virtually no damage would be done.

Vince inspected the church one last time. The interior would be largely hollow and empty, with cheap flooring despite the Councilors’ best efforts to provide more for local institutions. The exterior was partly built from bricks, but the rest was painted wood. He had chosen this location because of its similarity to another building of far greater importance. This was merely a test.

He inconspicuously put his back to the wall and got out a cigarette. He then slipped a large can of gasoline oil from the inside of his coat. He carefully unscrewed it and began pouring the contents out little by little along the base of the wall as he walked down the street. At the end of the street, he tossed the can into the trash and pulled out a box of matches from yet another pocket. He moved as though he were going to light the cigarette before tossing both the cigarette and the lit match into the oil.

He walked away as the fire came to life.

Starting from two blocks away, Vince could hear some screaming. He didn’t have to glance back to know that the fire had spread to surrounding houses. Was it really that windy tonight? The inhabitants would get out safely, probably. And if they didn’t…well. He grinned. Just like Azutan—he didn’t care.

People rushed past in the opposite direction of him, trying to help stop the fire or trying to catch a glimpse of it. Vince kept walking. He didn’t care at all.

The weeks leading up to the decisive Council meeting were slower than Azutan had anticipated. At first, she had the sense that Vince was deliberately withholding tasks and information to prevent her from interfering in his own activities. However, no matter how much she sent Saleisha to tail him, it did not seem as though Vince had anything particularly interesting in his schedule either. Which could only mean that, despite his earlier claims that he would need their help, he had already completed much of his plan before Azutan stepped foot in Hera. Which meant that Vince would be taking credit for Hera’s eventual alliance. Which only frustrated Azutan further.

“What excuse does Saleisha have for skipping shopping day this time?” grumbled Rathaline as she picked out oranges.

“Actually, she’s meeting with the information broker right now,” replied Azutan. “The one called Mrina.”

Sin scratched his jaw. “Weren’t you supposed to go with her?”

“I was. But after the first time Saleisha and I talked to her, Saleisha was suspicious that she knew my identity.” Azutan shrugged, shifting the bags in her hands. “So now you have an extra person to help carry the groceries.”

“It’s for the best.” Rathaline tossed a discolored orange back into the pile with a disdainful flick of her wrist, earning a glare from the fruit vendor. “Saleisha won’t get anything important out of her, just like last time.”

It was a mark of their increasing tolerance of Rathaline’s apathy and grudging acknowledgment of her intuition that neither Sin nor Azutan argued against her assessment.

An hour later, Sin and Rathaline parted ways with Azutan to attain their outfits for the Council meeting, a tedious task that mostly meant finding the right measurements. Azutan was left to wander the streets of Hera and her memories.

Vince’s plan reminded her of when she took her hostages from the other six kingdoms nearly two years ago through not the similarities between the two situations but rather the differences. Back then, she had not put much thought into anything she did—her daily life was a simple matter of giving orders to her soldiers and letting the sheer might of the Arean military finish the job. On the contrary, Vince had only relied on himself during the entirety of his stay in Hera, using bribes and manipulation to achieve a reliable following. One could imagine King Tyrannus’ struggle for choosing his heir when those were his only options.

And yet something about Vince’s scheme was quite familiar to her. She hadn’t noticed when it started, but a pool of anxiety and apprehension was steadily forming in the pits of her body, one that had been easier to ignore two years ago, when she was the one steering herself to her imminent misfortune. But the implications were clear to her now. Vince was about to do something he would come to regret.

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Azutan, Sin, and Rathaline walked into the Council Hall early in the morning, just as the meeting was beginning. Vince and Saleisha were already there, saving seats for them at the front of the Hall, with Vince sitting at one end of the row and Saleisha at the other. When Azutan approached, Saleisha quickly moved aside, allowing Azutan to sit as far away from Vince as possible. A true friend.

The Council Hall was large, around the same size as the Chamber that the Hadish used. It was much less extravagant, however. The Hall was simply a domed building with dozens of rows of seats in the center of the room and a half-circle of raised podiums in the front. Because of the size of the Hall, speakers were often drowned out by the mutterings of the audience.

All around Azutan, the benches began to be filled up by the most influential people of Hera’s capital, including all of Vince’s spies and bribed statesmen that Azutan could recognize. While along the walkways near the walls, the common people gathered—not because they weren’t allowed a seat, but because they wanted to be close to the exit for when they became disinterested and left after a short amount of time.

She spotted Mrina among the crowd, but the Heran woman either did not notice her or did not wish to return her stare. As Rathaline had predicted, Saleisha’s meeting with Mrina the day before had been entirely fruitless. But at the moment, it only served to heighten Azutan’s unease.

The Councilors were beginning to take their places at their podiums. Azutan spotted Kastellan near the end of the half-circle. He looked quite pale, and he kept glancing over at where they sat. When they made eye contact, he looked away hastily.

“He’s giving us away,” Rathaline complained.

Saleisha responded by making a rude gesture in Kastellan’s general direction. He must not have received them often, for he revealed an obviously baffled look.

Rathaline regarded her usual wrinkled buttoned-up shirt and tattered trousers, which Saleisha had not changed out of for days. It looked distinctly out of place among the neat, traditional garb worn by everyone else in the Hall. “You don’t look very threatening.”

Saleisha waved her hand. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m with you guys, so no one will care. Besides,” she added, a serious look briefly passing over her face, “light clothing might come in handy later.”

Azutan and Sin exchanged glances just as the woman at the center podium cleared her throat. Everyone’s attention became fixed upon her.

“Apologies for the long wait, citizens of Hera,” she began. “Today’s Council meeting will now commence.”

Immediately, the five of them began to tense up, with Vince and Rathaline leaning forward in anticipation, while Azutan, Sin, and Saleisha folded into themselves with guilty apprehension.

“There is much to discuss here today,” the lead Councilor’s voice rang out clearly, “most notably the abominable felonies that have been committed in these recent weeks.”

Azutan felt a chill. She had not expected this, but any offenses mentioned by the Council could be related to Vince’s scheme.

“Man-made fires, one after another. The crimes do not seem to be connected, but there is not enough evidence to confirm this. The sheriff—”

Another Councilor cleared his throat. “I believe the main issue here is how we’re going to get the money to pay for all of this havoc. Five residential buildings burnt down in the span of a month. Nearly two hundred people without homes or possessions—just as urgent, if not more, as catching the culprits behind the fires.”

The crowd murmured in agreement. Many of the attendees had likely been affected by the crimes.

“I believe it’s quite simple,” piped up another. “We can split the treasury’s resources to rebuild the destroyed houses and fund the search for the criminal.”

“Perhaps those who don’t usually concern themselves with Hera’s financial state don’t recognize this,” cut in a Councilor standing at one end of the semicircle, “but our treasury barely has enough reserves to ensure the temporary minimal living conditions for the two hundred without homes, much less accomplish the other matters you mentioned. We would need to tax the general populace twice as hard, and the process would take months.”

At that, the audience began to murmur among themselves in distress. Those who had been planning on leaving after a good ten minutes now straightened indignantly. Azutan couldn’t blame them. The meeting proceeded, with each speaker raising a suggestion, a debate ensuing, but a resolution never found. The Councilors would simply change the topic, and sometimes the topic would even wound back to previous subject matters. Azutan exchanged yet another glance with Sin, both of them painfully reminded of the Arean Court.

Rathaline picked at her nails. “I didn’t sign up for a reenactment of Azutan’s family dinners.” Azutan couldn’t even argue with her.

“But without any food,” Saleisha said sadly.

“And yet the Heran Council is much easier to navigate,” Vince commented from the other side of Sin. Azutan, Saleisha, and Rathaline all jumped, forgetting for a moment that another participant of the aforementioned dinners was present. “The Councilors are leaders without backbone. Since Hera is a state so reverent of tradition, its rulers only follow what their predecessors have done. They don’t dare unite the Council to place a single person on a throne, which is really the only way you can have a kingdom. Fortunately, we’re here to help them with that.”

Azutan felt as though he were trying to tell her something. Instead, she voiced: “Is this something you should be declaring in the middle of the Hall, where Herans can hear you?”

Fortunately, no one seemed to be eavesdropping. Or if they were, it wouldn’t have mattered, considering what happened next.

“He’s speaking,” Sin said suddenly, and they all turned their attention toward Kastellan. Sure enough, the man was holding up a hand for attention. Azutan tensed.

“Yes, Vanbrough?” The leading member waved for him to begin. “What would you like to add?”

Kastellan drew himself up importantly, but Azutan could see that his hands were trembling. He plainly had a script laid down on his podium. “I believe our best course of action in putting a stop to these crimes is to reform Hera from within, starting from our Council—for nothing that was discussed today will be useful in the slightest.”

At this, Azutan shifted her gaze slightly to catch Vince’s slow grin.

The officials were gaping openly.

“Vanbrough,” said the lead Councilor with some difficulty, “Assistant Treasurer of Hera, less than a year in office. What—exactly—do you mean?”

Kastellan took a deep breath. “We of the Heran Council are disorderly at best and incoherent at worst. Since we are clearly occupied with an issue regarding finances, only the Councilors who specialize in finances need to voice their solutions. And as one of them, I—”

“That is not how the Council operates,” the lead Councilor interrupted brutally. “History has shown us that the more opinions available to consider, the better off our people will be.”

“Better off? Underneath all those taxes you were ready to implement?” Kastellan licked his lips nervously. “Perhaps before you all hurry to burden our kingdom, consider seeking options from…the rest of the continent.”

The Councilors needed a moment to process his implications.

“Negotiate with the other six?” cried one. “Are you perhaps suggesting for us to borrow their soldiers? Perhaps irons, even?”

“Is there a problem?”

“A problem? Why do you think Hera has always stayed the most independent of the Seven Kingdoms? It is to prevent us from being attached to the other kingdoms and their shallow ideals,” the leading Councilor snarled. “Or have you forgotten this?”

“Perhaps you’re just blind to your own imperfections.”

There followed a silence that made Azutan want to reach her hand out to feel the invisible walls that were blocking all sound. All eyes were on Vince, watching him get to his feet and look the leading Councilor square in the eye. It was unprecedented for anyone to interrupt a Council meeting, as unprecedented as Councilors arguing like members of the Arean royal family. Which was likely the point.

“It is not my place to say this,” began Vince. “I am merely an average citizen. My home was among the many that were destroyed in the fire a few days ago. My family and I have moved to the outskirts of the kingdom where bare living necessities are cheaper, and even then, we are still having a hard time getting by.

“I came here today to witness how the Council decides to solve our problems and those of many others.” Vince began to scowl in bitter rage. “Instead, I sit here watching you all go back and forth, never coming to a decision because of your disorderly squabbling and reluctance to change.

“So what if Hera uses Bacchus soldiers to tighten security? Families who may prevent their homes from burning to a crisp will welcome them with open arms. So what if Hera requests donations from our neighbor Vulcan? We fund their projects frequently, we are their most respected patrons, and they would not find it strange to return some irons. I have lived as a traditional Heran all my life, and I find nothing wrong with Councilor Vanbrough’s claims.”

Vince made a silent snapping motion with his fingers. Saleisha was the first to react to the signal.

“I came to Hera recently, hoping to lead a different life from my former one in Hades.” Saleisha’s voice came out confident and powerful, so different from her usual childish tone. For the first time, Azutan truly believed that they were the same age. “I heard it was peaceful here. Orderly. Everyone united under Hera’s age-old traditions. How wrong I was! Barely a week after I moved here, I got robbed of nearly all my possessions. Now I hear of fires being lit, with no one to prevent them? Hera is no different from Hades, or any of the other kingdoms, despite what you claim—no, in fact, I believe even Hades would have put a stop to these crimes by now.”

Saleisha finished with a note of finality, her expression stern and distressed, though Azutan could see that she was trying hard not to laugh.

“That was some impressive improvisation,” Rathaline murmured grudgingly.

“See? I really didn’t need the robes,” Saleisha whispered back as the mutterings of the crowd grew louder into transparent anger.

“Quiet!” The officials began to shout for order. “You may not interrupt the Council meeting! Guards, arrest those who disobey!”

Azutan caught sight of a pair of soldiers coming their way and her heartbeat quickened.

“So you refuse to hear the voices of your precious citizens?” she called out.

“What use are your guards if their number cannot protect the kingdom where it matters?” Saleisha joined in.

Rathaline didn’t have much to add other than a string of insults and obscenities.

The crowd swelled, on the verge of becoming a mob. The guards found it impossible to wade through the sea of people, and the shrill, panicked voices of the Councilors were lost under the din.

“My family! My family has been shuffled from shelter to shelter for three months!”

“I lost my daughter in that horrible fire and yet you—”

“Am I to wait until the Council decides how much punishment the good people of Hera will receive? Irons are not made easily by us merchants!”

“Prin—Ashrelle! Ashrelle!”

Azutan, nearly carried along by the surging crowd, twisted around to locate the source of Sin’s voice. It was hopeless through the jungle of limbs and torsos. The situation was quickly turning violent—the Heran soldiers had given up on apprehending Vince entirely and were now forming a protective circle around the cowering Councilors. Azutan thought she could see Kastellan huddled in the corner, looking just as terrified as the rest, despite having been guaranteed his safety by both Vince and Azutan the day before.

Azutan then turned to observe Vince, who was now tightly surrounded by an assortment of Herans, very clearly bribed and only vaguely familiar to Azutan. She thought she could pick out Mrina’s figure among the group, and one of the men Vince intended to place on the Council. She wondered why she had never questioned how exactly Vince intended to do that. She regretted spending so much time puzzling over his plans for Kastellan that she never considered the bribes he spent on so many other people. Perhaps the scheme that had been revealed to her was only a piece of something much greater, a clever distraction to keep her out of Vince’s way. And suddenly Azutan was truly afraid.

“I bribed Kastellan.”

Vince’s revelation brought fearful silence upon the Hall for the second time. Then, everything began happening at once. The majority of the audience backed away from Vince, silent in their shock, while others let out gasps and whispers. Kastellan was pale enough that Azutan could nearly see the wall through him; the Councilors were staring in fury at either Vince or Kastellan, and the guards were teetering between which one to apprehend.

“I led him to betray the Council,” Vince continued calmly. “I offered him large amounts of money to push my agenda through the Council, and he agreed to help me. Together we have brought you corrupt Councilors to your knees.”

“You—you—” the lead Councilor sputtered in rage.

“Though our helping hand seems to be unnecessary now,” Vince mused, “seeing as your kingdom seems quite adept at voicing their grievances on their own.” He swept a hand over the crowd of people which had been at the Council’s throat only seconds again. One by one, Azutan watched their hostile gazes shift toward the Councilors once more.

“You cannot help us,” Vince continued. “You cannot silence us. Your rule is obsolete. And are you sure you want to do that?”

At last, two guards had successfully reached Vince’s small island of safety. They grabbed him by the arms and half-dragged him to where the leading official stood. Several Herans in the crowd moved to interfere, but the guards knocked them aside easily. No one in Vince’s bribed circle lifted a hand to help. Azutan finally spotted Sin and sidled up to him, surprised at finding Saleisha and Rathaline sitting in their original seats, looking altogether nonplussed, as if they hadn’t almost been trampled. Saleisha, in fact, had found an apple from who knows where and was munching on it while evidently enjoying the show.

The show was reaching its climax, though Vince’s unperturbed smile did not show it. Despite kneeling between the podiums beside a cowering Kastellan, condemned before the hundred or so people within the Council Hall, Vince acted as though all was going according to plan. Azutan didn’t understand until one of the Heran guards stepped forward, cap momentarily lifted to reveal the face of one familiar Mrina. A gun was in her hand, and her shot would be point-blank.

The one moment of insight changed Azutan’s perspective on her brother forever. Vince had never needed a scapegoat. There was one point on which both Arestern siblings agreed, and that was the fact that the simplest way to achieve one’s goal was always the best, no matter how crude or cruel the method. And, no matter how delicately he handled the Arean Court, Vince was never going to be subject to the whims of foreign politics and Heran nobodies, not when chaos and a lasting impression accomplished so much more. No, Vince needed a martyr.

The quickest to act was Saleisha, who suddenly tossed her bitten apple into Rathaline’s lap and lunged into the crowd. Azutan watched, stupefied, as she crossed the Hall in two impressive leaps, not sparing a glance to those she shoved aside. Mrina’s dark figure paused, allowing the people around her to stumble back in terror, revelation alight in their eyes. The Council Hall erupted with noise, and people were fleeing the building in fervor now, wanting nothing further to do with the events that transpired within.

Azutan caught up with Saleisha, who faced down an armed Mrina with her hands raised in a gesture of surrender but an expression of absolute calm. With Azutan’s approach, Mrina did not seem to know who to aim her gun at—a bead of sweat slipped down the side of her face.

“Whatever Vince hired you to do,” Azutan said slowly, as though afraid she would startle Mrina, “you must disobey. Getting roped into one of his schemes will never end well for you.”

“You misunderstand,” Mrina said breathlessly. Her eyes were darting from Azutan to Saleisha to Kastellan. “I follow His Highness because he is the one true heir to the throne of Ares. He has promised me peace for Hera, this twisted kingdom I call home, so I will do what I must and what he commands.”

Saleisha wasn’t listening. In one swift motion, she lunged forward and delivered a kick directly to Mrina’s stomach. The woman gasped in pain and fired reflexively. In the moment between the ensuing bang and the fading echo, Azutan had a terrifying taste of what the rest of her life would be like if Mrina’s aim had been true. Thankfully, the shot went wide, flying over the heads of the audience to where the Councilors were in various scenarios of trying to retain control.

Before Mrina could recover, Saleisha knocked the gun out of Mrina’s hand. It flew into the crowd of people, causing a new wave of screams. Mrina cursed and threw herself at Saleisha. They grappled fiercely, but Mrina’s stature eventually gave her the upper hand—she pushed Saleisha down the platform.

“Saleisha!” Not wanting to miss out, Azutan kicked Mrina’s feet out from underneath, tripping herself in the process. Mrina staggered backward into the stampede, while Azutan caught herself from falling face-first onto the floor. She crouched on the floor in shock, not believing she had managed to do that.

Naturally, at that moment, Mrina returned and slammed her clasped fists into the back of Azutan’s neck.

A haze of pain clouded Azutan’s vision, and the next thing she knew, she was sprawled on the floor. But then barely a second later, another body thudded down beside her. Mrina’s face was bruised, her eyes already half-closed, sinking into unconsciousness. With difficulty, Azutan pushed herself up to glance around for her savior.

“You okay?” Rathaline was walking toward her, Mrina’s fallen gun—no, Sin’s borrowed pistol—in her hand. She regarded the unconscious woman before her.

Azutan looked from the gun to Mrina’s lifeless form. “Y-you killed her.”

“No, I didn’t.” Rathaline helped Azutan to her feet. “I did bash the gun into her face though, so she certainly won’t wake up feeling very pleasant.”

Azutan took in the scene. Most of the audience had gotten out already. The Councilors themselves were doing their best to escape with the mob, but many were rebuffed by the disdainful Herans. Kastellan was not among them, presumably with Sin and Saleisha, who were tasked with ushering him to safety. Vince was nowhere in sight.

“What do we do now?” asked Azutan as Rathaline towed her to the door.

“What do you think?” They squeezed outside, both of them panting. “We’re getting Kastellan out of the kingdom, of course. Assuming we don’t get killed first.”

“But—” Azutan twisted to look back into the Hall.

Suddenly she spotted Vince. He stood behind the panicking Councilors, still at the back of the Hall, not looking hurried at all. He locked gazes with Azutan, a smirk spreading across his face. Azutan was instantly struck with intense hatred. She hadn’t thought that she could hate him more than she already did, but she also hadn’t expected to be outsmarted mere days after seeing his despicable face again.

“Azutan? Azutan, get over here!”

She wanted so badly to rip the smirk off her brother’s face. But she couldn’t, not yet, not before they were finished with Hera, and Ares successfully made an alliance with the kingdom. And Vince knew this. From the beginning, with Sin, Kastellan, and Mrina as playable hands, he had made sure he was untouchable. It didn’t matter if Azutan had him outnumbered, had their father’s favor over him. It had never mattered. As long as Azutan didn’t know what to do about Mrina, wouldn’t turn against Sin, and couldn’t bring herself to discard Kastellan, Vince had the upper hand.

So this was what power felt like.

“Azutan!”

She felt herself being yanked backward from her shoulder and nearly fell on top of Rathaline.

“Stop gawking!” Rathaline snapped and shoved her into a run. “We need to get to Kastellan! Or did you forget?”

“But—”

She glanced back. Vince was gone once more. Where did he go? Was he still inside the Hall?

You needn’t worry for him, she reminded herself forcefully.

“Sin.” Azutan mentally shook herself. “Where’s Sin?”

“A whole lot closer to where we’re supposed to be, I can tell you that—”

Before she could finish, Azutan felt a sudden wave of heat, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. She turned just as a great wall of flame rose to engulf the Council Hall. Where, just a moment ago, there had been a pristine white building, was now a carcass of ashes and very dry wood—and the fire was only spreading. From here, Azutan could hear the screams, and she remembered the rows and rows of people that were still inside.

Beside her, Rathaline swore under her breath. “Do you think it’s the same person who wrecked those apartment buildings that night?”

“Vince,” Azutan said automatically. “It has to be Vince. We need to help.”

“Slow down.” Rathaline grabbed her shoulder before she could move. “We don’t know that yet. And what do you want us to do, stamp out the fire with our heels? We need to get Kastellan to safety before we worry about anything else. Remember, this whole thing was your idea.”

Sin’s idea, she wanted to say, but another thought quickly chased that out of her mind. They had reached the gate quicker than Azutan expected, albeit completely out of breath and looking like death. A crowd had gathered, nearly as compact as the one that had been in the Council Hall and made entirely up of soldiers. Evidently, word had reached other parts of the city that the Council Hall was not experiencing a smooth meeting.

“Where are they?” Azutan peered anxiously over the heads of the soldiers, but for the first time in her life, she realized that her average height wasn’t going to be enough.

Rathaline had a lot less trouble seeing than she did. “There!” she pointed.

A battered Saleisha and a distressed Sin were keeping a safe distance between themselves and the guards by the gate. Next to them was a strange little man dressed in a long coat over a pair of Heran robes and wearing a large brown hat that obscured his face. As she and Rathaline neared them, Kastellan fearfully ducked out of the way.

“What are you hiding for? We’re about to save your life,” Rathaline sneered down at him. She handed her borrowed gun back to Sin.

“Or we’re trying,” Saleisha sighed.

“The soldiers aren’t letting anyone through any of the gates,” Sin explained. “It seems they have received orders to apprehend the traitors of today’s Council meeting. They’ll be searching us one by one, I expect.”

Azutan glared at the assembled soldiers. “I don’t suppose they’ve heard that the Council Hall is probably a pile of ashes by now.”

“The Council Hall—what?”

“Someone started a fire,” said Rathaline. “We didn’t see who, though, and we don’t know which officials survived.”

“Actually, we do know who started it,” Azutan muttered darkly. “Vince.”

Her friends, plus one Kastellan, stared back at her. Sin was beginning to frown, though he didn’t object.

“We can worry about this later,” Saleisha urged. “We need to find a way to get out of this kingdom.”

“Any ideas, O wise ruler of Hera?” Rathaline directed this at Kastellan, who still didn’t seem to have recovered from the events that occurred during the meeting.

“No need to harass the victim here,” interrupted Sin. “I have an inkling of a plan. It may require some luck on our side, however…”

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“The Council Hall! The Council Hall is on fire!”

Azutan and Sin ran toward the soldiers in fake urgency. They had purposefully made their robes look ragged and cut off chunks of their hair in order for it to look singed. The soldiers, taken by surprise, took a while before intercepting them.

“What is going on? Is this true?” Whispers quickly overtook the crowd gathered by the gate.

“Tell us everything you know,” one of the soldiers demanded.

“They only told us to find the nearest guards.” Azutan pitched her voice as high as she could, her desperation not completely faked. “They told us to find someone to help.”

“‘They?’ Who’s ‘they?’”

“The Councilors, sir. A few of the Councilors told us what to do after they got out of the fire. B-but not all of them made it out.”

The soldiers knew how to handle things, Azutan was willing to give them that. There were only minimal nervous glances and mutterings to one another before they all took off in the direction of the Council Hall as a unit.

Azutan and Sin maintained their act of gasping for breath for a while longer. Out of the corners of her eye, Azutan watched as Saleisha, Rathaline, and Kastellan managed to slink through the gate while all the inspectors were busy gawking at the soldiers leaving their posts. As soon as their friends got through, Azutan and Sin straightened.

“We won’t see them for a while,” said Sin.

“Not until Venus,” agreed Azutan, somber at the thought.

“Then I suppose we’d better return and assist Vince.” Sin began walking in the same direction as the soldiers had gone. “Our work here in Hera has only just begun.”

Azutan watched his back with a strange feeling akin to mournfulness. “You know Vince started the fire.”

Sin’s pace slowed, but he kept on walking. “It is as you suggested, Princess. We cannot stop your brother and we cannot create an alternative path. We can only trust that he only has Ares’ best interests in mind, and we must alleviate any damage that we can.”

For a moment, Azutan wished that she could rewind everything, to start the day anew, if only so that she could live in a reality where she did not have to hear Sin say that.

To continue the nightmare, they ran into Vince halfway to the Council Hall.

“Oh, Sin!” he beamed, his eyes bright as if he hadn’t just burned down the most important government building in the kingdom along with the people inside. And Azutan could almost believe it. “I was looking for you, too.”

“How do you intend to fix all this?” Azutan cut straight to the point.

Vince gave her a cold smirk. He had lost all pretense of getting along with her. She still wasn’t sure if she preferred it this way.

“I already have a plan,” he replied contemptuously. “The Council is finished and the very symbol of their power has been reduced to ashes. The Herans will have the say in what happens next. I already bribed a few potential officials—those close enough to the golden seat of power but never quite made it there. I’m sure they will be delighted to work with Ares, with me.”

“You lied,” Azutan spoke as harshly as she could.

“It wasn’t a lie.” Vince had already started walking away from the crumpled remains of the Council Hall, his shoes stamping patterns of ash onto the dry ground, leaving Azutan to stand buried in her resentment. “You never needed to know the whole truth. As long as Hera becomes an ally, it wouldn’t matter what I do, because it all works out for Ares in the end, doesn’t it? Beloved sister, crown princess of our kingdom, you should know what needs to be done. And so what if I lied? We siblings are used to it by now.” He did not look back.

“You’re wrong.” Azutan’s voice was barely audible. “It does matter, what you do. It does matter that you lied.” Perhaps she could find relief in the fact that neither of them proved to be the future ruler that Ares needed, that at least she was the lesser evil of the two. But all she could think was: We will never return home together again.

The next third of the year would be busy. Azutan expected to meet with Vince’s bribed officials without respite, but she only ever saw Mrina’s hateful face. It quickly became clear that Mrina was the true chief of all operations with the Herans—any political maneuvering she did on Vince’s behalf was executed perfectly and without complaint. She and Azutan did not get along well—a common occurrence when one party has pulled a gun on the other—but the alternative would be working with Vince, so Azutan grudgingly followed Mrina in her dealings every day.

Azutan sabotaged plans whenever she could, but she soon found that Mrina was sharp in more ways than merely combat. Though Azutan managed to smuggle several families out of Hera in the same way she did with Kastellan, she did not know how many of them were ultimately retrieved by Mrina and her ruthless watch.

Azutan rarely saw Vince during that time, and she only met with Sin a handful of times a week. Vince met with his bribed officials from dawn to dusk while Sin resumed relations with the High Priest of Demeter, who was much more receptive now that Hera set a precedent. They were three separate entities working together seamlessly—they knew just enough and too much about each other to complete their task in Hera without needing to communicate. Azutan and Sin were not fighting—they never really did—but they maintained the distance of two people who had only ever learned how to process injury alone. At the same time, Azutan began missing Saleisha and Rathaline a lot more than she would have thought. She knew that they had probably already gotten Kastellan settled down in Demeter, had met up with Azutan’s scouts, and entered Venus to wait for her and Sin. She did not think she could live another day without suffering one of Saleisha’s pranks or enduring one of Rathaline’s eye rolls.

After the four months were over and Hera’s alliance was secured, Azutan, Vince, and Sin were ready to move on to Venus. They met in the same inn they had used when Azutan and Sin first arrived at Hera, the suite invoking no sense of nostalgia in her. This was the first time the three of them had been within brawling distance of each other, and for good reason. Azutan did not even try to smother the venom in her eyes and words.

“We must be packed by tonight and we leave tomorrow morning,” said Sin. “We leave through the northern gate where, assuming all goes well, your scouts will be there to receive us.”

“Of course,” replied Azutan, softening her tone a bit. The truth was that she had already been packed for days in her impatience to depart from this kingdom.

“Another thing,” Vince added, earning himself an immediate glare from Azutan. “I wrote our father a report a few days back. You should be receiving the reply soon enough.”

“Why would I be the one receiving it?” she asked, her voice icy.

“You’re the crown princess, dear sister.” He smiled pointedly. He had spoken the same mocking words countless times after the fire of the Council Hall, and Azutan suspected he would continue to do so for years to come. Assuming he would not have the Arean throne in his clutches in that time.

As promised, one of Azutan’s scouts posted outside the inn ran to her upon the abrupt end to the chilly meeting, a thin envelope grasped in one hand.

“General.” he saluted. “A letter from the king.”

Azutan took it after thanking the scout. She opened it almost reluctantly. As Vince wrote the report, it would have heavily focused on his role in the new alliance, with a total absence of mention of the lowly methods used to achieve it. Their father would no doubt be extremely impressed. Perhaps this letter would be the final straw for her shaky status as crown princess, but Azutan did not have the heart to care anymore.

The letter was short, as expected. Any message from the king usually consisted of five words, and their family was not one for well-wishing pleasantries in every other line.

General Azutan,

I hear great news of your mission in Hera from your brother. As your father, I believe this was your hardest challenge yet, as well as the one you excelled most in. Although I doubt Venus and Vulcan will prove as difficult, I expect many great things from you in the future.

Underneath was the king’s formal signature and stamp.

Azutan couldn’t believe her eyes. Why did her father think she had been responsible for the alliance? Why did he not give mention to the blatant manipulation that occurred? Did her father misunderstand Vince’s report? Or perhaps…Azutan narrowed her eyes. Perhaps Vince’s report had not been entirely truthful.

“Princess, is something the matter?”

She fought to keep her expression smooth. “No. My father expresses his heartfelt approval. Things are progressing quite excellently.”

She could not voice her suspicions now, not in front of her scout and not to Sin, who was still hesitant to place himself between their sibling rivalry when it came to matters of succession. Vince had brought only one benefit for Azutan in all their months in Hera and it was in the form of one report filled with falsehoods. She could not shake the feeling that whether she was in Ares’ solemn home palace or Hera’s tumultuous Council Hall or even Venus’ yet unfamiliar Timepiece House, she would always be operating under her brother’s careful puppeteer hands.

It was easy to know when they had reached the edges of Venus. Right away, Azutan noticed the ground becoming smoother, from roads that were paved. Flower bushes had been planted everywhere, filling the air with their pleasant fragrances.

Beside her on his horse, Sin slowed to a lax pace. He looked happier than Azutan had seen in days. For someone whose departure from his birth kingdom of Venus led to the lowest point of his life, Sin seemed quite content to return.

Vince, a few paces behind, didn’t show any emotion upon finally reaching Venus. Azutan could not gauge how much he had already prepared for what was to come in this kingdom but based on his actions in Hera she was expecting everything.

There was nothing guarding Venus, no gates nor soldiers. They simply weren’t needed. Upon entering Venus, one was immediately swept up in its tall, beautiful structures, its carefully planted flora, and its wealthy people lounging in the streets without a care in the world.

There was an obvious difference between Venus and the rest of the kingdoms. People from all around the Seven Kingdoms were welcome here. If you were rich enough to afford to live in Venus, you were considered a Veni.

There was no limit to the things you could do in Venus. Those who lived here firmly believed that money could buy anything, and in this environment, they were often right. No one had to worry about something happening to them due to the lack of laws. Of course, the occasional robberies would occur, mostly committed by Veni who filled the very bottom of the social hierarchy, or by outsiders that wrongly concluded being rich could easily result from stealing from the rich. Still, that wasn’t too much of a problem as the Veni spent less time worrying about what drove people to commit such acts and more time worrying about how to punish them.

As Azutan, Sin, and Vince neared the city within Venus, a young man standing near a tidy array of horse stables told them merrily that horses were difficult to be housed in the city. They unmounted, left with no choice but to pay the daily stabling price of a thousand irons. For all Azutan could tell from the ease and familiarity with which the groom operated, the charge that would have been considered an outrageous scam anywhere else was simply the norm in Venus.

They split up immediately after, with Vince in search of someplace for them to stay, Sin to find Azutan’s scouts and their hostage from Venus, and Azutan to meet up with Saleisha and Rathaline. She had received a letter from them a few days ago telling her to head to a specific park. She could only hope that they remembered the promise.

Azutan made her way through the city, noting the pristine structures and luxury carriages that filled the streets, turning her eye toward the Veni people. Everyone was dressed like royalty, wearing the type of finery that could only be seen on Azutan’s father during elaborate Arean festivals once every seven years. Those that walked on foot did so with leisure and grace. Those that had their own carriages sat with companions and left the windows wide open. It was as though the gods of the Demeten faith had descended to its kingdoms.

Azutan spotted Saleisha and Rathaline almost immediately. They sat on lush, carefully attended lawn, one dressed in a simple uniform, the other wearing an awful combination of casual garb and a large veiled hat. Saleisha twisted around as if sensing her, her thin sheet of lace bobbing before her face. As soon as she spotted Azutan, she scrambled to her feet and charged toward her with a yell. Azutan braced herself for the hug just in time before Saleisha could bowl her over.

“You finally escaped!” Saleisha grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “You look terrible, Your Ladyship. How were things in Hera? If you keep staying around Vince, you’re going to become all wrinkly before you hit thirty. Is Sin with you? Any thoughts?” Her last query was accompanied by a flip of her veil and a bodily twirl that allowed Azutan to see the black feathers stuck into the back of the hat.

Azutan gently pushed her away. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

A few feet away, two Veni who had witnessed Saleisha’s energetic holler were snickering quietly. Saleisha shot them a glare and a rude gesture from Hades that was too quick for them to catch.

“What was that?” asked Azutan, genuinely surprised by her hostility.

Saleisha shrugged and began walking back to where Rathaline sat with no intention to get up. “The Veni are pretty annoying, don’t you think?”

“Azutan.” Rathaline took one look at her and added, “You look terrible.”

“Thanks for the observation,” she replied dryly. “I’ve missed you too. So, any news?”

Saleisha, Rathaline, and her scouts were supposed to observe the political situation in Venus in order to give Azutan ideas on how to propose an alliance once she arrived. She didn’t expect much. After all, to get into the right circles in Venus required wealth, and most of their irons had been in Hera with Azutan.

“Sorry to disappoint,” said Rathaline, “but we didn’t pick up much. All we know is that Venus wants their hostage back.”

“Of course,” agreed Azutan. “We’ll be returning her today.”

“Another thing,” Saleisha added. “When we poked around in the Department of Foreign Management—”

“You what?” Azutan was taken aback.

The center of Venus’ power was its Timepiece House where people from all over the kingdom came to work, or “volunteer,’’ to run Venus. It was named Timepiece after the first, beloved queen of Venus, an eccentric lady who liked to collect antiques. For everyone else in the Seven Kingdoms, however, the House was nothing more than a joke, since the Veni were rich enough to do nothing but stare at their clocks all day.

Nonetheless, many still chose to visit the House every so often in order for a chance to swoop inside the queen’s good graces. The place would be swarming with denizens day and night. Azutan was too afraid to even ask about the details of how Saleisha and Rathaline managed to infiltrate it.

“Don’t worry, we didn’t stay there for long. But listen to this. According to some rumors we picked up on, Queen Charmenia has already received several letters from an anonymous Arean diplomat.”

Azutan narrowed her eyes. “What? That’s impossible!”

“We don’t know if it’s true,” said Rathaline. “But rumors always come from somewhere, don’t they?”

“My father would have told me if he were going to send other people to Venus,” Azutan muttered, as her thoughts raced. “And Vince was in Hera with me. I know for a fact he couldn’t have contacted anyone in Venus because he would need a messenger, and the only messengers at hand were my scouts. If he had used them, I would be noti—”

She stopped abruptly. Because hadn’t Vince managed to contact someone out of Venus? Who delivered that letter of his to their father? It certainly hadn’t been her scouts. Why had she never questioned this before?

“Can you two do me a favor?” Azutan’s sharp tone instantly drew the attention of her friends. “Keep an eye on Vince from now on.”

“You think he has something to do with this?” asked Saleisha, just as Rathaline remarked: “We were already planning to.”

“Even if he isn’t involved—which, of course, I think he is—he’ll find a way to use it to his advantage later on.”

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Vince did not do his job. Or at least, when Azutan had told him to find them a place to stay, he simply got someone else to do that for him. Instead, Vince decided to accompany Sin as he returned the Veni hostage to her home.

Her home happened to be the summer palace of Queen Charmenia of Venus herself. As a distant relative of Her Royal Majesty and the sole daughter of an old aristocratic house, Lady Victriya of Talrein was a part of the queen’s imperial entourage. Though one of the most important people in a kingdom full of important people, Victriya was not privy to the political discussions of the Timepiece House—in fact, she barely seemed like a Veni at all.

She chatted with Sin with ease throughout the entire trip to the summer palace, greeting acquaintances she passed on the street with a cheery wave as though she had never been a hostage for the past two years. Vince guessed that Sin and Azutan’s soldiers had treated her well. He also wondered how long she could put on the act.

“Here we are,” Victriya stopped suddenly and, Vince thought, quite unnecessarily. For they were standing in the shadow of a massive gate, almost as tall as the ones Hera used to guard its entire kingdom. It was adorned with jewels and gold, casting light into Vince’s eyes so that he had to squint to make out what sprawled behind its bars: an orchard that stretched into the distance, filling the air with the scent of peaches and plums. Queen Charmenia’s palace was but a speck in the midst of the lazy scenery of fruit-bearing trees, but even then Vince could discern the size of it, far taller and more majestic than Ares’ chilly castles.

Within seconds the gate was pulled open by four guards sweltering in their uniforms, while a fifth led a carriage to a smooth stop in front of the Lady Talrein.

“Then I guess it’s farewell.” Sin held out his hand to shake. “And again, I truly apologize for all inconveniences this situation has brought you. I assure you this will never happen again to anyone in Venus.”

The woman only laughed, taking his hand in hers without shaking it. “What are you talking about? It’s been such an adventure! And don’t leave yet, you must come inside and tour the palace—Cherry would really like you too—and the decor is an absolute delight!”

“That sounds wonderful, but we really should not abuse Her Majesty’s grace,” Sin replied politely.

Victriya frowned slightly as if she weren’t used to people turning down her invitations. Vince, however, was quite interested in meeting the queen.

“Actually, I would love to take a look around,” said Vince, raising his eyebrows at Victriya briefly, “if it’s only for a short while.”

Sin didn’t look too happy about that, but as Vince expected, he conceded. “Very well.”

Victriya beamed and they piled into the carriage.

And she was right; the palace was beautiful. It seemed more like a museum displaying an impressive art collection than the home for a monarch’s court, and Vince had to be careful not to trip over any of the glass statues. Even the door frames and floor tiles were embedded with precious jewels and engraved with an ancient script. But as for Vince and Sin, the former who was royalty and the latter who had enjoyed nothing less in his years spent in Venus, they could only pretend to be awed by it all.

Similarly, the queen of Venus must have received hundreds of ambassadors during the years of her reign, for she did not deem it necessary to give their council any ceremony. Charmenia sat reclined in a comfortable chair, her throne empty, as palace servants lathered and rinsed her hair. She lifted one set of carefully curled lashes upon their entrance, swept over Vince and Sin with a cursory glance, before gasping at the sight of Victriya.

“Cherry!” Victriya responded in kind, bouncing over to give her queen a messy hug. The servants hastily tucked Charmenia’s hair in an elegant towel before scuttling away.

“Two years,” Charmenia complained. “You never wrote back once. I had to do everything without you. Do you know how much—”

“I know, I know.”

“And who are they?” Charmenia turned her narrowed eyes in Vince and Sin’s direction. She caught sight of Vince’s yellow eyes and did a double take. It was quickly covered up by a fake choking noise. “The Areans? Vicky, you brought your captors into my palace?”

Vince’s lip curled in a faint smile as he gave a low bow. The queen was better than he expected. “Your Majesty.”

Charmenia was not moved. “You don’t look half as handsome as your sister. And you.” She studied Sin, her wet hair slowly darkening her elaborate dress as she contemplated him. “Why do you look so familiar?”

Vince glanced in Sin’s direction, and as expected, he had frozen in place. It was as good of a time as any to wildly change the topic, or at least appear to. “Perhaps he holds resemblance to some of the previously Arean families here in Venus? We passed by quite a few acquaintances on our way here.” A total lie. “Though there are some we failed to meet. How are the Letyres, by the way?” Vince added lightly.

Charmenia gave a cool laugh at once, Sin forgotten. “They’re absolutely ruined! Did you notice those vases on your way in? No? Well, they were procured from the Letyres after they went bankrupt. An understandable outcome of having one of the family heirs running off to Ares on his own little adventure. He seemed to have more loyalty to Ares—despite the fact that the Letyres had emigrated generations ago—than to Venus, where he was treated like royalty each day. Imagine that!”

The queen’s face was bright with excitement, completely oblivious to the fact that the very man from her story was standing only a few feet away.

“He even had a wife and children here in Venus. Well, not for long! Thing is, he kept returning to the Letyres every so often to borrow money from them. Tons of irons at that. He was probably funneling all of the money to the Arean military—at least, that’s what I think.

“But the Letyres couldn’t keep up with his borrowing. They couldn’t afford the living expenses in Venus anymore. So the last time the man came to ask for irons, they turned him down, disowned him even.” The woman smiled at this juicy piece of gossip. “You may think that’s taking it too far, but the borrowing had been going on for several years! Towards the end, even his own children stopped speaking to him. And where are you going?”

There was an awkward pause in which Vince and Victriya exchanged plastic smiles, both waiting for Charmenia to stop talking, though for different reasons. Sin had turned to the door, his face a polite mask to cover up his discomfort. “We really must get going, Your Majesty. It has been a pleasure to speak with you.”

The queen deflated as though she had only just gotten warmed up. “Oh, but you haven’t even seen the—”

“No, he’s right—we have a lot of things to do.” Vince gave Sin a deeply apologetic look as if to say I didn’t anticipate that to happen. When, of course, he did.

On their way back to Azutan, Vince did his best to console Sin. He was still very much occupied over the queen’s words, while Vince’s thoughts churned rapidly with glee.

He now regretted his attempt to kidnap Sin back in Hades. That had been rash and foolish. His new idea now was a much better choice.

Vince supposed he only had his sister to thank for this. None of his plans would come even remotely close to succeeding had Azutan not told him everything about Sin all those years ago.

Later, after the rest of the kingdom was more or less asleep, he met up with the person who had actually booked their rooms.

“It is as I expected,” was the first thing Vince said. “Charmenia and Victriya are not to be underestimated—they will be quite useful to us. Make sure they receive this.”

The figure lingering in the shadows accepted the thin envelope. “When should I deliver this?”

“As soon as possible.” Vince paused, as a group of chattering young girls bobbed past. “Azutan’s going to suspect me immediately. Intercept any letters she sends to our father. I’ll attempt to stall her as much as I can. And keep an eye on the two other girls, Saleisha and Rathaline. Those two will be trouble.”

The figure sighed. “Your Highness, you are asking too much of me.”

“Too much? My sister’s two lackeys have already discovered the ins and outs of the Timepiece House. Soon they will find concrete evidence of my correspondences with them, and then it will be a matter of time before they are at our throats. You must always stay two steps ahead.”

“But they are are a pair of capable partners while I am only one person. If I could just pick a few assistants—”

“This again? You’ll be able to handle it alone. Understand that I don’t want to waste my time placing trust and sensitive information in the hands of hired underlings. Remember why you are doing this. Remember what Hera would continue to be without me. When you finally return home, it will be to a kingdom free of corruption and disorder.”

Mrina was silent.

“And worry not, your job will only last for a few days.” He smiled with relish. “We’re almost done here.”

A carriage pulled past them, its delicate lights illuminating the street just so that Vince could see Mrina’s sour expression. Then, she pulled her hood over her head, gave a low bow, and was gone.

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9 years ago
There were twenty others in training with Azutan to become soldiers of the Arean military, and all of them were older and more capable than she was. Their instructor, a man known only by his first name, Sin, had definitely noticed, even though Azutan did her best not to appear too far behind her peers. Which was why she was sitting here, in a commander’s tent, playing a strategy game with Instructor Sin, while her classmates were outside sweating through their morning drills.

The game in question was actually quite interesting. Simply called War by Areans, it was most often compared to Vulcan’s preferred game of chess. Laid out on the plain wooden table was a map based on the Seven Kingdoms, and upon it were model fortresses, soldiers, infantry, and all else associated with warfare. Instead of a standard game that relied largely on luck and the players’ extensive knowledge of history, Instructor Sin preferred to create fictional scenarios for Azutan to puzzle over, each one wildly different from the last. A test, one she was steadily improving at.

“Excellent play, Your Highness,” said Sin, as he cleared the pieces away after yet another successful siege. “Though perhaps you could have saved more lives and gunpowder had you accepted the other army’s terms for an alliance early on.”

Azutan didn’t respond, half because she disliked being addressed as “Your Highness,” half due to the idea of cooperation when sheer might was enough. She was also finding it increasingly easy to beat the instructor as they played day after day. Instructor Sin was skilled, but his tactics were too soft, as though going easy on her. Azutan was not here to be patronized.

“You are exceptionally good at improvisation,” noted Instructor Sin. “But perhaps you could accomplish more if you crafted more reliable plans.”

What’s the point? Azutan thought.

Before Azutan could think of a more appropriate response to say aloud, a soldier came into the tent asking to speak with the instructor. She didn’t bother eavesdropping, until Sin said in a rather harsh tone, “Tell the commander he has nothing to worry about. I’ll bring in the supplies needed by the end of this week, I guarantee it.”

Her mind lingered idly on his words as she watched the drills. She knew that Instructor Sin was a part of the new border patrol force that was situated in the eastern parts of the kingdom. It was less of a border patrol and more of a disguised conquest of the small neighboring settlements and islands off the eastern coast. Azutan also knew that the only reason Sin was involved was because he funded most of the trips and supplies needed for the conquest.

She often heard rumors of Instructor Sin’s trips back to Venus every few months, of him borrowing crates of irons from his family. Except no one called it borrowing any longer because it was clear that he had no intention of ever returning them. When asked, he would dismissively reply that his family would have spent all that money on something much less important anyway.

Azutan wondered how long his logic could hold. She wondered what would happen if she were to point out his hypocrisy.

She could tell Instructor Sin looked up to her father, the king. It was possible the approval of the king was his main motivation for his contributions to the Arean army. Frankly, Azutan thought he was wasting his time. The king was a good man, but his attention was always elsewhere and he never paid any mind to who he should, the same way he inadvertently gave more attention to his daughter than his more deserving son.

“You’re free to leave, Your Highness.”

Azutan gave a start. She hadn’t noticed that the instructor had finished speaking.

“Go ahead and join your classmates in the drills.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. She immediately dashed out of the tent, perhaps a little more quickly than necessary. But when she looked back at Instructor Sin, she could see from his troubled face that his mind was lingering on something else entirely.

Over time, Azutan began to enjoy discussing strategies with Instructor Sin, even as she fell further behind her classmates in the physical drills. She was eventually moved to a squad with children her age, but to her dismay, she found that she still couldn’t keep up no matter how hard she tried. When asked about this, Sin had a simple answer for her.

“Every one of your classmates has been training for the military as soon as they could walk,” he said matter-of-factly. “Your Highness, on the other hand, started preparing to become the future ruler of the kingdom once born. You have been attending the political courts since you were seven, and your father orders me to spend at least three hours each day developing your strategic sense. There is a difference in priority between you and your classmates, so naturally, there will be a difference in skill.

“You were born as royalty,” Instructor Sin continued gently, upon seeing that Azutan’s expression was not improving. “That is just how things are. Someday you will need the knowledge you are gaining today to lead Ares.”

“I doubt it,” Azutan muttered. “Vince will be the next king.”

The instructor turned the page of his book and took his time to answer. “Well, we cannot predict the future.”

At the time, his response had only irked Azutan. Now, she wondered if Sin had somehow known that she would win her parents’ test for the throne.

Over time, she and Sin became trusted allies, and eventually, friends. When she first set out to “negotiate” with the rest of the kingdoms at the age of nineteen, it was Sin whom she had picked to accompany her. Azutan hadn’t chosen him because his Venus roots would make things easier for her, contrary to the rumors. It was because Sin had been on her side when she had been announced the heir and not Vince. Sin hadn’t tried to curry favor with her or lurk at the heels of her brother, trying to show him his support like so many others desperately did. He was sincere in his care for both siblings, though it was clear which one he preferred, and for that Azutan was grateful. Sin had been her only friend, and the only one she needed.

“Couldn’t find a single thing last night,” Saleisha yawned as she crashed onto the couch. She curled up like a cat and closed her eyes. “I kept watch on Vince for a few hours. He stayed in his room the entire time. He’s downstairs eating breakfast right now.”

“Thanks, Saleisha,” said Azutan just as the door opened, and Rathaline stomped inside.

“You!” Saleisha sprang up immediately.

Rathaline raised an eyebrow, her mouth filled with breakfast. “What?”

“We were supposed to take shifts!” proclaimed Saleisha angrily. “You didn’t show up at all, and I had to sit there for an extra two hours. Where were you?”

“In bed, sleeping,” Rathaline answered promptly. “Would you like some bread?”

“You can take watch all by yourself tonight, then.”

Rathaline groaned. “Come on, I just forgot.”

“I really appreciate it,” Saleisha said sweetly, then curled back up.

Rathaline turned to glare at Azutan. “You know, you could take a shift, too. It’s not like you’re having any luck contacting the House.”

“I am trying.”

Saleisha waved a hand lazily. “Don’t bother. The princess needs her beauty sleep.”

“I don’t think they realized who I am yet,” Azutan lamented. “No one’s returning my letters and I’ve sent at least ten.”

“Maybe they do know who you are and they just don’t care,” Rathaline suggested.

“Well, that really helps matters.”

There was a knock on the door. Grumbling, Rathaline got up to open it, revealing Sin in the doorway. He looked more put-together than anyone else could at such an early hour, certainly more than Azutan, Saleisha, and Rathaline combined.

“Good morning, Princess,” Sin gave her a nod and a smile. “I have good news. Vince has managed to contact several representatives of the Timepiece House. We’ll be able to meet with them sometime later today.”

For a moment, Azutan could only stand there, stunned. “He what?”

Sin looked a little confused. “Is this not good news?”

“It is when considering the fact that the House completely ignored her.” Rathaline smirked.

Sin looked troubled. “That could be an issue. So long as Vince stays two steps ahead of us and the House favors him, we could be facing an encore of what happened in Hera.”

Rathaline shrugged again. “Saleisha and I will keep a closer eye on him,” she responded nonchalantly. Azutan had been around her for long enough to detect a slight hint of concern in her voice.

“Perhaps I should go and speak with the House in person,” suggested Sin.

Saleisha frowned. “But we’re meeting with them today. Won’t that seem too desperate?”

“Yes, but the Veni we meet today will likely be bribed, or coerced by Vince. It would be best if we spoke to the House ourselves.”

“I think this is a great idea,” Rathaline piped up. “You were going to make me or Saleisha visit the House someday anyway. It would be better for both of us if Sin went today.”

Sin chuckled. “Thanks for being so blunt,” Azutan said dryly.

“Another thing, Princess,” said Sin. “Your brother has asked me to meet with him in a few minutes.”

Azutan narrowed her eyes. “What for?”

Sin shook his head. “I’m not sure. But I will be sure to tell you the details as soon as I return.”

“Thank you, Sin,” Azutan said gratefully.

He gave a smile, then left.

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Vince was still sitting at the dining table where Sin had left him to find Azutan minutes ago. He was now delicately sipping his tea as he flipped through a book.

“You asked to see me, Your Highness?” Sin began.

“Oh, Sin!” Vince set down his book. “It’s nothing serious, really. I’ve heard rumors of one of the Letyres returning to Venus. Just thought you ought to know.”

The world seemed to fade from his vision as Sin was swept up in a wave of fear and guilt. “Yes, of course,” he said numbly. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Sin left for the Timepiece House immediately. He took a carriage, though he would have preferred to walk. It would have taken a few hours to get to the Timepiece House, giving him plenty of time to gather his thoughts. But unfortunately, he did not have the time to spare.

The old Sin Letyre was not one for misgivings. What needed to be done would be done, although “need” and “want” were indistinguishable to him. Sin no longer knew how to be that kind of man, nor did he want to be. All he knew was that a Letyre was back in Venus, and Sin had no right to call himself one of their own anymore.

Perhaps I should have spoken to Princess Azutan before leaving, he thought. The ride felt quiet without the princess to strike a conversation with and without the chattering of Saleisha and Rathaline of which he had grown so fond.

He got off the carriage an hour later and stood before the Timepiece House. It was as unconventional as they say, with its airy courtyards lined with pillars, its single-story layout built with the design of clockwork in mind. There were clocks everywhere Sin could see: large, heavy timepieces, their ticking eerily synchronized, almost lost in the midst of the bustle of the House’s visitors.

“Thank you,” he told the carriage driver and started into the House.

Its people seemed to be on their lunch break. The air was filled with the rich scent of delicacies and desserts wafting around the many circular courtyards. Sin could hear laughter and elegant speech that would have sounded extremely patronizing had Sin not grown up familiar with it.

He didn’t know where to start, or who to approach. When there was no queen in the House, there was no clear hierarchy. There were no fine lines between parties—court etiquette in Venus was something to be learned through time and constant examination. Sin had spent nearly all of his life learning how to live in such a society, yet his few years in Ares had allowed him to blissfully forget this knowledge.

Sin swallowed back his uncertainty and walked up to the next person he saw.

“Excuse me,” he began. “Do you know who’s in charge of the pending alliance with Ares?”

The woman looked startled at being asked. “Er…I don’t know anything about it.”

“Then would you show me to someone who does?”

“No…I don’t know, sorry—” She hurried away.

The second person Sin spoke to was much more helpful.

“Oh, the alliance?” said the portly man. “Well, I do know a few people that are part of the negotiations. They should be meeting with someone from Ares today, actually.”

Sin frowned. “Is there anyone in the House currently that I can speak to about the negotiations?”

The man scratched his chin. “Not that I know of, and I know almost everyone.”

Sin did his best to hide his frustration. “There are hundreds of people here in the House right now. Are you telling me none of them pay any mind to the alliance?”

The man looked uncomfortable. “To tell you the truth, not many of us believe alliances are worthwhile. Venus has money, and it wants nothing to do with war. We are quite content with remaining the way we are. What could the other kingdoms possibly give us that we don’t possess already?”

Remaining in your own little paradise, you mean, thought Sin, but there was no vigor behind his thoughts. His past self could understand the Veni, even if he did not reflect their responses. He would have scoffed at the idea that even Venus could not maintain the status quo for long isolated as it was.

“Er, sir, may I ask who you are?”

Sin shook himself out of his thoughts. “I go by my first name, Sin.”

“Ah.” The man nodded. At Sin’s questioning stare, he gave a well-meaning chuckle. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just that you look an awful lot like someone here. But you’re not from Venus, are you?”

“Not anymore,” said Sin, and he didn’t elaborate. “Who were you referring to?”

“Just a young woman who recently returned here. That’s her over there.”

Sin turned to catch a glimpse of a woman turning the corner down the hall. He froze.

Myla. Even he wouldn’t forget the face of his own daughter that easily.

“Excuse me,” Sin told the man, then hurried after Myla.

Myla saw him making his way toward her, and she stopped to let him catch up. Sin opened his mouth, unsure of what to say, but the friendly smile his daughter gave him showed no recognition of him.

“Did you know my family as well?” Myla asked. She was as perceptive as Sin remembered.

“Er…” Sin stopped a few feet away from her, taking in everything about her with wonder. Myla had only been a few years old the last time he had seen her. He supposed he shouldn’t have expected her to remember him. “You could say that.”

They moved out of the hallway and into a courtyard. They sat under a large peach tree and Sin continued to stare at Myla as if he couldn’t believe she was real. If Myla found that odd or noticed at all, she made no mention of it.

“I’ve only been back in Venus for three days,” said Myla conversationally. “A lot of people have already come to greet me. Quite unexpected—my mother told me that Letyres wouldn’t be very welcome anymore.”

Sin felt a pang in his chest. “How is Lei—how is your mother?”

“Mother is fine,” Myla arched a brow at Sin’s slip of tongue. “She’s working in Vulcan with the rest of the family. If you want, I can relay a message from you, but it will take some time for her to respond. The family is quite busy.”

Sin glanced sideways at Myla. “And why have you returned here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Myla shook her head. “Oh, no, it’s alright. Chatting with the people here has been really soothing. I’ve returned to Venus for a short while because I’ve been seeing someone. I try to visit her from time to time, you know, meet with her family and the like. My older brother thinks that if I were to marry into her house, our family would be saved. But Mother and I know better. We can’t depend on others.”

It struck Sin, then, just how much he was missing out on his children’s lives. He barely knew his daughter and couldn’t quite fit Myla’s description of her brother to his face. Myla had been courting someone, and if she were to get married in the future, Sin would hear nothing of it. In another place, another time, Sin would have already met the young woman and judged whether his daughter had found a suitable match. And yet, here he was sitting in front of Myla, being spoken to as though he were a complete stranger—because he was.

“Mother doesn’t want me to stay in Venus either,” Myla continued. “She cares a lot about public image. She thinks becoming destitute and leaving Venus marks our family for life. I don’t really agree with her. I would certainly like to make a life for myself in Venus again.”

Sin’s throat had closed up as he stared at his daughter with pride. “I wish you and your family…all the best.”

Myla smiled warmly. “Thank you.”

“Could you please,” Sin paused, “tell your mother…tell her she needn’t worry about what the Veni think of her. Nor should any of the Veni look down on your family. Because none of what happened to you is your fault.”

Myla paused. “Thank you. Of course I’ll tell her.”

The conversation was clearly over. Sin could say no more. They bid each other farewell and Sin steeled himself to face yet another separation from the daughter he barely knew.

“Um…excuse me?”

Sin turned around instantly. Myla hadn’t moved from the spot where they had been sitting. She was staring at Sin with an odd expression that he couldn’t quite place.

“Yes?”

“No…” Myla shook her head. “It’s nothing. Well, I hope to see you around.”

Afterward, Sin called a carriage, but he didn’t remember any of the details. It was as though his mind had drifted to a place far, far away, leaving his body to the consequences. It was only when the carriage pulled to a stop near the towering hotel did Sin realize that the expression on Myla’s face could have very well signified recognition.

Vince was waiting for him near the front gates. As soon as Sin got off the carriage, Vince put on a wide smile and beckoned him over to talk.

For once Sin had no intention of letting the prince take the initiative—he spoke before Vince could even open his mouth. “An interesting thing happened while I was at the Timepiece House. I met my daughter. Did you have something to do with that?”

Vince didn’t try to play dumb. His smile crumbled into an apologetic expression. “I knew Myla Letyre was at the House, but I didn’t want to tell you just yet in case you didn’t want to see her.”

No, Sin wanted to say, you’re lying, Your Highness. But he could only force out: “What is it that you want, Your Highness?”

Vince gave him a look that, on any day except this one, Sin would have found genuine. “I only want to help you, Sin. I want you to choose the right side.”

“There need not be sides between you and your sister at all,” said Sin. He was less and less convinced by each passing day.

Vince smiled as if he expected that answer, but his eyes took on a darker glint. “Sin, do you really think following Azutan will ever bring you back to your family?”

“My loyalty will always belong to the princess. This has nothing to do with my family.”

“Tell me something, Sin.” Vince took a step closer. “When you were speaking with your daughter, did you have any regrets? If you could reunite with Myla right now, and forget your affiliation with Ares ever happened, would you really believe what you just said?”

Sin didn’t—couldn’t reply.

“I can get you back to your family, Sin.” Behind Vince, a woman stepped up to them. Sin didn’t have to look twice to know that it was Mrina. With Vince’s gloating smile and the quiet, steel-eyed woman behind him, Sin suddenly felt outnumbered by an entire army. “I know where your family is. I hired some men to find them weeks ago. You do want to see them again, don’t you?”

Sin couldn’t have possibly known that only a few hours after finally seeing his daughter’s face again, he would be faced with this threat. He remained silent.

“Azutan doesn’t understand you. She doesn’t comprehend the life you left behind, the family you abandoned. All she ever thinks about is herself. Don’t you get it? You’ll only ever be her loyal subordinate, irreplaceable but not worth her time. She won’t get your family back for you. Only I can give you what you want. Only I know what you want.

“We’ll see each other at ten tomorrow morning.” Vince began to turn away. “Don’t try to tell my dear sister anything. Mrina will keep tabs on you.

“You’ll choose the right side, Sin.”

Created with Sketch.
Azutan walked into the lounge flanked by Saleisha and Rathaline. She was momentarily surprised to see Sin already sitting beside Vince, but the feeling was replaced with a more ominous threat as she spotted the two figures on Vince’s other side. One was a woman she felt as though she should recognize, dressed in fine vests and breeches comfortable for traveling. Her attire clearly signified wealth, but it was so different from what the Veni usually wore that Azutan found it odd, but didn’t have time to comment on it. The other was a woman she very much did recognize: Mrina.

“Excellent! We’re all here.” Vince motioned to the maid by the corner to close the door. Azutan sat on the piano bench with Rathaline, while Saleisha settled down on the floor by a folded playing card table. The unfamiliar Veni were eyeing the three of them distrustfully, and Azutan was quick to return the look.

She spoke first. “I was under the impression that there were going to be a lot more than a single House member interested in an alliance.”

Vince smiled thinly. “Oh, there are. But Lady Victriya will be the only one joining us at the moment.”

At the name, Saleisha gasped, and suddenly everything clicked. Azutan spluttered, “Our hostage. You were contacting the House through the very person we stole away and returned?”

Vince smiled thinly. “Now ‘hostage’ isn’t quite the correct term here. ‘Ambassador’ would be preferable. And who else would serve as a better ambassador for the joint interests of the Timepiece House and Queen Charmenia herself than Lady Victriya of Talrein?”

From his breast pocket, Vince slid out an envelope. Instead of opening the letter himself or handing it to Azutan, Vince handed it to Saleisha. With an almost affronted expression, she tore the envelope open and, with some difficulty, began to read the letter inside.

“‘King Tyrannus of Ares,’” Saleisha read, squinting to make out the flourished letters. “‘I hope this letter finds you in good health, for you may need it if you are to read the news I bring to you. It has come to my attention that one of Ares’ royal heirs has wreaked havoc throughout the Western Seven Kingdoms in recent months, committing atrocious acts that should determine them unfit to wield such reckless power. The one I speak of is of course Princess Azutan Arestern.’”

Beside Azutan, Rathaline sucked in a breath. Azutan herself sat frozen in her seat.

“‘I’m sure you have received word of the fire that broke out in the Council Hall of Hera. I have reason to believe that it was Azutan’s doing. The fire gave her an opportunity to rebuild the Hall and Hera’s entire government. It was unnecessary to the cause, and it assured a swift and efficient method of completely bending the future of Hera to her control.’” Saleisha seemed to be choking on the next words. “‘Azutan is dangerous. This fact I have confirmed with Lady Victriya, whom your daughter took as a hostage during her last conquest, the very citizens of Hera, one who has traveled into my kingdom to seek my aide, and your own son Prince Vince Arestern, whose word you should trust above all else. Perhaps this all will be hard to believe for a father, but as a king, you must take responsibility for your people’s misdeeds. As a monarch, you must do everything you can to put a stop to your daughter’s lies and manipulation. You must bring her back to Ares to face justice for her crimes.’

“Signed Queen Charmenia of Venus.”

Azutan had sprung to her feet in outrage without even realizing it. She would have ripped the letter into shreds if Saleisha was not holding it.

“This is a copy,” Vince spoke calmly, “of the letter I sent Father a week ago.”

“You—”

“This was written with the help of Her Majesty Charmenia and Lady Victriya. Father should be receiving it any day now. No, don’t be afraid.” This was directed at Victriya, who seemed ready to flee under Azutan’s searing glare. “I promised no harm would come to you through my sister, and I do not lie.”

“I did not burn down the Council Hall.” Azutan’s voice was low.

Vince spoke over her easily as if she hadn’t opened her mouth at all. “Come now, even you should be able to see the inevitability in my letter. What do the events in Hera matter, really, when we’re discussing the future ruler of Ares? What have you done thus far, other than visit each kingdom making promises our kingdom needs to follow up with, like a mother cleaning up after her child? I, on the other hand, helped Hera to rebuild after the fire. I am the one who spoke to Queen Charmenia and the Timepiece House far before you ever could. Frankly, I seem to be in a better position for the throne, don’t you think?”

“The fire was your fault.” Azutan’s voice was now rising beyond her control. “You burned the Hall, along with nearly all the people inside, to the ground!”

Vince laughed, and he too stood up. “You don’t really care about the throne, do you? Was the Council Hall fire the only thing that caught your attention in the letter?”

Azutan whirled on the two women and demanded, “Are you really going to follow a murderer?”

“Now, don’t say that,” Vince chuckled. “The casualties were minimized.”

“Not intentionally,” Azutan spat.

But Vince’s thoughts were already elsewhere. He shot a look at the closed door and sighed, “I take it you won’t come quietly then.”

Rathaline sprang to her feet, and a half-second later, Saleisha followed her lead. They faced Vince, their fingers pressed against the windows behind them, looking like cornered animals.

“That’s too bad,” Vince said, just as the door opened and a dozen hired guards flooded in. They surrounded the three girls, hands inside their coats, prepared to pull out concealed weapons. They completely ignored Victriya, Mrina, and—

Slowly, Azutan turned her head to look at Sin. It hadn’t escaped her that Sin hadn’t spoken a word since she entered the room. Sin held her gaze for a fraction of a second before dropping it. She could not move.

Saleisha acted first. She jammed her elbow into the edge of the window pane, shoving it straight out of the frame. It struck the ground two stories down outside with a tremendous crash. Gasps and shouts from the pedestrians below followed.

“Grab them!” Mrina shrieked.

The grunts surged after them without missing a beat, but Saleisha was faster. She and Rathaline, by some unspoken agreement, each seized one of Azutan’s arms and jumped. Azutan could only hear the roar of the wind in her ear and her own voice as she screamed.

They landed hard onto the asphalt, Azutan’s ankle giving a frightening crack. She sucked in a breath.

“Hurry!” Saleisha and Rathaline tugged her down the street. Azutan glanced behind them as they ran, doing her best to ignore the pain in her ankle.

“They’re jumping!” she gasped.

“Don’t look, don’t look behind you.” Rathaline gave her a forceful heave.

Azutan had no choice but to follow her friends. They wove through the intricate Veni city as if they knew it like the back of their hand. Days and nights of spying on nobles and tailing Vince had taught them all the shortcuts, the hiding places, the mansion lawns rarely occupied. They flipped over gates and slid under fences until at last, they arrived at a yard her friends deemed safe enough.

“Don’t worry, the people who own this place are at the House today.” Saleisha jutted her chin at the seemingly empty mansion in front of them.

Rathaline let her head fall back on the fence and exhaled. “I think we lost them.”

“What now?” Saleisha slid to the ground of the garden in a similar state. “Azutan?”

Her friends looked at her. They both knit their brows in unison. “You okay?”

Azutan took a deep breath. Then again. And again, until finally pulling herself together. It seemed too selfish for her to fall apart when Saleisha and Rathaline needed her now more than ever. But try as she might, she couldn’t shake the lingering effect of Sin’s betrayal.

“Sin.” Azutan barely managed to choke out his name. “Why did he…? Why—”

Saleisha laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t think about that right now.”

“One, we need to get out of Venus. Two, we need to figure out how many Veni are under his control. Three, we need to do all that while evading capture.” Rathaline counted each task on her fingers as though they were daily chores. “Think we can make it to Ares before him?”

“Doubtful,” replied Azutan immediately. Rathaline’s levelheadedness was helping her calm down as well. “He’ll have minions all over Hera, Venus, and Ares by now, if we assume Mrina’s been hard at work these past few weeks. Even if we make it over the Arean border, we’ll never reach my father.”

“There must be some place he doesn’t have control over,” said Saleisha, frustration creeping into her tone.

Azutan hesitated. “Bacchus, perhaps. I haven’t heard of him visiting Vulcan in a while either.”

“‘A while?’” demanded Rathaline. “How long has he been planning this?”

Azutan shook her head miserably. “He could have been making preparations since the day I won the succession trials, or perhaps he only recently seized his chance in Hera. There’s no way of knowing now.”

Rathaline squatted down so that the three of their heads formed a triangle. “So Bacchus or Vulcan. Where do we go?”

Arine paused before saying hesitantly, “Vulcan. It’s the only kingdom we haven’t been to yet, but I can’t be sure whether Vince—”

“Then we’re going to Vulcan,” Saleisha said firmly.

The three of them got to their feet, with Azutan the slowest to do so. It was strange, she reflected. She had always expected Vince to retaliate, to make a play for the throne she didn’t want. Vince would have never forgiven his defeat and her unwitting victory, regardless of her intentions. But she had never envisioned a scenario where Sin was not by her side.

And perhaps that was Vince’s goal. What could a young general do without her wisest advisor? What could a princess far from home do without her trusted mentor? Azutan glanced at Saleisha then Rathaline, unable to hear their words, their carefully crafted schemes for the future. What would she do without them? When would she be without them? For surely that was Vince’s plan, to remove all those by her side. What threat to his throne was a powerless sister, isolated and forgotten?

“Such a shame.”

“Who would have thought?”

“The princess Azutan—”

Similar whispers had flooded Vince’s ears the moment he arrived at the main city of Ares two days ago, and would likely continue long after Vince brought her to justice. If he could make it that far.

But no, he should not doubt himself. Not after all that he did, and all that he must do.

Many people passed Vince from his seat in the Ares Court’s waiting hall; most he only recognized from their offers of condolences and nothing more. Condolences. As if betraying one’s kingdom was the same as death, as if being the brother of the said traitor was something to grieve. Azutan’s betrayal was extremely unexpected, and there was no one particularly close to her, other than Sin, which was why no one knew how to react to the sudden news.

Vince wondered: if he were in her place—if his lies were ever uncovered, what would the Areans say to Azutan? Would they offer her their condolences? Or something more?

“Bring me the Veni noble,” Vince said suddenly.

“Your Highness?” From beside him, Mrina studied his face cautiously. “Lady Victriya has yet to adjust to the earlier waking time of Ares and is likely asleep.”

“I don’t care,” Vince snapped. “Bring her to me.”

Mrina bowed stiffly and left the waiting hall to the visitor’s quarters in the royal palace. As he waited, Vince sipped his coffee. He had forgotten to add sugar in it like he usually did, and he had no intention of adding it now, so he swallowed the bitterness and tried not to notice.

Victriya was shuffled in a while later. As Mrina predicted, she looked wrung out and bleary-eyed. Vince had never understood those who suffered from the time difference between the kingdoms. He himself had been traveling back and forth for so long that he hardly noticed himself adjusting anymore.

“Have a seat,” Vince ordered, though there were no other chairs surrounding the coffee table. He watched the Veni awkwardly pull up a stool from another table as Mrina took her usual position behind him.

Vince didn’t waste time. “Do you still remember our agreement?”

Immediately, Victriya was wide awake.

“Your Highness.” There was no longer any trace of the air-headed girl that had accompanied Vince and Sin to meet Queen Charmenia. All had been replaced with measured calm and a keen mind. “We have not broken any of our promises. We have not spoken to anyone else in Ares.”

“Is that so?”

“I swear it,” said Victriya, with some urgency this time.

Vince pretended to think. “Unfortunately, it’s not as safe as I thought here. Father already has plans to find Azutan and retrieve her. If he got to her first she would sway Father to her side. It would be just as catastrophic if he were to interrogate you. I can’t risk letting my efforts go to waste. You may not leave your quarters unless escorted by a guard, not even if the king himself summons you. Mrina, see to this.”

Mrina gave a nod as Victriya opened her mouth in objection. Vince held up a hand. “I am fully aware you have no intention of betraying me. But cautionary measures must be taken. I have promised you fame and seats of honor once I unite the Seven Kingdoms under my rule. Venus has already been roped into this gambit through Queen Charmenia’s letter—surely you can imagine the results should Azutan and my father turn against Venus. Surely you want me to succeed.”

Vince had exhaled threats as he spoke for so long now that barely realized it each time let one slip. But he was aware of the effect as Victriya knotted her hands in her lap.

“Do you understand?” he pressed. She nodded mutely. “Excellent! You are dismissed.”

Vince watched her leave the Court hall as he picked up his coffee again, his mind a sea of brittle calm after a tumultuous storm.

A year ago, he had convinced his father to allow him to stay in Hera for a few months. His father had probably thought he was still brooding over his loss in the succession trials and needed time away from the Ares Court. His father had been right, just not quite the way he had expected.

His first pleasant surprise in Hera had been Mrina. Clever and subordinate, she showed him a proper reverence right from the start, despite him being royalty of a different kingdom. Those who held undiscriminating respect were always the easiest ones to manipulate. Just like Mother always said, Vince thought, amused.

Through Mrina, he had made friends on the outskirts of Hera. But they weren’t really friends, unless a chess piece and the king it sought to protect were considered familiars. They were patient people, ones he could trust to stay silent until he was able to piece together the rest of his plan. They spent weeks and months sending letters to Venus, their greatest source of financial income. It was then when Vince first got into contact with Victriya, so discontent with being second to Charmenia, so easy to control.

He had also met Kastellan around that time, and another piece of the plan fell into place. Rather than push and pull with the existing powers of each kingdom, wouldn’t it be easier to simply recreate the kingdoms anew? Corruption was the key, and Vince’s Heran allies were much more enthusiastic about their jobs once they were guaranteed a place in Hera’s Council Hall.

His decision to recruit Sin, he had to admit, had not been wise. Not only was the group he hired wholly incompetent, but they could have also easily given away Vince’s hand in Sin’s abduction if Azutan had tried a little harder to investigate.

But it had all worked out. Sin was at his side now, and Ares, Venus, and Hera were all under his control. Azutan had lost her future power over the kingdoms the moment she decided to work with Vince—no, the moment she made an enemy of Vince.

There was only one difficult thing left to do now.

Created with Sketch.
Vince’s footsteps echoed down the hall as he strode into his mother’s quarters. Queen Lydia had half a floor in the royal palace to herself. The other half was, of course, designated for the king. The floor was split this way years ago when Queen Lydia married into the royal family. The architects had respected her wishes to stay near the king, but this hardly mattered anymore when Vince’s mother rarely even ventured out of her rooms.

The queen, exhausted by years of occupying a Court seat she didn’t want, now refused to speak to anyone of importance who wasn’t her husband or her beloved son. That included her daughter. The last time Vince remembered Azutan seeing their mother directly was the last time Azutan had stayed in the palace for more than two days, before she had even begun her first conquest of the Seven Kingdoms.

Vince knocked twice on the door. “Mother, may I come in?”

There was no response, so Vince eased the door open. Queen Lydia sat in an elegant wooden chair facing Vince. She was dressed in the formal gowns of a queen as if she were about to enter the Court, even though she hadn’t stepped foot there for months. She set down her book and waited. Vince knew that reading had been her favorite mundane hobby back when she was still a commoner girl.

“Good morning, Mother,” Vince said warmly. “How are you feeling today?”

“Fine,” Queen Lydia replied curtly. She looked at him impatiently, evidently not in the mood to be interrupted from her book.

“May I have a bottle of your valeria syrup?” Vince looked around the vast room as if it would be sitting on the nearest vanity for him. “Father seems to be rather stressed lately…”

His mother waved a hand vaguely at the largest dresser in the corner without speaking.

The dresser drawers were filled with old Court notes and Court clothes. In one of the drawers, he found a bottle of the sleeping syrup amid packets of cloth Queen Lydia would wrap around ice blocks to treat headaches.

“Thank you,” Vince said, closing the door behind him.

On his way to his father’s quarters, Vince noticed a servant girl coming up the stairs. In her hands was a large tray topped with a tea set.

“Are you serving that for the king?” Vince spoke up brightly. “Allow me.”

Vince didn’t miss the distrust in the girl’s eyes as she handed the tray over. Nearly all of the palace’s staff had been handpicked by Azutan and Sin, meaning they picked up any orphan they could find on the streets of Ares and took them back to the palace to train as servants. Sin had been the one to propose this idea after seeing the number of children without homes, and the king fully supported it. Somewhere along the way, the servants had all sided with Azutan and began actively avoiding Vince. That was another problem he had to get rid of.

As soon as the servant girl retreated down the staircase from which she came, Vince balanced the tray on his right palm and uncorked the bottle of syrup with his left hand. He then poured out a generous amount into his father’s morning tea—double or triple the dosage his mother always took to sleep.

Once when Vince was still a young boy, he had accidentally stolen a bottle of the syrup and gulped down half its contents. Azutan was the one who found him, crouched and shivering in the kitchen cupboard where they would always go hide whenever they disobeyed a rule. She had taken him to the infirmary, where he lay bedridden for weeks. This time, instead of suffering the consequences of the valeria concoction, he would benefit from them.

Vince found the king in his office speaking to one of his generals. The king glanced over as Vince set the tray on his table, perhaps wondering why he was delivering the tea instead of a servant, but made no comment. Vince retreated to the side to pretend as though he were browsing his father’s bookshelves and eavesdropped.

“—leave in two days at the earliest, Your Majesty,” the general was saying.

“Very well,” the king replied. “I trust you to bring Azutan back.”

Vince’s pulse quickened. The search parties were already mobilizing. He needed to make his move fast.

The general hesitated before leaving the office. “What should we do if we are met with resistance, Your Majesty?”

The king contemplated this for only a second. “I trust that my daughter will not resist. But I give you permission to use whatever means necessary to accomplish your mission—without harming her.”

The general exited after a low bow and closed the large brass door behind her. Vince swept over to his father’s desk and waited as he lifted his tea. Vince watched him take two gulps, the lines around his eyes creasing a bit as he tasted the odd-flavored medicine, and set aside the teacup.

“Good timing, Vince,” King Tyrannus smiled at his son, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way they usually did around Azutan. “I wanted to ask you about Lieutenant General Sin.”

“Yes, Father,” said Vince politely, acting as though he had no idea what the king wanted from him, even though he knew full well what it was and was thinking of how he could avoid it as quickly as his mind could allow.

“How is he?” Tyrannus’ face was unreadable. “You mentioned that he was still in shock after Azutan’s treachery.”

Vince had said that, hadn’t he. “No worries, Father. He needs some time alone for now. He’s currently living in the military headquarters, as he feels more comfortable there than within the palace. He seems to be getting better, Father, and I’ll continue to give you updates.”

Tyrannus nodded as though that answer satisfied him. “Bring him to me as soon as he is able.”

“Of course, Father.”

They lapsed into an awkward silence, one Azutan could have filled if she were here. But Vince was not Azutan.

“Should I take that away?” Vince indicated the tea.

“Ah…” Tyrannus glanced at the bitter drink. “Please tell the kitchen to be more careful when crafting new recipes next time.” Then, with the pitifully kind heart of someone who did not want the efforts of others to go to waste, Tyrannus downed the rest of the tea in one gulp, allowing Vince to breathe once more.

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At midnight, there came a knock on Vince’s door. Fully dressed and having spent the last three hours idly waiting instead of sleeping, Vince rose to greet Mrina.

“Congratulations, Your Highness,” she said with her usual plain expression. “Your plan has succeeded beautifully.”

“Have the nurses come yet?” Vince demanded.

Mrina nodded. “Yes, although they have not asked for you.”

“I’m sure they’ll overlook that.” Vince swung his coat over his shoulder. “I’m in the mood for a little acting.”

Vince and Mrina hurried up to the king’s floor. Already, palace staff was storming the stairs, many of which were almost too distressed to recognize Vince to clear a path for him. The door to the king’s bedroom was closed, barricaded by a handful of nurses and physicians.

Vince stormed up to them, letting all his feelings of glee and anticipation melt into distress. “What happened? How is my father?”

“Your Highness!” Vince’s presence evidently put even more pressure on the head nurse. “K-king Tyrannus seems to be very weak. A maid found him unconscious in his study, and she had to call the staff from downstairs to carry him into the royal bedroom. We still don’t know the cause of his sudden sickness—”

“‘Sickness?’” Vince let his voice rise to match that of the nurse. “My father is strong and healthy. He has braved fatal injuries in the past, no ill wind has a chance of felling him. This has to be a result of someone’s malicious intent.”

“Yes, we have considered the same possibility,” the nurse hurriedly assured him. “We have reason to believe the king has been poisoned, and we were just starting to question the cooks and servants.”

One by one, the chefs came forward and explained what meal they had prepared for the king that day. They then called forth the testers who confirmed that, yes, they did taste the food that was served to the king, and no, they were not ill. At this, the crowd of palace staff seemed to hit a dead end.

“What of the morning and afternoon tea?” someone spoke up suddenly. “Those aren’t tested, are they?”

Murmuring broke out. Vince and Mrina stood stock still, the staff’s line of thinking a little too close for comfort. “Who served the tea? Bring them forth!” called the head nurse.

Two young girls were shuffled forth. One of them looked close to tears, while the other, a few years older, was staring at Vince with an almost suspicious look in her eye. Vince didn’t have to ask to know which servant he had encountered that afternoon.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” the younger girl wailed. “I served the tea like I was supposed to! I don’t—”

“What about you?” The nurse turned quickly to the older girl, cutting the younger one’s cries short. “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”

Without hesitation, she fixed her gaze on Vince. “I met His Highness Vince on my way to His Majesty’s study. His Highness insisted on delivering the tray himself.”

“Yes, I wanted to speak with my father and wished to spare her the trouble.” Vince nodded, addressing the nurse as though he had not heard any mention of the encounter with the servant beforehand. Vince saw her expression wavering. “My father was in good health when I spoke with him, and we spoke for nearly an hour. Was there anyone else in his office afterward?”

“Perhaps a couple of military generals,” one of the guards patrolling the floor spoke up. “But I’m not certain of their names…”

“I will pay a visit to the military to learn who they are,” Vince promised. “In the meantime, continue searching for other ways a poisoner could have reached my father. Watch and guard over my father—never leave him unattended for even a second. Alert me as soon as he awakens.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Every staff member on the floor stooped to a low bow, or did their best amid the packed bodies.

Vince swept out of the palace a few moments later, Mrina at his heels.

“Your Highness, when do you expect the king to be well again?”

“Not until the throne is mine.” A smile danced on Vince’s lips. “And by that time, he won’t be king any longer.”

“No…I meant, when do you suppose the king could speak to Your Highness?”

Vince gave a half-shrug, his quick pace never breaking stride. “Tomorrow would be most convenient. I’m not sure of the syrup’s potency.”

At this, Mrina looked almost concerned. “Will His Majesty’s health be affected in the long run?”

“Likely not,” Vince replied tartly. He didn’t quite like the notion that Mrina was just as worried for the rest of his family’s well-being as she was for his. “As I mentioned, my father is strong and healthy. We should pay more attention to how to keep him ill.”

“What of the servant girl?” Mrina asked next. “I think she may be starting to suspect you, Your Highness.”

“I noticed it as well. We’ll think of a reason to release her from the staff.” Vince stopped outside the entrance to the throne city’s military district. It was a third of the entire city’s size and easily contained half its population. Inside, tents were constructed in a seemingly random pattern. Soldiers in their uniform milled about freely, some even carrying weapons. Now that Vince had been away from Ares for so long, he found the sight of so many armed forces in the kingdom’s main city odd. Since when had that happened?

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Azutan stepped carefully over the ditches in the road, feeling as though that was a wasted effort when a bent-over worker straightened and nearly flattened his helmet against her shin.

“Watch it,” Azutan snapped.

“Sorry, miss,” said the worker sheepishly. Then he rubbed his head and frowned, perhaps wondering what her boots were made of to dent his helmet. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to try on her new armor plates in public.

Vulcan was a place of chaos. Similar ditches littered just about every street, some in the process of implementing the indoor plumbing Azutan was so used to in the Arean palace but didn’t know existed elsewhere. And yet the kingdom was beautiful, every spot of land the site of one ambitious project or another. Azutan had forgotten—or perhaps had never really known—what it was like to live among people who valued something other than power.

She crossed the street in haste and slid into a bar. The bouncer didn’t bother checking her identity—she had come here often enough in the past month.

She squeezed into the empty seat between Saleisha and Rathaline at the counter. Rathaline twirled her empty glass in the air in a silent greeting.

“How are your parents?” Azutan asked Rathaline immediately.

Rathaline shrugged. “Fine, I suppose. They’ve been pestering me all day, asking for news about my siblings. As if I could reach them now.”

Azutan felt an inexplicable urge to make a good impression on Rathaline’s family. “Tell them I’ll order a few soldiers to find your siblings once we manage to smuggle our forces into Ares.”

Rathaline looked faintly alarmed. “No, don’t—you don’t need to worry about Cormory or Draes. They can take care of themselves, and they likely won’t be involved in this conflict. I won’t allow you to risk your whole operation on something so minor.”

“Still—”

“Anyways, you came at the perfect time. The rest of your armor is done.” Rathaline tapped the counter, her long nails making a prominent clacking sound.

Azutan had no choice but to let the subject drop. She eyed the old bartender as he neared them. Wordlessly, he nodded in confirmation and refilled Rathaline’s drink.

Doubt must have shown on her face. Saleisha waited until the bartender was out of earshot before turning on Azutan with an accusatory look. “You still don’t trust him.”

“Of course not,” Azutan said reproachfully, aware that they were about to repeat every argument they had in the past week, but she still didn’t care very much. “I don’t prefer using such unorthodox methods.”

“Unorthodox,” Rathaline snorted at the word. “The man makes you weapons and armor. He’s gotten you contacts and soldiers after the majority of your scouts were claimed by Vince. He’s our only support here in Vulcan and, quite frankly, the entire Seven Kingdoms. He also serves delicious mixed drinks. What more could you want?”

“And that’s the issue here,” Azutan hissed. “Where is he getting all these resources? How did he find us so quickly? Why is he helping us, and what does he want in return? Who is he?”

She and Rathaline bore down on Saleisha, who looked away quickly. Out of the three of them, Saleisha seemed to have the best guess of Ginzen’s identity, but she refused to say anything, merely claiming that she was not one to reveal the secrets of others. That only made Azutan more curious, which infuriated her.

“We’re supposed to meet with the head of the military tomorrow, aren’t we?” Azutan let the matter drop. “I have a feeling it won’t do us much good. We can’t possibly take the throne by force. No one has ever defeated Ares in a battle of brute strength, not even other Areans.”

Rathaline pursed her lips. “I think it’s a lost cause, too.”

“We don’t have any other options…” Saleisha trailed off, uncomfortable. That thought was never far from their minds these days, no matter what they did.

Rathaline swirled her drink without looking up at them. After a long silence, she said, “But do you really want the throne back?”

Azutan must have misheard her. “What do you mean? Of course I do!”

Saleisha glanced at Rathaline as if she had just said something she wasn’t supposed to. Rathaline continued, “Well, back in Hera, you said you never really wanted to become queen. Isn’t this your chance?”

Azutan stared at her two friends. “Chance for what?”

“To disappear,” Saleisha supplied. “Vince will have his hands full once the king appoints him as crown prince—he’s not going to bother searching for you. You can stay here, in Demeter, Bacchus, anywhere actually. You could even travel outside of the Seven Kingdoms. We’ll go anywhere with you—after we sort out our own matters. We could be free.”

Azutan was at loss for words. For the first, her friends had dug deep into Azutan’s indecision and the thoughts she had lost the most sleep over for the past month. Vince’s play for the throne was an opportunity. Dare she take it?

“I’m…not sure.”

“We’re staying with you, whatever you choose,” Saleisha assured her. “If that’s what you want—to leave Ares behind and find something truly meaningful to you—we don’t have a problem with it. Would be nice, actually.”

“It’s your best opportunity,” Rathaline added. “If you do win back the throne, or if Vince captures you as a traitor, you won’t ever be able to leave the Seven Kingdoms.”

Azutan felt as though she were trapped underwater, with Saleisha and Rathaline’s words nearly inaudible above her. The water surrounding her was Vince’s terrible lies, Sin’s betrayal, her own unwanted responsibility to deal with it all—and all of it was rushing down on top of her, drowning her. Was there a way to break to the surface? Could she be freed?

The season changed quickly, with winter ushered in as though it were a weary traveler finally arriving home after months of journeying. Azutan had not noticed the first snowfall for five days until she finally emerged from her room, wrist sore from writing letters and the sudden cold.

She descended the stairs of the bar, the soles of her armored boots clacking on the wooden steps. She had been wearing them nonstop since the day Ginzen gave them to her, initially for nostalgia as they made her feel like a young princess again, training to become a general with no substantial worries for her future. Now she had them for a more practical reason—she had abandoned all her other heeled snow boots in Venus.

The bartender nodded to her in greeting. Neither Saleisha nor Rathaline was up yet, and their usual seats at the high table were empty. Reluctantly, Azutan sat down to wait.

“Care for breakfast, miss?” Ginzen did not refer to Azutan by her title in the middle of the bar. He seemed to avoid it even when they weren’t speaking in a public space.

“Just water.”

Ginzen returned a moment later with a glass, which she sipped silently. He stood off to the side, not looking at her but not attending to the customers either.

“Is something the matter?” asked Azutan.

Ginzen stroked his graying beard. “Heard you were traveling with your lieutenant general not too long ago. Did he return to Ares with your brother?”

Azutan stiffened. I shouldn’t have asked. “Yes.”

“Why’d he do it?”

“I can’t say I have a list of reasons why people would betray me,” Azutan said testily.

“There could be motivation for his actions, ones you have not thought of and ones you would not expect.” Ginzen idly began wiping the wine glasses on the counter with a rag.

“Which are?” If her past interactions with Ginzen had taught her anything, it was that the bartender always had a purpose behind his words, however abruptly expressed they were.

“His family lives in Vulcan,” said Ginzen suddenly. “In this very city, in fact. They’re not hard to find. I suggest you go pay them a visit.”

“What good would that do?” Azutan raised an eyebrow, annoyed. It struck her as condescending for the old man to order her around.

“You could learn something, Princess. You haven’t actually ever met his family, have you?”

“No.” Azutan glanced around to see if anyone else had eavesdropped on Ginzen’s slip of the tongue—no one seemed to be paying them any attention. “But perhaps that can change.”

Ginzen’s comments seemed to suggest that he did know Sin’s family and that he knew more about her own predicament than she did. It made Azutan wonder what other secrets Saleisha had been keeping about him. Azutan really had to strangle them out of her one day.

The low hum of engines and a cloud of dust greeted her as she stepped outside. Coughing into her fist, she shot a glare at the shapeless lump of concrete down the street which was currently under construction. In a few week’s time, it would become a residential building, or a factory, or a collection of shops, as was the state of most structures in Vulcan—always changing and building as though Vulcans could not afford to sit back for even a moment and allow the rest of the world to rush ahead.

Ginzen was right in saying that Sin’s family wasn’t hard to find. Each city of Vulcan had a public map labeling the owners of each residence. Azutan spotted the family name Letyre almost immediately and hurried off to the west, where the poorer sections of the district lay.

Somehow, that surprised Azutan. She had never stopped imagining the Letyres as rich, pampered Veni.

As though a reflection of its inferior status to its peers, the house sat despondent and alone, a short distance away from the main west road. Azutan would have gone straight past it to look at the lakeside community had she not noticed the guards. Cleverly disguised armaments. Stiff gray uniforms. They were Arean.

And it meant that they belonged to Vince. She should have seen this coming, should have anticipated that Vince would manage to sneak his own forces into Vulcan eventually. And yet never would she have been able to know that Sin and his family were the ones helping him do so.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers turned, allowing Azutan to see his face. She could have recognized him anywhere, at any time: Talis, the leader of her most loyal scouts.

Her breath caught, just before she exhaled loudly, her rage expanding. Vince had taken her army, her lieutenant general, and now her scouts. Vince had not spent all those days in the general’s tent with her scouts, playing strategy games. He had not spent all those months doing drills in harsh winter alongside Arean soldiers, all those years under Sin’s careful and paternal tutelage. Perhaps Azutan had not earned her claim to the throne, but neither did Vince deserve Sin’s friendship nor Talis’ fidelity.

And for the first time since her flight from Venus, Azutan allowed herself to hope that perhaps Vince hadn’t achieved as much as she was led to believe. Before she could stamp out this dangerous line of thought, she stood tall and began to walk toward the house.

“Halt!” barked a guard almost immediately. Azutan obeyed, holding up her empty hands for extra measure. She glanced at Talis without shifting her hood from her shadowed eyes. Despite being unable to see her Arean irises, Talis looked her up and down with a frown that bordered on recognition.

The other guard did not seem so preoccupied with her appearance. “What business do you have here, miss?”

“You’re not paid enough to know.”

At the sound of Azutan’s voice, Talis blinked rapidly. Then he had no expression at all. His partner soldier curled his lip. “The Letyres are not accepting visitors for the time being.”

“Is that so?” Azutan pretended to size him up. “And do you perceive me as a mere visitor? Me? I do not remember seeing you when I last visited, perhaps you are new.”

“It does not matter who you are, Letyres have not received visitors since—”

“Please, miss,” Talis interrupted swiftly. “The Letyres have no real authority in this decision and we’re not looking for trouble. If you would kindly give us your name, we can give the family your regards.”

There was a moment of silence while they both stared at each other, neither of them able to guess what the other was thinking. The words no real authority played in her mind again and again. At last, Azutan replied slowly: “Ginzen. You will know me as Ginzen.”

“Ginzen,” Talis repeated. “And will you be in Vulcan in the coming weeks? The Letyres may wish to reach you.”

“That won’t happen.” The other guard glowered at Talis.

“Of course.” Azutan addressed Talis. “You will hear of me through the soldiers, the thieves, the servers in every tavern. Frankly, I’m surprised you have not already.”

“Not by choice. Unlike my comrades, I rarely receive the freedom or time to roam the streets of Vulcan.” This statement earned Talis another withering look from his partner.

So Talis was under scrutiny from Vince and his soldiers. Vince knew that Talis had once been a part of Azutan’s inner circle, so why let the former scout join his own forces? Was Talis acting the part of a self-interested turncoat or was he not pretending? Was he posted here in Vulcan solely for his ability to recognize Azutan and capture her?

“A shame,” said Azutan, and it was for she wished so badly that she could stay and talk for just a while longer. But she was not so reckless as to put both of them at risk. “I see now that I have wasted your time”—she caught the other guard rolling his eyes to the back of his head—“and I apologize. I do hope we—the Letyres and I can meet again at the earliest opportunity.”

“As do I,” said Talis.

“Stop by for a drink sometime.” Azutan gave Talis one last look, a helpless farewell in a tight-lipped smile, and left with a swish of her cloak. She walked quickly and did not look back, her heart pounding in her chest. She half expected to be recognized and apprehended immediately, but she managed to make it back to the bar without anything happening.

Shaken, Azutan took a seat across from Ginzen, who seemed to be waiting for her.

“They’re hostages,” Azutan said in a low whisper.

Ginzen nodded. “Unfortunately. But that proves your original thoughts of your lieutenant general wrong, doesn’t it?”

If Talis still remained loyal to her, what about Sin? Would Vince need such heavy leverage over Sin if he had betrayed Azutan willingly? The answer was right in front of her, but she still needed to figure out one last thing. “My question is: How did you even know about any of this? You’re just a bartender, yet Saleisha hired you to supply me with anything and everything I might need in order to take back the throne. You’re acquainted with people from across the kingdom, you’re familiar with every spot of land within this city, and you’re keeping secrets. Who are you, really?”

In response, Ginzen merely began organizing his rows of liquor with his back turned to her. After long minutes of impatient waiting on Azutan’s part, he finally began, “Do you know how Vulcan is ruled, Princess?”

“You have monarchs, just like everyone else in the Seven Kingdoms,” Azutan answered immediately. “And just like the other kingdoms that see fit to grant greater power to the masses, your king isn’t really a king, but a figurehead.” Azutan shifted through her brain for long-forgotten knowledge of the busy kingdom. Areans had never cared too much about Vulcan and had never paid attention to politics as a child—what was the point if she would never grow up to be queen? “Vulcan was a collection of divided states on the cusp of being conquered by another kingdom—likely Ares—when the people decided that in order to survive, they would need to form a kingdom of their own. The queen was selected because the people liked her best, and that is still the process for selecting monarchs to this day. There isn’t a royal bloodline, and no one has ever succeeded in forming one.”

“Yes,” Ginzen nodded. “Your knowledge of our history is a bit…crude, but you’re correct on all counts except for one. Vulcan’s rulers are not figureheads as they do not operate under another authority. It’s true that they are usually absent from court, allowing the people to take the reigns, and allowing themselves to live relatively normal and anonymous lives. But that does not mean they have no real power over the kingdom. They merely oversee Vulcan’s matters in rather unconventional ways.”

Azutan gave him a flat, evaluating stare. “You’re him. You’re the king.”

Ginzen winced and glanced around for any eavesdroppers, the same way Azutan had reacted when he let slip her title. “Yes.”

Azutan didn’t have the energy to feel shocked, not after everything else she had learned already. “Were you and Saleisha never going to tell me?”

“I told you just now,” Ginzen pointed out.

Azutan ground her teeth in frustration. “If you’re really the king, why are you helping me? Why do you care about the succession struggles of a kingdom on the other side of the continent?”

“It is because I am responsible for all of Vulcan that I must involve myself in the affairs of Ares. Think of it this way: why were you and your brother so ambitious in your control of Hera’s Council?” At Azutan’s expression, Ginzen backtracked, “Hmm. Forgive me, that was not the best comparison. Regardless, a political matter of one kingdom is the political matter of all. Vulcan will undoubtedly be affected once either you or your brother takes the throne. It is my duty to support the potential heir whose interests align with that of my kingdom’s, which is—to put it frankly—making sure that what happened in Hera does not happen to us.”

Almost reluctantly, Azutan’s thoughts began to spin towards prospects for the future, with Vulcan backing her up. It wouldn’t be easy to convince the rest of the Seven Kingdoms of Vince’s crimes, but it would be possible. And possible was a good first step.

“I wonder, Princess, if you’ve decided yet?” Ginzen spoke suddenly.

Azutan stared at him blankly. “Decided what?”

“Whether you want the throne.” Ginzen finished dusting his bottles and turned to face her expectantly. “Did Miss Rathaline and Saleisha not say that you also have the option of escaping the Seven Kingdoms altogether?”

Azutan thought back to that conversation, and the tantalizing taste of freedom. She realized she had already formulated the answer to that question a long time ago. “No. No, I won’t run. If I don’t deserve the throne, Vince deserves it even less. Forming puppet states, coercing military officers, harming civilians—all of these are actions that the past kings and queens of Ares would condone and conduct. But that cannot be our future and Ares should not have to endure a lying tyrant as a ruler. As his older sister…perhaps it is time I teach him the consequences of crossing the line.”

For the first time since Azutan met him, Ginzen cracked a smile. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

“Confirm my meeting with the head of the military,” said Azutan slowly, confidence building as a plan began to form. “I’m going to write out a detailed list of all of my brother’s crimes, and I want everything on it to be public knowledge to Vulcan, if not the entire Seven Kingdoms, by the end of the month. Vince will try to capture me before then, but as king, you can bar anyone affiliated with him from entering the kingdom.”

“And what if he retaliates?” asked Ginzen. “What if he uses force?”

Azutan smiled grimly at the thought of Ares’ entire military storming each kingdom one by one. Hadn’t she done the same? If Vince had even a fraction of her wits (and he had that and more), he would have made the appropriate preparations by now.

“We’ll need a little help for that.” Azutan nodded good morning to Saleisha and Rathaline, who were taking their seats on either side of her. “But first, we must free the Letyres.”

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To the dismay of all the palace nurses and physicians and the carefully concealed ecstasy of Vince, the king was not recovering. His father’s condition had worsened to include frequent and intense headaches and long bouts of either insomnia or deep sleep. It was not long before the queen herself was involved.

“How is he?” Queen Lydia asked immediately as Vince entered her room. She was sitting on the edge of her bed and had evidently been waiting for him.

“Not well,” Vince said grimly. “The physicians still cannot identify the ailment.”

“I hear he has missed nearly fifty Court meetings and that there is no one competent enough to manage his duties in his stead. The kingdom will be in utter chaos without a ruler for too long.” His mother’s eyebrows were knit tight with concern. It had been so long since Vince had seen her genuinely worry over someone, including herself.

“What if you were to attend in his absence, Mother?” Vince ventured down what he knew was already a dead end. “If the queen herself were to make a reappearance—”

“No.” Lydia cut him off curtly. “I think we’ve already repeated this conversation more times than we can both bear. Take me to Tyrannus.”

Vince pretended to be caught off guard. “Mother?”

“Now,” she snapped, reverting back to her old self for a moment.

And so, Vince led the queen through her own palace. They passed many guards and nurses on their way, all of them barely registering the face of their reclusive queen before stooping to low bows upon shocked realization.

Queen Lydia pushed through the doors to the king’s bedroom without hesitation. Immediately, the nurses and physicians inside startled and, after a silent gesture from Vince, began to flee the room. Despite her years in self-perpetuated isolation, the queen still kept her unrelenting presence.

After the room had emptied, Vince closed the door and approached the king’s bedside. His mother had him propped up on the headboard. It was one of his sleepless nights and he looked as weary and weak as ever. But he was smiling faintly as he looked at his queen. “Lydia.”

“You’re being stubborn,” the queen said shortly. “If you don’t have someone rule the kingdom in your stead, Ares will collapse.”

Despite his wife’s bluntness, the king looked happier than Vince had seen in a long time. “Who would fit the role? Azutan is gone, and we certainly do not want to place all our trust in the Court.”

“And have you considered our son?” Queen Lydia snapped.

The king paused as he looked Vince over, as if only just realizing his son was in the room. Vince hadn’t missed the way the king had pointedly avoided calling Azutan a traitor, opting instead for “gone,” and Vince didn’t like how he was looking at him as if deciding the best way to convey a piece of unpleasant news.

“It is unnecessary. I will recover shortly.” The king’s insistence was feeble and easy to dismiss.

“You are showing indecisiveness by not selecting a regent,” Queen Lydia told him, “as well as an unwillingness to relinquish power. What will the kingdom think if its king won’t even put faith in his own son?”

The king’s gaze flicked to Vince again. Vince could almost hear his thoughts. The arrangement was only temporary, lasting until either his recovery or Azutan’s return. “Perhaps…you are right, my dear.”

Queen Lydia sniffed in disdain, but to Vince’s ears it sounded like affection.

“Vince, my son.” The king took Vince’s hands in his own. “I proclaim you regent of Ares.”

It was an informal announcement, given in an informal environment, but it was all Vince needed. He gave the king a low bow, and would have folded in half if he could. “I will do my very best, Father.”

He left the room with Queen Lydia shortly to let the king rest. She paused by the door before Vince could escort her back to her quarters.

“Lead your kingdom well, son,” she said sternly, but not unkindly. “Prove yourself to him. I will not be able to give you another opportunity like this for a long time; and if you disappoint me, I will not even think to try.”

She then stalked off on her own, leaving Vince amazed at how he had held several conversations with his mother in a mere day, and wondering whether she knew of his plans.

“You can come out now,” Vince said in a low voice as soon as his mother had gone. Immediately, Mrina slipped out from whatever shadow she had been lurking in.

“Any eavesdroppers?” asked Vince, to which Mrina shook her head. “Good. Prepare the search parties.”

“The search parties? All twelve?” They strode down the floors of the palace, passing physicians and guards huddled in corners waiting for Vince to leave. He nodded to them curtly, and they began to resume their posts in and near the king’s bedroom. “Does that mean your plan has succeeded?”

“Yes,” Vince savored the taste of the word with relish. “It has. Deploy all twelve by tomorrow evening.

“We must prepare Azutan’s welcoming party.”

Hours. Days. Weeks. The passing of time gnawed at Sin’s insides. He was an hourglass, and apprehension was the sand. There was no end to the sand pouring from the top chamber, but the bottom one was about to be full, along with the regret that pooled there. It didn’t help that one day, like a pebble tossed into the still lake of insignificant time, word reached him that Azutan had been captured.

“That can’t be,” he said unsteadily, not bothering to mask his horror in front of the young soldier that had delivered the message. Everyone from the military district knew that he resided here not by choice, and Vince had more urgent things to do than to punish him for his disloyalty.

“Yeah, well. There are three of them.” The soldier gave a half-shrug and shuffled out of the tent Sin was isolated in. He, like many in the district, did not know what to do with Sin. On one hand, Sin would have been his superior were he still in the military; on the other, he was the lieutenant and close friend to a traitor.

“Wait.” Sin held up a hand. Reluctantly, the man stopped, his gaze not quite meeting Sin’s. “What do you mean by ‘three of them?’”

Could Vince have captured Azutan, Saleisha, and Rathaline? Months ago, he would have thought it impossible. But now here he was, held inside the kingdom of his second home with no assurance of freedom in sight.

“His Highness’ search parties arrested three women in Vulcan who resemble the traitor Azutan.” Parts of Sin’s relief and skepticism must have shown on his face because the soldier added, “His Highness has requested you to accompany him today in determining which of the women is Azutan in disguise.”

His words echoed in Sin’s mind long after he left. Sin longed to leave the tent, to linger in the capital city he admired so much, to see its proud walls and mansions and its citizens whose manners were blunt from birth. He could leave the tent, of course, but he couldn’t step foot outside the military district, just like he couldn’t all those years ago when he first arrived in Ares, smitten with the kingdom and its military. Only this time, his confinement was different in all the ways that mattered.

It seemed as though the day passed in mere seconds. At sunset, Sin was directed from his tent to the barracks. An entire floor had been cleared to accommodate thirty armed soldiers, five high-backed chairs, and their occupants.

Sin sat slightly behind Vince’s chair after an airy greeting from the new regent, one Sin stiffly returned. One by one, the three blindfolded women were marched in and shoved roughly into their stools. At the same time, Vince’s personal bodyguard Mrina took her place dutifully behind both Sin and Vince’s chairs. Sin could feel the back of his neck prickling.

With a gesture from Vince, the soldiers began removing the blindfolds, revealing each of the women’s faces. As Sin looked into the face of each one, he could feel the tangled mess of nerves he had slowly been accumulating over the day unraveling itself. While each of the women had piercing yellow eyes, a trait that only the Ares royal family had, it was apparent to Sin, who had known Azutan for years, that none of them was the princess.

Vince caught on immediately as well. “You spend two months searching the Seven Kingdoms, and this is the best you could do?” he hissed at the captain of the search parties.

The captain paled. “Your Highness—”

“Speak!” Vince ordered the woman on his far right. “Why are your eyes the color of Ares gold?”

The woman responded in an icy voice that was much higher than Azutan’s. “I did not realize that eye colors were reserved for certain statuses and families. In Vulcan, we wear lenses in our eyes to adjust their hue however we please.” To demonstrate, she dabbed a finger across her pupil and held it up to reveal the thin, curved lens on her fingertip.

“Is that so,” said Vince slowly as each of the women began removing their lenses. “Then might you all explain why you’re working for the traitor Azutan?”

“We are doing nothing of the sort,” insisted one.

“Really?” Vince leaned forward, his eyes burning molten gold in his fury. “So it’s a coincidence that you all look shockingly similar? Or that you’ve been deliberately trying to catch the attention of my search parties? Or that you’re all from Vulcan?”

“I’m from Demeter,” interjected one, just as the woman on the left said, “I was not trying to resemble Princess Azutan in any way! Your search parties seized me unreasonably.”

“Oh, but our friend here seemed to suggest that these clever little eye disks are found exclusively in Vulcan.” Vince indicated the woman on his right. “And, Captain, did you not say all three of these women here were taken in after they had been seen loitering around the search parties multiple times?”

“I did, Your Highness,” said the captain, evidently eager to prove himself to Vince.

“That’s a tad too suspicious for me to believe Azutan had nothing to do with this,” continued Vince. “But no matter. None of you ladies seem to be in the mood for talking today, but perhaps a few weeks in Ares’ most notorious dungeons will change your minds. Meanwhile…” Vince turned to the captain once more. “You are to redeploy all my search parties to Vulcan. Check on our dear friends the Letyres before doing anything else. Return with the results I asked for, or do not return at all. Dismissed.”

With a flourish of his cape, Vince stormed out of the barracks, Mrina a silent shadow behind him. Sin was left feeling as though his presence at the interrogation was merely for Vince to make that final threat in front of him, a due reminder not to have any ideas of escape.

“You, sir, come with me,” an Arean guard beckoned to Sin from the door. She had an odd accent that Sin couldn’t quite place but felt that he should recognize.

The guard led Sin back to his tent. He spotted fewer soldiers milling about the district and more standing attentively at their posts or running reports as if they had been told to put on a show for Vince. Although Azutan had not been well-liked in her army outside of her team of scouts, she never had to encourage false discipline.

Instead of joining the other soldiers once Sin was obediently back inside his tent, the guard looked around furtively before entering the tent herself and closing the flaps behind her. Then she took off her mask.

“Saleisha,” Sin gasped.

“Sin!” She squeezed him in a hug. Sin could only gape at her, a thousand possibilities of how Saleisha could be standing before him running through his mind, each one as ridiculous as the last.

Saleisha laughed at his befuddled expression. “I disguised myself as a soldier when Kareena, Cecelia, and Waleia were caught. Azutan and Rathaline helped me abduct a soldier to make the search party’s headcount add up.”

“They’re all right, then?” Sin asked hopefully. “And Princess Azutan. I could not tell her at the time, but Vince had—”

“Yeah, we know.” Saleisha grinned. “Azutan found your family ages ago. We already captured the soldiers guarding the place with a little help from Talis. We smuggled your family to a different part of Vulcan without Vince’s knowledge. Don’t worry, they’re living comfortably.”

It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from Sin’s shoulders, allowing him to breathe again. But then he recalled the last words Vince spoke “Vince knows that they’re in Vulcan now. And he’s sending his search parties to look for my—the Letyres. We need to delay them.”

“Don’t worry,” Saleisha said again, this time with a hint of her signature crafty smirk. “Azutan will take care of business in Vulcan. She’s got the king there on her side, after all.”

Sin raised his eyebrows, impressed. “The king? Has he even been seen by the public in the past five years? How did she manage that?”

Saleisha was definitely smirking now. “See, we’re in less of a tight spot than you think. All Vince has got is the trust of the Areans and the loyalty of the people he’s threatened. And he needs everyone to believe that Azutan is a murderous traitor. Well, we can start by undermining him, one thing at a time…starting with those lies about Azutan right here in Ares.”

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Sin had never thought it possible to escape from his imprisonment for even a moment, but that was before Saleisha came. Together, they found the few soldiers from Azutan’s army that had managed to infiltrate Ares and arranged them at Sin’s tent door, allowing him to move about for several hours per day. They then acquired several sets of disguises for both of them before making daily and nightly excursions to test how Sin’s temporary freedom would hold. It held surprisingly well.

Donning the cheap attire Saleisha had stolen from someone’s open window, Sin stood on the edges of a wide training courtyard. He pretended to be watching the people before him perform their morning exercises. Areans of all ages followed a beat that a young child was tapping out on a pair of drums at the front of the courtyard. Sin used to watch the exercises every morning when he served as a lieutenant general, but for once his attention was elsewhere.

“And you wouldn’t believe what else I heard!” Saleisha was saying to a small crowd a few feet away. She was wearing a light brown wig and, through the use of clever make-up, had made her eyes seem larger than they actually were. She had thrown on a long coat over a palace uniform as if demonstrating the legitimacy of her rumors, even though the uniform had merely been stolen from an unlucky maid.

“Vince was the one who started the fire in Hera!” Saleisha continued in a dramatic whisper. “No, listen—Princess Azutan found out the truth, and that’s why Vince is trying to find her! So that no one discovers his misdeeds!”

Half the crowd had winced when Saleisha referred to their prince without honorifics. Several, however, looked as though Saleisha’s words weren’t entirely unbelievable.

“I’ve always thought that the princess wouldn’t betray her kingdom like this,” one said slowly. “I can’t say she has many fans in the Court or military, but she was always very loyal…”

“You can’t be serious,” another spat out. “His Highness wouldn’t lie! Even if the traitor Azutan isn’t very popular in Court, Vince certainly is. Do you really think he would fool the whole kingdom?”

“How do we know you’re not making this all up?” another called.

Saleisha looked affronted. “We palace maids gossip. Some of us know more about the nuances of the Court than you would think. Some of us have harbored suspicions toward the prince for a long time, and that should prove to you that Vince can’t fool the whole kingdom, not that he isn’t trying. Besides, if you think you know any better, why don’t you tell us why you think Azutan would have any incentive for betraying Ares when she already had the status of the crown princess?”

The man who had spoken, likely an undersecretary to a minor Court official and no one of note, had no response.

“Well, if no one believes me…” Saleisha shook her head and made as though to leave the courtyard.

“Most of us didn’t say that,” snapped an old woman, sweat shining on her lined face. “But we can’t exactly accuse the crown prince of any of this, can we? Who would listen? What is our evidence? The rumors heard by a palace maid? And what is the point in removing His Highness from the throne? Plenty of Areans kings and queens have done far worse. As long as he does not harm us, it should not matter.”

Slowly, others murmured their agreement. The crowd began to disperse, and a frustrated Saleisha disappeared as well. A few minutes later, she reappeared by Sin’s side, having changed out of her uniform and into an inconspicuous gray dress.

“Not much progress,” she said crossly.

“I agree,” Sin sighed. “But at least they’re listening.”

Saleisha rubbed her hands together, deep in thought. “What we need is some evidence, something they can’t possibly ignore.”

“We could write to Azutan for her to send a witness from Hera,” suggested Sin, but they both knew it would be nothing short of a small miracle. All letters, people, and even food shipments were being thoroughly searched by Vince’s soldiers upon entrance and exit to Ares.

For now, they could only wait for Azutan to make her move. Or for a single misstep from Vince, whatever it may be.

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“Good evening,” Vince said to the serving girl, barely glancing at her. He thought he could recognize most of the palace staff, now that he was in and out of the king’s bedroom so often and checking in with his nurses and physicians.

The serving girl bowed and began to prepare the king’s medicine, which was, in actuality, a bottle of valeria syrup.

“Oh, there’s no need for that,” Vince said hastily, remembering that he had only just dosed his father that afternoon. Another sip would not do any favors for the old man’s health. “Just tea is fine. Thank you.”

The serving girl wavered, her eyes narrowed. “But, Your Highness, His Majesty has not yet taken his medicine today.”

“I am aware, thank you for your input.” Vince did not bother hiding the chill in his tone. Stiffly, the serving girl bowed again and instead began pouring tea. Vince watched her busy herself over the drink with a scowl. Since when were the palace staff so mouthy?

“Here you are, Your Highness.” The serving girl handed Vince his tea and left a cup by the dozing king’s bedside. Before she left the room, Vince could have sworn she threw a reproachful glare over her shoulder at him.

Where had he seen that glare before? Wasn’t she the same girl that had seen him coming up to the king’s study the first day he poisoned his father? But he couldn’t be sure—the faces of all the palace staff were blending together to him. Mrina was the only one who could differentiate them all.

Vince picked up a book from his father’s shelves and began to read about Ares’ violent history as he waited for the king to wake up. It wasn’t long before Vince heard his hacking coughs and the bed creak.

“Good afternoon, Father,” Vince said pleasantly. “There’s tea right by you.”

“Ah, Vince,” King Tyrannus said with as much dignity as he could muster while looking as though he had aged ten years in a span of a few weeks. “Is anything the matter?”

“No, nothing’s wrong, I just came up to check on you,” said Vince in the same falsely bright voice. It was important to keep up appearances of a filial son if not for his father then for the Court nobles and palace staff.

He couldn’t very well tell the king that there was nothing else to do besides waiting for news from his search parties on Azutan. The Court was now fully his to command—the nobles had caught on to the dwindling health of their king and each hoped to curry favor with his successor.

“Thank you.” The corners of his father’s eyes crinkled. Yet another thing Vince was unused to hearing with Azutan gone.

Moments after his father drank the last of his tea, he slumped back again into his bed. Vince, who in the past would have either left the room or read on in silence, now no longer wanted to do either. He stared at his father’s motionless form, wishing the king would say something more. If Azutan were in his place, he would not need to wait long. Azutan was the favorite of the king—every Arean knew it as fact, Vince most of all—and it was the greatest mystery of the Seven Kingdoms as to why. He wasted hours of his childhood wracking his brains over what he lacked, but now he thought he could almost understand.

“Father,” he began. “Do you remember the day you announced your heir? It was in autumn, right after Azutan’s birthday—that’s why she was still in the capital when you summoned us, otherwise she would have returned to military camps. Was this deliberate?”

There was no response from the sickened king. Perhaps he did not wish to interject in Vince’s sudden anecdote. Or perhaps he had already fallen asleep. That was fine too—it made things easier.

“I was excited that morning,” Vince recalled, “because I thought it would be me. As potential successors, we were not supposed to know when the selection period would occur, and we could not know what we would be tested on. I think Azutan only realized once we were being led inside the banquet hall, but I had figured out that we were being observed a long time ago. And I tried to win, Father, I tried to be perfect. During those months, I was the most active an Arean prince has ever been in Court politics—everyone said so, and you must have heard it too. I knew I had to learn how the kingdom worked, so I took it apart piece by piece. I studied history, I visited every corner of the kingdom, and I memorized the names of nobles and officials like they were family. I could not be your favorite so I tried to be outstanding. But it was never enough.”

Vince paused. There was still no response.

“What do you see in her that you do not in me, Father? Azutan is quick-tempered and difficult to like. She is not suitable for the subtlety of the Court, not like I am. She would not have been the first pick for any of the past Arean monarchs, especially due to her disastrous and halfhearted ‘conquest’ of the other kingdoms. And yet she received a second chance to reaffirm your favor, so where is mine? What have I done that you could never forgive?”

After a long wait, Vince made his way to his father’s bedside to retrieve the teacup. He moved slowly, at once unwilling to disturb the king’s rest and apprehensive as to whether he would discover his father unconscious or awake. But as he neared the nightstand, he noticed that the king’s eyes were wide open, staring at the opposite wall.

“Father?” Vince’s voice wavered. “Were you…were you listening?”

There was no response, no movement.

Hesitantly, Vince laid his hand against the king’s face. He did not so much as twitch, and his skin felt cold, as if incapable of holding heat. As Vince looked on in growing horror, paralyzed by fear and disbelief of what was happening, he came to realize that his father was not breathing.

His father was dead.

Vince stumbled back from his father, the corpse. His breathing was shallow, sweat forming on his forehead and neck, as fat as rain drops. This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.

Desperately, he seized the bottle of valeria syrup on the table, left behind by the servant girl, and his hands registered the unanticipated weightlessness. The bottle was empty.

“No,” he whispered. His eyes darted toward the empty teacup by the king’s side. “No…”

He lifted the king’s wrist, fruitlessly feeling for a pulse. There was none, no matter how much he wished there was. The only thing he could think of was his father’s last words, thanking him. Thanking the son who had killed him.

There, he realized, was his answer.

“Haven’t you heard?”

“The king—”

“His Highness the crown prince announced that the funeral will be held in five days.”

“So soon? I thought—”

“Excuse me,” Saleisha, who had been a shadowed spectator in the corner of the bar, suddenly spoke up. “Where will the funeral take place?”

A man sitting at the nearest table took one look at her and snorted. “In front of the royal palace, where else? Everyone from all over the kingdom is coming to pay their respects. Mark my words, every inn in the capital will be full and every commoner street will be packed. Now I remember the last royal funeral we had; they could not even clear room for a procession…”

Saleisha waited for him to return to his drink and chatter before thumping the hooded figure beside her. “What do we do now?”

Sin stared in front of him, his gaze unfocused. King Tyrannus had given him a dream he now regretted, a military position he did not feel he deserved, and a life’s purpose he should have abandoned for another. And yet…now the king was dead. Sin had never mourned anyone in his life but he was learning.

“We need to smuggle me from the military district once and for all,” Sin decided. “Although it will be dangerous to be in hiding at a time like this, we don’t have much of a choice if we want to help Azutan before it’s too late.”

“That’s easy.” Saleisha raised an eyebrow. “Just don’t return tonight.”

“What?”

“You’re already out.” Saleisha gestured at him. “You haven’t left anything important in the camp, right?”

“Well, no…” Sin had originally been thinking of a way to escape the district without getting his guards in trouble. But on second thought, Vince would likely find a way to pin the blame on them regardless. If the prince wasn’t so preoccupied with his father’s death.

“What we do need to think about is what we’ll do with His Royal Highness.” Saleisha stabbed a fork into her steak for emphasis. “ Because I still think he was behind the king’s death.”

“He wouldn’t do that, Saleisha,” Sin replied patiently, repeating the same back-and-forth they’d been having all week. He was beginning to believe it a little less each time.

“You didn’t think he was a pyromaniac until Hera either,” Saleisha said stubbornly. “Why wouldn’t Vince kill the king? All the nurses and physicians have already confirmed that it was poison. Other than Vince, the last person to see the king alive was this serving girl, and Vince is turning the entire kingdom upside down to try to find her. Sounds pretty suspicious.”

How could Sin explain it to her? Saleisha had not watched Vince grow up, a brilliant star beside his self-perceived average sister, with him ever the apple in his mother’s eye and never in his father’s. King Tyrannus had loved Azutan more, this was true, but Vince always looked up to him, hoping for his attention. Sin did not believe this kind of respect could be lost, especially not in the form of murder.

“We’re not doing anything with him for now,” Sin spoke slowly, holding Saleisha’s gaze. “Vince is Azutan’s brother. We will wait for Azutan’s verdict at the funeral, and then we will act upon her orders only.”

Not entirely satisfied, Saleisha could only nod mutely. The only good thing that could be said about the events of the past week was that there was no longer any need to send a letter to the princess. With the news of King Tyrannus’ death traveling like wildfire, Sin would be very surprised if Azutan hadn’t already marched halfway through the Seven Kingdoms.

“We should bring weapons to the funeral,” Saleisha suggested in relish. “Just in case Azutan decides to declare war right then and there.”

Sin pressed his lips together at the thought of the late king’s send-off becoming a bloodbath. “The princess would not do something so foolish. But we should anticipate Vince’s unfavorable reaction once he discovers her. And we must bring her evidence of Vince’s actions, whatever they are.”

“Which means we need to find that serving girl before Vince does.”

“Yes,” Sin agreed. He could not help but feel as though they had a very unpleasant five days ahead of them.

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On the day of the funeral, the sun was a scorching hot beam of white light above the heads of the Arean population, causing the colors of late King Tyrannus’ incredibly ornate coffin to blur amidst the pure gold. The entire Arean Court stood in a wide half-circle around it, with the crown prince and the queen in the center of the arc, positioned right before the coffin, facing the Areans.

The first shock to the Areans was the face of their queen. Queen Lydia seldom made appearances to anyone but her family and the few servants she had. Undoubtedly there were many who did not recognize her until they saw whom she was standing next to.

The second shock was the crown prince himself, not yet the king of Ares until the coronation ceremony scheduled in twenty days, where the queen would crown him as the next ruler of Ares.

The prince was crying.

Unmistakable tears were running down his cheeks as he stood silently. His body language did not betray any of this, however, and those standing more than a hundred feet away would not be able to notice a thing.

While it was normal for a son to cry at his father’s funeral, the people of Ares expected a more collected demeanor from their future king. Thus, many of the Court members and the crowd around Vince’s feet could only look away in discomfort.

On a platform a few feet below the one that elevated the king’s coffin, a large man with a booming voice was reading the eulogy and biography. As admirable as his vocal cords were, the thousands of people far from him were left in near silence. But what was important were the words uttered, not who heard them. After all, who in Ares didn’t know about their tyrant king turned peacemaker?

Long ago, when Ares was a mere city-state with a hastily cobbled together government, King Arestern took control and led his people into conquering most of the land in the continent’s east. It seemed as though Ares’ territory expanded by twice its original size overnight. Hence, when the Seven Kingdoms first came to be, Ares became known as the kingdom of war.

King Tyrannus followed in his ancestor’s footsteps for the majority of his life, until the conquered villages along the east coast grew tired of being considered a part of the kingdom but never reaping its benefits. They rebelled and their righteous cause gained the favor of many commoners in the kingdom, and eventually even some representatives from the Court. For the first time in his life, King Tyrannus was forced to concede. The coastal villages have since thrived independent of Ares, even becoming the kingdom’s vital partner in trade. King Tyrannus listened, and the entire west flourished.

The brutish reputation of Ares could not be changed overnight, and the two royal siblings did nothing to help things. Princess Azutan was notorious for being every bit of the tyrant her father used to be. After she returned from her two-year conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, leaving the continent in a confused, defeated state, there was talk of her younger brother, Vince, replacing her as heir.

But new rumors were circulating. Why had the king’s health failed him so drastically, when, before his son returned, he had been the picture of a strong, healthy ruler? The traitor princess had not even been given a chance to speak for herself before the entire kingdom of Ares was suddenly placed into Vince’s hands. The Areans talked—they were no fools.

With Ares being the second largest kingdom after Vulcan, their numbers were immense. A vast ocean of heads below the crown prince was from cities and villages with little to no connection with the Arean Court—they knew nothing about their future ruler other than the fact that he had lost the throne to his sister years ago.

In fact, the Areans from humble backgrounds far outnumbered those dressed in finery in the crowd…

“—May his path be bright and his footsteps strong.”

With that, the mindnumbingly long eulogy ended at last. Many in the crowd murmured among themselves at Ares’ common farewell being used in such a way. But the whispers quickly died down as the eight pallbearers, the queen and the crown prince at their head, lifted the pure gold coffin with a decisive heave.

Just as the funeral procession was about to begin, gasps suddenly came from the far end of the crowd, all around her. The sea of people parted, with most Areans scrambling out of the way as soon as they saw who was approaching. Whispers quickly escalated into shouts. On their faces, she could see fear. Apprehension. Awe.

Those standing on the high platforms weren’t aware of the commotion until the last moment, once the Areans around their feet were practically roaring. By that time, Princess Azutan had ascended the platform herself.

There was near silence as the entire kingdom took in her appearance. She was wearing a long, flowing dress that was entirely black save for the silver designs around its hem, the Ares mourning colors. Thin plates of armor accented it, producing an attractive metallic sheen. Her cape was bloodred, so dark that even under the harsh sunlight, it seemed to blend with her obsidian dress. Her makeup consisted of long streaks of silver paint extending from her eyes down her cheeks, a symbol of the Reaper in the Demeten texts. At an angle, they looked less like ugly dark scars and more like tears. Long chains of metal accessories were braided into her hair, which was let loose to her waist. She carried nothing on her and walked with her hands clasped in solemn stillness.

Princess Azutan was at once a daughter, general, and queen.

And she wasn’t alone. Once the Areans overcame their shock at seeing the traitor princess after months of silence, they could see a line of people behind her that were now fanning out into a semi-circle on the platform. Four of them stepped forward to stand by her side: a gray-haired man with a foreign face, a short girl disguised in plain rags, a much taller girl with a scowl and crossed arms, and Lieutenant General Sin.

Princess Azutan was the first to break the silence. “You have not left space for me.”

It took a moment for the pallbearers to understand that she was referring to the coffin. After all, it was the custom for members of the immediate family to carry the coffin containing their loved one. Upon realization, they looked as though they were about to drop their burden and back away, all except Queen Lydia and Vince.

“Y-you!” The man who had read out the eulogy raised a shaking arm. Azutan vaguely recognized him as the lord of some major house. “Traitor Azutan, you dare come here? To the funeral of the father and king you betrayed? Guards, seize her!”

But no one moved. All eyes were locked on the crown prince, unsure of how to react. Vince, however, was as frozen as everyone else. As his gaze swept over the people gathered around his sister, the fear on his face became more pronounced.

Azutan was quick to notice where his fear lay. “Shall I introduce you? But you’ve already met my companions, haven’t you?” While the crowd began to take notice of the eleven people standing behind her, Azutan unclasped a silver locket from around her neck and spun it on her index finger.

“The Larsolds of Hades.” She gave the family of three respectful nods and smiled at the girl standing beside them. “And Princess Drinateq. They were witnesses to a pair of strange men kidnapping Lieutenant General Sin nearly two years ago. The one behind it was you, little brother.”

There were sneers from the Court that came with Azutan’s accusation. But all of them faded as the kingdom observed Vince’s paling face.

“Now, what did you want with my right-hand man Sin?” Azutan began pacing the length of the platform leisurely, still spinning the locket. “It couldn’t have been something good, could it? Seeing as seven months ago you finally had your chat with Sin, and look how well that ended.”

“It ended with you imprisoning me for five months in Ares’ very own military district,” Sin continued, once Azutan paused. “Not to mention you holding my family, the Letyres, hostage. I’m sure your soldiers can confirm?” He looked each of the guards surrounding the Court nobles in the eye. Many of them who had no doubt served under him at one point in their lives dropped their gazes.

“And what about the rest of the Seven Kingdoms?” Azutan stopped to stand shoulder-to-shoulder between Rathaline and a nervous-looking man with a quivering jaw—Kastellan. “You saw Demeter as a land filled with lowly farmers. There was nothing there for you, and you moved right on. But what about Hera? A kingdom filled with people who blindly follow the Council’s will? It was astonishingly easy for you to manipulate them.”

She turned to face the Areans, clearing her throat softly. “I’m sure many of you have thought of this before—you’re not fools. The Heran Council fire. How did it allow for a complete renascence of Hera’s government? Who had the most to gain? Because, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, I’m not the reigning regent right now.”

Muttering broke out immediately, with those standing nearby relaying her words to the people further from the platform.

So far, so good. She had a long way to go to win the entire kingdom’s favor, but now it almost seemed too easy.

“Who bribed the Veni for their support?”

Lady Victriya had her head held high with a set jaw.

“Who spent the last half year attempting, and failing, to infiltrate Vulcan?”

At this, Ginzen crossed his arms and smiled.

“Who utilized Ares’ entire army just to find the one person who could prove all his claims false—me?”

Azutan turned back to face Vince, now standing only a few inches away from him. She sized him up and shook her tilted head slowly. The metal links in her hair clinked sorrowfully, as if in disappointment. “Little brother, you only have your threats and your lies. I have everything else.”

She was close enough to see him swallow.

“Your words mean nothing here, traitor,” a voice hissed.

Azutan turned her head slowly to gaze at the man who delivered the eulogy. His face was flushed, his eyes constantly darting back to Vince’s face. But when he saw that the crown prince had no intention but to stand as a motionless onlooker, he continued, “I have been serving the Court my whole life, and I have never seen ‘Your Highness Azutan’ sit through the councils for longer than an hour. You did not dare show your face for seven months since our crown prince returned to us. Tell us, since the only thing you’ve ever done is flaunt your military rank, how did you win the favor of the Vulcans?” He gave a booming laugh, and the crowd began muttering again.

Azutan studied him, not hearing a word of what he had just said. “Who are you?”

The man’s face grew so red it was dangerously close to attaining purple hues. “You—”

“You claim Princess Azutan’s words to be meaningless here,” a voice interrupted. A figure dressed entirely in silver and black robes ascended the platform, her steps slow and calculated as if intentionally trying to draw out a response from the crowd. Behind Azutan, Vince’s eyes widened. “What about mine?”

Mrina let her hood fall, revealing her face. Immediately, there were gasps from the crowd at her feet as the Areans recognized their crown prince’s right hand, who had become a common sight in the last half year. She exchanged a grim smile with Azutan.

“L-lady Mrina,” the large man stuttered. “Why have you—”

“I’m sure everyone would believe me,” Mrina cut him off, “if I were to confirm Princess Azutan’s accusations. Isn’t that right, Lord Melicent?”

An uproar broke strained silence as the Areans finally comprehended what it meant for the crown prince’s most trusted advisor to suddenly turn traitor. Raising her voice above their shouts, Mrina declared, “Your Highness. I believed in you. I believed in your royal blood, just like what Hera taught me. I believed that your sister was a power-hungry, manipulative fraud and that the king was a fool to support her, because that was what you taught me.

“But no matter how proficient you are at covering up your despicable deeds, regicide is the one thing you cannot—”

Imperceptible to all those below the platform, Azutan lifted her hand in a gesture to stop. Mrina faltered before those around them could register her unfinished sentence.

“Guards! Guards!” Melicent cried again, providing a successful distraction. “Arrest them!”

This time, the soldiers surrounding the Court readied their weapons and advanced on Azutan warily. But before they could even come within twenty feet of her, there was a rustle of movement as a dozen figures dressed in pine green uniforms hefted themselves onto the platform from the crowd and formed a human wall before Azutan and her supporters. Azutan’s scouts.

“My lord, I believe you mentioned that Azutan has won the favor of the Vulcans.” Standing at the head of the cluster of green, Talis crossed his arms. “That’s one thing you got right. They know the difference between a fake ruler and a real one.”

Ginzen raised his right arm. At once, a quarter of the crowd shed their plain Arean garb to reveal their weapons and Vulcan uniforms underneath. Another third of the population kept their Arean clothing but tied silver handkerchiefs to their wrists and biceps. There were exclamations of shock from the others, but none of fear. The Areans had long decided whose side they were on.

“We were a little surprised with Ares’ crude security in these couple of weeks,” Ginzen told Melicent. “You should have taken a few pointers from us.”

“Y-you—” For the first time, Melicent’s confidence was crumbling. “That’s impossible!”

“It took a very long time,” Azutan agreed. “But it was possible.”

It was incredibly difficult to speak over the roar of the crowd now. The Areans surged forward, swarming the platform. The Court surrendered to the Vulcan soldiers immediately, their faces colorless and shining with sweat. They were smart—they would put aside whatever thoughts they had about Azutan as long as they could survive this day. Azutan had given the soldiers clear instructions not to harm them.

Meanwhile, Melicent had escaped from the platform and was attempting to find safety in the palace. Without a moment of hesitation, Saleisha and Rathaline took off after him like twin lionesses on the hunt. They subdued him effortlessly, and Azutan could see Rathaline’s easy grin as if this day were just like any other.

Vince’s soldiers could not hold their own any longer. They were overpowered and bound on the spot by the Vulcans as Vince stood there amidst it all. Vince did not seem to see the two soldiers flanking him, who were warned by Azutan not to manhandle him. He did not seem to be fully alive at all.

“I’m sorry, little brother.” Azutan tossed her locket to Vince. He caught it stiffly without looking at her. “You lost again.”

Azutan watched the chaos around her, basking in the harsh light of the afternoon sun, as bright as a phoenix. She watched the soldiers lead her brother away, feeling as though the day was hardly a victory, realizing that throughout the entire confrontation, Vince had not said a single word.

There came a knock on the door. When Azutan ignored it, the knocking persisted, this time accompanied by muffled shouting. She sighed. It was only the morning after the tremendous turn of events at the funeral, and yet they couldn’t wait.

“Come in,” Azutan said, setting aside the glass bottle she had been examining.

Immediately, the door was shoved open with a bang, admitting a disheveled Saleisha, an amused Rathaline, and an apologetic Sin. Saleisha looked around in a daze at the grand room before making a beeline toward Azutan’s desk.

“Oh, that’s nice. Now that our princess has inherited the king’s room, she has no need for us, huh? Were you just going to sit here all morning and sip tea?” Saleisha demanded, referring to the tea cups and bottles beside her.

“What do you guys want?” asked Azutan, catching Sin’s gaze. She knew exactly what they wanted.

“Don’t play dumb.” Rathaline waved a hand and casually seated herself on the desk as if its surface was not adorned with pure gold. “We spent weeks preparing evidence for you, and we even found the sole witness at the last second. You made a good speech yesterday, but the throne could have been yours with a few words.”

“Why didn’t you accuse Vince of murdering the king?” Saleisha challenged.

Azutan glanced at Sin again before answering. In this room, only he could understand. “Because I don’t believe Vince is guilty.”

Both Saleisha and Rathaline puffed out exasperated breaths at this.

“I haven’t personally interrogated the serving girl you two found yet,” Azutan continued before they could speak. “But I intend to do so soon. And, according to the girl, the ‘poison’ Vince administered came directly out of this bottle?” Azutan shook the glass container.

Saleisha looked at the contents on Azutan’s desk clearly for the first time, noticing the intricate designs on the bottle and tea set. “Yes.”

“Then why,” Azutan said slowly, “is this the same bottle of sleep syrup that my mother has been using ever since I was young?”

Her words were met with silence.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know. As much as I wish we could condemn my brother for all his crimes, this is a matter that concerns my…my father’s death. I will not be hasty in my decisions, and I will not accuse Vince of regicide if it is not true.” Azutan took a deep breath. Saleisha did not look so keen to speak anymore. “Has Vince been cooperating so far?”

“You could say that,” Rathaline replied grudgingly. Azutan had put her in charge of guarding the dungeon cell where Vince was temporarily being held in. “He doesn’t respond to any probing, but at least he hasn’t tried to escape or denounce any of our accusations.”

“And the queen?” Azutan asked.

“Still missing,” Saleisha said gloomily.

“Huh.” Azutan tapped her fingers on the desk in a slow, rhythmic motion. For her mother to escape even Saleisha’s meticulous searching for an entire day and night meant that she would have somewhere to hide that no one else knew about. Azutan couldn’t recall the last time her mother left the palace— the last time she had even seen her mother in the palace. Perhaps that was part of the issue.

“It’s not too much of a problem,” Rathaline said thoughtfully. “People have already accepted that you’re the next queen. Even without Queen Lydia’s presence at your coronation, there is no alternative ruler. If your mother wants to leave…I say we leave her be.”

Azutan nodded, though she was still unsettled by the sudden disappearance of an important, if not prominent figure in her life. She reluctantly set that aside and turned to Sin. Throughout the entire conversation, she knew that Sin had been watching her silently. She knew it was pride that shone in his eyes.

“Until then…Sin, you don’t mind if I let you have complete control over the military, right?”

Sin’s eyes fluttered in shock. “Is this a promotion?”

“Temporarily,” she reassured. “I don’t have anyone I trust as much as you in the military’s direct command at the moment. But after the coronation, you can do whatever you wish. You’ll want to spend some time with your family, right?”

Mere months ago, Azutan would not have given precedence to Sin’s wishes, if she recognized them at all. But that was in the past, and though she was a slow learner she would learn eventually. They shared a smile in understanding.

“Now, then.” Azutan stood, tucking the glass bottle into the sash of her elaborate palace gown. “Where are you two keeping the witness?”

They led her to a small servant’s room on a lower floor of the palace, Saleisha with an anticipatory gait. Azutan didn’t miss how Rathaline silently unlocked the door a few paces before they reached it—the serving girl was held here against her will, and Saleisha and Rathaline were uncomfortable with Azutan knowing.

She entered slowly and motioned for Saleisha and Rathaline to wait for her outside. They shut the door behind her, and Azutan took in the room. There was only one modest bed in the corner, along with a simple table, chair, carpet, and two doors. One door was open, displaying a washroom. The other seemed to be locked. It dawned on Azutan that this wasn’t a servant’s room—it used to be a storage room that had recently been refurbished in order to house the witness.

The serving girl herself was sitting on the edge of her bed and had been looking anxiously at the door when it opened. As soon as she recognized Azutan, she stumbled into a low bow. “Y-your Highness.”

Azutan gave a shallow nod and sat down in the only chair. She observed the trembling servant girl for a moment before sighing. “Emissaly, I remember the day Sin and I brought you into the palace. It was a bitter winter evening and you were with your three friends, who had lost their parents in the same accident. I believe you were only thirteen at the time.”

Emissaly gaped, evidently not expecting Azutan to recognize her. “Yes, I was.”

“I don’t want to do this any more than you do, so let’s just get this over with quickly. Were you with my brother Vince when the king was found dead?”

“Y-yes.”

“Could you describe exactly what happened?”

“I…His Highness—I mean…He suddenly burst out of the king’s room, calling for the nurses and physicians to come. By the time everyone started saying the king was dead, I was already running from the palace.” The girl gulped. “Please, Your Highness, I didn’t realize I would look suspicious! I was just scared that he would pin the blame on me! It wasn’t me—I had nothing to do with this!”

Azutan nodded, her expression betraying nothing. “What happened when you were in the room?”

“I-I walked in and began pouring medicine for the king, but Prince Vince stopped me. Then I just left.”

Azutan took out the glass bottle from her dress. “Was the medicine contained in this?”

Recognition dawned on the Emissaly’s face, along with a faint trace of fear. “Yes…”

“Before you left, was Vince doing anything?”

“He was by the king’s bedside and was about to serve him medi—tea,” Emissaly stuttered.

Azutan paused, trying to imagine the scene. A helpless king, a desperate prince, and a maid who feared for the health of her king but was unable to do anything about it…

“Answer truthfully,” Azutan spoke quietly. “Did you pour a little bit of what was in this bottle in the king’s tea?”

Emissaly’s bottom lip quivered. “Y-yes.”

“That would explain a lot. Thank you.” Azutan turned to leave.

“Wait!” Emissaly’s eyes widened in panic. She seemed to want to make a desperate grab for Azutan’s sleeve but wisely thought better of it. “Y-your Highness, I swear it wasn’t me!”

“I know,” Azutan said sincerely.

“If it was the medicine that poisoned the king, I didn’t pour it out with bad intentions!” the girl continued in a rush, her words drowning out Azutan’s. “The prince was the one who brought the bottle. He was using it to frame me! Please believe me—”

“Tomorrow morning,” Azutan interrupted, “you are free to leave the palace. I will have someone deliver a sufficient amount of irons for you to live out the rest of your life comfortably. Do not think I am dismissing you because of the potential chaos your admission could bring to this palace. I care even less that you have used false claims to incriminate my brother—I understand why you did it. I am very grateful for your service and loyalty to the late king. But you have lied twice to me and my friends Saleisha and Rathaline, and that I will not forgive.”

“No, wait!”

Azutan shut the door, letting the girl’s nails scrape against the unrelenting wood. Outside, Saleisha and Rathaline looked at her expectantly.

“You’re still not allowed to make this news public,” Azutan warned, for she knew that they had been eavesdropping. Sure enough, they nodded without hesitation.

Nevertheless, Saleisha gave a dissatisfied huff. She checked to see if the hallway was empty before peering into Azutan’s eyes. “Still, this is unexpected, to say the least. I didn’t think we would follow you for nearly two years just for you to defend Vince in the very end.”

Azutan frowned, immediately incensed but for no good reason that she could identify. “I’m not defending him. He will pay the consequences, but his crimes do not include regicide.”

Perhaps she felt that she could finally spare her brother some grace now that she had already won. Perhaps she was beginning to understand why Sin had always been so careful in separating truth from bias when it came to Vince. She had just gotten a taste of what it was like to face an entire kingdom’s unfounded animosity. She could not help but wonder: if their father had not held the selection year so early, had given Vince a chance to prove himself, would Vince have ended up exactly like their father’s predictions?

Rathaline sighed, but unlike Saleisha, she didn’t oppose Azutan. “You’ll need to persuade the rest of the kingdom if you feel so strongly about this. Remember that there are already rumors going around, people all have the gist of the story. Even if Vince wasn’t directly responsible for poisoning the king, he clearly used the valeria syrup in an act to seize power. We can help stifle the rumors for you, but you need Vince to explain all of his actions as further evidence of his innocence.”

Somewhere along the way of their two-year journey together, the three of them had become as close as sisters—perhaps in the future they would be even closer than that. Her days of thinking Sin would be the only one by her side were in the past.

She made a decision. “Vince. Take me to him.”

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The meager candlelight flickered as Azutan strode past each wall sconce. The air here was stale as if affected by the atmosphere of despair. Those held prisoner in the palace dungeons had long given up on the idea of seeing sunlight until the guards carried their skeletons out of their cells. Here, she was surrounded by traitors, murderers, and those too dangerous to be locked up anywhere else. Although the dungeon was packed, it was only a recent addition to the palace. Before King Tyrannus’ rule, everyone here would have been executed without trial.

It was hard not to think about how close Azutan had been to being thrown in here herself.

Vince’s cell was neither the largest at the end of the corridor nor the smallest and most filthy. It was just a normal cell, as if the kingdom of Ares had already forgotten the person who was being held inside.

Azutan slowly unlocked the door with her silver key and stepped inside. There was no light in the cell, but she could make out her brother’s outline and the glint of his yellow eyes. He was sitting on the edge of his cot, leaning forward, hands clasped together, as if he had been waiting for her.

They studied each other in the silence, one of them wearing plain, unflattering cotton, the other dressed as a queen. For the first time in almost ten years, it was just the two of them. No Sin, no Saleisha, no Rathaline, no Mrina, no king, and no queen.

Azutan was the first to speak. “Mrina doesn’t want to speak to you, but I might be able to persuade her into listening to your testimony. If you’re willing.”

“What testimony?” Vince asked quietly.

Azutan tilted her head and felt the sudden urge to sigh. “Your account of how you unintentionally poisoned our father to death while you were feeding him the sleep syrup that has made him sick and weak for more than four months.”

“It was unintentional.” Vince’s voice was barely a whisper. “But it was my fault.”

Azutan had always been favored by their father, while their mother preferred Vince. All her life, she had split her family into two sides: her, King Tyrannus, Sin, and the military on one, and Vince, Queen Lydia, and the Court on the other. She had thought that Vince would resent their father forever for choosing her as the heir instead. But perhaps that wasn’t the case at all. Perhaps Vince, like her, only wanted their father’s approval.

“Good of you to realize that.” Azutan’s words, sincere as they were in her head, turned sour with sarcasm in her brother’s presence.

“Do you hate me?”

Azutan regarded the only family she had left. “Let me ask you something. What were you planning on doing with our father after you poisoned him? After you ascended the throne?”

“I wasn’t going to kill him!” Vince paled at the thought. “I just…”

“Did you ever consider what the drug would do over time to an old man’s body?” Azutan pressed on.

Vince didn’t meet her eyes. “I was going to cure him afterward.”

“Cure? How can you be sure that there even is a cure?” For the first time that day, Azutan could not keep the chill out of her gaze. “I’m disappointed in you.”

In one fluid movement, Azutan opened the cell door wide, letting the weak candlelight illuminate Vince’s fearful face. “W-what are you going to do?”

Azutan did not reply. “Come with me.”

It had been ten years since the last time Azutan navigated the secret passageways of the palace, ten years since her days of sneaking about with Vince. And yet she still knew every nook and cranny like they had never stopped. They easily slipped past the dungeon guards and up a flight of stairs so filled with dust and cobwebs that Azutan was sure even the palace maids had forgotten about it.

Up and up they went, encountering no one. Vince was silent, lagging a few steps behind her, but she did not slow.

“Do you still remember the day Father judged us for his next heir?” Azutan asked lightly. As expected, Vince tensed immediately. It was a day he would never be able to forget. “After he announced the results that evening to the entire kingdom, we must’ve spent the entire night reliving everything we had done that year.”

And the next morning, they stopped speaking to each other.

“I spent all my time in the military with Sin. I don’t think I even came home for my own birthday. Do you remember? Meanwhile, you were by Father’s side in the Court day in and day out. It seemed like there would be no contest. Even now, I wonder what he was thinking.”

“I used to think Sin played a major hand,” Vince muttered with a slight scowl. “Or maybe Father thought the older child should rule, just like in ancient times.”

Azutan didn’t show her internal delight at getting Vince to answer. “And what do you think now?”

“I may have…expressed some ideas in Court that Father didn’t like,” Vince reluctantly admitted. “Something about using the coastal villages.”

“Exploiting them, you mean.” Azutan was not surprised. “That was probably not your best idea.”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who spent two years making a mess of the Seven Kingdoms,” Vince shot back. “Why Father decided to give you a second chance, I’ll never know.”

“Were you hoping he would just hand the throne to you as soon as I returned?” asked Azutan. “He gave you a second chance when he ordered you to help me. But I think you failed him much more spectacularly than I did.”

Vince snapped his mouth shut. Then he finally noticed the door they had stopped in front of. “Why are we here?”

Azutan pushed open the doors of their Father’s old bedroom. The tea set that had been used to poison the king was still sitting on the desk, and Vince recoiled at the sight of it, something she was relieved to note.

She scanned the room and couldn’t help but smile. Just as she thought, there were a number of things missing that were there when she left the room half an hour ago. The small portrait of her parents that had been lying face-down on the nightstand. The pouch carrying her father’s rings beside it. The cabinet door hung slightly open as if someone had gone through its contents hurriedly and could not close it in time. If she hadn’t specifically laid out her late father’s possessions for that certain someone, she wouldn’t have even noticed their disappearance.

Vince’s eyes wandered, catching very different things than hers were. “You haven’t really…refurnished.”

“What would I move in?” Azutan threw open the balcony doors and inhaled deeply. “I spent most of my life in the military and the last four years in the other kingdoms. I don’t think I own anything other than my uniform.”

Vince joined her on the balcony, standing a few feet away in uncertainty. Azutan let the silence drag for a while as she surveyed the garden below them. She was surprised at how comfortable she was growing. Talking with her brother felt almost as natural as it did ten years ago. She could pretend they were once again the royal rascals of the palace, during the times when she thought they would be a team forever. Only Azutan didn’t intend on pretending for long.

She had been furious when Sin and Saleisha told her of their suspicions of Vince’s involvement with her father’s death. The first thing she wanted to do was march across the Seven Kingdoms and avenge her father. She wanted to round up Vulcan’s army, even if they were only soldiers in name and not practice, and besiege her own kingdom. Then Azutan would show Vince what would happen if he took things too far.

Instead, she was nearly completely silent for an entire week. Thinking she was grieving for her father, her friends quietly took care of the negotiations with Ginzen. She was thankful for their help but couldn’t quite bring herself to explain that the reason for her silence was her guilty reluctance to believe her brother had murdered their father.

It would have been so easy to incriminate Vince. Rathaline was right—an ambitious ruler with no qualms about forcibly ending the reign of his father was even more unacceptable than one who would bribe and throw the rest of the Seven Kingdoms into jeopardy. Azutan hadn’t made her decision until the day of the funeral, the moment she saw Vince’s face.

“The Hadish are anxiously awaiting news from us before deciding on negotiations for future peace,” Azutan remembered, lightly tapping her fingers on the railing. If Vince questioned her abrupt change in topic, he didn’t voice it. “So are the Herans, Veni—actually, everyone.

“Except Vulcan, of course. I already told Ginzen I intend on shifting Ares’ focus from war to mining. We do have a lot of coal and ore here. We just never used it on anything other than weapons. We’ll start trade with Vulcan once—”

“You’re what?” Vince sputtered. “You’re abandoning the military? The Court will never accept this!”

“They will, eventually,” Azutan disagreed. “What’s the point of being known as the kingdom of war? Who are we going to fight? Would we conquer the Seven Kingdoms? Or maybe the land of another continent? I would much rather maintain the peaceful kingdom we have now. And if the Court wants stable power and wealth, they’ll realize that it’s not a bad idea.”

“This will take a lot of time,” said Vince, unconvinced. “You’ll need to work closely with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms in order for us to sustain ourselves almost entirely on our mines and industry. You’re giving up a lot of the kingdom’s power. Areans won’t be happy with this, and everyone else will take advantage.”

“I know.” A hint of a smile tugged at Azutan’s lips. “Isn’t it great that we have a Court member who has already been to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, who also happens to know my intentions the best?”

Vince frowned. “Sin? You gave him a seat in the Court?”

“No,” Azutan corrected. “You.”

Vince stared at her and took a hesitant step back. “Me?”

“You,” she confirmed. “Aren’t you always looking for a chance to prove yourself? Here it is, delivered on a silver platter. You’ll set off in a week—during this time, you can choose one or two companions to travel with you. If you’re hoping for Mrina to come with you, you’ll need to spend a lot of time talking to her. If she agrees to see you, of course—personally, I would not bet on it.”

“You can’t do that,” Vince said, his face pale. “No one in the Seven Kingdoms would accept me as an ambassador. You’re making me take your scouts along to supervise me, aren’t you? They will never listen to what I say”

Azutan smiled, her gaze fixating on a faint shadow in the garden before finding the figure that it belonged to. At last. “Then maybe it’s time to listen to what others have to say. It will not be easy to earn their trust, and it was not easy for me. But if we both chose what was easy in our lives, we would not be here right now. Prove that I’m right in believing in you. Work hard, Vince.”

“How would I—” He broke off suddenly, leaning over the railing next to her to get a closer look at the garden’s unexpected trespasser. “Is that…?”

The former Queen Lydia somehow sensed their attention and peered up at the balcony. Even from a distance away, Azutan could make out her unmistakable scowl. She was dressed in plain clothing and her face was obscured by a thin shawl. A cloth sack nestled between her shoulders, likely filled with her late husband’s most precious possessions. Azutan gave a little wave before former Queen Lydia turned away.

“What is Mother doing here?” asked Vince, astonished.

“Leaving.” Azutan dropped her hand as Lydia disappeared from her sight. She knew that she could have easily become her mother. The palace could have become a burden. If Vince had become the next king of Ares, she would not need to be involved in the kingdom’s affairs. Perhaps in another life, Azutan would have followed in her mother’s footsteps and heeded Saleisha and Rathaline’s suggestion in escaping from the Seven Kingdoms altogether. But not in this one.

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“…in this ancient chamber of Arean monarchs, we do observe…the crowning of our queen, fifteenth of her lineage, first of her name. Rise, Queen Azutan Arestern.”

Azutan lifted her chin and stood, meeting the smattering of applause with a barely restrained smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sin sitting in the front-most row, beaming with fatherly pride and clapping louder than the rest; Saleisha, who had already broken into the wine stores somehow, drunkenly lifting one of Azutan’s kittens for a better view; Rathaline mouthing something unintelligible, looking genuinely happy for the first time in Azutan’s memory; Talis donning a formal redesign of his usual pine green uniform, his arms around his fellow scouts. Azutan had invited Vince, had even offered to disguise him as a minor noble to attend the private ceremony, but he did not come. As she descended the stairs to receive the congratulations of her guests, Azutan found that she did not mind so much.

Immediately, Saleisha’s arms were around her, with Rathaline not far behind, though her embrace was a bit more reserved. The two of them caused a curious heat to climb up Azutan’s neck and cheeks. Sin was standing a distance away, next to a young woman Azutan did not recognize but could guess the identity of. She caught Sin’s eye and the question within it. She nodded—they would speak with her at a later time.

“Azutan Arestern.” Queen Lasara approached with a crooked smile. “Or should I say…Your Majesty?”

“Please don’t.” Azutan hesitated. How was she supposed to greet another monarch? A foreign ruler attending an Arean coronation ceremony was unprecedented. She could not bow anymore, and a handshake was not really her style.

Fortunately, Lasara absolved her worries by squeezing her shoulder as if they were old friends and leaned in close. “I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish, young queen. Do remember your promise.” With that, she was gone.

The next to approach was Mrina. Beside Azutan, Rathaline who was more capable of holding a grudge tensed while Saleisha gave a tipsy little wave.

“Your Majesty.” Mrina gave a low bow. There was no discouraging her from it, no matter how hard Azutan tried. But at least some things have changed.

“Mrina. Have you come to give a response to my offer?”

“Yes.” Mrina folded her hands in front of her, her back as straight as a brush. “I do accept your proposition. I will travel with your brother on a journey throughout the Seven Kingdoms, acting not as a subordinate but as a supervisor. I will make sure he completes his assignment. My role will be fulfilled once we reach Hera and after I take charge of the situation there. However, there are two more requests I must make.”

Azutan nodded. “Speak.”

“I ask for the power to elect and replace Councilors. Vince’s chosen leaders cannot be allowed to rule. If I do not find anyone more suitable than myself to oversee the Council, I ask that I be the lead Councilor.”

“Hera is your home,” said Azutan automatically. “It is your decision. What is your second request?”

Mrina paused momentarily, evidently not expecting ready agreement from Azutan. “I also ask for command of your scouts. In order to carry out this mission successfully, I will need loyal soldiers capable of working under my orders. I believe your scouts are the best choice.”

Azutan glanced over at where her scouts and soldiers sat, immersed in animated conversation. They had warmed up to each other and herself a long time ago, but she was reluctant to jeopardize that relationship by sending them all on a mission for another few years. “That is one promise I cannot make. My lead scout Talis has already requested to oversee matters for me here in the capital. The rest of my soldiers are fully expecting to take a well-deserved break here in Ares with their families. I cannot guarantee how many of them will be willing to accompany you, but I will make an announcement of your request.”

“That would be most helpful.”

The rest of the ceremony passed in a blur. She spoke with the leaders and ambassadors of each kingdom, danced with her closest friends, and fell content amidst the serene choir and chatter of the guests. Two years ago, she had knelt in this throne room to receive her father’s displeased verdict. Now she was here again, a new queen with little to guide her but her own past successes and failures. But she would not make the same mistakes again.

As the sun began to set, Saleisha and Rathaline joined her once again. Looking at both of their expressions, Azutan knew that they had news for her.

Saleisha spoke first: “I know this is a bit sudden but—”

“You want to join Vince and Mrina tonight,” Azutan finished for her. They nodded in unison.

“It’s been a while since I left Hades,” Saleisha reflected. “At the time, I thought the kids would be fine, but now I think it’s better if I check on them occasionally.”

“And I still need to help my family move to Ares,” Rathaline added. Her parents had not joined them in their march to Ares in the fear that an affiliation with the army would land them in trouble should Vince retaliate. “So we thought, why not use this chance to make sure your awful little brother doesn’t pull anything?”

Azutan opened her mouth but no words came out. She was not an obnoxious princess anymore, yet she so badly wished she could tell her friends to stay.

“Oh, she’s tearing up,” Saleisha observed. “Quick, what do we do? Azutan, Azutan, you know we’ll be back soon, right? It’s only goodbye for a couple of months. Come on, stop crying.”

“I’m not!” she snapped, but pulled them into a fierce hug.

Rathaline patted her much shorter head with ease. “My whole family will be living in Ares in the future. You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

“And while I don’t want to settle in any one kingdom for too long”—Saleisha squeezed her back—“I’ll always come visit you. Home is wherever you are.”

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The night was silent and full, as if all that transpired in it was more than enough to eclipse all else in Ares. Dressed in a simple nightgown and wearing the locket Vince gave her, Azutan had her bare elbows propped on the palace balcony as though she were in a commoner’s house and not standing on the platform that every generation of rulers of Ares had stood upon while addressing their kingdom. Below her on the stairs that had held her father’s funeral procession only a week ago, a small band of people dressed in reds and blacks was walking away, their backs facing her.

They moved swiftly, alerting no one. Ares would know of their departure the next morning, but by then they would have already met up with Azutan’s scouts, taken horses, and ridden off to the south.

“Good evening, my queen.”

“Good evening, Sin.” Azutan tilted her head as Sin joined her on the balcony. “Handing in your resignation already?”

There was no need for pleasantries between them. Sin smiled as he slid the document her way. She folded it into her pocket without a single look or doubt.

“Your Majesty, there is someone I would like you to meet.” Sin motioned to the figure hovering hesitantly at the edge of the balcony. Azutan watched as the young woman stepped out from behind the heavy, velvet curtains. Azutan took one look at her gray eyes and diamond-shaped face and immediately recognized her as Sin’s daughter from the coronation ceremony.

“Are we allowed to tour the palace at this hour?” Myla asked uncertainly. Azutan watched as a small smile spread over Sin’s face, slow and contagious.

“You’re allowed to do anything here, Myla,” said Azutan.

Embarrassed, Myla ducked behind the curtain again to examine the Courtroom within. The Letyres were staying in a luxurious suite in the main palace with Sin having his own separate set of rooms on the same floor. So far Myla was the only one in the family willing to accompany Sin throughout the day, but Sin was hard at work at mending all his relationships. Leaving the military would undoubtedly help.

“I never thought I would end up ruling the kingdom this way,” Azutan mused.

“How did you think you would end up?” asked Sin.

“Every day I thought Father would realize his mistake and crown Vince instead.” Azutan set her chin on her crossed arms. “Or I would imagine a belated coronation. Afterward, I would have to grapple with Vince throughout my entire reign. But right now…I think everything ended up so much better than I ever would have dreamed.”

Azutan felt the comforting weight of a hand rest on her shoulder. “Azutan, your father would be very proud of you.”

She gazed ahead at the shadows moving down the stairs. She could see the glint of Saleisha’s hair in the moonlight, Rathaline’s prominent height, and Mrina’s dark cloak, its bearer standing a little farther from the rest of the group.

As if aware of Azutan watching them, the figure at the center of the small procession raised his left arm and gave a little wave.