“I do not run, my lady.”
Maud arched her eyebrow. If I didn’t know, I would’ve sworn she was a vampire. “I have run, my lord. And I would do it again, if the circumstances called for it. Honor can’t keep my daughter alive, but I can.”
“There is a difference between blindly fleeing for your life and a strategic retreat because the battle is lost,” Arland said, spraying pearlescent solution onto his armor.
“Sometimes it is very difficult to tell the difference between the two.” Maud tapped the kit. It unfurled like a flower. She selected a narrow tool with her long elegant fingers and concentrated on some imperceptible flaw on the right shoulder.
Arland’s eyes narrowed. “Although if I wore your armor, I would run, my lady. Is that a manual terminal on your vambrace?”
Maud grimaced.
“Was your crest damaged?”
“It was ripped off my armor when House Ervan exiled me and my husband, my lord. You’ve read the file.”
“You seem very sure of that, my lady.”
She shot him a quick glance. “A knight conditioned to handle the rigors of war, such as yourself, would make sure he knew exactly who he allowed on board his destroyer.”
Arland opened his bag, took out a black box, and set it by his armor. Square, six inches by six, the box was completely solid. No seam, no line marking the place where the lid fit. Just a solid box that seemed to absorb the light.
Maud’s eyes widened. Arland went back to working on his armor. Maud did as well. Some sort of strange vampire communication was taking place here.
“To exile a child is unprecedented,” Arland said.
“It is,” Maud agreed, making valiant efforts to ignore the box.
“What led to that decision?”
My sister smiled. “Perhaps, one day I will tell you, Lord Marshal.”
“Regardless of the reasons, you’ve been wronged. The child has been wronged. The Holy Anocracy doesn’t have so many children that it can throw them away. Especially one as gifted as Helen.”
“You’re too kind.”
“Perhaps you would allow me to ask for a small kindness in return,” Arland said. “Allow me to correct a small part of the injustice.”
He pushed the box toward her and proceeded to ignore it.
This was better than a soap opera.
Maud touched the top of the box. The lid slid apart section by section. She dipped her fingers into it and withdrew a crest. Unlike Arland’s crest, which showed a stylized snarling krahr in red on black, this crest was solid black and blank. A no-House crest. I’d seen them before. Vampires who’d left their House wore them. They functioned just like the regular House crests: they controlled the armor, sent out signals that communicated with ships and defensive networks, and stored information.
Maud pondered it as if it were a diamond.
“Thank you.”
Arland inclined his head and went back to his armor.
The inn’s magic chimed in my head. The Draziri were on the move.
I rose. “We have visitors.”
*
It started as a single ping, an intruder brushing against the boundary. It touched the boundary and burst into half-a-dozen intruders moving fast. The Draziri weren’t playing. Good, because I wasn’t either.
I crossed the threshold into the war room and stepped onto the wood. Wing was in his room and Helen in hers. Maud must’ve taken her upstairs. Perfect. A deep chime sounded through Gertrude Hunt, a clear high sound impossible to ignore. External shutters and walls clanged, locking down. My voice carried through the inn, echoing through every room.
“Gertrude Hunt is under attack. We are under lockdown until further notice. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
Thin flexible shoots spiraled from the edges of the wooden limb on which I stood, forming a two-foot-tall lattice. I held out my broom. It split into a thousand glowing blue threads that streaked into my robe, adhering to my skin and to the lattice of the inn. It would make Gertrude Hunt and I faster.
The walls around me faded, presenting a 360-degree view of the inn grounds. In the distance, from the north, six orange-sized spheres floated about two feet off the ground, slowly making their way into my territory. A quick scan told me they were rigged to explode.
Magic shifted within me, announcing another intrusion. Ha! He thought I wouldn’t notice. Dear Draziri Commander had a lot to learn about the capabilities of innkeepers.
Caldenia walked through the door, carrying a glass of wine. I smiled at her and let her usual chair rise from the floor. She sat and grinned back at me, flashing her inhumanly sharp teeth.
My sister and Arland reached the doorway at the same time. They would’ve collided, but years of politeness ingrained in Arland took over and he smoothly halted, letting Maud burst into the room. My sister carried her sword. The Marshal of House Krahr was wearing armor.
Maud looked at Caldenia. “Your Grace? Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in your rooms?”