Page 25 of The Endless War

What if coming here was a mistake?

Keris shoved away the thoughts, focusing on the small group of people standing at the center of a paved pathway, Aren Kertell at the center of them. Aren wore the same drab tunic and trousers as his soldiers, his thick leather boots scuffed and worn, and what looked like a machete strapped to his back. Yet there was no mistaking him for anything other than the king of this place. Whereas in Vencia, he’d been a fish out of water, here Aren blended into the wildness of Ithicana even as he dominated it, and Keris found himself grudgingly conceding that he may have underestimated the other man.

“Keris.” Aren’s eyes were unreadable. “Welcome to Eranahl.”

Welcomewas a stretch, but given Aren hadn’t immediately stabbed him in the chest, it was a start. “I see now why you fought so hard to protect it from the world.”

Aren inclined his head but said nothing. At his right, a tall woman with a scarred but beautiful face narrowed her hazel eyes, expression full of distrust. Princess Ahnna Kertell was Keris’s guess, and he silently sent his condolences to William of Harendell, because the Prince was deeply out of his league.

His skin abruptly prickled, giving Keris a heartbeat of warning before sharp steel dug into his spine.

Because it was his nature, Keris went on the offensive.

“How fitting that it will be a knife to the back, Lara,” he said. “It seems old habits die hard.”

“Must be in the blood,” she answered softly. “For your knife found Ithicana’s spine with unerring precision.”

“And yet Ithicana still stands.”

“Do you think that will save you, Keris?” his sister asked. “Do you think that our victory absolves your betrayal?”

Absolution would ever be beyond his reach, but that didn’t mean he’d stand quietly while being accused of crimes he hadn’t committed. “Which betrayal would that be? I made no promise to Ithicana, formed no alliance, owed no loyalty. What’s more, I’m not the one who is guilty of starting the war—”

He twisted, the knife scoring his back as he turned to face her. Only to find the tip now pressed against his throat. “Just of finishing it.”

Lara didn’t blink, the hand holding the knife steady and capable of putting him down. Yet no fear pulsed in Keris’s veins, only anticipation.

“We’d speculated that you’d come to ask us to help Zarrah,” she said. “But it feels more like you’ve come here seeking your own death.”

So they knew about Zarrah. No surprise, given Ithicana’s network of spies, but the fact that they’d known and donenothingfanned the embers of anger in his heart. Zarrah had risked her life to ally with them, and rather than help her, they’d sat on their asses in their hidden kingdom. “I’m here to remind you that Zarrah helped you. Youoweher.”

Her head tilted. “Do we? Thanks to you, the battle Zarrah agreed to fight never happened. Ithicana fought on its own, without help from anyone.”

“Ahh.” He curbed the vicious words rising in his throat. “Is that why Ithicana’s princess remains? Because the battle Harendell agreed to fight never happened, therefore all vows made are forgotten?”

He heard an intake of breath from behind him, female, and he filed away the Princess of Ithicana’s reaction for later consideration. If he lived that long.

Lara’s gaze had flicked past him, but it swiftly returned as the tip of her knife dug deeper, blood running down to soak his collar. “Our agreements with Harendell are not your concern.”

Keris huffed out an amused breath. “You think alliances betweennations are private matters? It’s all one game,Your Majesty, and that means they areeveryone’sbusiness.”

“Says the king here on personal business,” she answered flatly. “You cannot have it both ways. If you truly meant those words, you’d tell all of Maridrina of your affair with Zarrah Anaphora and take your kingdom to war to win her freedom. Instead you keep your secrets and come here intending to use guilt and obligation to motivate us to do your dirty work, never mind that your actions were nearly Ithicana’s ruin. Never mind that involving ourselves in Valcottan matters might well see the Empress turn the might of her navy on our shores while we are too weak to defend them. I am sorry for what happened to Zarrah, but she made the choice to involve herself with you and must face the consequences. It’syourfault she’s damned, Keris. Own that.”

He owned it every minute of every hour of every day. “So you would leave her to rot to spite me?”

“That isn’t what I said.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not the truth,” he snarled. “You’re pissed off at me, and like the petty bitch you are, you’ll leave the one person on the whole fucking continent who helped you to die just to get your revenge.”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

Lara shook with fury, and Keris knew he was playing with fire. He didn’t care. “If revenge is what you want, then quit pissing around and put that knife in my throat. But after you’re done, help her.Please.”

The tip of the knife dug deeper, dangerously close to puncturing his windpipe, and Keris could see in Lara’s eyes that she wanted to do it. Could see the blistering rage that cared nothing for consequences and everything for having the satisfaction of watching him die, gasping at her feet.

“I stayed at Southwatch after all the soldiers boarded ships to move on Eranahl,” he said. “Was there when the Valcottans came to attack, so I saw the moment Zarrah realized what had happened. What I’d done.” His throat convulsed as he swallowed. “She was furious. Accused me of betraying her. Told me that she hated me. That she never wanted to see my face or hear my voice ever again, and that if we ever crossed paths, she’d kill me.”

Color drained from Lara’s face, but she said nothing.

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