“You think any of us want it? Fuck no.” Os rumbles out a laugh. “We’re much better off continuing to be your captains and telling you when you’re shitting the bed.”
“Thanks,” he says dryly.
“So you accept? Officially?” I check.
He stands up, and I stand with him, and to my surprise, he holds out his hand and we shake. Much different from the last time we stood across this table.
“Thank you.”
I give a nod as he drops his hand, and I pat him on the shoulder. “Don’t screw up.”
Ryatt rolls his eyes, but it doesn’t have any of his normal acrimony in it. “I’m going to be on your ass about any decisions you make that affect the army, you know,” he warns me.
“Oh, I’m aware,” I say with a smirk.
Another reason why I know I’m making the right choice. Ryatt needs this—needs his own identity, his own purpose, and Auren showed me that. It’s something I should’ve given him a long time ago.
Just then, there’s a knock on the door, and Os thumps over to open it. I see one of the runners pass off a sealed vial, saluting Os as he’s dismissed.
“What is it?” Ryatt asks.
Os twists open the lid and dumps out the scroll inside before passing it to me.
Taking it, I quickly unroll it, eyes scanning over the contents, and then my stomach drops. “Fuck.”
“What?” Osrik asks, snapping out the word in a graveled voice.
“One of the mines. It fucking collapsed.”
Both he and Ryatt tense. “Which one?”
I look up from the paper, barely able to stop myself from crushing it in my fist. “Oil.”
Os lets out a curse. “Well, that’s fucking convenient.”
“Way too convenient to be a coincidence,” Ryatt seethes, looking over at me. “What’s going to happen with the First Kingdom deal?”
“It’ll fall through if there’s no oil at the port to meet his ships,” I say through a growl.
“Can we prove it was sabotage?” Os asks.
“The foreman is looking into it.”
“This is bad,” Ryatt says, scrubbing a hand over his face. “What the fuck is with her? Queen Kaila has never pushed you like this before.”
My rot pricks and writhes beneath my skin, the roots jabbing beneath my jaw and threatening to dig deeper down my arms.
“This is her chance to weaken us, and she’s taking it.”
I shove the letter into my pocket and stride for the door. Ryatt pulls his helmet back on as he and Osrik follow behind me. As soon as we’re outside, the noise of the base is amplified, the smell of smoke from the fire pits clogging my nose.
Instead of fresh meat that should be cooking over the flames, I know they’re probably eating some kind of travel gruel. I’m lucky that the soldiers are so loyal to me and their captains, or I might have more fighting and grumbling on my hands. The way they proceed from here on out will be a true test of their fealty.
The soldiers walking around give us a wide berth, but there are more respectful nods than guarded looks of irritability. Probably because I gave everyone a pay raise. Yet if the mines on the other side have been caved in too…
One problem at a time.
Just as we reach the run-in shed where some of the horses are kept, another horse comes galloping toward us, dirt kicking up beneath its hooves. The rider yanks it to a stop, practically leaping off its back when he sees us. I’m instantly on alert, stopping with Os and Ryatt at my sides as the man hurries over. I can see right away by his uniform that he’s one of the castle’s guards.
“Sire,” he says, running up, face flushed. “There’s a problem.”
Tension thickens the stance of my shoulders. “What is it?”
“There was a woman attacked in the gardens.”
Everything in me becomes chaotic. A jolt of noise in my ears, a jump in my chest, even my vision seems to flare.
“Lady Auren?” A million things run through my mind, but the guard shakes his head.
“No, Sire. The Lady Rissa.”
Osrik’s head reels back. “What?” he snarls. “What the fuck do you mean she was attacked?”
Most people would be a bit intimidated when being faced with all of Osrik’s fury bearing down on them, but this man holds steady. “She was stabbed, sir. The guards patrolling found her and another guard out there with fatal wounds.”
Osrik shoves past the guard and leaps onto his horse before I can even finish processing what the man said.