Page 20 of Sharpest Court

While Rheya’s lips twitched in amusement, Arun’s expression remained severe. “We were merely helping Lady Alissa reach her intended destination. She seemed rather eager to follow me.” Arun raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that right, Lady Alissa?”

One look at Keil’s stern, lantern-lit profile and the truth caught up with me, all the more staggering for the delay.

We might spare your brother the pain he is currently enduring under Her Majesty’s orders. Arun’s words hadn’t just been a lure; they’d been intentionally misleading. And though I still didn’t know what pain Keil had been enduring, I now understood one thing: He had never been in danger.

I had exposed my identity, had landed myself in this throne room . . . for nothing.

“Regardless,” Arun continued as I felt the weight of my own crushing foolishness, “Lady Alissa was neither chained nor dosed with dullroot. We even had Stian tend to her injuries. Despite the harm she has inflicted on our political relations, she has been fairly received.”

My temper spiked, the anger finally loosening my tongue. Court was my battleground. I wouldn’t let Arun best me on it.

“I will not take responsibility for the hostility between two nations already working against each other.” I stepped forward and the group moved with me, Keil angled as though to jump in front of me at any moment. “Erik deliberately drew your attention to Daradon so he could provoke your ambassador and force you into his debt. Meanwhile, you planned to support Princess Carmen in a coup for his throne. Whatever you wanted from Daradon, it was never peace.”

“Oh?” Rheya’s eyes narrowed on Dashiel, who respectfully dipped his gaze. “Sir Gilliam. You have come here to defend this young woman. Do you believe that Lady Alissa bears any culpability for the current state of our political relations?”

Dashiel hesitated before he straightened, his chin-scar shining against his deep brown skin. “Your Majesty, I learned much about Daradon during my time there. Its ruler would do unthinkable harm to anyone who once bested him—especially a Wielder. I believe it would be a cruelty beyond reason to return Lady Alissa to the judgment of such a monarch.”

Though he spoke with conviction, uncertainty crept over me. Because he hadn’t truly given an answer.

“And you, Goren Lister?” Rheya asked. “Have you prepared a similar speech?”

I tensed, prepared for Goren to undo all the kindness Dashiel had extended to me. But he only said flatly, “No.” Then, as an afterthought, “Your Majesty.”

“Yet you would challenge my minister’s authority on her behalf.”

Goren glanced at Arun, smirking slightly. “I don’t need an excuse for that.”

As Rheya’s lips flicked up again, I suddenly realized why she hadn’t ordered this group away when they’d stormed in. Because her reputation was not only built on the image of ruthlessness, but of audacity. After all, she had ousted her predecessor’s own sons, had thrived despite her lower-echelon upbringing. The empress of Ansora was the embodiment of impertinence.

And she therefore valued impertinence in others.

I mentally stored that knowledge as she fixed her attention on me once more.

“Improving relations with Daradon had long been a goal of ours,” she said. “I believed Princess Carmen would provide such friendship, so I promised to aid any claim she makes upon the throne. But I suspected that she was unready to wrestle the crown from a tyrant.” Rheya’s expression darkened. “And I could not afford to wait.”

Keil inched closer, the warmth of his body radiating against mine.

“I may not have inherited my crown,” Rheya said, “but I did inherit a war. And we have no neighboring kingdoms to help fortify our defenses against Orren.”

I already knew as much. Orren, which bordered Daradon, had long been launching attacks on Ansora in the Western War, urged by their fear and loathing of Wielders. Though I’d slept through most of my voyage here, I’d noticed the nervous hush in the cabin the day cannon fire had sounded in the distance.

“We possess only the forces on our mainland,” Rheya continued, “who answer to me, and the forces on Banarrat, the largest island on the Ansoran archipelago, who answer to the governing General Holden. This year, our military treaty with Holden is meant to be renewed. Yet he is unwilling to pledge his forces to the war. Do you know why, Lady Alissa?”

I remained silent, struck by a sense of foreboding.

“Because, having heard rumors about the Wielder-hating king of Daradon, he suspects that Erik will side with Orren against us. And he refuses to lose more soldiers to a war we cannot win.” She glanced at Keil, whose jaw twitched with tension. “My ambassador was meant to obtain written confirmation of our peace with Erik, so I could convince the general to renew our treaty. But Keil was forced to flee your kingdom prematurely.” Her voice soured. “So, Lady Alissa, would you deign to take responsibility now?”

A sinking feeling rooted me to the floor. Throughout Rose Season, Keil hadn’t just been working with Carmen to secretly aid Wielders. He’d been doing exactly what he’d claimed to be doing, what I’d never believed he was doing: trying to foster goodwill.

Nobody could possibly know whether Keil would have managed to procure a document declaring peace with Daradon. But now we would never know.

And all because, instead of choosing his mission . . . Keil had chosen me.

“Your Majesty,” he said. “I willingly stood between Lady Alissa and the king, knowing the risk. If Erik seeks vengeance against Wielders, let him start with the one who humiliated him before his court.” He inhaled deeply and raised his chin. “Let him start with me.”

My stomach swooped. I grabbed Keil’s bicep, nails digging into leather armor. “What are you doing?”

“Dispatch me to Daradon in place of Alissa,” he continued. “Offer me to Erik in exchange for peace.”