Page 134 of Winter Gods & Serpents

“He is entertaining, just not the kind you might enjoy,” I said, still smiling at her question and she was looking at me with such odd eyes—the oddest. Round and full, so shinny and lively. Had they always been like that?

“Well, that is a shame, if he was good looking I might have let him f—”

“Snow, heavens please,” I interrupted her before she could finish.

Her smile wore down and she gave me look of distaste. “I like you ordering more than I like you pleading, do not change on my behalf. I wouldn’t want the Adriatians to think I have trained their dogs.”

That was all it took to have her overthink and crucify in her head, for her to lift that shield up once again. “You are to be my queen,” I said, “I might as well be yours.”

“You can always continue your plan to assassinate me after the deal has been struck.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose frustrated, this woman. “But why, can’t you see I am growing so very fond of you?”

“Even if you truly did, I am sure others will not hesitate.” I turned again at her words, she had thought about that after all. She raised a brow at me. “Come on now, you know what your people think of me, do not act so surprised. They once wanted to kill me, what will stop them this time and now I am to be served to them on a silver platter, right to their mouths. The prophecy lives and so do I, Mal told me.”

Adriatians could think whatever they want, she was an Isjordian princess and soon their queen. They will have to deal and live with it, especially when so much is at stake, when they were at stake…when she is at stake.

“They will first have to pass my blade and the King, no harm will come to you in Adriata or anywhere else, the prophecy has already proven itself wrong more than once.”

There was a pause, just like it had been in the gardens earlier when I’d threatened to kill her father, she doubted me. “No darling, I will not let you kill your own for me, whatever my worth is to you and your kingdom. They will pass through mine first, you know the thrill it gives me to do that,” she said pensively, lost in her ever-thinking mill that rotated with so little trust in her head.

For once I was glad she was able to protect herself the way she could, it also scared me, she was more than dangerous, she schemed and plotted. To top all, fiery vengefulness fuelled her hate towards all of Adriata and especially the king, it almost felt like she had everyone where she wanted them to be, not the opposite.

“Could I ask for a truth?”

She studied me for a moment through puzzlement before nodding somewhat still hesitant.

“The lord, why did you kill him?”

“I didn't lie to you,” she said, dropping her head on the chair rest in a wide smile. “I truly didn't want him alive.”

A half-truth is not a truth either. “Beyond that.”

She stilled and her amused features dropped. “Pen, I had her ask around the servant quarters for information relating to anyone that could help a Solaryan find entry in Isjord. You know castle walls have ears, they might have heard something. All had one answer, that pig I roasted.” She halted for a breath and I laughed, her round eyes not missing a beat to return but she continued, “Apparently a few years back my father had appointed him Lord of Brogmere, the only foreign ruler of a city. Doubtful as it was, yet he was a poor piss drunk Solaryan bastard highborn without a grain of wits or experience, nor a general not even a soldier. Little to no surprise, I knew he was the nephew of Queen Cora of Solarya. Having gotten on the bad side of the royals, they exiled him away. Now think, someone that close to the family just how many connections and secrets did he have, and who could put good use to them?”

“Your father.”

“Yes, but a Solaryan is still a Solaryan, sworn oath under the sun, eye of Cyra, to each other’s loyalty. A patriot with such liberties and support in Isjord, who would profit from that?”

“The Solaryans.”

“Star pupil you are,” she praised in a smirk. The vandal attacks, she knew the lord had information.

“So you think him a double spy? But he didn’t have much to go round either.”

“He had enough, he was only a businessman. All he did was trade one favour for another. The shop owner was his acquainted. Nia checked his tabs, they had done business together, still were. The ships that had left illegally towards Solarya and back for trade mostly had his products.”

“You are saying he lied, but it was not what I saw.”

“He withheld the truth, not lied. He helped the merchant bring Solaryans into Isjord through his port check, but the ship actually docked in Casmere without being ransacked by Isjordian patrols. The lord played both sides, profited from both too considering the gold we found in his safes. Still told us about the merchant, just not the whole truth, I didn’t need the whole truth anyway.”

How long had she been planning this?

“You are impressed, admit it,” she pushed, studying my dazzled expression.

“Maybe I am, the beast is witty too.”

She seemed quite satisfied from my answer as she only smiled widely. What she had stumbled upon troubled me immensely. Her father’s spy on the Sun court connected to Prince Otis, second to the throne, right on the table of secrets of Solarya. Silas could have known everything, from royal treasure archives to ways to attack the kingdom easily. Had he planned any attack, a breach, was it still in his plans? Was that why Solaryan mercenaries were raiding villages in Isjord, and why the dead lord believed they’d been sent by Magnus?