Page 150 of Shadow Queen
Councilman Alastair gave an amused frown. “So perhaps this usurper has a redeeming quality after all.”
A few of the councilmen chuckled. Alexander didn’t. An enemy of the Shadow King was an enemy of Norah. And an enemy of Norah was an enemy of Mercia—an enemy of Alexander.
“For some time we have suspected the Shadow King might be at risk of losing his alliance,” Councilman Henricus said. “Especially after the attack on the lord justice and Queen Norah’s intervention.”
Alexander frowned at the memory of the attack that resulted in the Destroyer coming to his aid, and Norah’s subsequent confrontation with the king of Japheth.
“But it wouldn’t make sense for Japheth to abandon an ally,anyally,” James said, “given that Aleon waits for an opportunity to strike.”
Henricus frowned. “Perhaps this usurper is a more powerful ally than the Shadowlands.”
“Ridiculous,” Edward said. “Even with the combined armies of both Rael and Serra, this usurper’s power is mediocre at best.”
Alexander’s worry grew. Neither an additional ally joining Japheth and the Shadowlands nor the alliance between Japheth and the Shadowlands crumbling boded well for Norah.
“Have you heard anything from the Shadowmen on this, Lord Justice?” James asked him.
Alexander shook his head. “No. They haven’t heard.”
“Or they have and they’re not saying,” Edward said.
Alexander didn’t believe that.
“When will we send them back?” Edward asked.
“I’ve no intention of sending them back,” Alexander replied. “At least not yet. I need them to protect the villages in the outer reaches.”
Edward snorted. “Can we not pull more men from Bahoul? Perhaps two thousand?”
“There was barely two thousand before, and I called the majority back just yesterday, leaving only a hundred there now.”
“Only a hundred men hold the mountains?” Alastair asked in surprise.
“No, three thousand men hold Bahoul, but only a hundred are Northmen.”
“Might as well bring the rest of them home,” Edward said angrily. “We lost Bahoul when Queen Norah gave it back to the Shadowlands.”
Just what he needed—men who knew nothing of war telling him where to place his army. “I can’t pull them all. I need to keep men on the inside, to give our forces access should we need it.”
An ache ran through Alexander’s temples, and he realized he had been clenching his jaw. The gods were truly testing him.
The Shadow captain was waiting for Alexander as he stormed from the judisaept. “It didn’t go well, I take it,” she said, with a hint of amusement in her voice. “Do they want more men from Salar?”
“No, they want to send you and the rest of your men back to the Shadowlands.”
“Ah, so the strategy of abandoning logic.”
He couldn’t help a small smile. Sometimes he almost liked this woman.
They reached his study, and he shut the door behind him. “Do you know anything about the usurper meeting with the king of Japheth?” he asked directly.
She straightened, her eyes narrowing. “Cyrus has met with Gregor?”
Katya was good at evading him when she didn’t want to answer him, when she had something to hide. She wasn’t hiding anything now, as he’d expected. Despite the tension between the Shadowlands and Mercia, he didn’t believe the Shadowlands plotted against them. He couldn’t say the same for Mercia.
He sighed as he sat down at his desk and pulled out a blank parchment. He wrote quickly, keeping his message short, pointed. Then he wrote a second, less short, less sharp. Katya waited patiently as he folded them and affixed his seal to both. He held them for her. “See the first gets to your Destroyer. The second, to the queen.”
“You freely give the lord commander this information?”
