Chapter 25 Ahnna
Ahnna
What’s done is done, Ahnna silently told herself. You already knew Edward didn’t have your interests at heart, and this just confirms the depths of that truth.
Yet she couldn’t help but rehash the revelations that Carlo had forced from James, anger wrapping around her chest like a vise.
He wanted to make you queen! He was going to give you what you wanted!
James’s shouted words kept repeating in her head, but it was the latter part that made her ill—because how much of this was her own fault?
How much of Edward’s negativity toward Aren was because she’d made no secret of her disgust for Lara and for Aren’s forgiveness of her?
Had she driven that aspect of his plan? Would everything be different if she’d been vocal about her support for not just her brother’s rule, but Lara’s as well?
Against her will, Ahnna’s imagination spiraled, showing her a future where James was king of Harendell and she was his queen. A future where she had all that she desired, most especially the man she was in love with.
That’s not a future, it’s a delusion, her anger hissed. You’d be as powerless in that situation as you are now. A toy taken from one son and given to another, your name used as leverage to extort Ithicana, not support it. Your goals wouldn’t matter. You wouldn’t matter.
“Why so tense, sweet Princess?” Carlo asked, breaking off from his incessant singing.
“Does your heart hurt, having learned how the Harendellians intended to use you? Or is it because James is not the paragon of chivalry you’d thought him to be?
You should have asked for my advice, because I’d have told you the truth about him. ”
She shifted restlessly, hating how her body was pressed against his. “No, you wouldn’t have, because that would have disrupted Mother’s plans.”
Carlo chuckled. “True, true. But tell me, behind the handsome face, the polished boots, and the rigid manners, didn’t you sense a different sort of man? A woman such as you, who has survived on instinct, must surely have recognized the predator beneath? The wolf?”
Ahnna had, and God help her, it had been the wolf she’d wanted.
“In Amarid, we know only the wolf, especially in the Lowlands,” Carlo continued.
“The James we know is always in the thick of it, uniform torn and splattered with mud and blood. The ruthless major general who will not hesitate to fight dirty. Who will always kick his enemies where it hurts most.” He gave a soft chuckle of appreciation.
“Alas, with his interests vested in Cardiff, Ithicana was, by necessity, his enemy.”
“Apparently.” The word came out from between her teeth.
“I am curious about his state of mind,” Carlo mused. “Did he feel torn between wanting to fuck over Ithicana and wanting to fuck Ithicana’s princess, or were the goals one and the same?”
Ahnna’s temper snapped. With a sharp jerk, she slammed her head back, skull connecting with Carlo’s face.
He swore, and Ahnna braced for retribution. Instead, Carlo spat blood on the snow and then started laughing. “Oh good. I was worried you might be breaking, lovely, and that would have been disappointingly easy.”
Ahnna cringed as he pulled her close and planted soft butterfly kisses up the side of her face, smearing her cheek with blood.
“I shall have to try harder,” he murmured. “Thank you for being a challenge, Ahnna. I will do my best to be creative.”
Don’t react. Do. Not. React.
Carlo went back to his singing. Song after song, until the sun was little more than a glow on the horizon. Only then did he give the order to his men to make camp.
Allowing the soldiers to lower Ahnna from the saddle, Carlo jerked his chin toward James, who was on his knees and breathing hard. “Stake his leash to the ground next to a fire and get him warmed up. Food and water.”
“Let the bastard die,” one of the men muttered. “All of Amarid will cheer.”
Carlo went still as death, and every one of the soldiers went stiff with tension. Slowly, he walked over to the man and lowered his head so that they were eye-to-eye. “Do you think it is you who will determine how the bastard prince of Harendell dies?”
Ahnna’s hackles rose, every instinct in her body screaming danger.
“No, sir,” the soldier whispered, gaze moving this way and that as he tried to evade Carlo’s dead-eyed stare. “Apologies, sir.”
“Since you are clearly a stupid person, I will explain,” Carlo said softly.
“I want James to walk, to crawl, and then to be dragged to Riomar, because I would like to watch him break before delivering him to Mother. This is not possible if your idiocy sees him frozen to death on the first night in our company, never mind the pain I will suffer if we deliver to Mother a rotting corpse. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” The man was trembling, and though all of these soldiers were her enemies, Ahnna felt a surge of sympathy. Because she knew a dead man walking when she saw him.
“I do not suffer fools.” Carlo patted the man’s cheek, then swift as lightning, drew a knife across the soldier’s jugular. “So I will not suffer you.”
The soldier staggered back, his hand clutching the wound. It did nothing to stanch the spray of blood that painted the white snow as he pleaded for aid from his fellows.
No one moved.
They only watched with dull eyes as he collapsed to the ground and went still.
“Strip him and leave him out for the lions to eat,” Carlo ordered. “Perhaps such an offering will protect the rest of us every time we need to venture into the dark to piss.”
Then he strode into the trees.
“Come on, then,” one of the soldiers restraining her said. Ahnna gave no argument as she walked through the blood-soaked snow to where they were setting up camp.
The soldiers fastened her bound wrists to a stake driven deep into the ground between her knees, which allowed her enough range of motion to eat and not much else.
Not that she’d be good in a fight with her right arm broken.
Not against this many men, and not in the middle of the wilderness where she’d need to hunt to survive.
James was similarly restrained on the far side of the fire from her.
His shoulders rose and fell with rapid pants of exhaustion, steam rising from him, but the heat of a day of running would soon turn to cold in the cruel night air.
The soldiers draped blankets around both of them, as well as setting food and water at their feet.
Seeming content that they weren’t going to escape, the soldiers moved to finish constructing the rest of the camp.
“Are you all right?”
Scowling, Ahnna lifted her eyes from the fire to glare at James.
“Oh, I’m wonderful, James. I can think of no better way to spend the day than bouncing on the lap of a one-balled sadist with a dubious claim to sanity who intends to deliver me to his mother, the queen who is working toward the destruction of my family and homeland. But enough about me. How was your day?”
James blew out a slow breath. “I know you hate me, but if we are to escape, we need to work together.”
“Or maybe I escape and leave you to entertain your dear nemesis.”
“Ahnna, you have a broken arm.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Ahnna, if you’d just listen—”
She kicked at the fire, sending up sparks.
“Just listen? Just give you the benefit of the doubt so that you might explain yourself? Just set aside the fact that you’re a lying, scheming son of a fucking meddling prick and let you say your piece?
Fuck you and your audacity, Your Highness, because you would have spared us all of this if you’d accorded me that very courtesy. ”
Before he could respond, Carlo approached and sat on a flat rock.
“Let us have a nice meal together,” he declared as though they were all old friends. “I have a bottle of good red we can share.”
He pulled the cork from a bottle of wine, the wax seal with the vintner’s mark telling Ahnna it was costly enough to feed a family for a year.
Carlo took a swig straight from the neck, then held it out to Ahnna. She took it and lifted it to her mouth, her broken arm screaming protest. She forced herself to take several swallows.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Carlo asked, taking the bottle and offering it to James, who shot him a sour glare. “But naughty girls deserve punishment.” He touched his split lip.
“Broken bones grow back stronger.” Ahnna ate the food she’d been given, chewing and swallowing. “I’ve broken many, so I know.”
Carlo smiled and took another sip. “I wish we’d met before.”
Ahnna shrugged. “We might have crossed paths if you’d been part of Maridrina’s invasion. Were you too busy playing with James in the Lowlands or did your mother not allow you to join the fun in Silas’s war?”
James gave a soft laugh. “Care to reveal your own truths, Carlo, or shall I?” When the Beast didn’t answer, he added, “Ithicana has nothing to fear from Carlo, because he’s scared shitless of water. Can’t stomach anything deeper than his own bath without squealing like a little girl.”
Ahnna held her breath, certain that Carlo would lash out, but he only grinned. “I am enjoying this game tremendously. Is it my turn now?”
James reached out, the restraints staked into the ground between his knees stretching taut as he picked up the wine bottle. “Cheers.” He drank, then twisted the bottle as though to smash it, but Carlo swiftly plucked it from his hand, tutting as he did.
The Beast turned a sly eye on Ahnna. “My turn. When I left Riomar, it was with the news that William intended to meet with Aren ringing in my ears. Harendell’s new king intended to give him an ultimatum: Surrender you, Ahnna, for execution or suffer a war they are sure to lose.”
“Aren can’t surrender what he doesn’t have.” Her veins turned to ice. “William knows James pursued me into the mountains, which means they know I’m not in Ithicana.”
Carlo shrugged. “That’s true. But tell me, do you think your brother will believe them? Will he be convinced of your guilt? It is my understanding that Alexandra intended to go to the meeting herself, and I have heard that the wounds you inflicted have made the lady a horror to look upon.”
Throughout all of this, Ahnna had not once considered that Aren would believe the accusations. Recent conflicts aside, no one knew her better than her twin. But too easily she remembered how James had been deceived by Alexandra’s injuries. Would Aren be the same?
“What will Aren think when he sees Alexandra’s cut-up face? Will he suspect she did it herself?” Carlo asked. “Or will he condemn you? Will he cast you to the wolves to evade war?”
Ahnna forced her face into a mask of composure. “I want Aren to put Ithicana before me. I want him to do whatever it takes to avoid war.”
“Except Alexandra wants this war. Mother’s protégée walks a fine line. She must keep the Harendellians convinced you are Eddie’s murderess but also ensure Aren is certain of your innocence so that he will refuse to condemn you. If she does this, war is certain.”
Her hands felt like ice.
“You see, Ahnna, no matter which path Aren takes, you lose. You are the one whose name will be cursed until the end of days. Best to just lie down and die, no?”
“Carlo, shut the fuck up. Ahnna, do not listen to him,” James snarled. “Alexandra wanted this war, which means she’d have it regardless of whether you were alive or dead.”
“Perhaps that is so, old friend,” Carlo answered.
“But what will the Ithicanians believe? Will they be certain that Ahnna is innocent? Or will they believe that, once again, their king is sacrificing them for the sake of a woman? Perhaps Eddie’s plans will come to fruition and it will be a coup that hands the bridge to Harendell after all. ”
The food she’d just eaten threatened to come up, and Ahnna gagged.
“Ahnna, do not listen to him!” James shouted. “He’s getting off on this—he’s just trying to hurt you.”
She knew that. And yet…
Carlo lifted the bottle to her lips, making her drink.
Then he stroked his fingertip down her scar.
“Nothing cuts deeper than the truth, does it? You will be Ithicana’s damnation.
And nothing you can do, whether it be escaping to fight for your people or giving up and falling on your own sword, will change that.
” His teeth gleamed white in the firelight as he stood. “Sweet dreams, beautiful Princess.”
James was shouting not to listen to him. Cursing at Carlo and making threats, but Ahnna barely heard him.
Because the Beast was right.
You are the damnation of your people.
Lying down on the cold ground, Ahnna curled around the spike holding her in place. And though she knew what pleasure it would bring him, she could not fight the tears that slid down her face.