Ahnna’s face burned hot at the implication. “I—”
She broke off with a strangled yelp as her grandmother squeezed one of her breasts and then declared, “Not pregnant, at least.”
“I could have told you that!”
“You know that if you ate more, you’d have bigger tits. This lad must be one for the legs if he’s followed you into this storm, because it wasn’t for those mosquito bites. Now let me see the rest of you.”
Her grandmother had subjected her to this sort of treatment all of her life and Ahnna had always taken it quietly, but she found she’d lost her patience for it. “Enough, Nana. I’m well enough to fight, and that’s what matters, isn’t it?”
Nana blew a long breath out from between her teeth, then gave a tight nod. “Lia gave me the sum of things on my way up the hill, but I bring dark news with me. I was somewhat north of here, so I received word about the poisoned grain. Hundreds are dead, and though Aster’s soldiers were able to spread the warning swiftly, more will die. The commanders are coming to Midwatch, but it’s not war they’re going to ask Aren for, my girl. It’s surrender.”
Ahnna very nearly doubled over, the word like a blow to her gut. “What?”
“Never in my life did I think that the Ithicanian spirit would break, and if you had told me that it would be poisoned bread that would do it, I’d have called you mad.” Nana drew in a steadying breath. “But it has happened. Spirits in the north are broken, and I think the sentiment will sweep south down the bridge and into Eranahl until all demand that your brother abdicate. They no longer believe the bridge and the life that comes with it is worth the toil. Better to give up power to William and allow the might of Harendell to provide, or to flee south into Maridrina or Valcotta to build new lives where death does not knock every hour.”
Ahnna’s ass rushed down to meet the sofa, her knees having betrayed her. “No!”
Nana moved to sit next to her, taking Ahnna’s hand and squeezing it tight. “Knowing that you are here may rally their spirits, Ahnna. Knowing that you are alive and fighting on their behalf might bolster their support for your brother’s reign.”
What was one sword? One sword swung by an arm not fully mended. “Might?”
Her grandmother’s shoulders slumped, and it struck Ahnna that Amelie had grown old in her absence. Old in a way that spoke to an end. “I do not think we can win this fight, my darling girl. Not even with you at your brother’s side. Maridrina was a bothersome fly in comparison with the hammer that is Harendell, and they have Cardiff andAmaridat their backs. We stand alone, Maridrina too weak and unwilling, and Valcotta silent as they face their own obstacles. If there is hope, it is as thin as a spider’s web.”
Logically, Ahnna had known how dire the situation was. Known that even if she made it back to Ithicana in time to foil Katarina’s scheme with the poison, it wouldn’t end the war. The two northern queens would merely switch tactics, and when the storms eased, it would be a War Tides unlike any before. Ithicana didn’t have enough soldiers, didn’t have enough weapons, didn’t have enough of anything it needed to fight back against a united North. It just wasn’t possible.
Yet the thought that her people would give up or that Aren would abdicate hadn’t even crossed her mind, because Ithicana’s will to endure had never wavered.
“Ahnna, do you see a way through this? Do you see something that I do not, because…” Nana broke off with a choked sob. “Can you save us?”
Ahnna found herself staring at her grandmother’s hand. It had always seemed so strong and capable, yet it was now fragile in her own scarred grip.
“I can’t save us,” Ahnna whispered softly, ignoring the way her heart wept at what she was about to say. “There is only one person who has the power to save Ithicana.”
Except she wasn’t certain that James was willing to pay the price.
65
James
“Nana hasn’t been the samesince Ahnna left Ithicana,” Aren said, slinging an arm around James’s shoulder and steering him down the corridor. “They’ll have a lot to catch up on, so it’s best to give them space.”
James considered what Ahnna had told him about her grandmother, which wasn’t entirely positive. “Is Ahnna all right?”
“Well enough to demand I be nice to you.” Ithicana’s king looked him up and down. “I’m hoping you have hidden depths, James, because my impression so far is that you’re something of an asshole.”
“Digging deeper isn’t going to change your opinion. I really need to speak to Ahnna.”
Aren snorted. “I’ll give you credit for being self-aware. You can speak to her later. You look like you’ve been dragged through hell, and you smell worse. Let’s remedy that.”
Opening a door, he pushed James through a suite of simple but well-appointed rooms, then into an antechamber full of towels, scrubs, and soaps. He proceeded to fill James’s arms with said items, along with a razor, before flinging open another door.
Wind and rain hammered James even as a flash of lightning half blinded him. Thunder boomed, the storm above as violent as James had ever seen, but as he tried to step back, Aren shoved him out into the rain.
Together, they walked down a path through a courtyard at the center of which was a series of steaming pools linked by streams, the lot of it fed by a small waterfall that flowed beneath the bottom level of the house. “I’ll leave you to it,” Aren said.
Except as James peeled off his filthy and ruined clothing, weapons clattering against the paving stones, Ithicana’s king didn’t leave. Only stood in the rain, staring at the bolts of lightning illuminating the sky overhead.
What James desperately wanted was to be alone so that he could have time to think about his conversation with Lara, but he sensed that Aren wanted words with him. So he bit his tongue and waded into the scalding water, and then set to scrubbing away salt, blood, and filth. He was halfway through ridding himself of his beard, which had been mercilessly itchy in the Ithicanian heat, when Aren asked, “Do you love her?”
