If not for Azelie and her cure waiting back on theParadise, I wouldn’t be nearly so calm at the thought of getting sick.
“They’ve all got the fever.” Jax’s voice is a low rumble in my ear. “Look around.”
The telltale blackberry-colored stains adorn the Ezorans’ shirtsleeves, their hands, and the few handkerchiefs I spot poking out of pockets. All thirty or so people on this boat appear to be infected, and I can only assume the others in the small fleet have fared similarly.
Orsa doesn’t try to shake my hand again, but she clears her throat to get my attention and manages to suppress another cough long enough to grit out, “Karthia’s plague is swift and vicious. It is nothing like the one that devastated our home, but I fear it may kill us before we see our shores again.”
“We cannot go home, Exalted One,” another Ezoran adds. HisKanon is stiff and formal, every word carefully pronounced. “If we bring this plague to our people, it will be the end of us. Wewillget aid from Karthia for the suffering they have caused us with their filthy cloth and goods.” He glares at me and my friends as he takes a wheezing breath. “Or we will take as many of you with us as we can when we die.”
“Why should we care if you’re sick?” I blurt, directing my question to Orsa, who still stands closest to me. “Weren’t you coming here to murder us all anyway?”
Beside me, Simeon sucks in a breath.
I definitely don’t have a future as a diplomat.
Orsa’s eyes flash in the intense morning sun. “Perhaps our war in Sarral confused you. We fight Queen Jasira and her people to take back part of her kingdom only, land that was once ours in ancient times. We made our way to Karthia seeking only to raid as we have in other lands along the way, for supplies to fuel our war. Sometimes, death is an unfortunate side effect of taking the things one badly needs. But we aren’t murderers by trade—no matter what rumors would have you think.”
I open my mouth to point out the obvious, but Simeon silences me with a look of alarm and another well-placed elbow to the ribs.
“So,” I say as politely as I can manage with Orsa’s entire crew staring me down, “you need supplies. Even if you’re not on great terms with Queen Jasira, why not ask leaders like Empress Evaria and Queen Wylding for aid before stealing and leaving so many de—so manyunfortunate side effectsin your wake?”
Orsa leans closer. We’re almost nose-to-nose, and the sourness of infection on her breath is enough to make my toes curl in my boots.
“Don’t you think we tried?” she growls. “Our homeland has been blighted. The soil doesn’t nourish our crops the way it used to, andthe animals we rely on for meat have been dying off as a result. There’s less of everything, yet babies continue to be born, and sicknesses take hold more easily than they used to because we’re always hungry, always tired, always weak. I despise weakness—we all do—yet that’s what we’ve become. So we wage war against Sarral in hopes of having a place to send our people, and in turn they spread rumors about us, making other leaders fear and hate us. There’s no help to be found.”
She draws back slightly, gesturing to the other nine ships flanking this one. “This is all we have left of the once-great Ezoran army. My best warriors have been reduced to the paltry number you see on these ships.” Once again, she closes the distance between us. There’s a bit of black goo staining her lower lip, and I try not to breathe. “Back when there were more of us, we pleaded our case before every leader we could find. None of them would aid us. The rumors some of them started, just to keep us away...” She shakes her head, bitterness deepening her voice. “Eventually, we had to start trying to take back our land in Sarral.”
“Well, if it’s food and supplies you’re after, Karthia has plenty to share, as I think you’ve already seen.” Eyeing the curved sword on her belt, I add sharply, “Plenty to share with those who don’t threaten us with their blades, anyway.”
“Maybe you should consult Valoria first...” Simeon whispers to me as the Ezoran leader turns to her companions. “She might not want you—”
The rest of his words are drowned by shouts coming from behind us. From theParadise.Several people gather around Valoria, trying to hold her back, but she pushes her way through them and begins the precarious walk across to the Ezorans’ ship.
Jax opens his mouth to say something, but one look into Valoria’s hardened eyes is enough to stun him into silence.
In this moment, head held high as she strides confidently across the beam, she’s every bit the queen I knew she could be.
“Exalted One, I’ll gladly offer you food and supplies for peace!” Valoria says as she moves onto the ship, stepping nimbly between me and Orsa. “What do you say? If you agree not to attack us or steal, we will open trade with Ezora. Trades in your favor.”
When Orsa says nothing, merely tilting her head, Valoria continues, “There’s land here for the taking, too, good land your people can farm and live on, should they wish to submit to Karthia’s laws and my authority. We will welcome them. Perhaps you’d rather continue your war with Queen Jasira though, burning through what few supplies you can manage to steal in other battles along the way...?”
I shoot Valoria a grin, impressed.
The Ezorans’ expressions are guarded as they listen. Orsa drops her gaze to the ship’s deck, keeping her face unreadable as she considers the offer.
“I don’t think they believe her,” Simeon murmurs. “Not sure I would in their position, either. Can she really give them all those things?”
I nod, confident that she can. With the Dead gone, our farms have been producing more food than the living can handle, resulting in tons of extra waste in the rubbish heaps. Karthia has plenty to give if this is a matter of life and death.
At last, Orsa looks up, though her blue eyes still reveal nothing. “No one has ever offered us such a thing,” she says coolly, “and we’ve journeyed to kingdoms from Sarral to ones so far away, they speak nothing like our language and have never heard of Karthia.”
“Well, you’ve finally come to the right place,” Valoria says firmly, standing taller. If she’s uneasy, her voice doesn’t betray it. “There’s justone problem we’ll have to deal with before you send your people to Karthia.”
As she describes our trouble with Hadrien and the metal soldiers, the Ezorans’ expressions turn feral in their anger. Some shake their heads or scoff, and a few even draw their blades.
“They’re mocking us!” a man hisses to Orsa, glaring at the four of us. “I say we slit their queen from throat to belly and see what she’s made of. Then maybe her friends will start speaking the truth!”
A chorus of agreement rises among the crew. Slowly, we edge backward toward the makeshift bridge that will carry us to theParadise. I try to get Valoria to cross first, but she resists with more strength than I remember her having. I struggle to get a good grip on my sword’s hilt with my sweaty hand sliding across the metal. But before we can make our escape, Orsa raises a fist in the air.
