Page 42 of Knightfall
I leaned my back against the door and gripped the handle. “I know. But I don’t only plan to make up for it on my knees. I’ve learned about so many different positions from those girls at the brothel. You’ll have to be more creative than that.”
I winked and pulled open the door to mother’s room.
Ryan’s chest heaved from the caveman lust he had to suppress. I was a soaking mess. All my body wanted to do was go back to my chamber and let him toss me around on the mattress. The thought of Ryan pinning me down nearly made me convulse. I had to close my eyes and swallow before taking a step forward, clearing my mind, and approaching the Queen at the far side of the room.
My fathers surrounded her. Gorg, the stiff-neck ruler-wielding, rule-following spy master who used to punish even my smallest offenses with a rap on my fingers; Peter, the knight with a heart of gold who’d taken on Evaness’ economic matters; and Johann, Ryan’s mentor in our war games.
My mother stopped whispering with Johann when I reached the foot of the bed.
“I was summoned.” I waited.
Mother looked back and forth between myself and Ryan, who’d stopped uncomfortably close behind me, nearly pinning me to the bed frame. Her eyes may have been pleased at that, but it was hard to tell.
“There is a problem with the entourage from Cheryn.”
“Problem?” I asked. My mind flitted to robbers or carriage breakdowns on the road.
“The visit was initially arranged to introduce Sultan Raj’s son, Abbas, to your sister. He’s twenty-five, with four younger brothers. They’re in need of a wife.”
My stomach revolted but I kept my expression neutral. I didn’t want Avia to leave. If something happened to me and we could explain away my absence, it wasn’t a big deal. But that was a gamble. What if we couldn’t explain my absence? What if, at some point, people stopped believing I was hunting dragons? What if something happened to me publicly? Evaness would want a new queen. But I’d expressed that opinion countless times. Each time I’d been rebuked.
I waited for mother. She liked to allow tension to build sometimes. It helped her feel in control—that was my theory, at least.
“Abbas is apparently traveling with two hundred pegasus fliers.”
My neutral expression dropped. As did my jaw. “That’s an attack force!” Cheryn was an aggressive country, sure. When djin and giants were half the population, it was bound to happen. But we’d had a decent treaty with them since I was eight. Since the last Fire War.
“Apparently, additional forces have been gathered at the border, awaiting some kind of signal.”
I had trouble breathing. Unconsciously, I leaned back into Ryan. He put his hand on my shoulder to steady me. And he didn’t remove it.
“Why is this the first we’re hearing about this?” Ryan demanded. “I didn’t have any reports this morning.”
“They were just spotted at the border half an hour ago,” Mother said.
Johann turned to Ryan and grimaced. It made the scar on his cheek wink like a dimple. “Apparently, they’ve been slowly moving troops dressed as civilians to their border towns for months. This is not some hasty maneuver.”
My eyes flickered between Johann and my mother as they shared a look. And suddenly, everything clicked.
“What do they want? Have they made demands?” I asked.
“None,” Gorg answered, his face as hard as granite.
I bit back a smile. They all played their parts so well.
“I can’t believe this. Should we prepare for invasion?” Ryan turned to Johann.
“No,” I responded, before my father could answer. I gazed straight at my mother. She stared steadily back, waiting to hear what I’d say. I took a deep breath and went with my gut. We’d planned for contingencies and scenarios like this for as long as I could remember. She’d always taught me to divide the work. Give everyone a job in a crisis so they have no time to panic.
I applied that strategy. “We wait. We receive Abbas cordially. The ball is still on. In the lead up and during the ball Connor and his diplomats can feel him out. Quinn’s spies will tell us the difference between what Abbas says and what they see.”
I glanced up at Ryan. “You can tell the local militias to assemble using Quinn’s contacts. I also believe the ambassador to Sedara is angry at Cheryn. Perhaps, Declan could speak to him, with Connor’s help. Feel out their interest in an alliance. If Sedara seems agreeable, Ryan, you’ll need to go to Sedara yourself to ensure coordination in case this gets violent. While we house the pegasus fleet, we can feed them sycamore seeds to give them muscle tremors and make it difficult for them to fly. That will effectively remove them from the equation and keep this to a land battle.”
I turned and glared hard at mother. “Avia stays here. She starts training for my position immediately.”
“What?” my fathers all turned to stare at me. Ryan’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. I didn’t look at him.
“I thought you were staying,” Peter said.
