“But you don’t want to take the throne, do you? You have no desire to take the crown from your brother or to harm your sister’s reputation by naming her a bastard. You hope that if you give William the truth he’ll turn on Alexandra, and you are betting that his affection for Lestara will push him to stay true to the peace you worked for with Cardiff. I sayhopebecause you are not certain about your brother’s state of mind toward you.”
“I see the rumors that you are more than just a pretty face are justified, Your Grace. You’d have done well in Harendell’s court.”
Lara stabbed him again with her needle. “Mind your tongue, Your Highness, or my husband will cut it out.”
James only gave a soft laugh, and it struck Lara that it would take a man of this sort of fearlessness to keep up with Ahnna. But his tone hardened as he said, “William is king.”
“Not the rightful one.” She knotted the thread. “If you claim the throne, this war would end and true justice could be served. Surely that is worth your siblings’ fall from grace. You have the power to bring peace to the north.”
“We’re finished.” James pushed her hand away from his throat and then slung his legs off the side of the table and stood. “William is king of Harendell and I will not be the one to dethrone him. Nor will I be the one to destroy my sister’s chances by naming her bastard. Once Will knows the truth about what Alexandra has done, about her conspiracies with Katarina, he’ll end this war. He has his faults, but he’s good at his core and I have sway with him.”
“Are you so sure about that?” Lara jerked up her knife to cut the thread right next to his skin, feeling abruptly infuriated that he’d be so willfully naïve. “Alexandra has dangled the bridge before him like a carrot before a mule. Power has allure that few can deny.”
“You’re wrong about him.” James’s amber eyes darkened with anger. “And even if you are not, you are deluded if you think that I can march into Harendell and sit my ass down on the Twisted Throne. Any proof that my parents were wed and that I am legitimate died with my father. Just how well do you think the people will take it if I, the half-Cardiffian bastard, claim that Alexandra—a Harendellian blueblood—was never queen? How well do you think they’ll take it if Cardiff claims that William—also Harendellian through and through—is a bastard, and our sister is illegitimate as well? How well do you think they’ll take me, the half Cardiffian with an Ithicanian princess for a wife, being raised up to the throne? If you believe that Harendell will stand behind me,Lara,you are a fool.”
He might be right, but Lara couldn’t help but wonder if James’s anger had more to do with the threat to hurt his siblings than the weakness of his claim to the throne. “What if telling William the truth changes nothing? You are a military man. You know Ithicana cannot hope to stand against Harendell, much less Harendell with Cardiff and Amarid at its back. We might hold out through this stormseason, but the moment the calm comes upon us, we will be crushed. And if you think Ahnna will allow herself to survive Ithicana’s fall, it isyouwho are deluded. Are you willing to sacrifice the love of your life for the sake of your siblings’ reputation?”
James took a step back, and Lara felt a flash of triumph that she’d struck a nerve.
“If you truly love Ahnna as you say, you’ll do what it takes to save not just her, but everything she has fought so hard to protect. Begging your brother todo the right thingisn’t going to cut it.”
“What is it that you want me to do?”
“I want you to use your influence with Ronan to break the alliance with Cardiff. I want Cardiff’s armies to back you as the rightful heir to the throne. Lestara might be queen and William king, but youknowit is Alexandra who rules, and she has no tolerance for pagans. Once Ithicana is broken, Alexandra and Katarina will look north. I know it. And you know it. Do this, and you don’t just spare Ithicana, you spare Cardiff as well. Quit hiding behind sentiment for Virginia and William and take the Twisted Throne.”
All the color drained from James’s face. With total disregard for manners, he picked up a decanter of Aren’s favorite whiskey from the sideboard, filled a glass, and drained it in one gulp. “I don’t want to be king.”
“Maybe not, but do you want Ahnna to be queen?”
James went very still, staring into the empty glass.
“She was born to rule,” Lara said softly. “Aren would be the first to say that she ruled Ithicana in his absence far better than he ever did, and if she sat on the Twisted Throne, she would make our world so much better.”
Silence stretched between them, the air feeling thick and unbreathable.
“I can’t bring Ahnna north,” he finally answered. “There’s a ransom on her head because everyone believes she killed my father, and Ronan tried to assassinate her once already. Do not conflate Ronan’saffection for me with a desire to have an Ithicanian as Harendell’s queen. He is not on your side.”
“Agreed. Which is why Ahnna must stay here while you go north alone.”
James set his glass down with such force that the crystal cracked. “You misunderstand. I will not leave her side.”
Sympathy and guilt burned in Lara’s chest, because she’d stood in this position before and knew the hurt of it all too well. “Admirable sentiment, but if you don’t do this, we are all damned.” Closing the distance between them, Lara looked up into James’s eyes. “Do you think Ahnna will still love you knowing you could have stopped this but chose not to? Worse, how do you think she’ll feel about herself knowing that her love was the damnation of all that she held dear?”
She could feel the rage seething off him as he loomed over her. But Lara had faced down big men over less, and she would not back down now. “You will not prove your worth to Ahnna Kertell by shadowing her every step.”
James’s lips parted and Lara braced for his anger, but he clamped down on whatever he wanted to say and inclined his head. “Thank you for your medical expertise and for your hospitality, Your Grace, but you’ll have to excuse me, I need to find my future wife.”
Not waiting for her to respond, he stepped around her and left the room.
Pouring herself a glass of Aren’s whiskey, Lara sat at her table but didn’t take a drink. Only stared at the liquid while a tear slowly dripped down her cheek.I forgive you,Ahnna’s voice whispered inside her head.
But as Lara finally took a mouthful, she knew that today would not be the day she forgave herself.
63
Aren
“Look at this,” Aren said,pointing at the illustration in the book he was holding. “It’s a horse. They are horrible creatures but not nearly as bad as camels. Camels kick and bite and spit. The worst of them is a camel in Maridrina named Jack.”
