Tavern gossip could be shockingly accurate, but Lara only gave the man a small smile. “We thank you for your service. Safe travels.”
“Have you heard anything about Lady Taryn?” Bronwyn asked as the man began to turn away. “Any information as to where she’s been taken or if she’s well?”
“No, Your Highness,” he answered. “Not a word.”
At Lara’s nod, he retreated and then exited the room.
Aren waited until the door clicked shut, then exploded, “It’s not even a request, Lara! William is ordering me to meet him at Emesmere to address his demands. Like I’m a dog to be dragged, tail between my legs, to make amends for shitting on his floor.”
“Colorful,” Bronwyn muttered, but there was an edge to her sister’s tone that matched the seething fury in her eyes. Bronwyn and Taryn had grown close in their friendship, and while her sister had been closemouthed about the nature of their relationship, Lara suspected that the two were lovers.
“The captain’s story is consistent with what James told Bronwyn when he arrested Taryn.” Lara rose to go to the window, looking out over Northwatch. The skies were gray and misty, but there was no sign of weather that might prevent a meeting at Emesmere. “It’s consistent with everything we’ve been told.”
Which meant this was either a very well-orchestrated deception…
Or the truth.
Bronwyn sighed and took a seat at the table, staring gloomily at the wood. “James believes it, Lara. That much I know. You can’t feign that sort of anger and grief. While he didn’t elaborate as to exactly what Ahnna was doing to Alexandra when he came upon them, it was violent. Her guilt in that crime is certain. Whether Ahnna was also the one to kill Edward, only she can say for sure, but the evidence is damning.” Bronwyn hesitated, then added, “As is her motive.”
“Ahnna didn’t do this!” Aren slammed his fists down on the table so hard that the glassware bounced, and Lara felt a pang in her chest at the fear beneath his anger.
“I didn’t believe it at first, either,” Bronwyn said. “But I think we have to consider that Ahnna’s anger got the better of her.”
“My sister wouldn’t do this! It’s not who she is!”
“You’re the last person who can claim to know Ahnna’s mind,” Bronwyn snapped at him. “You two have been at odds from the day you married Lara, and I assure you, the woman Ahnna was before the invasion doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Bronwyn, enough.” Lara left the window and moved to rest her hands on the table. “This isn’t helpful.”
“Isn’t it?” Her sister scoffed and then leaned back in her chair. “Because given that you two are pressing forward on the assumption that Ahnna is innocent, I think it is. Saving Ithicana was Ahnna’s obsession. She went to Verwyrd on a mission to gain power and influence. Power and influence that she hoped to use to increase trade through the bridge and put enough profit in Ithicana’s coffers that you could feed your people and rebuild. So thatshecould be the savior of Ithicana, notyou.” Bronwyn leveled a finger at Lara’s chest. “She wanted to prove she was better than you in every possible way.”
Ahnna isn’t that petty.“Enough, Bronwyn.”
“No, you listen.” Her sister rose. “She was obsessed, and Edward surely saw that. Strung her along and made her feel as though she was wanted. As though she was exactly the woman Harendell needed.Made her feel as though her goals were in her grasp, and then he ripped out the carpet from beneath her and sent Ahnna sprawling in front of all of Harendell’s nobility. He didn’t just marry William to another princess and destroy her dream of becoming queen, but also declared his plan to direct all the gold Ithicana needed into Cardiff. And to top it all off, James, her onefriend”—Bronwyn’s voice seethed with sarcasm—“was the man behind the whole plan. Which meant he’d been lying to her the entire time. Don’t tell me, Lara, that the sum of this isn’t enough to break anyone, least of all a woman who has spent the past years suffering trauma after trauma.”
“Stop.” Lara’s hands balled into fists. Her sister’s words were making the air in the room so very hard to breathe.
“I will not.” Bronwyn got to her feet. “Because Taryn, who has donenothing,is once again a prisoner, and I don’t know if she will survive it. I have no doubt that Ahnna acted impulsively. I have no doubt that she regrets what she has done. But my most sincere hope is that she turns herself in and accepts all accountability, because then maybe William will havefuckingmercy on the rest of us!”
“Get out!” Lara screamed as her own temper cracked. “Go!”
“Gladly!” Bronwyn stormed from the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Lara drew a steadying breath, already unhappy that she’d lost control of her emotions. Aren still had his hands planted on the table but the anger had left her husband’s gaze, leaving a hollowness that cut her to the core.
“What if Bronwyn’s right?” Aren asked softly.
“She’s not.” Lara circled the table and pushed him down on a chair. Straddling him, she cupped his stubbled cheeks and forced him to meet her gaze. “Ahnna is brash and brazen. Prone to saying exactly what she thinks. But she isneverimpulsively violent. If there is anyone in the world who could have driven her to murder, it’s me, but your sister has never once harmed me.”
“She pushed you off the bridge.”
Lara scoffed. “That was an accident and you know it. She could have killed me a hundred times over, and she never once tried. When she saw me trying to climb onto Eranahl during the attack, she could have let me fall but instead pulled me up. As someone whoisa murderer, I say with the utmost confidence that Ahnna didn’t do this. She’s being framed, and my gut tells me that Alexandra is at the center of it.”
“Alexandra was injured, and she said it was Ahnna who did it. There were witnesses who came upon them.Jameswas one of those witnesses.”
“Ahnna wouldn’t haveinjuredher. Ahnna would have killed her with ease. My bet is that Ahnna either walked into the middle of the attack and there was confusion, or that…” Her throat tightened. “Or that circumstances were staged.”
Aren blinked, his bloodshot eyes sharpening. “Why?”
