“You brought me to the home of a member of the Bellare?”
“Use your head, Your Highness,” Natali snapped. “The last place they would look for you is in the home of one of their own.”
“And when your friend returns?”
Their lips pursed as they glanced around the home. “That would indeed be a surprise given, as far as I’m aware, she’s been missing for weeks.”
Josie took another look at the space. The cup of tea was balanced precariously on its saucer—as if it was discarded suddenly. There was a thin layer of dust surrounding it on the table. The blanket, too, was pooled messily, half of it hanging off the cushion and dragging on the floor.
Natali peered through the crack in the curtain once more, their posture tense. “There’s a strangeness taking hold of Eteryium. Bitter cold in the months of warmth in Tala. Dead crops in the Trahirian farmlands. Even the Vaguer have been sighted away from the desert.” They let the curtain flutter shut. “The gods are angry.”
Josie lowered her sword, her brows lifting as she considered the Saj. “I didn’t take the Saj of the Maraciana for the pious sort.”
“This is not piety,” Natali rebuked. “It isknowledge. I have dedicated my life to studying the affinities and their history.” Their lips pressed into a thin line. “It is like before.”
Josie was used to the riddle-like speech of the Saj, and yet amidst the current circumstances, it set her on edge. She neededanswers, and she needed them plain.
“What happened here, Natali? How did you know how to find me? And why?”
Natali motioned to the leather couch. “Sit, before you collapse.”
It was a fight against the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, but Josie obeyed. Her muscles eased as soon as she leaned back against the cushion, her body sagging as if her strings had been cut.
Natali took a seat in the armchair, their face lined with a heaviness Josie was unaccustomed to seeing on them.
“I’ve been monitoring the port, waiting for your arrival,”they began. “Reports of Aidon wielding Incend fire came by way of a crew manning a small merchant vessel from Tala a little over a week ago. It could have been written off as drunken gossip, but…the story was apparently corroborated by three warriors who fled Dunmeaden during the battle.”
Josie’s back straightened as she took in Natali’s words. They should have sent a skiff ahead. Or…or they shouldn’t have stopped in Milsaio, or they should have taken a smaller, faster boat.
Instead they were beaten by gossips and deserters, and now…
Josie swallowed down her ire and forced herself to meet Natali’s somber gaze as they continued.
“It was a matter of hours before the rumors had spread throughout the city. Tradesmen deal in far more than goods, as you know, and those in their employ are even worse. Between the whispers of Aidon’s power, the news of Gianna’s death, the revelations regarding the Second Saint, and the fear of the gods’ retribution…well, the Bellare had everything they needed to stage their coup. Their numbers swelled in days, enough to overwhelm the City Guard. They attacked Old Town, targeting Visya homes, but it was merely a distraction from their main objective.”
Josie’s eyes fluttered shut. “Taking the palace,” she filled in, her voice a mere whisper. Natali dipped their chin in confirmation.
“It was over nearly before it began. Avis Lavigne sits on your brother’s throne.”
Josie shook her head, anger and regret and despair coursing through her as her mind fought against what the Saj was telling her. “Avis was banished.”
Natali sighed. “An order that went unfulfilled before your brother joined a battle he had no business joining. Avis was freed in the melee by Ryker Drycari.”
Ryker Drycari, the Bellare member who had blackmailedAidon into giving him a seat on the Merchant Council. Ryker Drycari, who knew of Aidon’s power because Viviane had told him.
This would not be happening if you had stayed put.The voice in Josie’s head sounded an awful lot like her mother.
“It was only logical to assume the Bellare would be waiting for Aidon’s return. Hence my monitoring of the bay.” Natali looked at her for a long moment, their amber eyes wide and searching. “I assume the king is not with you?”
Josie shook her head. Of course they would know. If Aidon had returned, he would never have left Josie to fend in a battle for herself. He had proven that very thing in Dunmeaden, and it had cost him everything.
Shehad cost him everything.
“No,” Josie murmured. “Aidon fled. I had hoped he would meet us in Trahir, but I take it there’s been no sign of him?”
“None.”
“What of the Royal Army?” Josie pressed. Had they been able to evacuate her parents before they could be held for ransom? Were they protecting their royal family?
