Broken Veil (Harbinger #5)(16)

His manners had always made her laugh. “Why have you never married, Durrant?”

“I am nearing sixty, Your Majesty. Ugly and balding, too, and I have yet to find a woman who’s willing to put up with my recalcitrant ways. No, I’m not a fit husband for anyone, I think. But I am fit to be your prime minister. If you’ll still have me.”

“I depend on you,” Sera said, and meant it. They’d been through the forge together. Through trials and missed chances. He’d worked tirelessly on her behalf in waging an all-out war against the traitor Montpensier, who’d usurped power from her husband’s family. She glanced down at the ring on her finger, which brought a stab of melancholy. Trevon was alive, or so she’d heard, but no doubt he was locked away in a dungeon somewhere. How that must smart for a man who so loved to travel, to see every part of his world.

Forcing the dark thoughts away, she looked at Durrant once more. “I’m grateful we finally caught the spy Montpensier sent. Who would have thought? Admiral Hatch’s wife has been a hetaera all along.”

Durrant nodded. “She won’t reveal where the poisoner school is located.”

Sera sighed. “At least we’ve learned it’s not in Pisan, but it could truly be anywhere in their kingdom. This war might carry on for years before we locate it. If only we could find the Cruciger orb.”

“Probably the very reason it was stolen,” chuckled Durrant. “Get some rest. You look weary, and tomorrow will be an especially trying day.”

“Why do you say that? Is there news you haven’t told me?” The weight on her shoulders bore down even more.

“Yes.” He paused a moment, his eyes twinkling. “Your mother wants to see you.”





CHAPTER SIX

PRINCE KASDAN



With so many matters of intense importance to address, Sera didn’t see how a meeting with her mother could possibly rank. Her mother always seemed to want something—to be added to the privy council, to have her stipend increased, or to complain about some wrong done to her by a petty aristocrat. It exasperated Sera to no end, but Durrant reminded her it had been a long time since she had last spoken to her mother. He was right, which was how she found herself agreeing to dine with her mother the following night.

Durrant nodded his approval and promised to see to the arrangements.

Thoughts about the impending meal were quickly driven from Sera’s mind the next morning as she began the daily onslaught of meetings and obligations. Though she was always quick to make her wishes known, she allowed the officials she’d chosen a good deal of autonomy in how they fulfilled them. Things happened too quickly in war, and she didn’t want Admiral Grant, the new lord high admiral, to feel he had to wait for orders if a situation called for an immediate reaction.

So many times it felt that victory was at her fingertips, only for a fluctuation of the weather or the ineptitude of a less seasoned officer to get in the way. Though the rift she’d created between the two worlds had given her a decided advantage—they could use it to fly into Kingfountain, but their enemy was forced to rely on the dwindling number of mirror gates—Montpensier’s underwater ships continued to elude her fleet. Sera lived in a constant state of anxiety from one day to the next. Casualties continued to escalate, and she suspected she lost a soldier for every one or two who were killed on the other side. It was a grisly arithmetic.

But she had known this would happen. The Mysteries had warned her a blight of war would come to punish both worlds. She could not stop it. Even if she pulled her forces out of Kingfountain, Montpensier would continue to attack. The remaining mirror gates could be destroyed, certainly, but then their access to other worlds would be curtailed. For good. She did not wish to be the leader who isolated their world forever.

No, the war must continue until Montpensier was defeated. He was a cunning foe, a relentless force to be reckoned with. She could remember sitting across the table from him during dinners at the palace of Kingfountain, trading barbs and deflecting his insults. If she’d known then the impact the man would have on her life . . . she’d have lunged across the table with a knife and stabbed him in the heart. Maybe not, but it was a fancy she sometimes permitted herself.

After the privy council meeting, where the news about Welles was greeted with surprise, Sera went to her secret sanctuary inside the palace of Lockhaven. From this control room, she could access every Leering in the City, even though Lockhaven itself was now leagues away. The guards greeted her, and after exchanging pleasantries with them, something she made a point of doing because her father had not, she sequestered herself in the inner sanctum. She was to hold a conference with Prince Kasdan, her husband’s younger brother, via Leering. Kasdan was married to the daughter of the Duke of Brythonica, their chief ally in the war.

Sera loved the inner sanctum, the only place in the empire where she could be at peace, where no one would interrupt. Sera arranged herself on the couch beside the Command Leering and placed her palm on the cool stone.

The magic soaked into her, and she could sense Lockhaven’s position hovering over the sea near the ruins of the mirror gate that had once stood there. Ships of all sizes and makes filled the air around them, ferrying items and soldiers through the enormous rift in the sky. The constant flood of supplies, fresh soldiers as well as recovering ones, and war material never stopped. It was impossible to quantify the effort that went into sustaining the war. Merchants on both sides had been enriched beyond belief. Others had been ruined.