Fireblood (Frostblood Saga #2)(84)
“He did send a messenger ship to invite you to diplomatic talks. It never returned home.”
She sat back, pinning me with a steely-eyed glare. “The masters who guard the strait know better than to let a Tempesian ship through.”
Outrage tightened my hands into fists. “So they destroyed it? The people on that ship were trying to help achieve peace.”
She lifted a shoulder and let it fall, as if one ship full of Tempesians was of little consequence. She leaned forward in her chair. “I couldn’t save the Firebloods who died under Rasmus’s bloody rule, but I will avenge them.”
Steel bands wrapped around my lungs, squeezing. “What do you mean?”
She pinned me with her eyes, as if deciding in this exact moment whether or not to trust me. “We’ve been building ships, training soldiers. Recruiting men and women from the outlying islands. In a few months’ time, we’ll start by destroying their navy. Then when the Frostbloods are scrambling, we’ll be ready to invade.”
A tremor ripped through my body. Her plans to attack by sea were one thing, but a land invasion would be suicide. I couldn’t help but think back to King Rasmus, who had also taken foolish risks in his military campaigns.
“The king must have heard of my plans somehow,” she continued, “and he decided to strike first. I just cannot figure out why he came himself.”
“You are so, so wrong about this,” I said hoarsely. “Talk to the king. Not an interrogation. Just speak to him. Discuss this as the rational people that you are. He would never do what you’re saying. He has no desire to conquer you or anyone else.”
She watched me keenly. “He hasn’t told you anything, then.” She sagged backward into the chair ever so slightly. “I think you are telling me the truth. You know nothing.”
I leaned forward urgently. “I know that he would never do what you’re suggesting.”
She swept my assertions away with one manicured hand. “You are no use to me in this. I am disappointed. I must find another way to discover his plans, starting by questioning the king himself.” She nodded, as if she’d asked and answered a question in her mind. “After your initiation, I will persuade him to see reason.”
My blood heated further. “You’re not listening to me. I don’t want—”
“You may go, Ruby. I will see you tomorrow.”
Gripped with anger at her cool dismissal, I spoke before I could consider my words. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
Her head turned slowly, tension straining her jaw. “What precisely do you mean, child?”
I couldn’t let my temper get the better of me. I needed to negotiate. What did I have to bargain with?
She believed I was the princess. That was leverage.
“Who am I to you?” I demanded.
She swept me with an irritated glance. “You are my niece. My heir.”
“I assume you have much to teach me and many things you want me to do in my new role. You want me to be willing to do those things, don’t you? You want me to be loyal, but you also want that loyalty to be genuine. Am I wrong?”
“You’re not wrong,” she admitted.
“So when you talk of interrogating Arcus, how do you think I’m going to respond? He’s been my steadfast ally, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. When you threaten him, it makes me want to defy you.”
She stared at me thoughtfully for a few beats. “Let me ask you this, Ruby. Who am I to you?”
“I—you’re the queen.” The title of “aunt” seemed far too cozy for the stone-hearted ruler sitting across from me.
“The queen,” she emphasized. “Am I your queen? Will you pledge your life to me at tomorrow’s initiation? I wonder if you harbor some doubts about where your loyalty belongs. In fact, I am starting to have some doubts of my own.”
I was nearing another patch of quicksand. “Isn’t that natural? To doubt?”
“Certainly. But that doesn’t make it desirable. Not in one of my masters. Not when the kingdom might be on the brink of war. Not in my heir. So, who, I ask again, am I to you?”
I wanted to say that I would never fight in her war. But she held Arcus’s life in her hands. She could hurt me all she liked, but I wouldn’t let her take her wrath out on him. Rebellion was a luxury I couldn’t afford.
“You are my queen,” I forced out.
“Then stop pushing me.” The words came as a low-voiced warning.
Her face remained smooth and controlled, but her nostrils flared, her eyes gleaming with fathoms of dormant embers ready to combust. Beneath her polished veneer, a cauldron of tempestuous power. I had a moment of startled recognition. Her emotions were like mine: quick, fervent, near the surface. Perhaps she had trouble controlling them, too. A part of me felt a kinship with her, whether I liked it or not.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said in a lighter tone, “I have much to do before the wedding. Be ready for the seamstress. She will come this afternoon to measure you for your wedding gown.”
As I rose and curtsied, my hands curled into fists. Once the initiation was over, she would turn her attentions to Arcus. She’d all but said she planned to torture him for information tomorrow. I couldn’t keep waiting and watching. I needed to act.
As I strode angrily from the anteroom, I noticed the Frostblood servant standing sentinel in the throne room, his back against the wall next to the fireplace.