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My answer comes out in a mumble. “Always.”
I don’t know if I can keep that promise, but as I careen into the blaze of my orgasm and feel Alek’s chest hitch in tandem, it almost feels possible.
Eighteen
Ivy
Iknow the woman in charge herself has come to meet us when the cloaked figure approaching through the dusk raises a thumbless hand.
“Ivy,” Voleska says in a low voice. “I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again. I’m glad my doubts were wrong.”
She steps into the shadows that drape the front of the shuttered shop where Casimir, one of the loyal soldiers, and I are standing. This small town about halfway between the Temple of Tranquil Skies and Voleska’s home city of Pima is quiet enough that it seems to have been mostly ignored by the Order of the Wild. But a few patrons are still coming and going from the pub down the street with bursts of spirited voices.
The corner of my mouth quirks upward with a wry smile. “I’m glad too. And it’s good to see you’ve survived the last several weeks as well.”
Voleska dips her head to Casimir in acknowledgment. “I hope the rest of your crew has made it through all right?”
I think of the men I left on the other side of the Eppun border with a mix of fondness and worry. “For now. We’re doing our best to stay that way. Is Emor well?”
A note of affection comes into her voice. I’ve never been sure of her exact relationship with her partner, but it’s clearly close. “Oh, yes, and spitting mad that I’m getting to have this adventure without him.”
My smile tugs wider. “You can apologize to him for that on my behalf. Thank you for coming all this way to speak with us. We didn’t think going right into Nikodi would be wise.”
The co-leader of the main resistance group in Julita’s former county lets out her breath with a hint of a huff. “A reasonable suspicion. Ever since King Konram’s death, the Order members have gotten even bolder. We’ve shaken them up as well as we can, but it’s harder to rally more people against them when there’s no clear alternative.”
It seems word about Petra’s speech in Florian hasn’t reached the far edges of the country yet.
I hesitate, glancing at Casimir. His nod reassures me that he hasn’t seen any sign that Voleska’s goals have shifted.
She’s always been just as dedicated to ousting the scourge sorcerers from her country as we have.
I fold my arms loosely over my chest. “What if I told you that we do have an alternative? That it’s just a matter of clearing the way so they can safely retake the throne?”
Voleska’s pale eyebrows leap up. “What have you got up your sleeve now?”
“The king’s heirs didn’t die. We have a queen ready to rule, if we can present her without the scourge sorcerers murdering her too.”
I don’t get into the specifics of exactly who that queen is, since explaining about the former Prince Dunstam’s transformation and period in hiding would get a little complicated. We can fill Voleska and her allies in on the details when it’s relevant.
Voleska’s eyes have widened. She rubs the stump of her thumb along her jaw, beneath the scar on her cheek that speaks of past troubles she’s survived.
I don’t think her life before the uprising was that much more comfortable than my own on the streets. And I can’t imagine what it was like to give up a chunk of her hand and receive no gift in return—to be a child of twelve realizing the gods had judged your intentions as too selfish.
Even without magic, she’s proven to be a formidable force. No matter what hardships she’s faced before, she’s risen to the challenge of protecting her home.
“That’s a very good thing,” she says in an awed voice. “I should have figured you’d end up in the royal court with all the stubborn heroics you’re fond of. What is it that you think our people can do to help?”
The fact that she leaps straight to offering to get involved is one of the reasons I wanted to reach out to her. When we crossed paths with the resistors in Pima weeks ago, they approached us rather than the other way around, eager to strengthen their efforts against the Order of the Wild.
Voleska’s group is nothing if not dedicated.
My men and I found solid allies during our journeys across the country, even while we were fugitives. And now I can use that luck to Petra’s benefit.
We need to gather as large a resistance as we can, stretching across the entire country, if we’re going to effectively challenge Lothar’s self-appointed authority.
I pull my posture a little straighter. “We’re hoping to undermine the scourge sorcerers’ power and expose the crimes they’ve committed at the same time. There’s a farm a couple of hours from here where the Order appears to be hiding several of their sacrificial accomplices. We want to steal them away, and it’ll be easier with assistance.”
Casimir speaks up in his normal, warm tone. “And I’m sure we’ll have plenty of future missions we’d appreciate your people joining us for afterward, if they’re on board.”
