Chapter 82 Keris
Keris
Keris stood at the window, staring out at the clouds surrounding the Sky Palace, his fourth drink of the day in hand.
They were dead.
Lestara had arrived bearing the truth of what had happened in Ithicana.
Poisoned grain and corpses littered through the bridge, Amarid gleefully taking advantage of Harendell’s ignorance.
All of Verwyrd was screaming outrage, and William had apparently sent ships to trap Katarina as she tried to make a deal with the Maridrinians.
She was to be killed on sight for crimes against humanity.
But her death would not bring his family back.
The family dead at the hands of the queen Keris had pushed them to ally with, and there was a big part of him that wanted to open the window and take the long fall so as to escape the burden of guilt weighing upon his soul.
Thud.
Keris flinched, then realized the noise was not a body hitting stone but the door shutting behind him. Familiar footfalls filled his ears, then Zarrah wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his back.
“We don’t know for sure that they’re dead,” she said softly. “It’s possible that they’re in hiding, regrouping, and we need to put our heads toward how to aid them.”
“Of Lara, I might believe that. She’s strategic and is willing to bide her time.
” Keris swallowed a mouthful, the liquor burning down his throat.
“But Aren would not hide while his people died. He wouldn’t hide while Amarid spread across Ithicana.
And to fool Amarid, there would need to be corpses.
You can’t fake corpses. How do we know that one of those tiny graves isn’t—” Keris broke off, unable to say it.
“Delia is too young to eat bread, so banish that thought.” Zarrah’s breath caught, and he felt the dampness of tears soaking through his shirt. “Do not discount them just yet.”
“It’s my fault.” Not allowing his wife to respond, he added, “I came here to be the eyes and ears on the enemy, but I was so obsessed with Alexandra’s endgame that I lost sight of how opportunistic Katarina can be.”
“No one dreamed that Katarina would poison an entire nation. Even Alexandra was stunned. You saw her expression when Lestara revealed what Ronan had learned, and no one knows Amarid better than Harendell.” Zarrah drew in a ragged breath.
“I was no better in my obsession with undermining Lestara. Everyone discounted Katarina, and she took advantage. Except—” She broke off with an aggrieved noise, then took the glass from his hand and drained it.
“Except what?” He went to the decanter on the table and poured another, refilling hers.
“Except it doesn’t make sense.” Zarrah paced the room, riding boots thudding against the carpet, her brown curls bouncing against her shoulders.
“Katarina had to know that Harendell would eventually find out what she’d done and retaliate.
She had to know that she’d have no chance against them, especially with the Cardiffian alliance.
Why would she risk outright war with Harendell for a few weeks of control over the bridge? ”
Keris lifted one shoulder. “She risked Harendell’s wrath when she allied with my father to invade Ithicana. Harendell could easily have retaliated, which, ultimately, it did. Edward himself led the siege on Northwatch. That I’d already arranged for it to be empty does not negate his intent.”
“Even so, it was bold of her.” Zarrah pursed her lips. “Katarina is like a spider hunting in the shadows. She likes sure bets and has little tolerance for risk, yet twice now she has tempted Harendell’s wrath. Why? Why isn’t she afraid?”
Keris abruptly stiffened, the wheels in his mind turning, only for his hands to turn to ice as memory washed over him.
A vision of the cart trundling through the bridge toward the entourage his father had assigned him.
The men had all stood as it approached, more sober than they had any right to be.
All of them looking anywhere but at the wagon.
His skin pricked as it had in that moment, and in his memory, he asked, “What’s in that wagon?”
Raina’s voice, clear as a bell. “Goods from Harendell. Steel, likely.”
She’d been right. The wagon was full of weapons honed to a razor edge, one of which had killed her. Keris had always assumed that the weapons were put into position using bribes, but he’d not stopped to consider who had been bribed.
Or by whom.
“Alexandra supplied the weapons for my father’s invasion.
An alliance among Maridrina, Amarid, and Harendell, though Edward was unaware.
” The rightness of it radiated through him.
“And the alliance didn’t die with my father.
Katarina and Alexandra are working together.
Or at least, they were until Lestara returned and threw their plans into disarray.
” Keris slammed his glass down on the table and started for the door.
“I’m going to kill that murderous bitch. ”
Zarrah caught hold of him, dragging him back. “Not like this. We need to be clever. Need to somehow get the word out of this cursed palace of what she’s done, otherwise the only thing we’ll achieve is our own deaths.”
The door to the suite swung open, and Cavendish stepped inside. “Veliant, you’ve been summoned. Her Imperial Majesty can remain here.”
He didn’t want to be separated from Zarrah, but she gave him a tight nod. “Go.”
Well aware that he might be walking toward his own murder, Keris scooped Fiona up and tucked her under one arm. “Prove your worth,” he muttered to the dog, then followed Cavendish out of the room.
Cavendish took Keris to the throne room, and to his surprise, it was full of nobles.
Until now, Alexandra had kept him and Zarrah entirely separate, treating his suite of rooms like a prison cell.
To the best of his knowledge, no one outside Alexandra, William, and their inner circle were aware that Zarrah was in Harendell.
William sat on his throne, Lestara on a throne slightly below him, hand pressed against her stomach. But Keris’s focus was all for Alexandra, who sat on a chair next to the dais surrounded by her ladies.
Fiona gave a small yip, and Keris smoothed her fur as he said under his breath, “You’re right. She’s the worst poison of all.”
Alexandra’s eyes locked with his.
Don’t react, he ordered himself even as his fingers itched to wrap around her throat.
The dowager queen gave a tight smile as he approached, the scar across her face twisting. “It is good to see you up and about, Your Highness. Grief drives many into the solitude of a wineglass.”
“Wine isn’t quite strong enough,” he answered. “I prefer the taste of revenge.”
Before she could answer, William stood and gave a small cough. “You’ve all been gathered here today because we wish to announce that the Crimson Widow has been caught red-handed in Ithicana attempting to negotiate a deal with the Maridrinians to restart the flow of trade.”
Murmurs spread across the throne room, but William held up a hand.
“I will not deny that our conflict with Ithicana allowed Amarid the opportunity to take advantage. Through duplicity, Katarina manipulated King Aren’s desperation, and using the coward’s method of poison, she slaughtered thousands of Ithicanian men, women, and children.
She attempted to conceal her act beneath the guise of plague, but the truth always outs. ”
Just then, the door to the throne room swung open, and a large Cardiffian man strode into the room.
“His Royal Majesty, King Ronan of Cardiff!” the herald shouted out, the man looking horrified at the breach of protocol.
Ronan resembled his murdered brother, Cormac, but larger.
His dark hair was heavily laced with gray, his skin weathered, and though Harendell was warm, he wore heavy furs.
Around his neck he wore a necklace of steel that depicted what was surely his family’s constellation, and on his head, he wore a crown formed of bone.
“Father!” Lestara stood, then winced, pressing one hand to her stomach. “What are you doing here?”
Ronan ignored her and strode toward the dais. He stopped only because soldiers moved to intercept, though he paid them little mind as he raised a finger and pointed at Alexandra. “Murderer.”
Gasps broke out through the room, and Keris fought a smile as Alexandra’s eyes widened with shock.
William rose to his feet. “You will mind your tongue when you speak to the dowager queen of Harendell, or you will find yourself without it.”
Ronan scoffed, then spat on the floor in front of Alexandra, who remained seated. “You would defend this woman? She is a murderer. A liar. A traitor.”
Swords drew all around, Harendellian soldiers baring their blades, but Ronan only looked on with scorn.
“Shall I list your crimes, Alexandra? Shall I list the horrors that your secret alliance with Katarina has inflicted? The murder of my sister. Supplying Silas Veliant’s invasion with weapons.
Poisoning Ithicana to take its bridge.” His eyes panned the crowd of shocked nobles.
“All things you pissants would forgive, but there is one transgression that might steel your spine against this villainess: the murder of King Edward of Harendell.”
Shock stole the breath from Keris’s chest, and the whispers and mutters in the room went silent all at once.
“Are you mad?” William finally asked, seemingly as stunned at the accusation as everyone else. “Ahnna Kertell murdered my father, and then attacked my mother. There were witnesses. James—”
“It was James who told me the truth.”
William’s jaw dropped, but Alexandra gave a slow shake of her head as though this development was not unexpected.
“James is alive?” William demanded. “Where is he?”
“You might ask Lestara that question given that he stole her from under my very nose and brought her back to Verwyrd. It strikes me that she has only given you pieces of the truth.”