Chapter Twenty-Four #2
Aemyra whipped her head around and pointed to the paddle on the floor.
“The priests believe your Savior to be merciful, which is why they feel entitled to commit crimes and ask forgiveness afterward. The Goddesses do not forgive so easily, and neither do I.” She eyed Catriona.
“Hela help your father when I find him.”
Maggie was cradling her bump, brown eyes wide as she surveyed the corpses littering the floor of the drawing room. Aemyra hoped the stress wouldn’t adversely affect the babe.
“Are you all right?” Aemyra asked, tempering her tone.
The princess wore a dark green dress that had clearly seen better days, her bump well hidden under the layers of fabric.
Maggie seemed shaken, but she was not as cutting as Elizabeth when she said, “We have survived thus far.”
Elizabeth made a scathing noise in the back of her throat and her right hand clutched the Savior’s pendant against her dirty dress at the sounds of a skirmish breaking out on the floor below.
“My army is liberating the town. We’ve come to save you,” Aemyra said.
Elizabeth’s laugh was a nasty thing.
“The woman who killed Evander and Fiorean wishes to save us! Don’t bother, our souls have already been saved. The Savior sees all,” Elizabeth replied, tossing her matted golden hair over one shoulder.
“By the Goddess, I will gag you,” Aemyra threatened, eyeing Elizabeth’s long nails warily. The woman could claw like a cat.
But the mention of Evander had Aemyra glancing around the room. “Where is Charlotte?” she asked.
Maggie’s wobbling bottom lip and the ice in Elizabeth’s eyes told her enough. With the scent of blood burning her nostrils, Aemyra fought her gag reflex as she thought of all the senseless death she had caused.
Knowing she was hardly less violent than the priests who had been keeping these women captive, Aemyra proceeded carefully, wondering how in Hela’s realm she would get them to trust her now.
“I know you must loathe me for Fiorean’s death, but you left àird Lasair for a reason. Why?”
There was a long silence, punctuated by the sound of thundering hooves outside and the whistle of air through phoenix wings as Riya’s warriors circled high above.
Maggie reached out as if to touch Aemyra’s arm and then recoiled at the crusted blood.
“Don’t,” Elizabeth warned.
A pained look crossed Maggie’s face before she began to speak. “The day of the battle of àird Lasair, Alfred convinced us to lock the children in the nursery for their own safety. When the wall was breached, we all gathered in the throne room in the hopes of drawing you away from them.”
“No offense, but why did any of you think I would target the children?” Aemyra asked.
“Did you forget that my boy was poisoned?” Elizabeth asked. “Dear Charlotte’s children too?”
“If you were so concerned for them, why didn’t you stay?” Aemyra retaliated.
Maggie drew in a shaking breath. “Because after the battle was over, Alfred told us we had to remain in the tower under guard. When we were let out, Caisteal Lasair was not as it once was. Covenanters had replaced the guards, our husbands were gone, and no one would let us see our children.”
Catriona was watching the exchange carefully, slender neck swiveling.
“It’s not very nice being a prisoner, is it?” Aemyra asked. “Even though you weren’t wearing shackles, Alfred found ways to make you behave.”
When all three women shuddered at the mention of the priest’s name, Aemyra’s recent suspicions were confirmed. The fact none of the royal children had been seen in months, Fiorean’s brothers conveniently disappearing…
For their sakes, Aemyra hoped Nael and Elear were still alive. Elizabeth wasn’t her favorite person, but she didn’t deserve to lose her husband.
Elizabeth’s eyes were glacial. “Fiorean had a plan to get us all to safety.”
Aemyra scoffed, turning her back on the women. She had expected their contempt, but she didn’t want to hear them excuse Fiorean’s behavior. No matter how much he had helped his family, he had still betrayed her, had still thought he would make a better king than she a queen.
Maggie stepped forward. “Mother Katherine went first, under the guise of seeking aid from her father, then Fiorean managed to accelerate the plan to get us out, and we were supposed to meet him in Balnain but…”
Elizabeth silenced Maggie with a glare. Evidently not trusting Aemyra with whatever information they held.
Through gritted teeth, Aemyra replied, “Fiorean took my throne, publicly denounced my claim, and styled himself as king.”
“So you killed him,” Elizabeth said, her face tense.
“He sided with Alfred instead of his queen!”
“You were his wife,” Maggie said.
“Is that supposed to make a betrayal better?!” Aemyra shouted.
All three women flinched, but Aemyra would not let this go.
The moment Alfred had declared himself Almighty, Aemyra had known who was really to blame.
No doubt this had been the Athair’s plan all along, ever since he had journeyed to Tìr Teine more than twenty years ago with Katherine.
She took a breath and readied herself to confirm her suspicions.
“Dragons cannot be defeated by priests, so Alfred infiltrated the Teine court with Katherine instead. Using King Haedren’s madness to their advantage, he turned the heirs to the throne against the Goddesses, including Fiorean.”
Elizabeth scoffed and Aemyra felt her patience thin.
“Tell me. The man who locked your children in the nursery, who kidnapped your husbands, who used Fiorean’s love for his family to win his allegiance—do you think he would also be capable of poisoning innocents to frame the very woman he wished to paint as the enemy?” Aemyra asked.
Maggie and Elizabeth exchanged a look.
“My father’s spy may have admitted to poisoning the children, but who gave the order?” Aemyra asked.
Elizabeth paled and Aemyra knew she was right.
The children’s deaths had coincided with every moment she had fought back against Alfred.
For every reckless comment, for every battle of wills, a young prince had died.
The brambles might not grow within the gardens of Caisteal Lasair, but any one of Alfred’s priests could have picked them from the hedgerows outside the city.
“Poison is the weapon of cowards,” she muttered.
Alfred was the biggest coward she knew.
Maggie’s gentle voice cut through the tension. “We saw it too late.”
Softening her tone, Aemyra knew she would only get the information she desired by keeping her temper.
“I am more sorry than you know for all that has transpired these last months, but you are away from that court now. Fiorean is dead, I will kill Alfred, and Katherine got herself shipwrecked. They cannot harm you again.”
Maggie and Elizabeth gasped.
“What news of mother Katherine?”
“We have not received word since she left the city.”
Crossing her arms over her golden breastplate, Aemyra looked upon the three women who might just be about to win her a war.
As the sounds of Adarian’s cavalry cutting their way through the town floated up through the broken window, she dragged a grimy chair away from the door and sat down, resting her elbows on her knees.
“I think it’s time we tried to be honest with one another.”