“Yes, Daria. I thought that you and I, being two reasonable women, might get to the bottom of this little conflict. Please sit.”
This woman had sent death to Valcotta. The desire to pull her hidden blade and slit Alexandra’s throat was nearly overwhelming, but instead, Zarrah did as Alexandra bid her. As her eyes adjusted to the room’s lighting, she got the first look at the dowager queen’s face. There was a thick scar on her cheek that had healed poorly, and it pulled up the corner of the woman’s mouth in a permanent sneer. Her eyes were green, but there was something lifeless and cold about them, especially given how they had sunk into her skull, shadows marring the skin beneath them. She was painfully thin, collarbone jutting through her pale skin above her black dress. A mourning gown for the stepson she surely didn’t mourn.
“I’ll not mince words,” Alexandra said, pouring a cup of tea for Zarrah and then filling her own. One of the cups was chipped, but Zarrah recognized the pattern as the design of a particularly famous artist who had died over a century prior. A priceless antique.
“We know you visited one of our banks under the guise of pursuing investment opportunities on behalf of the empress. We know that you used the opportunity to steal Ashford banking records, and we know that you have either hidden them or passed them on to another party. Our banker swears with total certainty that our records were present when he opened the cabinet, and also that he left you briefly alone in the room, giving you opportunity to hide the documents on your person.”
“As has been said many times, Your Grace, your banker is mistaken.”
Alexandra pursed her lips. “I see.” She took a sip of her tea. “Daria, I do not blame you for your actions. I know that the orders were given by Prince Keris, and that you are loyal to him due to his part in rescuing you from unjust incarceration. You acted out of loyalty, and that is something I would applaud if not for my certainty that he does not share your loyalty.”
Zarrah said nothing, only sat quietly, waiting.
“He’s using you to do his dirty work, my sweet girl. I know he’s as lovely as a painting, but he’s a Veliant. He does not respect or care for women—they are only things to be used, then discarded.”
If circumstances weren’t so dire, Zarrah might have laughed at the clumsy attempt to manipulate her. “That has not been my impression of His Highness, Your Grace.”
Alexandra gave a soft sigh. “Do not be blinded by infatuation, Daria. Men like him are dangerous to women, because they wield their looks and charm like weapons. But ask yourself this: When Lord Cavendish arrests you tomorrow for espionage, which, during times of war, is punishable by execution, will Keris step forward to aid you? Will he, knowing that we are unlikely to hang him, take the blame for the orders he gave you?”
The room felt suddenly cold. “I have committed no crime, Your Grace, and the empress will not take the unjust execution of one of her people lightly. You have no proof—nothing but the baseless accusations of a single man. We were searched from head to toe, our rooms and belongings picked apart, and no evidence was found. There is also no valid reason why His Highness would order the theft of personal banking records. What interest has he in how you spend your gold?”
The dowager queen’s eyes abruptly burned like green fire. “Keris is no neutral party. He is family to our enemy, and while we put up with his presence, we are aware that he works against us on King Aren’s behalf. How he intends to use them, I could not say, but he surely intends harm.”
Alexandra’s face and tone revealed nothing, but Zarrah could feel her desperation. She knew that if Valcotta discovered what she’d done, the bridge would be rendered worthless to her. She’d overplayed her hand trying to ensure that Zarrah wouldn’t be able to aid Ithicana, and now it was coming back to bite her in the ass. “We do not have your banking records, Your Grace. Investigate your own for this crime.”
“Tell me the truth, Daria, and you will be both protected and generously compensated,” Alexandra replied. “You will live life in safety and luxury, and never again be used by the likes of Keris Veliant. For use you, he surely has.”
“We do not have your documents.”
“Daria, please think this through!” Alexandra snapped the words. “If you are arrested for espionage, Keris will let you go to the gallows forhiscrime. Do not put your trust in a man who has proven again and again that he does not deserve it. You know that Valcotta suffers, that Maridrina suffers, and yet Keris digs in his heels and aids those who are causing the suffering. That is not the sort of man who deserves your devotion.”
It was tempting to reveal herself. To make a fool out of this awful woman who was so desperate to prop up the reign of her idiot son that she’d resort to war. Except that would make Zarrah the fool. The Harendellians would screamespionagenorth and south. Would scream that her actions were an act of war on Valcotta’s part, which would give them grounds to kill her. Her people might retaliate. Or they might shrug and accept one of her cousins rising to power.
“Make the smart choice,” Alexandra said softly. “Don’t let him ruin your life, Daria.”
There was no way out of this. If she denied the theft, Alexandra would arrest her and execute her. If she told them where the documents were, she’d still be killed, because Alexandra would need to bury the truth and bury it deep.
She’d come here to aid the friends who’d risked everything to saveher life, and Zarrah would not abandon them now. Squaring her shoulders, she stared Alexandra down. “The pages documenting your financing of a scheme to send infected animals into Valcotta are already on a ship sailing south to be relayed to the empress, Your Grace. That proof, in conjunction with evidence that the animals were deliberately released to infect Valcottan herds, will be seen as an act of war. Empress Zarrahwillretaliate, and she is already preparing to set sail to join forces with Ithicana. Leave off on your aggression toward Ithicana, Your Grace, or face the consequences.”
The tiny tells of desperation on Alexandra’s face melted away, the green fire fading into cold calculation as the queen slowly clapped her hands together. “You are every bit the woman I knew you would be, Imperial Majesty. All the rumors that honor flows through your veins, not blood, have been proven true.”
Zarrah’s stomach plunged.
“With luck, my agents will intercept my documents and make them disappear,” Alexandra said after taking a long mouthful of her tea. “But even if they don’t, the cousin I’m bankrolling to replace you will make short work of the evidence.” She smiled. “You were always going to be a problem, Zarrah, given your unfaltering devotion to Lara and Aren, so I’ve been working to undermine your reign from the moment you took the crown from Petra’s corpse. I’d hoped that the assassination attempts would drive you to run away with your lovely husband, but I always have secondary strategies in play. Valcotta isn’t going to come to Ithicana’s aid, and once my propagandists do their work, your people will be thanking Harendell for ridding them of their greatest woe.”
It felt like a vise had wrapped around Zarrah’s chest, because she’d played right into Alexandra’s hand.
“Georgie, do bring Her Imperial Majesty back to her husband’s suite,” Alexandra said. “Detain their guards, and put our own outside their doors. Kill anyone who resists.”
“Ithicana will not go down without a fight,” Zarrah hissed asCavendish took hold of her wrists. “You might win the day, you unrepentant bitch, but they will make you bleed every step of the way.”
“Cling to that hope, if you must.” Alexandra reached across the table and patted Zarrah’s cheek. “But I think it is better to rue your choice not to take your pretty husband and run away while you could.”
76
James
James had spent all ofhis adult life soldiering, so no one knew better than him that even the best-laid plans rarely went as intended.
