She sat in the room with no expression upon her face. There was a warmth in the air, the sun streaming through the window; however, with her back to it, it left her features in shadow.

  That was the sight the duke saw upoering.

  “Lady Augstadt,” he said, his smile stiff and the words practically spat out.

  “Yrace,” she replied, no smile on her lips, the words spoken with her warmth nor a chill.

  He strode over to her with his fists ched and stood there, t for a long moment, before striding back to the seat opposite her. Still, he dragged it closer to her first, the sound of scraping wood filling the room, and only then did he sit down, so heavily the chair creaked.

  “Pray tell, My Lady, why you thought it wise to visit—and now of all times?” he said.

  Despite the hatred in his voice, she did not flinch. “It is because it is now that I would visit.”

  He swallowed the words that rose up in his throat, theured for her to tinue. “Go on.”

  “Allow me to be clear on these matters,” she said, her voice still ral. “I have e to offer assistance against the Poles.”

  A ugh slipped out of him, crude and raspy, soon followed by his urained ughter. “Do you think me a fool?” he asked.

  Without hesitation, she answered, “I do.”

  It was ued enough to give him pause, the humour dying on his lips. “You think I would fall into the same trap you made for my father?” he asked, y to his voiow.

  “No. I expect you to fall into different traps,” she said.

  His hands ched once more, rising an inly to sm back down with a slight thump. “Wonderful. Marvellous. I knew you had e here to court your owh, yet did not expect that you wished to try and infuriate me to death first. My sister always spoke so highly of you, I thought that you really had been behind the betrayal, yet clearly it is that Bavaria who came up with such a scheme and you simply did as you were told.”

  She didn’t flinch. For all he stared, he didn’t see her move at all.

  “Have you nothing to say? What happeo the bravado of a moment ago?” he asked, his voice a whisper on the verge of breaking into a scream.

  “With all due respect, Yrace, I care not for your thoughts on that matter,” she said, her voimoved. “I have e to offer assistance against the Poles.”

  He let out a bark of ughter, his hands tight as he gripped the chair’s armrests. “So you have said.”

  Silence fell as she said nothing aared at her, dario speak more nonsense. Given that she didn’t, he eventually rexed, letting go of the chair.

  “Give me a single reason why I should not put you to death.” There was no hatred in his voiow, instead cold and hollow.

  “Yrace, did you not learn of the i I had with Isabelle?” she asked.

  She took his silence as aowledgement that he had.

  “I know what it is like to lose a beloved father; however, Yrace must accept that your father met his own end. He was careless in his wrath and he mistakenly thought me as callous as himself. I could only act as I believe is right. Even now, I have accepted that this may be my death, yet I must still offer my assistance against those who would attack our brethren,” she said.

  Her words, like smoke, hung in the air after being spoken, only to be blown away by a wave of his hand. “Yes, My Lady has always spoken such sweet words. It is no wonder my sister and my father were fooled.”

  “Does it make you feel better to think your father was tricked?” she asked.

  His mouth twitched and hands ched, and his eyes would not meet hers. “Did you not trick him?”

  “As I said, it is his own fault,” she said, her toouch mehan before, then added, “Look at me.”

  His erratic gaze stilled at her and, yet fell to his knees.

  “I am but a girl,” she said, her voice breaking. “He wao kill Lord Bavaria’s wife, even his children. He wanted me to kill them. When I told him I couldn’t, he said he would arra, and I… I only act as I believe is right. What crime had Lord Bavaria itted? What of his wife and children? Rather, your father was the one who had killed Lord Bavaria’s father. Tell me, did I choose wrong?”

  His gaze hadn’t moved.

  “Look at me! Look me in the eye and tell me I should have supported your father,” she said, uears pooling.

  Slowly, he looked up at the young woman before him. The young woman he had heard so much about over the years from his sister. How frail she now looked, remi of how his sister had looked when the news of their father’s passing had been broken to her.

  The tensio him and so he had nothi. “Go,” he whispered. “Just go.”

  It was her turn to ch her fists, yet seeing that only made him want to ugh. Who would fear her? “I have e to offer assistance against the Poles,” she whispered.

  “There is no he King will raise an army to deal with them,” he said.

  “What will happen until then? Yrace, the Poles are not ing over for a visit. Do you think they will leave the crops in the field? Would they be so kind as to not rape the women and sughter the men? Yarrisons are thin and your troops still guard the border with Bavaria.”

  He took in a deep breath, once more finding fire stirring in his heart. “The King—”

  “With all due respect, Yrace, the King is not here. I am here and you are here. Now I ask, are you a ruler or are you not? Because, right now, your people need a ruler.”

  He couldn’t help but ugh. “Pray tell, since you know everything, what am I to do? You of course know how many troops the Poles shall field, no?”

  “I know they fielded approximately twenty thousand men against the Greeks, about a quarter of those cavalry. They fielded twenty-four bombards in most es. Of their infantry, as many as a fifth were armed with muskets, while two-fifths had long spears, the other two-fifths swords and short spears,” she said without a hint of hesitation.

  The humour faded from his face. “So then you know how out-matched my forces would be,” he said, his tone trolled.

  “Yrace, may I ask a simple question?”

  Her request hung in the air for a long moment before he finally nodded.

  “They had twenty thousand meill thought t twenty-odd bombards. Why is that?” she asked, a small smile on her lips.

  “It is for assaulting forts,” he answered.

  Her smile faded. “Yrace, I watched ten bombards take out half a thousand men in the blink of an eye. I assure you, bombards have their p the battlefield, and I have brought thirty to be at your disposal,” she said.

  His tumultuous emotions fred; however, he bit them down. “I doubt King Sigismund would let you line up your bombards in front of his army.”

  Silence fell, her gaze firmly on him as he relutly met it, only then that she spoke. “May I take it that Yrace is willing to listen?”

  “What harm could indulging you do?” he asked.

  A smile tugged at her lips. “Indeed, what harm,” she said, then took a deep breath. “It would be disastrous to face the Polish army ierrain. The muskets are more deadly than anything seen before. However, they have a key weakhey must fire directly. That is, they ot fire over even les.

  “Of course, they know this, which is why the bombards are so important. The bombards fire over ridges and so for e as one must choose by which gunpowder to die to. This is where my bombards e in. Simply put, they are superior and more mobile. In a prolonged exge, we would easily elimiheir bombard crews, if not also the bombards.

  “At this point, we may focus bombardment on their lines and our archers may fire freely over the ridge. If they wish to charge the ridge, then the infantry fall bad the bombards switch to ister shot. I agihe Poles maintaining their lier a volley.”

  He listened closely and, at the end, broke into a smirk. “My Lady speaks of war as if it is something trivial.”

  “It is precisely because King Sigismund is a capable ahat it should be so trivial,” she said, bowing her head.

  Falling into thought, he said nothing food mihat is, I notiade ion of the Polish cavalry, which is a mistake many of their foes have made,” he said.

  “Yrace is sidering my arra?” she asked.

  He gave a wave. “The merits of an idea are i, uo its in,” he said.

  With a soft smile, she tinued. “Ihe Polish cavalry is a force to be reed with, so I would bring about their reing. I have brought some knights with me. Untraihey might be, but they may add some bulk to your own cavalry. While we may not go toe-to-toe with the Poles, if we put all our cavalry on one fnk, I think it would be enough to dissuade them from charging that fnk.

  “Oher fnk, we have your most disciplined pikemen. Finally, we have the trap—my bombards.”

  His eyes said nothing. “So?” he asked.

  “Yrace, I know how many bombards the Poles will likely bring; however, would they know how many I should have?” she said, tilting her head at the end. “Twenty bombards would be enough to force them to act. Ten bombards pced behind the fnk, loaded with ister shot—what does Yrace think such a volley will do to the famed Polish cavalry?”

  His blood ran cold. Although only a loose description, he could clearly imagine what her battle looked like, and he could only imagihe kind of devastation her bombards would render upon the fames hussars.

  “If Yrace does not trust me, keep me here as a prisoner. My ander is the one who uands this arra best. There is no need for me to apany the men,” she said, ending with a gentle smile.

  The fire in his heart died down at her words. “Your ander, yes,” he muttered, then spoke up. “That is, My Lady should stay here for safety regardless.”

  “My thanks,” she said, bowing her head.

  He watched her for a moment and then looked away. “Still, My Lady appears well-versed in matters of war.”

  “My father… wished for me to know of many things that he hoped I need never have use for,” she said softly. “His greatest wish was for me to live in peace. If that was not possible, he hoped for me to be able to live through times of war.”

  His mouth twisted into a smile. “Is that so?” he asked.

  Her gaze settled on him for a long moment, heavy enough that he felt it weighing him down until he finally looked back at her, their eyes meeting. “I have said that which I must say as a ruler. Now, if I may speak as Julia, I beg of you, please do not subject Isabelle to my fate. I know how violent the fire of vengeance burns and I ot say what depths I would fall if I knew who to bme for my father’s death.

  “However, if those fires e you, it is Isabelle who will have to take on your responsibilities with no oo help her. I have only a ty to rule, yet it weighs heavily on me. Isabelle…. You know better than I what toll it would take on her.”

  His eyes widened ever so slightly, as if he hadn’t sidered what his death would bring. Indeed, she khese men only thought of victory and triumph, he sequences of failure.

  She lowered her gaze. “King Sigismund is a most capable ander, and a ruthless one. Pray do not engage him lightly. I made it sound simple, yet that is the ideal. He wishes to pilge this nd freely and so he must defeat Yrace’s forces swiftly. Thus, even if the e is to his disadvantage, he will engage Yraoheless. However, it is enough to dey him. As Yrace said, the King will eventually arrive,” she said.

  He gently nodded. “Yes, that is…. I know I am not his equal.”

  Silence began to tick, only to be broken by her. “Oh, I have sent word to Lord Bavaria that… this matter takes prece. If he decides to take this as an opportunity, I have made it clear he should sider his wife and children Yrace’s hostage.”

  Ay ugh slipped through his lips. “So My Lady would do this for me and not for my father,” he muttered.

  “Indeed. Yrace, you have given me no reason to distrust you. You have not asked anything of me nor harmed me. I assure you, Yrace, I am not so eager for enemies.”

  She ended as if telling a joke, yet her ughed. However, his voice did have a lighter tone whehen said, “Is that so?”

  “It is,” she said, then brought her hands together. “Of course… I do wish to make amends for the part I pyed in all this. That I did what I believe to be right does not mean I think I am above reproach. So please, if Yrace finds me guilty, I will not object.”

  His lingering smile fttened out. “You are askio judge you?”

  “No. It is God who shall judge me, and it is Yrace who would decide if I shall be judged soohan ter,” she said.

  After a moment, she looked up a his gaze.

  There was no fear in her eyes. God would judge her, she had said, and it looked like she truly believed that. Yet most would not face judgement so calmly. More than anything she had said before, he felt in this moment that she truly did believe she had acted righteously.

  It was enough to make him ugh. “To think murdering my father could be just,” he whispered.

  “Pardon, Yrace?” she said.

  He waved her off and his hand came back to settle on his p. “It is not good to speak of death so lightly nor should one be so eager to meet one’s maker,” he said.

  Her hands ched on her p. “Yrace is showing mercy?” she whispered.

  So much had happened in this short meeting that he could barely recall it all. However, what was clear to him was that, beh tess Augstadt, there was still Julia. All her years in the King’s pace had taught her how to put on act, but it still just that: an act.

  “You must be tired after travelling so far. Pray wait here and I shall have a suitable roed for My Lady,” he said, standing up.

  “My thanks.”

  It was such a quiet whisper that, if he had not seen her lips move, he would have thought it the wind.

  Nothing else o be said. He left the room, closing the door behind him and leaving her alone. She stayed seated until she heard his footsteps trail away outside the room, then stood up herself and walked to the window, looking out.

  The view was gentle on this side of the manor. Rather than a bustling town, there was a forest, kept in good order for hunting. Closer, some guards patrolled the garden iimes of trouble.

  Her gaze fell on a shadow at the forest’s edge. After a moment, she shook her head, theuro her seat in the room.

  This was within her pns.

  AnnouI’m currently focused on another writing projed, with this chapter, I’ve run out of backlog. I’ll try to keep a weekly schedule, but I apologise in advance if it slips.