Page 204 of Shadow Queen
“The North was never an ally,” Narsing argued. “Not a true one. And if Aleon decides to stand with them after this?”
“We can get there before Aleon mobilizes, but we’d have to march now.”
Narsing scoffed. “You can’t be serious.”
“Salar,” Soren said quietly. “We should discuss this.”
Mikael shot him a look in surprise. Soren never spoke against him publicly. “There’s nothing to discuss.”
“Apparently there is,” Narsing said. “Even your lord commander thinks it’s a foolish idea.” Another murmur rumbled through nobles in agreement. “What do you say, Lord Commander?”
But Soren didn’t answer. He only looked at Mikael.
Norah caught Mikael’s eyes. She silently prayed that he’d relent. He couldn’t march to war against Mercia, not when his nobles, and even Soren, were unsupportive. And certainly not before Norah could get her mind around it. Perhaps there would come the time when she wanted revenge, but that time wasn’t now. Now she was just trying to get her mind right about what had happened. She begged him with her eyes.
“Get out,” Mikael told the room.
They stared at him for a moment.
“Now!” he demanded. And they slowly filed out.
The room emptied, and relief filled her. But the conversation wasn’t done. Mikael’s eyes bore into Soren. “You don’t agree with me?” His voice was cold and calm—the deepest of anger.
But Soren held his own calm reply. “I wish you would have discussed it with me before bringing it to the nobles.”
“I don’t need your permission,” Mikael snarled.
Soren’s eyes were dark, darker than the midnight they normally were. “I’m lord commander. I lead our army.”
Mikael bristled. “Myarmy!Iam Salar!” He was too far from Norah for her to reach out to him, to touch him, to try to calm him.
“This is just what you wanted,” Salara-Mae hissed as she stepped out of the shadows, making them all stop. Norah jerked her head toward the woman in astonishment. But then she realized Salara-Mae wasn’t talking to her. The woman’s eyes were on Soren. “You supported this marriage when you knew it would be his downfall. Then you broke us from Japheth by murdering Gregor’s nephew.” Her words dripped with hatred. She looked at Mikael. “He provokes your enemies to rise against you! And now even your nobles.”
“He’s had nothing to do with anything that’s happened,” Mikael said shortly, his anger at Soren now switching to defense. “How can you even blame him?”
Salara-Mae snorted in rage and disbelief, wrinkling her face in disgust. “No,” she said bitterly. “Get out!” She spoke to Soren directly. “Get out!” she seethed again.
“Mother!” Mikael tried to quiet her.
“Salara-Mae,” Norah breathed.
“No!” The woman pointed at Soren, peeling her lips back in rage. “I’ve watched you plot and scheme and claw your way closer to the crown. This is just what you wanted! Salar on the cusp of defeat! You wanted this!”
Norah gaped at the woman in horror. “How can you say this?”
Salara-Mae’s breath came ragged, her anger taking all her energy. “He knows,” she seethed.
Norah looked at Soren, who stood bewildered.
“Bastard son of Rhalstad,” the woman spat.
Rhalstad,Mikael’s father?
Mikael leaned back on his heel, with his brow creased in confusion. He stared at his mother.
“He knows,” Salara-Mae said again. “He knows who he is.”
Mikael shifted his gaze to Soren.
