Chapter 39
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
EVIE
T he guards stood in my bedroom, all dressed in their armor and armed, all grinning menacingly at me.
My blue tendrils begged to snap out and end them.
I gritted my teeth and suffocated the instinct. They could provide useful information first.
“What in Xamor’s name are you doing in my house?” I rasped, mind still foggy from being ripped from my dream.
I felt The Dragon tug on the connection between us, concern and rage battling for dominance on his end. I let down the walls I’d erected inside me long enough to reassure him I wasn’t being attacked.
Either way, he shouldn’t run back to the Capital as I sensed he wanted to.
The warriors needed him more than me right now.
Hopefully.
He stayed at the edge of my mind, my silent guardian, and I let him. Even that small presence of his grounded me and gave me the courage I needed right now.
“The advisors are waiting.” Myrcel leered, making me highly aware I was only wearing my night slip. I distantly felt a roar from the other end of the connection.
Leave it to the advisors to scare the living soul out of me.
In my own house.
“For?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“You’ve been summoned. Get up.”
When The Dragon came back, I wouldn’t stop him from dealing with Myrcel anyway he saw fit.
I barely had time to pull on a flimsy silk robe and grab my crown before I was rushed out the door, hair a mess and eyes still small against the early morning light.
Downstairs, Adara was threatening two dozen other guards who crowded my veranda. Anya was tucked in her father’s arms, rubbing her fearful eyes, while Goose stood between them and Leesa. She already had her hooded cape on, as prepared as always.
“See?” I nodded at Adara, to cut the tension and prevent a blood bath. “This is why I need a new garden. People won’t be able to just wander in unannounced and yank me from my own bed.”
“We need to change the no-killing rule in this house, that’s what we need to do.” Adara glowered harder at a tall guard. “This is why I didn’t let you join the army, Myrcel. You are a disgrace.”
Myrcel chuckled so darkly, Anya hid her face in the crook of Owyn’s shoulder.
I glowered at Myrcel. “You have no right to barge in here and scare my friends.”
His dark grin widened, making me wish I did let Adara sink her daggers into him.
Owyn passed Anya to Goose with a firm nod, and the two of them vanished upstairs–he would protect her with his life if needed.
Owyn stepped forward, squaring his shoulders. “No guard has the right to give orders to a member of the royal family.”
“She might not be royal for long. In fact, I know she’ll become the most known criminal in the Capital before the sun rises high in the sky. You picked the losing side, brother .” Myrcel passed Owyn and shoved him.
Hard.
Adara’s daggers had already hissed into her hands when I turned toward Myrcel with a deathly stare.
“Watch it.” I flicked my wrists, my blue tendrils sparking dangerously. I relished the sudden flicker of fear in his stare. “I don’t mind adding to my list of alleged crimes.”
He didn’t back down, but his eyes jumped from me to Adara, as if trying to decide if facing us was truly worth whatever he hoped to gain from the advisors.
“I’ll escort them.” Nylen’s voice resounded from behind, shattering the growing tension.
He placed a gentle hand on my elbow.
As soon as his soft fingers touched my skin, I struggled with the urge to incinerate his hand.
Don’t do it, Vegheara. The advisors would lock you up and he’s more useful to you alive than dead. For now, at least.
Maybe The Dragon had the right idea about dealing with Nylen, after all.
I fought against the bile rising in my throat and pulled my hand away from his gently, pretending I was making some mysterious Protectorate gesture.
Without taking my eyes off Myrcel, I flicked my blue tendrils off.
We hurried out of the courtyard before the rest of the guards, Adara and Leesa rushing behind me.
“You need to be careful,” Nylen whispered urgently. “The advisors have gathered a crowd.”
Isalyth’s hasty note from last night, which I’d already burned–couldn’t leave any evidence behind, could I?–had warned me Banu and Valuta wanted every soul in the Capital present.
“What am I being accused of, exactly?” Isalyth hadn’t been able to find out what charges the advisors had wracked their brains to scrounge against me.
I placed the crown on my head. With Banu and Valuta waiting for me, I needed all the protection I could find.
Nylen caught my eye and clenched his jaw. “Treason.”
Of course . “Not very creative of them, is it?”
Nylen huffed an agitated sigh as we passed Phoenix Peak’s gates. “Treason is the worst accusation in the Blood Brotherhood.”
“Good to know.” And to use when the time came.
“This is serious. They were gleeful when they ordered us to take you to the port.”
“The port, you say?” I managed a small smile.
The shipment had arrived earlier than planned, but I already knew it was the right one.
“ Yes ,” he pressed. “So that they can make a mockery out of you in front of the entire Capital.”
“Ah.” I yanked my silken robe tighter to my body. For the first time since I’d come here, the Blood Brotherhood Capital was actually chilly, the sun struggling to peak from behind the angry clouds. “That’s why they wanted me to look a mess.”
The Protectorate brat who’d been reduced to selling her clothes, paraded through the streets in nothing but her slip and robe. Banu and Valuta must have been cackling at the thought.
I held my head high as we marched through the streets, curious eyes and whispers following me. In the distance, a bell resounded, as if inviting people to my shaming.
Let all of them come.
“I can distract them,” Nylen muttered earnestly as the other guards bridged the gap between us, but didn’t dare to walk past Adara, who still hadn’t sheathed her daggers. “You can run and take cover. Then I can find you and offer you safe passage out of–”
“I’m not a coward, Nylen.”
“The punishment for treason starts with flaying you alive.”
Shivers raced down my spine, and I couldn’t blame them on the cold.
I was playing with fire.
Power-hungry, greedy, vicious fire.
If I’d miscalculated, I might end up on the brink of death before The Dragon had time to run back to the Capital.
“This is your last chance,” Nylen warned as we marched past the main street. “I can’t help you past this point.”
“I won’t forget your generous offer or all the other times you’ve been there to help me, Nylen.” My cold gaze slashed toward him. “But you won’t convince me.”
His chin jutted out, annoyed. He followed me without another word.
A crowd was indeed waiting for the scandal. Civilians crammed in the streets and flowed up the steps of the half-finished temple.
The fishmonger had his apron on, fish guts clinging to his massive knife. Women carried half-dressed babies, and a few of them were also in their house robes.
All of those gathered held crisp parchments in their hands, inscribed with the red and gold sigil of the newest pamphlet, delivered urgently last night to each and every house in the city, according to Isalyth.
The crowd parted as I stepped forward, then quickly began to stitch itself back together, following me as if drawn by the controversy that was about to unfurl.
“Out of the way.” Myrcel shoved civilians unlucky enough to be in front of him. “Move.”
Banu and Valuta stood on the docks, dressed in their excessive best, smug as ever. The gold hems of their velvet robes trailed behind them like they were a pair of peacocks.
Banu had his meaty hands and thick gold chain resting on top of his belly, his long mustache almost trembling with glee.
Valuta was more restrained, lips set in a forlorn line, but there was an ecstatic glint in her mean, beady eyes. She had her nose high in the air, like the mighty advisor she was, that slim neck of hers held upright by the bejeweled collar necklace.
Next to them, I looked like a pauper, just like they’d wanted. After all, things that glistened could cloud the minds of the onlookers.
To the side, the Sages stood silent, some of them bleary-eyed. Lord Valenthir had his hat askew, obviously yanked out of bed like I’d been. Behind them, Isalyth gave me such a small nod, nobody else could have noticed it, before melting into the soft shadows cast by the sunrise.
“Lost Daughter,” Valuta said imperiously, my old moniker dripping from her thin lips with venom. “Do you know why you have been summoned here?”
I frowned, the perfect picture of confusion, and shook my head to keep from roaring.
I needed to play my role perfectly.
“This is the scene of the crime.” Banu splayed his arms out wide, pointing to the guards who were struggling to carry huge crates from the only transport vessel docked in the harbor. They arranged dozens of them in a line on the pier, in full view of everyone.
“Your crime,” he rasped.
“Is this the shipment you requested?” Valuta asked.
“It is,” I said.
At Valuta’s grave nod, the guards pried the tops of the crates open. Wood shards and nails flung each way, revealing beds of flashing stones and golden jewelry hidden between layers of hay.
Damning evidence, that.
Murmurs and gasps erupted in the crowd.
“When the Port Master rushed to tell us what he had discovered in the dead of night, I almost couldn’t believe it,” Banu said dramatically. He was getting ready for the performance of his life.
Petrylla and Loryn stepped forward, all bows and apologetic smiles. To her credit, she didn’t meet my gaze, even as her husband leered my way.
“We notified you as soon as we discovered the secret shipment,” Loryn said. He was a sour-looking fellow, with a fox’s glint in his rheumy eyes.
Petrylla nodded, gaze glued to the ground.
Lies, lies, lies, said with such a straight face.
Behind the crowd, the rustle of parchment was barely audible, but I knew Isalyth was busy fulfilling her part of the bargain.
“This is grave indeed. For our own princess, who we welcomed with open arms, betrayed us like this,” Banu said.
Valuta shook her head, as if she’d rehearsed every reaction with her husband. “No manners. No concern, from a member of the royal family no less.”
“She lavishes in her house while our people starve because of the war,” Banu went on, voice shaking with emotion.
“Horrible war.” Veluta sighed. “So many lives lost.”
“To sell the clothes and jewels our prince gifted her,” Banu said.
Valuta tsked. “Going against tradition.”
“And for what? To adorn herself with gold and jewels from the Fair Isles?” Banu’s voice reached a shrill crescendo. “While our army is fighting the war of this dynasty to protect us.”
“So many lives lost. I’d heard the rumors about you begging our prince for jewels,” Valuta said and I would have snapped her neck then and there. A rumor she and her lump of a husband had started back when I’d first come here, back when I hadn’t known their game, let alone how to play it. “I didn’t believe it until now. This is proof–”
“Incontestable proof!” Banu raised his meaty fingers in the air.
“–that you have betrayed us. Our laws, our traditions, our warriors. Our Clan.” Valuta placed her open palms on her chest, as if she was struggling not to cry. “It pains me to accuse a member of the royal family, which we have sworn to protect and respect above all else, but you, Lost Daughter, are a traitor. Using the Blood Brotherhood ships in time of war to drape yourself in gold while our people are close to starving.”
Banu threw his hands up and screamed to the heavens, like I’d seen some priests do back in Aquila. “Treason!”
The lone word reverberated throughout the harbor. I couldn’t even hear Leesa whispering through the crowd anymore.
I stiffened my shoulders and raised my head high. “I did ask for this shipment.”
“She admits it!” Banu declared. Small wonder he hadn’t woken up Zavoya and Eldryan with his shouting by this point.
“I do.” I stepped toward Valuta, so the stark difference between us was even more obvious. “But I didn’t betray the Clan.”
Valuta scoffed. “Lies.”
“You’ve presented your proof, I’ll present mine.” I turned to the Sages. “That is the law, yes?”
“Yes!” Lady Valesya called out. Not for some misplaced sense of justice, but to save her own ass, since she was the one who’d accepted my trinkets to sell. She’d fraternized with me.
When she noticed none of the other Sages said anything, she bowed her head and slunk to the back.
I didn’t wait for the rest of them to find the guts to protest.
I marched right up to the crates and took a long, calming inhale.
This was the part where it could all fall apart.
My fingers splayed on the crates, feeling for the runes. My heart leapt as I found the first one, so small, it could have been mistaken for a knot in the wood. I closed my eyes and let my power seep out slowly, fully aware the entire Capital was watching me, so many waiting for my downfall.
Dara had used a similar tactic when she’d sent over the palaver portals linking mine to the rest of my cousins. That crate had only opened when it had recognized my touch.
I exhaled when I heard the triumphant click.
“I did this all for the Clan,” I announced and stared the advisors down.
I banged on the first crate Owyn had crafted so beautifully to my precise instructions, which looked so very much like the original ones the Port Master had smuggled through the barricade. Those ones were now long gone.
The wooden side fell with a resounding thump. Weapons, sharp and glinting, cascaded from it.
“For our warriors on the battlefield, who need all the help they can get,” I said.
I banged on another crate. This time, juicy apples rolled out. “For our civilians, who need more food.”
Another crate, this time filled with gauze. “For our healers, who are risking their lives to treat our army.”
One by one, the crates revealed more valuable resources a Clan wracked by war needed–grains, leathers, medicinal herbs, and more.
The stunned silence roared louder than Banu’s melodramatic yells.
“I did sell the rare jewels and clothes The Dragon gave to me. He said I can do whatever I wished with them, as you would have known if you had talked with him before accusing his wife of treason. I wonder what he will say and do when he finds out.”
Through our bond, I felt his pride for me and the loathing for the advisors.
Banu and Valuta stood furiously still.
“And I wished for our people to not feel the strain of war, as much as possible. What good are gems when our people are starving? When our warriors are dying?” I nodded at Valuta’s elegant neck. “That necklace could feed an entire district for a week.”
Hesitant murmurs from the crowd hummed in agreement.
“Your Graces, I checked the crates myself. There was nothing there except gems.” The Port Master stepped forward, face somehow turning even more sour. This time with fright, instead of disdain.
I allowed The Dragon a small peek at the scene before me. He laughed through the bond.
“Quiet,” Valuta hissed. Her cheek twitched into a sneer before she composed herself, even as her face reddened. “There are gems in those boxes. Baubles you spent important coins on.”
“These?” I picked up one of the biggest, sparkliest sapphires–then threw it on the ground. It shattered into hundreds of pieces. “Decoys, to trick any pirates foolish enough to attack a Blood Brotherhood vessel. You really ought to train your eye better, Port Master. We rely on your expertise for all our Clan shipments. You should have seen through the simple ruse.”
The plan had been anything but simple, and had required even The Postman’s overpriced help.
Owyn had done a fantastic job at crafting the crates with two compartments.
The top one was shallow and unassuming, but tricked the eyes to seem deeper, while the secret one carried the real cargo.
“How do we know the weapons aren’t cursed and the food poisoned?” Banu asked.
“Nothing’s poisoned.” On cue, Adara stepped forward and speared an apple with her dagger, taking a big, juicy bite of it. “Fresh, too.”
“I would never endanger our civilians.” I narrowed my eyes at Valuta. “I was born Protectorate, as you like to remind everyone. I was raised to protect and shield my own. I have married into the Blood Brotherhood and I will protect this Clan with my dying breath.”
Valuta huffed a mean laugh. “Protect? You blinded our elders with your powers–”
“Not for long,” a child pipped up. “Nana can see again. She knitted me this sweater, see?”
The child’s father yanked his hand, shushing him.
“But she did,” the child whined with a whisper.
“I was protecting them against the Serpents,” I said with the smallest tremble in my voice. I hadn’t anticipated this. “And I will do it again, against anyone .”
“You’re trying to sow fear in the hearts of our civilians,” Banu argued. “Nobody will attack them under our watch.”
“I was attacked,” Owyn’s voice slashed the tension.
I thought I’d misheard, at first. After all, he’d made it clear he didn’t want to get publicly involved in my plans and apart from his handiwork, I let him be.
But Owyn stepped forward. Recognition shined in the eyes of those nearest him. A former guard, disagreeing with an advisor.
“Someone set fire to my house and tried to kill me and my daughter,” he said, and I could have hugged him right there.
“I was there, I saw it!” A voice that sounded remarkably like Leesa’s resounded from the crowd. “The Blue Queen saved them!”
“I saw it, too,” Eryn said. I hadn’t even noticed her, but she’d made her way to the front of the crowd.
“Someone placed a blood symbol on my home, damning us to the flames,” Owyn went on, staring at the advisors with such hatred, I was surprised they didn’t blaze on the spot.
“What symbol?” more than one panicked voice called out.
Banu and Valuta exchanged a worried glance. The crowd was getting restless.
“The flames were so high, they licked the sky,” Owyn said. “Nobody from Phoenix Peak came to our aid–except for the Blue Queen. Many of you were there, you know I speak the truth.”
More murmurs of agreement followed. At least a hundred people said they also saw the fire and the daring rescue with their own eyes, even though there were only a few dozen gathered there that night.
Leesa was right. The power of suggestion was unbeatable in a group.
I nodded in gratitude toward Owyn, who returned it without hesitation, before glowering at the guards, his former companions.
He wasn’t hiding his allegiance any longer.
I allowed myself one small grin Valuta’s way before turning toward the civilians.
“I swear on my life I will protect you. Your Oracle saw that, your prince knows it, it’s time you believed it. When I married into the royal family, I married into this Clan. My heart might be blue, but my blood flows red. For the good of the Blood Brotherhood!”
Driven by Leesa, cheers erupted. Not many, not loud, but they were enough to make Valuta’s brows rise and Banu’s beard tremble.
With my head held high, I walked back just as the sun rose behind me. Its rays filtered through my crown, casting gold and blood-red beams around me.
Through the bond, I felt The Dragon beaming with pride. I sent a small wave of gratitude for his presence, before halting the connection.
I’d already relied on him too much today, and I didn’t want to get even more comfortable with it.
The civilians were already dispersing into small groups, the gossip no longer relegated to whispers. A few of them had already found the parchment pieces Isalyth had strewn about during the commotion.
We had won this round, but I knew, beyond a doubt, the advisors were already planning their retaliation.
“That’s the problem with relying on your powers too much,” I whispered as I passed Valuta. “You’re screwed if they don’t work.”
“I’ve been playing this game since before you were born, girl,” she hissed. “You have no idea who you’re up against.”
“Prove it.” My gaze slashed toward her and didn’t falter. I wasn’t the Evie who’d wandered into the Capital with wide eyes and fear in her heart, and it was time the advisors knew it. “Your turn.”