Shadow's Throne

Chapter Nine

Evangeline's Pov

I wake up to Elane's beautiful face and her tangled mess of red hair. I press a kiss to her temple causing her to smile.

"Don't leave yet," she whispers to me, not opening her eyes.

"You know I wouldn't if I didn't have to," I reply as I reluctantly climb out of bed.

Elane sighs and slowly sits up and opens her eyes. I throw on my robe and walk to my bathroom. The maids must have come in while we were sleeping and drawn my bath. I climb into the still warm water just as Elane walks in, wrapped in a sheet from my bed. She sits on the edge of the tub and swirls the water with her fingers.

"Breakfast in bed this morning?" she asks.

"No word from father this morning, so sounds great," I reply.

Elane kisses me on the cheek before heading out into my room to call for a maid to bring us breakfast.

I climb out of the bath and throw on a simple silver gown, not bothering with all my jewelry today. I quickly throw my hair into a braid and head out into my bedroom.

Elane is sitting on my bed eating a pile of pancakes topped with a pile of whipped cream and strawberries. I sit down beside her and dig into my own plate of pancakes that are covered in chocolate chips.

"This came with the food," Elane says handing me a note.

I open it and quickly skim over it.

"Another meeting," I say annoyed. "Looks like his Highness isn't wasting any time."

Cal's been gone for a day, and we already need to have a meeting.

Elane sadly nods in understanding. I hate always having to leave her behind, but it's too risky for her to be there. Tiberias is a great example of what happens when you bring your weakness to a war meeting.

I finish my pancakes and get up to put on my jewelry and add some metal to my dress. I rebraid my hair and add some sparkling silver spikes into the twists. I throw on some simple makeup and heels before giving Elane a kiss on the cheek and heading out the door.

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"You want to kill the Lakelanders?" my father roars as he rises from his seat.

We're currently in the meeting room video chatting with Tiberias, Mare, Farley, and the Premier. Anabel, Julian, and Tolly also join our lovely little room of allies.

"Yes, we know it sounds crazy, but think of all the problems it'll solve. It would get rid of Norta's only ally, we won't have to worry about them taking over Norta before us, and there's so much more," Tiberias says.

"But how do you expect to kill them? It'll be almost-" my father starts but is cut off by Farley's bored sounding voice.

"Impossible. Yeah, we know. That's why we've come up with a fool proof plan," she says smiling.

"Well let's hear it," Anabel says, reminding us that she's still in the room.

"The first part's really quite simple. We just trap the Cygnets inside their palace and shut off the water. We proceed inside the palace using the tunnels the Scarlet Guard uses to get in and out of the palace," Farley states.

"You really think they're stupid enough to not have spare water lying around in case that ever happened?" My father shouts, clearly annoyed with this whole idea.

"That's why the electricons will be leading the way with teleporters not far behind. If they attempt to flood us, the electricons can simply electrocute the water killing anyone who touches it. The teleporters would teleport our troops out of harms way beforehand," Farley replies never missing a beat.

My father stands in silence while glaring at the screen. He finally sits and motions for them to continue.

Farley smirks before continuing. "We should be able to kill them all off using that method. And if not, we'll still have an army that'll be able to do the job."

We all sit in silence as we wait for my father's word on the prospect. I turn my attention to the screen. Strange how Mare hasn't found a way to say something about the whole ordeal. I study her and notice that she looks almost afraid. I glance at Tiberias who's also gone quiet. He looks afraid too, but his fear is so much easier to see compared to Mare's. My stomach knots up when I realize what they're afraid of.

They're not done yet. Their reason for this war isn't to just get the Lakeland's out of the way to make our original goal easier, it's to get them out of the way for something else. And they're afraid to tell us what that something is.

"What about Iris?" I say watching their reactions.

Davidson simply nods. "She'd come next. Iris won't be able to leave Norta, being Maven's queen, which means we'll have to invade Archeon and kill her off as well."

I see a trickle of sweat roll down the side of Tiberias's face, telling me that I've gotten closer to revealing the little secret they're keeping from us.

I stand up and cross to the front of the room, closer to the camera.

"What is it you're really doing this for?" I ask, my tone icy.

Tiberias's eyes widen and Farley shifts. Davidson keeps a neutral face. But Mare, she's looking straight at me. She knows I figured out they were hiding something and she's going to tell me.

I turn towards her, giving her my full attention. I raise my eyebrow encouraging her to say something. The room behind me has fallen into complete silence as everyone waits to see if my accusations are correct.

"We've found a way to undo what Elara did. We've found a way to save Maven. And that's exactly what we're going to do," Mare says never breaking eye contact with me.

I hear Anabel gasp behind me and my father jumps out of his chair again, but I hold my hand to keep him from yelling. Mare isn't done yet.

She smirks at me and my stomach does a flip.

Her voice sends a shiver through me as she says her final words.

"We're going to save Maven. And you're going to help us do it."