“They sought to overthrow their true king in support of a rebel leader who abandoned them here,” she interrupted me dismissively.
My hands clenched in my lap, harsh words on the tip of my tongue in response to her callousness.
“In other news,” said Dio, saving me from making a spectacle of myself by shouting at Isaura. I turned away from the smirking woman to watch Dio produce a note with an opened seal that I recognized from his City-State of Erétria. “This came from one of our outposts. A patrol did not return from a routine flight over the River Flats last night. Scouts were dispatched early this morning to search for them, and they saw smoke on the mosteasterly reach of the Zoí River.”
“Another raid by the Fuath,” I guessed, heart sinking.
“Yes, and this one was extensive. The port at Anatolí is a depot for much of the goods that are sent from Árgos. A good deal of fruit, wine, and fish was taken along with the usual grain and legume stores they’ve been pilfering all along the Erétrian Mountains,” answered Dio.
“Not to mention all the livestock,” grumbled Stamos.
I sighed and held out my hand across the table for the missive, which Dio handed over readily. I was not yet proficient at reading or writing Aeolian, but Riordan liked to lay his own eyes on this sort of information, so I would take it to him later. Sometimes he could pick up on things, which I would have never thought to consider, just by reading the messages himself.
“Was the patrol located?” Castor wanted to know.
“They… were. Parts of them, at least,” Dio corrected with a wince of apology when Isaura groaned in disgust at the graphic insinuation. “The port was completely burned along with some of the surrounding fields.”
“They burned down the port?” I verified in surprise.
“Yes, along with all the ships docked in the harbour,” Dio advised me significantly.
I sat back in my seat as I considered this terrifying new development. Until now, the Fuath merely took what they needed and had been leaving most of our infrastructure untouched. But burning down such a crucial port might not have been an accident. What if they were starting to actively disrupt important trade routes? And could it have anything to do with whatever,or whoever,was interfering with Riordan’s ability to use his magic on the Fuath?
“I suppose that means you will be paying my prices for lumber after all,” Isaura snickered at Stamos whose face mottled with his rage.
“And we will see how you like it when I raise the price of grain and fish!” he snarled right back at her.
“No one is raising prices,” I asserted in exasperation. “We are allies who must weather these attacks together.”
“And yet it is only my farmers and fisheries who are taking the hits!” Stamos complained.
“What are you jabbering about, Stamos? They target all of us in our turn,” Castor chastised him impatiently.
“Not to the same extent they single out my—”
“Enough!” I shouted, surprising them and myself with the firm authority in my tone. I cleared my throat and tried to compose myself while they sat blinking at me. “The escalation of their activities is what concerns me the most here. I might not be familiar, but I did not think their kind were very… intelligent creatures.”
“Dangerous in great numbers but certainly not known for their reasoning,” Dio agreed with an approving nod. He had already anticipated what I was about to say.
“I see the concern, Queen-Consort, but it was surely a coincidence the port burned and not a strategy. Fuath do not possess the necessary faculties to deliberately impede our economy,” Stamos said with his usual condescension. He was the only one who ever insisted on referring to me by that horrible title ofQueen-Consort.
“I still think it would be best if Dio returned to Erétria to directly oversee a more concentrated effort to protect our trade routes and ports. We cannot continue to sustain these kinds of losses,” I pointed out.
“I agree. There is little for me to do here. As riveting as these meetings are,” Dio added with a wink at me that made me smile at him knowingly.
“Is there a port close enough to handle the shipments until Anatolí can be repaired?” I asked, and Dio nodded.
“Oh, very well,” said Stamos with a dismissive wave as if he were indulging the whims of children.
I rose as they did, clenching the missive from Erétria while my mind worked over the news of the burned port. AlthoughI understood why Stamos wanted to dismiss it as coincidence, I could not shake the sense that we were missing something important.
I glanced toward Ares who had been accompanying me to the meetings to act as my guardian in Orion’s stead. That had caused quite a scene the first day since onlyskiáwere supposed to join the council, and of course, the fact Ares was Ktínos had not helped matters. But the council had been swayed by my insistence that Orion had his own list of duties from the king. And Dio had pointed out that I was as entitled to a guardian as the other councillors.
I would miss having his support with the council after he returned to Erétria.
I found Ares was closer than expected, having moved right up behind me, and his teeth were bared defensively. Turning back toward the other councillors in anticipation of a threat, I saw Castor waiting with his hands tucked casually behind his back and brows raised at Ares.
“May I have a word?” he asked me calmly.
