They stood in tense silence for a long moment; then Sarhina said, “Walk. Slowly.”
Keris shuffled forward, an ache forming in his shoulder from the way she had his arm twisted behind his back. Reaching the table, which was stacked high with books, he turned up the lamp sitting on it and trailed his thumb down the spines, searching for a title. “This one.”
With shocking speed, she moved the knife from his throat and pulled loose his belt. Keris yelped as his trousers nearly dropped, but as he reached to catch hold of them with his free hand, she lashed the leather of his belt around his wrist. She efficiently snaked it around the wrist she still held, cinching them tight. “Sit.”
Keris sat.
Extracting the book, Sarhina took the chair across from him and put her knife on the table before opening the volume. “I’d heard you were bookish.”
“Used to be,” he answered. “Recent events have left me little time to read anything that isn’t a report.”
Her brow furrowed as she flipped through the pages, the creases deepening. Keris watched his half sister as she read. He had little recollection of Sarhina from before she, Lara, and the others were taken. Coralyn had often groused that she was a foul-mouthed creature, but she’d also said that dark as night. Not one of the ones who’d been with Lara the night of the rescue, but given her coloring Sarhina was the undeclared leader among the sisters, despite Lara being a queen. She’d also mentioned that Sarhina was pregnant. That was no longer the case, and as time passed, he noted a darkening of the bodice of her black tunic. But he said nothing, for he knew that any interest he showed in his latest niece or nephew would be perceived as a threat.
And her knife was in easy reach.
Close to an hour passed before Sarhina lifted her head from the book. “You would support these ideas? Despite the fact that if such a change came to pass, you’d cease to hold any meaningful power?
Cease to be relevant at all?”
“I like to think that my relevancy isn’t merely a function of the blood in my veins,” he answered.
“As to power … it’s a burden I’d gladly shirk if not for the fact that doing so would likely require my death.”
“What’s wrong with you?” she demanded. “You have the capacity to heal Maridrina. To reform it in a better and brighter way, then release it to thrive under a better form of rule. Why would you run from the opportunity?”
He wasn’t running from anything. It was only that, above all things, he desired to run toward a woman, and a life, that required him to abandon everything else. “I’m somewhat lazy, I’m afraid.
Ideas over execution, if you get my meaning.”
Sarhina snorted. “I think you’re full of shit.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you planning to go to Ithicana?”
“To visit Lara.”
“You think that wise, all things considered?”
He opened his mouth to retort, then closed it. She didn’t mean wise in the sense of how Ithicana might respond to his arrival. She meant wise in the sense of how Maridrina would fare without him.
Which gave him an idea, the rightness of it sinking into his soul. “Lestara was correct that everything Father blackened both my eyes before burning the book I’d quoted from in front of the whole harem to will go to shit in my absence. No one to keep the harem from pursuing their own goals, no one to keep our half brothers from stealing the crown, and no one to keep the nobility who long supported our father from reaching out their greedy fingers to take more power. Which means I need a someone. ”
Sarhina blinked; then her eyes widened even as she scoffed. “You’ve lost your mind. Absolutely not.”
She’s the clever one of the lot, Coralyn had told him while they were planning the escape. That she wasn’t the one chosen to go to Ithicana was undoubtedly by design. Backbone of steel, will not behind his back. Reaching the table, which was stacked high with books, he turned up the lamp sitting be pushed into anything, and she keeps all your half sisters in line despite them all having Veliant personalities. Tongue like an alehouse bar wench, but I suppose you’d like that about her.
With shocking speed, she moved the knife from his throat and pulled loose his belt. Keris yelped as At the time, he hadn’t cared about Sarhina’s qualities, as long as she and the rest did their part. But his trousers nearly dropped, but as he reached to catch hold of them with his free hand, she lashed the now …
“As regent, you’d have the power to begin the process of healing Maridrina.” He rested his elbows on the table. “To reform it in a better and brighter way, then release it to thrive under a better form of rule. Why would you run from the opportunity?”
Sarhina’s jaw worked back and forth, and Keris could tell that she wanted to say yes. That she’d dreamed about the things she would do, the changes that she’d make, if only Maridrina would accept a woman on the throne. Then she said, “You don’t even know me. Why would you trust your assassin half sister with such power when I could just as easily take your crown?”
Her brow furrowed as she flipped through the pages, the creases deepening. Keris watched his half
“Everyone wants to take my crown, Sarhina,” Keris answered. “The difference is that while they all want to replace me on the throne, you want to replace the throne itself.”
Silence stretched, and it was a struggle not to hold his breath.
His half sister finally gave a slow nod. “Fine. I’ll hold your crown for you, but it will be on three conditions, the first being that my sisters join me. This role will paint a target on my back, and I do need to sleep on occasion.”
Keris shrugged. “Seems like your business, not mine.”
Lifting a hand, Sarhina snapped her fingers. Keris tensed as the shadows in the corners of his room moved, a black-clad woman appearing. She lowered her veil, revealing hair so blond it was nearly ideas? Despite the fact that if such a change came to pass, you’d cease to hold any meaningful power?
white and a face he recognized from the night of the escape. He ran through the list of descriptions of his sisters, then settled on a name.
“As to power … it’s a burden I’d gladly shirk if not for the fact that doing so would likely require my
“Good evening, Athena,” he said, the dark smile she gave him moderately unnerving. “And the second?”
Hands closed on his shoulders and Keris jerked, twisting his head to find a tall brunette woman smirking where she stood behind him. Bronwyn. “The second is that you get Lara’s permission for me to join her in Eranahl,” Bronwyn said. “The Veliant sisters take care of their own, and Aren Kertell hasn’t impressed us in the past. I want to ensure he’s treating her as she deserves.”
Keris considered Bronwyn’s request for no more than a heartbeat before turning back to Sarhina.
“Fine. And the third?”
“You tell us the name of the woman you’re risking everything for.”
Keris’s stomach dropped. Not only because of the accuracy of the question, but because every time someone learned about his relationship with Zarrah, they died. Otis. Coralyn. God help him, even the fucking Magpie.
He chewed the inside of his cheeks, debating how to answer. Easy enough to lie. To say it had nothing to do with a woman or give a fabricated name, except there was something in the tension that sang from Sarhina’s form, her hand near the knife, that told him she’d see through every deception.
will go to shit in my absence. No one to keep the harem from pursuing their own goals, no one to keep “Zarrah Anaphora. She’s been imprisoned on Devil’s Island, and I need to break her free.”
Sarhina smiled, and then inclined her head. “We have an accord.”
she wasn’t the one chosen to go to Ithicana was undoubtedly by design. Backbone of steel, will not