Page 102 of The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom 2)

“Shit!” Ahnna slammed her fist down on the edge of the boat. But then her eyes turned on Aren. “What do we do?”

He felt the attention of all of his soldiers turning on him even as they fought to keep the enemy back, all of them waiting for him to offer a solution. To lead them toward victory. To be a king.

Crippling panic rose in his chest, but Aren forced it down.You know how to fight. You know how to defend Ithicana. So do it!

In the distance, thunder rolled, and a breeze that smelled like lightning and rain andviolenceswept through the cavern. And every one of his soldiers turned their faces into the wind, recognizing that scent.

The tempests that defended Ithicana weren’t abandoning the kingdom when it needed them most. Aren only needed to hold out until they arrived.

“Leave me two boats and their crews and take everyone else to defend the cliffs,” he ordered his sister. Then to Taryn, who was methodically shooting Maridrinians, a feral expression on her face, he said, “Get that breaker working again.”

The boats shifted and rocked as soldiers shifted between them, the men and women who’d grown up with him, who’d fought beside him, who’d followed him all of his life, moving to his side.

Jor settled down on one knee next to him. “If they want this gate, they’re going to have to bleed for it!” he shouted, and the cavern echoed with voices repeating him.

Aren stared through the shields, meeting the gazes of the enemy staring back. With one hand, he pulled off his mask and dropped it into the water, smiling as he saw recognition in their eyes.

“For Ithicana!” he shouted, then lifted his blade.

58

Lara

The island was on fire.

Lara stared in horror, her hands growing slack on the ropes she’d only moments ago gripped so fiercely.

She was too late.

Even with the masses of ships between her vessel and the island, she could make out the swarms of enemy soldiers climbing the cliffs, the riot of fighting between Maridrinians and Ithicanians on the volcano slopes, the shipbreakers little more than smoldering shapes. Half a dozen ships crowded around the opening to the cavern, longboats full of soldiers lowering to the water and then rowing into the darkness. If the gate hadn’t been breached yet, it soon would.

Eranahl was falling.

Pain struck her in the stomach, and Lara doubled over, gripping the sides of the boat, tears running down her face. All night she’d fought with the vessel, slowly working her way between islands toward the glow of Eranahl’s signal fires, desperate to reach her home in time to make a difference.

But it had all been for nothing.

Anger abruptly chased away her grief, and Lara slammed her hands down hard. This wasn’t how things were meant to turn out. Ithicana was supposed to be free, her father defeated, and now, despite everything she and Aren had done, despite how hard they’d fought, it was over.

Thunder rolled, and Lara lifted her head to watch the lightning in the distance. It had to be near dawn, but black clouds dominated the east, obscuring any hint of the sun. A violent wind rushed over her, her boat already rising and falling on growing swells.

The storms were meant to be the defenders of Ithicana, but even they were too late.

Turning her head back to the island, Lara watched the soldiers clambering up ropes dangling between boats and clifftops. The surf threw itself against the rocks, full of shattered boats and debris and corpses, but still they kept coming.

And the Ithicanians kept fighting.

Lara knew they’d never stop. They’d never surrender, not when everything that mattered to them was within that city. And those wereherpeople. People who were struggling and dying while shewatched.

Straightening, Lara narrowed her eyes at the ships surrounding the island. Then she dug into her pocket for the last of the stimulant, not even tasting the concoction of herbs as she chewed and swallowed. Pulling the line in her hand taut, she watched the sail tighten against the wind, carrying her into the battle.

It was dark enough that the ships didn’t notice her. As she grew closer, where the fires on the slopes of Eranahl illuminated the water, the soldiers still on the decks shouted and pointed in her direction. Arrows whistled past, hitting the water and striking the boat, and Lara crouched low, keeping her eyes on the cliffs. Searching for gaps in the chaos of longboats and wreckage at the base.

“You’ll only get one chance at this,” she muttered, picking her spot. “And if you fail, you’re dead.”

Her blood raced through her veins, urged on by adrenaline and stimulant, pain and fear falling away as she dropped the ropes. As she bent her knees, the surf caught hold of her boat and flung it against the cliff walls.

At the last possible moment, she jumped, reaching for handholds even as her boat slammed against the cliff walls, wood shattering.

---