Page 15 of Winter's Fate

His reaction when she mentioned the king had surprised her. It should be a common enough sentiment; from what she’d heard, the old king had raised Farrow alongside his sons and his daughter.

Perhaps most people gave their sympathies to King Hawk. Or perhaps Farrow hadn’t been treated well, somehow.

Laena wanted to believe that if her sister knew the truth, she would understand why Laena had left. She had loved Ben—she sometimes thought she still did—and his betrayal still cut like a knife. But it was the growing power, the rock of icy power growing within her like that poisonous icicle, that had prompted her to abdicate her responsibilities. For the good of the realm.

Callum Farrow’s kindness would certainly dry up if he learned of her secret. There would be no interventions, no sharp words to guards. He would haul her to the darkest dungeon, if he allowed her to live at all.

And Kat’s last bit of patience with her would be gone, too. Etra might be more lenient than Aglye, but magic was still illegal.

But Laena had anticipated this question. She’d had days to prepare an answer, and had considered everything from cryptic to dismissive to outright lies. Now, looking at Kat’s barely concealed anger, the truth on the tip of her tongue, she didn’t want to play games. She merely wanted her sister to understand the severity of the situation. “Katrina. It makes me think of?—”

“Do not say it,” Kat interrupted.

“But it does,” Laena pushed. “It makes me think of Mirage.”

Declan startled and took half a step forward as if to intervene in the conversation, but Kat was already opening her mouth to speak. “The Miragelands are sealed away,” she said airily. “They cannot touch the Vales.”

Declan nodded, lips pressed together, and retreated back to his hiding spot. He’d seemed so intimidating to Laena when she’d been the focus of his tutoring. Now, he seemed younger than she remembered, his auburn hair thick, his beard well-trimmed. Hardly worthy of the title she’d given him of dry old goat.

Though the title was really more about one’s aura than one’s temporal age.

Also, there was something about the way he looked at Katrina, the way his eyes lingered well below her face, that made Laena want to slap him.

“Are you quoting directly from your textbook?” Laena asked. “Or do you have an opinion of your own?”

Kat flushed, the corners of her mouth tightening in annoyance. “I am stating what I know to be true.”

A petty part of Laena wanted to flounce out of the room and let Kat discover her mistakes in disastrous fashion. She was not obligated to ensure her sister’s success.

But this was not about Kat. This was about Etra. “Please.” She hated the pleading note in her tone, hated that she had to beg. But sometimes, a moment came in diplomacy where even the most hated tools needed to be used. “Don’t be a fool. Don’t refuse to listen just because you hate me. You need to reach out to the farmers and find out if anyone else has discovered this blight. The alchemists can study it, find out if there’s an antidote. You can prevent a famine if you just heed the warnings now. Before it’s too late.”

She felt herself leaning forward, hands on her knees, peeringup at her sister. She’d dropped the mask, allowing Kat to see her fear. Anything, everything, if it would break through Kat’s frosty exterior.

She cared about Etra, too. Laena knew she did.

Kat’s spine stiffened. “I know how to be queen, Laena. Far more than you ever did. I didn’t abandon my people.”

“Katrina,” Declan said softly, and Kat trailed off, though the defiance remained painted across her face.

There was nothing else to say. If Katrina would not listen, then Etra was truly in danger. Laena hadn’t truly considered what might happen if her sister rejected every attempt to make her see reason. Laena might go to the farmers guild herself, if she could guarantee she would not be recognized. It wouldn’t do if they thought she was causing divisions.

She might well cause anactualdivision, if more people felt the way the old woman in the coach did. If more people believed she should have kept her throne—that she deserved to.

Laena rose. “It was a mistake to come here,” she said, keeping her tone even. “I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

She would find another solution. She would have to. Unless the blight had stopped with the defeat of the shadow monster, she more than suspected her home would no longer be livable upon her return. The black poison would already be crawling up the walls, eating away everything she’d worked so hard to build.

Kat glanced at Declan, who nodded, his expression grim. Laena nearly rolled her eyes. Kat was the princess, soon to be queen. She shouldn’t need Declan’s approval to do anything.

Katrina settled herself on the flower-printed chair across the table. “I will look into the matter,” she said, “if you agree to serve as emissary to Aglye.”

Caught. Well and truly caught. Here Laena had been smugly assessing her sister’s poor negotiation, and Kat had been in control of the entire conversation. From the verystart, perhaps even from the moment Laena stepped up to the gates. If Kat had watched her long enough to know Ben was gone, she might easily have known when Laena set out for Riles.

Laena should have anticipated it. She’d been long absent from the maneuvers of court life, but Kat had grown up among it, too. And she was not out of practice.

“This is your realm at stake,” Laena said. “And you want to make adeal? Tell me you weren’t the one who planted this poison in my garden, Kat.”

Kat’s eyes widened. “Certainly not. And making deals is what the role entails, Laena. Or have you forgotten? If there is something you need, then you may have it. For a price.”

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