Page 33 of Of Blood and Fire
“I didn’t really have time to ask.” And hadn’t thought to do so, if I was being at all honest.
I drew my sword and once again sliced through the chain. It dropped noisily to the courtyard’s black stone, and the door swung open. Men immediately began to shuffle out, and the fake husband took a hasty step back, distaste etching the features that were so familiar and yet so very different—though if you’d asked me how, I couldn’t have explained.
“There’s a rather odious scent coming from within,” he murmured, lightly pressing the back of his hand against his nostrils.
“No worse than the one standing barely three feet to my right,” I replied, my voice a fraction louder than his.
Aric cast me a dark look. “Thatis a statement unbecoming of a queen.”
I raised an eyebrow, bedevilment dancing through me. “Given there’s never been a queen before now, who’s to say what’s becoming or not? Jarin, let’s get these men sorted out—acute injuries to the main hospital, minor to the palace hospital.”
He nodded and motioned the medics and stretcher bearers forward. One by one, each man was checked, assigned an aid or a stretcher, and then whisked away.
Neither Aric nor Damon moved, despite their obvious distaste at the stench still radiating from the cage. Maybe thefact that I’d directly requested both Jarin’s and Neera’s presence had them believing something else was going on.
Which, of course, there was
It wasn’t until the rest of his people had been dealt with that Garran stepped out of the shadows. The three men standing next to me reacted with varying degrees of surprise. Neera was the only one who didn’t, but then, she was a very new appointee and unlikely to have seen or met Garran before now.
“I thought you weredead,” Jarin said, then cleared his throat and hastily saluted. “Pleased to see that is not the case, Grand Commander.”
“Thanks, Jarin.” Garran’s reply was almost absent; his gaze and his attention were on Aric. “And to what do we owe your presence here, King Velez? Do you not have your own fortress to defend?”
“My fortress is not in danger?—”
“Thatis a debatable point and does not actually answer my question.”
Garran’s grip on the door’s frame was so tight his knuckles were white—a suggestion he was struggling to remain upright even if there were no other signs of weakness.
Aric’s smile was courteous and lacking any sort of rancor, though I had no doubt it was taking a great deal of effort. “I came here to offer whatever help and advice I can to Bryn after the untimely death of her parents and most of advisory council thrust her into a role she was not prepared for.”
“Ah, I see.” Garran’s smile was mild, his manner unconcerned.
The hairs on my arms stood on end. I’d seen that combination before, and it always meant trouble.
“I’m happy to offer you the same, Garran, at least until you’ve recovered from your ordeal and have had a chance to catch up on the situation and events.”
“Unless you wish to drop the formalities, that isKingAsli to you.” Garran’s tone remained ever so polite, but the glint in his eyes—one that held just the slightest touch of savagery—told me the trap was about to be sprung. “But it is an offer I will gratefully accept, with one caveat.”
Aric was too much of a statesman to let any sort of annoyance show in his voice or his expression, and yet I could almost taste both. And if I could, then Garran, who was sensitive to such things, had to be drowning in it.
Which no doubt explained the strengthening savagery of that glint.
“And what might that caveat be,KingAsli?”
Garran smiled.
Trap sprung, I thought.
“That you must first,” he said, in a voice that carried little farther than the men and soldiers standing close, “denounce your plans to murder both myself and my son in order to claim Esan’s throne foryourfirstborn son and his get.”
CHAPTER
FIVE
“Are you mad?”It was said without hesitation or anger. “What makes you think I would stoop so low as to murder?—”
“If there is no truth to the accusation, then declare that to be so right here and now.”
