Page 44 of The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom 2)

“Alive, but barely. Get your hands cleaned up and come help me. For once, you might actually be of use.”

Without a word, Lara edged past him, and Aren practically threw himself at the opening to the cave. His chest felt too tight, his lungs not bringing in enough air, and it wasn’t until he stood beneath the cloudy sky, warm rain washing the sweat from his upturned face, that his muscles relaxed enough to draw in a deep breath.

Cresta walked past. “I’m going to scout.” As silent as any Ithicanian, she disappeared into the trees, a wraith in the night.

A sob of pain came from inside the cave, suggesting the arrow had been removed, and he walked farther down the slope, not wanting to listen. Not wanting to feel.

“So you’re the King of Ithicana.”

Aren jumped, startled. He turned to find Sarhina standing next to him, the rain soaking her dark hair. Despite looking like she was only weeks away from giving birth, she’d moved as silently as Cresta had. Twelve of them. Silas had made twelve of these weapons. And Aren suspected that only now was the man realizing just how dangerous they were. “I was.”

She huffed out an exasperated breath. “Please don’t turn all dreary on me. My sister might be dying inside, and I’ve no patience for unnecessary bellyaching.”

“Unnecessary?” His voice was full of venom, but he didn’t care to temper it.

“Ithicana hasn’t fallen yet. Eranahl has held against every attempt to breach its defenses, and my understanding is that the majority of your civilians were able to reach the safety of the island ahead of my father’s soldiers.”

He knew that. Knew that most had arrived with little more than the clothes on their back, only Ithicana’s career soldiers remaining on the other islands to combat the Maridrinian forces. For months, he’d lived out in the open with what remained of the Midwatch garrison, sleeping in the dirt and eating what they could hunt or forage for in the jungle, all the while fighting soldiers who were living in their homes and eating like kings off supplies coming through the bridge. “And just what do you suppose all those civilians are eating now?”

She leveled him with a steady stare, unfazed. “They are on rations, obviously. Which is why time is of the essence. Your sister is undertaking the first part of Lara’s plan, and with you free, the second half can begin. You will sit on your throne again, mark my words. My father pissed off the wrong woman when he pissed off your wife.”

“Don’t call her that.”

“Why not? It’s the truth.”

“Because she’s a liar and a traitor who deserves to have her throat slit, that’s why!”

Abruptly Aren found himself on his back, a knife pressed against his jugular. “Let me make myself abundantly clear, Your Grace,” Sarhina hissed, the only thing visible in the darkness the white of her teeth. “You will never speak about my sister in that way or it will be you whose throat is slit. Understood?”

Glaring at her, he didn’t answer.

The knife blade pressed harder, a droplet of blood trickling down his throat. “You mean nothing to me. You are nothing. The only reason that the rest of my sisters and I agreed to help you was becauseLaraloves you, and we love her. Never mind that we owe her our lives.”

She eased up slightly, and Aren considered how he might get her off him without hurting the child.

But pregnant or not, Sarhina knew her business. He was at her mercy.

“You have no idea what she has endured,” Sarhina continued. “What we all endured at the hands of my father and Serin and the rest of them.Fifteenfucking years of being brainwashed to believe that our people were starving and dying because of Ithicana. They beat us and starved us and turned us into murderers, and through every bit of it they whispered that it was all to save Maridrina fromyou.That it was because ofyouthat we needed to suffer. That you were a hateful demon who cared nothing for the innocents you harmed, only for the satisfaction of your own greed!”

There was fury in her voice, and reason told him that to provoke her was ill-advised. But Aren couldn’t seem to stop himself from snapping, “She saw the truth within days of arriving in Ithicana. Over and over again she had reality shoved in her face, and she still chose to believe your father’s lies and stab me in the back!”

“Chose?” The word came out between the woman’s teeth. “Why are you so stupid that you can’t understand that his lies were like poison? A poison we willnevertruly recover from. I know the truth. I have seen it with my own eyes, and yet more nights than not I wake up in frenzy, my hatred for Ithicana back like it had never left at all.”

As abruptly as she’d attacked him, Sarhina rose to her feet, rubbing at her lower back. Eyeing her warily, Aren rose, touching his stinging throat.

“Lara made a mistake,” she said wearily. “If she’d trusted you with the whole truth, none of this would’ve come to pass. But please understand that her coming to trust you at all is nothing short of miraculous. She’s as much a victim of my father’s machinations as you and Ithicana. Though unlike you, she isn’t willing to let him win. Lara remains Queen of Ithicana even if you’ve given up on being its king.”

Without another word, she strode inside, leaving him out in the rain. A few minutes later, Lara appeared in the entrance to the cave, where she paused. Then she walked toward him.

“How is Bronwyn?”

“We stopped the bleeding, but she’s very weak. It will be another day or so before there can be any surety she’ll recover, and even then, there’s always risk of the wound fouling.” She rubbed her temples, weariness and the toll of whatever she’d done to lose their pursuers palpable, and he curbed the urge to reach over to rub her neck where he knew it always knotted.

“She’ll get through it,” he said instead. “She’s a fighter.”

Lara dropped her hands from her face, looking up at him. “I’m surprised you care one way or another.”

Of course I care—I’m not like you,he wanted to snap, but instead said, “I have no grievances with your sisters.”

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