Yarima hated every second of this. Talking to her mother was bad enough, but she was also being forced to witness her chew out Oretski. It would have been funny, except after Denir had come to her nearly in tears, begging her to rescue him, she'd figured out that it wasn't just some soldier her brother was dating—it was the zatrecny kapetan.

So seeing the queen yell at him was a little uncomfortable, given that Denir was sitting right next to her, his expression so miserable that it seemed as though he was the one on trial. Though it was kind of funny to see him right next to their mother. They both had the same white hair and icy blue eyes, but while he looked like a kicked puppy, she looked like some kind of lizard.

"So, not only did you lose Notsisyk, you were also captured yourself, and gave our enemies information that will lead to them attacking Diramisk. Is that correct?" Svytlani summed up what Oretski had said, her gaze and voice ice cold. Yarima was really starting to wonder just what her mother was going to do with him for this.

He'd shared on the way what had happened, and she couldn't help but feel endeared by Oretski giving the information over for that vo, the Daybreaker, promising not to hurt Denir. But it was stupid. Why would the kapetan trust him to honor his word?

Still, Yarima didn't think this was a big deal, aside from that bit where Oretski lost the shadowforger. Lys-Akkaria was going to attack them sooner or later. She had had no doubts about that, and now they had an easy excuse to do it, too. Though it would be nice if Lys-Akkaria could stop the whole experimentation thing.

Yarima shivered as the memory of needles stabbing into her skin surfaced, but she quickly pushed it down. She would get back at Svytlani. At the entire court. It was a good thing her hands were clamped, though, because she might have killed her mother right here and now if she kept thinking about the things she'd done to her.

It was amusing to see her mother be so careful, though. At least she wasn't in a cell right now, though. Hopefully rescuing her best soldier would help Svytlani believe Yarima was on her side. Though Yarima knew her mother wasn't stupid, the current situation might be desperate enough to make the queen ignore her concerns.

"Yes, my queen. That is all true," said Oretski, his head bowed, as if he actually was ashamed of disappointing Svytlani. It made Yarima want to snort before shaking him. Who cared so much about what the queen thought? As long as she wasn't executing people, she didn't see why it would bother anyone. And surely that wouldn't be Oretski's fate. Svytlani would be foolish to get rid of such a powerful and devoted soldier. "I disappointed you, and our country."

"You did," Svytlani agreed, her teeth gritted. "You could have ended this war."

Yarima shook her head, staring at her mother incredulously as she waited for Oretski to say something. But when he just bowed his head lower, she couldn't help but argue.

"He did exactly what you asked," she said, making her mother's angry eyes turn to her instead. "He told me his mission was to capture the shadowforger and take him here. He wasn't supposed to kill him. Maybe you should have told him to do that instead."

Svytlani set her jaw. "Maybe you should hold your tongue, cero. I have half a mind to lock you away again."

Denir ducked his head, looking like he wanted to say something, but he was clearly stopping himself. Their mother's wrath had always done that to him. But Yarima was glad he wasn't fighting Svytlani. She didn't him to get caught in the crossfire.

"I am stripping you of your rank," the queen said as she turned back to Oretski. "You will fight for me, but as a new kapetan's lieutenant at best. Now begone."

Stolen novel; please report.

"Thank you, my queen..." Oretski muttered, sounding crushed by this, as if being executed would have been preferrable to being demoted. Yarima needed to have a talk with her brother later. Surely, Deni had told Oretski to not be like that already. But he clearly needed to do it more.

She watched the man leave the throne room, his head hung low, really looking like he was going to the gallows. He really did look like he'd just found out all of his friends and family had been killed, which Yarima didn't understand one bit, but she was sure Deni was going to deal with that later.

Yarima glared at all of the people in the throne room with them, the servants and the guards, watching the drama silently. She'd truly missed none of this while in Lys-Akkaria. She'd loved being a nobody.

"Now, as for you," the queen spoke to Yarima, making her turn back to her. Yarima hadn't missed this, either. "What is it you hope to gain from coming back here?"

Yarima rolled her eyes, unable to stop herself, even though it wasn't going to help matters in the slightest. Her mother hated any hint of insubordination, no matter who it came from. "Lys-Akkaria is going to sweep across Orinovo and kill us all. Since you already forced these powers on me," Yarima said, raising her clamped hands as she did, "I don't want to stand by and watch it happen."

As the queen narrowed her eyes, clearly trying to decide if Yarima was lying or not, Yarima's gaze flicked over to her brother, who was staring back at her with horrible pity. While it was sweet that Denir was still just as soft-hearted as he had been when she'd ran away, it couldn't have made things easy for him.

"I know you are up to something," said Svytlani finally, her voice almost amused. There was none of that amusement visible on her face, though, as she kept staring Yarima down from her throne, as if trying to decode her. "My spies tell me you attempted to attack the Lightbringer."

"Attempted?" Yarima snorted, making a move to fold her arms only to remember that her hands would make that very difficult. "I kicked his ass on three separate occassions."

A shocked, somewhat alarmed mutter went around the room, making Yarima smirk to herself. As expected, none of the people present had any idea of how powerful Yarima was. Hopefully, soon she would get to a point where she could take over, but she would have to wait for that. "If it wasn't for bad luck and then his boyfriend ruining everything, I would have gotten his powers."

Svytlani was now frowning at her with suspicion in the lines of her expression. But her eyes betrayed something else that almost made Yarima smirk again—Svytlani was intrigued. She couldn't say no to Yarima's help, certainly. Though the queen wasn't going to say it like that. No, she was going to make it sound as though Svytlani was doing a favor for Yarima by letting her help.

"Interesting," Svytlani said, frowning harder. But Yarima knew she was on board now. She had no choice but to be. There was nothing Orinovo could do to defend itself against the joint forces of a lightweaver and a shadowforger. And seeing as Yarima could at the very least defeat one half of the dynamic duo, logically the queen couldn't say no. "As long as you behave yourself, you will be allowed to return to the role you ran away from."

Yarima bit the inside of her lip, swallowing down all the insult she wanted to throw at her mother. Svytlani was testing her, that much was clear because even someone like Svytlani knew why Yarima had run off. By the damned sun, she had been experimented on as a child!

"Until then you will be guarded at all times," the queen continued. What a nice way of saying she was still basically a prisoner, just not stuck in a traditional cell.

"And the hand clamps?" Yarima asked, waving a hand around, wondering how the queen was going to deal with this issue. Surely she couldn't keep Yarima restrained like this—how was she supposed to do anything by herself with her fingers stuck.

Instead of answer, Svytlani nodded at someone on Yarima's right, and a guard came over, unlocking the clams. Yarima sighed, flexing her newly freed fingers, a little surprised it had been this easy.

She wished she could kill Svytlani right now, but the people would never accept her like that.

"I suggest you appreciate my kindness," the queen said, her tone as cold as ice. "Do anything I disapprove of, and it will be your brother who will bear the consequences, not you."

Yarima's eyes immediately snapped back to Denir, who was keeping his head low, staring at the floor. Dammit, Yarima hadn't thought their mother would use him as a bargaining chip, but she should have seen it coming. What else could Svytlani use to keep Yarima in line?

But this changed nothing. She had been planning on doing what her mother said, anyway. She would just be extra careful how she went about it. The last thing she wanted was to make her poor brother pay for her mistakes.

It will all be better soon, Deni, she thought to herself as she caught his scared but resigned gaze. I'll make sure of it.