“Your Grace, stop!” Cavendish reached for William, but the king swung wildly with his free hand, clipping Cavendish’s jaw even as soldiers poured in. All around was chaos as the civilians fought to flee, even as William screamed, “Arrest them! Arrest them!” his blade digging ever deeper.
Blood ran down Keris’s chest, and his options spiraled through his head. If he drew a weapon on the king, he’d be arrested, but if he stood his ground, William would kill him. There was a third option, and that was to absolve Lestara, but then the one method hehad of destroying the alliance with Cardiff would be spent and wasted.
“Tell them!” William wiped at his tears, face crimson with distress. “Tell them she’s not guilty!”
Despite the situation, Keris felt a flood of empathy for this child of a man. It was not witchery that Lestara had used to control him, but a simple manipulation of his weakness. Of his desperation for validation. He refused to see the truth of what Lestara was, because doing so would erase all that she had done to bolster William’s opinion of himself.
“Queen of Carrion! Widowmaker! Butcher of Babies!” The shouts echoed through the alehouse as soldiers slammed patrons to the ground, manacles clinking as men and women were arrested. “Cast her back! Cast her back!”
“Tell them!” William screamed. “Make them believe she’s innocent!”
He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Not with dozens of eyes on him, even those pinned to the ground watching to see what he would do. Keris clenched his teeth—
Only for Cavendish to tackle William to the ground. “Think clearly, man! If you kill him, you martyr him. Martyrs only tell truths!”
Cavendish hauled William to his feet, then pulled him out of the alehouse. More soldiers fell in around their king, and they started back to the spiral, leaving Keris standing bleeding in the doorway while soldiers arrested every patron to the man.
Saam and the others leaned against a stone wall, their arms crossed. “You’re fucking insane,” his friend snapped. “You should just fall on your own sword and be done with it.”
Blood dripped down his chest, soaking his shirt. Keris leaned against the same wall, watching as soldiers dragged out civilian after civilian, loading them into a waiting prison cart.
“You’ve been bad, haven’t you, Your Highness?”
He turned his head to find a pretty woman approaching.
“I like that in a man.”
Keris rolled his eyes, pressing his hand to the wound. “Not interested, love. Move along.”
“Not peddling that sort of ware,” she replied. “The name is Elsie, and my grandfather once wrestled a bear. You can see it in the sky when the moon wanes.”
Cardiffian.
“You’re playing with fire, Your Highness,” Elsie said, leaning against the wall next to him. “Your desire to dethrone the woman who betrayed you and Maridrina won’t just cost her—it will cost all of Cardiff. You fuel accusations of witchery, but she won’t be the only witch to burn, you understand? Yours is not the path to longevity.”
“I’ve never sensed that old age was in the cards. Or the stars.” He watched the soldiers fighting with a big drunk, it taking three of them to get the man in a cart. “Are you here to threaten me into leaving Lestara alone?”
“No. I’m here to discover if you’ve heard anything of James’s fate.”
There was something in her tone that suggested she cared more about the prince than a simple spy should. “Hope that he lives is fading. He was separated from his men and pursued Ahnna on his own, and there is the added complication of the Beast being dispatched in pursuit. But I’m sure you know all that.”
“Yet another death to add to the tally.” Elsie closed her eyes, pressing a hand to her chest as though it hurt. “Ronan will grieve.”
Keris gave her a moment, then asked, “You have Ronan’s ear?”
“He hears all. You have something to whisper?”
“Something to shout. Alexandra aims to take the bridge, and once she has it, she’ll have no need for Lestara or Cardiff. What she will have is wealth beyond measure, which means the strength to spread her son’s empire.”
“To the Lowlands. To Riomar itself, and Cardiff will have its vengeance on the Crimson Widow,” Elsie said. “Siobhan, Cormac, and James will be able to rest easy once their murderer is put to the sword.”
Her words echoed Petra’s, and Keris could not help but think of all the ruin the dead empress had left in a similar pursuit.
“And what then?” He met Elsie’s golden-brown eyes. “Is vengeance worth creating an empire so vast and powerful that no one can stand against it? Or does Ronan’s quest for blood just blind him to the truth that power so vast cares nothing for friends or allies, only conquest? I understand the desire to hate Katarina for what she has done, but her efforts to curb Harendell’s rise serve all of us. Amarid is not the threat.”
Fury flashed in the woman’s eyes, her lips pulling back as she spat, “You think me a fool, Veliant? All that you do here is to serve your own interests in Ithicana. You care nothing for Cardiff. Care nothing for the harm that has been done to us by the Crimson Widow.”
Keris pushed away from the wall, feeling dizzy though he wasn’t certain if it was from loss of blood or too much wine. Nodding at Saam, he started down the street, but looked over his shoulder. “Scream of the threat of Harendell in Ronan’s ear, Elsie. Scream and scream until he hears, because the flames are licking at Cardiff’s heels, and the fire has been set by Alexandra Ashford.”
