Charlotta does the opposite, putting her tiny chin in the air. She has freckles, a dusting over her brown skin. In Montfort, her hair was simple, smoothed back into a single, tight knot. Here she dresses like the princess she is, in patterned white silk, with amethysts studding her many braids. I watch her as she follows her father, small gown trailing over concrete. Her outfit reminds me of a bride’s dress, and I wonder who she will be traded to, as I was traded, when the time comes.
We continue on our way, surveying the cells, and I return to my counting. Maven swings his arms back and forth, almost joyful. So the victory has had an effect after all.
“I didn’t know you were capable of happiness,” I mutter, and he laughs outright. It cuts like glass.
He grins at me unkindly, a wild, manic gleam in his eye. “Your impression of Mare Barrow is very good.”
I sneer back, dancing on the knife edge. “Well, you want her to be your queen, so I might as well play the part.”
Another peal of laughter. He blinks at me, as if inspecting a painting. “Is this jealousy, Iris?” I tighten under his scrutiny, my muscles tense as coiled wire. “No, no, it’s not,” he sighs, still smiling. “As I said before, we’re a good match.”
Hardly.
“Did someone say my name?”
Maven stops short next to me, his brows furrowing in open confusion. He tips his head to one side and looks over his shoulder, blinking back at the cell behind us.
The voice belongs to the bearded man. He leans against his bars, dangling his hands into the central aisle. He peers at us, an eyebrow raised like some kind of challenge.
“You heard me, Maven,” he says, and his voice is different from before. Still his own, but stronger, faster, more forceful. A sharp edge on stone.
We look back at him, perplexed. At least, I am.
Maven looks torn between murderous fury and . . . hope?
The man grins.
“Have you missed me?” he says. “I think you have.”
I hear bone on bone. Grinding teeth. Maven clenches his jaw and forces out a single word.
“Mare.”
FOURTEEN
Mare
“He knows it’s you.”
We all seem to inhale at the same time, and my breath feels ragged. Suddenly, the small room tucked away in the Samos palace is much too tight. On instinct, my eyes snap to Farley. She stares back at me. Her throat works, swallowing hard, and I trace the action. She steels before my eyes, hardening with determination.
I bite my lip and wish I could do this alone. But she isn’t going anywhere, standing over Ibarem. Close enough to stop this if things get beyond my control. Ibarem’s eyes burn into mine, alight and intense as his mind bridges the divide between Ridge House and Piedmont. He already vomited out as much information as he could about the prison on the Piedmont base, the bunker half buried with east-facing windows. Which prisoners his brother can see, exactly who he’s captured with, who he saw die, who he saw escape. To my relief, Ella and Rafe were among the survivors who made it into the swamps. That intelligence alone was vital, but this—Maven, right in front of us. So close I feel like I could almost reach out and touch him.
I want to see what Ibarem sees. I want to tip forward, plunge through the russet depths of his eyes, and emerge in the matching pair staring out of a cell hundreds of miles away. Look Maven in the face again. Read him as I know I can. Every tick and pull of muscle under skin. The smallest flashes across ice-blue eyes, speaking of secrets and weaknesses he tries to bury.
Ibarem’s connection to his brother will have to do. Their bond is strong despite the distance, almost immediate. Ibarem describes everything he senses through Rash as it comes.
“Maven is approaching the bars—he’s leaning in, inches away. There’s sweat on his neck. It’s hot in Piedmont. It just rained.” Ibarem tightens before me, laying his palms flat on his thighs. He draws back, and I imagine Maven right here in the room with us, crowding into his face. Ibarem’s lip curls in distaste. “He’s searching us. Our eyes.”
I flinch and feel the cold phantom of familiar breath on my skin.
In spite of the sunlight streaming in through the single window, I feel darkness pool in this small, forgotten room hidden in Ridge House. I wish I’d never thought of this, had never summoned Ibarem to do this. He was supposed to be our link to Tahir and Davidson, an easy connection to Montfort. Not to his other brother, captured in Piedmont. Not to Maven.
I force myself to keep still, locking my muscles and my expression. But my heart gallops in my chest, rising to a dull, constant thud.
Farley tries not to pace, and her odd lack of activity makes me even more nervous than I already am. This place disagrees with both of us. Ridge House seems like little more than a trap waiting to be sprung. Every room has metal in some form, beamed or columned or even woven into the floor itself. The house is a weapon only a few can wield. And they surround us at all times.
Even the chair beneath me is cold steel. I shiver where it touches my bare skin.
The knock on the door makes us both jump, startled out of our skin. I whirl, teeth clenched, to see the knob turn, catching fast against a lock. Farley crosses to the door in two long strides, ready to turn away whatever servant or snooping noble waits on the other side.
To my dismay, she throws the door wide and steps back, allowing a broad, familiar silhouette to step into the room.
I all but snarl at her, my fists clenching on my knees.
“What are you doing?” I hiss, my voice low and firm.
Tiberias glances between Farley and me, as if weighing the two of us. Which female frightens him more. “I was invited,” he says thickly. “And we are going to be extremely late for a council meeting.”
“Then go!” I dismiss him with a wave, turning on Farley. “What are you doing?” I force through gritted teeth.
She cuts me off with the sharp slam of the door. “You know Maven, but so does he,” she says with cold efficiency. “Let him listen.”
In front of me, Ibarem blinks. “Miss Barrow,” he says, prodding for us to continue.
As if this weren’t stressful enough.
“Fine,” I mutter through gritted teeth, turning back to face the Montfort newblood. I do my best to ignore the other Calore, now leaning against the wall to put as much space between us as he can. His foot taps in the corner of my eye in a burst of nervous energy.
“Maven is saying something,” Ibarem murmurs, his natural voice soft and halting. It shifts quickly into the best impression he can make of Maven. “How are we speaking right now?” he says, the words suddenly cruel and sharp. He even forces a cold laugh. It’s a good likeness. “Or are you just trying to toy with a king, Red? Not a good decision, I’m afraid.”
Ibarem shifts again, his eyes darting, seeing across the miles. “He has guards. Sentinels. Six of them. Prince Bracken and his children just passed through as well, with four guards of their own.”
Tiberias says something behind his hand and Farley nods. Adding to the count of hostiles, probably. “Firm alliance with Bracken,” I hear Tiberias mutter. “They’ll strike again, and soon.”
“The queen is with him,” Ibarem continues. “The Lakelander princess. She isn’t speaking, just standing. Watching.” Ibarem narrows his eyes. “Her face is blank. She almost seems frozen.”
“Tell Iris . . .” I stumble, tapping my fingers together. They must be convinced. Irrevocably sure it’s me speaking through the brotherly bond. “Tell her all dogs bite.”
“All dogs bite, Iris,” Ibarem repeats. He tips his head as I tip mine. Imitating me now. A common girl with an uncommon life. The truth unsettles Maven as much as anything, and I must unsettle him if I’m to get anything out of this exchange.
“The queen is smirking. She nods her head,” Ibarem says. He shifts into an impression of Iris, his voice climbing an octave. “All dogs bite, but some dogs wait, Mare Barrow.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Farley grumbles into her hand.
But I know.
I’m just a well-dressed and tightly leashed lapdog, I told Iris once, during my imprisonment. She smirked then too. Even lapdogs bite, she replied. Will you?
I’m finally free to answer. And so is she.
Iris Cygnet is waiting for her own opportunity to strike. I wonder if she has the Lakelands behind her, or just her own rage.