Lara frowned, something picking at her mind that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she left it for later consideration as Aren said, “I support the need for proof, but Zarrah should have sent someone else to search for it. We need her in the south, in power, able to make decisions. If she’s not willing to leave Keris alone in Verwyrd, then both of them need to leave together. Can you get word to them?”
“Eventually, although the storms have sunk more ships than I can count this season,” Sarhina replied. “But do keep in mind, Aren, that Zarrah is the empress of Valcotta. Neither you nor I are in any position to tell her what to do.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance, silencing the conversation but also bringing them to the moment that Lara had been dreading.
Sarhina eyed the sky. “I need to set sail. You need to say your goodbyes, Lara.”
A knife to her stomach would have hurt less.
Aren gave a sharp shake of his head. “I can’t ask you to do this, Lara. Go with her. Let me and Ahnna fight this fight.”
Her control fractured, tears rolling down her face, and she brushed away those that landed on Delia’s cheek, holding her child close. Inhaling her scent and whispering, “I love you. I love you so much, my sweet little girl.”
Aren’s arms wrapped around them both, and she allowed herself one last moment of the three of them together, then stepped forward to hand her daughter to Sarhina.
Her sister took her niece with practiced hands, soothing Delia as she began to cry. “She’ll go into the Kresteck Mountains with Ensel’s family,” Sarhina said. “Deep in the wilds where everyone knows everyone, and no one trusts outsiders. They’ll keep her safe, as they keep my own girl safe, and Athena and Cresta will be with them.”
“We’ll protect her with our lives, Lara,” Athena said, wiping tears from her cheeks. “I swear it.”
“Tell her that I love her,” Lara whispered. “Tell her that she was loved so very much and that I didn’t want to let her go.”
“You’ll tell her yourself when we bring her back to you.” Sarhina bent her head to kiss Delia’s forehead, rocking her, but Delia only cried harder, and the sound tore at Lara’s heart.
“God, Lara, just go with her,” Aren pleaded, and his cheeks were wet. “You have done enough. You do not need to do this. She is safest with you.”
Lara wiped her eyes. “If the worst happens, Sar, tell her that she was our greatest love. That we wanted her and never wanted to let her go, and that we fought our hardest to get back to her.”
Her baby’s wails tore apart her soul, but she kept her eyes on her sister’s face until Sarhina nodded. “I swear it.”
“Thank you,” Lara said, then she turned and strode into the bridge. Picked up the rubble of walls she’d worked so hard to dismantle, and rebuilt them, piece by piece, until her eyes were dry, and she was the little cockroach once more.
73
Ahnna
Every War Tides, Ithicanians migrated,so it was nothing to Ahnna’s people to begin the process of packing up what they needed to disappear under the cover of night and storm. Only this time, instead of going to Eranahl, they moved to the outer islands. Places far from the bridge that held little strategic use and were unlikely to be investigated by the Amaridians. It was, after all, the middle of storm season, which meant that winds and waves capable of putting ships at the bottom of the sea manifested without warning. And for ships the size that the Amaridians used, there were very few locations in Ithicana capable of offering anything resembling safe harbor.
Aren ordered the evacuations to begin the same day James set sail for Cardiff. He also ordered those who remained to begin digging. Creating countless fresh graves, big and small, to set the scene in locations where the Amaridians were likely to come ashore. The corpses of those lost in the north were mercilessly redeployed and staged, though it would be the ripening smell of rot that Katarina’s scouts encountered first.
The storms in the north remained vicious throughout, seeming to be buying them time to set the scene, though it came at a cost. There were multiple fatalities, people lost to storm surge, floods, mudslides, and falling trees, and everyone suffered minor cuts and scrapes fromdebris in the winds. It was a miserable reminder why the bridge was needed, its indestructible stone untouched by wind or sea. Everyone on Ahnna’s team was exhausted by the time they were finished, but their silence had nothing to do with the labor or injury.
It was because very soon the enemy would be coming onto Ithicanian soil. Walking through villages and homes with the same callousness the Maridrinians had employed, and then taking over the bridge. At best, it felt invasive.
At worst, it felt like a surrender.
“A ship has been spotted,” Lara said, coming up next to Ahnna. “They’re moving in close enough to take a look but staying out of range of the shipbreakers.”
Her tone was tight and clipped, and Ahnna looked sideways at her queen. Lara and Aren had taken Delia to Southwatch to place her in the protection of Sarhina, all of it done under a cloak of the greatest secrecy. Neither of them had spoken about their feelings on the separation, but Ahnna sensed the complex twist of emotion the sacrifice had elicited. Delia was safer in Maridrina, but every day they spent away from her was a loss.
Please let them get back to her,Ahnna silently prayed.Please don’t let them be another family torn apart.
Though this was a strategy of playing possum, it would be suspicious if there was no one left alive to fight back, so skirmishes were planned. As Ahnna took in Lara, painted with greens and browns of camouflage and armed to the teeth, it was hard not to feel pity for any Amaridians whom Ithicana’s queen came up against.
Aren appeared, seeming to have come out of nowhere. He scrubbed a gloved hand through his hair and then gave a sharp shake of his head. “I hate this. Every instinct in me screamsfight.I don’t want to have to burn another house down.”
“We are fighting,” Lara answered. “Just not in a way we’re used to. And if you burn my house down again, love, it will be me you have to fear, not the Amaridians.”
Ahnna laughed softly as her brother frowned, but then all three of them fell silent.
