Page 76 of The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom 2)

The other woman pushed Lara back, glancing over her shoulder before stepping inside. “We don’t have much time. There are soldiers on their way to escort you to the harbor and put you on a ship to Nerastis. My aunt wants you gone.”

“Time for what?” Lara looked to Aren, who appeared entirely unsurprised at Zarrah’s arrival.

“Time,” he said, “for General Anaphora and I to negotiate an alliance between Ithicana and Valcotta.”

42

Aren

“Shamethat we couldn’t have had this conversation before I had to endure the Red Desert.” Aren motioned for Zarrah to take a seat. “Everything could be said and done by now.”

“I didn’t know you intended to ask my aunt for assistance until I heard word of trouble in Jerin oasis and realized your intentions. You really ought not to leave witnesses alive, Your Grace. I won’t be the only one who’s heard the tale.”

He shrugged. “I don’t murder children.”

“Your principals would be commendable if the stakes were not so high.” Zarrah rolled her shoulders. “But in this instance, it worked in my favor. I needed to get here ahead of you to ensure our stories remained aligned. My delivery of food to Eranahl was not preciselysanctionedby the Empress.”

It wasn’t the only thing she was keeping from the Empress, but Aren only nodded.

“As it is, we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all if my return to Pyrinat had not made clear to me certain details about my aunt’s plans for the future.”

Lara was watching Zarrah with narrowed eyes. “I think you need to start from the beginning.”

“I don’t have time for that.”

“Make time.”

Exhaling a long breath, Zarrah began. “I’ve been stationed in Nerastis since I was seventeen. Which means for nearly five years I’ve been on the front lines of the war with Maridrina, watching as we fought and killed over the same pile of rubble, the same ten miles of coastline. Back and forth with no end in sight. And why should there be an end, when we’ve been fighting this same war for hundreds of years? No one even knows what it’s likenotto be at war.”

How well Aren knew that feeling.

“Except my aunt does see an end.” Zarrah hesitated, biting at her bottom lip. “She believes Silas has overcommitted himself in taking the bridge, and she’s right. Maridrina is stretched too thin, and that makes it vulnerable. Valcotta has been blocking trade so that the bridge earns no money in tolls, knowing well that there will come a time when Silas won’t be able to pay the Amaridian queen for the use of her navy. And when that day comes, what remains of the Ithicanian people will begin attacking the Maridrinian forces holding the bridge, which will mean that Silas will have to pull more soldiers from his war against us in order to hold it. That raiders and pirates will attack those men in the hunt for Ithicana’s hidden fortunes, requiring even more of Maridrina’s soldiers to bleed in its defense. Which means he’ll have to pull all of his naval forces from the coast around Nerastis in order to combat them, because his pride will force him to do what it takes to keep the bridge.”

“And in doing so, he’ll be leaving Maridrina ripe for the picking,” Aren said, his stomach twisting. “The Empress intends to watch and wait until Maridrina is weak, and then attack. That Ithicana won’t survive long enough to see Maridrina lose the bridge doesn’t matter to her.”

Zarrah shook her head. “It matters. But she’s deemed the loss worth sacking Vencia and eventually conquering all of Maridrina.” Her eyes met Aren’s. “The game is bigger than you realize, and infinitely more far-reaching.”

The words echoed those Aren had once heard Keris speak. “What is Keris’s opinion on the matter?”

“How should I know the thoughts of a Maridrinian prince?”

“I was under the impression that you two were rather close.” Next to him, he felt Lara straighten, her surprise palpable. “Why else would he risk so much in breaking you free from his father?”

“Keris Veliant is my enemy.” Zarrah’s gaze met his, unblinking. “He offered me a deal: He would get me free of Vencia if I agreed to supply Eranahl. As we both delivered on our ends of the bargain, our arrangement is over. Even so, I’d rather the Empress never learned the arrangement existed at all.”

Aren gave a slight shake of his head. “Anyone with money and means could’ve delivered a ship full of supplies into Ithicana, and Keris has both. If all he’d cared about was Eranahl enduring, he could have managed that without either of us. Which suggests to me that supplying my city was merely bait to entice me into achieving his greater goal.”

“And which goal might that be, Your Grace?”

“Freeing you.”

Zarrah rolled her eyes. “You’re insane. Why would he want that?”

“Because you and Keris plan to end the war between Maridrina and Valcotta.” Leaning back on his hands, he tried to keep the smug smile from his face. “That is Keris’s long game, but it’s not one that has a hope of being achieved if the Empress takes advantage of Silas’s greed and invades Maridrina.”

Zarrah was silent, then she finally said, “Keris and I are like-minded in our belief that the war between our nations needs to end.”

More than like-minded, Aren thought, but he kept his suspicions about the nature of the relationship between Zarrah and Keris to himself. “Then why not just tell Keris the Empress’s intentions? He could supply the information to his father, and Silas would have to withdraw from Ithicana to protect Maridrina and his throne. We could win this war without a fight.”

---