Page 74 of The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom 2)

He’d never gotten a straight answer from his mother as to why her relationship with the Empress was so close, and now Aren was beginning to suspect why. “She visited Valcotta.”

“Oh yes, many,manytimes. Delia was not one to be confined, and your father chased her up and down both continents trying to keep her safe. I was bested only once in Pyrinat’s games, and imagine my shock to learn that the victor was an Ithicanian princess.” The Empress smirked and rubbed a faded scar across the bridge of her nose. “She was fierce.”

It was an incredible revelation, and his voice was strangled as he answered, “Yes.”

“Is it true your father died trying to save her life?”

He nodded.

Sorrow passed over the woman’s face, and she pressed her hand to her heart. “I will grieve her loss, and his, until the end of my days.”

It was true grief, not merely words said out of politeness or obligation, and though it loathed him to do so, Aren had to capitalize upon it. “If you knew my mother so well, then you had to have known her dream for Ithicana and its people.”

“Freedom? Yes, she told me.” The Empress shook her head. “But I agreed with your father in that it wasn’t possible. Ithicana’s survival was always dependent on it being impenetrable, or at least, nearly so. To unleash thousands of people who knew all of Ithicana’s secrets would see them secret no longer.” Her gaze hardened. “And worse still to allow others a view from the inside. But then, you learned that lesson, didn’t you?”

He had. A thousand times over.

“And yet not only do you allow Silas Veliant’s weapon to live, you keep her close. Why is that?”

“She’s not his weapon. Not anymore.” Aren bit the insides of his cheeks, annoyed that he sounded so defensive. “She broke me free of Vencia, and after that, I needed her to survive the trek across the Red Desert.”

“It could be another ruse, you know. Ithicana has not yet fallen—a fact that sorely grieves Silas. How better to take Eranahl than to deliver into it the woman who cracked the defenses of the bridge?”

Aren considered the Empress’s suggestion that Lara’s motivations were not as they appeared. That his rescue was part of a greater plan orchestrated by Silas or the Magpie in order to achieve what they had failed to take by force. Yet it seemed improbable given the risk both Lara and her sisters had taken—Bronwyn had nearly died. And Lara herself had nearly lost her life multiple times on the journey.

“It would be nothing for us to rid you of that particular problem,” the Empress said. “She could disappear.”

The thought of the Valcottans dragging Lara to some dark place and slitting her throat filled his mind, and Aren’s hands went cold. “No.”

“Your people will never accept her as queen. She’s the traitor who cost them their homes and the lives of their loved ones.”

“I am aware. The answer is still no.”

Silence.

“And if I say that Valcotta’s support is contingent on her death?”

Lara’s life in exchange for the return of the bridge. Setting aside his own feelings, it seemed the obvious choice. Therightchoice to ensure his people endured. Except heknewthat the Empress was not so petty as to make her assistance conditional on the life of one woman. “No.”

The Empress shoved away her glass, rising to her feet in a flurry of motion. “Even now you put Maridrina first.”

Aren rose as well. “I put the chance of peace before old grievances. Which is something you might consider.”

The Empress whirled back around, eyes flashing in anger. “Peace with Maridrina? Son of my friend or not, in this you go too far. On my life, I’ll not lay down my staff until Silas Veliant lays down his sword, and we both know that will never happen.”

“It won’t,” Aren agreed. “But Silas won’t rule forever.” He cast a backward glance at Zarrah, who was staring at the floor. “And neither will you.”

Inclining his head, Aren pressed a hand to his heart, praying that he wasn’t making the biggest mistake of his life. “It was an honor to meet the friend of my mother, but now I must take my leave. Tonight, I sail to Ithicana.”

Zarrah didn’t try to stop him as he left the room, and no one interfered in his progress down the curving stairs. In the main room at the base of the tower, he found Lara sitting on the floor with Welran, the pair playing some sort of board game. She rose at the sight of him.

“I’m pleased to see you still intact,” he said to the big man.

“A near thing, Your Grace.” Welran pressed his hand to his chest. “You must sleep with one eye open and your hand on your dagger with such a woman in your bed.”

“Perhaps one day you’ll be so fortunate.” Aren inclined his head to the Valcottan, then to Lara he said, “We need to go.”

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