Foundation of Smoke and Steel

Chapter 163

VivianVivian did not even realize she had spoken until the word was already out of her mouth.

“Absolutely not.”

The sound overlapped with Sophie’s sharp refusal and Anmei’s heated curse, three voices colliding at once. For a brief second, everyone froze, all of them looking at Ethan as if sheer force of objection might make him reconsider.

He did not.

Ethan paused, clearly taken aback by the unanimity, then straightened as if bracing against a physical pressure.

“It makes the most sense,” he said, calm and maddeningly reasonable. “I can’t ask anyone else to do it if I’m not willing to do it myself.”

Vivian felt something hot and volatile flare in her chest.

“You can ask literally else,” she said, stepping forward before she quite meant to. “Why does it have to be you?”

Ethan looked at her, really looked at her, as if weighing how much honesty the moment could bear. “Because I’m the one who proposed it. I’m the one coordinating this. I don’t get to hide behind that and send someone else out to see if they die first. If I am going to be a leader no matter how strange it is. I need to act like. ”

“Husband, that is not leadership,” she snapped. “That’s martyrdom.”

“We’ve got your back,” Gavin said quickly, stepping in before Vivian could escalate further. “You’re not wrong about the logic, but I don't you don’t need to be the one out there.”

Lucas nodded, expression serious now. “If it’s a parley, send someone trained for it. Or someone expendable.”

The word landed harder than anyone intended.

Ethan’s mouth twitched. “That would still be me.”

Vivian stared at him. Of all the infuriating things he could have said, that might have been the worst.

The Serans were no longer silent. Kaelus Renn stepped forward, helm tucked under his arm, his voice controlled but tight. “With respect, Master Zhou, sending the central coordinator of our defense outside the walls is strategically unsound. If something goes wrong, the formation loses cohesion.”

“And if something goes wrong inside these walls,” Ethan replied evenly, “we lose cohesion anyway. The difference is whether we understand .”

“That is not a sufficient trade,” Kaelus said flatly. "I don't know you very well but even I can tell you are needed if we are going to get through this crisis."

From the other side of the chamber, Rowan Hale folded his arms. “The Bowcasters won’t like this either. You’re the reason our firing solutions make sense. If you’re outside the walls and something shifts—”

“I’ll still be thinking,” Ethan said. “I don’t stop being useful just because I’m visible.”

Vivian wanted to scream.

“You are acting like you ,” she said, her voice low and dangerous. “Don’t say that like it’s obvious.”

Ethan finally turned fully toward her. “Vivian—”

“No,” she cut in. “You don’t get to frame this as noble necessity and expect everyone to nod along. You are not a scout. You are not a messenger. You are the spine holding this together.”

Something flickered across his expression then, softer than stubbornness. Regret, maybe. But it didn’t slow him.

“This isn’t about heroics,” he said. “It’s about communication. None of you speak Orcish. None of you understand how they’re signaling, or what they’re doing with their formations. I do or at least can figure it out on the fly.”

Sophie stepped forward sharply. “Then let go. I’m the Princess. If they want to talk—”

“No,” Ethan said, and this time there was no softness in it at all.

Sophie stopped short she looked taken aback by how firm Ethan's refusal was.

“You are an Imperial Princess,” he continued. “Your death or capture would escalate this into something we cannot control. Vivian is the next head of the Li household. Anmei is the heir of the Emberflower Pavilion. None of you should be anywhere near open ground right now.”

Anmei scoffed, folding her arms. “And you should?”

Ethan met her gaze without hesitation.

“I am the live in husband of the next head of the Li household,” he said evenly. “You can marry another man. Nathan is a prodigy and the pride of your father. Lucas is indispensable to the household’s future, and if something happened to him, then we'd have to deal with a distraught Ren Ling, who I am fairly certain she would lose her mind and burn half the capital down. Gavin is the most visible battle caster the Li Family and arguable one of the strongest of his generation.”

He let that settle for half a heartbeat.

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“You are all necessary,” he continued. “Now that the Framework is complete and Gavin has access to it, my value has shifted. If something happens to me, it is tragic on a personal level, but politically it is the least destabilizing outcome in this room.”

For a moment, there was only stunned silence.

Then the room exploded.

Kaelus took a sharp step forward, disbelief plain on his face. “Master Zhou with all due respect; that is not how command works.”

Rowan swore under his breath, one hand raking through his hair. “Young Master, you do not get to reduce yourself to a disposable variable and call it strategy.”

Lucas stared at Ethan like he had just said something blasphemous. “That is the stupidest rational argument I have ever heard come out of your mouth.”

Gavin didn’t shout. That somehow made it worse. “You are confusing political calculus with actual leadership,” he said quietly. “They are not the same thing.”

Anmei’s expression had gone very still. “You don’t get to decide my value for me,” she said flatly.

Vivian felt the words hit her like a physical blow.

Least destabilizing.

Expendable.

She moved before she fully realized it, stepping into Ethan’s space, close enough that he had no choice but to look at her.

“You are not expendable,” she said, each word measured and furious. “You are not a resource to be traded away because it makes the numbers cleaner.”

He held her gaze, calm, unyielding. “I am not offering myself up,” he said. “I am acknowledging reality.”

“No,” she snapped. “You are rewriting it in a way that lets you walk into danger without admitting your value and I will not stand for it.”

That landed.

The room group quieted again, tension thick and brittle.

Ethan’s jaw tightened, just slightly. “Everyone here who is important enough to matter on a strategic scale has value Vivian,” he said. “That’s why I’m going.”

“You don’t get to decide that alone,” she said.

He stepped closer, lowering his voice just enough that it felt personal. “I’m not deciding it alone. I’m deciding it because no one else can and it makes the most sense.”

She hated that she could hear the truth in it.

The room buzzed with argument now. Serans speaking over one another. Bowcasters raising concerns about response time and loss of overwatch coherence. Someone mentioned the Iron Tide’s historical unpredictability. Someone else pointed out that the orcs had not advanced despite having every advantage.

Through it all, Ethan stood steady, hands loosely clasped, listening, absorbing, and not yielding an inch.

It was Elise who broke through the noise, her voice uncertain but earnest. “Brother… I don’t understand why the Iron Tide would even be here. Everything we’ve learned says they attack the Murai. They didn’t. They came here. To .”

Ethan’s expression softened as he looked at her. “I know.”

“And they haven’t attacked,” Emily added quietly. “Not really.”

“That’s the part that matters,” Ethan said. “They’re appaeared in force, but they’re not positioned for a strike. They’re watching. Waiting.”

“For what?” Vivian asked.

“For us to decide whether we’re willing to listen,” he said.

Silence fell again, heavier this time.

“I don't believe that they’re not here to start a fight,” Ethan continued. “Not yet. Which means they’re here for a reason that we don't see. And the fastest way to learn that reason is to show them we’re not hiding behind stone and the admittedly scary Serans.”

Vivian closed her eyes.

She still hated the plan. Every instinct she had screamed against it.

But she also knew he was right.

That was the worst part.

“They want to talk,” Ethan said finally. “So I’m going to give them that chance.”

Vivian opened her eyes and met his gaze.

“If you do this,” she said quietly, “you don’t do it alone.”

A faint smile touched his mouth. “I wouldn’t dare.”

And somehow, that only made her more afraid.

“I think you’re all forgetting something,” Nathan said mildly.

The room stilled and every head turned toward him. Vivian felt her jaw tighten before he even finished speaking.

“There is absolutely no chance,” Nathan continued, polishing his tone the way he polished his sword, “that I’m letting my Brother-in-law get hurt by a bunch of green troll looking bastards.”

He glanced toward her with a crooked grin. “Sister, I appreciate how protective you’re being. Truly. Same goes for the Imperial Princess. Very touching. But nothing bad is going to happen to Brother-in-law while I’m breathing.”

Vivian opened her mouth.

Nathan beat her to it.

“And if Brother-in-law thinks this is the right way to handle things,” he added, shrugging, “then we listen to Brother-in-law and we do it.”

Before she could explode, Lucas and Gavin both stepped up behind Nathan, each placing a hand on his shoulders like they were bracing a weapon rather than a man.

“We won’t let anything happen to Ethan,” Gavin said, his usual easy smile gone. “If the Iron Tide even twitches the wrong way, I will rain a hell down on them that they will never see coming.”

Lucas nodded. “I’ll have a contingent of our best people positioned just behind him. We won’t show force, but we’ll be ready to snap forward if this turns ugly.”

Nathan’s grin widened. “And I’ll be in front of anything sharp.”

He paused, then added brightly, “Brother in law still owes me a promise anyway.”

Vivian felt a chill she didn't like the sound of that.

“He promised we'd go to the whorehouse after all this nonsense,” Nathan finished cheerfully.

Vivian’s head snapped toward him. “You’re doing ?”

Ethan reacted instantly. “Lady Li, we really don’t need to talk about that right now.”

“Oh, we absolutely do,” Vivian shot back. “I very much want to talk about you going to a whorehouse.”

“Yes, okay, so,” Ethan said quickly, turning away from her in a way that made her want to hit him with something heavy, “everyone, we’re moving forward with this. We’re doing it now.”

She stared at the back of his head, fury simmering.

“I want everyone in position in fifteen,” he continued, voice carrying. “We’re going to set up a pavilion.”

He turned as the Mayor hurried toward them, breathless.

“Yes, Master Zhou?” the man asked. “Do you need something?”

“Do you have any kind of tent or pavilion we can set up out there?” Ethan asked. “Something visible and maybe something that could serve as a white flag. I don’t know if they’ll recognize the symbolism, but it’s worth trying.”

The Mayor’s face lit with relief. “Yes. We do. We can have it assembled immediately.”

Ethan nodded. “Good.”

He glanced toward the sky, gauging the sun. “We’re just before midday. That gives us roughly nine hours of daylight. I want to get out there, get set up, and wait.”

Vivian did not like the word .

“We’ll set a table,” Ethan went on. “We’ll brew tea. We’ll let them decide if they want to approach.”

Her eye twitched.

“Gavin,” he said, “once we’re in place, I want you to push communications out on that short tier line. Nothing aggressive but let’s see how the orcs react.”

Gavin inclined his head. “Understood.”

Ethan drew in a slow breath. “Hopefully, we can find out why they’re here.”

Vivian folded her arms tightly.

“And let’s pray,” he finished, “that it’s not for another fight.”

She looked at him then. Really looked at him.

At the calm certainty. The ridiculous confidence. The absolute refusal to back down. If this went wrong, it would be catastrophic. If it went right, it would change everything and she didn't even know why. She could just feel it. And somehow, infuriatingly, she knew he was going to walk out there whether she liked it or not.

Which meant she would be right there with him.

Whether he wanted her to be or not.