Thirty-Five
CHARIS’S WORDS ECHOED throughout the dining room, and for an instant everyone blinked in surprise. An instant was all Charis needed.
Standing in her bloodstained skirt, Reuben’s loss and Nalani’s fate carving a hole into her, she raised her wineglass and said, “To King Alaric and his family for their continued interest in peace between our kingdoms.”
The crowd of nobles, though still in a state of shock, were well trained in royal etiquette. Most of them grabbed their glasses, raised them, and mumbled, “To King Alaric and his family!” before taking a sip. Charis sipped as well and watched Ferris, whose face was a rather unbecoming shade of pink, take a hurried swallow so that he wouldn’t stand out.
Lord Everly rose from his seat. “I really think—”
Charis raised her glass again, fury a brilliant fire coursing through her. “And to the loyal Calerans who embraced me as their queen and never lost faith that I would free our kingdom from tyranny.”
Queen Bai’elsha stirred in her chair, her goblet untouched—did Rakuuna even drink wine? It didn’t matter. Charis had something entirely different planned for her.
The nobles once again raised their glasses, but the murmur of “To loyal Calerans” was far less enthusiastic than their response to the first toast.
Fine by Charis. Every person who’d given the Everlys any shred of confidence in their coup had Nalani’s blood on their hands. Her words weren’t meant to make them comfortable.
Barely waiting for those around her to finish swallowing, she lifted her goblet again and said in a voice that shook with rage, “And to the Everlys, who took it upon themselves to speak for me to King Alaric and work with Queen Bai’elsha of Te’ash without my knowledge.”
This time, her words caused a ripple of consternation, starting with Lady Everly, who choked on the sip of wine she’d just tried to swallow. People glanced nervously at each other and then hesitantly said, “To the Everlys.”
It wasn’t lost on any of them that Charis had separated the Everlys from her mention of loyal Calerans. Or that she’d said they had spoken for her without her permission. The line was drawn, and those who decided to support the Everlys now did so in obvious defiance of their true queen.
“I am an heir. I spoke for you because you left us.” Ferris held his glass in a crushing grip.
“And finally.” Charis lifted her goblet once more. The pale pink liquid was almost half-gone. “Finally, a toast to the Rakuuna, who could have simply asked us to help them negotiate a shipment of jewels from Montevallo but instead decided to sink our ships, invade our lands, kill our royal family, and hold us captive until tonight. Strange how a queen so desperate for the jewel she needs to make medicine for her people would turn down multiple offers of that help months ago, but who am I to criticize how little another queen values her people?”
The consternation in the room slid toward pandemonium. Nobles took hasty sips from their goblets, though most of them couldn’t force their mouths to form the words that would bring honor to the Rakuuna. Queen Bai’elsha had risen to her feet in a lithe, fluid motion that reminded Charis just how fast the creatures could move.
She was playing a cat and mouse game with death, winner take all.
“That’s enough.” Ferris slapped his half-full goblet onto the table and grabbed her arm.
“I agree.” Charis set her own glass down and turned on him. “You’ve gone far enough. No more charades, Ferris. Show us who you really are.”
Ferris pushed on her arm, trying to get her to sit down, but Charis was fueled by rage and desperation, and she wasn’t going down until she no longer had the strength to stand.
Apparently realizing the futility of his actions, Ferris changed course. Turning to the room, he shook his head and said in a tone bleeding with regret, “I’m afraid Father and I cannot let this wedding go forward without revealing some rather distressing information we’ve come across.”
King Alaric leaned forward, dark eyes boring into Charis. She lifted her chin, and the corner of his mouth curved upward in a knowing smirk she’d seen on his son a hundred times.
He knew she was up to something, and he was watching it play out because the outcome didn’t matter to him as long as a Caleran heir was ready to marry one of his children and assume the throne.
Lord Everly cleared his throat, tugged his dress coat into place, and spoke with the same gravity with which he’d used to open Mother’s royal council meetings. “I regret that we must speak out in such a public setting, but Charis’s actions leave us little choice.”
Charis bared her teeth in a vicious smile. “Let’s discuss your actions, shall we? Let’s tell everyone here the truth.”
Ferris leaned close and whispered, “Stop this, or I will order the Rakuuna to kill your precious Tal.”
Charis met his eyes and said in a voice dripping with contempt, “You don’t give orders, Ferris. Your father does. You have no power here, and we both know it. Now, be quiet; the adults are talking.”
Ferris would break. He had to. Otherwise, the only weapons she had to fight against the Everlys’ accusations were words, and that wouldn’t be enough to overcome the fact that unarmed Calerans had just been killed in her name.
Lord Everly’s voice shook with fervor. “It is my solemn duty to inform both King Alaric and the esteemed nobles of this court that evidence has come to light that Charis Willowthorn allied herself with Lady Channing and the Rakuuna months ago in a treasonous plot to kill her own parents and take over this kingdom by force.”
It was one thing to know what the Everlys would say about her to make their case. It was another to hear herself accused of coldly arranging the deaths of the people she’d loved most in the world. The air in her lungs seemed made of fire, and her throat closed.
Tal fought off Zale’s restraining hands, climbed to his feet, and spoke in a voice that barely contained his fury. “Show your proof.”
“Excuse me?” Lord Everly faltered, staring from Tal to King Alaric, who was watching the confrontation with avid interest.
“Did I whisper?” Tal bit his words into sharp little pieces. “You accused Charis of murdering her parents. Show us your proof.”
Lady Everly reached into her rather substantial handbag and produced a sheaf of papers bearing Lady Channing’s green seal. “All the proof is here in her correspondence with Lady Channing.” She stood, waving the papers toward the crowd so they could see for themselves.
Tal laughed derisively. “Really? That’s the best you’ve got?” He turned to face the room, one hand pressing the bloody napkin against his wound. “Every person in here knows better than to believe that someone as smart as Charis would put a plan like that in writing.” He turned back to the Everlys. “You are pathetic. Charis worked night and day to discover who was sinking Calera’s ships, and then she unveiled Lady Channing’s treachery at the Sister Moons Festival.”
“She had her co-conspirator killed.” Ferris cleared his throat and then continued. “And then she ran away while her people suffered under the Rakuuna occupation.”
“Why?” Charis asked, noting Ferris’s flushed face with interest. “Why would I run if I’d just achieved what I wanted?”
He tugged on his collar as every eye in the room fell on him. “Let’s ask Queen Bai’elsha. She’s the one who made the deal with you. Isn’t that correct?” He aimed the question at the Rakuuna queen.
“Yes.” The queen’s high, cold voice captured the room, and more than a few shivered as she swept her gaze over those assembled. “We are here because we were told that killing the royal family and occupying Calera was the only way to get King Alaric to agree to supply the serpanicite we need.”
“And who told you that?” Charis asked, raising her voice to make sure the entire room heard her. “You had to send a ship of warriors to capture me and return me to Calera. If I’d made a deal with you that benefitted me, why wouldn’t I have stayed here to reap the rewards?”
“Because you needed it to look as if the Everlys were behind it.” Bai’elsha met Charis’s eyes without hesitation. Charis had to admit, the queen lied as if she was being paid to do it.
Which, of course, she was.
“You see?” Lord Everly sounded solemn. “The Rakuuna queen admits Charis’s involvement and bolsters our testimony that she is behind Calera’s pain and suffering. And you all saw what happened tonight. Her assassins attacked us—”
“You shut your mouth right now, you haggard old fool, or I will shut it for you.” Holland rose from the floor, his tearstained eyes wild.
Lord Everly hurried to stand behind his chair as if it would protect him.
Ferris cleared his throat. “Queen Bai’elsha has stated that Charis arranged for the Rakuuna to invade our kingdom.”
“Look around you!” Tal gestured at the entire room. “We’re surrounded by Rakuuna ready to rip us to pieces if we step out of line. Now, who, I wonder, do they obey? Charis?”
“That’s a good question.” Charis looked to Bai’elsha. “Do you obey me?”
Bai’elsha hesitated, looking from Ferris to Lord Everly as if hoping for a lifeline.
“You should have admitted your guilt,” Ferris said. Really, his face was the most unbecoming shade of red. “I warned you what would happen to Tal if you didn’t.”
Charis’s entire body trembled as though she were a plucked string, and her voice rose, filled with the icy rage that burned so brightly within her. “I don’t give in to threats, Ferris. I issue them. And I’ve grown tired of this farce. You and your family colluded with Lady Channing and the Rakuuna to bring death and disaster upon this kingdom. You arranged for assassins to be present tonight in an attempt to make me look guilty, but you made a grave mistake when you ordered them to kill people I love.”
She locked eyes with Bai’elsha. “I sentence Ferris Everly to death for the crime of treason. Have one of your guards kill him immediately.”
“You can’t sentence my son to death!” Lord Everly thundered.
“Wrong answer.” Holland leaped across the table, collided with Lord Everly, and threw the man into the wall behind him. Before Ferris’s father could finish staggering to his feet, Holland shoved him against the wall and pressed his forearm against the man’s throat. “Not. Another. Word.”
Charis faced Lord Everly and his sniveling wife. “I am the rightful queen of Calera. By law, I can sentence any traitor to death. I believe what you mean to say is that I can’t use the Rakuuna to do my bidding. Isn’t that right?”
She looked at Bai’elsha, who stood three paces away from her seat, fangs bared as she glanced from Charis to the Everlys. When the Rakuuna queen remained silent, Charis pivoted to face the rest of the room.
“The Everlys and Lady Channing saw an opportunity to get the Willowthorns out of power in Calera, and they took it. They were unhappy with the way the war was being run, and the Everlys especially were furious over the treaty we signed with King Alaric because it meant Ferris couldn’t marry me and become king.”
She glanced at Ferris and found him wiping sweat from his brow, anger in his eyes. Turning back to the room, she continued, “They made a deal that ensured that the royal family would be killed, but Tal negotiated for my safety and the safety of the rest of Calera. He bargained with his own life.”
Vahn stirred in his seat, his eyes seeking his brother’s face.
“These are lies. Queen Bai’elsha herself said so.” Ferris gripped the back of his chair with both hands.
“Then why hasn’t she obeyed my order to kill you?” Charis asked.
“Enough of this!” Lady Everly’s shrill voice cracked. She waved the sheaf of papers above her head. “We have proof. Charis is the traitor and should be put to death, as should Holland Farragin for colluding with her and for hurting my husband.”
Bai’elsha rattled off a command, and a Rakuuna with silver hair and scales the color of pale moss peeled away from the closest wall and stalked toward the head table, moving impossibly fast.
Charis’s shaking hands reached for the pouch at her waist and yanked it free.
A swell of panicked cries swept the crowd as the Rakuuna lunged for Charis. Tal leaped forward, putting his body between Charis and the monster.
The Rakuuna slammed into Tal, raking his body with her talons before tossing him aside like a child’s discarded rag doll. Zale and Vahn rushed toward their brother’s crumpled body.
Charis didn’t have time to see if Tal was all right. She plunged her hand into the pouch, scooped up the final pinch of moriarthy dust, and held it in her fist as the Rakuuna readied herself to stab her talons into Charis’s throat.
The Rakuuna lunged.
Charis ducked low and launched herself forward. Colliding with the Rakuuna’s chest, she slapped her hand across the creature’s mouth, releasing the moriarthy dust as the fangs closed on her palm.
Pain exploded down Charis’s arm. The Rakuuna grabbed her shoulders, talons digging in. Charis struggled to free herself from the creature’s crushing grip while behind her, people gasped or cried out, as if afraid they might be next.
Blood poured down Charis’s arm as the Rakuuna’s teeth sank deeper into her palm. She kicked and fought, but the monster’s hold on her shoulders only grew tighter.
Fear blazed through her, and she struggled harder.
What if the poison didn’t work before she was torn to pieces?
What if there hadn’t been enough moriarthy dust to kill her attacker?
The Rakuuna hissed, releasing Charis’s hand. Her black eyes found hers, rage simmering in their depths, and then her claws burrowed in, sending rivers of agony through Charis as the creature began pulling her shoulders as though she meant to tear her in half.
Someone shouted, and then a sword flashed, whistling past her face to embed itself in the Rakuuna’s chest. Its hilt was Montevallian. The creature stumbled back, and Holland stood there, breath heaving, black hair disheveled, clothing slightly askew as though he’d already fought a battle just to reach her side. Charis craned her neck to look at Nalani and found Lord and Lady Malinson, who’d been seated near Nalani, on their knees beside her, keeping both the dagger and the napkin stable.
“Kill him, too,” Ferris shouted, his voice rough.
“You can try. Who wants to go first?” Holland yanked the sword free and turned to see who was coming for him.
Bai’elsha spoke and three more Rakuuna rushed toward the head table, but then an ear-piercing scream split the air. For an instant, everyone froze as the Rakuuna who’d attacked Charis wailed, rising in pitch until Charis’s ears ached. The scream tapered off as the Rakuuna began coughing, black, brackish blood spraying from the hole that was rapidly eating its way through the creature’s jaw. Another hole, this one the size of Charis’s fist, tore open in the monster’s throat as if her skin was nothing but wet paper.
The Rakuuna began shaking violently. She reached for her throat, but the damage was done. Blood poured from her wounds, soaking her chest where Holland’s sword had done little damage. Bai’elsha chattered in her dry bones language, and more Rakuuna began moving toward Charis as her attacker slid to her knees, her breath gurgling in her throat.
Holland swung his sword in a wide arc as he placed his body between Charis and the incoming Rakuuna. “There’s more where that came from!”
Charis didn’t dare glance at Tal’s prostrate form as she lifted her chin and found the strength to speak in clear, ringing tones. “Queen Bai’elsha, you see that I can kill your kind. Have your guards stand down, or every Rakuuna left behind on Te’ash will suffer the same fate.”
Bai’elsha said something, and every Rakuuna in the room paused, watching their queen carefully for her next order. She turned to Charis. “You cannot get to Te’ash if you cannot leave this room.”
“I don’t need to get to Te’ash.” Charis spoke with absolute certainty. No hint of hesitation or doubt that would weaken the lie she needed Bai’elsha to believe. “I spent my time away from Calera assembling an armada of ships from every sea kingdom. Each ship is equipped with a supply of moriarthy dust, and I sent them to Te’ash. If my admirals don’t hear the correct coded message from my representative in time, they will proceed with the plan to destroy every single Rakuuna you left behind when you decided to invade my kingdom and kill my people.”
At Charis’s feet, the Rakuuna coughed wetly, shuddered, and lay still.
“This one is dead.” Holland twirled his sword. “Who wants to be next?”
Bai’elsha bared her teeth and then said, “You could be lying.”
“I’m the one person you’ve dealt with in Calera who has never lied to you.” Charis held the other queen’s gaze. “You could have sent emissaries directly to King Alaric to arrange a trade for the jewels you needed if you’d simply asked. You could have received the palloren Vahn Penbyrn sent offering you payment in full if you’d leave our shores except the Everlys intercepted it and made sure you didn’t. You could have had the medicine your people needed months ago, saving hundreds of lives. The reason you didn’t is because your allies—the Everlys—lied to you so they could keep using you in their treasonous plot to overthrow the legal rulers of Calera.”
“Enough of this!” Lord Everly shouted. “Charis and Holland must die for their part in the plot to— Ferris? Son?”
Lady Everly dropped the sheaf of papers she was holding and raced toward the head of the table where Ferris stood swaying in place, his face pasty white, his eyes bloodshot and bulging. Foam bubbled at the edges of his mouth.
“What’s happened? Ferris!” Lady Everly launched herself toward her son but stopped short as the broadside of Holland’s sword slapped against her stomach, stopping her in her tracks.
Charis faced the room, acutely aware of Tal lying on the floor, his siblings pressing Vahn’s dress coat to his wounds to stop the bleeding. He was all right. He had to be. She had no more space within her for that kind of all-consuming grief.
Ferris coughed, a wet, gagging sound that produced more foam.
“What have you done?” Lady Everly screamed at Charis.
“I sentenced him to death by slipping some mursilla herb into his drink.” Charis scanned the room slowly, noting with grim satisfaction that every eye, Rakuuna and human, was locked on her. “Surely you didn’t think I made four toasts in a row because I was feeling festive.”
“But you—how—he’s my son.” Lord Everly rushed to join his wife as Ferris tugged his collar open, revealing the sweat pooling along his collarbone.
“And they were my parents. My friends. My people. You dare say that to me when my loyal guard is dead and one of my closest friends could be dying just a short distance away?” Charis’s voice was a whiplash. “You killed thousands of innocent people. Ships from our allies. Ships from our merchants. Our navy. People celebrating our most sacred night of the year. And all because you thought you were entitled to power that was never yours.” She met the Everlys’ anguished gazes as Ferris crumpled to the floor, his body convulsing. “Power that will never be yours.”
Lady Everly keened, a cry of bone-deep grief, as Ferris became still.
“Why are you crying?” Holland snarled. “You’ll be joining him in a moment.”
Charis turned to Bai’elsha. “I am offering you a choice, one queen to another. You can take the serpanicite your people need and leave for Te’ash immediately with the promise that if you need more, you will simply send a palloren informing me of the situation so that I can arrange shipment to you. Or you can try to kill me.”
“Come any closer to my queen, and I get to fill you full of holes.” Holland hefted his sword.
“You keep your word?” Bai’elsha asked, voice heavy with suspicion.
“Always.” Charis held the Rakuuna’s gaze for a long moment. “You can have me as an ally or an enemy. The choice is yours.”
A chair scraped and then King Alaric spoke. “As our two kingdoms unite today, I will add my promise to Her Majesty’s. I will honor the agreement I made with Calera, which includes a generous shipment of serpanicite for you, but only if you leave today and never come back. If a single Rakuuna is ever spotted in southern waters again, you will never receive another jewel. I don’t care how many people you kill.”
The ensuing silence was broken only by Lady Everly sobbing and Zale murmuring to Tal. Charis stood tall, blood trickling from the gouges in her shoulders and palm, grief hollowing out her body until it felt impossible to bear, and waited to see if Bai’elsha would capitulate.
Finally, the Rakuuna queen gave a single nod. “We have an accord.” Her voice rose in the undulating wail that Charis had first heard so many months ago on the open sea. Instantly, every Rakuuna in attendance moved to her side and then left the room.