“To protect you,” George whispered. “Edward was going to ruin you. Ruin us. Ruin everything. James intended the same!”
“How would it have ruined us?” She snuffled, wiping her nose with a gloved hand. “I would still have been me. Or am I to understand that your affection’s limit is my legitimacy? That I am not worthy of being your wife unless I am a princess?”
“Virginia, I love you!”
She sliced her hand through the air, cutting off further protest. “Prove it. Let James go. I can smell the blood and hear his breath, so don’t insult me with more lies. Prove you love me and face all the consequences that your actions have netted, or kill us both, because I will not allow this to stand. Which will it be, George?”
James didn’t know what George would do, because it felt like the man he’d been friends with since they were children didn’t even exist. George had stabbed his father to death and betrayed James in every possible way. What was it to him to add Virginia to his victims, since she’d made it clear she’d never forgive him?
“Choose!”
“That is no choice.” George’s voice was choked. “Because I will always choose to make you happy.”
He lowered the knife, and James immediately rolled away. A heartbeat later, Virginia was next to him, hands on his face and pulling loose the gag. With his next breath, he gasped out, “Ginny!”
“Oh, James.” Her tears struck his face as she bent to kiss his forehead. “It is good to hear your voice, but you must go. They are bringing Ahnna to the gallows where she intends to confess for all my mother’s crimes. They’re going to hang her.”
She was alive. Ahnna was still alive. There was still hope.
Virginia used George’s discarded knife to saw through the ropes binding his wrists. James took the knife from her and freed his ankles, and then rose to his feet. Virginia’s hand closed around his wrist. “You can’t kill Georgie. He’s the one witness everyone in Harendell willbelieve, because in condemning my mother, he condemns himself. And you will confess, won’t you, Georgie? You will do this for me?”
George didn’t answer, but he did withdraw his sword and hand it to James. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I…”
“Convince him to do the right thing, Ginny,” James said, and then he bolted through the door.
Please don’t let me be too late.
92
Ahnna
The crowd parted as Williamrode into the square, a wrapped bundle in his arms. A hush fell over the onlookers—nobles pressed forward in the viewing gallery, murmurs breaking out among their jeweled ranks, while the civilians craned for a better view, voices rising in confusion and anticipation. Soldiers tightened the perimeter, the clink of armor and weapons audible as they moved to contain the growing tension.
Dropping the reins, William pulled back the fabric to reveal a newborn baby. Gasps rippled through the crowd.
He held the child aloft and shouted, “Behold, my son!”
A wail burst from the infant’s lips, thin and sharp, cutting through the stunned silence. The baby’s cry echoed off the stone buildings, and a wave of murmured reaction followed—some awed, others bewildered.
In the gallery above, Alexandra surged to her feet, one hand clutching the rail as if ready to leap over it, her lips parted in horror. Her knuckles blanched as white as the handkerchief clutched in her hand.
“Today, we celebrate the continuation of the Ashford line,” William declared, mercifully lowering the child back to the crook of one arm. The king’s face was flushed, one cheek unusually red. “My family has shepherded Harendell for generations. Beneath our rule, thekingdom has been strong and prosperous and, until recently, a place of peace. That peace has been sorely tested by the actions of one woman, who attacked not only my family but our entire nation.”
A chorus of disapproving mutters rolled through the square, but it wasn’t unanimous. A few voices cried out—“Warmonger!” and “Look to the dowager queen”—before being swiftly silenced by soldiers with barked warnings and drawn weapons. Children clutched their mothers. Old men whispered behind gnarled hands. The nobles, faces like masks, observed with sharp, calculating eyes.
Though this had been her plan, Ahnna’s stomach still twisted. This was how the people would remember her. One moment. One lie. A lifetime undone.
William rubbed at his red cheek with one hand as he continued, “Ahnna Kertell’s violence set us on a spiraling course toward war that allowed other villains to take actions most nefarious. But today, with the birth of my son, I will put a stop to that spiral. We will have justice, and in that justice, we will have peace restored to the north.”
More cheering. More clapping. Some sounded genuine; others felt mocking. Soldiers flanking the square cast hard glares that discouraged any shouts.
William turned his head and met Ahnna’s gaze. In his green eyes, she saw the truth: He meant what he said. For the child in his arms, he would cease his quest to claim the bridge and work toward peace.
Her death would not be in vain.
Ahnna’s fear faded. She cleared her throat, ready to confess to a crime she hadn’t committed. But before she could speak, a shrill voice shattered the illusion of order.
“William!”
