Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns, #4)(37)

‘What is that?’ Arsinoe asks just as the shark’s dorsal fin slices up. It throws itself onto the beach, tail thrashing, until it lies gasping upon the sand. It is beautiful, with shining, black eyes and a bright white belly, and terrible to see dying, its mouth open as if in a mix of confusion and regret. When Camden leaps upon its back and begins tearing into it with her teeth and claws, shredding the slick, gray skin, Arsinoe wants to clap her hands and shoo her off. But Camden is no tabby. Ears back and teeth red with shark’s blood, she would only snarl and dig her claws in deeper.

Jules pulls a knife from her belt and walks to the edge of the surf. With one fast motion, she stabs forward through the back of the head, and the shark goes still. ‘It’s good meat,’ she says, and lays her hand on the creature gently. ‘Boil down the bones for broth. Even the fins are good eating. We need all of it that we can get.’

It is true enough. And Arsinoe has seen Jules use her gift to hunt before. It is part of what the naturalist gift is meant for. But somehow this time it seems like war.

‘I still am a naturalist, Arsinoe. And I’m still your guardian. Part of me will always be doing this for you. To kill Katharine. To make sure you’re safe. But you’re right. I’m not the same. And by the time this is over, none of us ever will be again.’

When Arsinoe and Jules return to the city together, they are immediately approached by a messenger with word that they are to meet Emilia at the rear of the castle’s west stable.

‘She likes to give orders, doesn’t she?’ Arsinoe grumbles as they hurry to comply.

They find the stable predictably deserted, except for the horses who reside in the stalls. As she and Jules walk down the corridor, the horses sense Jules’s gift and stick their heads out to say hello. It would be comical were the mood not so cautious and the corridor not so eerily quiet. As they near the end, Jules reaches out to pat the nose of her own horse, the tall black gelding she stole from Katharine. She must be relieved, Arsinoe thinks, to know that she did not accidentally kill him during the battle at Innisfuil.

‘Emilia?’ Jules calls. ‘Are you here?’

‘I am here.’ Emilia steps out from the last stall.

‘Well, you could have said something sooner,’ Arsinoe mutters. ‘What’s going on?’

‘We have a visitor.’

Arsinoe shifts her weight nervously as the cloaked figure steps out. Whoever it is, they are tall, and hulking with armor. At a nod from Emilia, they lower their hood, and Arsinoe gasps.

‘Margaret Beaulin! What is she doing here? What are you—’

Jules puts an arm across Arsinoe’s chest.

‘She’s come to pledge the whole of Bastian City and its warriors to our cause.’ Emilia hands Jules a rolled paper, which Jules unrolls and Arsinoe reads over her shoulder. It is a treaty. A written treaty outlining the allegiance between Sunpool, the rebellion, and Bastian City. It carries the signatures of all the great houses of war.

‘The Vatros clan,’ Jules says. ‘Emilia, your father signed.’

‘That does not surprise me.’

‘Didn’t we already have the allegiance of the warriors?’ Arsinoe asks, confused. ‘What does this matter?’

‘You had those warriors loyal to the Vatroses,’ Margaret says. ‘But you did not have all. Now you do.’

‘Now we do.’ Jules’s eyes narrow. ‘And we should trust this? Trust you?’

‘That is up to you. It is why I came myself, rather than sending a messenger. I knew Emilia would not believe me unless she could look me in the eye.’

‘And you believe her?’ Jules asks.

Emilia glances sidelong at Margaret, and the hairs on the back of Arsinoe’s neck begin to prickle. She has never seen Emilia look unsure or vulnerable. Now she appears to be both.

‘Margaret Beaulin has been a bootlicker to the poisoners for a long time,’ Emilia says. ‘But perhaps she is not anymore. If we can trust this, it would be useful. One of the war-gifted is worth twenty regular rebel soldiers.’

‘Regular rebel soldiers,’ Arsinoe says. ‘What about the elemental fighters with their lightning and fire? What about the naturalists with fierce dogs and cavalry?’

‘With Bastian City, we can lay siege to Indrid Down,’ Emilia goes on. ‘Our forces can cut their access to the harbor from the north—’

‘And mine can cut off their path to the river, from the south and east.’ Margaret nods. ‘And if somehow the Undead Queen should rout us, all forces can fall back to Bastian and make a stand behind the city walls, which have stood longer than even the Volroy.’

‘But only if we trust you,’ says Jules.

‘Would it be easier to believe me if I demanded a seat on your new Black Council in return?’ Margaret raises her eyebrows. ‘I considered it.’

‘If that isn’t your demand, then why?’ Jules asks.

‘For Emilia,’ Margaret replies. ‘Because I failed her and I owe her a debt. And because I failed her mother,’ she adds quietly. ‘Whom I loved.’

Arsinoe glances between Emilia and Margaret, each in pain merely by being in the other’s presence. Whatever happened between them was not kind.

‘Bastian City is proud, but you can’t deny it’s a city in decline,’ Jules says, and rolls up the treaty. ‘How well fortified is it presently?’