She frowned. “Send them off. I don’t want to see another unexpected visitor. And take this deceitful creature away. Put her with the others while I decide how I want her to die.”
“As you wish, your grace.” Carlos hesitated, but only for a moment. “But I think you should see this visitor.”
“Whoever it is can wait.”
“He won’t wait, your grace.” Carlos’s gaze turned to his left before he immediately fell to his knees, bowing his head.
And then Amara watched with utter disbelief as her dead brother walked into the room.
CHAPTER 28
CLEO
PAELSIA
Amara stared, still and silent, at Ashur for so long that Cleo thought she’d turned to stone.
“Sister, I’m sure you’re surprised to see me,” he said before turning a raised black eyebrow to Cleo. “And here you are as well.”
“Yes, here I am,” Cleo confirmed, her heart pounding hard. “I seem to have beat you here.”
“You did. Then again, I didn’t rush. I needed time to think.”
“How odd. Thieves are usually in much more of a hurry.”
He frowned at this. “I’m sure they are.”
“Emperor Cortas, what would you like me to do with the prisoner?” the guard asked.
Prisoner. Cleo’s gut wrenched at the thought that her journey would be cut short before she had a chance to make any difference. She had to think, to figure out a way to deal with this outcome. Manipulation was her best weapon. She needed to gain Amara’s confidence, to get close to the most powerful woman in the world so she could help to destroy her.
“I want you to—” Amara began, then frowned. “Did you say emperor?”
The guard ignored her, his attention fully on Ashur. “Emperor?”
“Leave us to speak in private,” Ashur told him.
The guard left, bowing all the way out of the room.
Ashur’s gaze returned to his sister. “It seems now that our father and brothers are dead, I’m next in line to rule. You know very well I never wanted a responsibility like that, but I will do what I must.” When she didn’t reply, he continued, “Nothing to say to me after all this time apart, Sister?”
Amara now shook her head slowly from side to side. “This isn’t possible.”
Cleo wanted to bite her tongue, to keep from saying anything that might draw attention to her and remind Amara that she wanted her dead.
But she couldn’t help it.
“It’s very possible,” Cleo said with a nod. “Ashur is alive and well. It was a surprise to me too, but I’m sure it’s a bit more of shock to you. After all, you did murder him in cold blood, didn’t you?”
“Clearly, I didn’t,” Amara said, her words crisper and harder-edged than Cleo would have expected, considering how stunned the empress appeared to be.
“You did,” Ashur confirmed, absently stroking his chest. “There was no mistaking the pain of the blade as it slid into my skin and bone. The cold look in your eyes that I’d seen cast upon others in our lives, but never before upon me. The horrible sensation of betrayal that broke my heart just as you sliced into it without any hesitation.”
“How? Tell me how this can be!”
“Let me assure you that I am not here for vengeance of any kind. Despite your harsh and questionable decisions, I do understand it all more than you might think. You are not the only one in our family who was cast aside by our father for having differences that made us unacceptable.”
“Elan was different,” she whispered.
“Elan looked at our father like a shining god standing before him. I suppose that pardoned many of his imperfections.”
“This is actually happening, isn’t it?” Amara’s eyes filled with tears. “You won’t believe me, but I’ve only regretted one of my decisions: what I did to you. I was angry, I felt betrayed . . . so I reacted.”
“Indeed you did.”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted me dead.”
“I don’t want you dead, Amara. I want you alive and well and willing to see everything in this world more clearly than you’ve ever seen it in your life. The world is not an enemy to be conquered at any cost, whatever our madhosha might have you believe.”
“Our madhosha is the only one who has ever believed in me. She’s guided me and been my most valuable advisor.”
“So it was she who advised you to end my life.”
Amara twisted her hands. “But it was I who acted on such advice. For a while, I thought you would be on my side through everything, but you chose that boy . . . that boy with the red hair . . . after becoming enamored with him after what? A month?”
“Nic,” Cleo said, her throat constricting. “His name was Nic.”
Ashur sent a deep frown toward her. “What do you mean his name was Nic?”
Cleo commanded herself not to cry. She refused to show any weakness here, unless it might serve her in some way. She wanted to hate Amara the most, to have that hatred fuel her, strengthen her, but all she wanted to do right now was hurt Ashur.
“When you left, he followed,” she said evenly. “He was here at the compound when a riot broke out.”