Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(104)
I shake my head. “She might well turn me over to King Etristo herself,” I say. With everything that’s happened, I almost forgot what I overheard him tell the Czar earlier. “She offered him Water Gems, in some capacity. That’s why he agreed to host me. Sta’Crivero is on the verge of a drought.”
For an instant, Artemisia looks like she’s going to deny it. But she can’t. She knows what her mother is capable of better than anyone. “We need her, Theo,” she says instead. “Or Heron is right. Our only chance is to leave two-thirds of the refugees behind.”
Frustration burns through me, blistering hot. Everything is falling apart and I can’t see a way out of this that I could happily take. I think of Coltania’s body in the garden. In a few hours, Sta’Criverans will be going up there for morning walks or to have breakfast and they will find her. They will find the guard in the elevator first. It won’t be long before he wakes up and King Etristo puts together the pieces. It won’t be long until I’m in that dungeon next to S?ren and the Kaiser is on his way to collect us both.
I was supposed to have more time, but there’s nothing to be done about that now.
“Come on, Art,” I say. “If I’m waking your mother up at this hour, I’m not doing it alone.”
* * *
—
When Dragonsbane answers her door, she looks ready to murder whoever is on the other side. In her white nightgown, with her hair in a frizzy cloud around her pillow-creased face, she doesn’t look anything like the Dragonsbane I’ve come to know and—if we’re being honest—fear.
I want to ask her about the Water Gems up front, but I hold my tongue. After all, I need her right now.
“There had better be a good reason for this,” she says, her sharp glare shifting between Artemisia and me.
Artemisia elbows me and I take that as a suggestion that I start.
“Well, I did just murder Salla Coltania in the garden after finding out she was the one who assassinated the Archduke and Hoa,” I tell her. Petty as it is, I can’t help but enjoy the look of shock that comes over her. “We’re fairly certain that when her body is discovered and a riser operator recovers his wits, King Etristo will have me arrested and then sell S?ren and me to the Kaiser to make up whatever loss he’s facing over this disaster of a suitor search. Since I’d really rather that not happen, we’re leaving now and commandeering a fleet of merchant ships in the harbor so we can take the refugees from the camp with us back to Astrea to liberate the Fire Mine. Oh, and Erik is going to meet us there with refugees from the other camps. Would you like to join us? You are quite good at commandeering ships.”
Dragonsbane stares at me for a few moments, her mouth hanging open. She starts to speak, then cuts herself off, then tries again. It happens a few times before she finally manages to say words.
“Are you mad?” she asks me. There’s no accusation in her voice—she sounds genuinely curious.
“I’m desperate,” I say. “But I suppose the two are close enough.”
Dragonsbane shakes her head, blinking away the sleep still left in her eyes. “All right,” she says with a beleaguered sigh. “I’ll help you get out and get the ships, but after that you’re on your own—”
“Mo—Captain,” Artemisia says before clearing her throat. “I think…I believe that’s the wrong choice. We need you not just to take the ships but for the battle as well. We need you to be able to win this.”
The want in Artemisia’s voice feels like a punch to my gut, but Dragonsbane is unmoved. She looks at her daughter the same way she would at any other crew member who dared to question her decision.
“King Etristo has crossed me and so I’m leaving and taking compensation with me in the form of ships,” she says.
“He crossed you?” I ask before I can stop myself. The words rush out and I know they are stupid even as I say them, but I say them all the same. “That’s laughable. Tell me, just how many Water Gems did you offer him for auctioning me off to the highest bidder?”
She holds my gaze, unflinching. “I offered him the mine,” she says.
Heat gathers at my fingertips but I clench them into fists at my sides. Not now, I beg.
“That wasn’t yours to offer,” I say. The warmth in my fingertips begins to spread, working its way up my arms, prickling my skin. I try to ignore it, squeezing my fists tighter and digging my nails into my palms, the pain a welcome distraction.
At my side, Artemisia casts me a bewildered glance, looking down at my hands.
Dragonsbane shrugs. “Someone had to think of Astrea,” she says, drawing Artemisia’s attention back. “I knew you wouldn’t do it, so I did. One mine for our country back. One-quarter of our power for the rest. It was an easy decision to make.”
“It wasn’t yours,” I repeat through clenched teeth. “You aren’t a queen, no matter what you like to think. I am my mother’s heir. You are just a pirate.”
I mean the words as an insult, but they only slide off Dragonsbane’s back.
“Etristo doesn’t know how to wage battle,” she says, tearing her gaze away from me and looking at Art instead. “Taking his ships will almost be easy and he won’t give chase once we’re out. But I won’t throw my crew into the crossfire of a war with Kalovaxia—a war we can’t win. And you shouldn’t either, Artemisia. As Theo put it, we are only pirates, after all.”