Danikha held her palm toward him. “You keep quiet. I’m talking to Cori.”
Cori ran her hand through her spiked hair, fingers trembling. “I don’t….” She shook her head.
Danikha walked over to her and stood beside her, taking her hand. “You can tell me.”
Cori looked as if she were going to choke, but she answered softly. “We’d gone to a banquet. You’d talked for a while about forming partnerships with our neighbors rather than allowing animosity to rumble on forever, and this was one of the first big diplomatic events. Some minor royals from Kwanam and Gunab made the journey to join us, and lots of Hugaeb nobility were there. I attended with my mother.” She swallowed. “I wanted to see Shane.”
Luka remembered those early banquets; they were excruciating. All the old alliances were crumbling. The king’s favorites wanted to keep their power, even with him gone. Everyone else wanted to grab any privileges they could. The entire event was a snarl of subtle bullying, sycophancy, and backstabbing. Cori’s mother was a duchess, so they would’ve sat together at one of the top tables, right in the center of the worst of it.
“I hated it,” Cori admitted, “and maybe I was no good at it. I’ve never been skilled at saying one thing and meaning another. I’ve always been… myself.” She let out a shuddering breath. “Afterward, I went to Shane, as we did, and—” Scales solidified over her throat and wrists. “—he told me that we’d had a good time, that he liked me well enough. That we werefriends. But that he’d grown up and realized what he really wanted, and it wasn’t…. He didn’t want a woman who thought swordplay was foreplay, and even if he did, he was a prince. He had a role to fulfill, and I wasn’t it.”
Gods of fire. It’s worse than I thought. He was even more hurtful than you!Luka’s beast rumbled.
Cori looked devastated. She was too good a soldier to fidget or curl in on herself, but her expression was tight, her scales a heavy sheen, and her eyes were wet. Was this what Izzy looked like when he sent her away? Luka rubbed his aching chest with his free hand.
“Rayan died a few weeks later,” Cori continued, “and then Shane… he….” Cori looked around the room, swallowing heavily. She shook her head, a tiny movement, and Luka could have sworn she’d heard her beast and had chosen not to finish her original sentence.
“I decided to transfer to the border. Kai and Aiden put in their requests with me.” She gave the two men a small smile. They’d always been as close as siblings. “When Shane found out,he tasked them with investigating from the border, and they told me. I went to see him. I wanted to tell Izabel and Luka the truth, but Shane disagreed. He made it an order. He said I was his subordinate and that my job did not include questioning his commands. We fought… and I left.” Her beast rumbled miserably, loud enough that they could all hear it.
At first, no one moved to break the stunned silence, but then Izzy let go of Luka’s hand, stood up, and strode across the room to sit beside Cori. She wrapped her friend in her arms, uncaring of their audience, and held her tight.
“I’m sorry, Izzy,” Cori murmured. “I really did want to tell you.”
“I forgive you.” Izzy threw a nasty look toward Shane. “I understand. I just wish you could have told me what happened between you and Shane, even if you couldn’t tell me the rest.”
Cori shook her head. “I’m a soldier. He’s my commanding officer, and he was my….” She left the rest unsaid, but they all knew how important Shane had been to her, even if they didn’t know all the details. “Maybe I do understand swords better than I understand relationships, but he asked me to keep it secret, and I swore an oath to follow him. My word—my honor—is important to me.”
Queen Danikha sank back into her place on the sofa. Her face was drawn, and scales gleamed on her cheekbones. “Thank you for telling me the truth,” she said to Cori, and then she added gently, “You’ll report directly to me from now on.”
“Thank you,” Cori whispered, ignoring Shane as he strode toward the window and looked out as if all the answers to the world could be found somewhere in the gathering darkness.
“Mother of the Weave. Nothing in this life is easy.” Danikha sighed sadly, but then she rolled back her shoulders and straightened her spine once more. “But there is more for us toresolve. We need to decide what to do about Izabel and Luka.” She turned her direct gaze on him. “Luka, update us, please.”
He quickly detailed everything they’d learned, their fears about the drug—Firebreather—and his insight into the Kwanam brigadier general. “I believe Declan will use this to cancel the treaty if he can, especially if he can put an end to any talk of a wedding.”
Iona sat forward. She was the senior negotiator throughout the trade discussions. Shane was responsible for the military and for diplomatic relations, but she took the lead on treasury and fiscal affairs. “The archthane pushed hard for a marriage of state to ally our families on a personal level. He wants his descendants on a throne.” Iona shot Cori an apologetic glance before continuing. “Both Shane and Kaliska have formally agreed, and a date was due to be set as part of the final treaty signing. I don’t think Batlok will want to cancel, even under pressure from Declan, but he will demand blood.”
“His demands are extortionate already,” Kai observed quietly.
“True,” Iona agreed, “but he’ll be even more outrageous now.”
“You’ve observed him for months, Iona,” Danikha said seriously. “What do you think he’ll ask for?”
Iona considered for a moment. “This is personal, so he’ll want personal compensation—most likely some kind of share in our steel forges, as well as immediate wealth, something rare and precious—and he’ll want the wedding date set for as soon as possible.” Iona closed her eyes for a long moment. When she opened them again, they were full of sorrow. “And he’ll want Izabel publicly executed, probably Luka too.”
Chapter
Twenty-One
Izabel let goof Cori’s hand and stood. Iona’s words still echoed through the room, but they weren’t a shock. Not really.
Her hands were shaking, so she hid them at her sides as she took in a rough breath. They’d reached the inevitable conclusion, and it was up to her to do the right thing, to try to make it as painless as possible.
Her beast roared helplessly, but she didn’t have time to soothe it.
Izzy dropped a small bow to her queen. “I know how much you’ve sacrificed for our country, for the people you want to save.” Izzy glanced at Luka and then quickly looked away. She couldn’t bear to see the anguish in his eyes, not if she was going to do this. “I understand triage. Sometimes we have to make difficult choices. Sometimes we cut off the limb to save the body.” Her hands started to sweat, and she wiped them on her breeches. “I want you to know that I didn’t do this,” Izzy continued, “but I will take responsibility, nonetheless, on one condition. Please keep Luka out of it.”
Luka shoved himself to his feet, his beast growling so loudly she could feel the vibration in her bones. “Absolutely not!” His beast’s rumble threaded through every word. “Izzy was neverpart of this! She should have been left sleeping safely in her bed!” Fury radiated out from him. “Iwill take responsibility! I’m the knight commander.”
