The Armies of Heaven (29 page)

Ola now sat serenely in my lap. Without any involvement of her conscious will, her element itself had healing power. I wondered if she might have possessed the power to heal Loquel if I’d realized in time. But not even aether could raise the dead.

“How did you burn it?”

Lively lifted a blackened ring from her bodice on a twist of embroidery thread hung about her neck—the ring Margarita had worn. “Auntie Helga. Oh, I hate her!” she cried, and burst into tears.

Beside her, Love put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Nazkia told me about Early. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

This kindness was too much for her and Lively collapsed, sobbing, in Love’s arms.

Ola grew concerned and when I let her down she stood before Lively and held out the tattered little stuffed dog. “Live’y sad,” she said, and Lively gulped back her tears in surprise as Ola placed the toy in her lap.

“Love.” I cast a significant look toward Kae, curled forward over his knees. “Can you and Lively take Ola to get some fresh air?”

Love nodded and took Ola’s hand. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s go for a little walk with Lively.”

Ola reached out and took Lively’s hand as well, and Lively stood with the toy dog in her other hand, looking bewildered. Happily, Ola drew them both forward with her, Helga and the terrible Cherubim already forgotten.

I watched Kae shaking with silent sobs. How I wished we could all forget our dark moments so easily.

“We’ll find Azel,” I promised. “Helga has nowhere to run.”

He went still. “Just put a blade through me.”

“Kae…”

“It never stops, Nazkia. I just keep killing. Every angel, every demon who has fallen in this war—I have murdered every one of them.”

“No,” I said firmly. “The revolution was set in motion long before. Do you have any idea how hated we all were?” When he looked up at me, I saw my words had shocked him, but I went further. “Many thought we had it coming.”

Anguish and anger warred on his ruined features, and I thought for a moment he might hit me.

I sighed, weary and wishing I could make him understand what I had finally come to. “They haven’t called me Bloody Anazakia simply because of Aeval’s lies. They were eager to hate me—riding in sleighs trimmed with gold, wearing a different magnificent gown every time they saw me, given everything I asked for, while their children wanted for bread.”

He jerked his head in negation, anger winning. “That was just—the way of things. It’s not your fault their children went hungry!”

I knelt down before him and placed my hand upon his mask. Kae flinched, his milky eye wide. “Dear cousin,” I said earnestly, “it was
all
the way of things. All of it. We were pieces in a game. None of it was anyone’s fault but those who sought to take advantage of it.”

At the flicker of radiance between us, he thrust my hand away and pulled his back in shock, horrified that I was on the verge of forgiving him. I hadn’t known until this moment that I was.

Before I could say anything else, a messenger arrived with a “summons” from the queen.

Perhaps if Belphagor had been there, he would have counseled me not to go, but he was not, and I wasn’t about to deliberate it with Kae. I left him in the pavilion without telling him who’d sent the message and rode out with two dozen Virtues to the Palace Avenue Bridge at the confluence of the Acheron with the Fountain River on their way to the Gulf of the Firmament.

She stood alone in the center of the bridge in her Virtuous glory and I felt a stab of anger that she would impersonate such a noble race. Her retinue, she’d left on the opposite bank as promised, no large amassment of troops in view. I dismounted and told my escorts to wait on the bank and take no action unless her troops moved and we were betrayed.

I’d forgotten how tall and alarmingly beautiful she was. Her snow-white garment, with its swirling, split-legged fabric that gave the appearance of a gown—immaculate, though she’d been on the road of battle for more than two months—made me acutely aware of my dirty, blood-stained uniform and scuffed boots and of the fact that I hadn’t had a proper bath in weeks. There wasn’t a smudge on her translucent, luminous skin, nor a silver hair out of place in her modified Virtue’s queue.

“Bloody Anazakia.” She took in my appearance with a mocking smile.

“What is this about?” I demanded. “I know full well the Liberationists have lost the palace to my terrestrial forces, so if you’re expecting me to surrender, you’re sadly mistaken.”

Her laughter was irritatingly lovely and sincere. “Ah, charming to the last, my dear. I have come to offer you a proposal.”

“I’ll make no concessions to you. You’re wasting your time.”

“Don’t be hasty, angel. It is not a queenly attribute.” She smiled. “I am offering you the kingdom of Heaven.”

I stared, certain one of us had lost her mind.

“Oh, come now,” she said. “Surely that’s enough.”

“What are you playing at? Do you expect me to believe you’ve come here to concede?”

“What an ugly word.” She waved it away with a dismissive motion. “I plan to abdicate the throne. I find Heaven and its insipid little angels tiresome. And the Firmament,” she added as I regarded her in stark astonishment, “is in utter disarray. You may have noticed it’s completely gone to hell.”

“Do you think I’m a fool?” I exclaimed, infuriated by whatever game she was playing.

“My dear cousin,” she said sweetly. “That is the sort of question one ought never to ask. It simply begs the obvious answer.” She gave a delicate yawn and covered her mouth as if I were boring her.

I’d heard enough. I turned to walk away from her when a sudden breeze flirted around me.
“Padshaya Koroleva.”
Someone unseen spoke the words, or a host of someones speaking in such perfect unison it was impossible to separate them. I looked at Aeval with suspicion, as if she might have thrown her voice.

She smiled her calculating smile. “I have had a better offer. From the First Choir. I shall gladly leave the inferior races of Heaven to you, as you are so much better suited to them.”

The words fluttered around me. “Queen of syla shall return to
Polnochnoi Sud
.”

She was returning to the Midnight Court in the world of Man. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. The syla always told only what they saw, not simply what they wished to be so.

Aeval smiled. “Of course, there are a few conditions. And they are not negotiable.”

I rode back to camp with a strange mix of elation and sorrow, not quite certain if what had just happened was real. To my relief, Kae had left the pavilion. I couldn’t face him just now. Aeval had driven a hard bargain, but I had to believe she would honor it, for I’d spoken privately with the invisible syla and they’d given me their assurance they’d seen it all just as she promised.

Lively alone waited for me. It seemed fitting I tell her first, for she had the least emotional involvement in what I had to say.

She confirmed for me first that Helga’s appearance had been the last desperate act of a woman who knew she’d been beaten. As Misha had told Belphagor, the Exiles had indeed overrun the palace, while the Unseen had wreaked havoc within the city among the frightened demons until half had deserted and the other half were ready to defect. I was gratified to hear that given the choice between Aeval and me, most had seemed to prefer me—even if it was as the lesser of two evils. Vasily and Margarita, Lively said, had things well in hand and had only lost her due to the sudden appearance of the Cherub who’d whisked her away.

When I told her what I’d agreed to, she assured me I had acted as a queen must, and I took comfort that I would have at least one friend—though the most unlikely I could have imagined—when this was over.

“There’s something I should give you.” She drew a small pouch from her pocket and shook out a signet ring of the House of Arkhangel’sk—my own. “I stole it from the apothecary after you traded him for my glamour. Auntie didn’t know I had it; it was sort of my backup plan in case she left me destitute. I should have given it to you long ago. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Lively.” I bit back tears as she placed it in my hand. If I’d had it before, I might have stopped the Cherubim. The celestine protected the House of Arkhangel’sk from firespirit harm. But Lively couldn’t have known. “Thank you,” I said earnestly as I put it on my finger, and kept the regret to myself.

I asked her then if I could sit and hold her hand awhile for courage before I went out to address my troops. Moved, she sat with me patiently until I was ready.

When I went out at last and called the troops together, I trembled horribly, hoping only those closest to me could see it, for it was not very queenly. Indeed, I had never felt less queenly in all my life.

Belphagor and Love emerged from the infirmary, Ola on Belphagor’s shoulders. I smiled. At least this was as it should be after such long, dark months without our sun-kissed darling.

I spoke when the murmuring and shushing faded into silence. “As many of you may know, our reinforcements have come from the world of Man and the Liberationists have abandoned their cause.” A loud cheer went up at this and it took nearly a minute for them to settle down enough for me to continue.

“I have met with Her Supernal Majesty this morning.” Now I waited for the booing to die down. “And she has agreed to a cessation of hostilities, effective immediately.” This brought instant silence as everyone stared at one another, uncertain they’d heard correctly. “Queen Aeval of the Firmament of Shehaqim and All the Heavens will formally abdicate the throne this afternoon and return the rule of Heaven to the House of Arkhangel’sk.”

The roar of approval started small and hesitant as my words sank in, swelling into a joyous sound as soldiers began to slap one another on the back and raise their fists in the air in victory. Convalescing Virtues hobbled to the opening of the infirmary to join the cheering.

Love and Belphagor hurried to me through the crowd, astonished I hadn’t told them first. Belphagor set Ola down and hugged me in celebration, his dark eyes, though still full of grief, shining with pride, “When did you sneak off to do this?” He stepped back and let Love tackle me with her embrace. Ola joined in the merriment, giggling and wrapping herself around my leg, though she couldn’t have understood what was happening.

“A messenger came…just after.”

Belphagor nodded.

Love was nearly bouncing. “Oh, Nazkia, I can’t believe it!” She pulled back when I didn’t join in her enthusiasm. “Why don’t you look happy?”

“Later,” I murmured as Kae approached.

“You’ve done it.” He gave me his ghost of a smile. “I said you would.”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t have been victorious without you. You brought us through against impossible odds. I want you to understand what your service has meant to me.” I hesitated and his tenuous smile faltered as shadows crossed his face. “I need you at my side this afternoon. We must demonstrate a strong and ready presence.”

“Nazkia, you don’t need me for this,” he protested.

“Please don’t argue with me.” The words came out more harshly than I’d intended and the smile disappeared entirely. “I’ve sent a tailor to your tent.”

He stepped back and gave me a stiff bow. “I will attend you, Your Supernal Highness.”

With little time to prepare, and anxious not to be any more outshone by Aeval than necessary at this pivotal moment, I told Love and Belphagor of our terms as I hurriedly bathed and dressed. Lively had already set to work taking in the gown I’d carried with me in my trunk from Aravoth, and she and Love bustled about me, helping to make me presentable. Belphagor listened soberly, bouncing Ola on his knee, and agreed I’d done the only thing that could be done.

Love, however, frowned in disapproval as she pinned up my damp hair. “I don’t see how you can trust Aeval.”

“I don’t trust her,” I said. “I trust the syla.”

Lively had taken my gown for one last tuck when Gereimon ducked his head into the tent with his eyes averted to announce I had a visitor. From behind him, Vasily swung the staid Virtue aside with a grin and grabbed me from where I sat, and I squealed in surprise as he scooped me up in his arms like a child and kissed me.

“Papa!” crowed Ola with delight, and Vasily nearly dropped me in his shock. She scrambled off Belphagor’s lap and Vasily set me down and crouched low to gather her up, blinking back tears as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Live’y sew?” she asked as she played with the spikes at the side of his neck.

Vasily laughed. “No, sweetheart. Beli sewed that.” He kissed her forehead and smoothed one of her wispy curls. “Papa’s missed you very much,” he said gruffly. He looked up at Belphagor, who raised an amused eyebrow at him.

“You never scoop me up and make me squeal.”

“Because you’d beat the tar out of me, you bastard.” Vasily set Ola aside as he came up on his knees before Belphagor and kissed him with a passion that made me blush, while Belphagor dug his fingers into the red locks. “Besides.” He sat back after Belphagor released him. “You’re not a half-naked queen.”

“Give me a moment,” said Belphagor.

My blush deepened and I looked up to see what was taking Lively so long with the gown. Her eyes were on the entrance of the tent.

Margarita entered and approached with a hesitant bow. “Your Supernal Highness. I didn’t want to interrupt. We heard the news as we arrived. Has she really surrendered?”

“I doubt
surrender
is in her vocabulary.” I held out my hand. “But she has agreed to step down as the queen of Heaven.”

Instead of coming in for a hug as I’d intended, Margarita knelt on one knee and kissed my ring. “May you reign for a thousand years.”

I laughed to cover the awkwardness I felt. “We don’t live quite that long in Heaven. I’ll be happy with a century or two.”

“Belphagor is one hundred and ten,” Vasily announced to no one in particular.

I breathed in too sharply in my corset and had to reach for the cup of water on the trunk beside me to cover my surprise. In Heaven’s air, age was relative, as we didn’t experience the damaging effects one was prone to in the world of Man. Belphagor had spoken of falling many times, but though the signs of terrestrial aging were there, he looked hardly older than anyone I knew.