RE: Monarch

It was well into the evening when we finally got around to talking about it. Annette didn’t so much as balk at the odds. Her solution provided exactly the balance I was looking for, a way to show the regiment exactly what we were capable of martially without invoking feelings of unfairness or resentment, demonstrate strategic mastery, and also give us a fighting chance. If we pulled it off, it had the added benefit of instilling a sense of camaraderie and competition. And no one would be able to claim that the bout was unfair.

The problem was, Annette had a condition. And Sera wouldn’t like it.

I’d decided for the sake of safety that it wasn’t worth the risk of leaving the drephin woman in Maya’s rooms. We’d need Maya for what was coming, and the chance of a servant or one of Thaddeus’s nosier operatives stumbling upon her was simply too high. And the discovery of an elven dissident stowed in an emissary’s quarters would not play well.

With Annette’s help and a considerable dash of trepidation, I relocated the still-unconscious woman to Lord Erebus’s estate. I knew from our brief interactions that he was both sympathetic to nonhumans and wary of the crown, which was sufficient for my purposes. After checking up on Kerai—a creature of the wild being showered in such luxury he looked positively spoiled—I started by explaining the situation at the dungeons—not the sort of information I’d typically bandy about freely, but half the inquisitors in the dungeon had either seen or heard what had happened, and a significant portion of those were probably less than happy about it.

Which meant the information was already out. I could disclose it to Lord Erebus as a show of trust at practically no cost to myself.

I mentioned nothing about the greater disappearances, simply implied that the dungeons were not secure. Erebus filled in the rest himself.

He smiled in that thoughtful way of his, the skin at the edge of his eyes crinkling at the edges. “I am glad you feel as if you can rely on me, my prince. And that our momentary alliance might not be so temporary after all.”

I affirmed he was correct, my nerves still frayed from worry over the next few hours, but not so extensively that I lost my manners. I shook his hand, thanked him, and went on my way.

The gap between me and Annette had been wide, the chasm of antagonism separating me from Sera wider still. I had largely closed those individual breaches. My standing with Sera was shaky but holding. Which was an achievement worthy of acknowledgement. The problem was, it simply wasn’t enough. Not for Annette’s condition to be met. And the yawning gulf between Sera and Annette was more significant than it ever had been.

And now, standing in Annette’s war room, I grew nervous simply at the idea of my sisters occupying the same space. They behaved themselves well enough in a public setting when their paths crossed, but as soon as there were no eyes to see or ears to hear, the faux civility between them devolved easily.

Annette was hard at work, making notes, using koss pieces from the pushed away boards on the large center table, murmuring to herself as the door creaked open, the tip of a sword glimmering in the lantern light.

Sera nodded to me and sheathed her blade.

“Jumpy?” I asked.

Sera shrugged. “It was a missive delivered from a servant in the middle of the night, directing me to meet you in the runt’s territory.”

“The runt is here,” Annette proclaimed, deadpan, as she placed another batch of koss pieces on the map.

“Speak of the devil.” Sera leered at her, just short of sticking her tongue out before her attention returned to me. “What is this?”

“This,” I highlighted the map on the table, “Is how we’re going to get you your banner.”

“The commander made himself clear.”

I shook my head. “That wasn’t the last of it. I pushed him, after you left. Advocated for you. He still wasn’t… overly positive… on our prospects, but he caved a bit. Said we’d need to do something truly legendary to pull it off.”

Sera scoffed. “What, like taking on the entire regiment?”

I glanced at Annette. “Did you already tell her the plan?”

“As if we talk,” Annette said.

“You’re both insane.” Sera gaped openly, stricken. “Perhaps you’ve grown used to trading in legends, brother, but your expectations are out of control.”

“It would only be half the regiment, if that soothes your cowardice,” Annette sniped.

Dammit, Annette.

Sera spun, her eyes furious, leveling all the pent-up rage she’d been holding since the dungeons and beyond. “Says the near-invalid who will be sipping tea while the adults go into battle.”

“To that point, Annette will be accompanying us,” I said, wanting to put the condition out there early, give Sera time to wrap her mind around it.

Sera threw back her head and laughed, pulling her hands down her face. “Gods. Your delusion is staggering. The runt will fold at the first scrape of her knee. She has no combat experience beyond what she’s read between the covers of a dusty book, and I trust her less than I trust you.”

In truth, what she was saying wasn’t anything I hadn’t thought myself, albeit in less cruel terms. While Sera herself had little actual combat experience, she had an impressive repository of muscle memory and practice to fall back on. Annette didn’t even have that. Even if she didn’t intend to fight directly, the only reason I’d even tangentially agreed to this was the way she’d kept calm and tried to warn me, right before Thoth killed her.

“This was a bad idea. I’m done.” Sera spun on her heel and began to walk away.

“If you really believe that,” I called after her softly, “there are no witnesses beyond the three of us. Why don’t you try cutting her down yourself?”

Sera stopped mid-stride and turned to face me slowly. At which point she noticed Annette was nowhere to be seen. She panned the room, head scanning back and forth, cautiously drawing her sword once more, her shoulders tensing. “What the hells?”

When I shrugged, she stalked around the room, checking in every nook and cranny, then outside the window.

“Cairn. Seriously. Did you cast something on her?”

“On my status, I did nothing.” Other than discuss this as a possible outcome with Annette beforehand. Vogrin was right that she’d improve with time. But I don’t think even he realized how fast. Before her awakening, Annette was an analytical thinker and brutal tactician, bound by the constraints of her body. But magic was a considerable equalizer, and Annette had been practicing with purpose almost the entire day. While it took her nearly a minute of focused concentration to achieve her first transformation, Sera’s jarring retreat had caught us both out. She’d made the change in seconds, shifting into the background.

In a year, perhaps even months, Annette was going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Sera did several full circles of the war room, checking out each window multiple times before she returned to me, scowling. “If the point of this was to show how excellent she is at running away—”

Annette stepped out from a bookcase directly in Sera’s view, illusion fading as she returned to us.

Sera panned from the bookcase to Annette, then back to the bookcase, too stunned to emote. “I suppose it was only a matter of time.”

I snorted. “Now, if we’re all done poking at each other and posturing, can we move on?”

Sera didn’t leave as Annette laid out the strategy, using illusions to augment her points. “We’ll be using the Seryndor Ruins as a proving ground.” Twin, ethereal spires extended up from a square in the center of the map. “There’s an expanse of overgrown urban center here, and the area of engagement will extend a wind-span beyond the outskirts, encompassing a sizable chunk of the surrounding Everwood.”

“So you can just… do magic now?” Sera asked quietly, not looking at Annette.

“Tricks and misdirects, as you witnessed yourself. Nothing compared to the power you wield,” Annette said, lying as smoothly as she breathed. For the immediate future it was close enough to the truth.

Sera shook her head as if to clear it. “Uh… Fine. Can’t believe we’re even seriously talking about this, but fine. Seryndor. First thing that comes to mind, is why stage this anywhere urban at all? I get that they’re ruins but historically, our troops have had the most trouble navigating the Everwood terrain itself. Something you have experience with.” She looked at me. “Why not stage it there? In a large section of dense forest that will be difficult to navigate?”

I glanced at Annette. “We discussed that, briefly. If we were up against any other regiment, the Everwood would be the ideal terrain.”

“But not yours,” Sera said.

I shook my head. “The man you know as Commander Cephur cut his teeth in the rangers. I suspect he’s more than familiar with that weakness and has specifically trained his regiment around it. Knowing that, it would take a special sort of hubris to follow through.”

“You’re sure?” Sera asked. “His job was to prepare them for you, make sure they were competent in every environment.”

“Even if he didn’t, the regiment is mixed. I’ve gone up against elves in the forest before and have no intention of repeating that experience if possible.”

“And in the forest, both of your specialties become a dual-edged blade,” Annette said. “Even though demon-fire can be controlled to an extent, traditional fire cannot. And we will not be the only ones with the latter. There is too high of a chance of things turning chaotic. And we want as controllable a scenario as possible.” Her eyes slid to the map. “In addition, staging this in a well-known, oft-romanticized location will reinforce the image we wish to project.”

“What image?” Sera asked, her curiosity about the greater plan elbowing out her annoyance that Annette seemed to be steering the conversation.

We told her what we had. The core of it, the rough concept, was all Annette. I’d added to it and honed a strategy that was theoretical to a fine, practical edge.

By the end, Sera was laughing again. But this time, not in ridicule. She wiped tears from her eyes. “Gods strike me down. That is underhanded enough to be worthy of the King himself. It’s so brazen I’m half-expecting the next thing you’re going to tell me is that we’re doing all this tomorrow.”

I chuckled. “Ah. No. I have some experience leading a small squad against a superior force before, but we had experience working together. Synergy. Our short-term, non-ideal solution to that is simple. We’re going to rough it for a couple days. Head to Seryndor early and get a sense for the terrain, as well as a general idea of how our individual abilities complement the others’, and come up with practical tactics to fall back on. It won’t be as good as if we’d spent weeks drilling together, but it will be better than nothing. ”

Sera leaned forward, staring at the map. “And then we knock down a regiment.”

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