“And he’s going to take over the river brigades; that’s what he was planning at the summit. He’s planning a war.”
Everything she had seen and heard just kept tumbling out of her mouth. “And what he’s done to Pyetar…and he almost killed my sister. I think he might kill the entire Kleesold clan once he gets a chance. If Karvek is not stopped…” Her heart was pounding so loudly. “He will pull this entire territory into war. I have to stop him.”
This was the part she was the least sure of. Vaneshta scrunched her nose up at Karvek’s new soldiers, avoiding them as much as she could. But was she willing to work against him?
Darkness fell over Vaneshta’s eyes. “I want to see him bleed, see him ripped from this place. Tell me the plan.”
So Iryana did.
They would tell the river brigades what Karvek was planning, convince them to march on Myura River. Her family would help. And they’d turn as many in the fort as they could. Anyone who was willing to betray Karvek.
She was part of the way through explaining the specifics when a chuckle sounded from the hall and Iryana spun to see Lidishta step in, pulling the door shut behind her. Iryana stiffened, eyes flicking over Lidishta. Had she heard?
There was a smug look on the young soldier’s face that said she did. Vaneshta tensed beside her. They couldn’t let Lidishta tell her brother, or worse, Karvek. It would all be over then. Iryana couldn’t let that happen.
Her hand slowly reached out, summoning her dagger, and her body coiled, ready to strike.
“Please,” Lidishta laughed at the blade now gripped in Iryana’s hand. “That wouldn’t go well for you. Plus, you would lose an ally.”
Her hand stilled. An ally?“Youwant to stop Karvek?”
Lidishta stepped further into the room, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “Every time I see him walking the wall, I want to shove him over. Look down at his broken body at the bottom.”
Iryana reared back, staring in shock at the pure bloodthirst on Lidishta’s face. It wasn’t the look of someone who despised a person on principle. ShehatedKarvek, and Iryana didn’t doubt that she wanted him dead. Butwhywas the question?
There was only one way Iryana could see Lidishta benefiting from his death. “We won’t let your brother take over afterwards. He’d be almost as bad.”
Lidishta threw her head back and cackled. “Good. Throw him over the wall too.”
Iryana couldn’t help her shock, but Vaneshta stepped past her and clasped arms with Lidishta. They shared a dark look.
She watched them carefully, analyzing. Vaneshta seemed to know something about Lidishta’s relationship with her brother, perhaps with Karvek too. If that made Vaneshta believe that Lidishta could truly be on their side, Iryana decided she should trust it too.
That’s what friends did. They trusted each other.
“Well then,” Iryana mused. Lidishta had access to Karvek’s manor, to visit her family’s rooms there. And she was popular among the younger soldiers. She could be incredibly helpful. “Welcome to the team.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Throughout the next day, she’d gone through the motions. Trained, went on a short afternoon mission, and then sat through an agonizingly slow dinner. The way Karvek had looked at her when they’d locked eyes across the hall—she shuddered at the reminder. It had taken everything to keep her face neutral. To smile at him even. But she’d made it.
Now, with the sun tucked behind the fortress walls and the waning moon watching from above, Iryana snuck through the fort. She kept to the shadows that pooled along the fence line, carefully watching the windows along the back of the houses that lined the main road. Her cloak and layered tunics fought against the nearly-autumn chill.
Finding the right house, Iryana heaved herself over the fence and crept along the side, stepping around a pile of firewood. She knocked on the door, barely able to breathe.
There was a chance he wouldn’t be willing to hear her out, that after everything he would turn her away. The thought was nearly crippling, but she shoved it away.
When Pyetar opened the door, he froze when he saw her. Flashes of confusion and pain moved rapidly over his face.
Iryana swallowed, at a loss for words.
He blinked and ripped his eyes away from her, leaning out of his doorway and looking around.
“No one saw me,” she assured him.
Pyetar only shushed her and pulled her into his home, quietly closing the door behind them.
Stepping into the small house and looking around, Iryana realized Pyetar had been going to bed.
