Those thoughts circled and tangled in Syrus’ mind as he continued to pace the room. By the time he finally fell back into bed, the first glimmers of an idea had coalesced in the back of his mind. It wasn’t a great idea, probably not even a good one, but it was the only thing that made sense. He had to try, or the life he was left with wouldn’t be one worth living.
Chapter 14
Eiri
“He said what?”
Eiri knew Kien had been a soldier once, before he became a politician. Unlike the raiders, whom the crown publicly scorned but privately lauded, the small Canjiri army gave actual soldiers extensive combat training. Kien had likely seen things Eiri couldn’t even imagine. He’d never known that side of the older man, though. Until the queen chose him to escort Eiri to Vaetreas, he couldn’t say for sure that he could have even picked Kien out of a crowd.
Now he was the only friendly face in a seething mass of enemies. He’d bullied his way into Eiri’s room just after sunrise, using every trick of diplomacy he possessed. To Eiri’s surprise, it actually worked, and with a locked door between them and the rest of the palace, Eiri hadn’t held back. The entire mess of last night came spilling out, including their fight and Syrus’ threat to break him. The marks on his wrists had darkened overnight, becoming a shackle of bruises. That was what brought Kien the soldier to the forefront, his face going dangerously blank, his dark eyes hardening. It was enough to make Eiri’s blood chill and he wasn’t even the target of Kien’s fury.
“I told him I wouldn’t bend to his will, so he said he would break me,” he repeated. He didn’t feel a lick of shame at setting Kien on Syrus, either. He needed all the help he could get to deal with this mess.
“If we were anywhere else, I would kill him for that,” Kien hissed.
“Believe me, I’d love nothing more. Unfortunately, that’s a good way to start a war between Canjir and Vaetreas. Our people aren’t weak, but we don’t have the numbers to take on the Vaetrean army, which means we have to play nice.” Eiri sighed, his head falling to rest on the back of the plush chair. He hadn’t slept at all last night, instead sitting in the chair he’d claimed and trying to figure out a way to fix this. Unfortunately, it’d also given him time to clear his head and remember why he was doing this. Killing Syrus would only endanger his family back on the island. “Have you heard from home yet?”
“The courier can’t have made it to Canjir with my letter yet. I attempted to find a shard of palladium to send, so we could communicate without needing letters, but no one in this city would sell to me and I couldn’t risk stealing some and getting caught.”
“Another great way to cause a fight,” he agreed. Palladium was a rare ore, difficult to find, dangerous to mine, and obscenely expensive to purchase. When split, the two pieces reverberated, remaining connected and allowing two users to speak to each other directly using a spell most mages could cast. The spell used the palladium as a reagent, though, destroying the shard in the process. A very large part of Eiri’s current situation revolved around the Vaetrean queen’s desire for the palladium in the mines back home in Canjir.
“I will write another letter immediately, but we have to wait for the courier to return before I can send it. I trust no one else in this country.”
“What should I do in the meantime? I think Syrus means to keep me locked in here until I give in and start acting more like a Vaetrean.” The very idea still disgusted him.
“Do not trust him and try to avoid being alone with him. I will be with you as much as possible, but it would appear the queen knows I am not just an ambassador.” At Eiri’s questioning look, Kien sighed. “The king keeps requesting meetings with me nearly every day. Nothing is accomplished in those meetings beyond vague suggestions and empty promises.”
“You think they’re purposely keeping you away from me?” It made sense. Everyone knew the queen was the real power in Vaetreas. Meeting with the king had about as much impact as meeting with the palace cooks.
Kien nodded. “I am summoned more often than any other ambassador, and I am the only one who deals directly with the king. I believe he is attempting to get information out of me while also allowing his son to get to you without me there as protection.”
“Yet they wonder why we hate them?” Eiri grumbled. “Vaetreans believe themselves the greatest country in the world and yet I’ve never met a single person outside this place that agrees.”
“They have military might on their side, which gives them an unfortunate amount of power. With Gavarria still recovering from their civil war and Nevarre preferring a diplomatic approach to brute force, Vaetreas is arguably the most powerful country on the continent.”
“Before I left Canjir, I heard rumors of things happening up north in Sarkhyr.” Eiri sat up straighter, curiosity piqued. He’d heard the whispers, but after being arrested and unintentionally causing a coup, he’d completely forgotten about it.
“From what little I heard, the north is just as chaotic as the rest of the world right now.”
“Maybe we’ll finally see some true change once it all settles.”
“Not all change is good, Eiri,” Kien warned.
“I’m well aware of that. The changes back home are how I ended up stuck here. But maybe with new people in charge of running the continent, we can finally have real peace. Maybe no one else will have to be forced into a life they hate for the sake of someone else’s greed.” The words were bitter and dark, more so than he’d intended.
“Your mother did not agree to this treaty out of greed. The council wants to create peace between Canjir and Vaetreas.”
“Right. And I’m sure the obscene amount of money Queen Delia gave the council as part of the contract had absolutely nothing to do with it.”
He didn’t know the exact terms of the contract, but through the long, sleepless night, he’d had plenty of time to guess. Obviously, he’d guessed correctly. For the first time since they’d met, Eiri finally got to see Kien at a loss for words. The man opened his mouth, then closed it again, gathering his thoughts. The silence stretched, turning almost painful before he finally found his voice.
“We withheld the exact terms of the contract from you, hoping to avoid exactly this,” he said slowly. “Your mother assumed you would jump to the conclusion that you were sold into this.”
“Was I not? Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like Queen Delia gave the council a very large sum of money for exclusive access to our mines, and I’m here as a guarantee that the council doesn’t renege.”
“That’s not?—”
Eiri shoved the chair back and got to his feet, his mind racing as the pieces finally fell into place. “I wondered why I was chosen. Several members of the council have children whoare around my age and still unmarried, so why me instead of them? None of them have been on raids, which would work in their favor. They would face less persecution from the people here, and yet I was the one chosen to sell to the royal family. It was to get me out of the way, wasn’t it? I was useful when everyone needed a reason to rebel, but once things settled, people started to question why I didn’t face any consequences for killing the prince. Corrupt or not, people are touchy about their royalty being murdered. So… what? Just ship me off to Vaetreas and hope people forget about me?”
