49. A PAUSE FOR PLANNING

Senera’s story

Grizzst’s Tower, Eamithon, Quur

A short time after Jarith located Qown, just after sunset

“Warmonger,” Thurvishar cursed as Jarith finished talking. The wizard turned to Senera. “Why would Relos Var give a Cornerstone to the Quuros Empire? Especially that Cornerstone? He has to know what it can do!”

Senera started to answer, then she stopped and blinked at Thurvishar, at the waves of anxiety she could feel pouring off him. “Wait. You’re far too upset about—” She narrowed her eyes. She’d been trying to block out other people’s thoughts, but sometimes it was hard.

Right now, Thurvishar was mentally shouting.

The wizard was upset enough that Rebel ran to him, rubbing her head up against his calf and making little whining noises for attention. He absently reached down and scratched between the dhole’s ears, but his focus was elsewhere.

And Senera could tell, just based on what she was feeling from the man, that the anxiety was entirely focused on this particular Cornerstone: Warmonger.

This was … personal.

Senera rubbed her forehead. Yes, it probably was personal, but not from this lifetime. She sometimes forgot that for all that Kihrin, Janel, and Teraeth danced around as examples of the “all the lives we’ve lived before” club, Thurvishar had too—as the first Emperor of Quur. And Emperor Simillion had indeed had history with that particular Cornerstone.

“I never won against Nemesan,” Thurvishar said softly. “But he was a nightmare as long as he had that damn stone. I was murdered before I had the chance to figure out a way to counter its effects. It is easy to think Warmonger isn’t a dangerous Cornerstone because it can’t let you throw lightning or switch souls or raise the dead, but Warmonger is the worst of the lot. Just the scale of the damn thing—”

Senera sat down in one of the chairs. They’d cleared out most of the workshop, but there were still a few projects too odd, too delicate, or too inexplicable to touch. Who knew exactly what Grizzst had been doing?

**What about Galen and the others?** Jarith asked.

Senera inhaled sharply, chiding herself for once again managing to lose track of the demon. “We have to rescue them.” She stood again, grabbed her sallí cloak, and threw a matching one to Thurvishar.

Thurvishar caught the cloak, and it seemed to snap him out of whatever fugue had entrapped him. “You can’t come with us, Senera,” he told her.

“Excuse you,” she snapped. “I believe I’m perfectly capable of going where I like.”

“If Relos Var finds out—” Thurvishar started to say.

“Relos Var knew the moment he arrived at a cottage already burned to the ground.” Senera hadn’t even the slightest doubt that was true. “He’s had his eye on me for signs of betrayal ever since the Battle of the Well of Spirals when he saw the two of us together. Too much is at stake for him to blindly assume my loyalty.”

**Relos Var will leave when he dictates terms to Caless,** Jarith said. **If we wait until then, we’ll only have to deal with Anlyr.**

A cold wave of shock picked Senera’s skin. “What? Anlyr? Anlyr’s with them?”

**Yes. He’s the guard.**

Senera inhaled deeply. “I see. Damn. I thought he was somewhere else. That … that changes things.”

“How so?” Thurvishar narrowed his eyes.

Senera spoke to Jarith: “Go back. Keep watch on them. Let us know the second Var leaves, but don’t try to take on Anlyr alone. He’s much more dangerous than he seems.”

Jarith vanished.

Senera concentrated on her breathing. She needed to focus.

“Senera, tell me what’s wrong,” Thurvishar said.

“You know, you really have a beautiful voice,” Senera said absently. Rebel decided to switch targets and pushed up against Senera’s leg.

Thurvishar froze in shock. “I’m sorry. What did you just say?”

Senera began petting Rebel and ignored the question. “Let’s assume that even if Caless agrees to Relos Var’s demands and hands over the Stone of Shackles, Var will keep one of them for himself. My metal is on Qown.”

Thurvishar studied Senera’s face. “Why would he care? He’s already taken Worldhearth. Qown has no value.”

Senera decided it would be best not to waste time on long and complicated explanations, so she just went with short, ugly facts. “I made a mistake,” she confessed. “When Qown told us about Anlyr, something about him bothered me. He reminded me of one of Relos Var’s other people. Different name, same attitude. So I confirmed it, while I still could.” She shuddered and then spat out in a rush: “Anlyr’s a mimic,” she said.

Thurvishar didn’t seem to hear her at first, but he was just processing the news. Senera knew he’d truly comprehended when his skin turned gray. He’d understood the ramifications: all the protective glyphs in the world wouldn’t protect Qown from having his brain eaten by a mimic. At which point, all their secrets would be laid bare.

Senera’s mistake was not mentioning it to the others. They had too much on their minds and she had no way to defend against him. Relos Var had him spying on Havar D’Aramarin. Senera had assumed that meant he’d be too busy to cause trouble for them.

“We have to go right now,” Thurvishar said. He looked ready to cast a gate spell right that instant. In fact, his hands started to begin the motions.

“No,” Senera corrected. “We need to think.”

Thurvishar paused.

“We need to take a moment and consider our enemy’s position on this game board,” Senera said. Rebel nudged her head under Senera’s hand when the wizard stopped petting for a few seconds. “When—please note that I’m saying when not if—when we recover Qown, Relos Var will know several things. He will know for certain that I have switched sides, he will know that Sheloran, Galen, and Qown are actively helping us, and he will know that we know about Warmonger. Because he’s smart enough to realize Qown will tell us. Additionally, he will know that the Name of All Things has been lost. Now what does that mean?”

Thurvishar didn’t just throw the question back at her, which Senera appreciated. He steepled his fingers under his chin and contemplated the question. “He’s not stupid enough to check on Warmonger’s position to make sure it’s safe. He might check on the Name of All Things, though.”

“Eventually,” Senera agreed. “But not first. And I agree that he won’t give away Warmonger’s location. But he knows that we’re going to be looking for it. More specifically, he knows I’m going to be looking for it. And he knows I have a contact who is close to the empress. That’s the fastest, most logical place for me to start if I’m trying to find out who’s carrying Warmonger.”

“You have a contact close to the empress?” Thurvishar frowned. “Who?”

“Fayrin Jhelora,” Senera said. “The councilman assigned to liaise with the emperor. Also,” she added, “the man who controls one of the largest spy networks in the empire. If anyone is going to be able to easily identify who around the empress might be using Warmonger, he will.”

“How on earth—”

Senera waved a hand. “We grew up together. That’s not important. What is important is that he’s the only family I have, and Var knows it. All of which makes Fayrin a target. In Var’s place, I would send someone to kill, kidnap, or replace Fayrin with a mimic as proved most convenient and then wait for me to show up. And thus once I do show up—” She shrugged. “It could go any number of ways. Best-case scenario, you too have something that Relos Var wants.” She pointed to the yellow-green crystal around Thurvishar’s neck—the Cornerstone Wildheart.

“He’d have to know how I feel about you,” Thurvishar countered.

“Don’t assume he doesn’t. He’s very good at judging people, and you weren’t subtle when we parted from each other at the Well of Spirals. Anyway, ransom demands have been working very well for him tonight. Why not one more?”

Thurvishar rubbed his forehead. “Fayrin Jhelora? He’s a spymaster? Isn’t he the one that got caught renting out part of the imperial palace as a velvet house? He regularly falls asleep during council meetings. He’s considered the easiest vote to buy on the entire council—unless someone outbids you, of course.”

“It’s an act,” Senera explained. “It’s always been an act.”

“Any chance he’s secretly working for Relos Var? Knowingly working for Relos Var? Because I have to admit the description you’re giving of the man does make him sound like just the type of person Relos Var would recruit.”

“No,” Senera said. “I tried to recruit him, but he’d been warned off. He never agreed. We had a relationship of cordial ambivalence; for old times’ sake, we agreed to stay out of each other’s way.”

“Warned off? Warned off by who?”

“Sandus,” Senera said. “Fayrin worked for your father. And Emperor Sandus was never friends with Relos Var.”

Thurvishar’s gaze grew distant as he seemed to process that information. Then he nodded. “Then it’s an opportunity. We know where they’re going to be. And they can’t say the same about us.”

“Right,” Senera said. “And now we can leave.”

But even as she said the words, a portal spun open in front of them.

They prepared for the worst.