I half expect Dragonsbane—or any of the other Astreans gathered—to laugh or contradict me, but everyone remains mercifully silent. S?ren nods.
“Times are desperate,” he adds. “We might not be ideal partners, but we’re far more formidable together than we are on our own.”
Mattin looks at all of us before he sighs, slumping forward. “I told you: I don’t know anything about the Kaiser’s plans. I’m too far from court.”
S?ren’s face falls but he nods.
“You can go back home, though,” I say. “And ensure the Kaiser’s lies aren’t the only story the people are hearing. Let them know that S?ren is alive and well and fighting his father.”
“If I do, you’ll let me go?” he asks, looking at Dragonsbane skeptically.
“Yes,” I say before she can answer. I know even as I say it that it’s a promise I’m i
