Glass of Revenge

~20~

Uproar filled the palace and city of Orynth once the news of Adarlan's forces marching north broke, but the palace council chambers remained oddly quiet. Subdued. Not out of anger at the news, not out of the shocked outrage that had spread over the city at the news, but the killing calm that had spread through the veins of so many of the elite warriors of the court at the news. At the threat implied to their queen and her consort.

"I don't know if I understand why Lyria deems it necessary to declare war," Darrow said softly, as they studied the maps spread over the large table in the council chamber. "I can't see it being worth her while to raise an army just to rescue a single spy that she hasn't heard hide nor hair from."

"That's because this is not about Sam Cortland," Chaol said almost soundlessly. "Not hearing from Cortland, that's just the excuse she's using in order to declare war. She doesn't truly care about him."

"Then what on earth is she raising Adarlan's army for?" Lord Sloane snapped impatiently, "if she's not going to declare war after all?"

"Because Lyria does truly mean to declare war on Terrasen," Chaol explained, irritated. No matter the kingdom, the fusty old doddery councillors were all the same. "Just not for the reasons she's claiming. She doesn't care about Sam Cortland. But she does want revenge on Rowan and Aelin for being happy whole she was so desperately unhappy."

"So the bitch is only doing this so she can get revenge," Darrow sighed. "So she can carry her death threats against their majesties through to completion."

"Exactly," Chaol nodded. "We've known for months now that Lyria wants Rowan and Aelin dead. But none of us ever thought that it would come to war. Especially not with such a feeble excuse in place. Lyria must be even crazier than any of ever thought possible."

"Lyria is more than just crazy," Endymion said bitterly. "She is clinically insane – the last two hundred years of 'abandonment' have warped her mind. At this point, Lyria is presumably as mad as Maeve was during the war. And you all know how that turned out for us."

There was a few minutes' of silence as memories of the recent Valg war pressed upon them, the grief and pain they all still felt reverberated through their bones. The siege Orynth had outlasted was still quite fresh in the minds of their army and the minds of the citizens of Orynth. No one was likely to forget the horrors that the war had brought, the horrors that had been inflicted upon the ordinary citizens of Terrasen just as much had it had wrought unimaginable nightmares upon its warriors and nobility.

What sort of horrors would this war bring upon the kingdom, Lyria's war of revenge? What horrors would occur before it was over? None of them knew. None of them even wanted to imagine it.

The silence started to stretch on too long, and Chaol shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He'd spotted several of them looking at him, pity in their gazes. He knew something was wrong. He knew that whatever was going on also had something to do with him. He just wished that they would stop beating around the bush and tell him. Honestly, Chaol didn't know how much longer he could handle the suspense.

"I know there's something that you aren't telling me," Chaol said, directing his gaze toward Rowan and Aedion. He doubted that Aelin knew what was being kept from him, for she was now looking at them in slight confusion. Besides, Aelin was his friend. She had always struggled to keep vital information from him in the past. "I would appreciate it if you didn't keep information from me right now. Especially when it may prove useful in whatever conflict that is approaching."

"I didn't want to have to tell you like this," Aedion said, slumping over in his chair. "But you have a right to know. When Lyria assembled Adarlan's lords in Rifthold to order them to assemble whatever forces they have, your father was among them."