Page 56 of A Crown of Lies

“She’s losing control of her own people,” Rowan said, shaking his head. “There’s nothing more dangerous than a ruler desperate to maintain her fading power.”

“Also explains why she’d move her forces now,” Rixxis pointed out. “Trinta needs to make a decisive strike against Greymark. It’ll give them leverage in the peace talks with Brucia.”

Rowan took the paper from Ieduin, scanning the message. “I don’t really care why. I care about when, how, and where.”

As if by some unspoken agreement, they all started for the library, which seemed to serve as his war room for now. The latest maps would be there, along with all the tokens he’d need to represent troop movements.

They entered, and he stood back as Ewan and Ieduin argued over how to mark troops and movements on the map stretched over the largest table. The same table where they’d called up ghosts. Divine, that felt like a lifetime ago. He’d barely slept, grappling with demons he thought he had laid to rest long ago.

Yet everywhere he looked now, he caught glimpses of Ambra disappearing around a corner ahead of him. He’d look up and see her face in every crowd. Every time he closed his eyes, he’d start awake at the sound of her voice in his ear.

“It’s not hopeless.” Rixxis’s voice jarred him from his thoughts.

He realized he’d crossed his arms and uncrossed them, looking up at her. “What?”

“The situation. It’s not hopeless.” She nodded to Ieduin. “I haven’t been with the Crows very long, but I was in Brucia. By now, everyone knows the story. But did you know it was Ieduin who held off the elves for more than a month? He directed all the fighting on the wall, positioned and commanded the trebuchets, all of it.”

“I had heard that, but I suppose it hadn’t occurred to me just how much work he did.” He watched Ieduin pick up the piece Ewan had just put down and wave it in Ewan’s face, griping at him before putting it back down in nearly the same position.

“There was a day toward the end of that month,” Rixxis said. “It was raining and cold. We’d been fighting up on that wall in the middle of a push that lasted two full days. All of us were exhausted. Ruith had been injured, Kat’s taps were empty, and Aryn was in the hands of the enemy. Quiver Cough had started to make its way through the barracks, too. If ever there was a time when we should have lost faith, it was that dreary day. But Ieduin, he rallied everyone on that wall, calling upon the Crows and the warriors of Brucia to stand together. ‘This is not a battle for Brucia,’ he said. ‘It’s about freedom. That army will make slaves of your wives, your sisters, your sons. I have been a slave, and let me tell you I would rather face my fear and die fighting than ever be one again.’ That was the day I knew.”

“Knew what?” Rowan asked.

Rixxis sprouted a rare smile. “That I would follow him anywhere. I'd fight for him. That we’d win.” She nodded in Ieduin’s direction. “Ieduin might not be the brilliant battlemaster that Ruith is, nor the stealthy killer that Aryn is. He doesn’t have Kat’s social graces, but he has a fighting spirit. He has determination, and that is something that cannot be taught. Ieduin will fight for you even if he is the last one standing.”

Warmth spread through Rowan’s chest as he watched Ieduin and Ewan finishing up the map. He couldn’t fully explain the strange feeling he had sometimes when he looked at Ieduin or Rixxis, especially when they didn’t know he was watching them. Maybe it was pride. It seemed almost like it, but with a softer edge.

“What about you, my dear?” Rowan asked.

Rixxis’s smile faded. “What about me?”

He turned to her, smiling warmly. “Will you fight for me? Not just for Greymark. For me.”

She considered him for a long moment. “I fight for the Crows.”

“What would you say if I offered you something more permanent here?”

Her neutral expression turned into a frown, and she glanced over at Ieduin. “I go where he goes.”

I’m so lucky to have met them both, he thought. How easily things might have turned out differently. He almost hadn’t gone to compete for Eris’s hand. Why should he? The only reason he’d gone at all was to be seen doing it. He’d wanted to know what all the fuss was about, especially since he had mustered a small army for her.

The day he rode over the horizon and beheld the strength of Taratheil’s army, he debated turning around. Even if they had more men than the elves, most of his people were farmers rather than trained warriors. If it came to battle, his losses would have been the heaviest among all the lords of Trinta, because that was how it always was.

That was the day he had decided he was done letting Trinta buy strength with Greymark blood. He was tired of being insulted, looked over, treated as lesser and then being expected to bleed for a monarch who barely knew he and his people existed.

His heart was still made of ice when he arrived in Brucia. It hadn’t been three months since he laid Ambra to rest, and he was bitter over the loss. No one could have made him feel much of anything except anger at a senseless loss, at his own incompetence.

And then he heard stories about Ieduin and Rixxis. People whispered about the elf and the tall warrioress in Brucia the same way nobles whispered about him in Trinta. Rowan had even gone down to the Dove and Dagger to see if there was any truth to the rumors. It was a shock for him to discover Ieduin ran a tight ship down there, and everyone loved him for it. He treated his people well, cared little for what anyone had to say about him, and seemed to have a mischievous streak in him a mile wide. Anyone who could smile and laugh as often as Ieduin did in those days was someone worth getting to know.

It had taken him longer to learn anything about Rixxis. Her past seemed buried, shrouded in paperwork that he was sure was forged. Nevertheless, he was helpless when he saw her dance at the engagement ball. Seeing Rixxis and Ieduin together was like an epiphany, as if he had suddenly stumbled upon two of the greatest mysteries he had ever uncovered.

Once, his da had described meeting his mother and called her the missing half of himself. Rowan did not look at Ieduin and Rixxis in the same light. They were not extensions of him, missing parts he’d been waiting all his life to find. Instead, they were each wonderful and whole on their own, complete with their own wishes, secrets, and dreams. There was a part of him that cried out to be a part of those things, some small, deep thing that was only satisfied when he was with them. Even if it was only for moments like that one where they weren’t really speaking to each other. His soul was at peace when they were together. He knew it was right. Or at least, he hoped for it.

“Right,” Ewan declared. “Think we’re ready.”

Rixxis and Rowan approached the table.

Ieduin pointed to the northern section of the map, where the bulk of the new markers had been placed. “Trinta has to come all the way here. Considering the time of year, and the support they need to bring with them for such an army, they’ll want to avoid these mountain passes.”

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