“No more than thirty.”
“Why?”
“To cut off access and surround the capital.”
Two weeks. For two weeks, they’d been so close, and we’d beenoblivious. What else had the queen planned that we didn’t know?
Keeping my arms crossed, I assessed the prince with a seething silence.
“It’s suspicious that he’d tell us.” Jezebel narrowed her eyes at Barrett.
“I’m inclined not to believe him,” Tolek said.
“It does seem like a trap,” I added as if the heir wasn’t even present.
Barrett leveled a harsh stare at us. “I don’t wish to see any more bloodshed for my people. If that means selling out my mother to you, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
I raised my brows at him. “Regardless of that fact, if your mother’s army is marching, it doesn’t matter what you want—there will be bloodshed. The only alternative is us rolling over.” Something we would never do.
“Now if that is all…” I turned toward the door, barely able to keep my anger leashed.
But whatever restraint Barrett had on himself snapped. “I don’t know what to tell you,Revered.” He tried to push to his feet, but Cyph yanked him back, chains clanking. “Diplomacy, negotiations, it’s all new to me. I have no power under my mother’s rule—I—” He took a heavy breath. “I’m merely a pawn. One tired of sitting by while people die.”
There it was. The reason I’d maintained my disinterest—to push him. I wanted him poised at the breaking point. Because it was clear the Engrossian prince had more to say, frustrations that needed airing, that might make him a true ally.
“Thank you for the information.” I nodded at my friends to file out before me. “There will be a guard at this door night and day. If you wish for us to believe you, I’d advise you not try anything.”
He sank down onto his cot, disbelief in his wide eyes and parted lips.
“Get some rest, Prince Barrett.” I closed the door behind me with a click.
Chapter Fourteen
Malakai
“Jezebel, call the council,”Ophelia instructed the moment we were in the Mystique Council Chamber two floors above the cells. “Cyph, Tolek, start mapping routes. Rina, can you prepare a pack of tonics and ointments?”
They fluttered around me as if I was a statue in the middle of the room.
“What are you doing?” I rounded on Ophelia.
She gaped at me. “What?”
“What is all this?” I waved my hand at the preparations.
“Malakai.” A softness lowered her voice. “There’s an immediate threat to the city. We have to respond.”
“Why are you pretending to believe him? He’s obviously lying. We should throw him off the fucking mountain.” I paced along the windows, looking out over the courtyard and training arena. After my years being locked up, the view was refreshing, but even so, the memory of chains at my wrists dug deeper. I rubbed the scars, counting the ridges.
The Engrossian deserved at least that much.
“Why would I kill him, Malakai?” She approached slowly and tried to take my hand. I jerked it away.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I pulled aside the collar of my shirt to remind her of the Engrossian ax I now bore.
Ophelia had the decency to flinch. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. She stepped forward, placed a kiss to the scar, and observed it for a longmoment, jaw grinding. Then, she swallowed, blinking back her emotion, and righted my collar, hands tightening around the fabric. There was steel in that grip and fury in her eyes, though she spoke with the voice of the Revered. “But this is a political decision. We can’t assume his information is a trap because of what his mother did to you.”
I stumbled back a step, forcing her hands off of me.Politics, strategies, alliances. It seemed every choice she made these days was for those narrow-minded goals.
