Room 218, Thursday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

There was a letter for Karla in the mail today. It bore the SaDiablo seal and was from Dhemlan, but just holding it filled Karla with foreboding. Even the feel of the fine linen paper under her fingers gave her a chill, like a cold, dead wind was blowing through her.

She shivered as she opened it, wishing with all her might that it was a bill for the kitchen or a written tirade from Mrs. Beale and Helene both.

Inside the envelope was a single sheet of the Hall's stationary, folded over a small scrap of onionskin.

Karla,

This arrived at the Hall overnight. Geoffrey reports that a similar note appeared at the keep. Jaenelle is certain they're authentic. Stay safe. Portalocity will contact you when we've ascertained the best time to bring you home.

DO NOT COME HOME UNTIL YOU ARE CALLED.

Saetan

The cold only got sharper as she picked up the scrap of paper. Almost from a distance, she realized that her hands with shaking. From nerves or from cold, she couldn't tell.

He is claiming she is dead. Arranging meeting with warlords. Come soon.

All the breath whooshed out of her lungs and the note fluttered to the floor. Mini-Morton scurried over to pick it up with a series of concerned beeps, but Karla barely noticed.

Anger and planning would come later. Right now, there was only shock and a kind of fuzzy blankness.

[Door and post open. Morton's note written by the fantastic glacial_warlord]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben, aside from his weekly spar with his grandfather, had a day light on responsibility on Thursdays, which was why he'd been meditating in his room when Karla's change in emotion registered for him.

He was down the hallway in record time. "Karla?" he said softly from the doorway. "May I come in?"

[glacial_queen]

Words. There were words being spoken. She knew words. She even recognized the voice, though dredging up the who might take another minute. She kind of nodded at the words, not even entirely sure what they meant, just hoping to find another anchor besides the piece of paper Mini-Morton had picked up.

"Ben?" More a question than anything else.

[momslilassassin]

Ben immediately moved into the room to hug her. What's wrong? he asked silently.

[glacial_queen]

*I'm being foolish, of course.* The calmness in her mental voice might have been reassuring if it wasn't just so--blank. Neutral. Like a mist hiding treachery within. *It's a logical move if nothing else. I haven't been seen in over a year. Why shouldn't he say that?*

[momslilassassin]

Ben looked into her eyes. "What did he say?" he asked aloud.

He'd figure out who the "he" was later.

[glacial_queen]

*That I'm dead.* Karla gave Ben a brilliant smile as Mini-Morton beeped and held up the note.

It wasn't the claim that had thrown her so badly. It was the implications for Glacia, for the people who believed, for her if she ever fell into his hands...

*He says I'm dead.*

[momslilassassin]

"He what?!"

Ben could do a fine Aunt Leia impression when he chose to. "Threat, promise, or political move?" he asked.

[glacial_queen]

Talking to Ben was helping. It throttled down the bewildered terror and made her think. The blankness was going away as the urge to scream, to panic, faded.

"Mostly 'C' with a little bit of 'A' and 'B' thrown in for good measure?" Karla said aloud. "He's gotten to the point where he can make that claim and not worry about being challenged or blamed." Hello, horrible thought. "It also means that my usefulness as either a symbol or a placating gesture is gone. If he's already declared me dead, he has no incentive to keep me alive. What small protection I had against his males is gone."

If the males that had attacked her before she'd come to Fandom hadn't been avoiding lethal strikes--

"He knows that I'd find out about this. It's a message." And quite probably a trap.

[momslilassassin]

"You're not going home without me."

Hello, bossy Ben. Nice to see you.

[glacial_queen]

There were times when Karla knew that by arguing, she could get her way. There were other times when she knew that arguing would only be a waste of breath. From Ben's expression, this was going to be one of those second times.

Besides, she couldn't deny she'd feel better with him there.

"Promise that we won't be making any detours to the family estate?" she asked, giving him a wobbly smile. "And by 'we' I mean any group that involves me, you, and/or Morton."

[momslilassassin]

"That's a definite promise," Ben said with a tight little smile. "I'm not letting your uncle pick the attack point for us. Is Morton still at home?"

[glacial_queen]

"I think so," Karla said with a nod. "He's arranging this meeting, whatever it is."

[momslilassassin]

Ben frowned. "Under duress?" he asked quietly.

[glacial_queen]

"I don't...think so," Karla said. "He left a note at the Hall and at the Keep, to make sure that it got to me. I don't think he would be so diligent if it were a trap. Plus, he knows that if I go to Kaeleer, the portal sends me right to the Hall. There's no way to spring a trap under the noses of the SaDiablos."

And if there was something...not right...about him, Jaenelle would know.

[momslilassassin]

"Okay," Ben said, taking her word for it. "It seemed like something kind of generic villain-y that your uncle might try."

[glacial_queen]

"I don't get it," Karla exploded, throwing herself off the bed to pace. "Hobart's not supposed to be this smart! He's just...not! He had trouble thinking past his cock and if his mistresses are correct, that's not that far!"

She threw her hands up. "How did he get even this competent?!"

[momslilassassin]

"He had help?" Ben guessed. "Who would benefit from a moron running Glacia rather than a strong Queen?"

[glacial_queen]

"No one!" Karla said, whirling around. "No one benefits from having a destabilized Territory! I know someone from every single human Territory in Kaeleer!"

Oddly enough, she did. The coven and boyos were the future generation of rulers in all the Territories. Except one: Little Terreille.

But why would someone there care about Glacia?

[momslilassassin]

He frowned. "This doesn't make any sense. What about outside the Territories?" Karla's explanations of how her world worked made his head spin, but he was pretty sure there was more than just Kaeleer in play.

[glacial_queen]

"There are the other Realms." Karla stopped furiously pacing, trading that for a more measured tread. "Uncle Saetan rules Hell, the Realm of the dead. Then there's Terreille, but Terrille and Kaeleer haven't had contact for the last fifty thousand years, not since the war ended. Well, there's Little Terreille, but even that's been mostly closed off. The only other thing out there beyond the Realms is the Darkness."

[momslilassassin]

"Why has Little Terreille been mostly closed off?" Ben asked.

[glacial_queen]

"They're still active on the Dark Council and whatnot," Karla said. "But they're displaced Terreillians who have made a home for themselves in Kaeleer. But that's where...that's where Jaenelle goes on her mandatory visits."

Karla went stony-faced. "That's where her nightmares surface."

[momslilassassin]

Ben's face turned equally grim. "Think there might be a connection between the two things?"

[glacial_queen]

"But how?" Karla asked. "Hobart took power when I was nine. Jaenelle was still living in Terreille then. I mean, she came to visit but no one really paid attention to the strange little female who came and played with the equally-strange daughter of their Queen."

[momslilassassin]

The conclusions Ben's instincts were jumping to were ones he didn't like at all. "The ones who used Briarwood," Ben wouldn't call them "men", "weren't interested in having strong Queens, either, and that was in Terreille, right?"