Ferdinand knew everything. How did he know everything?
“My king,” Koldo started, her voice more unsure than Luca had ever heard it, “what is your intention for us?”
“Mother, you know I have a preference for honesty, and understand that what I am about to say is the truth.” Koldo nodded. “My plan was this: Remove Osana from our dungeons—and her friend, Urtzi, as well—rescue Amarande from a tyrant, and confront Geneva with an ultimatum that would put my sister in power.”
“What?” Amarande’s voice was breathless. “You would cede to me?”
Luca knew nothing of Ferdinand, but anyone with royal blood lacking ambition on this continent was certainly someone to be suspicious of.
“Sister, Ardenia needs you. I need you. I hate the lie I’ve been told to live, and Ardenia wilts under the weight of it. Queen Inés is in our harbor, preparing her attack, and if Ardenia is going to fight, I want you by my side.”
Amarande hesitated, and Ferdinand held up a hand.
“I trust you, Sister. If you do not trust me, that is a danger I am willing to live with to help Ardenia survive this.”
CHAPTER59
KINGSendoa always had a plan.
That knowledge had both comforted and vexed Amarande since his death.
She tried to live in his image as he made it—to be strong, thoughtful, confident—and though Ferdinand knew nothing of the man, it was clear he was the type to make plans, too.
Previously: to kill the false Warlord and her seconds and arrive with Amarande in hand and demand changes, leveraging their father’s blood to both the Royal Council and Geneva.
Now: to arrive with Koldo at his side, triumphant in herrescueof Amarande from the Warlord, and leverage their blood just the same but with the general in the room and on their side.
However, neither plan worked for Amarande, or Luca.
“We must be together,” the princess announced, as all of them stood in a circle, their conversation and horses moved into the juniper groves that crawled up the mountains lining the final stretch to the Itspi. “That is how it is.”
“I will not leave her side,” Luca added, gripping her uninjured hand firmly.
Amarande returned a squeeze to his fingers in equal measure. Together forever now, never to be apart again. That’s what they’d agreed at the start of all this—and the next move they made certainly could betheend.
And, if the stars agreed, maybe a beginning, too.
“You can’t blame them,” Ula said, extra fabric yanked away from her face. She herself had not moved away from Urtzi’s side.
The king and his mother chewed on this—their faces pulling taut in the same thoughtful way. Osana stood at Ferdinand’s other side, hugging herself tightly.
In turns, Luca and Ferdinand had explained the story of Osana and Urtzi—sent by Luca to collect Amarande but tossed in the dungeons by Geneva. It was a wonder she didn’t kill them on the spot. Perhaps the way Osana leaned her shoulder against Ferdinand had something to do with it. Or perhaps it was her blood and previous occupation. Amarande still wasn’t sure.
They didn’t have much time to rework the plan—the soldiers would be leaving the gates soon, if they hadn’t already—eyes out for signs of Inés as diplomacy churned but ears to the ground for anything unusual, including the king by the side of the road. It was a wonder Ferdinand had gotten out of the castle at all.
Koldo spun the possibilities round and made her choice. “My king, perhaps the best course of action here is twofold. You can parade Amarande and Luca through the grounds of the Itspi as hostages you saved from the Warlord—the castle inhabitants will rejoice in this—and then present them behind closed doors to the Queen Mother as hostages you collected forher.Geneva will be delighted to lay eyes on the two people threatening her immediate power, rather than simply one.”
Amarande’s heart leapt.
Yes.This was the plan. Just as her father would devise. Playing the angles, all the facets covered, as best they could be, using the advantages they had.
She caught eyes with Koldo and her brother. “Perfect. Let’s go. Before Inés complicates matters.”
Ferdinand frowned, still tossing about Koldo’s spin—not perfect in his mind, no. “It would help both Amarande and me to have you in the room as we negotiate with Geneva and the council. This group does not much like the opinions of those they consider both figureheads and children.”
Amarande almost grinned—perhaps gender couldn’t protect even a boy with the shoulders of a man from the council’s opinions of participation from children.
Koldo put up a hand.
