RE: Monarch

Chapter 311: Ascension XII (End of Book 4)

One Month Later

The demons were delighted, which was always a little concerning. Ozra visited twice in the preceding weeks with rarities and gifts in tow, parceling them out like the spirit of winter, with no expectation of anything in return.

My father was clearly thriving in the hells.

It was, for lack of a better word, a loan. They'd safeguard him—safe being a relative term—put him through his paces, and eventually return him to this plane when Ragnarok was imminent.

Meanwhile, Thaddeus, working together with Kilvius, handled distribution of memory orbs taken from the recollections of my banner lieutenants and placed them in the hands of the many, many information brokers throughout the kingdom, to results that were decidedly more mixed. His control of information blunted the severity of the fallout, as our conflict was rumored to be directly tied to the mass disappearances of nonhumans in Whitefall.

He'd warned me that even though Gil was widely feared and often hated, many humans wouldn't interpret my apparent regicide kindly. And in that, he was completely right.

I was something of a pariah now. At least for the moment.

The large winding caravan of my regiment and their families had set to avoiding human settlements for the immediate future, at least until the worst of it blew over, and Thaddeus assured me it eventually would. In the interim, Queen Elaria took the ruling crown of Uskar. Sera wanted to stay with the regiment and Annette was far happier in the background. My mother was the best choice to avert the imminent power struggle, well-liked and already established.

To that end, the absence of the king's body, despite his apparent death, helped a great deal in solidifying her grasp on the throne. There hadn't even been a burial. And no one, not even the most power-hungry houses and blatant opportunists, wanted to risk taking a swipe at the queen when the king's death was yet to be fully confirmed.

As for Maya and me, I think we were both happy to be on the road again.The return to Whitefall had taken a great deal out of both of us, and without countless prying eyes, we could live relatively freely.

I still wasn't sure where we were going next.

We'd moved south, away from the larger human settlements, primarily to avoid the torch and pitchfork situation every time we came to rest. At the moment, the sun was out, almost warm, and as the sparse snow thawed I was sunning myself on the canopy of a moving wagon, enjoying the luxury of, for once, not having an axe hanging over my head.

Something poked me through the canopy.

I yelped, nearly rolling off the wagon, gripping the siding. "Can't a man get some peace around here?"

"Do you want peace or food?" Maya called from within.

"Yes."

"Mari says we've got stew for dinner—beef or venison, plenty of both. You have a preference?"

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I basked in it.

"Hello?"

"Sorry. Just enjoying how domestic that sounded."

The canopy thumped out into my side, either a foot or a fist. "Ow!"

That does it.

I swung around into the wagon's mouth where Maya was organizing potions and medical supplies and pinned her to the canvas, pressing a kiss to her mouth.

"Cairn." She turned her head, embarrassed.

"What?"

"We're being watched."

I turned to see the driver of the wagon behind us look pointedly away, finding something fascinating in the endless fields. "Right." Regretfully, I took a chaste step back, making a show of scanning the supplies. "Sure looks nice in here."

"Some of my best work." Maya said dryly.

From outside, there was a humming that was somehow both cheerful and malevolent, like a funeral dirge transposed to a major key.

"Lord below, is that Vogrin?" I asked, horrified.

The dirge stopped. My summon stuck his head into view, grinning like some horror story from the hells. "Ah. Found you."

I leaned towards Maya. "Just to be sure I'm not imagining it. That felt threatening, right?"

"Mhm." Maya agreed.

"Yes, yes, you're both a couple of court jesters." Vogrin grumbled good-naturedly, levitating upwards and onto the wagon.

"Elves around the perimeter again?" I asked, picking up on his intent.

"Thankfully no. Though that would give me something to do." Vogrin grew serious. "On that note—a couple months ago, we were in the planning stages of assembling a project utilizing my golems. Sending them to search for anyone with a connection to the arch-mage, using the samples of her blood."

"Ah." I felt my good spirits slip away. "Right."

Maya squeezed my arm. "I'm going to check on the stew."

"Meet you there."

Vogrin shifted out of the way, allowing her passage. "I still think that undertaking could bear fruit." He insisted.

Without answering, I turned away from him, inspecting the contents of our growing alchemical stores. Between me, Gunther, Vicant, and a few others with talent for alchemy and apothecary, it was growing into quite the collection. I picked up a draught of symphytum concentrate and placed it back in the wooden divider it came from.

Denial is a knife.

"It's… a waste of resources," I told him finally, hoping he'd simply take it at face value.

His eyebrows rose. "With due respect, I beg to differ. As I've said before, knowing her roots, family, who she was before, anything really, could vastly improve our situation."

"Okay." I approached him. "Do you want me to tell you what would happen?"

Vogrin drew closer. "Did you have a vision?"

I shook my head. "You'd spend gods know how much time building that thing, shaping it, imbuing it, honing its detection abilities. Then you'd place it down on the road beside the caravan…" I lowered my voice. "And before it took a single step, it would tell you that it found a match."

His expression turned dead serious. "What are you saying?"

Behind Vogrin the driver was still idly glancing our way.

I grimaced and squeezed his shoulder. "Tomorrow, we'll go scouting together. Like old times. And I'll tell you anything you want to know. What she was like as a child, who her family is. Anything you want."

"You've guessed the arch-mage's identity." Vogrin reiterated, still reeling.

"No." I said.

My eyes trailed the floorboards as I remembered the woman from the night the world ended. What she'd asked. The question I'd wanted so desperately not to hear.

Do you think… you could ever love me again?

"I know exactly who she is."