Free In Darkness Lost by Ariel Paiement Page A

just kill my sister. That would kill me too. I’d be dead inside even if I was living outside. I’m going to go mad choosing between these two choices!
    I shook my head, and went into my bedroom. I had work to do studying for some tests my masters were administering to complete my schooling, but I couldn’t think. I collapsed onto my bed and wept. I was going to die. And I hated knowing it before it happened. 

Chapter 9: Dairdra
    Cyril officially declared war on Argent a month after my talk with Crypt about safety hazards and our future.
    My armies were being routed, and I had little time to prepare. I had sent out orders to dig in, and I’d fortified the small outposts, but it was doing little good. The armies of Cyril washed over mine, swallowing my men up in a single gulp.
    I had little doubt that Cyril had prepared long before they launched the first attack. Their attack was too coordinated to be a spur of the moment thing or accident.
    I sat at my desk filling out paperwork. My fingers were cramping, and I set my pen down, stretching them in an attempt to relax the tension on them. It didn’t work.
    A page walked into the room. “My Lady, General Orin is here to see you.”
    “Thank you. Please show him in.” I pushed the finished paperwork to the side of my desk.
    The page walked back out of the room. The doors opened again and the page showed General Orin in.
    “General Orin, My Lady.”
    “Thank you, Oswald.” I answered, looking at General Orin.
    “If the page might be excused, My Lady?” He bowed, as polite as ever.
    I’d forgotten to do that. Oswald was so quiet and unobtrusive that I hardly noticed he was in the room. “Oh, yes. Of course. Oswald, you may leave us now.”
    “Thank you, my Queen.”
    I gave an absent wave to him. He bowed and walked out of the room.
    I turned to the General. “What did you need to see me for? Has something happened?”
    “Cyril has infiltrated our lines. They are about three weeks from the Capital, and we didn’t intercept them till just recently. A large contingent of reinforcements stumbled across them on the way to the front. They’ve been holding them, and I’ve gotten whoever I can on the way to help them. They should arrive at the battle-site in two weeks at a forced march. Maybe twenty days if they don’t run and exhaust themselves.”
    I frowned. “How is it that Cyril got that far that quickly? And why weren’t they intercepted before?”
    “I do not know for sure, My Lady. I checked the outposts, and one of our smallest ones fell a while back. We didn’t get the news until I investigated it though. They were sending normal information and signals. I believed that Cyril was been sending false messages through the connections to the base. I sent someone to do some snooping to confirm my suspicion.”
    I nodded briskly. I shuffled through my paperwork, thinking. With a sigh, I turned to my window. “How do we stand? Can we stop them, General Orin?”
    “I cannot say, My Lady. I believe that, based on our forces and their determination, we can.” He smiled at me as I turned back to him, but it was sad and tired.
    I smiled back, but my smile was also a shadow of its usual self. “Good. We don’t have a choice. Is that all you came to tell me, General?”
    “Yes, My Lady.”
    “You are dismissed then. I must give this some thought. Go back to your post quickly. It is not good for you to be away from it for so long.”
    “Of course, My Lady.” He bowed, and then turned away from me.
    Turning, I gazed back out the window, fighting back my tears. I heard the rustle of his coat as he walked to the door. He opened it, and walked out. The door closed, and I was left to contemplate all I’d been told.
    What was Cyril after? I couldn’t understand it. Our ambassador to Cyril had been trying to tell me that someone wanted me. But who, and why? Were they trying to force me into a marriage with them or someone else to compromise my rule of Argent?