Ahnna flinched and looked away.
“Leave her alone,” Lara snapped, only for Ithicana’s princess to round on her.
And we can hear this entire conversation, so perhaps bring it inside rather than lurking in the corridor
“I neither need nor want you to fight my battles for me, Lara.”
A flicker of hurt passed through his sister’s eyes. Lara’s willingness to keep taking this abuse was like oil on the fires of his anger as Keris locked eyes with Ahnna. “Then why don’t you attack me follow. He immediately leveled a finger at Dax. “I didn’t bring you here so that you could spill all my with your words rather than punching down at one who won’t fight back?”
“She’s the queen.” Ahnna rose to her feet. “How is that down?”
“A queen who stands alone,” he retorted. “Because you goddamned people seem to conveniently forget that if not for her, my father would have redecorated this lovely little palace of yours in red!”
“He would never have had the opportunity to attack Eranahl without her!”
“He would never have realized it was an opportunity without me!” Keris twisted to point at Aren.
“And I would never have known that pulling out this city’s gate was the route in if not for the fact that your king blurted it out in front of everyone!”
Not giving Aren a chance to respond, Keris rounded back on Ahnna. “There is endless blame to be cast, Princess, but direct it where it is due, not at the easiest mark. And keep in mind that the man who instigated it all, the one who wanted your miserable bridge and your snake-infested kingdom with its shitty weather, is dead. So quit snivelling over the past and set your eye to the future.”
The Princess of Ithicana’s hands balled into fists, and Keris readied for the blow—
Only to find himself staring at empty space as the woman exited the room.
“Right.” A bead of sweat ran down Dax’s brow as the big cat’s eyes tracked the thick coils of meat Silence stretched, broken only as Aren leaned back in his chair and lifted one scuffed boot to rest it on the opposite knee. “I think you need to get more sleep, Keris. You seem a touch more testy than usual.”
“Fuck you, Aren,” Keris snapped, but his temper was already fading, the endless crawling panic that all of this was taking too long, that he’d be too late, rising to take its place. He drained his glass, then refilled it to the brim and downed it, too. “When do we leave?”
Aren huffed out a breath. “Your mouth is going to get you killed one of these days. Jor, what do we have for stolen ships?”
“Not much readily sailable,” the older Ithicanian man answered. “We’ve got a pair of Amaridian naval vessels, but both need repairs and a good cleaning to get rid of the blood.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Keris said, but both men ignored him, Aren rubbing his chin as he said, “The Valcottans will attack naval vessels of any nation they discover in their waters. Merchant vessel would attract less notice.”
“We’ll still risk them boarding to check cargo, and we haven’t”—Lara glanced at Keris—“the time to secure an appropriate one at Southwatch.” She tilted her head, eyes thoughtful. “Petra isn’t stupid.
She will learn Keris has come to Ithicana and will anticipate we’ll assist him, and Ithicana is known for stealth. So we choose something large and obvious and entirely uncharacteristic. A passenger vessel, so the Valcottan navy won’t sink us first and ask questions later.”
“We aren’t in the habit of commandeering passenger vessels,” Jor said, “because we aren’t in the habit of murdering civilians. As it is, I’m not sold on risking relations with Valcotta for the sake of a woman convicted for treason for banging pelvises with his Royal Prettiness.”
“It’s not that simple—”
“Unlike your shit-for-brains husband, I’m too old to race off on personal vendettas, girl,” Jor said.
“Petra might have left us in the lurch with the Maridrinians, but she’s not caused Ithicana trouble during her reign except when we started choosing sides. She was close with Aren’s mother. I’m going to need more justification that this is warranted before I agree to piss in her porridge.”
Keris opened his mouth to tell the old bastard that the decision wasn’t his, then thought better of it and switched tactics. “How is this for justification? Petra arranged for Aryana Anaphora’s murder.”
When all eyes moved to him, he added, “At least, according to Serin. Before he jumped, he told me that Petra leaked information of her whereabouts to him, and he gave them to my father. My father raided across the border and murdered Aryana, cementing the foundation of a twisted sort of trust between Serin and Petra. Which is why she believed his letter about certain”—he gave Jor a long look—“pelvic unions.”
Jor smirked, but Lara said, “Serin is a liar. We’ve no reason to believe anything that passed his lips.”
Serin hadn’t been lying. Until the last of his days, Keris would remember the delight in that creature’s eyes as he delivered the truth, relishing Keris’s horror as he fell down and down to splatter against the paving stones. “My father … he spoke of Petra in a way quite at odds with how she Not giving Aren a chance to respond, Keris rounded back on Ahnna. “There is endless blame to be presents herself to Valcotta.” Petra is a hard woman, his father’s voice echoed up from memory. If cast, Princess, but direct it where it is due, not at the easiest mark. And keep in mind that the man who you believe her swayed by sentiment, you are sorely mistaken. Shaking his head to clear it, Keris added, “And Serin said something else that was interesting. He called Aryana the true and rightful heir. If that’s true, it means that Zarrah is the rightful Empress of Valcotta, not Petra.”
The older man who sat at the far end of the table, and who had been entirely silent until now, spoke. “There was a rumor, once, that Aryana had been the Emperor’s choice.” Resting his elbows on and lifted one scuffed boot to rest itthe table, he added, “He was sick for many years before he died, and Petra ran the empire in his stead as she was the commander of his armies. His general. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she would be his chosen heir and his champion in the Endless War. Yet after he passed, there were whispers that his dying wish was for a cessation of conflict. Whispers that he’d written the order that Aryana rise as empress.”
“I’ve never heard anything about this,” Aren said, then glanced to Jor.
Jor shook his head and said, “You were an idiot child, boy. My every waking breath in that era was dedicated to keeping you alive. The sun could have risen in the west and set in the east without me taking notice.”
“Anything else you can remember, Aster?” Aren asked, and Keris’s ears pricked at the name.
Where had he heard it before?
Raina’s father. It was no wonder he’d been glowering at Keris, given that he’d been culpable in her death.
“We’ll still risk them boarding to check cargo, and we haven’t”—Lara glanced at Keris—“the time