"I smell waneslime." Fox was licking her fur as if she could still feel where the soldier had tried to grab her.
Jacob sat down on the bed while he still could. His knees were also getting stiff.
"Help me, Fox. I have to go to the wedding tomorrow, and I can barely move."
She looked at him for such a long time that Jacob began to suspect she'd forgotten how to speak.
"A good bite might help," she said finally. "And it would be my pleasure to give one. But first you'll tell me what you're up to."
48
Wedding Plans
The first red of dawn reached out across the sky above the city. Therese of Austry had not slept. She had waited, hour after hour, but by the time one of her Dwarfs finally led Donnersmarck into her audience chamber, she'd hidden all the waiting and hoping behind a mask of powder.
"He did it. Kami’en has already called a search for her, but if Jacob told us the truth, they will not find her."
Donnersmarck didn't look too happy about the news he was delivering. But the Empress's heart beat faster, for this was exactly what she'd been hoping for.
"Good." She touched her tightly coiffed hair. It was turning gray, but she had it dyed golden, like Amalie's. Now she would get to keep her daughter. And her throne. And her pride.
"Give the order."
Donnersmarck lowered his head, as was his habit whenever he disliked one of her commands.
"What?"
"You can kill their King, but their armies are still barely twenty miles away."
"They'll be lost without Kami’en and the Fairy."
"One of the onyx Goyl will replace him."
"And bargain for peace. The onyx Goyl just want to rule underground." She heard the impatience in her own voice. She didn't want to think; she wanted to act. Before her opportunity passed.
"Their underground cities are overflowing. And his subjects will want revenge. They adore their King!"
He was so obstinate, and he was obviously tired of war, but nobody was smarter than him, or less corruptible.
"I won't say it again: Give the order."
She waved to one of her Dwarfs. "Bring my breakfast. I'm hungry."
The Dwarf scuttled away. Donnersmarck still had not moved."
"What about the brother?"
"What about him? He's the King's bodyguard, so I expect that he will die with his King. Did you get those items for my daughter?"
Donnersmarck placed them on the table where she often had sat as a child and watched her father put his seal on treaties and death warrants. Now it was she who wore the signet ring.
A healing needle, a Dragon's claw, and the skin of a Waterman. Therese approached the table and stroked the pale green scales that had once covered the Waterman's hand.
"Have the claw sewn into my daughter's wedding dress," she said to a maid waiting by the door. "And give the needle to the doctor who will be standing by the sacristy."
Donnersmarck handed her the second claw.
"I brought this one for you."