Chapter 64 Ahnna
Ahnna
“Ahnna?” Nana’s voice filtered through the house.
Ahnna held up a finger to her lips as her grandmother exploded into the library, glad to have Delia as a line of defense against the storm that was the woman who’d raised her. But Nana only stepped back into the hallway and shouted, “Lara!”
Delia did not so much as stir at the noise, and a few moments later, Ahnna heard the soft pat of boots against the floor, and Lara appeared. Her eyes were slightly puffy, and she said nothing as she took Delia from Ahnna’s arms. “He’s fine. Just a few stitches.”
“Who is fine?” Nana demanded. “Never mind. It’s the tall lad Aren escaped around the corner with, isn’t it? Let me guess: The Harendellian bastard prince has abandoned family, king, and country to fall between your skinny legs.”
Ahnna sighed. “His name is James.”
“As though his name matters. It’s his face and his cock that have you making foolish choices, you idiot girl. Stupid, reckless child.”
Normally each of her grandmother’s harsh words would be a punch to the stomach, but all Ahnna saw were the tears streaming down Nana’s wrinkled face.
Not once in her life had she witnessed her grandmother cry like this.
Not when Ahnna’s father had died. Not when Aren had been kidnapped.
Not in any of the catastrophes that Amelie had nursed Ithicana’s people through.
Yet here she stood, sobbing so violently that Ahnna feared she might drop to the floor from heart failure. “Nana, are you well?”
“I’m fine,” her grandmother snapped through sobs. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Getting to her feet, Ahnna gripped her grandmother’s arms. “Because you’re crying.”
“Don’t be daft.” Nana wiped at her face. “I just came out of the rain, and I’m sweating because I was forced to run up that murderous hill.”
Every word came out between sobs, and Ahnna nearly fainted in shock as her grandmother flung her arms around Ahnna’s waist, clinging to her. “But you’re alive, my beautiful girl. Alive against every odd, which means there is hope left. If you are here, there is hope.”
It was suddenly hard to breathe, and Ahnna rested a hand on her grandmother’s shoulder even as she met Lara’s gaze over the old woman’s head. Lara gave her a sad smile, then said, “I’ll make sure your room is ready and find you some fresh clothes.”
Lara’s expression more than Nana’s tears filled Ahnna with unease, and her skin prickled as the library door clicked shut.
Nana had regained some of her composure, and she pushed away, wiping her face with her sleeve. “Well? Let me have a look at you, then.”
She reached up to push back Ahnna’s top lip, then ran her hands down Ahnna’s sides before making a noise of disgust. “Good God, girl. It looks like the only thing that’s whole is your teeth.
When was the last time you ate a good meal?
You’re skin and bones. A walking skeleton.
” With practiced hands, she pulled off the remains of Ahnna’s splint and checked the break.
“It’s healed, but no swordplay at least another week so the bone has time to get strong. And I mean both sorts of swordplay.”
Ahnna’s face burned hot at the implication. “I—”
She broke off with a strangled yelp as her grandmother squeezed one of her breasts and then declared, “Not pregnant, at least.”
“I could have told you that!”
“You know that if you ate more, you’d have bigger tits. This lad must be one for the legs if he’s followed you into this storm, because it wasn’t for those mosquito bites. Now let me see the rest of you.”
Her grandmother had subjected her to this sort of treatment all of her life and Ahnna had always taken it quietly, but she found she’d lost her patience for it. “Enough, Nana. I’m well enough to fight, and that’s what matters, isn’t it?”
Nana blew a long breath out from between her teeth, then gave a tight nod.
“Lia gave me the sum of things on my way up the hill, but I bring dark news with me. I was somewhat north of here, so I received word about the poisoned grain. Hundreds are dead, and though Aster’s soldiers were able to spread the warning swiftly, more will die.
The commanders are coming to Midwatch, but it’s not war they’re going to ask Aren for, my girl. It’s surrender.”
Ahnna very nearly doubled over, the word like a blow to her gut. “What?”
“Never in my life did I think that the Ithicanian spirit would break, and if you had told me that it would be poisoned bread that would do it, I’d have called you mad.
” Nana drew in a steadying breath. “But it has happened. Spirits in the north are broken, and I think the sentiment will sweep south down the bridge and into Eranahl until all demand that your brother abdicate. They no longer believe the bridge and the life that comes with it is worth the toil. Better to give up power to William and allow the might of Harendell to provide, or to flee south into Maridrina or Valcotta to build new lives where death does not knock every hour.”
Ahnna’s ass rushed down to meet the sofa, her knees having betrayed her. “No!”
Nana moved to sit next to her, taking Ahnna’s hand and squeezing it tight. “Knowing that you are here may rally their spirits, Ahnna. Knowing that you are alive and fighting on their behalf might bolster their support for your brother’s reign.”
What was one sword? One sword swung by an arm not fully mended. “Might?”
Her grandmother’s shoulders slumped, and it struck Ahnna that Amelie had grown old in her absence.
Old in a way that spoke to an end. “I do not think we can win this fight, my darling girl. Not even with you at your brother’s side.
Maridrina was a bothersome fly in comparison with the hammer that is Harendell, and they have Cardiff and Amarid at their backs.
We stand alone, Maridrina too weak and unwilling, and Valcotta silent as they face their own obstacles.
If there is hope, it is as thin as a spider’s web. ”
Logically, Ahnna had known how dire the situation was.
Known that even if she made it back to Ithicana in time to foil Katarina’s scheme with the poison, it wouldn’t end the war.
The two northern queens would merely switch tactics, and when the storms eased, it would be a War Tides unlike any before.
Ithicana didn’t have enough soldiers, didn’t have enough weapons, didn’t have enough of anything it needed to fight back against a united North. It just wasn’t possible.
Yet the thought that her people would give up or that Aren would abdicate hadn’t even crossed her mind, because Ithicana’s will to endure had never wavered.
“Ahnna, do you see a way through this? Do you see something that I do not, because…” Nana broke off with a choked sob. “Can you save us?”
Ahnna found herself staring at her grandmother’s hand. It had always seemed so strong and capable, yet it was now fragile in her own scarred grip.
“I can’t save us,” Ahnna whispered softly, ignoring the way her heart wept at what she was about to say. “There is only one person who has the power to save Ithicana.”
Except she wasn’t certain that James was willing to pay the price.