Empire of Shadows

20.

"Okay Order, theories on how to destroy the Østberg House?" Anubis pressed her hands flat against the table, stretching out a freshly printed map that showed the ever-shifting winter paths.

"You're on shaky ground," Ketil whispered from where he leaned against the wall of their inn room, sitting on a cushion. "You forget I am of the Østberg House."

Anubis looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you years ago. You know exactly what I mean."

Lio stood, his head raised. "The easiest way I can think of at the moment is poison."

Ketil chewed on the inside of his cheek, brows raised in thought. Poison was quite a low blow. Part of him couldn't think of his sister dead by poison. It was simply so quiet and calm and very un-Aslaug. Part of him believed that Aslaug simply couldn't die.

Raziel snorted. "Poison the Empress? That's a perfectly original idea. Wow, it's as if no ruler in the history of the world has ever been faced with assassination by poison."

"I didn't realize we were trying to be creative with this assassination." Lio's face darkened a little.

Ketil raised his voice. "Can we not call it assassination?"

They all stared at him with an annoyed look and he shrugged. "It doesn't sound very nice that way."

"I still say poison is the best assassination method," Lio said finally, completely ignoring Ketil.

"And how would we get close enough to her to do that in the first place?" Raziel folded his arms over his chest, nosing the rug on the ground.

"That's where your creativity fails, Raziel." Lio held up his hands, a small smirk pulling at his lips. "Ketil, correct me if I'm wrong, but Polarian rivers are some of the cleanest in the world with Boar's Keep standing near a reservoir and certain headwaters."

"Where are you going?" Ketil whispered.

Lio's lips curled up into a full smile. "So we don't poison the Empress directly, we put it in the water supply—"

"Hell no!" Ketil stood. "What do you think you're doing?! Killing innocent people?!" He found himself an inch away from the man. "There are people in there that I love! Family and friends who did nothing to deserve to die! People that I care about and would die for! You leave them out of it and let me deal with my sister in the way I see fit!"

Jameson walked between them, the blossom still tucked behind his ear. "I believe that is enough fighting. I also think it would be best if we keep our volume low and do not speak of poisoning anyone. But that is just what I am thinking."

Ketil stared at the man before slouching and crossing his arms.

"Ketil's right. While poisoning might be the best way for us to accomplish our goals, it puts far too many innocents at risk." Anubis sighed, "our best bet is to sneak into the palace, but how?"

"We could reveal that Ketil is alive?" Vasco said from the corner where he sat half-asleep.

"They'd kill me before I got a word in...or at least I think so. I don't think my sister would be pleased to know I lived." He stood down and Jameson resumed his seat beside Dante. "I don't know how my sister will react to my being alive. Perhaps I can talk to her and make her understand. She is reasonable, she'll listen to m—"

"This is for the greater good," Raziel growled. "You don't seem to understand, so let me make it a little clearer for you, your Highness. Let me tell you something, Ketil Østberg, we have watched people we love die. I watched my mother burn at the stake, and that is not a quick death—that is no knife to the heart." Something changed in the man's eyes and Ketil knew he was reliving that scene in his head.