“Are you kidding me?” Fox was disbelieving. “He intends to push through with the wedding?!”
“He believes the Odalian army is here in protest of his engagement to Inessa,” Shadi said. “And by making their wedding official, there will no longer be grounds for Kance’s betrothal taking precedence. Let’s not dissuade him of that belief just yet.”
“This is insane,” my brother growled.
“Insanity or not, we are trapped,” Zoya muttered darkly. “An army outside and traitors within. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.” She frowned. “Still…I am certain we are overlooking something important.” She raised a hand. “Let me think. I’ll figure it out. I always do.”
Beside her, Shadi sighed.
? ? ?
“Baoyi can accuse Tansoong in public of his crimes,” Kalen said, “but we don’t have any evidence that can hold up to their judgment. There’s still Baoyi’s testimony, but his and Tansoong’s families have been rivals for generations. It would be easy to dismiss this as another play for power on Baoyi’s part.”
We were on top of the battlements, where we could see the docked ships and the Odalian army amassing. Kalen estimated that it would take another couple of hours for them to arrive at the gates, so Emperor Shifang had announced that the wedding would take place in half the time. I had to admire the emperor’s arrogance; he was so used to being the center of which all Daanoris revolved that he assumed Odalia would follow suit.
“I hate this,” I groaned. “We’ve got the Odalian army chasing after us again, we can’t muster any proof against Tansoong, and we still haven’t found the forger!”
Kalen placed an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. “Just another day in the life of an asha.”
“And of a Deathseeker.” I snuggled closer to him. “I love you.”
“Tea, you don’t need to say that just because I—”
I smacked him lightly on the side. “Shut up and let me finish.”
He laughed. “Go on.”
“I didn’t realize it until the day we left Odalia, when I compelled you. I didn’t know why your anger bothered me so much. I was terrified you would never forgive me, and it took me a lot longer to ferret out the real reason why.”
“I was angry,” he admitted. “But I was also angry at myself. I knew I had a duty to stay and protect Kance, even though I’d done a horrible mess of it at that point, but I also didn’t want to let you out of my sight.”
I remembered something else and started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“You. When Daisy made a pass at you back in Odalia and I intervened. I had no idea why you were acting so strangely.”
“I was stunned.”
“I thought I was doing you a good turn. But when you kissed me on the cheek…maybe I was a little jealous you weren’t being as rude to her as you usually are to me.”
“I didn’t want to be the only one out of sorts.” He kissed me now. “We’re supposed to be on watch,” he said brusquely but didn’t move away. “Are you sure Inessa intends to go through with this wedding?”
“I think she has something up her sleeve. Zoya too. She went down to the city again this morning.”
“Zoya with a plan makes me nervous. What is she up to?”
“I don’t know. She asked me if I’d told anyone beyond our group about any specifics of the sleeping sickness. I’m pretty sure no one did.”
“Odd. She asked me the same question.” He looked back at the army. “They know we have the azi on our side, that the army has no chance. Why come all the way here?”
I had no answer to that either.
? ? ?
It was a solemn affair, and no one but the emperor looked happy. Baoyi and Tansoong stood on either side of the aisle and traded dirty looks when they thought he wasn’t looking. Zoya and even Shadi seemed unnaturally nervous. Likh was staring at the ceiling, his mouth moving soundlessly as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Kalen glanced occasionally at me and then out the window. Fox’s placid exterior bespoke an inner turmoil: disbelief that the marriage was taking place, worry about the growing army outside, and anger that he was doing nothing to stop either.
We can call this off, you know, I told him.
I promised her, came the grim response. I told her I’d trust her, and I will.
Daanorian wedding ceremonies were not a lengthy affair. All that was needed to cement the marriage was for the emperor to take his intended bride by the hand and declare to all those watching that she was officially his wife. And as Inessa walked serenely down the aisle, courtiers strewing roses in the path before her, she never once wavered. As she passed us, I saw her eyes stray toward Fox, and her heartsglass bloomed a rosy-red glow before she deliberately turned away.
We watched as Emperor Shifang took her hand, turned toward us, and in a remarkably brief speech, no doubt ushered along by the situation outside, officially proclaimed her his wife. On cue, the court fell to their knees, and at Zoya’s quick gesture, we followed suit. Fox was seething with grief and rage entwined.
Cries rose up from outside. The army had reached the gates. Battle was about to begin.
Emperor Shifang gave a curt order. “Send word that the Princess of Kion is now the Empress of Daanoris,” Shadi translated for us. “Prepare the troops. As soon as I give the word, we shall attack.”
Zoya stepped forward, speaking in Daanorian. “A moment, Your Majesty.”
A few courtiers gasped, and the emperor scowled. He turned to ignore her, but Inessa shook her hand free from her husband’s and stepped back.
“What is the meaning of this insolence?” Tansoong demanded.
“We have reason to believe that there is a traitor in our midst and that it is one of your own advisers, Emperor Shifang. This traitor bespelled your army and summoned the savul.”
“And who might that be?” demanded the emperor.
Zoya raised her hand. It swept past Tansoong and pointed unerringly at Baoyi. “Him.”
I was astonished. From Kalen’s and Fox’s expression, I wasn’t the only one.
“Lady Zoya?” Baoyi looked as stunned as I was. “I beg your pardon?”
“You poisoned Princess Yansheo under the guise of an Odalian duke. For your help, Usij promised you lordship over Santiang and most of Daanoris. It was you who secreted those seeking stones within the emperor’s army in the hopes it would distract our Dark asha long enough for her to be killed by the savul. You have betrayed Emperor Shifang and you have allied yourself with the Faceless.”
The man lifted his hands. “Emperor Shifang,” he beseeched. “I have served you faithfully for years. I am innocent of these accusations. Surely you do not believe these lies?”
“Let us not get ahead of ourselves, Baoyi.” I didn’t like Tansoong, but he was a master politician, quick to take advantage when the tide turned in his favor. The advisor said, “I have been keeping a close eye on you for many months, and I have many reasons to suspect that what they say could be true.”
“Is he in on the plan?” I heard Shadi whisper to Zoya.
“Of course not. He’s talking out of his ass, but at least the emperor’s paying attention.”
“They’re going to hear you,” Khalad mumbled.
“It’s not like most of them understand me. And at this point, it’s too late to be offended.”
“My suspicions began when you arrived from Tresea last year with several pieces of what you claimed were jade stones,” Tansoong continued.
“I have always been a collector, Tansoong.”
“Collector my foot. I know what jade looks like, and those certainly weren’t precious gems. After Yansheo fell sick, I pored through many magical tomes from Kion, trying to find an antidote even if it went beyond our own laws. In my desperation to see the princess well again, I came upon many magical treatises written by asha. What you call jade looked like what the asha call ‘seeking stones.’”