I meet her worried eyes, because the same worry is in mine. This is what my Premiers and I have been working on night and day. “I don’t know. Isalee is running the numbers. But for now, we’ve come up with a plan to make a backdoor deal with First Kingdom. They want more lantern oil, so we’ll give it to them in exchange for supplies.”
“Will the king go for that?”
“We will need to charm him enough so he can’t help but take the deal.” My attention moves pointedly onto Judd.
He ruffles a hand over his hair. “Ah, shit. You need me to go to First Kingdom and schmooze King Thold, don’t you?”
“My Premiers are too busy to leave, and out of all of us, you’re the most charming.”
“That’s not saying much. But fine, I’ll go try to schmooze him to give up some food in exchange for oil and gems.”
“Thank you.”
“But what if he refuses?” Judd asks.
I scrub a hand down my face. I really fucking hate being a king sometimes. “Then we’ll try to find another way to ensure people don’t starve.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Ryatt lift his head. There’s a slow roll of his shoulders as his neck straightens, his eyes meeting mine before he finally breaks his silence. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
The only reason I don’t rear back in surprise is because I’ve been bracing myself for his reaction since I walked in.
When I say nothing, he looks around at the others, head shaking. “Are all of you honestly just going to sit here and not even say it?”
“Say what?” Lu asks.
Ryatt tosses his arms out in frustration. “Oh come on! It’s obvious! How can everyone be fine with the fact that there’s a damn good chance the entire kingdom is going tostarve?” His fierce gaze snaps back to me. “Auren needs to go to the Conflux.”
Fury gropes beneath my skin. It pokes and pries, trying to wrest me open and ooze out onto the floor. I glare at my brother, feeling that fury charge the air of the room.
“How can you say that?” Lu demands. “We all know the trial is a joke.”
“Yeah,” Judd agrees. “If she shows up, it won’t be good.”
Ryatt shakes his head. “No, they just want a show. They need to put on a spectacle, slap Auren’s wrist, and send her on her way. They know they can’t push too hard and risk angering Slade, because he’ll rot their entire kingdoms to the core. All she has to do is show up, let them run their little power trip, and come back. Then there’s no risk of war, no risk of starvation—”
“Listen to me very fucking closely,” I snarl out, my voice low and deadly. “I’m not bringing Auren anywhere near them, and if you suggest that again, you and I are going to have averybig problem.”
The look he gives me is so piercing I can almost feel it stab through my skin. “I think you should at least consider it. With you there, they can’t do shit to her. You’re supposed to put the kingdom first. You’re supposed to protect your people.”
I see red.
“What do you think we’re talking about?” I demand. “That’s what I’m trying—”
“No,” he cuts me off. “You’re trying to protectAuren. You’re willing to let your peoplestarveat her expense.”
“No one is going to starve,” I growl.
He lets out a scoff. “You don’t know that. Everyone in Fourth is going to be impacted. And the army doesn’t deserve this. They just marched on a frozen fucking kingdomfor no reason. You dragged them across the Barrens twice, and now that they’re just getting back, you’re going to make them stay here at the overcrowded base or go off to become farmhands? It’s ridiculous, Slade, and you fucking know it.”
Lu looks between us. “Hey, I think we should all just relax—”
“Fuck that,” Ryatt says, erupting from his chair like spitting lava, his outburst making the others spring to their feet, their bodies tense as if they’re just waiting for a fight to break out between us.
Ryatt barbs a finger in my direction, ignoring them completely. “Your priorities have already changed. Your loyalties are in the wrong place. Be a fucking king and take care of your damned people like you promised you would!”
“I am.” My tone is smooth on the surface, but the sharp and jagged angles are below, steeping in barbed and boiling anger. “Which is why you will put your helmet on. You will gather the army. And you will carry out the orders as I’ve commanded you to.”
“Fuck you!” he bursts out, foot swinging back to smack into the chair, sending it flying across the room and crashing into the wall.
