“Give it up,” he says plainly. “Stop here.”
“Stop here?” I look at my feet.
He scowls, irritated by my deliberate obtuseness. “You’ve got two realms. Stop before anyone else dies. Anyoneyoucare about.”
That was low. And hit hard. “I’m not the one orchestrating this. This comes straight from Olympus.”
“The Gods have decided thatyoushould rule all of Thalyria?” Snide. Again.
“Do you think I can’t?”Do I think I can?No choice, really. Not anymore.
“I think you’re a hotheaded egomaniac, and I have no idea why Griffin puts up with you.”
“Awww. I’m blushing.” I fan myself because I need to. The little bean in my belly seems to be heating me from the inside out. “I like you, too.”
Piers’s face contorts into something rather unattractive for an attractive man. Physically, at least. “You’re unbelievable.”
I shrug. “I can’t help being special.”
His face pinches even more. “Stop for a moment and think about what you’re doing. You could propel Thalyria into an endless war. It could go on for generations. Is that really the legacy you want?”
“That’s already been going on for generations. It’s beyond ridiculous to blame me for it.”
“The only wars I’ve seen in my lifetime have been started by you and Griffin.”
Actually, that’s all Griffin. He took Sinta with an army. He fought battles and won. Then we took over Tarva together with our own blood, sweat, and agony.
“That’s only because you hadn’t seen a Power Bid yet. And what went on in between realm wars wasn’t much better,” I point out. “Raids. Thievery. Abuse. There hasn’t been lasting peace in centuries.”
“There might have been, at least for Sinta.”
I shake my head. “All our sources say Sinta was about to get invaded by Acantha Tarva and her endless supply of snakes, and we wouldn’t have been able to stop her without the Ipotane.”
“Ipotane you risked your lives to ensnare and then didn’t even use. Now we have horse-people crawling all over our border for no reason because you took it a step farther before anyone even attacked.”
“Isn’t that the goal in life?” I ask. “People don’t generally say, ‘Good job! You took a step back.’ We took care of the Tarvan threat and gained a realm in the process. I have no idea why you’re being such a prick about it instead of patting us on the backs.”
Piers’s evil eye turns epic. “The army isn’t fully trained or equipped yet, but it’s big enough to deter an invasion. Instead, you went ahead with a half-cocked plan that risked my family’s safety. And before that, you traded Cassandra’s life on a what-if.”
No one means more to me than my husband and my team, and if Piers throws Cassandra’s death in my face one more time, I swear I’ll throw something back.
“Since you were at the Games,” I say through gritted teeth, “I’m sure you know she’s not the only one who paid in blood.”
“She’s the only one who’s dead.” Piers’s livid stare cuts straight through me. “And you could have stopped it.”
I take a slow, deep breath, striving to control my baser impulses. “What is this really about? Your family? Thalyria? Me? The fact that you don’t agree with my choices but other people do?” I scoff. “Pick something and stick to it. Or let’s just agree to disagree. I don’t have all day.”
His eyes narrow. “Too busy being a queen?”
“Yes, actually. And I’m notaqueen. I’mtheQueen.” I wave my hands around. “There’s a lot to do.”
“Like invade Fisa?”
His hostile tone is really starting to grate on me, and my patience is far from legendary. That’s something I’ll have to work on before Little Bean makes her grand appearance.
“Among other things,” I answer dryly. Here I am, defending something I don’t even want to do. If I never see Mother again, it’ll still be too soon. “Are you with us, or against us?” In the end, that’s all that really matters.
Piers stiffens all over. “I’m never against my family.”
