“With a bow and arrow.”
“Just the arrow. I confess I have yet to master the skill of archery.”
“How were you able to kill men twice your size with just an arrow?”
“My appearance leads men to believe I’m harmless.”
“But you’re far from harmless, aren’t you?” Amara couldn’t help but smile as she leaned back in her chair, took another sip from her glass, and regarded the girl before her, who had surprised her with her thirst for survival at any cost. “You don’t look like a royal anymore. Your dress is torn, your hair is tangled. You look much more like a peasant.”
“Looking like a royal takes both time and attendants to achieve. Lately, I’ve simply been trying to survive to see the next sunrise and, of course, fight against your guards when they try to drag me around like a rag doll.”
Something about this meeting, about Cleo’s bravery in coming to visit an enemy without a trace of fear in her eyes, had quickly gained Amara’s respect. “I made you an offer of an alliance when we last spoke. I believe you already gave me your answer to that.” She gingerly rubbed the back of her head, which had healed, save for the memory of the wound. “I was very angry with you for your response, since I thought we could make a good team.”
“We still could,” Cleo replied readily.
How unsurprising that the girl’s mind had changed since losing everything she once valued.
“Apologies,” Cleo said a moment later, “but I’ve been traveling so long my feet feel as if they may drop off of my legs if I don’t sit down immediately.”
Amara waved a hand at a nearby chair. “Please.”
Cleo sat down heavily. “I’m not here to waste any more time. Your words the last time we spoke may have been encouraging, but your actions have never given me much hope for an alliance between us. Do you really blame me for how I reacted, no matter what I was promised?”
“I appreciate your bluntness. No, I suppose the longer I’ve had to think about it, the less I blame you for nearly shattering my skull.” She smiled tightly. “I believe I would have done the very same thing had our positions been reversed.”
“I’m sure you would have.”
Amara absently swirled the wine, looking down into its depths. “I was never your enemy, Cleo.”
“You wanted to possess the Kindred and were willing to do whatever it took to claim it.”
“True.” Amara considered her for a moment. “You proclaimed Magnus king during your speech to the Paelsians, despite his family stealing your throne. Why?”
Cleo’s expression shadowed. “Because I hated his father for giving Mytica to you so easily. The Limerian people weren’t ready to accept me as their queen yet, so I presented them with a slightly less distasteful king than Magnus’s father.”
“So it’s not because you’d fallen in love with him.”
“Amara, you want me to be blunt? I’ll be blunt. Politics and love should have nothing to do with each other. Do you disagree?”
“I don’t disagree.” She regarded the blond girl for a moment in silence. “Why are you here, Cleo?”
“Because I’ve heard that you don’t trust men—any men. Yet it seems to me that you’re surrounded by them. Very few women hold important positions in this world, other than being the wives or mothers of important men. I believe that should change. You control a third of the entire world now, a fraction that is sure to grow over the years and decades to come. I believe you will need help with that.”
“And you’re offering me that help.”
Cleo raised her chin. “That’s right.”
“Or . . . perhaps this is just a ruse to distract me.”
“Distract you from what?” Cleo said evenly.
“From demanding your head. You march in here like you have any right to be within ten paces of me. Are you that desperate now, that you would risk so much by coming here and expecting me to be kind?”
“Kindness is not something I expect from you, Amara. If you spoke to me with kindness today, I’d assume you were lying. Very well—what can I do to prove my worth to you?”
Amara considered this carefully. “Information. Tell me something I don’t already know that may adversely affect my reign as empress.”
Cleo chewed her bottom lip while Amara waited as patiently as she was able to. Then the girl’s aquamarine eyes rose to meet hers.
“Your brother Ashur is alive.” Cleo took a moment to observe Amara’s shocked expression. “I take it he hasn’t arrived yet.”
Amara chest tightened at the possibility, but her eyes narrowed on the princess. “Impossible. Of all the lies you could tell, that was not one that will serve you well. My patience with you is finished. Guards!”
The door opened, and Amara was surprised to see Carlos, not a regular guard. “Empress, I’m here to announce that there has been another arrival at the gates,” he said.