the ships’ broad bottoms, forcing them up until their noses were in the sky. Finally, with one last, enormous crash, the two palace ships slid backward, off the roots, out of the bay, and into the ocean. They landed in the open sea with a crash, both ships slamming into the water and then sinking almost immediately as the ocean surged in through the shattered hulls.
But that was all Josef saw. The moment the palace ships were dislodged, the trees surged in. Huge oaks shot up like arrows to fill the gap, branches exploding from the trunks as the new canopies spread until the ocean was completely obscured behind a wall of solid green.
The men in the water, those who remained after Banage’s fire bird, swam frantically to the line of trees and began to climb, picking their way through the branches and throwing themselves into the ocean beyond in a desperate attempt to escape. Banage watched their struggles with a smile before turning to Miranda.
“Well done,” he said, helping her back to her feet. “I’m going to provide some cover. Lend me your mist?”
“Of course, Master Banage,” Miranda said, reaching to touch one of her smaller stones. It flashed blue the second her fingers passed it, and Josef smelled the clean, predawn wetness of a mountain valley as a thick mist filled the air. Meanwhile, Banage rubbed his fingers against a white stone set in a thin band on his wrist, and a second smell, salty and cold, joined the first as a thick sea fog rose up from the bay. Fog and mist rose together, intertwining and expanding until the bay vanished beneath a thick, gray blanket. But the fog wasn’t finished. It spread up the stairs, around the tower, and along the cliffs, spilling up the mountain toward the mainland. By the time Miranda and Banage finally stepped down from the sea wall, the entire island of Osera was shrouded in cloud.
“That should buy us a little time,” Miranda said, glancing at Josef before her eyes darted to something over his shoulder. Josef turned to see his soldiers standing on the storm wall behind him, staring in amazement at the two wizards who, in a little under five minutes, had completely reversed Osera’s fortunes.
“Not much time,” Banage said. “The fog gives us cover, but they don’t need to see to launch war spirits. Frankly, I’m surprised Osera isn’t knee-deep in them already. We need to speak with Queen Theresa immediately.” He turned to the gathered soldiers. “Who’s in charge here?”
The men looked at each other, and then at Josef.
“I am,” Josef said with a sigh.
“Don’t be absurd,” Miranda scoffed. “I don’t know what kind of scam you people are running, but we don’t have time for your games. Where’s the queen?”
“In the palace,” Josef said coldly. “Won’t do you any good, though. Queen Theresa is dead. I’m king of Osera now.”
Miranda’s face went very pale. “If you think for one moment I’m going to buy that load of—”
“He’s speaking the truth, ma’am,” one of the soldiers interrupted, standing a little straighter.
Miranda blinked. “You’ve got to be kidding!” she roared. “Do you know who this man is? He’s a wanted criminal! A thief! A bounty hunter, pride fighter, and right-hand man of the most notorious—”
“That’ll be enough,” Josef said, putting enough edge in his voice to ensure that it really was enough. Miranda snapped her mouth closed, but her scowl only grew deeper.
“How are you king?” she said at last.
“Because my mother was queen,” Josef answered, turning around and walking toward the tower. “And as I said, she’s dead. Now come on. If our time’s limited, I don’t want to waste it on things that don’t matter.”
Miranda and Banage exchanged a tight-lipped look and followed.
Down in the bay, hidden by the fog, the last of the Empress’s soldiers climbed through the wall of trees and dove into the sea, swimming through the waves and toward the line of palace ships waiting on the other side.
CHAPTER
24
Banage stopped them at the foot of the tower to hear reports from the other Spiritualists, but Miranda was too enraged to listen. Josef Liechten? A king? Of Osera? It was absolutely impossible. This had to be one of Eli’s scams. How he could trick an entire kingdom, queen included, Miranda had no idea, but she intended to find out. That thief could not be allowed to meddle with something this big.
By the time they entered the tower, Miranda had worked herself into a cold fury. For all his talk about not wasting time, Josef set a maddeningly slow pace. They climbed the winding tower steps carefully, stepping over the wounded as they went. The gristly scene only sharpened her rage. She wasn’t sure how, but she was positive Eli was somehow to blame for all this. And while she couldn’t actually pin the Empress’s sudden appearance on him, she was absolutely sure Osera would have been in a better position to defend itself if he hadn’t been here running whatever con he was running.
The stairs finally ended at a large watch room ringed with windows. There were wounded here too, but the half of the room overlooking the bay was clear, though the view of the bay itself was completely obscured by Allinu’s mist and Banage’s fog spirit. She could feel her mist straining to keep the island covered against the light of the setting sun and the stiff wind from the sea, and Miranda sent a small pulse of power down to Allinu’s ring. The strain eased a bit, and she turned her full attention back to the task at hand.
A large table was set up under one of the bay-facing windows. Beside it, an older man in an officer’s coat was waiting with a map, which he handed to Josef. Josef took it and leaned over the table, seemingly forgetting about them entirely. The older man looked stricken for a moment by Josef’s indifference and then stepped forward, bowing before Banage.
“Rector Spiritualis,” he said. “On behalf of all Osera, please let me thank you. You arrived in the nick of time.”
Banage nodded. “It was our duty.” He paused.
“Admiral Hawthorne,” the man supplied in a hurried voice. “Commander of her majesty’s navy. His majesty’s now, of course,” he corrected himself. “Though there’s not much left of it.”
“Wouldn’t be any left if these two hadn’t shown up,” Josef said, standing. He looked Miranda in the eye, then Banage. “Thank you,” he said, his voice surprisingly sincere. “I really thought that was the end. Thank you for the fog as well. Maybe it’ll buy us enough time for the Council reinforcements to arrive.”
“Don’t count on it,” Banage said. “Product of nepotism he may be, but Myron Whitefall’s an experienced general. His objective is the preservation of the Council, not Osera. He won’t waste time sailing troops out here when he can use your fall to buy the time he needs to fortify the continent.”
Josef’s face grew very dangerous. “If that’s how it is, then why are you here?”
“Because we are not the Council,” Banage said. “Much as some would like to claim otherwise, the Spirit Court is an independent body with its own priorities, and right now those include stopping the Empress’s advance. If you are indeed king of Osera, then we are prepared to offer you our full cooperation toward that end.”
Josef nodded. “What have you brought?”
Banage began to rattle off the Court forces—the number of Spiritualists, the capabilities of the spirits at their command, so on and so forth. Miranda stopped listening almost immediately and began scanning the room. There were many prone shapes lying in the dark around them. Miranda examined each of their faces, looking for the boyish, infuriating one. If Josef was here, Eli couldn’t be far away. He was probably watching right now…
Even as the thought crossed her mind, she spotted a familiar shape. At the far edge of the room, a small bundle lay pressed against the wall. Miranda had spotted it only by chance, and even now, when she was turned to look straight at it, the bundle seemed to fade into the shadows. But nothing could hide the white, feminine, skeletally thin hand peeking through the folds. Miranda sucked in a breath. She’d know that hand anywhere. It was the same hand that had dug into Gin’s back in Mellinor, and considering Josef was standing a few feet away, there was no doubt in her mind. It was Nico, and if she was there—Miranda’s eyes jumped to the lanky soldier sitting slumped beside the demonseed, his unruly black hair falling down to hide his face.
“Eli Monpress!” she shouted, interrupting Master Banage midsentence. “Come out now. You’re not fooling anyone.”
Everyone turned in surprise to see what she was pointing at. Across the room, the slumped man heaved a
