Page 28 of Until the Stars Fall

I eyed him, genuinely confused. “Sir?”

“If Brennan can’t secure this alliance with Arenysen, we will need every single soldier ready to defend our borders. As you know, our scouts are reporting increased traffic from both Wrenwick and Kinham to Arenysen. No doubt they are doing everything they can to undermine the pairing of your brother and the princess. King Vael is leaving this decision completely in the hands of his daughter, so we can’t secure this alliance without your brother.”

“So if he fails—”

“War.”

The word fell from his lips like an ax. I’d known of this possibility for the past two years, but the way my father said the word now sent the reality of it slamming into my sternum. The blood. The screams. The chaos. The horrors.

“But why?” The question was out before I could constrain it, but I didn’t care how desperate I sounded. My father had been there on the battlefields with me, and he was as determined to avoid it as I was.

Roughing a hand over his stubbled chin, my father gazed into the cold, dark fireplace for a moment. I wondered where his mind wandered. Was he tormented by the same images I was? Or did he think of his brother and the love that had plunged our nations into that bloody mess? Did he wonder if it could have been prevented? Did he doubt his brother’s claims that the woman had been his mate?

Because I did. I had pondered all of this for the past two decades.

His sigh filled the room as he turned his weary eyes back to me. “The heart is a fickle thing, Connor. Easily swayed. Easily stolen. Easily corrupted. And the mind is of little consequence once the heart has been overtaken—whether by love or greed or power. The heart can convince even the smartest among us to do foolish things—dangerously foolish things, especially when it is the desire for vengeance that has blackened its fibers. I fear this is exactly what has happened to Wrenwick’s king.”

If anyone had reasonable cause for wanting revenge, it was indeed Nils Olander. His brother, Leif, had been betrothed to the woman my uncle claimed as his mate. That claim had started the war.

“You think Wrenwick would break the treaty?”

“I think their king has had a good deal of time to stew over the perceived wrongs against him and his family. Humans are just as stubborn and single-minded as we can be.”

“And where does Kinham’s allegiance lie? Any idea? Think they will side with the Olanders?”

My father was shaking his head before I even finished speaking. “Even if they weren’t both human kingdoms, Kinham would be unlikely to give up what they gained all those years ago. No doubt they’ll seek to keep their kingdom’s sovereignty at all costs.”

“Including war.”

He nodded.

“And we are sure a marriage will be enough to stop the threat?”

“Can we be sure of anything? No. But it’s the best plan we have so far. Especially with the increasing attacks on our roads. Where do we stand on getting that under control?”

My stomach tightened, and I nervously roughed my hand over my mouth and chin as I searched for the right words.

“The attacks have become less frequent, but they have continued with the same pattern. No blood. No human casualties. Clean kills.”

The king’s expression tightened. “Have the healers determined how they’re dying? Humans don’t have magic, after all.”

“They’re currently looking into the possibility of…” I swallowed my next word, unsure how my father might react to it. Thus far, our conversation had been fairly pleasant, and I hated to ruin it with this information.

“Possibility of what?” He eyed me suspiciously, but something in his hardened stare told me he’d already guessed.

“Poison.”

“Is it thesamepoison?” he asked with more timidity than I’d expected.

“We don’t know yet. That’s what they’re working to determine. It’s similar, but different. Works faster, unlike what—”

“Killed your mother,” he whispered as he lowered his eyes to the table between us.

“Whatever it is—whether it’s what took her from us or something else entirely—we are nearly certain it is not native to our lands. Either someone is creating it here or it’s being brought in. Since Arenysen is the primary importer from Dolobare and the lands beyond—”

My father’s head snapped up, his blue eyes burning into mine.

“Then we have even more need to ensure Brennan doesn’t fuck this up.”

---