Ankyon pale lager made the man talkative, boisterous; he’d been the complete opposite earlier, when Empress Alyx decided to have the armies wait until Lady Mykaela’s body had been safely returned to Ankyo. Already reports told of the first ships docking at the harbor, of Mistress Parmina and her soldiers landing ashore, intending to complete the journey back to the city at day’s end. Lord Besserly balked at that, protesting that this could delay much-needed support to King Kance should he choose to attack the Drychta within the Hollow Mountains.

“Then it would be best he waits for our arrival,” Princess Inessa shot back. “Surely he’s aware that reinforcements are on the way? Surely he’s wise enough to understand that mounting an assault now means he will be greatly outnumbered?”

“It’s not easy to know what Kance thinks nowadays,” Empress Alyx said wearily. “But spies inform me that he is keeping his distance from the Drychta, instead choosing to skirt the borders and build defensive fortresses along the mountain exits. It’s a sound strategy, and the Odalians should be safe from any counterattacks until we arrive—in two weeks.”

There was more to this plan than the empress was letting on. I knew there was more information she left us out of. That was not surprising, as I was a stranger by every definition, and Lord Besserly was a talker when in his cups. Still, I worried. That a new war brewed in the south made for disquieting contemplation.

Cheated of an early fight, Lord Besserly and several of his men had slouched off to the nearest tavern to drown their sorrows; I’d tagged along. Surprisingly—or perhaps not—Lord Fox joined them, buying the first three rounds much to their pleasure.

“None of us imagined that girl had so much firepower in her,” Lord Besserly continued. “We knew about the azi, of course. Everyone knows that. But she was quiet and polite, even though she could incinerate the whole lot of us without batting a beautiful lash. She’s a stunning woman—Lord Kalen was very smitten with her, gave us a good talking-to when he thought we teased her too much. Wasn’t till later that we realized how dangerous she truly was. She was—well, my mam would have called her a lodestone. She attracted people to her, but not always in a good way.” He paused. “Maybe we underestimated her because she could never hold her drink. My twelve-year-old niece took brew better than she did.”

“I can’t believe she did this to Kion,” Lord Knox said. “She didn’t stay long in Thanh, but she left on good terms with Stefan. But she made a lot of our best warriors nervous, and not because she was a good-looking woman.”