Much more than I.
The Crown’s advisors chattered the longest, but I could feel them growing quieter and quieter as the evening wore on. I was pushing mutton around on my plate, unable to stomach another bite with the knowledge that this man could reap the best of our harvest, drink our wine, and enjoy our hospitality all the while knowing he was sentencing the people he saw—and their kinsmen—to death. For the price of wealth. For the price of Caltothian rubies.
For a couple of sparkling red gems he was willing to watch us burn.
The Pythians were monsters.
“Well, hasn’t this been just pleasant.” The duke cleared his throat loudly, and held his goblet to toast the king with his other in flourish. “A shame, truly, that we couldn’t—”
An unsuspecting maid scurried past the ambassador and caught her sleeve against his hand. Giant clumps of gravy coated his chair.
“Lucius, are your servants truly this daft?”
As the girl scrambled to apologize the duke began to tirade over the cost of his Borean silk and the incompetence of servants. His complaint was met with an outbreak of service. Servants scrambled to blot out the gravy as the maid fled the room.
I watched the whole scene play out with an invisible grip on my throat. I wanted to say something, anything, but it wasn’t my place. The king hadn’t even allowed my presence during the week’s talks. “You are ornamental, nothing more.” The tutors had repeated the reminder to me endlessly. “Your role is to smile at your betrothed and give the Pythians a reason to believe in happy endings. Convince them their crown princess can have the same with Prince Blayne.” I was no one and it was taking every bit of resolve to keep the other Ryiah—the restless, reckless Ryiah—away.
I willed myself to take a deep, steadying breath. Beside me Darren was gripping his goblet so tightly I half-expected it to break. I wanted to reach out and take his hand but his expression was foreboding. Directly across from him, Blayne was fighting to maintain an air of indifference as he ushered simpering apologies for the girl. If I hadn’t heard him the night before I would have easily believed his performance now. There was only the barest lilt of anger, and given the context, it could have easily been directed at the servant.
The king, in this round, resembled his youngest. His eyes were like ice. The man did not bother with condolences. He hated the duke. But like the rest of the kingdom, he had to retain peace for as long as he could. So he said nothing.
I frowned. We, the people of Jerar, were so eager to appease. So eager to beg and plead and give the Pythians whatever they wanted. It was a paradox: we had the greatest army in the realm, but we would lose the war.
The Pythians couldn’t be bought. We would never be enough.
“Desperation and fear will never win a Pythian’s favor,” the duke had said.
I studied the wet splotches of silk, watching the man twist and squirm in his chair. Duke Cassius was too big for his seat.
“Perhaps you need to show them what they’ll lose.”
Maybe Paige was right. It was reckless. But we had tried safe. And if we were truly going to lose the war, then my actions wouldn’t matter much longer anyway. We didn’t have the Pythians’ favor.
We had nothing left to lose.
I pushed back my chair; it made a loud grating screech as it went. I pretended not to notice, wiping my sweaty palms across my skirts. My heart skipped a beat.
I didn’t look to my betrothed or his brother. I definitely didn’t look to my left at their father. I had the eyes of the room but mine were fixated solely on the duke.
At worst they could blame my words on a headstrong lowborn. At best… I didn’t bother hoping for the latter.
“Your grace, for the past six evenings you’ve regaled us with tales of Pythian grandeur. You tell us there is no greater fleet than your ships, and no prouder king than your Joren.” Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop. “You tell us that a Pythian never loses, but you are wrong.” I took a quick breath and let out my words in a rush. “If you choose Caltoth, the wealth their king promises you will be lost to war.”
Silence.
I could feel King Lucius’s gaze burning a hole through the back of my skull. Sharp intakes of breath and the duke’s lips were parted in shock.
My legs started to tremble, and I clenched and unclenched my fists at my sides. “B-because…” This was the hard part. The one I could live to regret. “Because…”