“If Alexandra thinks that, she’s a fool!”
Except that the dowager queen was no one’s fool. Harendell was the greatest power of the north, wealthy beyond measure with a well-trained army and large navy. They had everything they needed to supply themselves through a long and drawn-out war, not the least being tight ties with Cardiff through Lestara and James.
Her thoughts snagged on the prince’s name, because for all James had been the beneficiary of his father’s schemes, he was surely Alexandra’s target now. It struck Lara that if Alexandra could pin James’s death on Ahnna, that Harendellian rage would go far beyond the tipping point.We need to keep him alive.
Before Lara could dig deeper into the thought, a knock sounded at the door. “Yes?”
Lia stepped inside. “The Maridrinian delegation is here.”
“They’re early,” Aren snapped, going to the sideboard to pour a drink. “Put them off. I don’t want to deal with them right now.”
Lara wasn’t keen to engage with members of Sarhina’s new parliament either, but if Alexandra was coming for the bridge, Ithicana needed to know its allies were at its back. “Send them in.”
Ignoring Aren’s sharp look, she smoothed her skirts, cringing slightly at the frayed hem she hadn’t noticed earlier. All her gowns were beginning to show wear, but there was neither the time nor the means to replace them.
Moments later, Lia appeared with two men and a woman, their hair wet from the rain but their garments dry, which suggested that they’d been at Midwatch long enough to change their clothes. She and Aren had known they were coming through the bridge, but their arrival hadn’t been expected until later in the day.
The woman curtsied and the men bowed, and Lara inclined her head. “Welcome. We are so pleased to host you at Midwatch.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” one of the men said. “It is an honor. I am Hector Adrias.”
He introduced the others, and their eyes turned to Aren, who gave a slight nod. “Welcome to Midwatch.”
“Please sit.” Lara gestured to the chairs surrounding the large table. “We are not much for formality in Ithicana.”
“Maridrina moves away from it as well,” Hector replied. “Queen Sarhina believes much of the ceremony favored by royalty is a method of oppression, as it implies a monarch is an entity above all others, closer to God than human. She seeks to dissuade such beliefs in favor of equality.”
“My sister is a force to be reckoned with.”
Lara sat, Aren taking the place next to her, and one of their servants circled the table with drinks.
Hector gave a slight cough, then said, “As much as we desire pleasantries, Your Graces, the situation in Maridrina has grown quite dire with the loss of trade with Harendell. Famine had long been an issue even during King Silas’s reign, but the destruction that Empress Petra brought down upon Vencia has made the situation worse. We were heavily reliant on Harendell’s exports of cattle, pork, and grain, all of which have been lost to us due to the conflict with Ithicana. To make matters worse, Valcotta’s herds have suffered a wasting disease that required culling, and they are no longer selling north.”
Sickness pooled in Lara’s stomach, because it seemed all crises were coming to a head at once. “I understand. Ithicana also suffers the effects of Harendell’s blockades, but there is little to be done about them.”
“I recognize this is a sensitive issue, but is that entirely the case?” Hector rested an elbow on the table. “Because it is our understanding that all the Harendellians want from you is the condemnation of Princess Ahnna for the crime of murdering King Edward, as well as her unprovoked attack on Queen Alexandra.”
Aren stiffened, and Lara took his hand under the table, willing him to keep his temper in check. “It is a complex situation.”
“We have been informed that there are witnesses,” Hector pressed. “That there can be no doubt in any mind that the princess was the perpetrator, and that there is no argument for self-defense, for the only injury done to the princess was to her pride.”
Aren’s hand tightened, and Lara felt her own anger rise. Biting down on it, she said, “We have come to understand that there was, indeed, provocation.”
Hector tilted his head, and Lara found herself wondering who he was before he was voted into Sarhina’s parliament. Not a nobleman, for his hands were thick with calluses, and she knew that the majority of those voted in were of the common civilian population.
“In what sense?” he asked. “Because we were told that King Edward was stabbed to death in his own bedchamber. In his own bed, in fact.”
Lara considered how much she wished to tell this man, who was a stranger, and instead asked, “What is it you are hoping to achieve here, sir?”
He met her gaze for a long moment, then looked away, his discomfort palpable. “Princess Ahnna broke Harendell’s laws, and it is within their right to demand she be punished accordingly.” His throat moved as he swallowed hard, but then he met her stare again. “What is the punishment for murder in Ithicana, Your Grace? Is it not execution?”
It was, and Lara hated where this was going.
Her countryman cleared his throat, glancing at his peers once before pressing onward. “We are sympathetic to the pain of condemning a family member, but trademustflow. Maridrinian families are starving, and if what we learned during our travels through your bridge is true, Ithicanian families are living one meal to the next with that unlikely to improve until storm season ends. How many must suffer, how many mustdie,for the sake of familial loyalty, Your Graces?”
Aren jerked his hand from Lara’s grip, on his feet in a flash of movement. He slammed his fists down on the table with such force that all the glasses jumped. “Edward was scheming to kill my family and take my throne in an act of war. My sister’s actions were in defense of herself, her family, and of Ithicana, so she is guilty ofnothing.”
He wasn’t wrong and Lara had no intention of undermining him, but neither did she want this to spiral out of control. They neededMaridrina, and Sarhina had sorely undermined her control over her queendom. If her parliament voted against aiding Ithicana, there would be nothing Sarhina could do unless she dissolved all that she had built.
