Keris glanced down at his brother, who was on the ground beneath Athena’s booted foot. “Ah, yes.
Keris smiled at him, feeling strangely calm despite being as close to death as he’d ever been. “Did How better to show your love than to conspire with my enemies and then jump into bed with my brother.”
“I’ve conspired with no one.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she looked to the mob. “He said he didn’t want me. Broke my heart and left me alone. What would you have done?”
“I doubt any of them would have picked up a pen to conspire with Petra Anaphora.” Keris rocked
“Yes, one of the benefits of hiding in a library is that I learn things,” Keris said. “The pattern of the on his heels, his calmness gone, rage having taken its place. “But that’s what you did. When I refused to make you queen, you tormented my little sister until she gave you my plans; then you sent the information to Petra. Forged a letter with orders that would leave Vencia ripe for the taking.” Bending down, he met her gaze. “Petra got what she wanted, but given that I still live and breathe, it appears you did not.”
“That’s not true! Why would I conspire to destroy Vencia and then provide warning that the Valcottans intended to attack?”
“So that you would be named Savior of the People?” Keris brushed dust off one of his sleeves, then gave Royce a long look. “Thereby making yourself a valuable ally to the man next in line to the throne just in case your bedroom skills weren’t incentive enough.”
The mob of women stirred, the rising tension rendering the air unbreathable, a single word echoing Royce paled. “Lestara, is this true?”
“It’s not true! He’s lying because he needs a scapegoat!”
said. “I knew he hated you, but not in
Their conversation was repeated back through the mob, the same accusations and denials over and over, but Keris kept his eyes on his brother. “Didn’t you question why one of our father’s wives just happened to receive critical intelligence about Petra’s changed battle plan just in time to evacuate?”
“She said her father has spies. That they give her information.”
“You really believe that Cardiff ’s spies discovered information that ours failed to learn?”
Royce appeared ready to be sick in the dirt. “Sarhina has the spy report. She can show it to you.”
Keris regarded the second document Athena had given him. It was written in the language used in northern Cardiff, so he could only read some of it, but in truth, the language didn’t matter.
The handwriting did.
“Petra wrote this herself,” he said, handing it to Sarhina. “I’ve seen her writing before, though there are others who can confirm if you choose not to believe me.”
“A forgery!” Lestara shouted.
“Why would one of your father’s spies forge Petra’s writing in a report to you?”
Lestara didn’t speak, but it was far from silent. The mob was in the thousands, perhaps in the tens of thousands, the camps full of the survivors having emptied to come hear the explanation of why their hair and forced her to her knees. “Look at them. Look at the people who died because their lives werehome was ash and rubble.
And they were angry.
“You’re a traitor, Lestara.” And Petra had wanted Keris to know how she’d gotten to him. Had wanted him to know that it was his choices and missteps that had allowed her to strike this blow. “All those dead beneath your feet are your victims, but so are the living.” He gestured at the crowd, which was full of furious faces, marriage knives that had never known an edge until now drawn from their sheaths, the steel glittering. “Perhaps I should allow them revenge.”
All the color drained from Lestara’s face, but she shouted, “I have done nothing. I am loyal to Maridrina!”
“Enough, Lestara. Confess the truth, and I’ll consider mercy. Continue this farce, and I’ll listen to your confession as your victims pull you to pieces.”
Picking up a shovel, he scooped up dirt from the pile and tossed it at her face. As he did, Keris was suddenly struck with a memory of Raina. Of how she’d told him that there was honor in
shoveling cow shit in the bridge because it demonstrated loyalty and a willingness to do what it took.
It felt like a lifetime ago that he’d laughed at the idea, yet now he wondered, if he filled enough graves, if he might earn back the trust of his people. He tossed another shovel full of dirt at her, clumps sticking in her long hair. “Confess, Lestara.”
The crowd was seething, screaming for blood, demanding their vengeance. “Keris,” Sarhina
muttered, “we won’t be able to stop them.”
information to Petra. Forged a letter with orders that would leave Vencia ripe for the taking.” Bending His heart was hammering in his chest, pulse roaring, because he didn’t want to stop them. Didn’t want to deny them a chance at revenge. “Confess!” he shouted, throwing another shovel full of dirt in her face.
Lestara’s amber eyes met his, and the manipulative, power-hungry viper who’d been told at age seven that she was destined to be queen finally revealed itself. “Fine,” she hissed. “I’ll confess what I know, Keris. I’ll tell them exactly how their king has betrayed them.”
He could silence her. Could allow the tide of violence to flow over Lestara before she had the chance to speak the damning truth and allow her death to absolve him of wrongdoing in the eyes of his people.
It was the smart move. The strategic choice.
It was also what his father would have done.
Rounding on the mob, he lifted his hand and shouted, “Listen!”
And his heart skipped in his chest as they fell still, heeding him as their king for the first, and probably the last, time ever.
“The only thing I confess to is trying to rid Maridrina of a traitor,” Lestara shouted, voice rising out of the pit as she moved to stand at the center. “Of trying to rid Maridrina of its king.”
The mob didn’t attack, though Keris didn’t know if it was on the weight of his command or their desire to hear what Lestara had to say.
“The reason your king has cast aside his good Maridrinian harem is that he’s in love with a Valcottan. And not just any Valcottan. The Empress’s niece, Zarrah Anaphora.”
And there it was.
Out in the open in a way that could never be undone, and though Keris knew the revelation might be the death of him, it felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
“Before your king threw him to his death, the spymaster Serin sent me a message, which I came to of thousands, the camps full of the survivors having emptied to come hear the explanation of why theirunderstand was his attempt to protect Maridrina from the traitor who’d taken the throne,” she shouted.
“Serin’s message told me that your king, Keris Veliant, took up with a Valcottan woman during his time in Nerastis. Not just once, but night after night, because he was in love with her.”
I knew she’d be your damnation, Coralyn’s voice echoed through his thoughts. What you two are wanted him to know that it was his choices and missteps that had allowed her to strike this blow. “All doing is forbidden by both your peoples.