Page 83 of Stars May Burn

Lord Lyrason focused his smile back on me. “I won’t hold you up further, but you look well, Lady Sophie. Being Lady Batton seems to suit you. I’m glad. I am sure Kasomere is thrilled to have you.” He turned back to Callum. “A small warning, Mister Tavolyn. I respect you and the general. But don’t push things too far. I would hate for things to become an unfortunate mess.”

I glanced at Callum in question, but he was completely focused on Lord Lyrason. His smile wasn’t friendly. “Quite. The last thing anyone needs is a mess. Good thing yours get cleaned up for you.”

Lord Lyrason’s smile widened. He bowed again and left.

Callum shivered. “I hate it when he sneaks up on you like a snake. Come. Let’s see the garden.”

I nodded and decided to put Lord Lyrason from my mind, focusing instead on what it had felt like to dance with Kasten.

KASTEN

The familiar rush of adrenaline sharpened my senses as I entered the room where my father waited. The walls were white panels with gold details, and the carpet was a rich royal blue. The king sat behind a desk, looking as smart and spotless as ever, dressed in white and gold with a red kerchief which reminded me of somebody getting their throat slit on the battlefield—somebody dying because of this man’s orders. His dark hair was slicked to one side and his mustache was oiled to points. His jacket that was always bedecked with meaningless medals was still hanging from a hook, too heavy with lies to be worn casually.

I bowed deeply to my father, who didn’t even look up to acknowledge it, then turned to study the other people in the room: my half brother, Prince Stirling, and my half sister, Princess Annabelle. Both stood by the window holding drinks. I bowed to them, and they returned nods. Stirling was dressed similarly to the king, only his kerchief was gold and frothed with ridiculous lace that rivaled Callum’s. He always liked attracting attention. Annabelle wore a huge sky blue gown with a slim waist and enormous skirts. Her blonde hair was tied back with a blue silk bow that was so big, it framed her face. I wondered if she struggled to breathe in those dresses like Sophie. If she was uncomfortable, it was impossible to tell from her blank smile as our eyes met. Both the prince and princess had the straight blonde hair of their mother, as did their brother who was currently too young for such parties. Only I shared the king’s hair color. I’m sure that annoyed him—a continuous reminder of his big mistake and the problem he couldn’t seem to deal with.

The king looked up from a letter he was reading. “Kasten, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised that you turned up instead of hiding away in Kasomere.”

I merely nodded in response, keeping my expression carefully blank and formal. I heard a faint high-pitched whine; it took me a moment to realize it wasn’t ringing in my ears from being alert and on edge, but rather a faint sound being picked up by my detector. That made no sense. Callum wasn’t wearing one and was rooms away, so he couldn’t be the source of the sound. There were no soulless here, of course, and besides, it was too faint a signal. I tried to put my curiosity to the side and focus on Father. I had to keep my wits.

“But I suppose it’s not just the war keeping you busy. Not now that you’ve suddenly decided to take a wife. Tell me, is she with child?”

I almost shifted with unease, but kept my feet rooted firmly to the ground. “No, Your Majesty.”

He pursed his lips and flicked his fingers. “Do tell me if and when she is. That is, if she can get pregnant. She had no success with her last husband, I heard. But you’re not one to shy away from risks, are you?”

I clenched my jaw and inclined my head.

He dropped his eyes back down to his desk. “I heard there were heavy losses in Whitehill.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We barely won. Whitehill is not an easy fortress to take, especially with only two regiments.” I struggled to keep anger from my voice.

“I also hear that you caused extensive fire damage to the main tower.” The king arched an eyebrow. “Yet the enemy managed to take it without destroying anything. You know we’re in a war of attrition. You should be more careful. Our armies are not endless. It’s your duty as the general to limit our losses. You left that fort vulnerable until the tower can be rebuilt, which makes the enemy far more likely to take it again.”

I met his eyes, my heart thudding in rage. “Limiting loss of life is a duty I take very seriously, Your Majesty. If part of the garrison hadn’t been removed, it would have never fallen. And nobody would have died.”

The king met my gaze with one full of steel. “I would be careful what you insinuate, boy. Those soldiers were needed elsewhere. Our border is long, and the southern portion at least has better inland defenses should they break through such as Kasomere. I expect you to be capable enough to defend it.”

I clenched my jaw and said nothing. There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t make things worse, and we both knew it.

“After Lord Hans’s tragic death, you will be in charge of defending his lands as well until I find a suitable replacement.”

My resources would be stretched by that. “As you wish.”

After a strained silence, I blew out a breath. “Was there anything else you wanted to say, Your Majesty, other than to express your disappointment?”

He rubbed a finger below his mustache. “Since you were here, I thought I would mention to you early that I’ve added to our growing plans. The next campaign will be our biggest push yet and I wish to engage all our regiments at once. I’ll summon you back to Adenburg in two weeks to help us formalize our battle strategy. I want you here at the palace for a week. I’m sure that you came up with some tactics and proposals before you were interrupted by the Whitehill incident. Make sure your regiment is ready, I suspect you will need to do some recruitment to swell your ranks back to the thousand mark. Prince Stirling has requested to join us.” He nodded over my shoulder to his son. “I believe his ideas may help reduce our losses.”

I frowned. “So soon? We’re still recovering from injuries received in the last battle, and I need to replace almost five hundred soldiers. Over a thousand if you wish me to build Lord Hans’s regiment as well.” Normally campaigns were months apart, though taking back Whitehill hadn’t exactly been a fully planned attack.

The king eyed me with his perpetual look of disappointment. “You were only gone a week. I heard you were on death’s door, yet you appear to have recovered well enough to be attending parties. If you don’t have enough soldiers in training in Kasomere or in Lord Hans’s land, take fresh recruits from Adenburg. I will indeed expect a full two regiments from you.”

I gritted my teeth. As if I would let his spies into my ranks. I only ever recruited from Kasomere, and he knew this. But to find two thousand men…

The king sighed. “If this is too much for you, Kasten, I’ll give your job to somebody else.”

I swallowed my retort and bowed. More battles. More death. More time away from Sophie. “I’ll be here, Your Majesty. And I’ll bring my regiment back up to one thousand.” I cast a quick look at Prince Stirling, leaning against the wall behind me, sipping wine. He raised his glass to me, and I quickly returned my attention to the king. Stirling had never seen action and had a narrow view of the world. How could his ideas possibly be of use? Maybe it was just another way the king could give the credit to somebody other than me. He needed to make his choice of succession as clear as he could, after all.

The king hesitated as if deciding whether to say something. “I’ll be honest with you, Kasten. In the event of your death, I intend Stirling to take over your role. It’s best to be prepared for these things.”

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