“So I should return you to Kandala, under the pretense ofnegotiation, where you would claim to speak in my defense.An intriguing offer, but you just came at me with a dagger. I feel rather certain your king would hear that his brother was dead and shoot me on sight.” He extends a hand toward the doorway. “After you.”
I stare at him with my mouth open. “So . . . ?you’re never going back? But you were so desperate for steel!”
“I was desperate. Iamdesperate. I didn’t say I was never going back, but it was a tremendous risk for me to go once—and you see how it turned out. I don’t know if I can attempt returning again so quickly.”
I can’t believe this. I’m defeated before we even started. “But—but if we went with you . . . ?we could explain—”
“Explain?Explain what? There is no explanation the king would hear that would work in my favor. And even if I believedyouwould speak in my defense, which I’m not sure I do, there is still the matter of your guard.” Rian looks past me at Rocco.
Behind me, the guardsman is silent. “What does Rocco have to do with anything?” I demand.
“He’s the only one to survive. His one charge isdead. He failed in his duty. Do you believe the king would turn a blind eye to that?”
I inhale sharply—but then I remember the story Rocco just told me during our walk. How Harristan dismissed all of his father’s personal guardsmen after his parents were assassinated.
Rian’s eyes haven’t left Rocco. “I would expectyour guardto say anything possible to keep himself in the king’s good graces—and that certainly wouldn’t paint me in a good light. No matter what you say about me, I feel rather certain that Rocco would tell a different story if it meant he might keep his head. It’s no surprise he’s dedicated himself to you. If he can bring at least one person back alive, it might be the only way he escapes an execution.”
“King Harristan will notexecutehim,” I snap.
Rian looks back at me, and his eyebrows go up. He gestures into the room again, where the voices have fallen silent. “Again, Miss Cade. After you.”
I clench my jaw and walk into the room. I glance at Rocco, wondering if he’s bothered by Rian’s comments, but his expression is cool and unaffected. Guard eyes, the way he’d be if he were standing behind the king.
So I look back at the room—and I’m surprised to find Gwyn, Rian’s first lieutenant, and Sablo, both from the ship. Sablo lost his tongue in an attack by Oren Crane, and he was rescued by Rian. Gwyn and her daughter were both attacked by Oren, too, and she bears the scars. They’re both sitting beside a table that has a wide assortment of maps and books and instruments strewn all over.
Gwyn gives me a nod as if I’ve been coming here daily. “Tessa. Good to see you.”
Sablo taps the table and gives me a nod as well.
“Hello,” I say, because I don’t know if it’s good to see them yet.
“I see you already started arguing,” says Gwyn. “I heard what happened out front.”
She was always even more direct than Rian. My cheeks warm. “I’m glad gossip travels as quickly here as it did in Kandala,” I say.
Rian slices through my embarrassment and says, “Miss Cade was curious about the Moonflower poison, and I wanted to show her what we know.”
“You brought it to Kandala as a cure,” I say. “How is it a poison atall?”
“If you boil the stems,” says Gwyn. “It causes the fever and the cough. Too much, and it can be downright debilitating. That’s how we kept Bella subdued for so long.”
I look between them, trying to work this through. “But the petals are a cure. That’s why you brought it.”
“No,” says Rian. “I truly only brought it for Bella. Making an elixir of the petals acts as an antidote for the poison.” He pauses. “It was a lucky turn to discover you were all so desperate when I first docked at Port Karenin.”
“None of this makes sense.” I stare at him. “How would someone poison an entire country?”
“I don’t know.” He moves closer to the table. “Come look at the maps. I have a few thoughts.”
My curiosity is overpowering my anger, and I join him beside the table—and a second later, it occurs to me that the guardsman shouldn’t be excluded from this conversation.
“Rocco,” I say. “Come look.”
He steps away from the wall, and he stands on my opposite side. I wonder if that’s deliberate.
He’s been completely silent since Rian basically accused him of manipulating me against the king, and I’m surethat’sdeliberate.
I wish I could reach out and squeeze his hand to reassure him, but this feels more precarious than any second I spent in the Kandalan court.
