“This expedition’s primary objective will be to secure Queen Amestris’s remains and that of as many of her children as possible. Regular recon regiments will undertake this task as it’s the most likely to be scrutinised by outside forces. Outside of the GFP, which for the moment we are treating as possible belligerents, nobody is aware of our primary suspect, the body of which it will be your task to locate.”

  Marie spoke to a tight briefing room of pale-faced wizards and witches, no doubt more rattled by the news than the average citizen. Elliot, standing by the door, eavesdropped on the conversation inside, waiting for his cue.

  She’d asked him to come in with her, but even a few moments of mental preparation before seeing Evalyn face to face were a few valuable moments he needed.

  “Now I will hand you over to Tactical Director Maxwell from Deity to fill you in on mission specifics.”

  Elliot bit his lip and prayed through gritted teeth before walking in.

  Twenty-one pairs of pale eyes stared right back at him—the biggest single congregation of Aether-infused he’d seen in one room. All looked remarkably ordinary, with only the slightest abnormalities in skin, hair, eyes giving them away.

  The twenty-second pair of eyes sat at the back of the room, even in a professional environment, unable to meet his for more than a second without averting them. He ground his teeth and began talking.

  “Thank you all for coming today. I would like to clarify that because of…circumstances, I am not your commanding officer. That honour will pass directly to the Lieutenant-General due to the high sensitivity of this matter.”

  Marie gave a shallow nod as she watched him, the extra gleaming set of eyes donating another bead of sweat onto the back of his neck as the fluorescent lights overhead swung gently, flickering as they burnt his retinas.

  “My unit exclusively includes Deity Division veterans who, after cultural and behavioural background checks, have been cleared to learn of your existence. We will be responsible for all twenty-two of you over this expedition that will take place over seven days real-time and seventy minutes inside the forest.”

  He tapped the chalkboard, the white lines of dust rearranging themselves into a slew of new shapes and directions, forming the intricate layout of an Excalan subsection, the heart of the city. Six points formed a wonky circle.

  “These are known, operational portals into the Queen’s forest that we know are currently not in use by the GFP. You will enter through these six portals once they’ve been calibrated to mimic the settings of the portal used last night. Tolerances will be within ten kilometres, outside of five. Should spread you out decently.”

  He tapped the chalkboard again, this time a rough sketch of what the royal realm once looked like before the murder invalidated the work of its cartographer in one fell swoop. Seven marks this time, six forming a rough circle and another in its centre, the site of the portal opening used last night.

  “We will allocate you a team number after this briefing. Team one will begin at the northernmost posting, two in its clockwise direction, etcetera. You will search the area moving towards the centre marking in a clockwise trajectory; Deity division will be there to assist your navigation.”

  As the chalky lines danced along to his explanation, he caught Evalyn’s eyes from across the room. Bright and piercing as they were, there wasn’t anybody alive that could feel what he did when he met them. His heart skipped a beat, his speech stumbled, and he paused for a while, recollecting his thoughts in front of twenty-one other expectant eyes.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  By then, her eyes were already gone.

  “Our suspect is a Treyatasian Featherfoot. Quadrupedal, but with sensory bypass magic. Worked at Bankson Private Security but recently went AWOL. We have reason to believe she was colluding with an insider via encrypted transmissions. Only reason we think she’s still in there is because of how heavily monitored portals are. Whether they’re alive or dead is yet to be confirmed—if alive, rely on your Aether sense as best you can. Deity will do the same.”

  Elliot tapped the board twice, and the chalk lifted off the board and fell to the floor in a dainty cloud that his hand passed right through.

  “Any further questions, please direct them to me or to your acting commander. We will hear requests for weaponry at the armoury.”

  Most of the attending took that as the appropriate cue to leave and got up to do so, but Marie cleared her throat, grabbing Elliot’s attention before jerking her head down the room. Her expression now was perhaps the most grievous it had been the entire meeting.

  Reluctantly, Elliot cleared his throat.

  “Hardridge…if you could stay behind. Please.”

  Addressing her with that name wouldn’t do anything to make the situation better, but in front of a lot of scary-looking people, it was about the best he could do for the moment.

  The others filed out one after another, some giving him the nod, others unable to break out of their solemn silence. Finally, Evalyn came up to him, eyes averted, one hand holding onto her elbow. About as squeamish as an all-powerful witch could look. This seemed to be Marie’s cue to leave, and with an expectant glare, left the two of them alone in the room.

  “How’s Iris?” he said after a sufficient pause.

  “Shocked but…handling it better than me.”

  “That offer the Queen made you, right?”

  Evalyn nodded, pursing her lips.

  “I can’t exactly blame you now, can I? Both of us could’ve done more for her.”

  Evalyn’s eyes were almost bloodshot, her mind completely elsewhere as her eyes drifted around the room. She was here out of pure necessity; if he had any say over her as her commanding officer, he would’ve sent her right back home.

  “I didn’t want to apologise because…I didn’t want to set a precedent about how we handle this. You and I knew what we were walking into the first time you brought her home.”

  Evalyn bit her lip but nodded anyway.

  “All we could’ve done…all we did is we prepared her for the life she was going to lead…maybe even the choice she would have to make. But at the end of the day, that’s in her hands.”

  “But we groomed her into it—”

  “If there were another option, we both would’ve taken it. We both would’ve…but we weren’t that lucky. She wasn’t that lucky.”

  Tentatively, he took her hand. Perhaps out of reflex after many years of marriage or sincere acceptance and forgiveness, she didn’t shy away from his skin.

  “We could’ve been poor. We could’ve been refugees, we could’ve lived in a horrible place…but she thinks we did our best with the circumstances. She likes how we raised her, and God, if there’s anybody in the world that’ll tell you they didn’t, it’d be a sixteen-year-old girl.”

  Evalyn smiled slightly, and that slight smile seemed to hold within it all the joy in the world that could ever matter to him.

  “You are the most badass mother a guy like me could’ve married. Nobody else could’ve handled a girl with a fate like that, raised her to meet it.”

  “I shouldn’t have needed to. I shouldn’t have.”

  “You gave her a childhood everyone in this room would’ve killed for.”

  “That’s not my point, Elliot.”

  Her hand slipped from his grasp. The world was suddenly dark again.

  “I’m…me. If I were poorer, I would’ve worked until I had money. If I were a refugee, I would’ve found us a home, if I lived in a horrible place, I would’ve found somewhere better. But…I didn’t do anything. I never tried to change the circumstances.”

  She trailed off, hands fidgeting in front of her.

  “I love you, Elliot. I just don’t know if I can come to terms with what we’ve done.”

  “We’ll come to an understanding. Three of us.”

  Evalyn’s sigh came from her mouth like steam from a boiling kettle, the anxieties aerated into one, drawn out breath. She turned and began walking away when Elliot caught her.

  “I won’t see you for a week,” he said. “Come here.”

  She seemed to hesitate, and despite it only being a wait of seventy minutes for her, she walked straight into his arms. Perhaps she was reluctantly doing it for him, or, if he dared think optimistically, she really did miss him.

  He wrapped his arms tight around her waist, pulling her body into his as she held his neck fast against her own.

  In that moment, were a thousand words. Words that they’d never be able to decipher.