Zyre stepped forward, away from the line of the forest, coming out into the open meadow. His clothing was made of thick leather, rough but durable, covering the barrel of his chest. Deep scars ran down the length of his arms, scars he certainly hadn’t had as a child.
After another shared look with me, Azur stepped forward first to meet him. The rest of us followed suit.
“What do you know of the Thryki?” Azur asked, wasting no time. “You claim that Maazin of House Laan, though we now know no such House exists, was not a Kaazor. But do you have the proof?”
Maazin had been the spy, working within Azur’s keep and supposedly funneling cheaploreto the Kaazor for exorbitant profits, should the records be believed. Gemma, Azur’s wife, had discovered the discrepancy herself, but by the time she’d told Azur, Maazin had already disappeared from the keep. The last we’d seen of him had been his head, sent to us from Zyre himself.
“He told the leader of the village he lived in that his name was Maazin Zor Koreen,” Zyre said, sliding his arms across his chest, leveling us a hard stare. “That he had grown up in northeast of Kaazor, in a small village named Loreena. The village exists—I know it well. But no one remembers him living there.”
It was Zaale, Azur’s head keeper, who had traced Maazin’s journey to a port in Salaire from across the seas. The vessel had come from the Thryki’s territory, though it had been a patrol. They weren’t supposed to pick up any passengers.
“We believe he was a Thryki,” I told Zyre. “But he must’ve had contacts within Kaazor. He disappeared from the Kaalium for a year. We assume it was because he was living in your nation.”
Zyre said nothing.
“No one knew him?” I pressed.
“There was a group he was close to,” he finally revealed.
“And where are they now?”
“Dealt with,” Zyre said, flashing a quick smile.
“I want to speak with them,” Azur said lowly.
“That will be quite impossible,Kyzaire,” Zyre answered with infinite patience.
Meaning, he’d had them killed. Fuck.
“You must’ve questioned them before,” I said, narrowing my eyes on him. “What do you want for the information?”
Zyre’s held tilted back to look up at the stars for a brief moment, pondering the question, exposing the line of his light gray throat. He had quite a wide jaw, sharp and cutting.
“Let me savor this moment,” he said, blowing out a sharp breath as Kaldur tensed beside me. “It’s not often that an heir of the Kaalium makes me an offer on the precipice of war. I must think very hard and very clearly on what I will do next.”
“You know exactly what you want,” Thaine finally said, speaking for the first time. “You’ve had it planned for a while. Because you’re not like your father, are you? You’re calculated. You’re intelligent. Both of which your father was not.”
Zyre stilled, leveling Thaine a dark look. His voice was clipped, humor gone as he bit out, “My father was a great leader. Can you say the same about yours, Thaine, son of Thraan?”
A dark rumble rose from Azur’s throat, but I stepped in front of him before he could do anything that would bear consequences. Because, despite the circumstances, weneededZyre. And I believed he needed us or else he wouldn’t have suggested this meeting. We might actually be able to negotiate a strong peace between the two nations with a war looming across the seas. This was the best position we could be in. I wouldn’t have my twin brother doing anything to fuck that up, even though a bloody brawl might make him feel better in the moment.
“What did you learn from the group that Maazin was meeting with?” I asked, walking toward Zyre, my strides eating up the distance between us. I was right. Though we were a similar height, his build resembled the bulk of Kaldur’s. Brute strength, forged in the nation of Kaazor.
He must’ve learned something vital to call this meeting. If there was one thing I knew about the Kaazor, it was that they wereproud. They didn’t yield, they didn’t bend—unless absolutely necessary. Their hardheadedness was held in the highest honors, and it had nearly sent our nations to war after Aina had negotiated the peace treaty.
But Zyre Draakan was different. More dangerous than his father, yes, but I believed he wanted the best for his people, and that didn’t include a bloody, endless war.
“I want a quarter of theloreyields for the next ten years,” Zyre said. “From all the territories in the Kaalium.”
Azur laughed, loud and humorless. “You’re out of your mind.”
I gritted my jaw. Millions in credits, if he sold thelore. “What else?”
“Two hundredtunofdravametal, sourced from the Three Guardians itself.”
Kaldur scoffed. But I tensed, my nostrils flaring.
“You want us to supply you with millions of credits and material for weapons when we all know Krynn is on the verge of war?” I asked softly and slowly. “Do you see what kind of position that puts us in? Do you think we’re foolish, Zyre?”
