Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(123)

S?ren shakes his head. “It’s a yellow one, for a parlay. The Kaiser wants to speak to the head of our army. He wants to speak with you.”





S?REN WILL COME WITH ME to meet with the Kaiser, though neither of us says as much out loud. It is simply understood. S?ren says the meeting will take place in closed quarters—the mine commandant’s barracks, more than likely—with a single guard from each of our armies posted outside. While we are meeting, there will be no blood shed by either party.

Even knowing what to expect, though, I can’t shake the bone-deep fear of what it will mean to be in the same room as the Kaiser again—to be in his presence, to hear his voice, to have him look at me.

I don’t know if I can do it.

I have to do it.

Artemisia will be our guard. It’s possible the Kalovaxian guard will underestimate her—I hope he does.

“Do you have your dagger?” S?ren asks me, his voice low. We walk together across the bloodied battlefield, surrounded by a cluster of guards in case any Kalovaxians attack us en route. The soldiers are separated on either side of us. They aren’t fighting anymore because of the cease-fire, but they are far from peaceful. Taut as bowstrings, they watch us pass, eyes hateful or hopeful or empty.

I nod, feeling the place where the knife is sheathed at my hip, beneath my dress.

“They won’t let me take it in,” I realize, the thought of being defenseless in the presence of the Kaiser making it difficult to breathe.

“Not technically,” S?ren says. “But they won’t expect you to be armed—they’ll only check me. Hold on to it, but don’t use it unless you need to. If you attack him unprovoked, your life is forfeit.”

I nod, swallowing down my fear.

Artemisia looks at me with a level gaze. “It’s time,” she says. “Are you ready?”

“No,” I say honestly. “But let’s go.”



* * *



—

As soon as we walk into the commandant’s barracks, the Kaiser’s presence suffocates me. His cold blue eyes settle on me, making my skin crawl beneath his gaze. It’s so disconcerting that it takes me a moment to realize that he isn’t alone. Sitting at his side with her hand swallowed by his is Crescentia, just as I saw her last, with her ashen skin and brittle white hair. A Fire Gem choker rings her charred neck, but it doesn’t hide her disfigurement, it only accentuates it. A black gold crown of ruby flames rests on top of her head.

My mother’s crown, I realize with a jolt. The sight of it is enough to make the tips of my fingers burn, and I clench them into fists at my sides to smother them.

I stop short when Cress’s eyes find mine, but S?ren’s hand at my back gently urges me to keep moving, to not let them see me falter.

I sit down gingerly in the chair across from them, and S?ren takes the seat next to me.

A silence stretches between all of us for a few moments. The first to speak, it seems, will be the first to lose something.

Finally, S?ren clears his throat and addresses the Kaiser. “I hear congratulations are in order, Father, on your nuptials,” he says with a grim smile before turning his attention to Cress. “And you, Lady Crescentia, have my deepest condolences.”

The Kaiser’s face reddens, but it’s Cress who answers first, her roughened voice cutting through the air like a knife with teeth.

“It’s Kaiserin Crescentia,” she says coolly. “I don’t suppose similar congratulations are in order for you two?”

S?ren might have been the first to speak, but Crescentia is the first to lose, because in that moment, her weakness shows. Even in the middle of a battle, with casualties crossing into the thousands, she is still a jilted girl angry that she lost the boy she wanted to marry.

I can use that.

“Not yet,” I tell her with a saccharine smile. “When we marry, it will be in the Astrean palace after I retake it.”

Cress’s jaw clenches, but I turn my gaze away from her and to the Kaiser, shoving down the fear and nausea that his presence triggers.

“I believe we’re here to discuss the terms of your surrender,” I tell him, careful to keep my voice level and strong. I won’t let him cow me.

He snorts. “My surrender,” he echoes, shaking his head.

“You did request a parlay; I assumed it was to discuss terms,” I say. “We do outnumber you, after all.”

“Battles aren’t won with numbers alone, surely you know that, S?ren,” he says, addressing only his son despite the fact that I’m the one speaking.

“I’m surprised you do,” S?ren replies evenly. “It’s been decades since you were last in battle, Father. A lot has changed since then.”

The Kaiser smiles tightly. “I’m willing to let your armies leave Astrea peacefully,” he says, leaning back in his chair and surveying us. “All I want in return is the two of you. It seems more than a fair trade—two lives for the thousands more that will perish if you refuse.”

He’s trying to play to our honor, a smart move I know him well enough to have seen coming.

“No,” I say flatly. “We will let you and your armies go peacefully if you and all of your people abandon Astrea now.”

It’s as much a bluff as his offer was—the Kaiser would never let my armies leave alive even if I do surrender, and I certainly will not accept a surrender that doesn’t include the Kaiser’s death. We both know this, but we pretend anyway.