“I reached out to my mother’s brother today to ask for his assistance with the war.”
“In Olyer?” I asked. When he nodded I said, “How could they help? You said they were a poor nation.”
“Theywerea poor nation. When my father paid his bride price, my grandfather took the money and a page out of Ilion’s books. He built ships and a blockade in the straits between the mainland and their island. Going around Olyer takes extra time—heading through the straits is safer and faster. People are willing to pay to pass. It has made them very wealthy. That’s why they sent us the horses for our wedding. To show off how rich they have become.”
“Rich because of your father,” I said. Olyer’s success only existed because of Ilion.
He took a letter from his belt and handed it to me. He sat down next to me on the bed. “I sent Rokh with a message to my uncle, asking for him to send men and ships. And to block the Carians if they mean to sail along the coast. This was his response.”
I opened the letter—it was extremely short.
King Alexandros,
I do not address you as “nephew” because you are nothing to me. I have not been a part of your life for a reason. My sister loathed your father. He made her life miserable and she ended it just to escape him. She loved another but your father was too selfish to let her go and be happy. I would never help the son of the man who did that.
—King Pausanias
My mouth dropped open. I had to read through it again to make certain that I had understood it correctly. How could this man treat his own family this way?
“Olyer would be easy for the Carians to reach. He might be in danger as well,” I said, trying to keep the anger out of my voice.
Xander didn’t seem mad. Just resigned. “If they come by land, the Carians will have to pass through Apasus first. Perhaps they will call for aid.”
“Do you think the Apatians will fight?”
“I’m not sure if the Carians will attack. But the Apatians are the ones who were in the best position to witness how Caria was growing. We are supposed to be allies but they never passed that information along.”
“Perhaps they didn’t want to get involved,” I said.
He nodded. “Possibly. And they might be paying for that decision now. And if the Carians are attacking, that might affect when they arrive at Troas. Which makes last night’s attack make even less sense. Why send a small force like that? I understand why they hit the weapons quarter and eliminated the priestesses, but I don’t understand what was essentially a pointless skirmish.”
“If you were in their position, why would you do it?”
He frowned slightly, considering. “As I’ve said, in part to cause fear. The citizens never know when or where another strike will happen. But there’s part of me that thinks it was meant to be a distraction. But a distraction from what?”
I had no idea why the Carians might want to create a distraction. “They couldn’t have picked a better time. Attacking the docks while the citizens were relaxed and celebrating. It’s made me wonder if that means that there are still Carians here in the city. Hiding in plain sight.”
“I’ve considered that repeatedly since last night,” he said. “How else would they have known? There must be people here feeding them information. Using messenger birds.”
Tomorrow I would talk to Ahyana about that. Maybe she could direct all the birds away from Troas to make sure that no more messages could go out.
But that might also hinder whatever Xander was doing.
“There’s a Daemonian outpost in Olyer. Rokh tried to approach them to ask if they would join our fight, but they refused to speak to him in Common. Do you know any Daemonian?” he asked.
“Only swear words.”
“That might actually help,” he said with a tired smile. He leaned forward, as if he intended to kiss me.
Then he seemed to realize what he was about to do and straightened up. “Did I tell you I interrogated a life mage?”
“You did?”
“I gave him truth serum.”
“You can’t just do that,” I said.
“I can. I’m his king. He is subject to me.”
