“But you said the queen is drawing too much power through her gate, too.”
“And?”
“So you’ve still got a problem. Even if you convinced Anders VI, you haven’t fixed anything. Maybe you even make it easier for the queen.”
Alena grimaced. She hadn’t considered that possibility, but Jace had a point, again.
She returned to pacing their tent. What could she do?
She could tie herself to the Etari gate the same way Hanns tied himself to the other gates. She’d seen the emperor’s connection a couple of times now and thought she could duplicate it. That idea was intoxicating. She imagined the good she could do with such power. Perhaps control of the gate would give her enough strength to challenge the Lolani queen.
Thankfully, reason reasserted itself before she followed her imagination too far. She doubted the Etari would give her permission to control their gate, and to attempt it without permission was a betrayal of the trust Sooni had shown her.
It was also the same trap Hanns found himself in. If he couldn’t defeat the queen with two gates, what luck would she have with one?
She dismissed the idea, as tempting as it was.
She turned to Jace. “What would you do?”
Jace stared at the ground. “I’m not the person to ask. I don’t understand nearly enough of this. So I’d listen to my superior. In this case, that’s the emperor.”
Alena felt a pang of sympathy for her brother. Ever since he’d been little he’d admired his sister’s rebelliousness, but it had never been his. He craved a life of adventure, but he lived his life within the rules created by others.
Alena needed guidance. Any other opinion would help. She didn’t want to turn to Sooni, who was closest. Sooni’s interests, with good cause, lay with her own people. She wouldn’t be able to examine the whole problem.
Brandt was the only person who came to mind.
They hadn’t been in touch since their battle with the queen, but she knew he was alive and well. It would be good to see him, regardless. She dropped into a soulwalk and pulled on the thread that connected them.
When she told Jace what she intended, he nodded and left the tent. She suspected he meant to get in some training while she waited for Brandt to reply.
Alena sat down cross-legged in the tent and dropped into the soulwalk again. Eventually she felt the return tug. She traveled the connection between them, defaulting once again to her mother’s kitchen.
They appeared together, both seated at her mother’s table.
Brandt looked frightened.
He hid it well, but Alena now understood the wolfblade. His eyes darted left and right and his hand was never far from his sword. But why was he nervous?
Then she knew.
This was his first visit to this realm since the battle with the queen.
“I’m sorry to bring you back here,” she said.
“I’ll be fine.” He gave her a smile that she didn’t believe at all. “I don’t like this realm much, though.”
“I still have nightmares about the void,” she confessed.
Brandt said nothing, but the look in his eyes was enough for Alena. He’d been haunted by the same dreams.
“Thank you for meeting me here. I need your help.”
Brandt did his best to relax, but his efforts only appeared partially successful.
Alena launched into her story. She started at the beginning, when Ligt came to her door in Landow, running through the pertinent events. She finished with her last dive into the gate and her realizations. When she finished, Brandt’s discomfort had vanished. He sat, enraptured by her story.
“How certain are you of what you experienced?”
“Fairly. And Hanns didn’t dispute anything I said.”
He nodded and looked off in the distance. “What would you ask of me?” The question seemed to make him nervous.
“Your advice. I believe that Hanns is making a gamble that could have consequences far beyond what he expects. I’m hoping you have some way to make him see that.”
Brandt looked uncertain. “That’s a difficult ask. I don’t doubt what you felt, but all you’re dealing with is your feelings. No rational emperor would stop without more evidence.”
“Isn’t the Etari gate dying enough?”
“Not even close. Again, you tell me that you have a feeling. You don’t actually know what will happen if Hanns continues to pull more from the gates. Maybe the problem with the Etari gate is something completely different. Maybe it can’t pull from the source because it was shattered.”
Alena clenched her fist. She knew she was right. It was a certainty, right up there with the knowledge that her family loved her. But like her family’s love, how did she prove it? First Jace and now Brandt. Both seemed to understand the opposing argument better than they understood hers.
“Could you at least speak with him? Perhaps he’ll reveal something to you that will at least put my mind at ease.”
Brandt shook his head. “I’m not in the palace anymore.”
Of course. She’d felt him moving and forgotten that fact. In her rush to tell him everything, she hadn’t even asked how he was or what he was doing. So she did.
“I’m in Falar, actually. On a diplomatic mission guarding Prince Regar.”
“Sounds important.”
“I think it will be. We fought off an assassination attempt last night.”
“Really?”
“Apparently the Falari have strong disagreements among themselves. A warleader who objected to Regar’s visit decided to put an early end to it.”
“But you saved the day?”
Brandt’s laugh was grim. “Hardly. Ana and I helped hold them off, but it was the Falari hosting us that drove the attack off. I was near my limit. The cost still holds me back.”
Alena chewed on her lower lip. She hadn’t told Brandt her other discovery. But was it wise?
She trusted Brandt, though. If he couldn’t do the right thing, no one could. “I know how to avoid the cost,” she said.
His eyes shot to hers with a startling intensity. “Not the gatestones?”
She shook her head. “No. I know
