CHAPTER FIVE

Ban finished his third circle around the circumference of the reception hall. His nervous energy from before the duel had yet to leave him. Choosing Enfri's bodyguard had been part of his day's worries. The rest had to do with what came next.

He didn't trust Elise Alinwé. Not one bit. She'd taken advantage of Enfri before, and Ban wouldn't put it past her to do it again.

But for Enfri's sake, he prayed she wouldn't.

There were other reception halls. Small ones, meant for more intimate gatherings. This one was for the big events.

The Imperial Palace's largest reception hall was currently bare of furniture; the long tables and chairs it would soon hold were still under commission and hadn't been finished just yet. It was a octagonal room with tall, glass-paned windows on the five exterior walls. A pair of service entrances flanked the main doors and allowed for staff to bring in food and drink should the hall be utilized as a dining room, or for the furniture to be quickly removed in the event it was to be used for a ballroom.

The palace was designed more for administration of the empire than to host social functions. Nonetheless, such events were an inevitability of ruling a nation, and the reception hall was built with that in mind. The hardwood floor was polished to a sheen. The lighting and acoustics were ideal for a gala lasting well into the night. There was a platform for a string quintet or any other musicians the empress could ask for, and the domed ceiling bore a phenomenal mural of dragons in flight. Ban had even heard rumors that a scrivener could invest a hidden sigil that caused the mural's pigments to glow softly.

Almo the Rampart, the Bastion's sire and Eldest of the blue chroma, painted the mural himself. The Rampart muttered complaints throughout, but for all his bluster and constant claims of having no interest in swearing fealty to Enfri, Almo certainly hung around a lot and pitched in. Ban was near to the point of telling the irascible dragon to stop pretending neutrality. The moment he started making enchanted paintings for the empress, Almo really couldn't claim to be uninvolved anymore.

A combined total of twenty-five aviators from both the Storyteller's and the Huntress' crews stood at attention along the periphery. The honor guard included Suuri Nolaas and Ban's second officer, Knight-Lieutenant Karlo. Enfri's officers, Kora Mensc and Dahvid Corwyn, were in command. Deebee had been speaking with Kora, likely discussing what tricks might be up Elise's sleeve, when the Storyteller left her to approach Ban as he started his fourth lap around the room.

"Stop pacing, boy," Deebee scolded. "You're giving me anxiety, keeping that up. You'll wear the varnish off the floors."

Ban didn't stop until Deebee walked up to him, took him by the arm, and held him trapped next to her as if she were a suffering mother and Ban was her fidgety child. Ban grunted but let Deebee pull him along to wait with her in the center of the room.

Deebee's human form wasn't as tall as those of most of the mighty, but it was far more carefully put together. While most dragons might pick someone out of a crowd to imitate and others might draw from the features of two or more additional subjects to make a suitable form for themselves, Deebee went to great lengths with an exacting attention to detail to craft a body she found the most aesthetically pleasing.

The result was a woman of indeterminate origin. Her elegant nose might've been from Nadia, and her narrow eyes were possibly Althandi or Shotoese. Deebee had high and prominent cheekbones, a delicate jawline, and a slim, dainty figure. Deebee had a distinctive face, and it was made even more so by her pure silver skin and golden hair.

She wore a dark green dress with a plunging neckline. It was made from light and airy silk. Exceedingly simple yet beautiful in that simplicity. The breezy skirt that fluttered well above her ankles crossed the line of decency most anywhere but Shan Alee. Deebee also went barefoot. Her willingness to wear clothes to satisfy mortal sensibilities didn't include shoes of any kind.

The cultural dress standards arising in New Sandharbor were trending towards what would've been considered scandalous elsewhere in the Five Kingdoms. Men went shirtless, ladies thought little of showing their legs, and no one of any gender felt particularly obliged to cover their heads. When the sun got too bright, wide-brimmed mens' hats were preferred. Ban could hardly remember the last time he saw a woman wearing a shawl. Not long ago, Ban would've thought Shan Alee and its provocative attire to be a paradise. In practice, he hardly knew where to keep his eyes anymore. After all, Ban Karst was a claimed man and would very soon be a father. He didn't have it in him to enjoy the scenery as he might once have done.

Which was why, when Enfri came strolling into the reception hall with Reyn, Ban almost felt the need to turn his back. His hand went to his face, half-expecting to find a nosebleed. Waves and tides, but that dress Enfri was wearing could be considered a lethal weapon!

"Now I feel underdressed," Ban said to cover his reaction.

Enfri scoffed. "You don't say. Me too."

"No one with a pulse will complain."

"Thank you kindly, my lord. Where's your beret?"

Ban gave her a wounded look.

Enfri smiled and flicked her wrist at him before turning to Deebee. "Is Kimpo coming?" she asked.

"Placing wards on the rookery," Deebee explained. "She'll be along in a moment. Ever since the attack on my lair, my Huntress has been more paranoid than usual whenever we leave the eggs alone for a few minutes."

Enfri seemed beyond eager to meet the new hatchlings. "Will it be much longer, you think?"

"Any day now, really," Deebee said. "The eggs are wobbling about at all hours anymore. Don't worry, love. I'll make sure to send for you at the first sign of cracks in the shells."

"You'd better," Enfri said. "That goes double for you, Ban. Moon said she'll never forgive you if one of the green ones has to do the delivery."

Ban held up his hands in mock surrender. He'd gotten his ears chewed off about this subject enough times— by Enfri and Moon both— that he heard it in his dreams. They kept nagging him so much he wondered if they realized that Enfri delivering the rybka was as important to him as it was to them.

Kimpo entered into the reception hall through one of the service entrances. Coming through the back halls used by palace staff added a little more distance, but as it avoided anyone who would try demanding her attention, it was faster. "Has the renegade arrived yet?" she asked.

"Not yet," Enfri said. She held her hands folded over her stomach but abstained from wringing them together.

Kimpo glanced at Deebee clutching Ban's arm. She raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Though Kimpo was often possessive of her Ruby Knight, she didn't appear to mind if it was Deebee encroaching on her territory. Regardless, Deebee released Ban to go to Enfri's side.

They waited in the center of the reception hall. Ban and Enfri in the center, flanked by their respective bound partners. Reyn stood on the other side of Deebee from Enfri. Together, they watched the door, no further words passing between them. After a handful of minutes passed, the doors were pushed open by a pair of armsmen stationed outside. Everyone in the hall stiffened, their backs going rigid, and the honor guard tensed.

Krayson was the first to enter. He was followed by Elise Alinwé, wearing raiment of black and scarlet. Elise would've been told she could bring two knights and three dragons with her to this summons, but it appeared she hadn't brought that many. Cardin was with her, as was the skinny, young Beryl who Elise used as an attendant. The two dragons accompanying them were Elise's own bound dragon and the Beryl's rose, Kayvess the Purifier.

While Kimpo loosed a nearly inaudible growl deep within her throat, Ban watched Elise's First Knight. Cardin used to be bound to the Inamorata, but it seemed he'd yet to receive a bond to a different dragon since then. The Knights of Alinwé weren't the most forthcoming about their internal workings, so Ban wasn't certain if Cardin's apparent lack of a bond was legitimate or some sort of deception on their part. He assumed the latter.

Krayson walked ahead of his charges and came to stand at Kimpo's side. He bowed to Enfri before taking his place and inclined his head to Ban. "Saveen is waiting in the foyer," Krayson reported quietly. "I've asked her to keep the exits secure until dismissed."

Ban acknowledged him with a nod before calling an order to Suuri. "Captain, lay privacy wards."

Suuri saluted, then she and a handful of other arcanists in the honor guard cooperated to place a spell against eavesdroppers around the hall. No sound from inside the ward could leave, and none from outside could enter. The ward also included circumventions against scries in case anyone tried listening in through arcane means. Enfri wished for assurance that anything said between her and Elise would remain among the people she trusted.

Elise and her followers came to stand five paces away. Cardin and the Inamorata were on her either side while the Beryl and the Purifier kept behind them.

The Beryl, Temri, was little more than a child. She didn't appear at first glance to be a half-breed like Elise's other wards, but if she survived the attack on Elise's old enclave in the Spired City, she must've been. There was a wild look to Temri, as if she were a feral creature who'd as soon bite as remain calm. Regardless, her utter devotion to Elise was undeniable.

The Inamorata and the Purifier kept to their human forms, both wearing similar raiment to Elise. Kayvess had dusky pink skin and long, black hair that carried hints of violet. Her blue eyes were every bit as wild as her Beryl's.

"Thank you for coming," Enfri said in a calm tone.

As Elise entered, she never took her eyes off Enfri. Ban would never have called Elise inscrutable before. She usually wore her black heart on her sleeve, as it were, but she was difficult to read at the moment. There might've been a little awe in the way she stared at Enfri, or even longing. In the weeks after Reyn captured her snooping about the palace, Elise had demanded to see her niece. This was the first they'd seen of each other since then.

"Why now?" Elise asked simply.

"I felt it time," Enfri replied.

"Three months," Elise said. "Past time. There are things I have to tell you that you need to know."

"You've had plenty of chances to give anything you have to my representatives."

Elise's eyes went to Krayson before returning. "Not for the blood runner's ears. Only yours." She looked around the reception hall, taking in the honor guard. "I want to speak with you alone, Enfri."

Deebee was shaking her head before Elise finished the sentence. "That isn't going to happen."

Elise curled her lip. "I figured. By the time I'm through, girl, you'll wish these others hadn't heard the things I'm about to say."

Kimpo's growl became more audible. "Be grateful you're allowed to breathe, let alone speak."

Ban expected more of a reaction to Kimpo's implied threat. Temri snarled about it, but Elise and the others gave little to no reaction.

"It's alright, my Huntress," Enfri said. "I didn't ask her here to trade barbs. All I want is simple. I want the answers she hasn't given Brother Joshuan." She looked to Elise. "I want to know why you broke our truce. We agreed not to interfere with each other. You withdrew your claim to Chaya Domun and returned the Ascendent to me, so why did you come to New Sandharbor?"

"With convenient timing," Deebee added. "The very morning after her agent inside our ranks was revealed."

Ban watched Enfri out of the corner of his eye. Aside from clutching her hands together so tightly that her knuckles went pale, Enfri showed no outward sign of distress. She kept her eyes forward and didn't look away from her aunt.

"I didn't go to your assassin," Elise said. "She contacted me. Your princess wasn't much interested in workin' together. She just told me what she meant to do so I could take advantage of it. I never knew her reasons, but she decided that she wanted me to rule Shan Alee rather than you."

"Sounds like Jin wasn't your agent," Ban said. "More like you were hers."

Elise scoffed. "Hardly. Her information was good to start, but after that mess with the Melcians, I knew I couldn't rely on anythin' she said anymore. I told her to provoke a battle, one you could win, but she made it into a slaughter for both sides. Once the Melcians knew of Chaya Domun, they went to insane lengths. Princess Jin miscalculated how much they feared you."

Ban shifted his feet. He remembered how Jin acted that day before the Battle of Sandharbor. She'd been adamant, more than was usual, that there couldn't be a violent confrontation with the Crescent Legion. That was in line with what they'd heard from House Akazewi since then. Jin told Princess Omolade to blockade the northern road and prevent Enfri's legion from entering Melcia. Ban didn't believe she meant to cause any of what came as a result.

"I'm not asking you about Jin," Enfri said. "I know all I need to know about Jin. I'm asking about you." She took a step forward. "Why did you come here?"

Elise crossed her arms and searched Enfri's face. Her eyes traced over the tattoos covering Enfri's exposed skin, taking stock of just how far ahead of her Enfri truly was. "I've said this once before, but between the two of us, you have the greater position. You have a stronghold. What was important to me is that your stronghold has eyes keepin' watch on what goes on around it."

Reyn leaned towards Enfri to whisper something to her. Enfri nodded.

"We found a copy of a scouting report from the Quartz Knights in your possession," Enfri said after the brief conference. "It was about the Espallans sending their hallah to World's End Gate."

Elise didn't bother trying to deny it. "That's right."

"Why would you care? Your fight is with Althandor, not the Jade Empire."

Elise gave a short laugh. "You're right. My fight is with Althandor. So's the Jade Empire's."

"You meant to help them?" Enfri demanded. "You must not have heard, but the west is ruled by a demon."

"So your blood runner's been sayin'," Elise said. "Wasn't exactly common knowledge when I thought to see for myself. Neither was the madman who's their emperor now."

"I would hope learning Master Deveaux is the Glorious Emperor would change your mind."

"It bears reconsideration," Elise said with distaste. "The fancy man was never all that stable. It's why I put certain safeguards in place."

"You mean reversing your corrupted form of the bond so that the knight was slave to his dragon, rather than the other way around?"

Elise nodded. "Among other things. And just so we're clear, your bonds are the corrupted kind. You didn't have the benefit of learning the proper way to forge them like I did."

Ban stopped himself from muttering under his breath. There were too many things wrong with what Elise said for Ban to settle on what to correct first.

"But that doesn't matter," Elise continued. "I knew about the Glorious Emperor asking you to be his bride. Half of Chaya Domun knew about that. I figured if he couldn't have one Dragon Empress, he might prefer another."

Enfri's eyes went wide.

"As I said, I've since reconsidered." Elise made a dismissive gesture. "Knowing the fancy man is the new Glorious Emperor changes a lot of plans."

"That would've been a nasty surprise for you," Ban said. "By the time you knew better, it might've been too late to turn back."

Elise shrugged in vague agreement. "Can't say you're wrong. But I wasn't too concerned about it. I'd ally myself with them, but my real concerns were elsewhere. I wanted the Imperial City. Shan Alee is alive again, and I wanted to make my claim before someone who didn't have the right to our homeland moved in."

"Now that makes more sense," Enfri said. "You wanted to reach the old empire's capital before I could. The reason you came was to see if I was already sending anyone there, or if we knew of anyone else who would."

"You might've just asked," Ban pointed out.

Elise scoffed. "And show my hand? Remind you the Imperial City won't just wait out in the middle of this new world for you? That someone else will claim it if you don't? It wasn't worth the risk."

"Except in hindsight, obviously," Deebee said. "And a moot issue. Enfri has already taken possession of the Imperial City."

Enfri had her brows furrowed as she looked at the ground between the two groups. "You're not saying everything. That can't be all of it. You wouldn't have come here just for that."

Elise raised an eyebrow.

Enfri looked her in the eye. "If that was the only reason, you wouldn't still be here. Don't pretend you couldn't leave if you wanted to. I haven't had you spiked with Dekaam and thrown into a holding cell partly because it would make a lot of things easier for me if you did leave. Why haven't you?"

The answer was immediate. "Because I lost to you," Elise said. "Our ancestors don't speak to me anymore. Do they still speak to you?"

Enfri stiffened. "Yes."

"Because they've chosen which of us they prefer. When all's said in done, you're the only Dragon Empress there is."

Enfri's side all had different reactions to that. Deebee scowled and Kimpo looked both surprised and disturbed to hear Elise admit defeat. Krayson remained studious of her, and Reyn looked as if she were parsing through Elise's statements to look for a hidden meaning. Enfri, however, had the only reaction that seemed out of place.

She looked horrified.

Ban felt elder magic pulling on his ether, and he then knew the reason Enfri would fear victory over Elise. If the spooks decided she was the preferable choice over a monster like her aunt, then perhaps Jin wasn't wrong to oppose her.

"There's things I need to tell you," Elise said. "Now that I lost our ancestor's support, it's more important than ever you learn how to deal with them."

Enfri remained troubled. "What is there you have to teach me about them?"

"For starters, how to keep secrets from them."

"They're in her mind," Deebee said, "watching her every move, listening to everything she thinks and says. You can't keep secrets from something like that."

Elise smirked and walked behind Cardin. She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Tell me, girl, if they're surprised when I tell you that my First Knight carries the same elder blood we do."

It took a moment for that to hit Ban with its full weight. By the aghast looks all around, even from Temri and Elise's dragons, no one but Elise and Cardin so much as suspected.

"Well?" Elise asked.

"They..." Enfri narrowed her eyes. There was a change in them, like if the sun were briefly hidden behind a wisp of dark cloud. "They say you're lying."

Ban watched the change in Enfri's eyes. He'd learned to spot that difference, the change in Enfri's bearing, when the spooks were talking to her.

Elise smiled. "Of course they do. Tell them to take a closer look." While Cardin stared impassively ahead, Elise ran her hand down his cheek. "My greatest of knights is the sole surviving son of my beloved cousin. Our ancestors know of how I claimed to disown her once she wed a boy from Nadia. What they don't know is how I took that back the instant their sight was blinded. I hid her from them, as I hid her sons."

Enfri's lips parted as she looked between Elise and Cardin.

"That's right," Elise said. "That makes Cardin your cousin. Your family is a little larger than you thought."

"Why tell me this?" Enfri asked breathlessly.

Elise stepped around Cardin and came within two paces. "To prove what I say. I can help you, Enfri. With the things I know of how the costs of our bloodline work, you don't have to be afraid of Shoen and the others taking over. I know they nearly once did before, when they stopped you from killing me."

Enfri raised her chin, her breaths growing uneven.

"Other things, too. You know of the ebb and flow in the place they dwell. What if I told you there were ways to help that along. You must be growing tired of Shoen, and I'm sure you'd rather have your father."

Deebee put her hand on Enfri's arm when she grew unsteady. "You can help her bring Yora back?"

"Is that possible?" Enfri asked quietly.

"It is," Elise said. "If I don't miss my guess, you've already taken the first steps. Your mage slayer." She nodded towards Reyn. "She's been training you as a Dekaam, hasn't she?"

"Is that important?" Ban asked.

Elise looked at him, and Ban had the distinct impression he was being leered at.

"I'll tell all I know," Elise said. Her eyes went back to Enfri. "But I won't do it for free."

"Here it comes," Kimpo muttered. "The sun in a wineglass in exchange for vague promises."

"I'm not askin' much," Elise said calmly.

"What is it you want?" Enfri asked.

Elise took another step forward, and the guards around the room tensed. Ignoring them, she came still closer, until she could reach out and touch Enfri on the cheek.

The doors into the reception hall burst open. The guards were already on edge, and they readied weapons at the sudden arrival. Ban snapped his head around to look and was ready to give whomever was intruding the sharp side of his tongue. He swallowed his words before they left his mouth.

"Um, Marshal?" Saveen was breathing heavily as if she'd sprinted all the way from the foyer. She was brushed aside when a force of nature swept past her and into the hall.

"So that's why you haven't answered my sendings," the woman said. She stormed into the reception hall without slowing or giving her attention to anyone but Enfri. "The war criminal and her renegades can wait. This is more important."

Enfri's mouth hung open in shock. "Y-your...

"Your Highness," Ban said.

She wore the studded leather armor of a black hound, arms bared to the shoulder. Her black, waist-length hair was tied back into an impressively long tail. Her hips swayed with each step. Utter and complete confidence was apparent in every move she made.

Crown Princess Maya Algara strode between Cardin and Temri without sparing either a glance. The only individual she looked at other than Enfri was Elise, and even that was just a pointed glare urging her to step aside.

Elise drew back, and that seemed to surprise her more than Maya's abrupt entrance. She gaped open-mouthed at the princess who came forward to plant herself in front of Enfri.

"I... err..." Enfri dipped into a curtsy. "Hello?"

"I teleported ahead of the delegation," Maya said in explanation of her early arrival. Her mouth quirked into an amused smile. "Love the dress. I bet you hate it."

Enfri didn't appear to know how to respond.

Maya's expression turned grave. "We need to talk. I heard from Jin."