“I wanted you safe,” I replied. “I didn’t think I’d be gone as long as I was. But someone from Elysom arrived today, and we’ve been in talks ever since.”
“Then tell me that,” she replied, her eyes flashing. “I could’ve been in the hatchery, where no one is allowed to go anyway. Iwould’ve been safe there. And useful. Instead of wasting every minute stuck in my own head here.”
This went beyond keeping her locked away, I realized belatedly. This was about her having to face the rawness of her own emotions, with no distractions…and she resented me for it.
“Very well,” I murmured, my stubbornness softening. “I’m sorry.”
Amaia blinked, her hands pausing in her washing. “It’s…all right.”
She bit her lip, looking a little embarrassed now.
“I didn’t really mean what I said earlier,” she said quietly. “About me…about me wanting to leave. About not liking you.”
That was what she was worried about?
“I know,” I said simply. “You have a temper. I don’t know why that surprised me.”
“Not usually,” she said, “but when I get worked up…I really get worked up. It just takes a lot to get to that point.”
“And I pushed you over that edge.”
“Not just you,” she replied. “Obviously. I…I did make a mess of things today. I didn’t mean to. I thought that maybe it would help. Though I don’t know if it was selfish, me trying to absolve the guilt I feel with truth. But what’s done is done. I know that.”
“Your admission was ill-timed,” I finally said. “But it can’t be helped now. Grymia would’ve found out eventually, I’m certain. But now we have bigger problems.”
“And those are?” she asked, stopping in her washing to gaze at me firmly.
I slung my arms back onto the edge of the tub, leaning back. “Elysom’s council wants Ryak executed.”
Her eyes went wide. “What? They actually agreed?”
It was political posturing…and nothing more. I didn’t want a part in sending a message to theDothikkar. I only wanted justice for a murder that had happened in my own territory, justice I’d promised to a grieving mother.
But Elysom…
They had spies placed in Dothik, of course. Spies that had been there far longer than the Dakkari even realized. Far longer than when Sarkin Dirak’zar had been tasked with making contact with the Dakkari last year.
And those spies had heard the rumblings in theDothikkar’s own palace. That he was paranoid that the Karag would strike Dothik first, that it was our ultimate mission to gain control of the Dakkari capital city and slowly dismantle the nation from within until we took it for our own.
His argument was that we had Elthikan power.
He wasn’t wrong. Elthika were the most powerful weapon in existence, even over heartstone magic. To know that your reluctant ally possessed that kind of might and power…it would make anyone fearful if you were so lacking in strength.
Elysom’s council thought it was an opportune moment to remind theDothikkarof that very thing he feared. To force him to reveal what Elysom already knew: that he didn’t trust the Karag in the slightest and would take the first opportunity to weaken us.
The Heartstone Accords were a formality and nothing more. They were the illusion of peace between our two nations, but when it really came down to it, the only thing that was important was control over the heartstones.
Ryak’s execution would be less about justice for the life he cut short, the life he stole, the son he took.
Instead it would be a political message. It put a sour taste in my mouth.
And that wasn’t all.
“Elysom also wants all the Dakkari sent back to Dothik. From here and from Sarroth.”
Amaia’s shoulders moved with her heavy inhale. “When?”
“I won’t allow it,” I told her, the water trickling when Imoved slightly. “Elysom can only make requests, not demands, of aKarath.”
