Page 117 of What Fury Brings
Olerra kept a steady pace, not slowing or looking away from the walls. “It boggles the mind.”
“Yes, indeed.” Ydra stepped closer so their conversation was less likely to be overheard. “So would you like to discuss how we took the wrong prince or how to bury your cousin in one of these trenches so she’ll never be found again?”
“Talking won’t solve anything. Everything is shit.”
“Yes, Sanos told me everything that happened. Good thing, too. I would have hated to resort to torture.”
Olerra huffed a breath that might be mistaken for a brief laugh. “Torture? You? The gentle heart who saves little boys as a hobby?”
“The prince claims my presence is torture, so naturally I haven’t allowed him a moment’s peace without me there.”
It hurt to talk about him, but it would hurt worse not to know. Ydra was safe and wouldn’t judge, so Olerra dared to ask, “Has he said anything about me?”
“He talks of little else. He misses you. He wishes he could take it all back. He doesn’t want to leave Amarra. He wants everything to continue as is.”
“And is he hoping I will start a war simply to keep him? That I will ignore all sense and choose love?”
“I don’t think he’s thought that far ahead.”
Olerra found a crumbling brick in the structure up ahead. She called a worker over to see it replaced. “I have a kingdom to think of. I cannot put everyone in danger for him.”
“I know that. He knows that.”
“Then what does he want from me?”
Ydra tapped a hand on the pommel of her sword. “Maybe you should go talk to him.”
“I’m a bit busy.”
“Being a coward.”
No one else could get away with saying those words to her. Still, Olerra found her dominant hand tightening into a fist. “Careful,” she warned.
“You are being a coward, though. He now knows your secret. Everyone knows it, but you’re most concerned about him knowing it. Because that means you can’t trust him to be around you. What ifnowhe takes advantage of knowing he can overpower you if he tries? You’re still letting what happened to your mother control you.”
Olerra let the words strike her skin and fall to the ground. “I already beat him. I’m not scared of him.”
“No? You’re not scared that now he knows everything, he might not want you?”
“It doesn’t matter, Ydra!” As some of the soldiers looked up from their work, Olerra lowered her voice. “He’s going home. I’m trading him for the real Andrastus. We’re stopping a war. That’s all I can do for my people now that I cannot rule over them.”
“There has to be another way. Something we haven’t thought of yet.”
“I never thought of you as a romantic.”
“I don’t think I was one until I watched you two.”
24
Olerra’s presence was required at a meeting the next day. She’d had exactly one fitful hour of sleep before Vorika woke her, and she’d spent the rest of the night preparing the city for the approaching army. Olerra could do no more than wash the sweat from her body with a rag in the water basin. She put a serum below her eyes to try to remove some of the hollowness.
Then she dressed and headed for the meeting room.
All the women looked up at her approach. She was the last to arrive, it seemed. Already, the queen rested at the head of the table. Glenaerys was on her immediate left with her mother, Shaelwyn, on her other side. Next to her was Enadra, the former general. On the opposite side of the table sat Cyssia and Usstra.
Olerra went to take her usual seat on the queen’s right, but she was halted. “You will sit at the end of the table today,” Shaelwyn declared. “We have to determine if you’re even worthy to be sitting with us. So you will sit where we can pass judgment most easily.”
Olerra turned to her aunt, since Shaelwyn could not make such a demand on her own. When the queen nodded, Olerra knew that a majority vote had already been taken on this matter.
