“Queen Sybilla Wymark of the Central Corridor.”
Krait sized up the guards. “King Krait Darvanda. Sahlmsara.”
Sighing, I glanced to my side. “Play. Nice.”
“Thisisnice,” he muttered. The guards lowered their shields and allowed us past.
Two walls of open windows that overlooked the sea framed the hallway. The tower was built onto a narrow peninsula of salt-soaked cliffs of the South Corridor.
Asterie and Fenris waited outside a light wood door with Amara—this tower was still her residence even though it held the only Egress in the South. She must have invited them.
“Ah, my advisors.” I smiled.
Fenris reached me first, and he took my hand and kissed the top of it. Krait didn’t greet them at all.
“Queen Sybilla, you’re doing well since our visit?” Fen asked.
“As well as I can be,” I said.
“We need to prepare you for negotiations today,” Asterie’s placating voice said, putting me on edge. “Amara called us here.”
Krait stiffened next to me. “Why?”
“The North has taken a stance against negotiating with the Sahlms,” Fenris carefully said as he turned his attention to Krait. “Don’t lose your temper.”
“What temper?” Krait asked, but his fists clenched at his sides.
Negotiating with the Sahlms, and holding trials to allow reentry of the Sahlmsaran people, hadalwaysbeen part of the plan—a fair and just plan.
My former lover was never one to act selfishly.
“That can’t be true.” I dismissed them with a shake of my head. Yet worry plagued me…what if it was?
“Sybilla”—Asterie stepped before me as I tried to walk around them and enter the room—“something is wrong with Emmerick.”
No.I still refused to believe that.
“Then let me speak with him,” I bit back. My friend only stood taller, not letting my ire deter her.
“Listen to your advisors, Sybilla.” Krait’s voice made me see red.
I spun on him. “This isn’t any of your business.”
“Is it not?Mypeople face persecution. Again.”
I deflated. Despite the sting of Emmerick’s betrayal, in the end, the outcome of these meetings held less weight for my people than they did for Krait’s. The Sahlms were running out of resources, and water could only come from the mountains under Emmerick’s rule. Or they would have to leave, whichalso couldn’t happen without Emmerick’s cooperation. He was playing political cards that he had no idea how to manage.
Hating that Krait was right, I crossed my arms. The long billowing sleeves of velvet bunched between my arms, and his gaze flickered to my neckline just long enough to deepen my glare.
“I’m listening”—I swung back to face Fenris and Asterie—“to you two.”
Fenris had taken Asterie’s hand. The way her arm was positioned showed off the ink where Van rested. I was surprised the wolf-beast was not roaming the halls of the South Tower. Things must have been tense in there if she’d put Van away.
A lump grew in my throat as Fenris drew Asterie to his side. The gentle comfort between them was something to aspire to. I never considered myself a romantic, but the way they supported each other with such care made me question whether that type of companionship would ever be within my grasp.
No expectations.
No secrets.
