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“A … what, now?” Frowning, Otto sat back in his seat and tapped out an irritable beat against one golden chair arm with his heavily beringed fingers.

“A misunderstanding,” Gerard repeated. “As I made clear in the note I left for my men, I was called away on an urgent personal mission. No abduction was involved. I can assure you, there has been no torture.”

… Or at least, none that he hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed. Certainly, when Lorelei had used her powers to hold him down while she’d ravished him last night, he had experienced a few agonizing moments from not being allowed to touch her in return.

Still, he didn’t allow his lips to curve at the memory. A heavy silence had fallen in response to his words, and he could feel lethal peril hanging like an axe above his head.

Even Otto’s tapping fingers had stilled. Every member of the council but the high priestess froze, waiting with their gazes fixed on Otto’s rigid expression.

Finally, the Emperor spoke, his voice strained. “No … abduction, you’re claiming now?”

“No, Your Majesty. I did explain as much in my note.”

“And … you weren’t even tortured a bit?”

Gerard allowed a single eyebrow to rise. “Fortunately not.”

“But—Jovar damn all of this for a pile of bullshit!” Otto’s fist crashed down on the arm of his chair, making every other member of the council except his own sister flinch. “Fae magic was clearly identified in your tent and on that letter!”

“As you say, Your Majesty.” Hands clasped behind his back, Gerard held himself perfectly still in a relaxed but respectful pose, not permitting a single muscle in his shoulders to clench. He drew on every decade of practice he’d had in keeping his true emotions from his face as he regarded his emperor. “The mission was brought to my attention by a fae citizen who had been helpful to my work in the past and called upon me for urgent assistance in return.”

At that news, Rapenthe visibly twitched, upper lip lifting in a sneer above discolored teeth. The other council members glanced back and forth, wide-eyed, but didn’t speak. The high priestess continued to smile complacently, apparently unaware of the tension mounting in the air.

Otto’s face mottled with color as he squeezed his hands around the arms of his chair. “You … abandoned your post … to help a fucking fae?”

“A fae citizen of your empire, yes,” Gerard said. “It is my duty, as Imperial high general, to stand for all of your citizens in need, is it not?”

“It was your duty,” Otto snarled, “to get your arse back to Fiora to report to me about the total fiasco at the Kitvarian border, where you threw aside everything I’d planned and tried to turn me into a laughingstock!”

“Your Majesty?” Gerard tilted his head, careful to keep his tone mildly curious. “I believe the newspapers have universally applauded us for our work in arresting the traitorous Chief Minister of Estarion, who dared to feed you such criminally false information about his archduke’s wishes. Our army heroically freed Estarion from that corrupt, dangerous influence—and Archduke Felix himself informed me that our military support would not be needed after all, due to the newly peaceful relations between Estarion and Kitvaria. There should be no more danger at that border, which is now thankfully secure in your keeping.”

“I didn’t want it secure,” Otto gritted, “I wanted it erased—and you damned well knew that was the real goal, no matter what balderdash we had to feed the newspapers.”

“I beg your pardon?” Gerard’s fingers tightened in their clasp behind his back, but he kept his gaze steady and unaffected, the very image of an honest and straightforward soldier without nuance. “I’m afraid I could only operate on the field under the orders that I had been given—and as you’d instructed me to lead our troops in support of the Estarian Archduke, I could hardly refuse to follow his command to withdraw our forces.”

“Yes, well, Estarion’s Archduke has clearly been bewitched out of his mind by that harridan in Kitvaria!”

Estarion’s Archduke was undeniably head-over-heels in love with that so-called harridan … but Gerard only said, “I assure you, Your Majesty, that no such magical crime has been committed. The captain of the elite corps of Gilded Wizards that traveled with my own soldiers confirmed that Archduke Felix is under no spell.”

The wizard had also revealed something far more startling about that same archduke’s abilities—but Gerard would not volunteer such a closely guarded secret of his own accord, and he’d commanded the wizard’s silence on the matter from then on.

Before Otto could argue any further, Gerard turned his gaze to survey the rest of the council chamber. “I would happily answer any further questions from Your Majesty or my fellow council members, but…” His gaze landed, pointedly, on Feodor Rapenthe. “I see a most untrustworthy visitor has intruded upon this meeting. As your loyal high general, I must strongly advise that we avoid uttering any more classified information in his presence.”

Shocked breaths hissed in response from council members around and behind him, but Gerard turned his expectant gaze to the Emperor without backing down. This was a battle that could only be won by immediate and unqualified resistance—and while the rest of the council might prioritize their positions over their principles, Gerard had sworn an oath to defend the Empire and all its citizens. He would not betray it now.

In the corner of his vision, he saw Rapenthe close his eyes and begin to sway in a slow, sinuous, back and forth motion that had surely been designed to capture the attention of an audience, but Gerard held his emperor’s gaze and refused to allow the charlatan’s theatrics to distract either of them.

Otto’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “General de Moireul, you are apparently under a misapprehension. I invited Messer Rapenthe tonight myself, specifically to address the dangers presented to our empire in the light of your recent abduction.”

“In which case, he may rest easy in the knowledge that he is no longer required,” said Gerard evenly, “as I’ve clarified that there was no abduction after all … and therefore his ignorant, hysterical, and bigoted views won’t require any distasteful hearings in the Empire’s highest chamber.”

Urgent whispering broke out from the councilors behind him, but it was swiftly overwhelmed by a low, throbbing drone that emerged from deep within Rapenthe’s throat, beginning quietly but rising to an ominous, wordless vocalization so loud and so hoarse that it clamored and echoed through the small room like polyphonic hammers against every pair of ears. Chairs scraped against the ground as council members retreated from the cacophony. Even the Emperor cringed.

Gerard stiffened his muscles, refusing to flinch or to shift back as the man rose to his feet. Ragged, black cloth sleeves fell to Rapenthe’s bony elbows as his arms curved in a melodramatic arc of challenge and ended, in a sudden, pulsating silence, with two long, knobbly forefingers pointed in accusation at Gerard himself.

“Your Majesty!” Rapenthe’s voice was a harsh rasp of warning as his heavy lids finally slid open to reveal eyes fully rolled back in their sockets with sickening effect. Only the whites of his eyes showed as he intoned, “The gods have spoken to me and revealed all. This man who stands before us all has been tainted by fae magic! He is no longer the loyal servant you knew but only their false puppet, sent here tonight to deceive and defeat you.”

Gasps sounded. Otto’s eyebrows shot upwards. The high priestess’s peaceful smile did not falter, but her copper eyelashes lowered to veil her hazel gaze.