If Wren let her eyes go hazy, she could still imagine Byers beside her with his ridiculous shock of blond hair, the cherry-red end of his cigarette. How could someone so vibrant just be gone? “But you can’t.”

“I don’t have the luxury of following my heart. If you want your position back, I have to follow her orders.”

Wren couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Seven soldiers from Danu and Vesria altogether had vanished, including Hal Cavendish. And if each side was determined to blame the other … “Then it’s only a matter of time before the armistice ends. We’ll go to war over this, won’t we?”

“It seems that way, yes.” Una snatched the newspaper from her, curling her lip as she scanned the headline. “I find it all too convenient. Seven soldiers are missing. The grand magistrate accuses Danu, the queen accuses Vesria, and a war will break out because neither of them can see past the end of their own nose.”

“You really believe that?” Wren asked. “You don’t think they did it?”

“Absolutely not. I refuse to believe it’s this simple,” Una said sharply, but her anger was directed elsewhere. “I think it’s more likely that we have a common enemy. But the queen won’t admit her advisors, and she certainly won’t listen to my counsel.”

Wren detected the note of hurt in Una’s voice. On paper, Una had no business offering her counsel. What was a mid-ranked military officer to a queen? But Isabel had taken a liking to her over the years. Sometimes, Wren felt blindsided by their similarities. Their ruthlessness, their righteousness, their uncompromising ideals. In many ways, Una was as close to a daughter as Isabel would ever have.

“You know as well as I do that she’ll never rest until she defeats them,” Wren said. “She wants a war.”

“Then Parliament is spineless if they concede.” Parliament had demanded the ceasefire for the well-being of the country, but an outraged populace and the papers’ claim of an outright act of warfare would make it difficult to uphold. “I despise Vesria as much as anyone, but we’re all doomed the moment we replace common sense with emotion. There’s something else going on here.”

The silence between them buzzed like tinnitus.