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"You could have sent troops."
Esmeray sighed. "No, I could not. We had signed a treaty, so we had to maintain the peace. If we attacked another kingdom, we would be going against that treaty. And since Domitius had covered his tracks well, the other kingdoms would have retaliated and our allies would not have been on our side."
“But I'm your daughter!" Kallie’s rage forced her onto her feet. "Was I not worth fighting for?"
"We had to bide our time. We had to have a plan."
Despite Kallie's rage boiling over, the queen remained seated, calm. And her behavior only enraged Kallie more.
"And that took what, seventeen years to create?" Kallie retorted. Graeson reached for her hand but she snatched it away from him.
The queen's calm unfazed demeanor disappeared momentarily, her lips pursed. She took a long swig of whiskey. When she set the glass down, her face was once again neutral. "As queen, I had a choice to make, Kalisandre.”
The glass threatened to shatter in Kallie’s hand as her fingers clenched around it. "And how do you feel about your choice now,Mother?"
Esmeray flinched, the movement slight but unmissable. "I cannot change the past, Kalisandre. The decisions I make—thatanyruler makes—affect the people, the kingdom. Everyone."
It was not the words Kallie wanted to hear. She understood hard decisions, she had made many and she would continue to make them. But for once, she wanted someone to fight for her, to care for her unconditionally. But her mother—her own mother—had just proven that there were, in fact, conditions involved in her care of Kallie.
Esmeray rubbed her temple. "If King Domitius wanted you that badly to come here, we knew he wouldn’t harm you. He was not a reckless man, never has been. He had a plan."
Kallie laughed, the sound cold and cruel. "You could not have known that."
"We have spies everywhere. We were watching." Esmeray sighed. "Please, Kalisandre. I know it is impossible to understand, and I do not expect you to forgive me—"
"Good, because I don't." Kallie crossed her arms over her chest. She never would forgive Esmeray.
The queen pressed on, “Please try to understand. You are here now, and that is all that matters."
Kallie looked at her, then at her brothers. Kallie’s gaze softened. Esmeray was right. Kallie was here—with them. That was what mattered now. Her anger would not get in the way of her gaining access to her full ability. She could use them the way everyone else has used her.
So, when Graeson reached for her elbow this time, she did not pull away and sat back down into her seat, the fire fizzing out. Silence filled the room as the anger simmered.
And in the silence, Kallie realized one other detail that didn’t make sense in Esmeray’s story. "If the waters are so treacherous, how did King Domitius even get here?" Kallie asked.
Esmeray cleared her throat. "Although the waters are dangerous for strangers, it is not impossible to traverse. It seems. . ." Esmeray glanced at Graeson and cleared her throat. "It seems the gods' influence over the land is lessening."
Graeson shifted beside Kallie as Kallie asked, "Lessening?”
Esmeray nodded but said no more. Kallie looked at the others in the room, but they all avoided her gaze. It seemed their trust in her was still not sound.
"And if everyone was forced to forget about the Pontians' gifts? How would that explain why he thought to come here in the first place? How would he have known to take me?"
"We do not know how he came about the information or why he took you. Our informants, like your previous guard Armen, were only able to glean that Domitius believed you were the key to his plan. The exact details of the plan, however, are still unknown."
Kallie dropped her gaze to the ground, the shiny oak floors staring back at her. The queen was holding back. There was something Esmeray was not telling her. Perhaps if Kallie provided them with information, the queen would trust her more. She searched her memory for any reason why the king wanted her.
With her eyes still glued to the ground, brows knitted together, she said, "He used to say I was the one hope for reuniting the kingdom. It was one of the reasons why I'm to marry the king of Frenzia."
Across from her, Fynn moved to the edge of the seat cushion. "Are you sure there's nothing else?"
She could feel his eyes on her. At that moment, she knew he was reading her mind, hearing her thoughts as she rifled through the many conversations she and the king had. Her shoulders grew tense.
Kallie met Fynn's stare. "No, nothing more."
Chapter22
When the queenretreated to her rooms, saying she would see them at breakfast, the rest of them remained in the study. Fynn, Dani, and Graeson bounced ideas back and forth between each other as they tried to figure out how the king knew about their gifts and why Kallie was important. Someone suggested that he might have a seer in his possession, but that was quickly dismissed since seers were rare, especially good ones.
