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“Xiber is... going to... ?”
He paused at the third symbol, appearing like a half-formed triangle.
“The Mountain,” said the archon, darkly.
Xiber is going to the Mountain?
Realization crashed into him like waves in a storm. His blood ran cold.
As little piety as he held, even he knew the meaning of a warlord visiting Vaticily. It was a pilgrimage only taken before the most momentous of decisions.
“She plans for war?”
He searched his mother’s face for some hint of levity. Instead, the archon nodded gravely.
“When?” he asked.
“Weeks? Months? Fates are only read on the bronze moon. And Urosina established lookouts in the border polities that lead to Vaticily. When Xiber makes her move, I will know about it.” She took the parchment from him, passing a sisterly caress along the length of it. “But Ura sent this message with her dying body. I doubt that marks a fair omen.”
“So Xiber intends to seek revenge against Ardora? To make another push for Sama?”
The archon gave him a haunted look. “Xiber did not visit Vaticily before that invasion. Not even to one of the low or mid oracles. If she intends to visit now, then she plans for something far bigger. Something worthy of the god of fate’s attention.”
No...
“Yes, Aurelius,” she said, reading his face. “That was the rumor that Urosina uncovered. That Xiber intended to break the Compact entirely. To unite the tribes of Rinath and conquer all Dynosia again. And she would have to go through Mestibes to get to the others.”
He shuddered beneath his golden tunic. “The other’s polities wouldn’t stand for that.”
“You think Ardora would give us their children’s blood, when they deny us a simple meeting?”
Aurelius rubbed his temples. It was all too much. The ground beneath him suddenly felt unsteady, like the floor could crumble. “I leave tomorrow, for the gods’ sakes! What was the plan here? That I would just figure this all out?”
“Yes, Aurelius. Your grandmother told me how you looked at the prince. You are less subtle than you might think. I had every confidence you would place yourself in an advantageous position of your own accord. Ready for when I explained the situation in full.”
“To what end? To fuck us all to safety?”
“No, Aurelius, to make a real connection. Prince Calix has devoted the last five years to rebuilding the Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods. Their numbers have risen to where they were during the Third. This makes Ardora the only polity with the military might to face Rinath. And he is their strategos, their most senior military commander. He is the one that must be won over. But Ardorans believe in passion. They can spot insincerity and contrivance a mile away. That was why you couldn’t be told. Whatever bond you built with Calix, it had to be genuine. I needed you to charm him, to ingratiate yourself, to become his true confidant.” She paused momentarily. “And when the time came, if he would still not come to our aid, then I needed you to purchase his cooperation through other means.”
Aurelius scrunched his nose like the parchment still smelled of burned flesh. “Blackmail?”
“It is nothing you’ve not done before.”
“Yes, but on my terms!”
A rigidity wrapped around the archon, a mix of stoicism and shame. In that moment, he saw just how much of a last resort he truly was to her. “Aurelius, you are the only one I can entrust this to. All our other efforts have failed. Mestibes needs Ardora. Mestibes needs you. And we need you now!”
He gripped hard at his own arms. She had tricked him! She had taken him for a fool! She planned to use him—for the very thing that she had disgraced him for.
She will pay for this!
And yet, a glimmer of calculation formed amidst his fury. He was not someone who lost his temper. Not without purpose. After all, he hadn’t successfully recovered his shattered position through blind emption and impulsivity.
And she will pay...
“All right, mother,” he said, breathing himself calm. “I’ll play your game. But on one condition.”
“Name it.”
