I will have wed William to Lestara by the time you receive this. Forgive the seeming betrayal of our friendship. As one who has risked all for love, you will one day understand everything, but know I regret the hurt my actions will cause you and your family.
“It arrived after you left.”
“I know,” Keris muttered, because this was the actual letter that Cormac had intended his forgery to replace. He swiftly relayed all that had happened since he’d left Pyrinat, leaving out no details. Darkness had fallen by the time he’d finished.
“Harendell is living up to its reputation.” Zarrah curled against him, staring up at the canopy. “It’s not a matter of one plot. Every cursed person in this court is scheming, and it all tangles together until the plots can’t be separated. It’s clear that Edward aimed to take the bridge and put James on Ithicana’s throne as well as name him heir. Just as clear that Alexandra now aims to give William as much and more. Maridrina was never in a position to aid, but infecting Valcotta’s herds was a surefire way to keep us out of the fray. The question is whether it was Edward’s plan or Alexandra’s? Has she picked up the reins of his plots, or was she scheming the entire time and has only now stepped to the fore? Given James’s legitimacy, my gut tells me the latter, and I can’t help but question whether she’s behind Edward’s death.”
“It makes sense, but Ahnna has profound motive and the martial skill to have done it. She threatened Edward before a ballroom full of people and then was caught red-handed attacking Alexandra by James and his men, who followed bloody boot prints from Edward’s rooms. Did I mention that Edward was stabbed forty-seven times and he didn’t die quickly? Alexandra doesn’t have the skill or strength for such a feat.”
“Perhaps she used Ahnna, then it got out of hand when Ahnna realized she’d been tricked?”
“Maybe. But the only one who could tell us is Ahnna, and I doubt she’s still alive. There is no proof against Alexandra, and William is entirely under her control.” He watched the clouds that were gathering, slowly cloaking the view beyond. “I’d suggest assassinating them both, but blame for that will only fall back on Aren. The Harendellians see possessing the bridge as a possibility, so whoever claims the throne will only leverage the deaths of the Ashfords to go for the same goal. Cardiff is too goddamned obsessed with revenge against Katarina to see the threat they face, and as it is, William seems unwilling to see Lestara for who she is. As much as I hate it, Amarid feels like the only lighthouse in this storm.”
“Katarina knows she’s in danger—that’s the only reason she’s clamoring for an alliance.” Zarrah shook her head. “My father and Daria are working to prove the cattle were deliberately sabotaged and to find proof of who is behind it. If we can tie it to the Ashfords, Valcotta has grounds to retaliate. My father is playing up that I’ve gone into seclusion because of conflict with you, and I’m hoping that Alexandra, if she’s guilty, will take the opportunity to try to foster a coup against me by backing one of my cousins, because she has to want to get rid of me. If she does it, she’ll play right into my hands.”
“She’s clever. She might not bite.” Cleverer than he’d realized, and Keris wasn’t unaware of the certainty growing inside him that he was outmatched by Alexandra. She was smarter than he was, and he didn’t like it.
“Very clever, but if all our suspicions are true, she’s woven so many threads, north and south, that she risks tangling herself. My father played the propaganda game with Petra for years, so he’s got the skill to entice her into making a move.” She sighed. “The question is whether we have time for this strategy. The calm season is coming, and then it will cease to be a war of blockades and words. An alliance with Amarid will be the only chance in that situation.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” But God, he wished it was anyone other than the Crimson Widow.
A knock sounded at the door, and Saam’s voice called through. “It’s important.”
Keris tensed, but Zarrah was already reaching for her clothes. “Get dressed,” she said. “Put yourself together.”
“Saam knows what we’ve been doing,” he said, reaching for his own clothes.
“This palace has eyes everywhere.”
Fixing his hair into its usual knot at the back of his head, Keris went to the door and unlatched it. Saam pushed his way inside, shutting the door behind him. “There’s something you need to see.”
Going to the window, he pressed his hands against it. “Look.”
Keris looked down the incredible drop of the spiral to the city below, which was awash with the glow of lanterns. “What am I looking at?”
“The procession on the river. Do you see it?”
Keris could indeed see a tiny carriage surrounded by mounted horsemen with torches. They crossed the bridge, then headed north. “What are we looking at, Saam?”
“Two things. The first is a messenger who has been sent to retrieve Princess Virginia and her entourage.”
His heart sped, but it was Zarrah who asked, “And the second?”
“Lestara is in that carriage,” Saam said with a grin. “Whatever you two did worked. She left the palace in tears.”
Keris nearly choked on the thickness of his relief, bracing a hand against the window. “We’ve done what we can. We need to leave, Zarrah.”
The glass was cold beneath his hand as he waited for his wife to respond, but Zarrah only watched the procession of torches slowly disappear into the trees. Finally, she said, “Not yet.”
Turning her back on the view of Harendell, she drew in a deep breath. “There’s one more thing we need to do.”
55
Ahnna
Stiff winds sent them hurtlingdown the coast, Ahnna pushing the tiny vessel to the limit of its capacity in her hunt for more speed. First to evade capture, and then because she was on the hunt.
Yet as fast as they flew over the whitecaps, in her heart, she feared it wouldn’t be enough.
