“A bad smell that matches his true colors,” Lestara angrily muttered. “It smacks of villainy.”
He’d anticipated the question from the moment of his arrest, and given the circumstances, Keris was wary of lying. “He wished to speak of Your Grace’s brother, Prince James.”
Though his eyes were on William, Keris did not fail to notice how Alexandra’s fingers tightened ever so slightly on the letter she still held.
William’s eyes narrowed. “What about him?”
“He wished to know if James was with Ahnna in Ithicana.” Lying was a risk, but if Alexandra knew the truth about James’s legitimacy and suspected Keris knew the same, his life was very much on the line.
The king of Harendell’s expression hardened. “Why would he ask that? My brother is hunting Ahnna Kertell in the Blackreaches.”
Keris shrugged. “I’m afraid that the poison took hold before we could get further in the conversation, Your Grace. All that came before was his criticism of my treatment of your lovely queen.”
Lestara scowled at him but said nothing.
“It’s known that Prince James was quite…takenwith the charms of the princess,” Keris said, straightening his coat, which was askew after Cavendish’s manhandling. “Perhaps the Cardiffians are concerned that James has deserted for reasons of the heart. He’d not be the first.”
Alexandra’s eyes narrowed slightly, but she said nothing, and Keris could not tell if she believed his deception.
“James is in the BlackreacheshuntingAhnna Kertell.” The words came out from between William’s teeth. “I do not care for the insinuation that my brother is anything less than loyal, or that he’d be taken in by the charms of the woman who murdered our father. James is a true man of Harendell, and an Ashford to the core. If Cormac suspected James was in Ithicana, it would be because he feared my brother had been taken prisoner by those snake charmers. If Cormac had had the balls to level these accusations within my hearing rather than whispering them to you in dark taverns like a coward, I’d have set him straight.”
There was true anger in William’s eyes. It made Keris abruptly certain that William, at least, had no idea that his elder brother was the rightful king or that it was his own parentage being called into question. “As you say, Your Grace, Prince James is in the Blackreaches, so Cormac’s concerns about his loyalty were unfounded.”
“Not only unfounded, but offensive. Cormac deserved his lot,” William snapped, but when Lestara made a noise of protest, he waved a hand. “I speak from emotion and lack of rest.”
Keris gave a sympathetic nod even as he stored away the other man’s reaction for later consideration.
“Our family is unified in all things, Your Highness,” Alexandra said. “Which I realize is unfamiliar to many people, yourself included.But know that to attack one Ashford is to attack all. That said, the hour is too late for the discussion of such weighty subjects. It is clear in my eyes that Cormac’s death was Katarina’s doing—she does not benefit from an alliance with Cardiff. Your presence at the moment of his demise is merely poor luck, but it makes me fear for our safety in Sableton. I think it best we return to our home in Verwyrd, where we can protect ourselves. There is no place more secure than the Sky Palace. I assume you have no objections to traveling with us, Your Highness?”
To be in the Sky Palace was akin to being in a prison, for there was no way out of that castle in the sky other than a very long drop. To go there with them was akin to wrapping himself up in the spider’s web, and his chances of returning to Zarrah grew slimmer.
A knock sounded at the door to the house, and Keris was spared having to provide an immediate answer as Cavendish opened it. A soldier stood beyond the threshold, and he bent his head with the lord, explaining something in terse terms before departing.
“An unfamiliar girl was in the kitchens when Prince Cormac’s meal was served,” Cavendish said. “My men tracked her down, but when she realized there was no escape, she poisoned herself.”
“Amarid.” Alexandra snarled the word, then gave a sharp shake of her head. To Keris, she said, “Excuse us,” and then drew Lestara and William across the room, Cavendish joining them.
Keris leaned against the wall, hearing some of what they said and seeing much more as he watched Alexandra’s lips move. Over and over again, she said “Amarid” and “Katarina,” and though his ability to read lips was middling, it was clear she desired Lestara to ensure that Ronan understood Cormac’s murder was intended to undercut the alliance.
“Amarid fears the rise to power your father set in motion…will undercut…overtures to Ithicana.”
Keris kept his face a mask of mild curiosity, because it was not lost on him that Bronwyn would soon be in Riomar speaking withKatarina on this very topic. No part of him trusted the Amaridian queen, because he remembered all too well her alliance with his father, but neither could he deny that a strong alliance between Cardiff and Harendell would inevitably cause trouble for Amarid, especially in the Lowlands.
What Alexandra had told him about Ahnna’s motivations for killing Edward made it hard to argue that Ahnna hadn’t done the deed, but those same motivations would ensure that Aren never turned on his sister. Ahnna had killed to protect him, Lara, and Delia.
Will Ithicana go to war to protect Ahnna if you know for certain she murdered Edward and then attacked Alexandra?
It was the question he’d asked Aren, but Keris knew the answer now without a shadow of a doubt. Aren would protect Ahnna, no matter the cost.
Which meant they needed to pursue another strategy to survive this.
Desperation made for strange bedfellows. If Ithicana allied with Amarid, with the support of Maridrina and Valcotta, it was just possible that Harendell would step back from war rather than risk heavy losses. Bronwyn was already on the front lines of creating an alliance, which left Keris to fight for the latter.
Alexandra approached him, one hand keeping her dressing gown tightly closed as she walked. “It has been made clear to us tonight that Sableton is not safe and that we must retreat to Verwyrd. I understand that your time in Harendell has not been without incident and that you’d be justified in departing to rejoin your wife, but we would so like for you to accompany us, Your Highness.”
Zarrah’s face filled his mind’s eye. He belonged with her. Needed to be with her. But he could not leave his family to fight this battle alone. Inclining his head to Alexandra, Keris said, “I’ve always wanted to see the Sky Palace.”
31
