Chapter 62 Lara
Lara
On the journey to Midwatch, Ahnna and James relayed much of what had happened, including the depths of Alexandra’s alliance with Katarina.
“She was in league with Silas and Katarina,” Ahnna explained. “She paid for and supplied the weapons that were used in the attacks, and I’m sure that’s not the end of her involvement. But it goes back further than that—they worked together to murder James’s mother all those long years ago.”
It was a great deal to take in, the scope of the plots extraordinary, and yet Lara did not struggle to believe any of it.
Both queens were known to be conniving and clever, and with everything laid out before her, Lara felt only frustration at herself for not having seen through to the heart of it.
For not seeing how the two queens had used Keris, Bronwyn, and Taryn to manipulate her and Aren into trusting Amarid.
If Ahnna hadn’t arrived when she had, the grain would have been swiftly and efficiently distributed, and by the time they realized that it was poisoned, countless Ithicanians would have succumbed.
They’d have been easy pickings when the armies of the north swept in, the bridge taken almost without a fight, and she and Aren would have been unable to stop it, because they’d have succumbed to the poison.
The rain poured down on them as they sailed to Midwatch and into its familiar cove, thunder rumbling in the distance.
“I have orders to give. I’ll find you later,” Aren muttered, jumping into the water and wading to the beach without a backward glance. He was tense beyond measure, but Lara wasn’t certain how much of that was because of plots against them and how much was because of Ahnna’s betrothal to James.
Lara watched him go, knowing exactly where her husband was going and why.
James stepped into the water and held out a hand to Ahnna to help her out of the boat.
Ahnna took it with practiced grace, and Lara hid a smile at the small sign of the impact Harendell had made on her.
His grip on Ahnna lingered, his reluctance to let go of her palpable as he finally offered Lara a hand. “Your Grace.”
Lara took the offer, his grip strong and palm callused against hers.
Whatever he and Ahnna had endured had taken a toll on Harendell’s prince, but it struck Lara that this was a man who was at his best when the world was at its worst. He let go of her hand the moment her boots hit the beach, crossing his arms behind his back and silently following her and Ahnna.
“How bad a storm will it be?” Lara linked arms with her sister-in-law, watching Ahnna as she turned her face to the sky to regard the swirling clouds overhead.
“Still can’t read the weather?” Ahnna asked, but the bite that her words once would have held was absent, and Lara felt another rush of gratitude that Ithicana’s princess was home.
Other than Aren, there was no one she’d rather have fighting at her back.
Ahnna would look death straight in the eye and tell it to go fuck itself.
“Aren says I can’t read the weather to save my life.”
Ahnna smiled. “Just a thunderstorm, but I think there is a big one on its heels. The Amaridians pissed the tempests off.”
“Lia has sent word south of Katarina’s plot. They’ll keep up a ruse that all is well and accept the shipments, and those vessels will make it back to Amarid to inform Katarina her plan worked. They’ll assume the two missing ships were lost to the storm.”
“It won’t be long until she sends ships looking for proof of her successes. We have only as long as the tempests will give us.”
They fell silent as they walked toward the nearly empty barracks, every soldier who could be spared set to cleaning up the mess of the battle. Ahnna tugged on her arm to take her into the barracks, but Lara pulled back and jerked her chin up the well-worn path. “We’ll stay at the house.”
“What do you mean by house?” Ahnna lifted an eyebrow. “Because if you mean a tent pitched on the ashes of his tantrum, we’ll stay in the barracks.”
“A bit better than a tent.”
Lara examined Ahnna as they walked. Like James, she looked like she’d been to war, battered within an inch of her life.
Always lean, Ahnna was now painfully thin, her cheeks hollow and her eyes shadowed.
Whatever they’d been through had taken a toll, and it would take some time to hear the full story, if Ahnna was even willing to reveal it.
Sometimes it was easier to pretend certain horrors had never happened.
A soldier approached, and Lara let go of Ahnna’s arm as the man bent his head to her ear. “Taryn and Bronwyn have left, Your Grace. They went into the bridge with the aim of traveling to Maridrina.”
Lara clenched her teeth, irrationally angry at her sister for leaving without hearing the full explanation. Although maybe it was for the best. Maybe it was better for them to go somewhere far away from the war to come, where both of them might know peace. “Let them go.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” The soldier headed back down to the water, leaving her alone with James and Ahnna.
“They are right to be angry,” James said, wiping rain from his face. “I treated both of them like criminals. If one of them stabs me in the back, don’t hold it against them. It’s justified.”
His words struck a chord in Lara, because she understood all too well what it felt like to regret a choice that had felt right in the moment it was made.
How one almost longed for the punishment because it might offer some respite from the guilt that ate away at one’s insides.
“I wouldn’t hold it against either of them,” she finally replied.
“But I would hold them to account for violating my order.”
They carried onward up the path, this time in silence, and Lara took the opportunity to watch the two of them.
They walked close, James’s hand resting low on the small of Ahnna’s back, and she leaned into his touch.
He said something that Lara couldn’t quite catch, but Ahnna looked up at him and gave a soft laugh in a tone Lara had never heard her use before.
Yet it was James’s expression that made Lara’s breath catch—the softening of his typically rigid expression, amber eyes utterly entranced by Ahnna’s face.
As though there were no one else in the world.
Aren had not missed the mark in his assessment of James’s sentiment when he’d crossed paths with the pair in Verwyrd, but it struck Lara that what had been between the two then had grown tenfold in the time since.
Love, sure and true, and it hurt Lara’s own heart to know that both would suffer for it.
Ahnna abruptly stopped in her tracks. “You weren’t lying—this is much better than a tent.”
Lara rested her hands on her hips as she admired her house.
“On the way to Devil’s Island, Aren and I had a conversation in which he promised to rebuild the Midwatch house.
Given how lean our resources were, it wasn’t a priority, but somehow the Midwatch garrison got word of it.
They rebuilt the house with their own hands, using wood from Ithicana’s trees and a lot of favors, and surprised us both with it. ”
“Well, there you go,” Ahnna said. “Proof that at least a few of your people don’t hate you. Either that, or they’re kissing your ass to stay on your good side.”
A laugh tore from Lara’s lips, the first in far too long, and she gave Ahnna a shove. “I take it back. I’m not glad you’re home.”
They carried on to the main doors, the guards flanking them grinning at the sight of their princess and voicing their pleasure at her return, although both gave James suspicious glares.
“Aren will be with Delia, likely in the library,” Lara told Ahnna, and then she leveled a finger at James. “You, with me. That needs to be stitched before you bleed all over my house.”
James’s eyes went to Ahnna, but she nodded. “You’ll be safe enough. Just don’t turn your back on her.” She gave Lara a wink.
Lara scoffed. “Better me than Nana.”
“Is she in Midwatch?” Ahnna had tensed at the mention of her grandmother, her eyes searching the halls as though she expected Amelie to explode into view and immediately begin berating her. A foolish fear, because the old harridan always waited until you least expected her.
“She goes everywhere Delia goes. How else can she criticize every choice I make?” Lara rolled her eyes. “But she was off island today, so maybe you’ll get lucky and have some respite.”
“I won’t count on it.” Without another word, Ahnna headed down the hallway to the library.
“We can do this in the dining room,” Lara said to James. “It won’t take long.”
She left him in the large room staring at Vitex while she retrieved medical supplies and asked the servants to secure fresh clothes for both James and Ahnna, as well as any other items they might need.
When she returned to the dining room, Vitex was weaving between James’s legs, purring at top volume.
“Interesting choice of pet.”
“He makes short work of any snakes that find their way inside the house,” she answered. “Be sure to check the bedsheets before you get in. Shoo!”
Vitex hissed at her and Lara hissed back, watching as the cat scuttled off to find Aren, whom he favored. “On the table, please.”
“With respect, Your Grace, I’m filthy and not fit for your dining room.
” James crossed his arms behind his back, and Lara was struck with how, despite being filthy, unshaven, and bedraggled, James Ashford looked undeniably like the prince and soldier that he was.
Possessed of a quiet gravitas that she suspected served him well on the battlefield.
Not just a prince, she reminded herself. He’s the rightful king of Harendell.