Chapter 22 #3
Pyre stood, accepting a cloth dampened in some sort of strong-smelling medicine from one of her handmaidens—one of the six who couldn’t fight—and pressing it to the wound on her face.
“Argos, Argos, Argos…” She secured the cloth with a strap and sighed, taking a moment to crack her neck, stretch her back.
“Are you a tea drinker? I think we need some tea for this.”
Argos stared at her, searching for some sort of evidence that she might be joking.
But Pyre’s guards did indeed keep their stingers trained on him while her maids brought out large pillows and a tray of tea.
Pyre set one of the pillows on the ground across from him, easing herself down onto it.
One of the maids held out a ridiculously small teacup to Argos on a long tray.
She was terrified, the tray shaking as she trembled, and he took the cup quickly so that she wouldn’t trigger his prey drive.
The cup felt even more ridiculous in his large hand.
“No ringblitz?” Argos asked, not bothering with any attempt to sound civil.
“Ringblitz. Poison. Tools for those who can’t fight for themselves.” Pyre blew on her tea. “If I wanted to kill you, Argos, I would do it with my bare hands.”
Argos hesitated, sniffing the brew. Chamomile.
Honey, lemon, vanilla. But there was an edge of something…
medicinal. Still, Pyre was drinking hers, and both cups smelled the same to him, so he took a sip.
It was surprisingly good, though that was strange to admit.
The entire situation was beyond strange.
Nothing, at the moment, made any sense.
“I presume,” said Pyre, “that we don’t have much productive time with you without your ‘wife’ present, so let’s agree to be honest with each other, shall we? You’re Theora’s husband as much as half my guards are handmaidens. Neither one of us trusts the other, that much is obvious.”
Argos glanced at one of the stingers still pointed at his temple. “Yeah. You started a war.”
Pyre took a sip of tea, unbothered by the accusation. “Vespula’s previous queen was corrupt, but persuasive. Her hold was tight on much of the colony by the time I was able to kill her. As you can imagine, a year later and I’m still having a time of it weeding out the loyalists.”
“So you’re saying one of those loyalists stole your weapons and started a war without you?”
“Not ‘stole.’ They clearly had access, and were selling them through the black market to cover their tracks. But…yes. That’s what I’m saying.”
Argos suddenly thought of Izzi, who died because…because this woman couldn’t keep track of her weapons? Because someone had access. His chest started to rumble, but it only brought the stingers closer to his flesh.
“Careful, Argos,” Pyre said coolly.
He could barely take a breath, the stingers were so close.
“So who was it?” he asked, impatient. “Your war commander?”
“She was part of it. Most of the others have already been apprehended and prosecuted.” She took a sip of tea. “But you really did make a mess of things, Argos. Kenzi was set to meet with her foreign contact the night you decided to take her head.”
“ ‘Foreign contact’?” he murmured, his mind racing. Could it be…?
“Who ordered that, by the way?” she asked a bit bitterly. “Kenzi.”
He paused. “No one.”
“So you just killed her of your own volition?”
“I killed her—” He said it before he could stop himself. But it was out there now, so he swallowed and continued, “To protect Theora.”
“For Honor or revenge?”
Both, but Argos didn’t say that. Pyre didn’t deserve to know Izzi’s name.
“Tell me about your dealings with Apollo,” he said instead.
“Apollo?” Her eyes seemed to brighten a bit. “He came to me a few times, making requests on Theora’s behalf. Unconventional for moderated peace talks, but he’s a bit of a treat, so I let it slide.”
“What sort of requests?”
“Is this an interrogation?” She raised a brow, taking another sip of tea.
“I wasn’t born yesterday—I gave him no valuable information to work with.
Trust me when I say I want to undo the crimes the traitors of my colony have committed.
But none of those crimes involve making deals behind Theora’s back, and certainly not attempting to kill her in the middle of peace talks. ”
“And why should we trust you?” he growled.
Pyre set down her cup. “How’s the tea?”
Argos paused, looking into his cup to realize he had indeed drunk it all. That tiny cup, and he actually felt better than he had just after the fight. So…it had been medicinal.
She didn’t plant the ringblitz.
“I want to find out what’s going on as much as you do, but the more people present, the more likely there could be a traitor in our midst.” Pyre stood without difficulty, post-tea. “Tell Theora to come meet with me. Face-to-face. No second, no judge. Just honorable intentions.”
“In neutral territory,” Argos growled.
Pyre raised a brow. “Someone’s trying to kill her. The last place they’ll look is in my room.”
“Exactly. If you kill us, they’ll never find the bodies.”
Pyre chuckled. “Like I said, Argos. I’ve sat across a table from her twice now. If I wanted her dead, she would be.” She signaled to her guards to clear the area. “And now I’ll send you back to your wife. I hope to see you both soon to discuss our future peace.”