Chapter 419: Escort

Chapter 419: Chapter 419: Escort

Gerard made it three streets from the diplomatic wing.

That was farther than Marius would have expected.

The decoy car was deliberately ordinary, one of the dark sedans used by junior members of the Liryan delegation rather than the armored royal transport waiting beneath the palace entrance. Gerard had changed his embroidered coat for a plain black one, covered most of his face with a scarf, and left through a service garage accompanied by two members of his personal security.

His intention was simple.

Reach the temporary airfield outside Deira.

Leave Nuria.

Then explain everything from Lirya, where Arik could not physically stand in front of him and make the world feel considerably less favorable.

The snow had stopped before dawn, leaving the capital white beneath a pale winter sky. Traffic moved steadily along the broad avenue as the car turned away from the government district, passing stone fa?ades and glowing ether lines Gerard had spent the previous days resenting.

He sat low in the rear seat.

"Faster."

The driver glanced at him through the mirror.

"Your Majesty, the roads—"

"I can see the fucking roads. Drive."

The man increased speed slightly.

Gerard pulled out his communicator and checked the flight arrangements again. They were incomplete because Marius had apparently decided he possessed authority he did not, but the aircraft remained fueled.

That was all Gerard needed.

The car slowed.

Gerard looked up.

"What now?"

A single tall man, dressed in a dark coat, stood beside the road ahead.

Silver beginning faintly through otherwise dark hair, though his face looked decades younger than Gerard knew he had any right to be.

Severin.

Gerard’s stomach tightened.

"No."

The driver stopped anyway.

"Why the fuck are you stopping?"

"There are barriers ahead, Your Majesty."

Gerard looked past Severin. Only then did he see them. Imperial vehicles blocked both ends of the narrow cross street.

No soldiers lined the pavement. No weapons were raised. They did not need the spectacle.

Severin approached the rear door and waited.

Gerard stared at him through the glass.

Severin knocked once.

Gerard lowered the window several centimeters.

"What?"

Severin’s expression remained perfectly neutral.

"King Gerard."

"I am busy."

"You have a meeting with His Majesty the Emperor."

"I canceled it."

"No."

Gerard’s face flushed.

"I did not ask whether your emperor approved."

Severin seemed almost bored.

"The meeting remains scheduled."

"I am leaving Nuria."

"You are not."

The simplicity of it made Gerard’s temper snap.

He shoved the door open and climbed out.

His security officers followed immediately, though neither looked eager to stand between Gerard and one of Nuria’s oldest military commanders.

"You do not tell me where I go."

Severin inclined his head by the smallest degree.

"I have been instructed to ensure you arrive at the meeting."

"I am a king."

"Yes."

"That means you treat me like one."

"I am."

Gerard laughed harshly.

"This is how Nuria treats visiting monarchs? Blocking roads and sending some ancient palace dog to drag them around?"

Neither of his guards moved.

Severin’s face did not change.

Gerard stepped closer.

"Go back to your emperor and tell him I do not take orders from Nurian servants."

"You may tell him yourself."

"I said I am leaving."

"And I informed you that you are not."

Gerard’s hands curled.

"You people genuinely believe ether makes you superior, don’t you? A country full of arrogant fossils crawling out of a hole after seventy years and expecting the world to kneel because your ground decided to choose another fucking demigod."

Severin listened without interruption.

That silence encouraged Gerard.

It usually did.

"Do you know what everyone outside this place actually thinks of Nuria? You hide behind your Core because without it you would be another backward state begging for credit and pretending old ruins make you important."

One of Gerard’s guards looked toward the pavement.

The other took a very small step backward.

Severin finally spoke.

"Are you actively dying?"

Gerard blinked.

"What?"

"Bleeding internally. Experiencing organ failure. Suffering an immediately life-threatening medical event?"

Gerard stared at him.

"No."

"Then you will attend the meeting."

For several seconds Gerard appeared incapable of processing the answer.

Then his face turned nearly purple.

"You insolent piece of—"

Ether moved.

Gerard’s voice vanished.

His mouth continued moving.

Nothing came out.

He grabbed at his throat.

Air still entered his lungs perfectly well, but there was no voice anymore.

Panic flashed across his face before fury buried it.

Severin watched him with the detached patience of someone waiting for a particularly irritating machine to stop vibrating.

Gerard lunged forward.

He never reached him.

A band of ether caught him around the torso and lifted him several centimeters from the pavement.

His eyes widened.

Severin turned toward the car.

Gerard went with him.

The king kicked uselessly, grabbed at the invisible pressure around his chest, and attempted to scream insults that remained entirely inaudible.

Severin opened the rear door.

Then the ether shoved Gerard inside, hard enough that he landed sideways across the leather seat with his coat twisted beneath him.

His personal guards stood frozen.

Severin looked at them.

"You may accompany your king."

Both men got into the car immediately.

Gerard fought upright and slammed both hands against the window, his mouth forming words that Severin could interpret perfectly well without sound.

He suspected several involved his ancestry.

Severin leaned slightly toward the open door.

"Your voice will return when we arrive."

Gerard’s glare promised murder.

Severin added, "If you attempt to leave the vehicle again, I will immobilize everything below your neck instead."

The king went still.

That appeared to communicate more effectively than diplomacy had.

Severin shut the door.

He walked around the front of the car and entered the passenger seat beside the driver.

The young man behind the wheel looked as though he had reconsidered every career decision that had led him there.

"Imperial palace," Severin said.

"Yes, sir."

The barriers ahead withdrew.

The sedan moved back into traffic.

For the first five minutes, Gerard continued making furious gestures from the rear seat. He pointed at Severin, at the road, at his communicator, then apparently remembered that nobody could hear him and struck the leather beside him with one fist.

Severin looked through the windshield.

Snow-covered Deira passed quietly beyond the glass.

Eventually Gerard stopped.

Severin checked the time.

They would still arrive six minutes early.

He considered that satisfactory.

Then his communicator vibrated with a message from Mezos.

Did you find him?

Severin looked briefly at the silent king reflected in the rearview mirror.

Yes.

Another message arrived.

Trouble?

Severin considered Gerard’s expression.

Then typed:

Nothing worth delaying the meeting.