“God have mercy,” James muttered, rubbing at his temples. His head had begun to throb.
“There is no God here, boy,” Caly answered. “You know that.”
The queen of Cardiff then rounded on her husband. “Do you still question the legitimacy of the child?”
Ronan stared at the skull, his normally rosy cheeks pale. “No.” He then gave a sharp shake of his head. “Peering into the future takes a toll, Lestara. You should seek your bed and the rest that comes with it.”
It wasn’t a suggestion but an order, and James felt a touch of surprise when Lestara rose to her feet. She nodded to her father, but lowered her head in respect and submission to Caly before walking swiftly from the room. James scanned the corners to ensure there were no additional hidden listeners, and then settled more deeply in his chair.
Caly was staring at him, her head slightly cocked and her golden eyes unblinking. Yet she said nothing, and it was his uncle who broke the silence. “You didn’t come from the northern passage, lad. You came off a Cardiffian ship sailed by sailors who know the wind and the waves but whose skin best knows the southern sun. Lestara is gone now, so spit out the truth.”
Your son will be king of Harendell, Lestara.Caly’s words repeated in James’s head even as his plans crumbled to dust.
Except what choice did he have but to try? For Ahnna, he would take any risk. “Ahnna didn’t murder my father. Alexandra did, and she inflicted her own injuries so no one would suspect her.”
His uncle’s eyes narrowed but Caly only sipped at her ale, not moving from where she sat on the rugs as Ronan said, “Cormac said you were infatuated with the Ithicanian woman, but I did not think it was so deep a sentiment that you’d be this easily manipulated.”
“The only thing Ahnna is guilty of is being the scapegoat in Alexandra’s schemes.” James drew in a deep breath. “Alexandra knows everything. So do not sit there and say that she didn’t have a motive to kill my father,especiallygiven the way he treated her their entire marriage. Especially given the way he treated William.”
“There is nothing fiercer than a woman protecting a child,” Caly whispered, staring at the contents of her cup. “The she-wolf will sink low and then rise high.”
Tension crackled, but she said nothing more.
James took a sip from his cup, steadying himself. “Alexandra is allied with Katarina. She was a silent player in Silas’s gambit to take the bridge, but their ambition to possess it didn’t die with him. Yet their alliance goes back much farther than that. All the way back to when Alexandra believed that the only way to my father’s heart would be to kill the woman he loved, and Katarina saw the opportunity to gain leverage over Harendell’s young queen. This is not speculation on my part, but a fact confirmed by Katarina herself just before she imprisoned me in the Furnace. They conspired together to kill my mother, and I’ve no doubt they conspired together to kill Uncle Cormac. I may have struck a blow by killing Carlo, but his death will not have sated the stars’ desire for vengeance.”
“Because it will not be you who sates them,” Caly whispered. “It will not be you who strikes the killing blow.”
No one spoke. No one even seemed to breathe, and James swore the fire itself fell silent in the tension.
The metal of his uncle’s cup abruptly collapsed beneath his grip,ale sloshing over his hand and clothes, but Ronan didn’t seem to notice. Only stared at James, unblinking, like a bear just before the charge.
“Edward was certain,” his uncle whispered. “Amaridian poison. Members of Katarina’s dark guild spotted racing away from Verwyrd. Nothing could be tied to Alexandra—he looked and he looked hard, which is why rumors flew that Alexandra was behind Siobhan’s death.”
“Katarina made certain to look guilty,” James replied. “Leverage over a dead queen is no leverage at all, and my father would have hanged Alexandra for killing my mother. But Lestara is wrong to believe that Harendell will ever take revenge on Amarid, Uncle. My mother will only fade from memory until she is never again mentioned at all, because that is how Alexandra has planned it.”
Ronan abruptly hurled his ruined cup at the hearth, the metal clanging as it hit the stone. Then he doubled over and wept. “Oh, Siobhan. My sweet little sister, I am so sorry. I am so very sorry.”
James had seen his uncle rage with such violence that everyone went running. Had seen him laugh with such force that the walls shook. But never had he seen King Ronan Crehan weep, and he didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know what to say, because while he’d wanted his uncle to rage against Alexandra for her crimes, he had not wantedthis.Guilt settled in James’s chest, so it took a moment before he realized that Caly was staring at him with her uncanny eyes.
Without him noticing, she’d regathered her bones, and quick as a snake, she reached out to grab James’s hand, her long nails tearing open the cut healing on his palm as she cast the bones. “When you were a babe, I read your future, but Siobhan forbade me from ever doing it again, and I honored her request. But I think it is time to see what your mother will tell us from the grave.”
James ripped free, blood dripping from his hand, but his anger didn’t stop him from looking at the bones scattered across the table.
“Your heart is bound to the south.” Caly rose to her feet and circledthe table. “To Ithicana’s princess, as Cormac believed, but he was wrong to call it an infatuation. You love her, nephew.”
“She’s my wife.” Only a fool would lie to Caly’s face, and in truth, James wanted them to know that Ahnna was his, now and until he drew his last breath.
“Death has always surrounded you,” she murmured, fingers ghosting over the bones. “Tragedy and heartache too, but this is new, Jamie.” Her hand paused over four bones that had fallen interwoven. “Do you know what this means?”
Sacrifice.
“Yes,” she whispered, though James had not spoken aloud. “But what you will give up, I do not know.”
His jaw worked from side to side, and though he did not want to ask, the question needed to be voiced. “What else do you see?”
His aunt walked around the table three more times, and then her golden eyes locked on his. “I see many things, nephew, but there is only one that will matter to you: Ahnna Kertell will never be queen of Harendell.”
77
