Chapter 40 Keris #2
“I didn’t agree with my father on much,” William muttered.
“But he was right about Aren being an inept ruler who is wholly self-interested. How Ithicana doesn’t grow weary of him putting his favored women before all others is beyond me.
One of them should put a knife in his gut and liberate the nation of his idiocy. ”
The hypocrisy of William accusing anyone of self-interest was a thing to behold, but Keris bit his tongue as Alexandra abruptly rose. She strode to the sideboard and poured a large glass of wine, taking a mouthful as she stared out the window.
“Aren’s request is fair and holds to the rule of law of both your nations,” Keris finally said. “Guilty or not, Ahnna deserves a trial and the chance to speak her piece.” He hesitated, then added, “Have you heard word from Prince James?”
“No,” William responded even as Alexandra said, “Yes.”
William stiffened, looking to his mother in surprise. “You’ve heard from Jamie?”
“From his men. I didn’t wish to alarm you until I’d heard more, but…” Alexandra exhaled a long breath. “James was separated from his men by an avalanche that Ahnna set off. A malicious trap that was nearly the end of him. He’s not been heard from since.”
Fuck. “How do they know it was Ahnna who set off the avalanche? They happen naturally all the time.”
“Because she was seen fleeing the scene.” Alexandra didn’t turn from the window. “There is no doubt that it was her.”
Which, assuming this was the truth, meant that Ahnna was alive. Unless James had caught her.
Though it was possible she’d caught him.
William rested his head in his hands, and for all the conflict of sentiment the king of Harendell had for his half brother, his distress seemed legitimate. “If she hurts him, I’ll…I’ll…”
“How much more injury must we suffer, Your Highness?” Alexandra asked softly. “How many more attacks on my family and people must I endure until the proof of Ahnna’s guilt is sufficient for Aren to give us justice and condemn his sister? This is not the behavior of an ally.”
Given that Ahnna had acted to protect her family and then in self-defense, there was no chance of Aren turning on her.
“Ahnna’s actions are her own and not reflective of Ithicana,” Keris said, ignoring the thrum of anxiety rising in his veins, because everything was going wrong.
“Aren desires peace. Desires trade. Desires the bridge to serve to the benefit of all nations. It is imperative we keep level heads, lest those we rule suffer the consequences.”
“Your homeland already suffers the consequences.” Alexandra strode to the table and retrieved a folded piece of paper from a stack, tossing it before him. “It is a plea from Maridrina’s new parliament that we resume trade, because their famine has grown worse.”
Keris skimmed the document, his stomach souring at the desperate plea for grain and livestock.
At the account of fatalities and rise of disease.
Maridrina was always dancing with hunger, but all that had happened beneath his father’s rule, and his own, had put the nation in a state that it struggled to extract itself from. “Valcotta will—”
“Valcotta cannot aid.” Keris’s heart skipped as Alexandra withdrew another report, tossing it before him.
“Wasting disease in the cattle herds,” she said.
“Harendell knows that illness and we know it well. The empress will have to order mass culls to prevent the spread, and the dead animals will need to be burned, for infected meat is fatal. Valcotta will scarce be able to feed itself, much less Maridrina and Ithicana. Hunger will reign in the south, and it will be because Aren refuses to condemn a murderer. Every life lost is on his hands, so I ask you to urge him to reconsider his position.”
“If you care so much for civilians, then reopen trade and negotiate with civility,” Keris snapped. “Ithicana has acted in good faith and all Aren asks is for a chance to hear Ahnna’s testimony, but you won’t even commit to that. What is it that you are so worried she’ll say?”
“Obviously she’ll lie to try to save her own neck!” William leapt to his feet. “Why are you defending her, Veliant?”
“I’m not.” Keris met the king’s gaze. “But it troubles me that you will punish Aren, punish Ithicana, punish the whole fucking south for the actions of one woman. Whatever she did or did not do, Ithicana has only ever acted in good faith. Yet you treat them like the enemy!”
The door opened again and Keris nearly turned to curse at whoever had interrupted, but he bit his tongue when Cavendish stepped inside.
“We’ve received a report from Riomar.” His expression was grim.
“Taryn Kertell has arrived and is being treated as an honored guest alongside Bronwyn Veliant. Katarina has committed to returning both women to Ithicana. The Amaridians sing Ahnna’s name in the streets for killing King Edward.
” He drew in a deep breath. “But worse are the rumors gleaned by our spy in deep cover in Katarina’s palace.
King Aren has promised Amarid choice trade on the bridge if Katarina delivers Ahnna safely, and the Beast was set to the task.
” Cavendish’s throat moved as he swallowed.
“Carlo knows James is in the Blackreaches, and he aims to kill him.”
Every eye in the room slowly tracked to Keris.
“Ithicana has only ever acted in good faith,” William said softly. “And yet Aren conspires with our oldest and most dangerous enemy to steal justice from our grasp. Worse still, he has set the Beast to hunt my brother down.”
What could Keris say? It was a twisting of the truth, but no one here would believe Aren’s true intentions.
“Aren does not seek James’s death. If Katarina, or Carlo, takes advantage of circumstances, then that is between Harendell and Amarid.
One can hope that James had the wisdom not to cross the border. ”
All three of them were staring at him unblinking, and Keris was struck with the sudden certainty that he was a fly trapped in a spiderweb.
“Until this moment, I had been so certain that Aren had no involvement,” Alexandra finally said.
“I thought him a brother moved by grief, touched by his sister’s desire to protect him and his family.
That certainty fades the more we learn of the conspiracies to undermine my family and Harendell itself. ”
“He wasn’t involved.” The words came out from between Keris’s teeth.
“We know of Ithicana’s dire straits,” Alexandra replied, then took another sip of wine.
“We know they had aspirations for Harendell’s wealth, but it strikes me that they were looking to secure Amarid’s wealth as well.
They were playing both sides, and when Edward did not give Aren what he wanted, he climbed into bed with Amarid entirely.
The alliance is dead, and it is Ithicana who tore it to shreds. ”
Keris’s lips parted, but William cut him off before he could speak.
“Family or not, how can you defend him, Veliant? Maridrina is starving, and it is because of the Kertell family’s focus on satisfying their own impulses and self-interest. For generations, it has been said that trade hung on the Kertell family’s whim, but I think it’s time that ended.
They have proven themselves unfit in every possible way. ”
His hands felt like ice, because Keris could see where this was going. Could see how anger and the desire for vengeance had spiraled into ambition. How the oh-so-Harendellian eye for profit saw an opportunity. “What, precisely, are you suggesting?”
“We’ve suggested nothing,” Alexandra’s voice was cold as ice. “But Sarhina’s parliament has suggested abdication as the solution. It seems no one wants Aren Kertell to rule anymore. All his reign has brought is disaster and death.”
It had been the ambitions and greed of other nations that had brought disaster and ruin, but they already knew that.
This wasn’t about Aren, not anymore. It was about the fucking bridge.
“Abdicate to whom? Because I presume that you don’t aim for an infant princess to rule a nation.
Nor do I believe that you have another Ithicanian family in mind to wear the crown. ”
“It never made any sense for a structure dedicated to trade to be managed by a half-feral warrior nation,” Alexandra said.
“It requires the guiding hand of those with heads for business. Those who are governed by civility and who possess strong relationships with other nations. Those with the might to dissuade the sort of violence that plagues the bridge year after year.”
“Harendell.” Keris all but spat the word.
Alexandra lifted her glass and took a sip of her wine. “It is the logical choice.”
William shifted restlessly, betraying what Keris had already known: The king of Harendell was nothing more than a puppet played by his mother.
Keris met Alexandra’s green-eyed gaze, and though he’d always known she was a threat, he understood now that he’d sorely underestimated her.
She had the ambition of his father. The cleverness of the Magpie.
The skill at emotional manipulation of Petra.
But what made Alexandra Ashford dangerous was her capacity for calculated logic and patience.
“My father caught Ithicana off guard and infiltrated it from the inside, yet I can attest to the incredible toll in life and coffer that the invasion took upon my homeland. Would you bring the plight that plagues Maridrina down upon Harendell?”
“Don’t be ridiculous by suggesting that we’d pursue Silas Veliant’s strategies.
” Her smile was chilly. “If Aren is wise, he’ll abdicate to William without protest. If he is not, we will enforce a full blockade on the north and launch a campaign educating the Ithicanians that everything they suffer is a result of Aren’s desperate desire to cling to power.
His selfishness in putting his women above his people.
His ambition in courting the Crimson Widow.
I think it won’t be long until the Ithicanians bring us his head.
Trade will flow, and under William’s rule, all will be brought right in the world. The people will rejoice.”
And Alexandra could do it. Harendell was a titan with near-infinite resources, and courtesy of James and Lestara, it had Cardiff at its back.
“We do not wish death upon Aren and his family, despite the injuries that they have caused us.” Alexandra set down her glass, then rested her hand on William’s arm.
“You would be doing all nations, not just Ithicana, the greatest of services if you left us and traveled to meet with Aren. If you convinced him to make the wise and selfless choice to turn over power so that we are not driven to secondary measures.”
To leave would be the easiest. To board a ship and rejoin Aren and Lara, bringing with him what he’d learned. Except what good would that do them? Words would not save them. Advice would not save them. His sword arm certainly would not save them.
Then there was Zarrah and the challenges his wife would be facing in Valcotta.
His place was at her side, and that was where his heart was and where he wanted to be.
Except he knew what wearing the crown meant to Zarrah.
Knew that doing what was best for her people held a huge portion of her heart, and that meant he needed to do what was right for her crown.
And the bridge falling under Harendell’s control would benefit no one but Harendell.
He had to take every risk, make every sacrifice, to keep that from happening. That meant holding his ground, because within Verwyrd, he could snip away at the spider’s web from the inside.
And Keris knew exactly how he would start.