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“Coralyn.”
It took all of Keris’s self-control not to flinch. “What are you talking about?”
“The old bitch arranged it as retribution. Stabbed me in the back.”
“Where is she?”
If his father heard the question, he didn’t bother responding, only shouldered Keris out of the way to take reports from his men.
There was part of him that wanted to press his father for more information about Coralyn. But he’d accomplished what he needed to—bolstering the lie that Zarrah was with Aren and Lara. Which meant that, for now, outside the walls would be the only place they were looking for her, and he could turn toward finding answers about his aunt’s fate.
Keris went first to the destroyed dining room, but the only bodies were those of soldiers, so he headed into the harem’s quarters.
It was eerily silent.
He proceeded down the hall to the grand suite of rooms Coralyn occupied, his heart skipping at the sight of the open door.
Then Serin’s voice reached his ears. “Who else was involved?”
“I already told you,Magpie,we don’t know. This is Coralyn’s doing.”
Lestara.
Pulse hammering in his throat, Keris stepped into the room, finding six of his aunts on their knees before Serin. The wives were all red-eyed and tear-streaked, three of them actively weeping.
His temper simmering, Keris snapped, “You’d better have a good explanation for this, Magpie. And an even better explanation for why the womanyoutrained has escaped the palace withbothof our prisoners. This is a truly spectacular fuck-up on your part. If I were you, I’d be trying to put as much distance between me and my father as possible rather than abusing his favorite wives.”
The Magpie’s eyes darkened. “Coralyn conspired with Lara to free the Ithicanian.”
“So I’ve been told. Yet it isn’t Coralyn you’re interrogating.” Even as he spoke, Keris silently whispered,Please don’t let her be dead.
“She’s indisposed,” Serin replied. “And we’re rather short on time, Your Highness. If we don’t capture them soon, we never will.”
Indisposedcould mean any number of things, and none of them eased the twist of fear in his chest. “Then why are you wasting time talking to these women?” Reaching down, he took Lestara’s hand and drew her to her feet. “Instead of punishing my aunts foryourfailure to predict the actions of the womanyoutrained, perhaps you might turn your attention to hunting my wayward sister down!”
Ignoring Serin’s glare, he helped the rest of the women rise, motioning for them to leave. Then he rounded on the Magpie. “Where is Coralyn? What have you done to her?”
“Nothing your father didn’t ask me to,” Serin answered. “The old bitch is finally going to get what she deserves for her meddling.”
Keris’s control snapped.
Grabbing the spymaster by the front of his robes, Keris slammed him against the wall, pressing his forearm against the man’s throat. “Where. Is. She?”
Serin glared at him, but as Keris pressed hard enough to cut off his air, the glare turned to panic, and he gave a tight nod. Gasping in a few breaths, he said, “You know where he puts wives that anger him.”
Suddenly, it was Keris who felt like he couldn’t breathe.
They’d put Coralyn in the hole.
65
ZARRAH
The chest pressed in on all sides, the air thick and unbreathable and filled with the scent of her own sweat. Zarrah’s breath came in fast little pants, every part of her wishing that she could be on her feet with a weapon in hand. Turning her head, she pressed her lips to the hole that Keris had drilled in the chest, sucking in mouthfuls of air as she sought some degree of calm.
She was a warrior. Her strengths were tied to the battlefield. Not to scheming and strategizing, and most certainly not to hiding in a box so that she might escape like a piece of contraband.
But if she had another chance to go with Aren and the others, she would still choose to remain. Because she trusted Keris with her life, and because by remaining, she’d prevent Keris from sacrificing himself in a desperate attempt to save his aunt.
