Marke grimaces, the arrow in his side will not kill him if he takes care not to aggravate the wound, but the pain is too sharp not to break his focus. Which, in the current situation, could mean death. Not being able to count on the Rreico to fight is more than a handicap, but he still stands as one of Master Vestigio’s apprentices, and the Trechuite pirate facing him does not have the time to understand where the deep cut on his neck comes from before plummeting to the ground. The Legio whips his left hand to remove the blood on his dagger, and begins stepping back inside the skirmish, before stopping. He was not going to be as lucky as the first time, and the next arrow shot from a bowman, in this chaos, could swiftly end him. No, the soldier from Makaka needs to accomplish his mission, even if it means letting his men take the brunt of the fighting.

“Sergeant-General!”

Marke’s gaze quickly went to meet his younger subordinate. Gerard, in melee with a man a head taller than him, gave him a sign as he dodged the strike aimed straight at his head. It isn’t to ask for help, Marke knows he is too proud for that, but it is a clue for the Sergeant-General’s mission.

The Legio understands when he spots a teenager with closed eyes, breathing weirdly at the top of a water barrel.

The strangeness of breath typical of all Trechuite mages.

And through all the chaos of opposing Rreicos, suffering, and death, Marke is finally able to focus on one rhythm of life. He breaks the arrow torturing his left side, knowing that the tip will act as a plug, and walks, weapons unsheathed, towards the only pirate that could turn the situation to the advantage of their enemy.

Past.

“Sergeant Hordin and his men, Lieutenant Maffroti and half of his men, Sergeant Varrinio sacrificed himself but his men survived, Sergent Garr and his men, Lieutenant Daffroi and his men, Caporal Torrence and his men, Caporal Hanna and her men, Caporal Fotrier and his men, Sergeant Jordin and his men, with the exception of Priest Storr, Sergeant Yotri and half his men, Caporal Farmer lost half his men but came back safe and sound…General Vatrier, as well as Strategist-General Botrier were overwhelmed in an ambush, Sergeant-General Garnet was wounded, Major Cavano lost most of his men but came back with some of our priests, we do not yet know from which group they originally came from. Major Kokerr and his company were the first to be overrun and…”

Trinne raised her hand, interrupting the soldier reciting the written report on his held piece of parchment. She had had enough. “First estimates of our losses?”

“Twelve hundred lost, Three thousand lightly wounded and a thousand with heavy wounds, our churches are already overfilled and the Archbishop of Lebe indicates that…”

“I am aware of the Archbishop of Lebe’s prognostic. Enemy losses?”

The soldier stood straighter, almost looking proud. “They lost twice as many as our own, Duchess!”

His expression fell slightly when he saw Trinne pinch the bridge of her nose. She sighed and shook her head in a barely contained grimace. Sitting on one of the two only chairs set up in the middle of the garden in the northern part of the Ducal plateau, she seemed worryingly tired. Which Nay knew was probably not just an impression, they had observed the war standing there for more than seven hours now. They had witnessed how Trinne’s plan was perfectly orchestrated and realized, its terrifying effectiveness, and in the end, its futility. Neither the redhead nor the Master Legio had been able to participate in any way. Trinne wasn’t the one ordering the troops, as once her plan had been established, more experienced war veterans had taken over and she hadn’t had anything left to do. The Legio herself, needed to stay up there, safe, to protect her friend that wasn’t in any danger.

“What about the Commandare?” Finally asked the Duchess of Gite.

“He’s unharmed, after handling the ambush from the shellfish forest, he followed the general retreat order. He and his men are currently posted at the western breach.”

“And the eastern one?”

“A hundred men from Leïn, General Dociodero, as well as the guards of the undercity.”

Trinne sighed. “That will be all.”

“Yes, Duchess.” The young soldier bowed deeply and fast, but then his Rreico got hazy for a second. He was hesitating.

“What is it?” Nay asked.

Trinne rose an eyebrow, the Legio usually acting like the scary and silent bodyguard.

“Erm…I…Sorry Darae…I had simply forgotten that…”

“Soldier. Speak.” The Duchess of Gite commanded.

“Our Emperor of us all asked me to report to you that the King Valamut’s ship had presumably been spotted.”

Trinne expression changed entirely. “What!? How? Where?”

“Erm, I…it was spotted by field-glass an hour ago. The boat is covered in gold and with the fall of the night, our scouts noticed the shine of it in the middle of the enemy flotilla…” The soldier began explaining.

Trinne rose to her feet in a hurry. “Show me.”

The soldier seemed taken aback by the demand. “Oh, I’m not…I will send you the scout that spotted it.”

“Fast, before we lose the remnants of daylight.” The Duchess’ voice wasn’t leaving any options.

The young soldier went away running.

Once far enough, Nay relaxed slightly and came closer to her friend looking beyond the edge, towards the dark blue sea.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked, her sixth sense showing her a wave of cogs turning and churning under the red hair of her friend’s head.

Trinne turned around, her expression briefly showing fear, doubt, and sadness. “I’m thinking about an unrealistic plan becoming less unrealistic.”

“Which means?”

“I won’t give you stupid ideas if I can avoid it.”

“Trinne. We discussed this before.”

The young woman shook her head, Nay could hear the internal swearing. “I know, I know.” There were too many emotions in her friend’s gaze for Nay to unravel them.

“Duchess!” The soldier had come back, and a man in his thirties was following him. Petite and feminine, he looked barely above twenty, but Nay could spot his real age behind the Hymerian appearance.

“Soldier-Scout Hat’Ro, at your service Duchess.” He hit his right hand twice to his chest, betraying his eastern origins for the second time in as many seconds.

“Show me Shroediker’s ship.”

“I…it is only a theory, Duchess. It could be a trap to tempt our Emperor to us all…” The soldier that had come to report initially tried to intercede.

“I did not ask for your opinion! The ship!” Trinne barked with almost cruelty.

Nay put a discreet hand on her friend’s shoulder, making the aforementioned turn in her direction. “They should have obeyed on the spot! It would not have happened if I had been a man…” Trinne whispered to her with annoyance.

Nay gave her a teasing smile. “And it is not a reason good enough to be mean to our soldiers fighting for our city.”

Trinne did not answer, turning back towards the two soldiers observing the exchange with curiosity. There were rumours circulating about the two women, and, evidently, those had reached beyond Gite and Leïn’s nobility.

“Show me.” Trinne repeated with a firm tone, but void of anger this time.

The Soldier-Scout nodded once and walked closer to the edge of the cliff. He watched the Carradin flotilla through his eyeglass for a minute, before finally lowering his hand-held telescope, and politely edging Trinne to come closer. Nay didn’t enjoy seeing her friend walk towards a precipice, but she did not feel any desire to harm around her, and in any case, she stayed just behind, vigilant and close enough to handle anything that could happen. The scout passed his eyeglass to the Duchess, then guided her to where she was supposed to look.

“There, above the repaired sail with blue cloth…more black now with the loss of light. They put more torches on the main deck, and with the gold…”

“I see it. Biach.” Trinne only looked for a few seconds before passing the observation tool to Nay.

“Look at it.”

Nay accepted the objected, but she did pull Trinne slightly behind her, away from the cliff. It took her more than a minute to finally see what they were talking about. The ship was bigger, and was golden, the last rays of the sun, as well as the many lanterns, were very ostensibly reflected by the overly decorated warship.

“Tell the Emperor that this is without a doubt Vahamut’s ship, but that it is too well defended to be reached by air.” Trinne commanded.

The soldier bowed, quickly followed by the Soldier-Scout. When the two men left towards the Imperial tent, Nay lowered the eyeglass. “You really think he’d just signal to everyone around where he is? With the Emperor there able to throw pieces of the sun in his face?”

“Arrogance. He is terribly arrogant. I wasn’t aware how badly he was just reading the reports but…I have a good idea of what kind of individual he is, and it is not a trick. Vahamut Shroediker is incapable of accepting anyone else to command their most beautiful ship, and, apparently to him, showing off how rich he is by getting on that Carradin warship is more important than hiding where he is located. After all, Jarl cannot reach him in the middle of his best mages, even if the Emperor knows where he is.

“I’m guessing there is a ‘but’ coming.” The Legio responded.

The Duchess grabbed her arm with a firm hand, as if to stop her from moving.

“You. You can reach it.”

Nay held her tongue for just a second. “How?”

“If you can see it, you can create a door to it…from here we can see where their guards are, and the door in conjunction with the cursed box should hide the miracle from even their best tattooists. In the middle of the night, if their army does not attack us then, we could have an entry point.”

“I…It may be possible, but I’ll never be able to hold the door open long enough to let the hundred or so soldiers we would need to take over what has to be the most well-defended Carradin warship with the greatest Carradin mages inside.”

“Correct. And if I hadn’t promised it to you, I would not have shared this idea with you.”

Nay frowned. “Because that isn’t what you were thinking about. If I went there alone, and I managed to assassinate Vahamut…but I would be too tired and creating a second door after such a mission is too difficult for me yet. It is useless to kill the king of Mindor if I blow up afterward. So, that’s not it either. What is your plan, Trinne?”

“It is too risky, that’s what it is. Everything is too risky if it puts your life in danger.”

“Gite. Maybe the entire Empire could be hit by my death, I know.”

“Yeah, that too.”

Nay couldn’t stop a burst of nervous laughter from escaping her lips. She hadn’t felt any humour in the Rreico of her friend, even if she was physically giving her a sarcastic smile.

“Trinne.” She finally asked.

The Duchess of Gite went back to her chair, but this time, she also pulled the chair that the Emperor had used and invited Nay to sit as well.

The girl with cloudy eyes took a seat, put the eyeglass on the table, and waited for Trinne to explain her mad plan.

“We can infiltrate the ship with your miracle, but nothing forces us to act straight away afterward. We can wait for the end of the night and the start of their attack on Gite’s wall.”

“What? We can’t hide in an enemy ship! And what do you mean ‘we’? You are not a Legio yet, you cannot avoid patrols and infiltrate as I do, unless you use your phantom miracle, that you cannot…”

Nay paused, saying it out loud made her understand.

“Since when?” She finally questioned.

Trinne smiled. “Two days ago. Us being split apart forced me to take control of my miracle or provoke more problems that we cannot afford right now. I apologize for not telling you before, but we didn’t have many opportunities to be alone together.”

“What about last night?” The Legio countered.

Trinne scratched her cheek, embarrassed. “Erm…I…I forgot.”

Nay grimaced. Coming from the Duchess of Gite, that excuse was more than flimsy. But despite that, The Legio believed her. “I suppose I can only blame myself for that.”

“Exactly.” Nodded Trinne with apparent shamelessness.

Nay sighed. “It doesn’t change that resting in the enemy ship that is most likely the best defended of the Carradin flotilla seems, to me…First, they have to miss the giant crystal door appearing in the center of the main deck.” She suddenly had another idea. “Can’t we just drop Jarl in the middle of the flotilla, and leave him to annihilate everything around?”

Trinne shook her head left and right. “No, the miracle we saw him use this afternoon takes too long to chant. He would most likely be able to sink the ship he lands onto, but the defensive enchantments on the war ships and the power of their mages will undoubtedly cost him his life. We’d lose our Emperor for their king.”

Nay arched her head on the side before standing straight again. “Alright. You thought about it as well. In any case, your plan…”

“I have the schematics of Vahamut’s ship.” Trinne announced.

Nay stared at her, speechless.

“My informant had visited the shipyard where it was built two years ago, and she transmitted the construction plan two months ago. Obviously, the ship’s exterior wasn’t finished then, so I had no idea about Shroediker’s ridiculous idea to cover it in gold, but I do know where his throne room is, where his chambers are, and where the food storage is. With your sixth sense, infiltrating inside the storage area and resting there is easy, and with my miracle, I would be able to defend you while you sleep. Obviously, I don’t believe I’ll be able to avoid deep scrutiny from the Carradin mages and their tattoos, or I would kill Shroediker myself, but the storage will most definitely not be enchanted against a miracle like my own. At dawn, we eliminate Mindor’s king and his overpowerful mages made harmless because of your infinite Rreico, then we flee with a door, and use their crumbling chain of command to launch a devastating counterattack on their troops.”

“Yeah, simple.” Nay’s voice was full of sarcasm.

“Obviously, we could get captured through an unknown spell, get ourselves killed, bring ruin to the entire continent because we’ve been incapable of admitting we lost and have acted like the Firantes to try and win whatever the cost.”

Nay laughed, once. “Nice manipulation attempt. Slightly too obvious.”

Trinne put her hand on her friend’s. “Hani, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“Stop it.”

“I am not manipulating you, I am telling you the things as they are.”

“I know. Sorry.” Nay closed her eyes. Her friend’s hand was cold on her own, filled with fear and anguish.

She thought about her abnormal rhythm of life, which should have convinced her to stay cooped up in a cavern until the end of times. She thought about that strange rock cut in half barely a mile away from where they were standing. She thought about this dream, this dream of Trayx, and this Cathedral covered in snow in the Unbroken Ones with a door of lava inside. A door that, without a doubt, would bring you to the worst place in the world.

“Your plan could work. But you did have another one, before that. It escaped your lips when we were in Leïn.”

Trinne sighed. “That is correct. It could still work, mind you, and would let us reach Shroediker’s ship without using your miracle to get there. Still, the number of things that could go wrong is too high to be a realistic plan.”

“What was illegal about it? You talked about high treason.”

Trinne rolled her eyes to the sky, before ultimately making the decision to tell her. “We don’t have anything to lose I guess…I thought about kidnapping the Imperatrix and offering her as bait to Shroediker so we could approach him.”

Nay only blinked wildly, every other reaction overwhelmed by the stupor making her freeze.

“I did warn you. And yes, I am serious. As I am, technically, a Carradin spy, they would have listened to me and my plan could have worked. By spy I mean that I gave away a lot of intel to our enemy, things that they should have been able to discover without me, but hidden enough for them to think I was really helping them. That’s how I managed to get in touch with my informer, for example.”

“You…how? Why trust you? You are the Duchess of Gite!”

Trinne sighed. “Exactly. And I was exiled in Leïn, so of course I want to get back my city, and I am obviously giving away intel so that after the war, I would be given back authority on Gite. Vahamut was never going to keep that promise, mind you, but I am a simple woman, dumb, under Firante influence, and as such, easy to use. See where I am going with this?”

“Oh Lebe…”

“Can’t argue with that. Hyn probably has a large assortment of evidence against me, just in case, which prevents me from acting on her murder attempt, but to counteract that, my blade is the most powerful God-Touched in history and I am a great advisor for her son, so she can’t just throw me to the byrns willy nilly.”

Nay could feel the start of a headache emerge at the top of her forehead. “Oh Lebe…” She repeated.

“In any case, this plan is way too risky. We would voluntarily enter the byrns maw, while it is ready to bite. At least, with your miracle, our enemy would not be aware that we got into its lair. But Nay, you’re still putting your life at serious risk, and that means you’re putting Ra’fa and Lisana’s life at risk as well.”

“I know.”

Trinne paused for a short moment before continuing with a sad tone. “Why do I feel like you’re going to take this eyeglass on the table so you can get a better look at Shroediker’s ship? So you can create Rö’s door on it later?

Nay did not answer, she took the eyeglass on the table and stood up.

Even with the last rays of the sun disappearing at the horizon, Nay wasn’t having a hard time examining every part of the deck and the forecastle. Of all the ships, this one was covered in gold and had the most lanterns, as if to show how superior it was to all its neighbours.

An immediate issue was that the ships weren’t still, the sails were mostly down, but the waves and wind were still pushing the flotilla around. An easy way in would be to create the door next to the roping hanging on the hull, and jump to the ropes, but even though the miracle could technically levitate, it was unable to move. One gust of wind and the two women would fall in the water and…ah. The Legio lowered her telescope.

“I have a way in.”

“Biach.” Trinne swore next to her.

Nay didn’t react to the bad language.

“There are ropes hanging from the ship’s rail, reaching the sea. Instead of appearing on the ship, where we could get spotted instantly by the night crew, we only need to drop in the water, a few meters away from the ship, then swim and climb on it.”

“In full combat gear, with our weapons?”

“I won’t be able to take all my throwing daggers with me, and I’d have to put on my leather armour, but this short of a distance, I can’t see any big issue. Oh, I forgot, but did you ever tell me if you could swim?”

At that moment, there was no physical way to seem more outraged than her redheaded friend. “I am the Duchess of Gite. I was born in water.”

“Ah. Erm. I didn’t know that.”

“Ten years ago I would have demanded slavery to be brought back to the Western plains just to punish you for saying something like that.”

“Would have been much easier just to cut my head off.”

“No, even young and stupid I would have considered this too much of a waste.”

“Uh uh? Thank you I guess? It was a compliment, right?”

For a second, the noble facade of Trinne fell away, and the young redhead showed a beautiful smile, as she gave a playful slap on the Legio’s shoulder. Then her expression was replaced with one showing fear.

“You should not do this, Nay. It is just a city, even if it is our own. We can’t decide to potentially sacrifice everything just to protect it from the Carradins. If it falls, it falls. They won’t destroy or raze it, they need the harbour for their war. People will die, sure, but…”

“A lot of people will die.”

“A lot of people. That is true. But not all the people. It is not your responsibility to protect them.”

“It is yours.” Nay replied.

Trinne paused, slightly shocked. “I…yes. I am the Duchess of Gite, as such, it is my responsibility. And I cannot do anything…”

Nay turned towards her, and took a step forwards. The Legio took her chin and forced her friend to look her straight in the eyes. “You are my Hani. Your responsibilities are my own. On my lonesome, I can’t do a thing, and it’s the same for you. Together though, we will have a chance to end the war, kill it before it can really begin, as soon as tomorrow morning. Or yeah, we can flee, regret it for the rest of our lives. I want to take that risk, and you are correct, that risk is too high, but I want to take it anyway. But if you’re coming with me, and I know that whatever I say or do you will come with me, then I want us to decide together.”

“It is a senseless decision.”

“I am aware.”

“You’re putting your family’s life in danger. My own life even more.”

Nay paused for a moment. “I…yes.”

“So why do this?”

“Because…because if I don’t it will make me mad. Not tomorrow, not next year, but I know, I know that deep inside, the guilt will kill me.”

Trinne put a hand on her cheek. “Oh, Nay. But if you go on that ship, if we go there…we will have to assassinate, fight, kill ruthlessly, you…”

“I…it is not my responsibility if they came here to kill us and we need to defend ourselves. I hate it. I hate using what my father taught me to strip away lives, but he did teach me the Legio art so that I could protect myself, my sister and my mother, and that is what I will do.”

“You will not change your mind?”

Nay shook her head left to right.

“Very well. Let us go meet Jarl, tell him our plan, and get him to help us coordinate the attack. Then we will go sleep for a few hours, and then it will be time for our last mission as Jewels.”

“Last?”

Trinne raised an eyebrow. “I do believe we have enough reasons to justify resigning.”

Despite the falling of the night, the imperial tent was entirely illuminated by the many torches all around, and it was buzzing with activity. Messengers were entering and exiting ceaselessly, and the voices of the generals were clearly heard through the thick material of the tent covered in enchantments. You could not understand words or sentences though, as it was completely unintelligible.

As the two women approached the main entrance, the two guards posted there stopped them.

“Duchess, Darae?” The oldest of the two of them asked.

“We would like to discuss with the Emperor.”

The guard nodded. “A moment please.” And he entered inside the tent.

Two messengers left and one came behind them before the guard finally went back outside.

“You may enter.” He announced, pulling on the fabric of the doorway.

As they entered, silence reigned inside. Five generals, as well as Defin, looked at them with scrutinizing looks, while Jarl wasn’t raising his head at all, focused on the large war table in the middle of the only room of the tent. Hyn, sitting a bit back, had a Rreico almost filled with shame, but her expression was unreadable as she was looking at the ground.

The generals moved to let Nay and Trinne get into the circle of the meeting, and it was only when they completely stopped that Jarl finally spoke.

“Leave us.”

One of the generals hiccupped. “Emperor?”

“It won’t take long. Everyone take a break and come back in half an hour.” Instantly, the men obeyed and started leaving the tent. Jarl the Bohemian continued talking, unperturbable. “Duchess, Darae. Sit down please. Defin!”

The Archbishop, on the verge of exiting, turned around. “My Emperor?”

“Tell Red and Karrik not to let anyone enter before you all come back.

“Understood.” The ecclesiast bowed slightly, and was finally the last to leave.

The heavy velvet chairs, more like small couches than chairs to say the truth, had been stacked in a corner, and Nay and Trinne went to get them to put around the table.

“Emperor?” Nay proposed a chair to him, but the Emperor only answered with a shake of the head to say no.

“Mother, if you please.” He pointed to the space on his left.

Hyn sighed, and pulled her chair to the pointed space, before sitting back down.

“Trinne. The truth if you please, and not that ridiculous report you gave me. Did mother really thy to kill you this morning?”

Nay felt immediate relief. She did not believe that Jarl was involved with his mother’s scheming, but she was now certain about it.

“That is correct.” The Duchess answered with no hesitation.

Jarl had a very long sigh. “Mother.”

Hyn reaction was unexpected, to say the least: she exploded in a barely contained rage. “Yes! And I have to do those ridiculous things as you’re clearly trying to kill yourself trying to stop those stupid tattoo-men capturing a city that is already lost! Flamy, placing yourself above enemy mages like that! What were you thinking!? If their miracles could reach further than we expected you would be dead! Smashed to a pulp by a miracle of torrential water! And then our Empire plummets, because I am not able to take care of it anymore. I am too old, I lost too much, and I will not sacrifice more lives to recharge my enchantments, I swore it! But I’d rather be devoured by an Angel that if I let my son die before me! I did not want to make my goddaughter suffer, I really did not want to do that, but after seeing you take all those senseless risks, I had to do something, so I send that flying hivere, I did ask captain Yorn to create a distraction, and yes, I did try to kill Trinne to push Nay into using her phantom miracle.”

The Emperor, the Darae and the Duchess of Gite looked at the ex-Imperatrix of the Kingdom of Ja as if a yae was growing out of her ears.

And Nay finally understood the motive of her godmother’s actions. She was currently unable to contain her Rreico, unable to hide the truth of what she was at this moment.

She was a mother fearing for her son’s life.

Jarl the Bohemian sighed once again.

“Why?”

“Best case scenario, Nay’s miracle scared them and makes them flee, at worst they stay and get killed by the Angel once they occupy the city. I only need to convince you to evacuate the city, and without the Duchess there to undermine Quar’s authority, we can easily retreat south.”

The Emperor shook his head and put his right hand on his face.

“I…the number of flaws in this plan… mother, it is unlike yourself.”

The Imperatrix arched forwards, ready to answer, but Jarl interrupted her. “Fine. I understand. We will discuss the consequences later, there is more urgent right now. Duchess, Darae, I do apologize in my mother’s stead. Your support is essential for the Empire in those troubling times, and you will be compensated, but…”

“No, I came here to ask to be compensated right now.” Trinne announced, her expression severe, almost judging towards the Imperatrix.

The Emperor grimaced. “I cannot, at this current time…”

“It is simple enough. Our two Jewel contracts, Nay’s and mine, is rendered null and void, but the entirety of this year’s pay will be given to us anyway.”

“We need…”

“This can be done after the war.” The Duchess added.

Jarl paused, before continuing with more assurance. “That is the least we can do. That is not all though, I presume?”

“I am officially recognized as the Duchess of Gite, my authority in Gite will only be second to yours.”

The Emperor rose an eyebrow. “The documents to officialize this are already written, it only lacks our signatures.”

“I know, but it is important that this doesn’t change after today and tomorrow’s events. So we will sign them right now.”

“Of course.”

“Before that: my last demand. Organize a counterattack on the forces gathered outside our wall, at dawn, tomorrow morning.”

Jarl and Hyn jumped. The mother had calmed down a bit, and she was the first to answer. “What? That is absurd, there are two Carradin warriors for every single of our soldiers, a frontal assault…”

“They will not have orders from the top of their command anymore, and the enemy army will not be able to react in time. It will be our best opportunity to save Gite.”

“No orders from their command? Is this about our scouts having noticed Shroediker’s war ship? How?” Questioned Jarl the Bohemian.

But before Trinne could answer, Hyn had already understood. She stared Nay straight in the eyes.

“What if the command is still up tomorrow morning?”

“Then nothing will matter anymore.” Nay answered with a sad smile.

The Imperatrix blinked once. “Out of the question.”

“I was not asking, Hyn.” The Duchess of Gite replied. “This is what will happen, whether you want it or not. No one can prevent Nay from using her power if she so desires.”

Jarl went to grab a chair, and once back where he was, he sat down on it with his whole weight.

Everyone had stopped talking.

“Did I get this right? Trinne, you want to use Nay to assassinate the king of Mindor inside his extremely protected war ship?”

“Correct.”

“The mages.”

“Nay can unleash her Rreico to crush their power with her own. No spell will be able to be launched.”

“But if she…I see. It is… I want to hear your plan in detail. Everything that can be improved, has to be. It needs to be perfect, understood?”

“Jarl!” The ex-Imperatrix shouted, clearly shocked.

The Emperor gazed at her with severity. “Mother. She is right. No one can stop the Darae from doing what she wants. Our enchantments to contain miraculous power are useless, restraints or prison even more so, trying to knock her is too risky, and poisoning her could inadvertently kill her…so. If Trinne and Nay decided to take that risk, to save our men and all the west of my empire, then I shall aid them. And so will you.”

The ex-Imperatrix of the Empire of Ja gave him a mean look, but as she was still too overcome by her feelings, her Rreico was clear as day.

Nay smiled as she could sense the immense pride in her godmother’s rhythm of life.