Page 140 of War Queen
Cyrus.
She gave it to Mikael. His face hardened as he read it. “Bold that he assumes we don’t have intention to answer when only two days have passed since his first letter,” he said, and he passed the letter to Soren.
“Well, he’s not wrong,” Norah pointed out.
Soren’s eyes scanned the parchment. “And how does he know his messenger’s been treated kindly?”
“I don’t know,” Norah answered, “but we have two of them now. For a second message to come this quickly, he has to be close. What if he’s already in Mercia?”
“He wouldn’t be so foolish,” Mikael said. “It has to be a trick.”
“We should hear what he has to say,” she urged. Cyrus wanted to talk, and talking brought the real opportunity for peace. “Mikael, this is an invitation to potentially avoid war. If I can just speak to him—”
“You’re not going alone to meet this man,” he said firmly.
“Soren will go with me.” She wasn’t sure if she was closer or further from convincing him, and it made her all the more desperate. “And you and Caspian can be ready with the army close by,” she added. “It’s a big risk for Cyrus to meet in Mercia. If he comes alone, we could take him. But Mikael, if we can reach an agreement, gain an ally, we could bring an end to this threat. We could end it all.”
“Only blood can end it all.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe that,” she said. “You know his army is at Japheth’s border, too far to be an immediate threat, and we could make sure he comes alone. It’s but a small risk.”
His lips thinned.
She took his hand. “Mikael, we have to try.Please. I have to try.”
He glanced at Soren, who returned a skeptical stare of his own. Then Soren shrugged. Mikael sighed. “Fine. We’ll meet him in the valley in the outer reaches.”
Her heart leapt. This was it—this was their chance. And she knew the valley he spoke about. It dipped low and was surrounded by the ridges of the highlands. It was a perfect place to meet; it was out in the open and they’d be able to see everything around them.
“I’ll bring the Northern army to the ridge,” he said. “Should Cyrus try anything, anything at all, then you must be prepared it will start this war.”
To that, she could agree. “And I’ll know I’ll have done everything I could to prevent it.”
The same day they released the messengers back to Cyrus, they received another message—to meet in two days.
Two days.
She didn’t know how word could have reached him so quickly—no bird could have carried it that fast. Nor did she know how he was prepared to meet her so soon. It would be difficult even for her to make it to the valley with the army in two days’ time.
But they’d go. They had to. They had to stop this war.
Chapter thirty-six
TheRaeleanking,orwho she assumed was the Raelean king, waited atop his horse on the far ridge. He sat tall, confident. Behind him was another group of riders, not large enough to be an army. Norah glanced over her shoulder at the ridge where Mikael waited with Caspian, the Crest, and half of the Mercian army. Adrian stayed with Calla and Cohen and the remaining half of the army closer to the capital, at the risk the meeting might be a distraction.
Norah looked at Soren beside her. Hopefully seeing Cyrus with no army settled him and Mikael slightly, but it didn’t necessarily settle her. This day would be the start of peace or the start of war. Her stomach turned at not knowing which.
Cyrus advanced his horse down the ridge toward them with only one rider beside him, and Norah and Soren did the same. As they drew closer to each other, Norah could make out more of his appearance. He wore black-plated armor with accents of earthy red, like blood. Black and blood. A sharp helm covered his face, with a daggered crown fused on top. Across his back he wore a sword with a large red stone set in the tip of the hilt that reflected the light.
The rider beside him wasn’t a soldier, but a woman. Her dark, curly hair hung long down the breast of her winter riding dress, but her face was hidden by the hood of her cloak.
They stopped a few lengths from each other. Soren gripped the hilt of his sword, but no one moved. All was quiet.
Norah couldn’t see Cyrus’s face, but she was certain he was smiling behind his helm. He sat like he was smiling. Cold needled down her spine, and suddenly, she felt like Mikael might have been right. Was this a trick? She forced herself calm.
“King Cyrus,” she greeted him.
He didn’t reply. And no one moved. Her heart beat faster.She glanced at Soren, who was tense and coiled, waiting for a reason to spring for blood. She turned her eyes back to the king.
