I wasn’t sure who would get my bet if the two of them lunged at each other.
“Trust me, you’ll be grateful to have him.” Raihn gave her a wolfish grin—the kind designed to expose fangs. “Vale, how many Rishan men can you get? Loyal ones, I mean. Simon doesn’t have them all.”
Vale gave Jesmine a chilling smile. “Enough to take what little remains of the Hiaj.”
Jesmine practically hissed, and Raihn sighed.
“You know what I’m asking,” he said.
Vale’s gaze slipped back to Raihn, slipping into serious thought. After a long moment, he said, “A thousand. Maybe more.”
Raihn looked back to Jesmine, brows arched. “Well look at that. A thousand here. A thousand there. Sounds like an army to me. Maybe even a good enough one to take back Sivrinaj.”
Ketura looked sickened by this idea. “An army of Hiaj and Rishan?”
“An army of whoever the hell is willing to help us get the Bloodborn out of this kingdom and the crown out of Simon’s hands,” Raihn said. “Does anyone here object to that?”
A long silence. No one voiced it, but we could all feel plenty of objection in the air.
“Of course,” I said, “there’s option two. Which is to simply let them have the crown and wait for them to inevitably come root us out. If that sounds more appealing to anyone.”
“Them?” Jesmine said. Her eyes narrowed at Raihn. “What about him? What you describe is exactly what we have been living these last months. Why should I put my soldiers’ lives on the line for his throne?”
“I never considered the Hiaj my enemy,” he said, and she scoffed.
“You considered us an enemy even before you killed our king. You destroyed the Moon Palace. You ask for my help to fight against usurpers, but you’re a usurper yourself.”
Raihn’s jaw tightened. “I told you many times, Jesmine, that I had nothing to do with the attack on the Moon Palace. And you’re such a damned effective torturer, how could I lie?”
This wasn’t going anywhere good.
“Enough,” I said. “This is an order, Jesmine. It isn’t just Raihn’s throne that we’re reclaiming. It’s mine, and I don’t want Simon or the Bloodborn anywhere near it.”
Her eyes flicked between Raihn and I.
“So this is a formal alliance.”
It felt a bit odd to hear Jesmine, of all people, putting it in those terms.
“An alliance that goes both ways,” I said. “We help him. He helps us. We take back the throne, and the Hiaj are free again. No more hiding. No more fighting.”
It sounded like a sickly-sweet dream aloud. Jesmine looked at me like I was a toddler espousing the beauty of rainbows.
“And,” I said, “I am queen just as much as he is king. When we’ve reclaimed our kingdom, I intend to rule beside him as such.”
I could feel Raihn’s eyes on me. Could practically hear his voice: Really, princess? You’re finally taking me up on my offer?
Fine. Apparently I was. And hell, why shouldn’t I? If I was going to ally with him to get Septimus out of this kingdom, I might as well put my ass on that throne, too.
The silence was suffocating. Jesmine didn’t show shock the way most people did. She just stared at me like she kept trying to make puzzle pieces fit together that were incompatible. I could feel it from the others, too—on me, on Raihn. I wondered if this was the first they were hearing about this arrangement, too.
Finally, Jesmine said, “Understood, Highness.”
It would never get less uncomfortable, hearing her call me that. But I tried to take this in stride, as Vincent would have, like it was nothing more than a given—of course a general would obey her queen.
“You will work with Vale and Ketura,” I said. “Devise a strategy for raising our joint army and using it to retake Sivrinaj. The quicker, the better.”
I felt like such an imposter.
But she obediently inclined her head. “Yes, Highness. It will be challenging. But not impossible.”
“Challenging has never scared us before.”
I found myself glancing at Raihn. Because of course, he and I were the “us.” I had never fought beside Jesmine before—never would have been allowed to, and Jesmine would have never deigned to lower herself to it. But Raihn and I... we had done the impossible together countless times over.
The little smile on his face said, There she is.
Then I looked to the rest of our sorry group—all in their dirty and stained fineries from the wedding, more than a week ago, now. Not that they looked much better than Raihn and I, in our ill-fitting, disgusting leathers. A pathetic sight.
“But that can wait a couple of hours,” I said. “Is there somewhere we can...” There was no other way to put it. “…wash the shit off of us?”
Jesmine’s nose wrinkled slightly. “That would be a relief for everyone. No offense intended.”
None taken.
“There are hot springs in the lower levels of the caves,” she said. “Alliah, my second, can show you. And she’ll find some clothes for you, too. Something less... marinated.”
Thank the fucking Mother for that.
I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Mische audibly groaned at the mention of springs.
“But Highness,” Jesmine said, as the others began to file out of the room, “if I may have just a few more moments of your time.”
I nodded, allowing the others to leave. Only Raihn hesitated, until I gave him a small nod, and he followed the others out.
She waited until the footsteps faded before she stood, her arms crossed over her chest.
“So,” she said. “Is that real?”
I knew what she was asking, and I knew why she was asking it. I would too, in her position.
“Yes,” I said. “It is.”
“Pretty trouble,” she said. “I warned you of that, once.”
Yes, well. Raihn was definitely trouble. Even now, I couldn’t deny that. But maybe he was the kind of trouble I needed. Right now, he was the kind of trouble all my people needed.
I should have had a very diplomatic, queenly response for her. Instead, I just said, “Sometimes we need a little trouble to get shit done.”
A short laugh. “Perhaps.” That smile faded, her face going steely. “You have my full loyalty and respect, Highness. Even if your decisions are not the ones I would make. In light of recent events, I want to make that clear.”
After seeing the way Raihn’s people had rebelled against him, I was so grateful for this, I could’ve hugged her. Yes, I knew this loyalty was borne of nothing but my relation to Vincent, complicated as it may be. But loyalty, no matter the source, was more precious than gold.
“I wanted to speak to you, too,” I said. “About something that Septimus has been working on.”
She listened as I told her about Septimus’s claims of the existence of god blood in the House of Night—and his claims that Vincent had known, and perhaps even harnessed it. I told her about the pendant I had recovered from Lahor, and the unfortunate fact that it was likely now in Septimus’s clutches. With every sentence, her brows rose slightly higher—the only change in her expression.