“Because I made the harem’s assistance conditional upon it. They’ve given their word.”
Zarrah narrowed her eyes, distrust flooding her core. “Why? Why not have the Ithicanians kill him during Aren’s rescue, given they certainly have cause? Why involve me at all?”
The old woman lifted one shoulder. “My reasons are manyfold. But the foremost is that you’re the only one I trust to kill Silas no matter the personal cost to you. He murdered your mother. Cut off her head and left you tied beneath her body while it rotted. You won’t leave him alive.”
Zarrah’s instincts told her that Coralyn’s words were the truth even as they screamed there was far more at play. “Why? Aren and his people desire vengeance against Silas just as much as I do.”
A furrow formed in Coralyn’s brow, though it swiftly smoothed away. “I fear they’ll place rescuing Aren ahead of that vengeance, and I can’t risk that. I need certainty, Zarrah. I need to know that Silas will breathe his last tonight. If he survives a day longer, my favorite nephew might not.”
“You mean Keris.” Zarrah’s hands turned cold, because she could see the real fear in Coralyn’s eyes, and it infected her own heart, though she was careful to keep it from her face.
Coralyn inclined her head. “I assure you, if the situation was not dire, I’d not take these risks. Nor would I lower myself to an alliance with a Valcottan. But the Magpie wants Keris dead, and he’s very skilled at getting what he wants.”
She wasn’t lying.
Zarrah knew better than anyone that Serin had set a target between Keris’s shoulders, but she’d also heard Silas forbid any harm to come to his son. “I was under the impression Silas had ordered him to depart to Nerastis, which would put him out of Serin’s reach for a time, no? Why are you so desperate, Coralyn?”
“Because he won’t leave!” The words exploded from the old woman’s lips, and in a flash, she was on her feet. “Cursed stubborn boy has drawn a line in the sand and refuses to go.”
Keris was still here.
She hadn’t seen him once since his father had ordered his departure. Although her heart had told her that he wouldn’t leave without some form of goodbye, each day that had passed, her uncertainty of whether he remained had grown. Knowing that he hadn’t abandoned her filled her with warmth even as concern that he was putting his life at risk to remain ratcheted up her anxiety. “Is Keris involved in your plot with Aren? Is he aware you conspire to kill his father?”
Coralyn waved a hand at her dismissively. “Of course not. He’d never agree to use you as his assassin.”
A prickle of suspicion ran across Zarrah’s skin because she knew Keris had facilitated Coralyn’s meeting with Aren at dinner. “Why not? Silas’s death serves his ends.”
Something flickered in the old woman’s gaze, something that looked a great deal like anger, but it was gone in an instant. “You’re Valcottan, Zarrah. Using you would violate his rather rigid morals, so it’s better not to involve him at all.”
Because Keris had been raised to hate Valcottans. Just as she’d been raised to hate Maridrinians.
Zarrah couldn’t help but wonder what Coralyn would think if she knew the truth about Zarrah and Keris. She’d raised him, which meant it had been her who’d attempted to instill that hate in him. That he’d chosen to walk a different path made him a better man in Zarrah’s eyes, but Coralyn would see it as a betrayal. The thought filled her with sadness, but her suspicions eased. Not because she trusted the woman, but because she knew that Keris would never agree to using Zarrah to assassinate his father, though his reasons were far different than his aunt realized.
“I know you don’t care for Keris,” Coralyn said. “To you, he’s just the Veliant who captured you and brought you to this prison. But to me, he’s the son I never had. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect him.”
To Zarrah’s shock, tears spilled down the woman’s cheeks. “His younger half brothers have been filtering into Vencia, and I know it’s Serin who has lured them here. The Magpie was able to turn Otis—Keris’s most loyal brother—against him, so it’s only a matter of time until one of the others tries to kill him. And Silas only encourages it. Pits them against one another like dogs, certain that the most vicious is his worthy heir. I…” Coralyn trailed off, then scrubbed at her face. “So yes, Zarrah. I’m desperate. But so are you. We could both come out ahead if we set aside our animosities and work together.”
A sour taste of anxiety filled Zarrah’s mouth as she watched Coralyn pace the room, the underarms of the woman’s gown darkening with sweat, her fear very real.
Keris was in danger.
Coralyn was presenting her with the chance not just to kill Silas, but to protect Keris. For if Silas was dead, he’d be king. He could put an end to Serin with an executioner’s axe. And that was just the beginning of what he might achieve, especially if the Ithicanians managed to get her out alive. Zarrah could return to Valcotta as the woman who’d killed Silas Veliant with her own hands. An honorable kill. Her aunt would have no choice but to grant her favor, keeping her as heir. And when the day came that she inherited the throne, she fully intended to be the woman who ended Valcotta’s role in the Endless War.
Squaring her shoulders, Zarrah met Coralyn’s gaze. “Tell me Ithicana’s plan.”
62
KERIS
He’d watched Lara and his other half sisters walk through the gates of the inner sanctum, and if he hadn’t known it was them, he’d have been as fooled as the guards who’d searched them.
Dressed in the gowns and scarves of the wives who’d left with Coralyn earlier that day, they’d laughed and chatted with one another as they strolled into the gardens, greeting the women and children they passed by name as they made their way into the harem’s house, where they’d remain until the moment they attacked.
No one suspected, not his father, not Serin, not any of the guards, because the harem never risked their own. But tonight, they risked everything to kill his father.
There were a thousand ways this could go wrong, for everything depended on Keris successfully manipulating the players in this vast scheme of moving parts. Depended on him tricking enemies into working with enemies, each of them with a different vision of what the events of tonight would achieve, none aware of one another’s goals.
Lara believing she’d get her husband back.
Aren believing he’d gain an ally in saving Ithicana.
The harem believing his father would breathe his last.
The mob believing they’d crown a new king.