Home > The Traitor Queen(5)

The Traitor Queen(5)
Author: Danielle L. Jensen

Zarrah spat in the man’s face, and he lifted his hand to strike her, but then the prince’s voice cut the air, his tone frigid. “Have you forgotten the fate of the last man who struck my prize?”

The soldier blanched and lowered his hand, muttering, “Move along.”

The party carried on, but before they disappeared from sight, the prince called back over his shoulder. “Make sure you clean up your mess, Magpie.”

“Get the other two prisoners,” Serin said between clenched teeth. “Time to see what else his Grace has to offer.”

 

 

6

 

 

Lara

 

 

“How you made it to Harendell and back again without drowning in a sea of your own vomit is a bloody mystery to me, girl.”

Lara lifted her face from the sand and wiped a hand across her mouth, pissed off that after three days stuck on rough seas the ground now intended to sway and buck beneath her as some personal form of punishment. “It’s not an experience I care to repeat.” She climbed slowly to her feet before brushing the sand from her skirts.

Only she and Jor stood on the beach, the other Ithicanians—the few survivors of Aren’s honor guard—all remaining in the boat, their faces as dark as the skies behind them.

“We don’t have time to waste on this errand,” Jor said, the politest version of the refrain she’d heard continually since they’d left Eranahl.

“Maybe not.” Bending to retrieve her bag, Lara slung it over her shoulder, eyeing the steep hills she’d need to climb. Best to get that done before the sun was fully up. “But given our circumstances, I don’t see how we have much choice.”

“We could strike now. Your bastard of a father has had Aren for weeks, Lara. God knows what has been done to him.”

“My father won’t have harmed him. Not while he thinks there’s still a chance Ahnna will surrender Eranahl in exchange for Aren’s return.”

Lara had been present when the Ithicanian princess had received the letter from her father. Had read it herself while Ahnna was doubled over with grief, the words dancing across her thoughts now.

To Her Royal Highness, Princess Ahnna Kertell of Ithicana,

 

It is time this war came to an end. In a gesture of goodwill, your brother, Aren Kertell, will be delivered to you upon the surrender of Eranahl Island to the naval forces surrounding it. Assuming they are peaceable, your people will be brought to Maridrina and, after a suitable length of time, will be gifted lands in the interior where they may settle. We hope you will employ more empathy and foresight toward the future of your people than your brother.

 

Our most sincere of regards,

 

Silas Veliant, King of Maridrina and Master of the Bridge.

 

 

“He’s lying,” she said to Ahnna. “If you open the gates, he’ll slaughter everyone.”

“I’m aware,” Ahnna answered, lifting her face. “But if I refuse, he might decide that Aren has outlived his usefulness.”

“He knows that I’ll come for Aren. He won’t give up the chance at seeing me dead.”

The princess met her gaze. “He knows you’ll come to rescue Aren. But he knows you’re equally likely to come for revenge.”

Jor coughed, pulling Lara back into the moment. “Your father knows Ahnna isn’t going to take that deal.”

“Maybe. But one can’t leverage the dead, and it costs him nothing to keep Aren prisoner. He’ll keep Aren alive at least until the war is won.”

“You mean until Eranahl falls.”

Lara grunted an affirmative. That was the clock they were running against. The city was at capacity, and even with rationing in place, the stores were running down at an alarming pace. The fishermen were out in force whenever there was a break in the storms, but they didn’t dare venture far. Not with her father paying the Amaridians to risk violent seas to keep watch over the island fortress. Eranahl had enough to last them until the beginning of next storm season, but not a day longer. If they reached that point, Ithicana was well and truly lost.

Jor glared at her. “And with that much at stake, you want us to sit and wait while you attempt to organize a family reunion?”

“That would be ideal.” Lara frowned at the dawn sky. “But I expect you’ll continue to throw away the lives of our best men and women in an attempt to infiltrate my father’s palace. Which will make this rescue even more difficult when the time comes. We need to work together if there is any chance of freeing Aren. And if that’s not enough for you, remember that Ahnna agreed to this plan. And last I checked, she was the one in command.”

Jor exhaled an aggrieved breath, and Lara eyed him warily. This was hard for the old soldier. He’d been with the group skirmishing with the Maridrinians when Aren had been captured, and she knew he blamed himself, though it was no fault of his. Lara had managed to extract the details from Aren’s bodyguard, Lia, and had learned that Aren’s risk-taking had finally caught up with him. He’d gotten in too deep, and when the Maridrinians realized the prize they had, they’d retreated, allowing Jor and the rest no chance to retake him. “It’s not your fault.”

“You’re right,” he snapped. “It’s yours. And there is no we. There is us and there is you, so don’t think to lay any sort of claim to the men and women who’ve fought and died trying to undo your . . . mistakes.”

Despite nearly every Ithicanian she crossed paths with having spit some variation of those words in her face, Lara flinched. She deserved their ire, their distrust, their hate because it was her fault that Ithicana had fallen. That it had been a mistake compounded by her own cowardice only made things worse. “I know, Jor. Which is why I’m doing everything in my power to undo the damage that’s been done.”

“Can’t bring back the dead.”

“Best you hope otherwise,” she replied, remembering how her sisters had sprawled across the dinner table, chests still and eyes unmoving. “Or we’re well and truly screwed.”

Jor spit into the sand. “You can have your weapons back.” He reached for the sack at his feet, then swore when the fabric swung limply as he lifted it.

Smiling, Lara pulled up the hem of her skirt, revealing one of the blades she’d stolen back hours ago.

“We thought Maridrina had sent us a sheep,” he said, shaking his head. “But the whole time we had a wolf dining at our table, deceiving us all.”

“Aren knew.” And had loved her, in spite of it.

“Aye. And look where it got him.”

Aren’s face, stricken with the anguish of betrayal, filled her vision, but Lara shoved the memory away. She could not change the past, but she damn well intended to shape the future.

“I’ll be back in a few weeks. If I’m not, it means I’m dead.” Lara turned her eyes back on Maridrina. If what Marylyn had said was true, her sisters were out there, alive and well.

And it was time Lara called in her due.

 

 

7

 

 

Aren

 

 

“Tell us how to take Eranahl.”

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