by Karalynn Lee
“Yes.”
“It wouldn’t have worked. The king has two sons.”
“I didn’t realize what kind of man he was. I never really listened to all those diplomatic exchanges. I only knew that I would trade anything, everything for family.”
He finally gave her a smile, although it was a tired one. “Even a hostage who wasn’t yours.”
“I asked Tathan for the swords, but he refused.”
“Tathan, hmm?” A teasing glint entered his gaze.
Heat climbed her cheeks. “We’ve been betrothed almost a year. I do use his name.” But she was glad to see him still capable of amusement. It twisted her guts to have to extinguish it. “But I’ve ruined everything. The betrothal expires in a couple of months, and Herrol means to wed me.”
“No,” he said. “You’re not marrying the son of that snake-hearted bastard.”
“I don’t want to. But if I do, they’ll let you go afterward.”
To her surprise, he began to laugh. “This is what I get for trading you off for swords and arrows. Now I’ve become your bride-price.”
She couldn’t help smiling herself. “We princesses don’t come cheaply these days.”
“But of course you can’t do it.”
“Because it would force an alliance? It would be a way for this war to end, at least.”
He shook his head. “It would only start a new one.”
Dread settled in her belly. “Helsmont.”
“Yes.”
“You think the mountain-king would attack Anagard for this.”
“He would have the right. We would be breaking our treaty.”
And I broke something worse. She knew how much he cared for her, had opened himself to her, and she had in turn betrayed him.
She rubbed at her face. “I don’t know if the king of Kenasgate will listen to my refusal.”
Dereth looked grim. “Would his son force you?”
Herrol was not such a terrible man—he’d even been a friend—but she still remembered his words: I had to obey my king and father. And the desperation behind his kiss. “I don’t know. Oh, Dereth, what have I done? What should I do?”
He didn’t answer for a long while. “Can you get word to the mountain-king?”
“They’re keeping me under guard. They might allow me to send official notice once our betrothal period ends, but they’ll surely read the message, and it’ll be too late then. What would you have me say, anyway?”
“Beg him for aid.”
She stared at him. “The mountain-king?” Helsmont never involved itself in other realms’ affairs.
“All I know is that he once asked for your hand in marriage, that you call him by his name, and that we have no options left. I don’t know what you should do, Kimri. I don’t know if there’s any way out of this mess.”
She’d never heard him speak this way. Dereth was practical but not defeatist. But perhaps he was right and she’d finally brought about trouble so great there was no way to mend it. And he was the king and not just her brother; he had an entire realm’s burdens to shoulder. She swallowed. “We’ll make it through. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“For me?” He looked away. “The worst would be if you were wed to the prince, I returned to Anagard and we fought on.”
The idea sickened her. She would be bound to the opposing side of a war from her own brother.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I don’t know if the noble houses would even let me surrender for your sake.”
“I know.” She could only imagine the terms the king of Kenasgate would demand. She wouldn’t want Anagard to suffer them. “I’ll understand. And don’t worry about me—the prince isn’t so bad.”
“But you don’t call him by name.”
“Herrol,” she said, but they both knew better.
As though his name had summoned him, there was a rap on the door and it opened. “I think that’s enough time,” Herrol said. Two guards filed in behind him to take charge of Dereth.
“May your bones blight.” She stalked toward the door and shouldered past Herrol so she wouldn’t have to see her brother being taken prisoner again. “Take me wherever I’m to be held.”
He sighed. “This way.”
She fought not to turn around to see Dereth again. She wouldn’t give Herrol the satisfaction of that weakness.
Appropriately, he led her to a tower. There was a strange sense of familiarity as they climbed the steps together, and she almost expected to see a library behind the door he opened. “Will you give me your word not to escape?’
She stared at him coldly.
He shook his head. “The door will stay locked then, and a sentry will be posted outside. I’ll set men that I trust. Just knock and call out if you need anything.”
She ignored him and inspected the room. It was a decently furnished guest chamber, not the bare cell she’d been half expecting. Unfortunately, she didn’t see anything she could use as a weapon. When she tried to judge the distance from her window to the ground, she glumly concluded nothing short of a winged steed would get her safely down.
She heard a shrill cry and a rush of feathers as an eagle swooped low and landed on the ledge. She’d seen one like it before, circling her and her escort into Helsmont, and she had no doubt it was one of the mountain-king’s creatures.
“What are you doing?” she said to the bird, who only gazed at her steadily. “You can’t be here. It’s bad enough that I left Helsmont. He shouldn’t have to miss both of us.”
The eagle cocked its head, then began to preen its feathers.
“At least tell him I didn’t leave for Herrol. I left for Dereth.” It helped to say it out loud, at least, although the end result was the same: she had left him. “I think I went a little mad after Redwing…” She still couldn’t say it. “After the rockfall. I grew to love the mountains, and I forgot that they could be treacherous, just like all nature.”
But what was the treachery of rivers and mountains next to that of a human? She hadn’t been at the beck of any tremor or storm, save that of her own emotions. And now she had disappointed both Tathan and Dereth, the two people dearest to her heart.
She turned at the sound of the door unlocking and opening. A soldier came in, bearing a trencher and a goblet. He thrust them into her hands without a word and hurried back out.
She ate and drank. The goblet held overwatered wine, and she wished for something stronger. Then she stared into it. She’d trade fifty barrels of the finest wine for a single mug of spiced milk, if only she could drink it on a certain terrace.
When she thought to look at the window again, the eagle was gone.
Chapter Eight
The weeks passed with aching slowness. Without occasional visits from the eagle, she would have gone mad from boredom. But it came most days, and she told it what had happened to her: Gannet’s message, her escape from Helsmont, the ride down the mountain, the way Herrol had changed into a stranger, a spy. Her talk with Dereth and his quiet desperation. How much of a fool she’d been. How much she missed Tathan.
One day the door swung open to reveal Herrol instead of another meal-bearing guard. As angry as she’d been at him, any friendly face was a welcome sight after the stony sentries.
“Are you doing all right?” He stayed near the door after he closed it, as though uncertain of his reception.
“You have to get me out of this tower,” she said. “I don’t think there’s a duller place.”
“Do you want a book?”
She wasn’t quite that desperate. “I want to be let out of here.”
He sighed. “I wish I could, but it’s for your own safety. Here the stairs are guarded, and most people won’t bother climbing them to get at you.”
“Who would want to come after me?” She’d barely even spoken to anyone from Kenasgate, save for Herrol.
“Many in Kenasgate have lost people they love to this war. They might take their anger out on you.”
She stared at him in outrage. “I’m a ransom-prisoner!” Even if these Kenasgate folk couldn’t treat a captive honorably, there was no sense in damaging tradable goods.
“Remember the boy in the village?”
She subsided, fingering her cheek. It was mostly healed now, but she couldn’t afford to underestimate the hatred in this kingdom.
Then another thought occurred to her. “What about Dereth? Where is he being held?” The king of Anagard would surely be a target of even more resentment.
“Still in his prison cell. Less comfortable by far, but safe. I swear it.”
“You’ve seen to it?”
He nodded. “I’ve been going down there every day.”
“You have? Why?”
“I hope he’ll become my brother-in-marriage. It only seems right to get to know the man.”
The reminder of her impending nuptials subdued her. She remembered what Jakkis had said about year-long mountain betrothals: they benefited not only the couple, but also others who had a stake in their relationship. “When were you planning the wedding?”
“The day after your betrothal to the mountain-king ends. That way Helsmont can’t use it as an excuse to attack us.”
Her laugh came out bitter. “You’re not wasting any time, are you?”
“My father isn’t a patient man. Anagard is still resisting us.”
Good for Peramin.
“The faster you’re wed and Dereth is returned to Anagard, the sooner the fighting will end.”
She’d come all the way to Kenasgate and barely seen her brother. And if this ill-fated wedding happened and the king of Kenasgate kept his word, Dereth would soon be gone, sent back to Anagard. “Can’t you keep us together?”
He shook his head. “It wouldn’t be right to keep you in a cell.”
“You could bring him up here.”
Herrol looked away and let out a long breath. “He’s taken ill.”
She suddenly felt cold. “How bad is it?”
“He has a high fever and cramps. He doesn’t want you to see him,” he went on swiftly before she could demand just that. “He doesn’t want to risk your catching it. My father’s own physician is seeing to him and believes he’s over the worst of it and will recover soon enough.”
“In a cell.” She couldn’t believe this barbaric treatment.
“We’ve made it as comfortable for him as we can. We don’t want him to die, either.”
“Because then I’m not worth much as leverage.”
He picked up her empty goblet and inspected it, still avoiding her gaze. “You’d still have value. Your brother has no clear heir. But if you agree to marry me, we can return him to Anagard all the sooner and we won’t have to worry about any of that.”
Her mouth twisted. “You mean you’d restore him to Anagard in time for him to forge a treaty on my behalf, and then let him die in someone else’s hands.”
He set down the goblet with too much force. “Those may be my father’s thoughts, but I care for you and for Kenasgate. This would do well by both of you.”
Is the war going so desperately, for him to try to force me into a decision this way? She walked over to the window and looked out, wishing for a northern view, missing the foggy peaks of the mountains. Longing for Tathan. “I won’t break the betrothal,” she said without turning around.
“Kimri—”
She jerked her arm away when he tried to pull her around to face him. “Leave me this scrap of honor. I’ll see out the year. If you’re telling the truth and Dereth will recover, there’s no reason to hurry.”
He planted a palm on the window-ledge by her head. “Do you hate me so much?”
She didn’t respond for a long time, but he continued to stand there, the weight of his gaze heavy upon her. Under different circumstances, she might have welcomed a marriage with him. They’d been friends, whereas the nobles of Anagard had been leery of her ways. He’d made her laugh during a time when she was still dreading her fate in the mountains. But she dreaded it no more.
“Why do you even want to marry me?” she asked him. “I’d be a terrible consort for you. I’d be miserable in your father’s court.”
“I like you. I’ve never met a woman who acts like you, who can fight and ride like you, who has her own mind. The noblewomen here are fluttery and feeble, and I can’t imagine what kind of sons they would bear. And it would bring peace to our realms.”
“How practical of you.”
“You were going to marry the mountain-king for one hundred swords.”
“It was Dereth who betrothed me to him for a hundred swords. I was going to marry him because—” To her horror, her eyes filled. She swiped at them angrily. “I love him.”
Herrol remained quiet so long that she finally turned her head to look at him. But the door closed just as she did so. He had stolen away in silence.
She couldn’t believe she’d admitted it to Herrol, of all people. She wished she could have saved the words for Tathan. She would likely be forced to marry Herrol anyway, so why antagonize him? A true noblewoman would have turned his feelings for her into an advantage, but the thought of such scheming turned her stomach.
She remained standing by the window, finally understanding why Herrol had often gone up to the watchtower’s battlements while he was in Helsmont. It was the closest she could come to freedom.
If the mountain-king descended from his mountain and demanded her back, no one would gainsay him. He had a claim on her hand, after all. But he never left Helsmont. I’m the one who left him.
Still she whispered to the winds, “Tathan, why won’t you come?”
* * *
It wasn’t Tathan who came, but Herrol’s brother Leden. She wasn’t expecting him, and steeled herself for another painful session of courtship when she first heard the door open.
“Come on, Princess,” he said, and she turned away from the window in surprise at the sound of his voice.
“Why are you here?”
“To fetch you.” He seized her elbow and pulled her out of the room.
Glad to leave it, she followed him despite his unforgiving grip and an over-quick pace that left her stumbling. “Where are we going?”
“The tower chamber’s wasted on you.”
“Likely. So where won’t be?”
He bared his teeth at her. “The dungeons.”
Her guts twisted at the memory of those dark, foreboding stairs. “With Dereth?” She could survive anything if her brother was with her. And if he was still ill, she could tend him.
“No. You’ll have your own cell.”
She wrenched her arm away from him. “I can’t go there. Not the dungeons.”
He slammed his hands against the wall on either side of her head and leaned in menacingly. “You seem to think you always have choices. My brother’s willing to marry you, and you insist on pushing him off until some arbitrary date?” His voice rose incredulously. “Then you crush his heart by telling him you’ll never care for him.”
“I liked Herrol! But he tried to kidnap me, he lied to me and now he’s forcing me into marriage.”
“My brother is a good man. He loved his books, but when war called, he took up the sword and never looked back. He’s done everything our father has ever asked of him, even though he knew he could never replace Zayen. He stayed in that forsaken mountain kingdom for the better part of a year, and you were his only solace. And now you come along and tear him apart. He deserves better.”
“What do you want me to do? Lie to him and tell him I love him?”
“Yes,” he said. “That’s exactly what I want you to do.”
She stared at him.
He glared back. “If you’re ready, I’ll take you to him now.”
“You’re mad.”
“I’m tired of Anagard pissing on us and expecting us to take it.” He spun away, yanking her after him.
She dug in her heels and scrabbled at the walls for purchase, but only t
ore the skin on her hands. Frantically, she twisted her hand around to sink her fingernails into his wrist and kicked the side of his knee.
With a curse, he seized her with both hands and threw her down. Her head hit the ground hard enough to stun her. She tried to blink away the blossoms of light and saw his face looming over hers, ugly with anger.
“So that’s how the honorable noblewomen of Anagard behave?”
“Give me an honest sword and I’ll use it to fight you,” she gasped.
He gave a bark of laughter. There was the scrape of his sword clearing its scabbard. Then he brought the pommel down on her temple.
* * *
She woke in the dank of the dungeons. Something skittered beneath her cheek and she swallowed a scream as she bolted upright.
Pale light sifted through the dusty air. She craned her head back to follow its path and saw the silhouette of a man’s head. Someone was looking down at her through a hole in the ceiling.
“Are you awake?” Leden asked.
She debated whether to answer him, but didn’t see any advantage in staying silent. “Yes.” Her voice was a croak.
“I left some food and water next to you that should last you through the morrow. Unless you’d already like to come out and say something to my brother?”
She locked the muscles of her throat from crying out assent. He waited a moment, then made a disgusted noise. She kept her gaze fixed upon that gleam of light until the hatch slid closed.
The air seemed to press in on her. She began breathing fast, and her mouth went dry. She hugged herself and tried to think of other places—mountains, forests, her room in Anagard, the terrace in the Helsmont keep. But nothing could distract her from the sensation of suffocating. Although she couldn’t see the ground above her, she could feel its weight slowly crushing her.
Stay calm, she told herself. Stay calm, stay-calm staycalm— Her thoughts raced into panic. “Let me out!” She broke into helpless sobs.
No one heard her.
She cried herself to sleep. A chittering woke her, and for a moment disgust overrode her fear. She flailed about to discourage any creature from coming too close. As soon as she stilled there was a rustle, so she stood and began pacing back and forth in the cramped space. Moving about helped, forcing her mind and pulse to a different rhythm.