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“You need not thank me,aramati. I would save your life a thousand times over,” Auberon finally said. He pulled his hand out of her grasp and set the blade on the table before her. “Keep the dagger. It is yours.”
* * *
“I don’t understand. How could King Domhnall be mining eudorite in secret? How could it be possible?” Amaris said late that evening, her brows furrowed. She was sitting on the edge of the bed in the room she and Riona shared, dressed in the same black tunic and pants she’d worn the night before. “Surely word would have spread by now. With so many people involved, something must have slipped through the cracks.”
“You saw how the overseer’s office was furnished. My uncle must be paying his men extortionate amounts to ensure their silence.”
“Money that he cannot possibly afford to pay,” Amaris murmured.
Her stomach churning, Riona turned toward the open window, watching the reds and oranges of the sunset reflect off the Tranquil Sea’s waves. After finishing her breakfast that morning, she had spent the day resting, recovering from her injuries, and steadfastly avoiding Auberon. When Amaris awoke, Riona had told her everything—from the partnership she and Auberon had forged, to their excursion to the brothel, to the letters she had found in the overseer’s desk.
“So if I understand everything,” Amaris said slowly, clearly trying to make sense of all she’d heard, “Treasurer Cathal oversaw the operation of the mines and transfer of prisoners on behalf of the king. Eventually, he started to feel guilty about sending so many men to their deaths and decided he’d had enough. He planned to bring proof of the mines’ existence to the Selannic king—your grandfather—in an attempt to renegotiate the repayment of the kingdom’s debt. But why would King Domhnall have Cathal poisoned at the suitors’ welcome banquet? Cathal didn’t try to flee with the documents until the morning after.”
“Perhaps he discovered plans that Cathal had made to sail to the Isles,” Riona responded, every word sending pain through her battered ribs. “Or maybe he was simply paranoid that Cathal would betray his secret to the suitors. We all saw how much wine the Treasurer drank that night. If my uncle is truly so desperate to keep the mines a secret, any excuse would have been enough to justify the assassination.”
“Do you believe he’s that heartless? If Cathal had managed to renegotiate the terms of the debt, it would have solved all of the king’s financial concerns. Why wouldn’t King Domhnall have wanted that?”
“I don’t know,” Riona murmured, unsure which question she was answering.
Amaris leaned back and let out a long breath, absently twisting a thin braid around her finger. “And now Prince Auberon knows the mines exist. What are we going to do?”
“I…don’t know.” She sat on the bed and wrapped her arms around her knees, overwhelmed by all that she’d learned and all the questions she had yet to answer. Amaris slipped an arm around her waist and held her close, murmuring soft, soothing words in the Selannic tongue.
“We encountered your mad friend outside the heart of the mine,” Amaris eventually said. “He looked terrified when he saw us, but he stood his ground and watched us approach. I think he recognized the brothers we were with; I couldn’t decipher much of his babbling, but he knew that they’d been forced to mine the ore just like him. It seemed to have inspired a sense of kinship between them, which had endured through the madness that had gripped his mind. Prince Auberon and I tried to speak with him, to ask about you and explain that you were likely in trouble. Without a word, he up and walked away. Just left us behind. We were still standing there, debating how best to find you and sneak out of the mines unnoticed, when he returned with more than a dozen Rennox at his back. I’ll never forget that sight. I don’t know how you do it, Riona. The loyalty you inspire in those around you is astonishing.”
A knock sounded at the door, and Riona straightened as Amaris rose and opened it. She exchanged a few quiet words with someone in the hall, then Auberon walked into the room and leaned against the chest of drawers, crossing his arms over his chest. The sight struck a chord within Riona—last night, he had stood in that very same position while the healer examined her ribs. He had tried to keep his expression blank, but even through the haze of pain and medicine that had clouded her mind, Riona could recall the agony she’d seen in his eyes every time she had let out even the slightest whimper. She remembered his fingers digging into his upper arms, as if he was fighting the urge to go to her, to comfort her.
“We need to discuss our next steps,” he said as Amaris closed the door and sat on the bed. “Amaris and I intercepted the messenger the overseer sent, but the miners will have sent word of what happened to your uncle as soon as they recovered from the Rennox attack. By the time we return to Innislee, he’ll know that we were in the mines.”
“Then we must confront him about Cathal’s murder immediately,” Amaris said. “There’s no use in pretending to go back to the way things were before we left. All the cards are on the table now. We must speak to him and reach some sort of accord.”
“I don’t trust him not to react violently. He may not hurt you, but he harbors nothing but loathing for Drystan and me. Considering he has already decided to see this war to its bitter end, I doubt he’ll pass up the opportunity to murder the Emperor’s sons while he has them in his grasp.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” Riona protested, but the words were empty. In truth, she had no idea what her uncle was willing to do in his misguided attempts to protect his kingdom. Despite her feelings about the arranged marriage, she’d loved her uncle. It broke her heart to know that the man she should have been able to trust the most was the villain they’d been hunting all this time.
Auberon raised a brow. “Wouldn’t he? He has shown us just how willing he is to eliminate anyone who threatens him. We cannot risk it. Kill the three of us, and his secret is safe once more. I’ll send for Drystan, and we can sail to Erduria together. That way, we’ll be out of reach of his assassins until we decide what to do next.”
Riona shook her head. “We can’t leave. If we do, my uncle will twist the story to make it appear as if you and Drystan abducted Amaris and me as punishment for refusing the treaty. We will live every day looking over our shoulders, and we will lose any hope of securing a peaceful end to the war. Our only choice is to confront him in Innislee.” She met Auberon’s gaze. “And after that, if I must marry Drystan, I will sail to Erduria with you.”
ChapterFifty-Four
The Lady
They left for the capital at dawn the next morning, using the last of what little money Auberon and Amaris had to hire a carriage. Riona sat on the bench opposite Amaris, her head resting against the window frame and her arm draped loosely across her midsection. Her ribs ached with every jolt of the carriage’s wheels over the uneven dirt road, but the second dose of the healer’s medicine had dulled the pain enough for her to endure the journey. Auberon and the miners had chosen to ride behind their carriage with Riona’s and Amaris’s horses in tow.
Half an hour into the journey, Riona turned away from the window and found Amaris studying her, a pensive expression on her face. She’d been strangely quiet all morning. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been thinking about everything you told me. Thinking about our future. Before we reach Innislee, we should discuss what is to be done about the mines,” Amaris said. “What do you hope to gain when we speak with the king? Prince Auberon holds all the cards now, and he won’t give up until he gets what he wants—namely, you and the eudorite. You have no right to demand anything of your uncle. You’re the one who betrayed his kingdom’s secrets to his enemy, and you’ll be lucky if you leave the castle with your life.”
Riona glanced away, ashamed. “You know I did not intend for any of this to happen. I only wanted to bring Cathal’s murderer to justice.”
“I understand, but this is different from some courtier assassinating another noble. He is the king, and whether we agree with his decisions or not, he has the right to run labor camps in the mines. He has the right to execute traitors to the crown.”
“Cathal was not atraitor—”
“He was. He was sworn to secrecy, and he committed treason by conspiring to reveal the existence of the mines to the Selannic king,” Amaris said, her voice calm. “I liked him, and I understand that he was trying to help our kingdom, but he was wrong to do so. It was not his place to decide which secrets to keep and which to betray.”
“He wouldsave us from ruin—”
