The fog had horrified us all, but it had shattered something inside of him. He was right. Without an antidote for the poison, any city could be decimated in less than an hour.
“The shipment came from the Fair Isles,” Lioran said.
“Every important shipment comes through there.” Dax tilted his head to the side. “Or used to. They closed their ports when the war started.”
“Every port is open if you know who to pay, but the ships take their sweet time arriving now.” Lioran leaned back in his seat. “That’s why we waited so long to attack. We had to take every precaution. We knew you’d be tired after the war, but the poison gave us leverage. Should have, at least. You managed to muck up that plan, too.”
I wouldn’t have admitted it out loud, but it indeed stung that it had taken a delayed shipment for them to postpone the attack and not my threats of burying them in snow and ice.
“I’m sure the threats helped,” Ryker said gently, still glowering at Lioran.
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “I just have to be fiercer next time.”
“The fiercest.”
I hid my laughter with a cough.
Dax narrowed his eyes at me before turning back to Lioran. “I’m assuming the poison came in a wooden crate.”
“You are correct,” Lioran said.
“Any stamp on it? Any residue? What kind of wood?” Dax pressed.
Lioran clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I don’t know what bloody type of wood. We only cared about what was inside.”
Ryker hummed, crossing his wrists behind his back. He began to circle Lioran. Each one of his calm steps made the man flinch. “So you don’t know who this heir is or what he truly wants–”
“C–correct,” Lioran said.
“–and Beren has all the useful information we actually need. So, Lioran, I have one question for you.” Ryker stopped behind him and yanked his chair back, tilting it until Lioran’s feet dangled in the air. “What good are you to us?”
“Wait!” Lioran licked his lips, swaying his body so he’d rebalance the chair. Ryker didn’t let him and kept tipping him back. “I can tell you why the crater is bleeding!”
Ryker pushed the chair until its front two legs thunked against the floor. Lioran almost fell on his face, but Ryker steadied him with a firm hand on his shoulder.
“I’m listening,” he said.
“Your father–” Lioran licked his lips. “–he stole a piece of Solkar’s Heart.”
Ryker yanked his hand away from Lioran as if scalded.
His breathing turned shallow as pure shock and disappointment coursed through him.
“Your mother showed him the star’s secret location, but he always refused to say where. At least to us. But one time, he got plastered, as he usually did, and confessed he’d crept down some stairs and broke a piece of it.” Lioran worked his jaw. “A piecewhich he also lost. Or had it stolen. The fool didn’t even know. The crater quickened his death as a result, I’m sure of it.”
“Where’s this fragment of Solkar’s Heart now?” Ryker asked, fury blistering underneath the surface.
“He didn’t even know, you think I do?” Lioran huffed a mean laugh; he wasn’t the fastest learner, was he? “Beren doesn’t have it, much to his dismay. But whoever found it or stole it used it to redirect some of its power. A lot of it. That’s why your precious crater’s bleeding and we weren’t getting our share.”
“Why didn’t Beren try to steal that piece?” I asked. “Seems much easier thaninvading another land.”
“Why settle for a pebble when we can have the entire star, Lioran? We deserve it,” he mocked. “Fat load of good that did us. Listen to me Ryker.” He shifted in his seat, looking decidedly two feet away from where Ryker actually stood, but at least he got the direction right. “Beren will not stop. I don’t know how this heir convinced him, but he’s been talking about being a general in a new world order. Fancy lies, but they twisted his mind. He will do anything and kill anyone to make that happen.”
“Is that why you came to us?” Ryker asked.
It took a few tense moments, but Lioran finally nodded.
“A darkness has taken hold of him,” he said and, for the first time, true terror coated his words. “It was only a matter of time before he turned on Edrin and me to weed out any competition.”
