Chương 70: Grand Legate

Incense burning. The room smelled of cedar and old paper, and the afternoon light came through stained glass and striped the marble floor in red and amber. Lila put her hand on the chair in front of her, and squeezed. The wood cracked.

"Imbeciles." She saw her close guard flinch. Ignored them.

"How could you let him get to her first?" None of them dared to answer.

"Samir." The Architect stood to attention.

"Yes, Legate." Raymond. It was his fault. She was going to kill him. All those years she spent cultivating her image, washed down the drain by this moronic rumor he decided to spread just to spite her. Now, even her own people were afraid of her.

"How many times have I told you to call me by my name?"

"Many times. I apologize." She shook her head.

"Can we activate our people inside the Iron Library?"

"We can. But getting them inside without being detected was nearly impossible. If we do, I fear we'll never have eyes in Kator again." He paused. Hesitated.

"The Magus' surveillance is thorough."

"Permanently?"

"As good as." Lila gritted her teeth. Why couldn't it ever be easy? Out of seven, she and Arthur were the only ones still committed to fighting demonic influence. The rest had quit, or never cared to begin. Losing their spies meant going in blind the next time Raymond decided to move something he didn't want her to know about.

"Then we don't touch them," she said.

"What else?" And now he had her. A new divine class. Under his thumb. Alexandra was not needed in Laika. She would show them that. Her grip on the chair tightened. It broke apart. She let go of the severed piece in her hand.

"What do you suggest?"

"Attend the conclave," Samir said.

"Get other heroes on your side."

"I don't need help to deal with Raymond."

"Say it."

"You can't move on him without risking open conflict between Architects and Keepers. That's a precedent you don't want." A pause.

"And if you don't go to the conclave, he does. He frames the narrative. Alone." Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. She exhaled.

"You think he'd move that fast."

"He already moved fast enough to reach the girl before you did." Lila locked eyes with Samir.

"Have you gathered information on my peers? Who will be there?" Samir nodded.

"The Divine Executioner will naturally be there." Lila knew that. Arthur's main residence was in Samarand, to watch over the Scale of Judgement. Since the conclave took place there, it was a given he would attend. She was confident he would see her side.

"Reports from our men at the Mother Well indicate that the Saint plans to make the trip." Perhaps she could convince him, but he'd never follow through.

"The Wardens are more concerned about covering up the events in Baleria," Samir continued.

"The Hunter location is unknown." Aaron wasn't going to interrupt his hunt for a conclave. It was doubtful whether he'd even heard of the news.

"The Paladin…"

"She won't come." Jade was stuck in her made-up stalemate at the abyssal fissure. Not that it mattered. She'd never agree to her plan.

"Yes," Samir agreed. Which left her with Jenna. Lila sighed. If there was one person she wanted to avoid even more than Raymond, it was her. But she might agree. If she came to the conclave, which was very uncertain.

"The Veil Sealer has evaded our spies for the past three weeks. It lines up with the new hero's arrival."

"Unsurprising." She and Raymond were the most apt to detect a breach in the dimensional fabric. Lila turned to another subordinate. The Architects of Humanity couldn't afford to spend all their resources on Alexandra and Raymond.

"Moonir, you're in charge of Goldharbor while I'm away." The old man nodded without a word.

"Sabine, you follow me to the Kushtar range with the strike force. I want you to search every valley, every remote village, and if so much as the slightest trace of demonic influence is found… You know what to do."

"Yes, Legate."

"My name." She nodded.

"Sorry." Lila looked at her subordinate for a moment. She didn't say anything and crossed to the window. Her office stood at the top of the Grand Nexus, watched over by Peshan, the Goddess of Civilization herself. Below, Goldharbor was busy with the usual afternoon traffic, merchants, clerks, initiates running errands they'd been given to keep them out of the way. Ordinary people, living ordinary lives in the city she ruled. Raymond wanted them to fear her. Fine. Let them. Fear was not so different from respect.

She had spent a long time believing otherwise, but the evidence was becoming hard to ignore. She watched the city a moment longer, then turned away.

"Send word to Samarand. Have the Architects there prepare my arrival." Her advisors all bowed and left the room. All but Samir.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Lila, I wonder if you've considered the implications of the girl's arrival." She raised an eyebrow.

"So you can, in fact, use my name." Samir smiled.

"Naturally."

"And what implication are you talking about?"

"The gods summoned you a hundred years ago. However, Alexandra Ward is there now. Alive. Young."

"Oh," she said.

"I know. I have no interest in going back."

"I'm aware. But your peers might feel differently about this. They just learned their loved ones are still alive and may want to see them again. You are all so much more powerful than when you arrived. The dimensional fabric is the door, and Alexandra the key."

"Raymond knows," she said.

"He would. He and the Veil Sealer are the most likely to have detected the breach."

"That's why she's with him." She turned that over.

"He'll use the same offer on the others. Come to his side, and he'll find a way to send you home."

"Which makes your attendance at the conclave considerably more complicated," Samir said.

"Or considerably more important."