Chapter 41: Gisella

Palace of the Centauri Throne: Kingdom of Karil

Ideally, the new king's most trusted spy would not hesitate to inform him that the man who had taken up cause against his country snuck into her room to engage her in a treasonous conversation. But Gisella found herself waking up the next morning with no such desire. In fact, she woke up three mornings after that with a headache of moral dilemma.

It wasn't as though Gisella considered herself the most ethical of people. That would be a laughable estimation in the face of what she had done for the late king of Karil. But she had made an oath and Gisella took her oaths seriously once she made them. She was to spy for Nicolas, to fight for him, to serve her country. But what was she to do if what her king wanted and what was best for her country were not the same thing?

Then again, who was she to decide what was best for Karil?

It was all too confusing and when things were confusing, Gisella tended to ignore them. She threw all her energy into the surveillance of the royal family of Toura instead. But she found very little of interest. People, particularly nobles, were generally boring in their everyday lives. Especially so when compared to someone like the Chaos who was occupying every available corner of her mind, no matter how intently she tried to force him out.

Almost a week later, she still hadn't made a decision when she entered yet another council meeting and was surprised to find that her fellow council members were already talking about the Chaos. She sat in her seat, aware that every ounce of her body was stiff with nervousness at the sound of his name, and waved away Freya who had appeared to ask if she needed anything before the meeting began.

"— cannot believe he would be so callous," one of the councilmen was saying, shaking his head. "To murder the Idorian princess outright like that. To clap her grieving brother in chains and drag him into the city he should have inherited by all rights."

Gisella sat forward in her seat, practically on the edge of it. What was this, now?

"Idoria is no longer ruled by royalty. It is ruled by zealots," another councilman spoke. "Has been for a long time."

"Who's to say he didn't kill the king as well?" Another asked and the group glanced his way, unconvinced. "I'm just saying, no one but the Chaos actually saw him die."

"But he didn't—"

"Good, you've all heard," a booming voice interrupted, accompanied by the sound of both enormous doors opening at the entryway.

They all turned to see that Nicolas had joined them and was striding toward their table with purpose, Ronin close behind him. They all stood as he approached and sat again when he waved them down.

"Seraphina is dead," Nicolas confirmed. "And so is Orion. The Chaos executed her for the crime of murdering her husband who also so happened to be the heir to the Delosian throne."

This, apparently, was news to the rest of the council. They broke into frenzied murmurs in reaction.

"Bijan was taken prisoner and is, presumably, still alive at present," Nicolas continued, ignoring the muttered conversations happening all around the table. His gaze snapped to Gisella as he finished. "Has this changed things with Toura?"

He narrowed his gaze and she saw the meaning in that. The Princess' letters to Bijan.

"Not that we've observed," Gisella replied. He nodded and turned back to the others. She took that moment to scribble a note onto the sheet of paper in front of her.

Bijan is a captive. Watch Vuha.

She sat back in her seat and raised a finger. A moment later, Freya appeared by her side, took the note, and disappeared. Gisella turned her attention back to Nicolas who was being peppered with questions by terrified council members.

"What of the matter of the Delosian succession?" One of them asked.

"Helios is still very much alive and well," Nicolas answered. "It is up to him to choose his successor. I hear he has a bastard son. He will probably choose him if no other family comes forward."

"A bastard? We know nothing of a bastard. All of our preparations have been made with Orion in mind. How—"

"At the moment, we have bigger problems than future relations with Delos," Nicolas interrupted. "The Chaos has been amassing power for years. Now, he's starting to use it."

Nicolas went on from there, introducing them all to a brand new and very real worry that the Chaos would be coming for them. Gisella was distracted by the sound of the door opening once more, much quieter this time, the sound of feet tapping quickly on the tile as someone approached with urgency. She turned to find Freya leaning over her, wide eyed.

"They're gone," she whispered. "The royal family of Toura. They're gone."

Gisella's eyes snapped to hers.

"What do you mean they're gone?" She asked. "Leon was supposed to—"

The clang of metal against metal interrupted her thought. The doors opened again, this time forcibly, and the bodies of two Karilish guards fell unceremoniously into the council chambers. Council members gasped as more guards, and Ronin, swarmed the king.

The invaders wore no colors, bore no crests, so that they could not be identified. But they were on the attack. The first two struck nearby guards. A third charged Ronin who had just enough time to raise his sword and parry before another one was on him. Gisella clenched her fist and the assailant crumpled to the ground and breathed no more.

"Get the king out of here!" Ronin shouted as Gisella stared down at the body. If he had noticed a full grown soldier drop to the ground in the middle of a battle without anyone even near him, he made no mention of it. Even when his eyes met hers and he barked her name. "Verlice!"

She nodded and vaulted over the table to Nicolas.

Nicolas ducked a blow from an enemy sword that had been aimed straight at his head in a way that might have been impressive if Gisella had the time to appreciate it. As it was, however, she did not. Instead, she grabbed him firmly by the arm and pulled him backwards. They ducked low and moved quickly through the protection of the king's guards to a hidden passage at the back of the council chambers. As much as Gisella had cursed Ronin for forcing her to learn every inch of the palace's hidden tunnels upon her appointment as spymaster, she was praising his name now as she pushed through the movable stone into the passage beyond.

"This way," she said and then turned quickly to the right.

Nicolas followed after her without question. They moved swiftly. Thirty paces to the right and then a sharp left. Gisella shifted through her thoughts, trying to formulate a plan. No where was more guarded than the council chambers so further protection would not be found within these walls. They would expect him to hide in familiar places, his rooms, his study, his throne. So all of those options were out. What they wouldn't expect, though, would be for him to go somewhere unguarded entirely, somewhere a king would never set foot. The kitchens.

Gisella turned right so sharply that Nicolas missed a step and took a beat to right his path. They ran forward down the long hall, the sounds of scraping swords and the clang of metal dissipating behind them.

"Through here," Gisella said as they reached a small door.

"Back out into the hall?" Nicolas asked her, his eyes wide and doubtful of her plan.

"Trust me."

He hesitated but then pressed forward. She opened the door and they stepped into the dark hall beyond. It was accessible in the palace, not secret or hidden, but they only had to stay within it for a few paces. They only had to get across to another hidden passageway and then the kitchens would be just below them. They just needed–

Gisella's hair blew up around her face as an arrow whizzed past her left ear and lodged itself in the wall behind her. She turned, frantic and wide eyed, drawing her blade and looking for her assailant.

She didn't have to look far. He was close and already rearing back with a dagger to plunge it into her heart.

Before she could react, Nicolas had the man's wrist in an iron tight grip, flipping him around and slamming him to the ground. The dagger clattered to the stone below and Nicolas wasted no time in lifting it and slitting the man's throat cleanly right across the middle. He gurgled and gasped as Nicolas wiped the blood on his trousers and turned to face her, wild look in his eyes and blade still in hand.

"Where now?" he asked.

"This way."

They rushed forward, pushing aside some well placed crates and opening the door behind them. Then they scurried through and hastened through the passageway until the stairs which they descended to the kitchens below. They found the servants all huddled beneath the counters and in the pantries, shaking, some sobbing, some staring at the door in terror. A few of them held blunted kitchen knives. They all looked up to Nicolas and Gisella as they entered. Gisella just raised one finger to her lips and crouched down behind the hanging pots with the king.

"They shouldn't see me like this," Nicolas said after a few moments of dreadful silence that seemed to stretch for an eternity. "Hiding with them, scared."

"You don't seem scared to me," Gisella replied, glancing down at the knife he still held in his hands. His grip on the blade tightened and he looked up at her, jaw tensed.

"Come," he said simply and, crouching, moved quickly along the wall. She had no choice but to follow.

Around the corner, just outside of the kitchens, he found a supply closet. He opened the door and they hastened inside.

It was dark but they were, at least, alone. No one was around to see the king cowering, waiting for his men to take care of the invaders. Though, from what Gisella had just seen, Nicolas was far more capable of taking care of himself than any of them might have thought.

"Did you see the mark on the man's palm?" he whispered and, though Gisella could not see him, she could tell that he must be incredibly close. She felt his breath on her face when he talked, felt his knee bump into hers when he moved. "An eight-pointed star. These attackers are with the Allegiant."

Gisella remained quiet. What could she say to that? That she wasn't surprised? That it didn't matter who these people were until they could get rid of them and ensure he was safe again?

He started to move quite suddenly then, wiping his hands furiously on his trousers. She knew that desperation. She remembered her first kill as well, how it had felt.

"It won't come off," she told him, keeping her voice low. "Even when you wash them. Not for a while."

He did not respond but he did settle down. He stopped moving. And they waited.

For a long time, neither of them spoke. They just stood face to face in the dark, breathing and waiting. Every time Gisella started to think she should check and see if it was safe, she heard the sound of another fight, the scream of a man dying, from somewhere far away. Sometimes it wasn't all that far and, in those moments, she would grip her dagger and wait, poised to attack if she needed to.

But it was the stretches of silence in between that affected her mind more than the others. The waiting, the dreading what they would emerge to find, it was almost too much. She was so on edge that she hadn't noticed he was watching her until she felt it. Like pinpricks on her skin. Her vision had adjusted enough that she could see the outline of him now, where he turned his face, how he stood. He imagined he could see her the same as well. And he was watching. He had been for some time now. She had been trying to ignore it but now she faced it, turning her gaze to his and finding his eyes piercing her through the dark.

"What?" she asked.

"For someone who claims to hate me so much, you sure have saved my life a lot."

She couldn't help but smile. Then wiped the smirk off her face a moment later, pleased he couldn't see her temporary lapse.

"I don't hate you," she muttered a moment later.

"Could have fooled me."

"I would not have agreed to become your spymaster if I hated you. I wouldn't still be here at all if I hated you."

"You should hate me," he said then, his voice even quieter than was necessary in their hiding. "For what my father made you do. For all that he held over you. I don't want it to be that way between us, Gisella. If you're here, let it be because you've chosen to be. Be my spymaster because you want to be, not because you feel that it is your duty."

Gisella stared at his form in the darkness, blinking her surprise.

"For what it's worth, and no matter how much it may pain me to admit it, you're good at it. We may never have known about Vuha and Bijan if not for you. And the life saving won't be forgotten either," he said and, though she couldn't see him, it almost sounded as though he said it with a smile.

"I'm not used to such compliments from you," she told him a moment later when it became clear that he was waiting for her response but she wasn't sure yet just how to answer. "Usually, they are accompanied by something you want."

He snorted.

"I didn't say there wasn't something I wanted, Gisella."

The way he said her name, the way his tone lowered when he spoke it, the intonation of it all had changed. She could feel his eyes on her still but something had shifted, an energy in the room, and his heartbeat. It jumped and beat steadily faster, steadily rising. She felt his hand on the side of her face, a comforting caress much softer than any touch that had existed between them before.

Her body reacted. Her breath caught in her throat. She froze, not in fear, but in anticipation. She subconsciously leaned toward him. Did she... want this? No. She couldn't.

But she pressed her hand against his chest anyway, felt the rising heart rate for herself. Her lips parted as he drew near them. She did not push him away.

The doorknob jiggled and they jumped apart, drawing their blades in the instant it took the Captain to open the door from the other side.

"I found them!" Ronin called to someone Gisella couldn't see. She blinked at him, shielding her eyes from the light now flooding the dark closet and wondering how long they had been looking for them. How long ago had the fighting subsided?

Ronin was covered head to toe in blood, panting, wide eyed and wild. He offered a hand and she took it, letting him pull her out into the hall. She glanced down to find just how close their attackers had gotten to their hiding spot. Bodies littered the floor all the way to the kitchens. She paled.

"It's done, Your Majesty," Ronin told them then, still panting. "They're gone."

Nicolas nodded, staring down at the bodies as well.

"They're Allegiant," he said after a long moment, finally pulling his gaze away from the dead. "Reconvene the council. We will need to discuss this. Now."

Ronin nodded and he and the king both bounded off to their duties, to care for the aftermath of such an invasion.

Gisella just stood in the hall, staring down at the blank, cold faces with a shudder. She had saved the king today. Everyone would know it. They would celebrate her for it. And yet, all she could think about was the feeling she experienced in that closet and the disappointment she had felt when Ronin had interrupted. Perhaps she had saved the king from the invaders but Ronin had saved her from herself.