“Surely?” Ixtap’s voice was a warning. “Are you suggesting that the rebels have a right to raise banners and houses against us? Or to do so without retaliation?”
“Well – ” The man was dark-haired and he wore a short coat sewn all over with yellow canaries.
“It is on the orders of Le Majest that we fight and claim his home for him. I repeat again, any man or woman found to stand against such orders will be cut down where they stand – they and their families.”
“It will not be easy, Lord Surrogate,” another one of the men said. He was older and had a lined face and worried expression with wings of white in his hair. He adjusted his goose-feather collar with a nervous hand. “Those who oppose this are strong in number. They represent nearly half of the Empire – certainly all the outlying islands. They wish for another manner in which to raise an emperor.”
“Other than inheritance?” Ixtap asked with a raised brow.
“Yes, Lord Surrogate.”
“Other than marriage as decreed by the law?”
“Yes, Lord Surrogate.”
Wait, was his marriage to me also to make his reign look more legitimate?
“Other than great reputation in building the Empire and quelling rebellions?” Ixtap asked in nearly a whisper.
“No, Lord Surrogate.”
“Then find me every one of them and we will begin executions at dawn. Start in House Osprey. I already dislike that place.”
“But Lord Surrogate! That is the home of General Petren, a long-time ally of Le Majest. He has already openly declared his support for the new emperor.” The older man’s distress was echoed on the other faces around him.
“Has he? I’m sure there can still be some found in his household who must be quelled.”
The man speaking paled and fell silent.
“I promised Le Majest an empire quelled and ready when he returns and I plan to offer it up to him,” Ixtap said.
“That may be more difficult than you think, Lord Surrogate. This strange dark magic continues to be a problem. Even without Houses in rebellion, we would have to find some way to drive it back. Every night it swallows fields and hills faster than we can withdraw from its path. Unless a solution is found, we will lose our empire to –
“Silence!” Ixtap bellowed and with a snap, my vision released me.
“See something good?” Juste asked, eyes narrowed when I opened my eyes again.
“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Something that might spare your brother’s life?” he asked, one of his eyebrows lifting.
“I want him released,” I said through gritted teeth. “I want him released or I tell you nothing.”
Ixtap clicked his tongue. “Now why would I do that? I am already prepared to spare his life for this information, and you want more from me?”
“Am I not your wife?” I challenged, still gritting my teeth at the thought of that. “Is not everything you own mine as well?”
He snorted. “You have that backward. Everything you own is mine. And look, the coronation stage is just ahead.”
He was right. Ahead of us, people had been very busy. They had set the stage up in a wide spot in the street framed by one of the gates into the city. Seating was arranged on either side of the gate. On one side, the crowd was spread on the road outside the city and spreading across the fields. On the other side, the people were lining the streets and watching from the roofs of the nearby buildings.
The early morning sun poured through this eastern gate, and it would bathe Juste in light from one direction and leave him a dazzling silhouette from the other. Very dramatic. And so very him.
An arch had been arranged and hung with massive white gardenias as if this was a wedding rather than a coronation. A throne had been set under the arch, glowing brightly as the sun flared off its gilding. Someone must have been up all night to create that piece. He couldn’t possibly have commissioned it before he heard from me that his father was dead ... could he?
Juste leaned forward in his seat so he could whisper in my ear. His pose made it look like he was whispering an endearment, but his words belied the idea.
“Tell me what you saw before we reach the platform or the first thing you will see as Empress will be your brother’s corpse.”
Chapter Nineteen
“IXTAP AND THOSE LOYAL to you are fighting over the Winged Empire with those who will not concede,” I said, rushing to get it out.
“Who would not concede?” his eyes narrowed on me.
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “But the Forbidding is there, too. It somehow has crossed the sea and is taking homes and lands on the other side of the ocean.”
He began to shake his head at me, but my vision was ripped violently away.
In my mind, I was finally seeing the person I wanted to see most, but this was not how I wanted to see him.
Osprey was fighting a tangle of Forbidding, sword in hand, dripping with sweat. Beside him, Adigale was trying to counter an attack to their left, but one of her arms hung uselessly to the side, swollen and purple in a way that turned my stomach. Anfrea was on his other side, swaying with exhaustion as she fought. And behind them, Os was spread wide. Under his glowing purplish-white wings, my nieces and nephews clung to one another, terror in their eyes as the great spirit-bird held back the Forbidding.
What had happened to them? And where were Wing Ivo and Victore? And Helissa? And all the others who were meant to be there with them?
A stab of cold shot through me and panic bubbled up. How long could they keep going like that? Where were they, even? I didn’t know, and there was so little I could do for them, so little I could do to help. I felt the tears beginning to fall and I sucked in a sobbing breath.
“Please,” I begged my bee inside my mind. “Please guide them out, somehow. Please show them the way to safety.”
Would it have the strength to help? I felt so weak, and they needed me to sustain them.
Osprey’s blue eye looked directly at my bee and I felt it flare brighter for a moment. Osprey’s eyes seemed to soften for a brief second and then my vision was gone, and I was back in my body, tasting blood from where I’d bit my tongue.
It took me a moment to realize I was shaking from head to foot and when I did, I looked up into Juste’s eyes. His eyes narrowed and his face looked smug.
“Anything that displeases you so can only be good for me. But turn your mind back to what I need, because, after the coronation, you need to concentrate very hard for me. The Hissan say that they gave you a memory in their snake temple – one meant only for the Adder. And that memory is the key for taking not just the Winged Empire but the whole world. You must dig out that memory – lost even to them – or we will have to do whatever we must to jar it loose.”
If I hadn’t already felt like my stomach was being wrung out like a dirty rag inside me, and my heart frozen to agonized ice, his words would have made me ill. But how could anything make me feel worse than I already felt?
Juste smiled at me nastily. “A little reminder of why you need to comply. You have a big family. I can find them all. We can take our time going through them one by one until you give me what I need.”