"Absolutely," Amara said. "I am perfectly willing to take my chances with an honest enemy rather than place the fate of the Realm in your demonstrably treacherous hands."
Invidia tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing. "You want something."
"Think of it as earnest money," Amara said. "Show me the color of your coin, and there's a chance we can do business."
Invidia spread her hands. "What would you have of me?"
"The numbers and disposition of the horde, of course," Amara said. "Add to that the time and focus of the next attack, and any information you have regarding vord troops present upon the field whom we have not yet observed."
"Give you all of that information?" Invidia asked. "It would not take her long to realize that she had been betrayed. I would survive her wrath no better than I would the High Lords'."
Amara shrugged. "That does not, in my view, make the plan any less attractive."
Invidia's eyes flashed with silent anger.
"Give me that information," Amara said quietly. "If it is accurate, we can discuss further cooperative actions. Otherwise, go."
"Give me your word," Invidia said. "Your word that you bargain in good faith."
Amara sneered at her. "You... you, Invidia, are asking me for my word? Do you see the irony inherent in that?"
"I know what your word means to you," Invidia said quietly. "I know that you will keep it."
"You don't know what it means," Amara replied. "You have no idea. You might see integrity in others, see it function, see how it guides them. But you do not know what it is, traitor."
Invida bared her teeth. "Give me your word," she said. "And I will give you what you ask."
Amara narrowed her eyes for a time, then said, "Very well. Within the limits of my power and influence, I give you my word, Invidia. Deal with me honestly, and I will do what I can to make this bargain for you. Though I must caution you - I do not know what the Princeps' reaction to your proposal is likely to be. Nor can I control it."
Invidia stared at her intently while she spoke. Then she nodded slowly. "I do not think the Princeps is going to be of any concern to anyone for much longer."
"You mean your ex-husband?"
Invidia's expression twisted into mild surprise. "Is he still alive?"
Amara paused deliberately before she spoke, placing emphasis on that silence. "For now," she said, finally. "I assume that the First Lady is still being held by the Queen?"
Invidia curled her lips in a grim little smile, pausing for the exact same length of time before she answered. "She is being held in the hive, along with Araris Valerian. You see, Countess? We can do business."
Amara nodded slowly. "I am listening, Invidia. But not for long."
***
"She was right here? In the bloody steadholt? In this bloody room?" Raucus bellowed. "Bloody crows, why didn't you raise the alarm?"
"Perhaps because Invidia would undoubtedly have killed her?" Phrygius suggested patiently. "Which was presumably why she approached the Countess instead of one of us?"
Raucus scowled. "I mean after she left. We could have brought the bitch down before she got back to her cave or whatever."
"Perhaps you should let the Countess speak. That way, she'll be able to tell us," Lord Placida said mildly.
Lady Placida frowned and moved her hand as if to restrain her husband, but dropped it back to her side again. Old Cereus sat in a chair near the door, frowning.
"Thank you, Your Grace," Bernard said. "Love?"
"Invidia came here to try to make a deal."
Everyone simply stared at her in shock, except for old Cereus, who snorted. "That isn't surprising," he said. "It's stupid, but not surprising."
"Why not, Your Grace?" Amara asked. She knew, but if any of the High Lords in the room hadn't worked it out yet, it would better come from one of their own than from her.
Cereus shrugged. "Because for Invidia, life was always about pushing people around like pieces on a ludus board. In her mind, what's going on right now isn't that different from business as usual in Alera. More difficult, more degrading, more unpleasant, but she doesn't understand what losing a loved one..." He cleared his throat. The old man's sons had been killed during High Lord Kalarus's uprising and the initial offensive of the Vord War. "What it can do to a body. How it changes things. Woman's never loved a thing in her life but power."
Amara nodded. "She seeks a more favorable bargaining position. To use whomever she can and abandon whomever she can't."
Phrygius stroked a hand over his roan red beard, musing. "I thought you said that she was trapped in the vord's service. That big bug thing on her chest was the only thing keeping her alive."
"Yes," Amara says. "Which means that she knows or thinks she knows some way to overcome it."
"What did she offer, Countess?" Placidus asked.
Amara told them about the conversation with Invidia. "She said that when we wanted to speak to her, we should send up green signal arrows from her in groups of three. She'll contact us."
Heavy silence followed.
"Do you think she's serious?" Raucus asked. "Tell me you don't think that bitch is serious."
"I think she might be," Lady Placida said slowly.
Phrygius shook his head. "It's a trap."
"Bloody expensive trap," Lord Placida mused. "If that information she gave you is accurate, Countess, we can use it to hurt them badly."
"You aren't thinking like a bloody bug," Raucus said. "She can afford to throw away a million warriors if it means she breaks the back of our heaviest furycraft."
Lady Placida nodded. "And if we deploy our troops to take advantage of the enemy attack, and she's lying to us, the vord will be able to take advantage of us. They'll know where we'll have to put them to counter the attack. If Invidia is lying, they can use that to their advantage."
"Hah," Lord Placida said suddenly.
"Oh," Lord Cereus said, at the same time. "Oh, Countess. I see now. Well played."
"Thank you, Your Grace," Amara said quietly, nodding to each of them.
Raucous scowled, looking back and forth between them. "What?"
"Don't try to figure it out," Phrygius muttered. "You'll hurt yourself."
"You don't know any more than I do," Raucus shot back.