Total pages in book: 201
Estimated words: 191006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 955(@200wpm)___ 764(@250wpm)___ 637(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 191006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 955(@200wpm)___ 764(@250wpm)___ 637(@300wpm)
“No need to apologize.” Zander’s expression yields nothing.
“That’s a first,” I tease dryly.
That earns the smallest twitch at the corner of his lips.
Lord Telor stands at the far end of the map. His sallow complexion leaves me wondering if I’ve done enough for him.
Zander once told me to offer Lyndel’s lord as genuine a smile as I could fake, but there’s no need to fake it now. I’m relieved that I was able to save his life, even if he was here to take mine. “I heard you’re up.”
“Thanks to you, it would seem.” His responding smile is tight-lipped, but I can’t expect him to kiss my feet. I was enemy number one up until last night. Maybe I still am. Or maybe he’s more focused on how his own son tried to kill him.
Beside Telor and Kienen are Radomir and Elisaf. “Where’s Abarrane?” She’s not a friendly face, but she’s a female one. Now, I’m surrounded by men.
“Resting after a long night with the prisoners,” Zander says.
Telor’s jaw tenses. “The Ybarisan says my son has been working with you and your people. Is this true?”
And the Princess Romeria charade begins anew. “Kienen warned me of your son’s betrayal only moments before the attack. If not for him, you would be dead. Zander, too, likely. If he says it’s true, then I believe him.”
“Are you maintaining that you were not aware of whatever arrangement was made between my son and your brother?” Telor’s tone is sharp. “I find that hard to believe.”
Not so hard if you knew the truth.
“The Princess Romeria who crossed the rift was well aware of Neilina’s scheming and the key players involved, but the princess who stands before you was completely unaware of it,” Zander answers for me.
“Is this the ‘memory loss’ we’ve been hearing about? Atticus said you might claim innocence based on it.”
I meet Kienen’s gaze. It’s the same calculating one he wore when I asked him what his affinity was to. I’ve seen it more than once now. He doubts who I am, and yet he spoke up when it mattered last night. He joined the fray and helped stop Braylon from getting away. He stood shoulder to shoulder when that dragon landed, even as he mistrusted me.
I see why Tyree had lies readily available to feed Kienen. Lies that Kienen could stomach, because he knew the soldier wouldn’t stomach the truth of what the Ybarisan crown was tasking them to do.
I’m not asking him to keep going down that path. I’m asking him to help me fix what Ybaris has done. Do we really need to feed him more lies to get him to do that? Besides, it’s too late for that. He’s too smart; he’s seen too much. Eventually, he’ll decide that Ybaris’s ruling family no longer deserves his loyalty.
I wish I had more time to feel him out, but we don’t, and we can’t risk losing him or the Ybarisans. They might only be two hundred and fifty-four out of an entire nation, but they’re a start.
“Yes. And no.” Gesine’s counsel rings in my mind, but I can’t keep up this charade anymore. “What I am about to tell you, I haven’t openly admitted to anyone—”
“Romeria.” Fear floods Zander’s voice as he warns me off.
But I know in my heart what I have to do. “We can’t keep going around in circles, expecting people to trust us with their lives if we can’t trust them with the truth.”
He grits his teeth as I step forward to the head of the table, but he doesn’t argue. “Twenty-five years ago, Queen Neilina forced an elemental caster to summon Aoife and create a weapon against Islor. That weapon was an elven princess whose blood was toxic to Islorians and who the future king of Islor would not be able to resist.” I watch Kienen closely for any hint that he might have been lying before, that he might have known this. “The poison in those vials is not something the elementals made. It’s my blood.”
His brow furrows. “We heard rumors of this in recent weeks and dismissed them as lies spun to villainize Ybaris more. I have watched the queen execute lords for suggesting we summon the fates to help heal our lands. It didn’t seem possible that Her Highness would tempt the fates so recklessly.”
“Do you deny her hatred for us?” Zander asks. “Your lands are dying, and she is desperate, but she would rather seek war and untold consequences than an alliance.”
Kienen studies the map intently. I can’t get a read on where his head is at.
“The daaknar who tried to feed off me learned about my blood the hard way.” I yank the collar of my tunic down. “I don’t recommend meeting one of those things. They’re not friendly.”
His lips twitch with the hint of a smile. “And yet you survived.”