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She waited until they were gone, then exited the closet, bending to retrieve scattered pieces of paper, all covered with the drawings she’d made.
“Obviously this information is wrong.” Ahnna’s voice intruded on her thoughts. “It says he knows nothing of military strategy, yetyousay it was his plan that brought the battle to Eranahl’s gates. A battle we would have lost if not for that storm.”
This was a conversation she needed to be part of, but Lara couldn’t tear her eyes from the portrait, memory drawing her down and down into one she remembered well.
Hands closed on her shoulders, the stink of sweat and metal filling her nose. “Mother,” she shrieked as the soldier picked her up. “Mother, help me!”
A faded vision of her mother filled her eyes, a woman struggling against guards who held both her wrists even as she screamed, “Let my daughter go! I will not let you take her from me!”
The guard turned, grunting in pain as Lara’s heels struck his leg. “Be still, Princess. It is your father’s wish that you go with your sisters.”
Her mother was screaming, loud and shrill, and this wasalwayswhen Lara woke from this nightmare, always the last thing she heard.
But this time, she couldn’t escape the horror.
“Let my sister go!” The boy was there, hammering his fists against the soldier. “Let her go!”
Her father’s face came into her line of sight. “This is none of your concern, boy,” he snarled, hand striking down. “Get yourself back to your mother before I have you whipped.”
“Keris!” she screamed. “Keris, help me.”
“Lara?”
She jumped, realizing Aren had said her name. Perhaps more than once. “I’m sorry. What I remember of him are childhood recollections, none of which are relevant.”
“But you agree that his focus is on Valcotta, not Ithicana, yes?”
Bloody hell, how much of the conversation had she missed? “Undoubtedly. We know the Empress has her sights set on Maridrina, and with half his fleet sunk in the Tempest Seas, his army cut by third, and the kingdom still plagued by famine, he has to know that he’s an easy target.” All of which everyone at this table knew, which meant she’d added nothing. “Given his relationship with Zarrah, I think he’ll be focused on avoiding war with Valcotta at all costs.”
Next to her, Aren shifted in his seat even as the watch commanders leaned forward.Shit.
Ahnna took a mouthful of wine. “The heir to Maridrina and the heir to Valcotta have a…relationship? One you know of but failed to mention?”
Lara bit the insides of her cheeks, saying nothing because Aren clearly had reasons for withholding this information. He exhaled slowly, then said, “When it comes to each other, both are tight-lipped, but I think it safe to say they were lovers.”
Ahnna’s eyebrows rose, but it was Mara who whistled between her teeth, then said, “There’s a story here, and I, for one, would like to hear it.”
Words Lara had once said herself.
Resting his elbows on the table, Aren poured himself a drink, then proceeded to tell the council what he knew of Keris and Zarrah. Lara found herself entranced, for while some of it she knew, there were seemingly endless little details Aren had observed while in the company of the two that he’d never mentioned. He finished by saying, “He’ll do anything for Zarrah. Anything.”
As he once had for her, all those long years ago. Yet time, as always, changed everything.
Lara’s hands balled into fists. “His sentiments will fade and then he’ll stab her in the back when it serves his interests. It’s what he does.”
3
AREN
The vehemencein Lara’s voice startled him, and he wasn’t the only one. Every watch commander looked to his wife, who snatched up her wine and took a long mouthful, clearly having no interest in elaborating.
“It’s information we can use against Keris, if he takes the throne,” Ahnna said, breaking the silence. “Or before, if we wish to prevent it. The Maridrinians won’t crown a man in love with a Valcottan; the blood is too bad between those nations. Sow the right seeds in the right places, and he’ll have a knife in his back within the week.”
“Absolutely not,” Aren snapped, though in the past, that wasexactlythe sort of strategy Ithicana would have employed. “And every last one of you will hold this information in confidence. If I discover otherwise, therewillbe consequences.”
Lara set her glass down with a loudclack. “Why? After what he did, he deserves it.”
It was alwayshe. Him.She had not once called Keris by his name, and with the way Lara had been staring at her brother’s portrait, Aren was beginning to realize that Lara had taken Keris’s actions harder than he’d realized.
