So was he.
Katarina would never be his friend. Yet as Aren stared at the bobbing mast, he also knew that when one stood alone, one could not afford to be particular. “Do you have a time and a place for this meeting?”
“Yeah,” Taryn said. “I do.”
45
Keris
“I bought you something.”
“You shouldn’t have,” Keris responded, not lifting his head from the book he was reading detailing the history of the conflict between Cardiff and Harendell. “Our friendship doesn’t rely upon material goods.”
Saam snorted. “Maybe not, but my longevity does depend on keeping you alive.”
“Zarrah won’t punish you if I meet my end on your watch.” Keris flipped the page, then cursed and snapped the book shut, nothing inside telling him anything he didn’t know.
As it was, he was having difficulty focusing, his mind going back to his parting words with Adrius before the man set off to Ithicana again. Or, more accurately, to Adrius’s words. He’d confirmed the disease in Valcotta’s herds, but also that Zarrah was not responding to Aren’s letters requesting aid. It made Keris sick with unease, because as angry as she might be with him, Zarrah wouldnevertake that out on Aren, whom she considered a dear friend. There was something keeping her from responding, but with news from the south patchy due to a particularly bad storm season and the absence of traffic on the bridge, he’d been unable to learn more.
Please be safe,he silently pleaded, turning his head to the windowand staring south, feeling torn between the welfare of the love of his life and the family he held dear. Then a yip caught his attention. “What in fuck is that thing?”
“A poison-sniffing dog.” Saam grinned and set the white creature on the floor. “Sit!”
It sat.
“That’s not a dog,” Keris said, eyeing it. “That’s not even a cat. That’s a fluffy rat.”
“She is a dog and her name is Fiona. She’s from the most preeminent breeder and trainer in Harendell, and there is typically a seven-year waiting list for one of their dogs. Fortunately, Zarrah’s name goes a long way.” Saam patted the animal on its head, then deposited a folder of paperwork on the desk. “Her documents, as well as the jeweler’s certificate for the diamond collar she came with.”
The fluffy white animal did indeed have a glittering collar around her neck. “That she…came with? Saam, precisely how much did you pay for thisdog?”
“One cannot put a price on safety,” his friend replied, which Keris suspected was how this dog breeder had sold him on this thing. “She is trained to identify three hundred and forty-two types of poisons, and the demonstration they gave me was very compelling. Don’t worry about the cost. One of the banks in Verwyrd gave me the coin.”
“That’s not free gold!” Keris scrubbed a hand over his face. “They withdrew it from my accounts.”
Saam shrugged. “Fiona is worth it, trust me.”
Keris highly doubted that, but he also had bigger concerns. Namely that he needed to make progress in his goal to undermine the alliance between Cardiff and Harendell. Having Ronan withdraw his support would undercut Harendell’s ability to go on the offensive, especially if he stirred up conflict in the north. The peace between the two nations was tenuous and new, and with James absent, probably dead, the only thing binding the two nations was Lestara. Especially given that whatever profits in trade Cardiff hoped to gain in the alliance would bemuch reduced if Harendell held the bridge. It was an alliance destined to fail eventually, Keris only needed to hurry the process along.
Which meant turning the nation against its new queen.
Keris exchanged stares with the tiny dog, but then the door to his suites flew open and William appeared. “Veliant, my good man! Care to go on an excursion?” Then he caught sight of Fiona and grinned. “Have you got yourself a Fitzgibbons? My God, mate, you have either choice dirt on them or bottomless coffers.”
Keris gave Saam a sour glare, but his friend only shrugged as William dropped to his knees next to the wriggling cotton ball, petting her with enthusiasm.
“Mother has a Fitzgibbons, of course, and Virginia had one for years. Ginny wept like a babe when he died. I should really get her another to make up for…” William trailed off, then shook his head and stood. “At any rate, no sour feelings about Ithicana and the bridge, right? It’s just politics, and Mother has a way of getting me riled up. No need for it to come between friends.”
William was looking everywhere but at him, and Keris nearly sighed at the sad predictability of the other man. At his need for validation. At his need to be liked despite constantly engaging in behaviors that made him profoundly unlikable. “Where is Princess Virginia?”
“At Whitewood Hall, our hunting lodge in the north. Ginny and Lessy don’t quite see eye to eye, and grief has a way of making my sister harsh with her tongue. I thought it best Ginny take some time away from the stir of the court to recover. Her ladies are with her.”
Keris’s eyes turned to the diamond collar around Fiona’s neck. Virginia Ashford had been the ringleader of the Harendellian noblewomen who’d taken Lestara’s punishment as their personal mission, and it was no shock that Lestara had them all removed from court. Though it was a bit strange that Alexandra had allowed her daughter to be sent away on account of Lestara’s pride. It supported his certainty that Lestara’s life and reign would not continue after she produced an heir.
“Ginny’s behavior was abhorrent,” William continued, his eyes also having moved to the dog. “Lestara has been a paragon of forgiveness, but she still finds seeing those women very upsetting. I’ve already made it up to Ginny by agreeing to wed her to Georgie, and once she’s on the Cavendish estates with a baby or two, she won’t mind not being allowed at court. Even if she does, it’s your fault, Veliant, not mine. You had everyone convinced that Lestara was to blame for what happened in Vencia, but the reality is that she was Petra’s victim. Virginia wouldn’t have acted as she did if you had been truthful. You just wanted to be rid of the harem so you could chase after Zarrah.”
Keris’s eyes filled with the memory of Lestara glaring up at him from a mass grave, hair covered with the dirt he’d shoveled upon her, and it was hard to keep the sarcasm from his voice as he said, “No sour feelings though, right?”
William huffed out a breath, then slowly lifted his face to meet Keris’s gaze. “Bygones. Let’s head out of the city and find some fun.”
