I wrapped my arms around Melody’s shoulders, squeezing my old friend firmly as we stood near the exit of the Winter Palace. Haven and Vex were the only ones watching. “If anyone moves against you, tell me. I will scatter their ashes to the four winds.” My voice stuck in my throat before breaking free, thick with tearless grief.

“I am much more worried about you, Aleyr,” she said, a mixture of fondness and sorrow in her dark eyes. “I fear my absence leaves a chink in your armor.”

I released her reluctantly. “You are irreplaceable, Melody, but I am not concerned for myself. This heart of mine could chip a diamond.”

She sighed and adjusted my collar. “Hardness of heart is what I fear most for you, Aleyr. Do not let my absence turn you to stone. You have people who care still. Take good care of them.”

“I will,” I promised.

“We will still be around each other. I expect you to visit often for tea,” Melody said firmly. “This is a change, but not the end of the world.”

I nodded, even though I knew the world beyond the Winter Palace would do its best to destroy Melody, no matter her spycraft and skill at diplomacy. Would I even recognize her in a decade or two? “I am your ally, through thick and thin.”

She smiled delicately. “I know. I am most grateful for you, Aleyr. Take good care of Shira for me.”

I bowed my head, squeezing her hand before letting go entirely. “I will.”

Watching the door close behind her as she departed in the company of the Eibonguard left a knot of anger and grief in my stomach beyond description. My closest friend and confidante, sacrificed to the needs of the King in Black. My anger and hurt were selfish and unescapable.

“Melody is a better spy than even Luka, my lady,” Vex said as she approached me. “And a fast ally in court.”

“Which paints a target on her back,” I said bitterly, covering my eyes with my hand. “If anything or anyone harms her, Hell itself will shudder in horror at what I inflict on the one responsible.”

Vex and Haven both knew I was not in the habit of making idle threats any more than the King in Black did. “We will have to find you a new handmaiden, my lady,” Haven said, changing the subject. “Shall I choose from the household staff?”

“That would be best.” I turned on my heel with military sharpness, headed for the training room where Shira waited. “Vex, I want your report on Hallen’s men.”

“Of course, my lady.” The female wight followed on my heels, leaving Haven to handle the domestic front. “Most are alive and tormented rather than turned. A few are Teth’s spawn, mostly the command staff. As far as their combat readiness…they’re on half rations and suffering heavily under Teth’s idea of discipline. Poor little morsels.” Genuine sympathy was alien to Vex’s nature, but her dry feigned version was at least some recognition of their plight.

I turned to Vex outside the training room door. “Tell His Majesty I wish a boon in exchange for his requisition of a new spymaster.”

Vex arched an eyebrow. “Hallen's people?”

“Precisely. Do you think you can convey the message sufficiently diplomatically?” I asked, bitterness rolling across my tongue.

Vex nodded. “The leech queen will be angry.” She respected Teth far more than Varys, but not enough to discard her dislike for the vampire nobles.

“Good,” I said viciously. “I hope she whines to His Majesty excessively.”

“She will do more than that.”

I just wanted to break something with my hands. “She is welcome to try something.”

Vex recognized the dangerous mood. She knew I was goading Teth with this demand, begging the vampire to take a first shot so I could vent all of my rage on her and her spawn. It wasn’t entirely a blind provocation, even if much of it was coming from my wounded heart: Naltheme and Teth would both need to learn the cost of trying to be my replacement if Melody was to have a safe tenure. She would likely be the first place they would strike at if they were wise, but doing so risked His Majesty’s displeasure, which would force them to either be more subtle or choose a more direct target. “And what of Hallen?”

“He will do me a boon if he wishes control of his units again,” I said bluntly. “I expect him to make an appearance if His Majesty grants my request.”

“Understood, my lady,” Vex said, bowing deeply. She kissed my signet ring. “I will convey your message and return.”

I softened for a moment. “Thank you, Vex. I know this is not a simple task.”

“But for you, my lady, I will do it with delight.” Vex’s black, shark-like eyes regarded me with an almost canine loyalty. “Teth is not likely to react for some time. She knows the long game favors her.”

I sighed, some of the tension in my shoulders easing slightly. It was more resignation than relaxation. “She will start conniving immediately, but you have a point,” I said more calmly. “Fortunately, she relies on those less subtle and tight-lipped than herself. If she aims any machinations at reclaiming Hallen’s units, she will likely have to leverage General Maric, which puts her at an immediate disadvantage even if he is remarkably useful. Technically, she is his subordinate.”

Vex used a sharp claw to pick at a piece of something unmentionable lodged in her needle-like teeth. “Which means this request makes an enemy of him as well, my lady.”

“Maric has the least invested in getting rid of me out of all of them. He isn’t interested in becoming my replacement.” I sighed and ran fingers through my hair. “How many fates have I broken, Vex?”

The wight cocked her head slightly as she looked at me. “Countless, my lady. Between splintered prophecies and shattered armies, you have altered the destiny of every nation, every person. Why do you ask?”

I looked down at the misshapen gold ring melted into my finger. I missed Melody already, dry eyes prickling slightly. “I wonder sometimes if by breaking theirs, I have fixed my own,” I said quietly. “It certainly has an inertia.”

“You could do anything you wished, my lady,” Vex said with full confidence. “I have seen you set your mind to the impossible and achieve it.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I smiled faintly at Vex, hiding my pain behind mask-like amusement. “Then it was not impossible, was it? Merely improbable. Thank you, Vex. Do not let me delay you further in your duty. I would have an answer regarding Hallen’s men as quickly as possible, and His Majesty will take some time deliberating. Take a contingent of guards with you in case Teth tries anything.”

“Are you concerned for my safety, my lady?”

I absolutely was, but I knew Vex would slip the guard if I betrayed that. She was rather catlike in her own way. “I am quite confident in your abilities, Vex, but if I recall correctly, that light blue is your favorite doublet. Vampire ichor stains like nothing else. Someone will need to hold it for you if the stabbing starts. Take La’an and maybe a few others so Teth sends enough to make it a proper sport.”

Vex grinned widely at that. “Of course, my lady.” She sauntered off down the hall, whistling to get La’an’s attention.

I opened the door to the training room, half lost in my own thoughts. The crack of dulled metal against rolled reed mats wrapped around a central post told me precisely what Shira was doing: cutting drills. We’d worked on the guards ad nauseam last practice, but to build muscle and technique, I’d given her some drills for the basic strikes. “It’s not a hammer, Shira.”

She glanced over her shoulder and stopped, pivoting on her feet to face me. It was a much smoother transition than she would have made weeks ago. The young woman was dedicated and a quick study. How did you know my alignment was off? she signed.

“The sound.” I approached, picking up one of the light metal trainers. I stepped up to the opposite side, knuckles aligned correctly, and tapped the wrapped mats with a lightning-fast strike. The sound was ever so slightly different. “When you hold it like a hammer, you lose precision. Some of those were only glancing blows.”

At least I am improving.

“True enough, but you have a very long way to go.”

Why did Melody leave? The eyes watching me were obviously accusing.

The dryness of a bone-cold desert settled into my tone. “His Majesty requested it.”

And you just let her go?

The reminder I could not protect my friend sent welling bitterness flooding up my throat, forming a knot of jagged thorns. Even swallowing hurt. I breathed slowly, gently easing air around it. “I did.”

Shira’s fingers flicked with sharp accusation layered on her questions. Do you give Him everything He desires?

“You seem to be laboring under the impression I have a choice,” I said bitterly, my pain crawling out in those words. “One does not deny the Lich-King of the Eternal Kingdom anything.”

Something in the young woman softened. There is always a choice, Lady Frostborn.

I stepped closer to her. “You have a great luxury, Shira. You do not have to measure every choice with the horrors of a mistake that could destroy a kingdom weighing upon you. You do not have to consider the fates of hundreds of thousands or more hanging in the balance. Yours is not the power over life and death. Yes, there is always a choice, but the consequences for yours are very different than for mine. I hope you never have to sit with that sword dangling over your head, for your sake.”

A poor justification for cruelty.

“Cruelty?” My jaw tightened for a moment before I could speak again. “Consider yourself fortunate that I am far more judicious in its application than Varys. If I am cruel, it is the necessary sword wielded with intent and precision.”

She gripped the training blade more tightly and I wondered for a moment if she intended to bring it to bear on me. A foolish notion, even with Woe still in its scabbard at my side. That doesn’t make it better, she signed.

“I disagree. Is it better to ravage the whole of a kingdom or concern oneself only with those who fight in opposition?”

You burned many temples of the Gods of Light.

“Who sent half-trained children to slay me!” I snapped, voice almost betraying itself with a crack. “Do you think I enjoy butchering them? They should have stayed in their homes and lived their lives. Instead, they were lied to and goaded to their deaths.”

Shira’s fingers fell still as she looked at me, like she was seeing me for the first time. Not as Aleyr the monster or Aleyr the regal presence, but something else entirely.

“Of course I hate the temples and the gods they serve,” I said bitterly. “None of them are worthy of those they fling onto the chopping block. They spin their prophecies that make boys fight to the death when I give them every chance to yield, and call their slain little lambs heroes when they are really victims!”

Sidon’s son—

I grabbed her hand tightly before she could finish signing, a mixture of anger and sorrow playing across my face. “Even him. Even knowing his parentage, I begged him to surrender. He told me I was a fiend and a liar who offered false mercy. I wounded him and he forced himself to continue until I killed him. But it wasn’t his fault—it was the fault of Sidon and every other who sent him unprepared to his doom.”

There is no shame in having lost, my own voice whispered in my ears. Yield. Quit the field. Heal and come back stronger. If you continue, you will die.

No! The edge of desperation in his voice cut me: the need to be what his people wanted, to earn the approval of his father, to obey the dictates of his god. I know the treachery you speak with, viper! The doubt you sow!

Go home. Go home to your green fields and your pastures and your family. Throw down your sword and I will be mercy itself to you. I do not wish to kill you.

Liar!

And then he’d made his foolish charge, yelling bloody murder, even with a wounded leg and wounded hand. A simple sidestep and thrust had been enough to end him.

Hush, little one, it is all over now. It is not your fault that you failed. You did your best. I am sorry.

Shira let out a gasp and I released her hand abruptly, noting how she’d paled. I narrowed my eyes at her. “You heard that, didn’t you?” I had forgotten she had some trace divination magic. Untrained, she might have gotten a glimpse of more than I wished.

The priestess nodded, still stunned a little from the vision.

“It would be better if you learned to control that.” I released her hand. “Not everything is for you to know.”

Shira nodded again almost numbly, her shoulders bowed slightly under the weight of the echoes of my grief. I took the training sword from her nerveless fingers, an effortless disarm, and hung it back on the wall of the training room. It was at least a full minute before she was ready to sign something again.

Melody was right about you, Shira signed. And I did not see it.

“I am a woman of many faces,” I said, recalling what I’d heard Melody tell her.

But only one heart, she signed. She bowed stiffly, as would be expected. May I have some time alone?

I nodded and gestured to the exit with one hand. “You may go anywhere in the Winter Palace you please. I ask only that you do not leave its walls. Sanctum is a dangerous place.”