Silver linings. Riven tried to look on the bright side of things, though it all looked pretty bleak, honestly. Their stupid plan to fight back against Orbray had fallen flat on its silly face, and now they were being dragged to the High Invigilator in chains and surrounded by an army of soldiers and an Essentier who wouldn’t let them blink without knowing about it. So much stupid surveillance. Riven ought to pass some gas just to show younger Aross what it was like to properly scrutinize someone.
No, too uncouth. Especially since older Aross had insisted they needed her son on their good side. Why was something Riven tried not to ponder. The stupid fop reminded him too much of Tam with his lazy attempts at fashionable clothing—the coat over his uniform was too expensive for a military excursion, and the edge of a pocket watch peeked out from a pocket.
It was probably the treatment Riven had been subjected to that made him indisposed towards his host. He and Viriya had been stripped off all their Sept and put in the seats behind Aross’s. The truck they were all in was large and spacious enough to accommodate Riven, Viriya, the two Aross, and two more soldiers who had their guns pointed at Riven and Viriya. They had been warned to not even think of using Essence. Apparently, the soldiers were using regular bullets made of metal instead of Sept bullets, which meant the only source of Sept nearby was whatever younger Aross kept on his person. Something to remember if everything went to shit.
Not that Riven intended to start something crazy. Diplomacy. He hadn’t tried his hand at that yet, but it was the only recourse left to them at this point.
“Are you taking us to Ascension Demesne?” the Invigilator asked.
“Yes,” younger Aross replied. As if that little question had disquieted him, he gestured at the designated driver, who sped up the truck. “We’ll be there before long. Don’t worry, Mother.”
“I am not worried, son. I’m with you. I always knew you could come back and rescue me.”
“Of course, Mother.”
Riven stared flatly at the Invigilator sitting beside the soldier with the gun pointed at him. She ignored him and Viriya, eyes staring forward and hands on her lap. The perfect picture of innocence. Even now, when Riven and Viriya were at their lowest point, she was steadily sticking to her act that she had every intention of working with Orbray. Maybe he was foolish for thinking he might be able to cajole any assistance from her.
But there was a tension there. A tiny, jagged edge between mother and son, a little crack in their stained glass that let a tiny stream of air inside. Something he could use, perhaps.
“You’re going in the wrong direction,” Riven said.
“What did I say about taking when you haven’t been asked anything?” younger Aross shot back.
“You never said anything about talking.”
“I did!”
“You did not.”
“I—well, I’m telling you now that you’d do best to shut your mouth.”
Riven laughed. “Yes, we all like to hear what’s comfortable. Anything that’s even a little hard can go to the Chasm, right?”
“I’m warning you.” Aross’s hand went to the gun at his side. The gun he hadn’t used once against Viriya back when they had fought. “One more stupid word out of your mouth and you won’t make the entire trip to Ascension in one piece.”
“Like I said, you shouldn’t be heading to Ascension. That’s not where Orbray will be focusing on soon enough.”
Aross didn’t reply, and Riven hid his smile. He had been right. Aross was insecure about his position in Orbray’s hierarchy, and he was one of those poor lost young souls who had a mountain’s worth to prove. He was doing his assignment and nothing more, his thoughts limited to what he needed to do to bring the Invigilator of Rennervation Demesne to Orbray and no farther beyond.
They had gone past Tollisett, and Aross hadn’t bothered to even tell them what was going on there. He didn’t need to. The convoy was surrounded by darkness on all sides except for the pinprick of glimmering orange in the distance, lighting up the rising black column.
Tollisett was burning.
Riven had pulled in those poor bastards into his conflict and now they were all dying. Or maybe dead already. At the very least, they no longer had a home.
“You’re taking the Invigilator of Rennervation Demesne to Orbray, leaving a huge vacuum there,” Riven continued, shutting his guilt away for later. He’d killed people. This burning was just another casualty of war. “She’s been the one keeping the peace, so far. She’s the reason why the small but powerful factions who want Orbray out of Rennervation have held themselves back so far. But now that you’re kidnapping the Invigilator away, there’s nothing stopping them anymore. They have free rein to act as they see fit. And we both know their first act will be to drive out any and all influence Orbray exerted over the Demesne.”
“How can you know all this?” Aross asked.
Excellent. Riven had gotten his attention. “I am a part of it, of course. I don’t know anywhere near enough for you to get more than the names of a few Essentiers, but I can tell you the anti-Orbray sentiment exists and is growing stronger every day. Even more so, now that the Invigilator is gone.”
“Even if that’s true, there are enough soldiers and Essentiers back there to keep everything in order. We have several Firstmarkeds and Secondmarkeds, and the soldiers of the highest calibre to keep the peace. If anyone is foolish enough to rise up against the High Invigilator’s rightful rule, they’ll get what’s coming to them.”
“Will they now? How many do you truly have that you can trust? After all, I killed Olsten and Weathering.”
Aross looked sharply back at him. His eyes were clouded with a suppressed fear and worry, face etched with a mixture of disbelief and disquiet. “As if. You’re nowhere near strong enough to have killed them. And besides, you were in Providence Demesne. Your stupid lies won’t work on me.”
Riven shook his head. “Looks like they didn’t tell you, then. I was at Lintellant before I returned to Providence, and I met Weathering and Olsten there. Poor bastards. I killed them when they decided to burn down the research facility there, and I killed every single soldier who was stupid enough to go along with them.” Riven laughed softly, the sight of the flames filling his vision, the madness of his fight with Olsten and Weathering suffusing every cell in his body until he felt as though he would explode. “My brother didn’t even need to get involved.”
The lie stung his heart like a needle had dipped into it, but he held his grimace back. Aross’s eyes had gone wide at the mention of Glaven. Glaven who was dead, who had passed away trying to protect Riven. And here Riven was, lying about him, besmirching his memory, destroying his credit.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He’d never liked his brother much but this was too much.
“Glaven Morell is in Rennervation Demesne?” Aross whispered. His eyes were distant as though seeing too many things too far away and trying to put them all together into a pattern that made sense.
“Not just Glaven,” Riven leaned in. “All of his friends too. He’s the one rallying the resistance. Everyone who had a grudge against Orbray, whose businesses got hurt by the High Invigilator’s intrusion and who took losses because of the takeover, all of them are putting their faith in my brother to set things right. He’s not alone. Far from it. In fact, he might be better equipped to deal with all of that better than you and your colleagues are at stopping him. Because after all, who can you really trust? Hasn’t Orbray put in Essentiers from other Demesnes as well? Do you know them? Do you think they like being deported from their homes and sent to some other Demesne that’s being taken over like their own?”
A lot of that had been guesses. Riven had no idea if things were really like that in Rennervation Demesne, and for all he knew, everything might be perfectly fine over there. Shots in the dark. But that was all Riven had, and at least his guesses had an inkling of logic behind them. He’d expect to dealt with those concerns if he were to ever take over a Demesne.
Going by the look on Aross’s face, he wasn’t far from the truth.
“Orbray won’t take it nicely if it’s your departure that causes an uprising,” Viriya said. The corner of her eyes met his for a brief moment, and she nodded ever so slightly.
Riven hid his smile. Brilliant Viriya had latched onto exactly what he was doing. He had expected nothing less from her, of course. It was gratifying that the Invigilator hadn’t discounted any of that so far, which was a form of help in and of itself.
After all, they either had to bring Aross to their side, or convince Invigilator Aross to given up on her beloved son.
“I still doubt it,” younger Aross said. There was a quaver in his voice that proved his doubting of Riven and Viriya had doubts of its own, though. “The Demesne won’t rise. Mother has left everything in the right order and they know she has allied with the High Invigilator. They wouldn’t go against her wishes like that. Impossible.”
Riven leaned back on his seat. He didn’t turn his head, but the gun pointed at him had dipped a bit. Good. He had the soldiers’ attentions as well. “Feel free to believe whatever you wish. But you will notice that the Invigilator hasn’t denied a single thing I’ve said so far.”
At the mention of her title, Invigilator Aross straightened a little. Her eyes had gone distant over the course of the conversation, but now they refocused sharply. She stared at Riven, and he tried not to stare back pointedly. Tried not to emphasize the point that she had been avoiding making a decision for too long as Mhell had said, and it was now time for her to throw in her lot with one side or the other—preferably with Riven’s, of course.
She ought to be grateful Riven had given her such an easy way of doing so, in all honesty.
“Is it true, Mother?” younger Aross asked quietly. “Is everything in Rennervation really in such a state of uproar. Are they going to rise up in rebellion?”
Invigilator Aross didn’t reply at first. She stared forward, past her son and the soldier in the driver’s seat, looking out into the dark wilderness. There was a twist on her mouth, like she had finally swallowed the bitter pill she had been avoiding for a long time now. Forced to swallow, rather.
“Mother?” younger Aross asked, leaning from his seat as though to shake an answer out his mother.
Slowly, the Invigilator turned to face her son head-on. “It’s true, Kowlen. Rennervation Demesne will not sit idly by while Orbray runs it to the ground and imposes his stamp on it. The people of Rennervation are proud, and they will seek justice and reparation for what has been done. A redressing, a reprisal.”
“A revolution,” whispered younger Aross—no, Kowlen. It was getting tiring thinking of him as younger Aross. Riven figured he had enough to deal with one Aross. Two was pushing it.
The Invigilator nodded. “Yes. Riven Morell is right. There are rebel factions all over the Demesne, and they are seeking the right opportunity to attack and make their presence felt.”
Kowlen leaned back in his seat, turning to stare back to the road ahead. Riven wished he hadn’t. There was no way to tell what he thought when Riven couldn’t even see his face. He had to be shaken, right? After finding out that what he had believed was wrong, that he had been told nothing and kept in the dark, he had to be feeling abandoned, which Riven could sympathize with. But what was he doing, sympathizing with an enemy who was a stupid fop to boot?
“Does the High Invigilator know there are rebel factions all over?” Kowlen finally asked.
“I imagine he suspects so,” Invigilator Aross said. “Knowledge is harder to predict. I’m sure the rebels have done their best to keep themselves hidden.”
“You’re acting like you aren’t a part of them.”
“That’s because I’m not.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that? After you kept their existence hidden from me?”
Invigilator Aross had been looking with a strange longing at Kowlen’s seat. Almost hopefully at him, as though she was sure she could make him face her gain. But at his word, she straightened again and looked away, and Riven barely caught the look of defeat flashing across her face.
“I didn’t intend to keep it hidden from you for so long, Kowlen,” she said. “You had your job. Your task was to bring me to Orbray, and I didn’t want to distract you from it. If Orbray didn’t see fit to tell you about their existence, then he ought to reap what he sowed with his negligence.”
“Or you didn’t tell me because you wanted us gone. Then your precious rebels could do as they saw fit and act without my interference. They’d be free to pull apart everything the high Invigilator had set up in Rennervation, free your Demesne, and you’d return as their queen. Brilliant, as ever, Mother.”
“You must believe me, my son. I had no intention of any such thing. I truly believed it was in your best interests. If you return now, there is a still a great chance we can put a stop to it. You can do it! Especially with my help. Then we can return to Orbray doubly victorious.”
“Enough with your lies, Mother.” Kowlen’s voice had finally become vicious. The Invigilator cringed back at the tone. “The decision will be mine, and you are barred from helping. I can’t trust anyone these days, it seems.”
Whatever game Invigilator Aross might be playing at, the hurt on her face was all too real. Riven only had to note the way her lips thinned, the way her eyes grew moist, and the way the corners turned down to make her wrinkles and ruts entrench themselves deeper to know it. And the fear. The guilt. It was all too obvious. She had expected this conversation to go exactly this way, yet it hadn’t dulled the pain a single bit.
“Is it my fault, Kowlen, that you stepped away from Rennervation as a child?” she asked. Aross swallowed, keeping her eyes fixed on the distant horizon. “Yes, I know I am guilty of negligence. I should have paid more attention to you, I should have taken better care of you, given you a path to follow and not let yourself go astray because I was too busy taking care of what I thought was more necessary at the time. I am sorry for all that. But the choice to leave wasn’t mine. Never mine.”
Kowlen Aross breathed out sharp and fast. Riven felt like he was growing small, turning into a fly on the wall of the Aross’s private chambers, witness to something that should have stayed between mother and son. After all, he’d have hated it if they were witness to his frequent arguments with Father.
But then, were all families like this? Some form of dysfunctional, hurting, and bearing wounds flung from one to the other like a game of catch gone awry? Until their distrust, their lack of the faith Mother professed about, was a thing of the past?
“I can help you stop it all,” Invigilator Aross said again. “We can stop it if we turn back. Please Kowlen, I know you care about me and about Rennervation. We need to do this. If not, there will be too much killing and destruction. Think of the people. Your homeland.”
“Enough!” Kowlen shouted. Riven jumped. The shout had been sudden, the quiet after that like a stone sinking through a pond. The younger Aross turned to the soldier in the diver’s seat. “Turn it around.”
“Sir?” the soldier sounded frightened.
“Turn the convoy around!” Kowlen took a moment to collect himself. “We’re heading back to Rennervation Demesne and putting a stop to this damn uprising of theirs. And then we’ll head back to Ascension, taking every damn upstart we can catch.”
Riven took a deep breath and leaned back into his seat. He closed his eyes, not daring to look at Viriya, and especially not the Invigilator. The air was still too tense for his liking, too fragile as though even breathing wrong would cause the house of cards they had erected to fall apart. He couldn’t risk that.
Not when they were heading to Rennervation Demesne proper. Not when all wasn’t lost.
No, it was only the beginning.