Chapter 20

A thin red line trailed up into the sky before bursting into a shower of sparks, and Henrietta knew that all hope for an easy end to the war had been lost.

The scent of powder and blood wafted through the window. Further in the distance, from somewhere unseen in the palace grounds, came a certain commotion as Nagel's men put up their last stand against the emperor's soldiers. Henrietta turned away in an effort to ignore their dying cries, though to no avail.

She looked to the only other person in the room with her. Alex had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his peculiar coat, and his lips were set into a tight, downwards curl. It felt like it had been years since she had last seen him, so this reunion ought to have been a moment to celebrate. Yet any joy she might have felt now was muted, buried beneath a thousand tons of dread, of fear, of anger. The most she could muster was a smile with no substance behind it.

"I met Ingemar," she said. "It seems you have been on quite the journey since Aubergine."

Alex arched an eyebrow. "He's still here?"

"He's being held as a guest in Magdesburg. In one of their dungeons."

"Idiot," he snorted.

"Oh, Alex," Henrietta sighed. "What have you done?"

His brow furrowed together. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Henrietta couldn't help it. A laugh spilled from her lips, and it shocked her how cold it was. "Do you truly mean that or are you trying to play me for a fool?"

"Henrietta?" Alex took his hands out and frowned deeply. "Why are you so angry?"

"Perhaps it might have something to do with the fact that my familiar has been going around attacking and killing the citizens of another country!"

Alex's eyes narrowed into slits. "I did it to protect you," he snarled. "Everything I did was to protect you."

"Protect me? Protect me?" Henrietta threw her hands up in the air. "Everything you do reflects on me, and the rulers of one country cannot impinge upon the sovereignty of another without risking outright war!"

"You think I care if I offend these people?" Alex scoffed. "My only concern was making sure that whoever sent those assassins after you were stopped. If it wasn't for me, you'd be eating and sleeping under the same goddamn roof as them right now."

"Alex, are you even listening to me?" Henrietta wanted to grab Alex and shake him by the collar. "War! We're talking about war! Do you think that with Reconquista at our backs we can afford to war with Germania? Do you think that without Germania, we can survive against Reconquista?"

"In case you haven't noticed, there's already a war coming this way, with or without me," Alex said. "Do you honestly think that the emperor will be in any position to protect Tristain by the time this is all over?"

Henrietta clenched her teeth so tightly that she could feel the muscles in her jaw tremble.

"Which is why," she said quietly, as she worked her jaws loose again, "I must fight here and now to preserve his status."

Whatever answer Alex expected from her, that had clearly not been it. He blinked at her a few times, staring at her with a blank expression. She might as well have spoken to him in gibberish for all that he seemed to understand.

"What?" he finally said. "No, that's stupid. What you need to do is get away from here as fast as possible. We need to get you back to Tristain."

"So that I can merely prolong the inevitable end?" Henrietta huffed. "I think not. To keep my country safe, I must wed Emperor Albrecht. And to wed the emperor, I have no choice but to help quell this rebellion."

Now it was Alex's turn to grind his teeth together.

"Stop worrying about Reconquista," he said. "I'll put an end to them. I'll keep Tristain safe. So come with me. Let me get you out of here, while we still can."

"Go, if you wish." Henrietta pointed at the door. "I will not hold you here against your will, but neither will I leave by any will but my own."

"Dammit, Henrietta! I'm trying to keep you safe!"

"Safe?" Henrietta laughed that cold laugh again. "Did you know that we were attacked by pirates on our way here? We were fortunate enough to have won the day, but not without cost, nor was it a sure thing. What do you suppose might have happened if we lost then? Do you think I would have been 'safe' at the mercy of pirates? Tell me true, Alex: was it my safety you were after or merely vengeance?"

Alex reeled backwards, struck as if by a physical blow.

"You were attacked by pirates?" he asked in a quiet voice.

It was that horror on his face that at last quenched Henrietta's anger. The fire died away inside of her, and it had consumed all of her strength, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake. She sighed, and said more softly, "I know you were only doing what you thought was right. And you are correct that if not for your actions, we would all be in much greater danger now. But why, Alex? Why couldn't you trust me?"

"I do trust you," he said stiffly.

"Do you? Then please tell me why is it that until Lady Joanna's men brought in Ingemar, I hadn't the slightest clue as to where you were? How is it that you were able to leave me with such certainty to hunt down these men whose identities you could not have even known? What made you believe that you could better protect me by leaving me than by staying at my side?" Henrietta stepped forward and placed her hand on Alex's chest, who tensed at her touch. "If you truly trust me, if you honestly think of me as friend, then answer me that."

Alex took a step back away from her hand and looked away. "It's complicated," he muttered.

"I'm sure it is." Henrietta went over to the window. She gazed outside at the city, still so vibrant and peaceful. None of them knew yet that war was coming, and fast. "Alex, I wonder. Do you remember what I said to you as we were leaving the Academy? I said that I want us to be able to trust each other. And to build that trust, I said that I was going to place my faith in you. I'd like to think that I've kept my word. And I thought... I thought that we had grown close enough that you had begun to trust me too. Now I understand that it was only my imagination." She turned again and gave him a smile that did not reach her eyes. She was blinking rapidly. "Never mind. I'm rambling. I must go join the emperor's war council."

Henrietta stepped past Alex, but when she tried to open the door, he reached over her and pushed it back shut, holding it tight against her.

"Do you mean to hold me prisoner, Alex?" Henrietta asked quietly, still staring at the door.

There was silence. Then, in a voice that barely rose above a whisper, Alex said, "I do trust you. I do. I just didn't want to risk losing you."

Henrietta turned to face him, and Alex's hand left the door. His eyes were closed, his face twisted in pain. It was plain to see that this conversation discomforted him, yet Henrietta found that at this moment she did not care. She needed to hear more.

"Please explain."

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Alex nodded.

"Do you remember what I told you?" he said. "About what I am?"

"You said that you were an artificially created human, made to be a living weapon."

He nodded again. "That wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. I didn't tell you everything because I thought you'd become too afraid of me. Or worse, turn you against me."

"Alex..." Henrietta reached out and cupped his cheek with her hand. This time he did not move or try to push her away. His eyes opened, and he stared at her. "You know I would never do that. I won't forsake you. Not ever."

"I know." Alex let out a long breath, and slowly, carefully placed his hand over hers. "I'll tell you everything, but it's going to take some time."

"The war council doesn't start for another half-hour." Henrietta gestured at the tea table in the center of the room and they sat on the two chairs beside it.

"I guess I should start from the beginning," Alex sighed.

And so he did.

It was a tale as wondrous as it was terrible. He told her everything, holding nothing back. He told her of the secret government organization known as Blackwatch, and what atrocities they committed. He told her of the research guild "Jen-tek," and their complicity in Blackwatch's crimes. He told her about the disease they created, Blacklight, and what horrors transpired when it and its predecessor, Redlight, were loosed upon the city.

Three weeks. Millions dead.

He told her of how he died and had been reborn.

Henrietta had once remarked that the men of Alex's world must surely be as the gods themselves. Now she knew better. They were no gods; they were demons in human form. She had seen what plague and disease could do to a people, what terror and inglorious pain they could inflict. What sane man, let alone an entire army, would ever even think to create such a thing with their own hands? To what depths did a human have to fall to enact such evil? Through Alex's tale, Henrietta gazed into the abyss of the human soul – and what she saw there frightened her more than anything else.

"And that's why I can do the things that I can," Alex said as he reached the end of his story. "The shapeshifting, the strength, the speed. All of it comes from the fact that I am the disease. I am Blacklight."

"I... I see." Henrietta's head was buried in her hands. "So when you said you were an artificially made human..."

"... it'd be more accurate to say that I'm a walking plague." Alex crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. "So. Are you afraid of me now?"

"Should I be?"

"Most people would."

"I do not wish to betray your trust by being like most people."

"You could die or be turned into a monster because of me."

"Perhaps." Henrietta sighed. "Perhaps. If Mazarin were here, he would tell me to stay as far away from you as possible. Yet as I think on this, it occurs to me that you have had many chances to infect me until today, yet I remain as healthy as can be. So, no. I do not fear you."

"Then you're a fool," Alex snorted. Yet contrary to his harsh words, there was the slightest upturned curl of his lips, and when Henrietta saw this, she smiled back at him.

"Mean. You are being mean to me again. A gentleman ought to encourage the lady."

"I'm no gentleman."

"And I'm no lady." Henrietta stuck her tongue out at him. "Yet as I've said before, we can both pretend."

A warm silence filled the air between them then, and they were both content to let it sit for a while. After a few minutes, Henrietta spoke again.

"There is still something you have yet to explain, though" she said. "How did you know about Ingemar? And how were you able to find him so quickly?"

"I was saving that for last." Alex leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You already know that I can consume other living creatures to regenerate. But it's more than that. When I consume someone, I'm not just absorbing their flesh; I'm also stealing all of their skills, their appearance, and their memories. I become them. That's how I knew about Ingemar, because the assassins he hired knew. And that's why I can also do things like this now. Let me borrow your wand."

Curious, Henrietta produced her wand and passed it over to him.

"Igalo."

"By the Founder!" Henrietta exclaimed, as fire flared from the tip of her wand. A wand, which Henrietta felt needed to be stressed again, that was currently not in her hands. "Alex, you... you can use magic? But... no. That's impossible. Magic is the Founder's gift. It is not something that can be stolen."

"Don't know about that," Alex shrugged. He turned the wand over and handed it back to its dumbfounded owner. "But whether you can use magic or not has to do with your genes. It's in your blood. And if it's in the blood, then I can take it."

"This... this is all so unbelievable." Henrietta slumped in her chair, nearly sliding right out of it. "All my life I've been told that magic is the gift of the Founder, given only to his chosen few, thousands of years ago. The nobility are supposed to be their descendants. What does it mean if you can simply take it for yourself?"

"Don't know," Alex said indifferently, as if he had not just overturned her entire world. Again. Then he rubbed his chin and muttered idly to himself, "But this does explain some things."

Henrietta looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Alex waved his hand airily. "I was just thinking – back at the Academy and the palace I saw a lot of people with hair colors that shouldn't be possible for humans to have. Not naturally, anyway. There was even someone with green hair. But you mages aren't normal human beings. You're of a different race."

"I'm not human!?"

"You are," Alex said hastily. "That came out wrong. What I meant to say is that you're part of a separate subspecies. You're still closely related enough to regular humans that you could even breed with them."

A dull, throbbing pain was beginning to form behind Henrietta's forehead. She rubbed small circles at her temples to try to make it feel better.

"Alex, telling me that I can 'breed' with someone makes me sound like some sort of brood mare."

"Sorry." And to his credit, he did at least appear apologetic. Henrietta sighed.

"Then again," she said, "given my circumstances, you're not entirely wrong either."

"Henrietta, I'm telling you, you don't need to marry him." Alex leaned in towards her across the table "I'll deal with Reconquista. You don't need to worry about them anymore. So let's go. Now."

The princess smiled. "Alex," she said, "for all your crude behavior, you really are quite sweet. Did you know that?"

"The hell are you talking about?" Alex growled. He straightened his back and glared at her.

"The way you prioritize my happiness over my duty," she said. "There is no one else who would do that, except for perhaps my dear friend Louise. I'm grateful for it."

"I don't want your damn gratitude. I want you to leave Germania and get somewhere safe."

"I mustn't." Henrietta shook her head. "Though your willingness to fight for me is touching, not even you can be in two places at once. And wars are not fought one battle a time. So I will wed the emperor, regardless of how I feel about it."

"Idiot," Alex spat. "That crown has damaged your head. I'm not going to fight just so you can get married to that bastard."

"You're being mean to me again." Henrietta smiled once more, but more sadly this time. "But that's fine. You don't need to fight for the emperor. Just stay by my side."

Alex snorted and said nothing, choosing instead to cross his arms and look away from her.

"There is one more thing," Henrietta continued. "What you told me today, you mustn't repeat to anyone else. In particular, you must never tell anyone that you can use magic."

Alex glanced at her and arched an eyebrow. "An inquisition, huh?"

"Yes," Henrietta grimaced. "Should the Church hear about this, I fear for what consequences it may bring."

"I'll be careful."

"Thank you." Henrietta stood up and sighed. "Come now, we ought to get going. The war council will be starting soon."

If looks could kill, then Alex's frustrated glower would have already burned two holes straight through the back of Henrietta's skull.

Damn her and her stupid sense of duty, he thought as they walked down the hall. He balled his hands into tight fists in his pockets, digging his nails into his palms. The temptation to simply grab her and run was so powerful that it was a constant struggle just to hold himself back. What did he care of who ruled this country? As far as he was concerned, both sides could hang. The only stake he had in this war was to kill those responsible for sending those assassins after Henrietta, and that would have to wait until after he got her somewhere safe. He could not allow his absence to put her at risk again. Never again. And if that gave time for the rebels to overthrow Emperor Albrecht... well, Alex supposed it couldn't be helped if it perforce broke Henrietta's engagement with him. How unfortunate, that.

The only thing that kept him from giving in to the temptation was the knowledge that Henrietta would despise him for it. Is it better to be hated if it means she'll be safe, or to make sure she still thinks of me as a friend by letting her put herself at risk? By himself, Alex could face armies. But if the enemy breached their defenses and invaded the castle... Alex was not so sure he could protect Henrietta against so many soldiers. For all his powers, he was still only one man. One monster. A single stray bullet was all it took.

Idiot. Alex ground his teeth together so hard that bits of enamel were shaved away. Why couldn't she see that he was offering her a way out? She was so caught up in this notion that she had to marry Albrecht to protect her kingdom that she refused to look at any other option, even when he spelled it out for her. He recalled that time in Tristania when he was about to kill those two men in front of Henrietta. He remembered how frightened she had been. Was she too afraid to ask him to slaughter her enemies for her? Any other time, Alex would have understood and may have even appreciated the gesture; it proved that she did not think of him as a weapon, or did not want to. But right now, it was infuriating as hell.

A group of people waited for them inside the war chamber. The emperor sat at the head of a long oaken table, with an enormous map of the city and its surrounding lands spread across it. To his right was a soldierly looking type. To his left was an empty seat, and beside it was Joanna von Zerbst. Further down the table were more soldiers, a handful of other princes (including that boy Alois), Mazarin, and Marrok. Henrietta took her place beside the emperor; Alex leaned against the wall behind her. A few more people streamed into the room over the next few minutes, then the door was closed and their conference began.

"My lords and ladies," Albrecht said, standing up to greet the rest. "Thank you all for joining me here today. Unlike those traitors marching on our walls, you are all men and women of true honor. When this is all over, I swear to you all that your loyalty shall be well rewarded." His eyes hardened into black flints. "Now, on to business. My scouts report that the traitors have amassed to the south, a force somewhere between 130,000 to 150,000 strong. They bring with them a fleet of one thousand ships. At their current pace, their vanguard will be at our gates in an hour, slightly more."

"I assume they're not planning for a siege?" Joanna said.

"Unlikely, no," Albrecht agreed. "With the element of surprise gone, time is no longer on their side. Every second they delay is another second closer to our own reinforcements arriving. And they dare not leave their own territories undefended for long. They will attempt to break us by force while we are at our weakest."

"Then we ought to evacuate the city," Henrietta declared. "At least until we can link with these reinforcements."

"Impossible," Albrecht replied flatly. "Vindobona is the center of my power. It is where I store my wealth. The moment the rebels seize this city, they will have as good as won the war. We must hold the city, and we must win."

"Forgive me, Your Majesty," Joanna said, "but that is a tall order to ask. Too tall, perhaps. Given the size of this city, I assume you have around ten thousand men on hand at any given time."

"Thereabouts," Albrecht agreed reluctantly. "The bulk of my army is stationed in a separate fortress, two leagues away. But even by airship they will not arrive before the traitors do, not in any significant numbers at least."

"I left Anhalt with two thousand men," Joanna said. "Five hundred were lost on the way here due to pirates. Princess, as I recall you brought six hundred mage-knights with you as part of your personal guard, correct?"

"Yes, but we can add two or three hundred golems to that, if needs be."

Joanna nodded. "Eight hundred, then. As for the rest of you, my lords, this was supposed to be a peaceful celebration. I can't imagine any of you brought very many soldiers. Perhaps two hundred each, yes? That still leaves us facing a force nearly ten times our number."

"Well done, my lady," Albrecht said. "Perhaps I can hire you to teach arithmetic in the next school I decide to build."

"Enriching the minds of the younger generation is always a worthy pursuit," Joanna replied smoothly, smiling at the emperor. "But my point is this: We cannot hope to hold the city, not by simply manning the walls. Their ships and cannons will destroy us. If we wish to survive, we must be prepared to take some risks. We must meet them in the field."

"Madness," said Alois. "Forgive me, my lady. Though I am far younger than any of you here, even I can see how that road leads to only a quicker death."

"Only if we attack them head on," Joanna replied. "But with Her Highness and her knights here, we have many times more mages than they do. If we can properly leverage this advantage, then it may yet be possible to stall their advance."

"It would depend on what spells are used." Albrecht rubbed his chin and stared intently at the map. "But even something as simple as digging a long trench before the walls could buy us a significant amount of time... yes... yes, I believe it can be done. What say you, Your Highness?"

"It can. The Tristanian way of war has long since abandoned such overly forward assaults for precisely this reason," Henrietta said. "Is that not so, Cardinal?"

Mazarin nodded. "We have at our disposal enough earth mages to create a trench nearly a league long. If we conjure up a fog to hide it and then attack as they start to fall in, we can sow chaos amongst their ranks. They will think that we are many times more than we truly are, and turn against each other in fear of our shadows."

"The problem are the ships," Marrok said. "If we are outnumbered on land, I doubt we fare much better in the sky. And we did not bring any griffins, manticores, or dragons with us, Your Highness."

"I have an idea for that," Joanna declared. "We can requisition merchant ships, load them with oil and other combustibles, light them, and send them at the enemy fleet."

"They have numbers enough to absorb whatever loss we might inflict that way," Mazarin said.

"Ah, but that is not entirely true." Joanna smiled. "For you see, while these rebels may be united under a common cause, it does not mean they are united under one leader. They are a coalition of would-be kings, and none of them will want to pay more dearly for victory than the others. It is our one advantage." She gestured at the map. "Right now, they no doubt believe this to be neither a siege nor a battle. To them, this is a race with all the wealth of Vindobona as the prize. They will thus have a strong initial assault, but if we can break that, then the divisions inherent to their alliance will cause them to crumble apart."

"Then that is what we'll do," Albrecht declared. "I take it you'll agree, Your Highness?"

Alex clenched his teeth and his fingers tightened on his arms. Don't do it. Don't do it.

"Yes, of course. That is why I'm here."

A loud breath exploded through the council. Before Alex realized what he'd done, he found that all eyes were now on him.

"Were you trying to say something?" Albrecht arched an eyebrow at Alex.

Alex glared back at him, feeling nothing but hate for those pitch black eyes. Any thought of holding himself back for Henrietta's sake fled from him then.

"Only that your plan is stupid as hell," he spat.

"Alex!" Henrietta hissed. Her eyes were so wide that they almost bulged out of their sockets.

"No, Your Highness." Albrecht held up a hand, pursing his lips into a thin, humorless smile. "Let's hear what your creature has to say. Pray, enlighten us. If you think you can."

"You think I can't?" Alex bristled.

Albrecht shrugged. "I have a nephew, you see. He's one of the commanders of my army now, but once, when he was still but a child, I brought him with me to a council much like this one so that he could learn the ways of war. He thought himself wise for knowing what few lessons his tutor imparted upon him, and thought to put his own opinion forward before the generals. Well, it's a very good thing that we got him a new tutor after that, else he would not be a commander in my army today."

"Then I'm sure you can tell me what you plan on doing when they split their armies," Alex retorted. He took some satisfaction in the way Albrecht's teeth clicked shut. Taking advantage of the opening, Alex pressed forward. "The defense you have planned only works if the enemy makes a single concentrated push. But they're not going to do that. You said it yourself" – he nodded at Joanna – "this is a race. They each want to be the first to breach the city, so they're not going to patiently wait in line behind someone else."

"I am aware of that," Joanna replied. "But as I said, we must be willing to accept certain risks if we wish to survive."

"The only thing you'll do is bleed them," Alex snapped back. "You're still going to die either way. You want my advice? Take your men and leave. Go home."

"Alex, that's enough," Henrietta said sharply.

Alex whirled on her, and snarled, "It's not enough. It's not enough, because you still don't get it. This war is meaningless to you. You don't get anything out of staying here. If you lose, you'll die. But even if you manage to win, do you really think that he" – Alex jerked his thumb at the emperor – "will be in any position to protect Tristain from Reconquista afterward?"

"What choice do you think I have?" Henrietta blurted out. The choice I gave you! Alex nearly screamed back at her, but before he could say a word, Henrietta's eyes went wide and her hands shot up to cover her mouth. She turned and bowed her head before the emperor. "My apologies, Your Majesty. A familiar's misconduct is their master's responsibility. If you'll excuse us for a moment, I will chastise him personally."

"No," Albrecht growled, his shoulders trembling. "This goes beyond mere misconduct. His rudeness is a crime against the crown itself. I want his head on a spike."

"Try it, if you think you can," Alex growled back. "But if you do, you'll find that the army coming after you is the least of your concern."

"Are you threatening me?" Albrecht said incredulously.

"I'm giving you a warning. It's the only one you'll get."

"I am the emperor of Germania," Albrecht declared. "I command tens of thousands of men and can summon enough guns to lay low entire castles. I have ships to darken the skies and cannons to devastate the earth. My runic name is the Inferno, for the strength of the fire I wield. Tell me, you brutish creature, who do you think you are next to me? What do you have?"

"I have you," Alex replied. "In this room. With me."

The silence that followed was deafening. No one moved. No one spoke. No one so much as dared to breathe. It was as if the world had been frozen in this one moment, and the only sign that time continued to pass was the ever growing redness of Albrecht's face.

"Guards!" the emperor finally shouted. "Arrest him."

Two men armed with muskets entered the room. They grabbed Alex by the shoulders and tried to drag him away, but Alex did not so much as budge. It was as if he were blissfully unaware of their presence. He approached the emperor, dragging the straining guards behind him. Albrecht drew his wand. Alex's fingers lengthened into sword-like claws.

"I'm taking Henrietta back to Tristain," Alex said, every word hanging on a knife's edge. "Leave her out of your war."

"She's my wife-to-be," Albrecht said quietly. "She and her knights will stay here, with me."

Alex waited for Albrecht to make the first move, daring him to do so with his eyes. Yet the emperor refused to budge and only mirrored him, waiting and waiting for Alex to strike, his wand held in a firm yet relaxed grip at his side. Both were ready to spring to action in an instant. But then the door to the council room swung wide open, and a breathless soldier spilled inside. Everyone's head instantly snapped to the side.

"Your Majesty," the soldier wheezed. "Dust clouds in the distance... ships above... the enemy... the enemy is almost here!"

Albrecht nodded. "I'll deal with you later," he promised Alex. "For now, I have a war to win." He sheathed his wand and turned on his heel. "Sir Marrok, Lady Joanna, I'll ask the two of you to come help me lead the troops."

"Of course, Your Majesty," Joanna said. She threw a curious expression at Alex, then followed the emperor and the knight out the door. The rest followed after her, until there was only Alex, Henrietta, and Mazarin left in the room.

"Alex, what were you thinking!?" Henrietta exploded. "You threatened to kill the emperor! The emperor!"

Alex shrugged. "I was thinking that you're better off without him. You don't need him. You don't even like him. You shouldn't have to marry him."

"Your Highness, I warned you," Mazarin waggled a finger at her, "I warned you that he is ill fit to be your familiar."

"Be silent, Cardinal," Henrietta snapped. "Alex, do you realize that you may have just provoked a war between Tristain and Germania?"

"Doubtful," Alex snorted. "Like I said, he's not going to be in any position to fight after this war is over, even if he manages to win."

"Then you have doomed Tristain to face Reconquista alone."

"Oh for... how many times do I have to fucking tell you?" Alex said irritably. "I'll deal with Reconquista. If they set a single foot in Tristania, I'll kill them."

"If you can really do such a thing, why not prove it by stopping that army out there?" Mazarin said pointedly.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Alex snarled. "You think I don't see what game you're playing here, old man? You've wanted me dead from the very first."

"So you admit you'd die if you tried?"

"Enough!" Henrietta shoved her way between them and pushed them apart. "You both bicker like children. Our enemies are out there, not in here. So make peace."

"As you command, Your Highness," Mazarin said stiffly.

"Hmph." Alex snorted and turned away from them.

"Cardinal, if you could leave us for a moment," Henrietta said sternly. "I would have words with Alex."

"Princess..."

"This is an order."

"Yes, Your Highness," Mazarin sighed. He bowed and left the room.

Henrietta glared at Alex. "I said before that your concern for me is touching, and I have not changed my mind on that," she said, "but I do not appreciate you trying to manipulate me like this. Not when I carry the fate of my country on my shoulders."

Alex stared back at her, and slowly realization dawned upon him. "You don't believe me," he said. "You don't believe that I can stop Reconquista on my own."

Sighing, Henrietta glanced away from him. "I do believe you. Truly, I do. But the war you fought in your world is so unlike what we face here. You did not have an entire nation to protect. You were able to pick and choose your battles as you pleased. And what's more, what if you're wrong? What if I sent you to face Reconquista and you failed? Worse still, what if you died? How can I possibly gamble with your life and Tristain's fate like that, all for my own selfish reasons? I cannot. I will not. Do not ask that of me."

"You need proof," Alex said. "All right. If I stop the rebels, will you end your engagement with Albrecht?"

"If I say yes, you would try to do it." Henrietta shook her head. "No. I will not end my engagement to the emperor."

Alex spat out a curse and slammed his fist on the table, gouging out a chunk of wood which splintered on the floor. "Fine," he snarled. "Do as you like."

Without waiting for a reply, Alex turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him as he went.