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Keris swallowed hard, mind hunting for a way out of this mess even as the truth flowed from his lips. “I caught her in the Nerastis palace. She stole your letters from Tasha, believing them military correspondence. I chased her down to get them back, and… we talked. Neither of us knew who the other was.”
“But you knew she was Valcottan.”
“I didn’t care. I still don’t.” He exhaled a long breath. “I refuse to hate a nation of people because of the choices made by rulers and generals.”
“But she’s one of those generals!” Otis shouted, his anger rising as his shock faded. “It was on her orders that Tasha’s ship was sunk! She murdered my wife! She murdered my unborn child!”
It was a military ship,Keris wanted to protest.She had no reason to believe civilians were aboard.Except he knew they were empty words, because Tashahad beenaboard. Words and intentions wouldn’t bring the dead back to life.
“So that’s what all this is about, then?” Otis demanded. “This sham of a negotiation? To free your lover?”
It was more complicated than that. Had grown in scope with every passing day, but Valcotta was, and always would be, at the heart of it. Saving her mattered more than anything else. “Zarrah isn’t like the Empress. She doesn’t want war for the sake of pride and vengeance—she wants to see an end to the needless slaughter of innocent people. If she inherits the crown, there is a chance we could end this war.”
Otis stared at him, tears dripping down his cheeks to splatter Keris in the face. “I don’t want the war to end. Not until we’ve killed every last one of them and hung them from stakes to rot. Not until we’ve made them pay for every fucking thing they’ve taken from us. Not until that bitch pays for what she took fromme.”
Keris’s stomach hollowed, for he could see in his brother’s eyes that his grief was too painful, his anger too intense, for Otis to see beyond either emotion. For him to want anything but vengeance.
“I’m going to give you the choice, Keris. Either you go down those stairs and kill that woman with your own hands, or I’m going to execute you as the traitor you are before killing her myself.”
He could agree to it. Say he’d kill her in the hopes of finding a way out of this on the way to Valcotta’s rooms.
Except he knew there was no way out.
All delaying would accomplish was one of them killing the other in front of his aunts and younger siblings in the harem’s house. And they’d witnessed enough horror. “Then you’re going to have to kill me now.”
Otis’s face twisted with grief. “So be it.”
He reached for Keris’s throat, but Keris was already moving. He twisted out from under his brother, then rolled to his feet, barely getting an arm up to block the fist swinging toward him.
Otis attacked again, raining blows down upon him until Keris’s arms screamed in pain.
But he kept defending. Kept buying himself time to come up with a solution that wouldn’t see Otis or Valcotta dead, because he couldn’t live with losing either of them.
Then one of his brother’s fists got past his guard and took the choice from him.
Stunned, Keris dropped, stars spinning in his eyes, his vision clearing as Otis wrapped his hands around Keris’s throat.
Panic surged. He clawed at Otis’s hands, desperation causing him to strike his brother in the face, but Otis didn’t seem to feel the pain.
His chest spasmed with the need for air, the need for just one breath, the need to live…
And then Otis’s hands were torn from his throat, his bulk disappearing in a blur of motion.
Keris gasped in a breath, then another and another, his vision clearing to see his brother fighting what looked like a harem wife wearing one of their distinct black cloaks. Then the hood fell back, revealing her face.
It wasValcottafighting his brother, meeting Otis blow for blow with grim resolve, driving him back with skill and speed.
“Serin was manipulating you, Otis. I heard it all. He wants Keris dead, but your father won’t oblige, so he is setting you up to do the dirty work.”
How could she have heard? What was she doing in the tower? Keris dragged himself to his feet, a wave of dizziness striking him as Otis threw himself at Valcotta, fists a blur.
“Serin didn’t make you sink my wife’s ship!” he screamed, snatching up a stool and snapping off the leg. “Serin didn’t make my brother fall into your bed! You’ve taken everything from me, you Valcottan bitch, and my greatest regret is not putting my sword through your heart when I had the chance!”
He swung at her with vicious force, and Valcotta’s eyes widened. She stepped back, her foot catching on a stack of books. She stumbled as Otis swung again, aiming for her head.
“No!” Keris lunged, slamming into his brother with greater force than he intended, sending Otis staggering sideways.
Glass shattered.
