Chapter 24 #2
She remembered everything: every minute detail of the way he had come to know her and she had come to know him.
How his hands felt on her waist when they danced, how he cut straight through her inhibitions and fears.
Even the memory of it was enough to ruin the careful hold she’d placed on her body all these weeks.
He was a threat to her numbness, he always had been.
Willpower was the only thing keeping Vaasa from running to him.
That, and Lord Karev, who sternly gripped Vaasa’s elbow and guided her to the table.
Both Koen and Reid looked to where he touched her. Koen stood, cocking his head as if he was surprised to see her. “Vaasalisa,” he drawled.
“Heiress,” Lord Karev corrected harshly.
Vaasa chuckled as if the lord was just being protective. “Remi.” She kept her tone friendly yet businesslike, especially as Koen extended her an arm. She switched into Icrurian, careful with her words in case Lord Karev was lying about his familiarity with the language. “Forgive him.”
Koen held her gaze sternly. “I’ll do no such thing.”
Vaasa couldn’t help her smile.
“Heiress,” he said quickly, his Asteryan marked by an Icrurian accent that Vaasa was so deeply fond of.
Lord Karev pulled out a chair for Vaasa to sit in, and as she did, Koen said, “My guard.”
He was using cut words, simple, easy. A way to pretend that the language barrier was greater than it truly was. Koen was fully proficient in Asteryan. For a moment, she was in awe of his propensity to put on a convincing act.
“I remember,” Vaasa said in Icrurian, giving Reid a casual nod of acknowledgment before taking the seat Lord Karev had offered her. Her heart flew into her throat, and she translated the two words for Lord Karev, careful to keep his trust.
Amusement danced in the orange of Reid’s eyes. While a dangerous game, perhaps it was easier to find amusement than to find truth; a coping mechanism, a way to tolerate what this situation had become.
One slip, and they would all be tied to that pole in the city square.
“We’re here to discuss a line of trade, are we not?” Sachia asked in Icrurian, leaning back in her chair and glancing between everyone.
Once again, Vaasa translated. Lord Karev immediately jumped in, and Vaasa faithfully translated every word he said.
She and Sachia did the majority of the language work, though Koen was smart in how he directed his questions to Vaasa instead, furthering Lord Karev’s assumption that bringing in an Icrurian translator, not to mention the heiress, got him further with the deal.
Vaasa didn’t guide the conversation, playing well into the role of the meek heiress and letting Lord Karev think he was the brains behind the operation.
He used her much like all the men in this city had; she was a tool, he the wielder.
They worked out the entire deal as if it were real—how they would utilize a network of Icrurian soldiers loyal to Koen, still going by Remi, and pirates outside Sutherland’s reach that Sachia had a connection to.
They would smuggle the salt through the blurred Icrurian-Asteryan border and into the frigid ocean near the Sheets.
Lord Karev would then be able to sell it here in Mekes and the rest of Asterya, all for Sachia to take a cut of the profits.
Aside from the initial profit of each sale, “Remi” would earn a substantial parcel of land upon the end of the war.
The entire scheme was less sophisticated than Vaasa had expected of Karev, but she only provided subtle guidance and redirection when she felt it would make her seem interested, but never smarter than him.
“And in return for this connection,” Sachia said, directing the conversation where she truly intended it to go, switching very clearly to Asteryan, “I want my brother.”
Lord Karev leaned back in his chair, eyes glittering with intrigue, and Vaasa raised her brow. “Your brother?” Vaasa asked as if she didn’t know.
“He is rotting in your wretched island prison as we speak,” Sachia said. “Fighting for the nobles’ amusement.”
Vaasa’s stomach tightened at the poisoned blade of her tone.
“You can pardon him, can’t you?” Sachia asked her.
Warning bells went off in Vaasa’s mind. Her words needed to be incredibly careful. “That power lies with the emperor,” Vaasa said. Sachia must have known this would be the case—surely Lord Karev had told her that—but Vaasa still looked to her supposed betrothed.
“I’ll have that authority soon enough,” Lord Karev said.
Sachia tilted her head. “Are congratulations in order?”
Vaasa shifted in her seat, doing her best to avoid Reid’s gaze, her only saving grace that he couldn’t understand their shared Asteryan words. Koen didn’t translate—it would undermine the need for Vaasa there as a translator.
“No formal announcement has been made, but yes,” Lord Karev said. “The heiress and I will be drawing up a marriage agreement soon.”
Sachia frowned. “I don’t have the kind of time to wait for a royal wedding,” she said. “I believe we’ve already earned your favor, haven’t we, Lord Karev?”
The lord bristled slightly at her tone, eyes flicking to gauge Vaasa’s response.
The mood in the room shifted with Sachia’s insinuation.
He didn’t realize that Vaasa already knew he’d played a hand in Lord Vlacik’s death, so she blinked as if she didn’t understand.
Vaasa then flicked her eyes to Reid and Koen, who stayed in perfect character, neither seeming terribly concerned by this line of discussion.
It was as if the two of them weren’t involved at all.
Sachia leaned forward, determination cut into every line of her face, and turned her attention to Vaasa.
“If you cannot give me a pardon, then all I need is one night and for the city guard to turn a blind eye. Relocate them to another rotation.”
With those words, light bloomed in Vaasa’s mind.
The brilliance of this plan… it was written by Koen, Vaasa was sure of it.
She almost hazarded a glance at him. To do what Sachia demanded was to open up Vaasa’s own occasion for escape.
It created a window of opportunity for them all.
But Karev had insisted on his own connection being nominated as warden of the prison, Roland Beránek.
Karev had the prison in his pocket, situating himself perfectly to offer Sachia what he wanted.
Or to betray her.
Careful not to seem too eager, she turned to Lord Karev with a good idea of the words he wanted to hear. “I do believe a large celebration, like for a formal engagement, would be cause to move the city guard from the prison to the port, right? Certainly we could ask Roland.”
Lord Karev slid those gray eyes to her, considering. “We’d have to announce our engagement soon in order to plan something like that.”
Vaasa only shrugged, careful not to appear too eager or motivated. But she was far too aware of Reid and Koen’s eyes on her. “Why put off the inevitable? The empire has been in limbo for too long.”
“Then why not announce tomorrow?” Lord Karev challenged. “Invite all of the nobles to dinner. We can have the parade in a week.”
The air squeezed from her lungs. He’d just backed Vaasa into a corner. If she refused him, he’d know she had a vested interest in what Sachia planned to do, or at least be suspicious. The immediacy of his request was in itself a challenge, even if it wasn’t meant as one.
She held Lord Karev’s gaze, knowing that Koen understood every word. That the moment they left this room, he would explain it all to Reid. She hoped desperately that Reid would understand, that he would know this was the best chance they had at making it out of this city alive.
“Tomorrow,” Vaasa agreed.
Lord Karev grinned unexpectedly, not taking his eyes from Vaasa as he spoke. “We have ourselves a deal, Sachia. We’ll host a formal engagement party next week, and that will be your opportunity. Get your brother and leave this city.”
One week. She had one week to gain access to Amalie and find her mother’s necklace. One week to solidify her own plans.
Vaasa nodded and reached across the table, placing her hand on Sachia’s. “Why don’t we meet you tomorrow night to celebrate?” She could hardly recognize the vapid tone of her own voice.
Even so, Sachia put her free hand to her chest as if she’d never been so honored, playing right into the scheme. She laughed, turning to Reid and Koen and switching to Icrurian. “Tomorrow night, we’ll meet at The Lady Fortune.”
Koen and Reid exchanged glances, and Koen gave a strong nod.
“He really doesn’t speak Asteryan?” Lord Karev asked, eyeing Reid from his peripheral as if he were merely a lowly guard, unimportant. Reid had done a fabulous job of not trying to follow the conversation, even though Vaasa had a feeling the exchange would bother Reid tremendously.
Vaasa translated instead of Sachia this time, finally meeting the intensity of Reid’s gaze for the first moment since she’d sat down. Reid tilted his head at her as she spoke in Icrurian. “No, not a word of it,” Reid told her. “Though for the right woman, I would happily learn.”
Vaasa fought her smile. “He says he does not, though he intends to,” she told Lord Karev in Asteryan, and then quickly switched back to Icrurian. “I’m sure you could find someone willing to teach you.”
The very corner of Reid’s mouth turned up, and he nodded cordially, as if their conversation was built only of small talk. “Meet me tomorrow night, please.”
She laughed. “Yes.” Leaning to Lord Karev, she said in Asteryan, “He says he is interested in learning so he can speak to the women at The Lady Fortune.”
Lord Karev huffed a bland chuckle, unimpressed. “Shall we?”