Chapter 40 #2
Messer looks around the room at us, meeting each of our gazes one by one, checking to make sure we’re ready before crossing the entrance hall to open the front door.
My heart thunders in my chest, my hand like a vice around Acker’s.
I hear Kai’s voice a moment before he steps inside.
He pushes the blonde strands of his wet hair away from his face, his boots squeaking on the stone floor as he stands aside to make room for the person behind him to follow.
I’m unprepared for the sight of Aurora when she comes through the front door.
My eyes move to Messer, wondering why he didn’t warn me, as he greets the two of them with an easy smile.
“You must be freezing,” he says, holding out a hand toward them and gesturing to the room where the rest of us wait with the other. “Let me take your coats and I’ll hang them by the fire to dry.”
Aurora’s gaze is sharp as she takes inventory of the room.
The girl I trained with and sparred against in Alaha was already intimidating, her presence alone enough to make the boys in our class shake in their boots.
But now? Her brown eyes are downright lethal.
But as she looks at Kai—her husband—it’s clear as day that she holds affection for him in the way her eyes soften just a little bit, just for him.
I don’t want to be suspicious, but it feels like it’s crawling up my back like a spider and I’m just trying to convince myself it’s a figment of my imagination.
Just because I never saw this type of reaction from Aurora during our time in Alaha doesn’t mean she’s incapable of it now.
It’s normal for someone to seek reassurance from their spouse in tough situations.
Kai’s eyes sweep the room, assessing, before stopping on me.
He holds my stare. The boy I grew up with is unmistakably a man now.
Stubble coats his chin, sharper now, less round.
He’s the same, but different. Familiar, but not.
It’s been years since he’s returned to land and in all of that time he’s spent it at the front lines of a war.
“Brynn,” he says, dipping his head in a customary Kenta greeting.
I’m prepared for Acker to correct him, but I’m surprised when it comes from Messer instead. “It’s Jo now,” he says, offering a congenial smile as he finishes hanging the coats on the mantle.
“My apologies,” Kai says. “Jo.” My name sounds awkward on his tongue.
I offer a small smile in return. “None needed.”
Silence stretches out as Kai’s eyes dip to my hand in Acker’s, before he looks away. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until it hisses from me through clenched teeth.
There are too many emotions inside me to pinpoint if any are out of place, foreign, but I’m relieved to know I’m at least not instantly infatuated with him.
Messer, acting as our unofficial liaison, motions to the empty seating. “Please, sit,” he says.
Kai and Aurora move in tandem to the settee Messer had abandoned.
Aurora is shivering, and there’s no missing the way Kai places a comforting hand on her thigh.
It’s a gratuitous show of affection coming from someone used to Alaha’s conservative customs, and I’m convinced he’s trying to bait one of us into a reaction. Which of us is yet to be determined.
But Messer doesn’t react, his smile firmly fixed in place. “Would you like anything to drink? We have wine, spirits—”
“With respect, I’d like to skip the formalities,” Kai cuts him off, tone serious.
“Due to a high number of anonymous messages declaring my father as the rightful king of Kenta currently spreading throughout the territory and beyond, he’s currently ensconced in a meeting with Edmond and his council, where they’ll decide his fate.
If they banish him from Kenta, he’ll be forced to return to the Alaha camp, where he’ll discover my absence. ”
In other words, we need to make this quick.
Everyone in our group turns toward Acker and me. Fredrich, from his place at the bar, Irina’s as she continues to lounge on the other settee, and Messer, standing beside us.
No. Not in our direction, but mine. Acker looks at me with the same expectation as the others. “You’re the only person here who actually wears a crown,” he explains.
I don’t so much as blink for long moments, as I come to the realization that they planned this. I let my eyes convey my vexation, darting to Messer and Fredrich, but conclude there’s nothing I can do about it now. Not now everyone awaits my lead.
Letting my hand slip from Acker’s, I sit in one of the high-backed chairs set to the side of the hearth, facing away from the fire and into the room.
Acker takes the seat next to mine, posture relaxed as he sinks into the plush seat.
Crossing an ankle over his knee, he retrieves a dagger from across the room, the hilt spinning in his hand in an obvious show of his gift.
I give him a pointed look and he winks at me, and it somehow works to settle my nerves.
I’m not sure why they thought I have any chance of swaying Kai into an alliance, especially as I’m the person who didn’t, couldn’t, follow through with the first arrangement we had.
“I assume since you’re here regardless of the circumstances with your father,” I say, meeting Kai’s eyes, once gray, but now blue after his return to land. “That means you have a vested interest in this alliance.”
He leans forward, threading his fingers together over his bent knees. “I’m interested in an alliance with you and the princess of Strou,” he clarifies.
I lift a brow at the boy I once thought I’d marry. “Messer said you want Acker’s throne.”
“That’s correct,” he says.
“Your condition is a little counterintuitive, don’t you think?”
“Oh?” he asks, eyes narrowing slightly. “How so?”
I shrug, as if the answer is obvious. “Acker’s my Match. If you’re in an alliance with me, you’re in an alliance with him. Or maybe you’re unaware of how a true Matching Bond works.”
There’s no outward change to his expression, but I still know him well enough to see how little he likes his intelligence being questioned. “Last I heard, you two weren’t on good terms. May I ask what changed?”
“Or is that just what we’ve led everyone to believe?” I can practically hear Irina’s words from earlier about how much I lie. “Maybe you should be questioning who’s been feeding you such information.”
His eyes flick to Acker beside me, assessing. “I want the Kenta throne. Acker being your Match is of little consequence to me.”
“And if I did concede my seat?” Acker asks, refusing to look at me when my head whips in his direction. “What would you do with it?”
Kai’s focus moves to Acker for the first time. “Assuming my father is dealt with, I’d rule over Kenta and Roison as a whole.”
Acker scoffs. “Is Chryse’s territory not enough for you? Roison holds the majority of this entire landmass.”
“My people have lived in the confines of a tree grove for decades. I didn’t take them out of it just to turn around and cram them into whatever leftovers we can find of an already established territory.”
“It’s going to be difficult to integrate an entire population in with the Kenta,” I interject. “You’d have better success negotiating new boundary lines.”
Kai’s gaze hardens. “So, we can have less housing and resources than those within the cities?”
I can practically hear Acker’s molars grinding over the crackling fire.
Even Messer has lost some of his carefully constructed enthusiasm. He kicks off the mantle. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to get myself a drink.”
Behind Kai and Aurora’s place on the settee, Fredrich reaches behind the bar and grabs a bottle of wine and a glass. His pour is heavy, but Messer doesn’t let it go to waste, swallowing half the liquid in one gulp.
He lets out a sigh as he inspects the glass. “Is everyone sure they don’t want a drink? I feel like it could be really beneficial for all of us.”
Aurora darts a look over her shoulder at Messer before sharing a look with Kai.
There’s a twitch at the corner of his mouth, a smile threatening to peek through.
It’s the proof that I needed that this isn’t a stranger sitting before me, but a friend I once knew.
Someone who shared laughter at Messer’s outlandish behavior.
“What if all of us agree to integrate your people across all territories,” I say, drawing Kai’s attention back to the task at hand. “More than a handful have already found their way to Maile.”
Any lingering humor on his face vanishes. “Then where does that leave me?”
“Well, which is it?” Acker asks, fiddling with the dagger. “Is it power you seek, or a better life for your people?”
Kai doesn’t shrink from Acker’s assessment.
If anything, it emboldens him. “As someone who refuses to relinquish their own throne, the same could be asked of you,” he challenges.
“Or is serving at your wife’s side not enough for you?
” To add injury to insult, Kai’s gaze volleys between me and Irina. “Whoever it is you prefer.”
His words are cutting and I’m fairly sure I feel them in the pit of my stomach.
A series of images flash across my mind.
Acker’s hand as he readies the dagger in his grip.
Its release. The blade flying through the air toward Kai.
It hits its mark, through one of his eye sockets.
Blood spurts all over his wife at his side as she screams in terror before he slinks back against the couch. Dead.
Heart hammering in my chest, I blink away the scene, only to find nothing amiss.
Kai remains seated and unharmed across from me, eyes intact, not a speck of blood in sight.
I whip my head toward Acker who meets my gaze with a concerned pinch of his brow.
As if I’m the one on the verge of killing someone and not him.