Page 92 of The Isles of the Gods
Lady Lanham’s gaze moves across to Leander. “I am told you have not yet made the sacrifice, Your Highness. Perhaps I should send you straight to the Isles.”
“I’ve got a map,” Leander says, glancing at the bag that contains his family journal. “Sort of, anyway.”
“But the trip there would be a few days in a fast ship, and then longer to Alinor,” I point out. “All with no way to prove Leander’s alive if the news comes out.”
“Agreed,” she says, frowning.
“And,” says Selly, “you could never get a ride out of Port Naranda for the Isles without it being noticed. There’s nothing else in that direction, so you’d have to sail a decoy course until you were out of sight. That adds even moretime.”
The ambassador abandons the idea with a wave of her hand. “Does it have to be you making the sacrifice, YourHighness? I could send word ahead of you, ask your sister to dispatch someone else.”
Leander grimaces, shaking his head. “It doesn’thaveto be me. But if it’s not an immediate member of the royal family, the sacrifice would have to be…much larger than the one I’ll make.”
“Why so?”
“Well, if it’s me, the queen’s own brother, and the strongest magician our family has to lose, that’s a real risk. All I need do is make the trip, cut my palm, spill a little blood, and the work is done. If we pick a distant relation who didn’t really have anything on that month, who it wouldn’t inconvenience the kingdom to lose, it’s not much of a sacrifice, is it? So they’d have to make up the balance by offering something far worse. I’m worth enough that I can do less, if you follow.”
She nods, puffing out her cheeks, then releasing a breath slowly. “All right, does it have to be the temple at the Isles?”
“Yes,” he replies firmly. “Nowhere else will do—that much we know. You’ve heard that prayers are amplified when they’re made in temples? Well, this is thefirsttemple. There’s no more powerful place. When the gods were with us, when their Messengers walked among us, it was different. Now we need a way to make our voices louder.”
“All right,” she says. “In that case, our best move is to get you home as quickly as we can.”
“Agreed,” Leander replies. “Demonstrate to the world I’m alive, and give no sign I’m even considering the sacrifice. Then we can make a surreptitious trip to the Isles, well equipped and well guarded.”
Except that surreptitious trip was more or less the plan thefirst time. Technically, though, it didn’t fail. It was only our bad luck in being spotted that brought us undone. There’s no reason to think it won’t work next time.
Lady Lanham inclines her head, and surprises me with a small smile. “I admit, this warms my diplomatic heart,” she says. “Can you imagine it? The headlines, the condolences, and then there you are, healthy as ever. They can hardly say,But we thought we killed you.”
That smile of hers is painful to see because the part of the story she doesn’t know yet is what it cost us—costher—to make it here safely.
“No doubt their intention was to deny all accusations of involvement,” she says.
“And so they could,” Leander replies. “It wasn’t the Mellacean navy that tried to take us out. They were…private interests, I suppose.”
Her brows lift. “Describe them?”
Leander nods. “Civilians, but tough. I wouldn’t be surprised if plenty of them were ex-military, or career mercenaries. I saw a green sister on the boat that attacked us, but she didn’t board ours. The boarding party was led by a girl, couldn’t have been older than us. Slim build, skin a deeper brown than mine, dark curly hair cut short. She wore men’s clothes like she was used to them. Sharp, confident, absolutely no hesitation about killing.” He looks across to me. “You got the closest look at her—anything else?”
I consider the question. “Her clothes looked well made. And she was wearing a piece of—jewelry, I suppose you’d call it. A pin at her lapel, with a small red stone I took to be a ruby.I remember noticing it because it was made of gold, and I thought it would match the chain she was taking from me.”
Out the corner of my eye, I see Selly go very still, but the ambassador’s the one who speaks, grimacing. “That’s the marker of the most influential crime boss in the city,” she replies. “Her name is Ruby, and the pins are worn by all her people. The girl you’re describing is her sister, Laskia. She’s been working her way up in the organization, but this represents a leap. I’m not surprised she was focused on success.”
“And she clearly didn’t expect to leave any survivors, if she wore something that marked her identity,” Leander supposes.
Selly makes a sound, and when I look at her again, she’s white underneath her freckles. “Leander,” she murmurs. “The boy we met last night—Jude—he had one of those pins. I thought at the time it looked familiar, but I couldn’t place it.”
“When was this?” the ambassador asks, crisp. “Were you recognized?”
“I was,” Leander says slowly. “But even if he works for them, he’d have to be in on the plan to have a reason to mention seeing me.”
“Surely he’d report seeing someone so important,” I say, willing it not to be true. “Before, we thought he was alone. But if there’s a way he could win favor with his employers…”
“I don’t know,” Leander says slowly. “We were friends at school.”
“I don’t think you’re friends now,” Selly says quietly. “I’m sorry.”
“Then our plan to get moving is still the best choice,” Lady Lanham says. “I’ll bring the auto across the square to the frontdoor. We’ll take you straight to the embassy. You’ll be safe inside while I make preparations, and tonight the Queensguard will escort you to a diplomatic ship and straight home. Tensions may be high, but the Mellaceans won’t attack a ship flying the embassy’s flag. Maybe one day soon they’ll be game, but not yet.”
