“I cornered one of them,” Aydra said quickly.
Everyone in the room paused, silence stilling in the room. Aydra’s weight shifted as she stared at their confused faces.
“I cornered one of them on the beach. Asked him who they served,” she further explained.
Rhaif’s brow raised. “And?”
“He spoke only a few words before I sliced his throat,” she uttered, eyes darting between their scrutinizing faces. “He said ‘Long live King Aeron of Mathis, ruler of Man.’”
Rhaif’s hands clenched over the edge of the chair. His jaw tightened, and he looked to Ash, to whom he gave a short nod. Ash bowed low at the king, and he turned on his heel without a look at Aydra’s fuming face, his cloak billowing behind him as he left the room.
Aydra turned to Rhaif. “You cannot possibly believe him over me, believe that these people were nothing,” she argued. “I told you what he said. I watched our people die—”
“Those were not our people, my sister,” Rhaif interjected.
Aydra fumed. “You wait until Draven gets here for the next meeting. You will hear him tell it again, of how you ignored his pleas to have aid, of how—”
Rhaif’s laugh vibrated the room. And he wasn’t the only one that showed amusement. The Belwarks at the back of the room and at his side chuckled under their breath. The noise of it made her core still.
“If you think the Venari will convince me otherwise, you’re wrong, and you know this,” Rhaif smarted. “What makes you think I would listen to he any more than I listen to you or the Village captain?”
“Because he has no reason to lie to you,” she said breathlessly. “This stupid feud has gone on long enough. Strange ships are knocking at our doors. We must put this behind us and unite against them.”
Rhaif stood from his chair and crossed the room towards her, his hands outstretched. “My sister… You’ve had a long journey back to us. Perhaps you’d be better taking rest tonight.” He leaned in closer as though he were hugging her. “You’re embarrassing yourself,” he whispered in her ear. “Leave before I’m forced to do something I don’t want to do.”
“Like what, brother?” she hissed. “Burn me? Go ahead. I’d like to see what the others have to say when you do it in front of them.”
“If you think they’d be on your side… you’re wrong.”
His words cut deep, and she was reminded of the portrait paintings of past Kings and Queens on the walls.
An accessory to the true crown.
Intended to be nothing more than a pretty face.
Aydra glared at her brother as he took a step back and grinned at the others in the room. She felt the anger rising in her core, and her raven flapped its wings on her shoulder.
“Drae.”
Lex’s voice calmed her out of her daze. She felt her hand press to her arm, and then she met her Second’s eyes over her shoulder.
“Come. We will take our leave,” Lex told her with a glare at Rhaif.
Aydra locked the door to her room and put a chair under the handle that night. Her raven was in the room with her. Lex had offered to stay, but she told her not to, knowing if she did she would be in danger. Aydra wasn’t stupid. She knew after her riding out without telling him along with her arguing about the boats that day that he would want to punish her.
But this time was different.
She didn’t feel scared. There was a strength inside her that hadn’t been there before. A will to live beyond the scares of his fire and bruises.
Sleep did not find her on that night. She sat up in her bed, in Draven’s shirt, covers pulled up over her, and she tried to read the translated Scrolls book Draven had given her. She’d packed the pipe he’d given her to calm her nerves.
Draven would have murdered every being in the castle if he knew.
It was the only secret she knew she could never tell him.
The handle jiggled twice during the night, both times making her heart skip, her body jolt upright. She knew he was trying to get to her or scare her. Her raven sat at the end of the bed, awake the entire time. She knew she couldn’t stay locked in there every night, that she would have to face him in the darkness at some point. But she wanted at least one night to process everything before that happened.
She’d tried to set herself apart over the years, make sure her fate was different from the queens of her past. The accessories. The trophies.
