Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3)(65)
Several Mortan nobles, servants, and guards were lurking behind Maeven, and I studied them all in turn, trying to pinpoint the source of her worry. Leonidas, her son, wasn’t here, but that wasn’t terribly unusual. The ball was a time for the adults to plot, scheme, and gossip, and few children attended, even among the royals and their respective broods. Still, the longer I studied Maeven, the more worried I became.
“Oh, yes. My only reason for existing is to entertain people in your absence,” Zariza drawled again, her voice even more mocking. “You might not have found our dance interesting, but perhaps you’ll be more invested in the outcome.”
Maximus hesitated, sensing it was a trap, but his curiosity got the better of him. “What outcome?”
“The new alliance between Unger and Bellona,” Zariza purred. “It will be quite lucrative for both our kingdoms, as well as for Andvari. All three of us are united now.”
Her sly words punched Maximus in the face, shattering his smooth, smug facade. His jaw clenched, his nostrils flared, and anger sparked like matches in his dark amethyst eyes. Mercer and Nox sidled away from their king, but Maeven held her position, looking back and forth between her brother and me.
It took Maximus a few seconds to tamp down his ire enough to speak. “Such an alliance is quite . . . unwise,” he said in a cold, clipped voice. “Unger would be much better served aligning with Morta, rather than Bellona.”
Everyone could hear the underlying threat in the king’s voice. I held my breath, wondering if Zariza would back out of our deal moments after it had been struck. Beside me, Sullivan tensed, as if he were thinking the same thing.
I opened my mouth to say . . . something, but Xenia discreetly shook her head, so I shut my mouth and kept quiet. Besides, Maximus had threatened Zariza, not me, so this was between Morta and Unger.
Zariza smiled at the king, but the expression was all teeth, as was the one of the ogre on her neck. “Eon and Ruri might be across the sea and able to turn a blind eye to your actions, and Cisco might be so desperate to align with you that he overlooks his own cousin’s murder, but I will do no such thing.”
Maximus lifted his chin. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I think you do.” Zariza tilted her head to the side, making her glorious red hair fall prettily over her shoulder. “It’s very hard to forget giving the order to massacre a royal family in their own palace.”
Shocked gasps surged through the crowd around us. Those gasps, whispers, and murmurs quickly spread even farther out into the ballroom, like waves rippling along the surface of a pond.
As far as I knew, this was the first time anyone had openly accused Maximus of orchestrating the Seven Spire massacre, and Zariza couldn’t have chosen a more public setting. The news would be all over the castle within minutes. By midnight it would have spread to every part of the island, and by morning it would have started making its way through the ships and camps and out into the kingdoms beyond.
All eyes turned to Maximus. That muscle ticked in his jaw again, and he practically smoldered with barely restrained anger. He didn’t like someone so loudly pointing out his despicable crime.
“Now, I might be willing to ignore such a horrific travesty were you to offer me something to make it worth my while,” Zariza continued. “After all, that is what royals do. We plot and scheme and wheel and deal to raise up our own kingdom and people above all others.”
“What’s your point?” Maximus said through gritted teeth, neither confirming nor denying her accusation, much like I had done with the other royals and their questions about my assassination attempt on him.
“Unfortunately for you, my dear beloved cousin Xenia was one of the people your minions tried to murder at Seven Spire.” Zariza gestured at the older woman, and Xenia stepped up beside her.
“We all know that the Morricones don’t really value family. Otherwise, you would treat your bastard relatives much better.” Her gaze pointedly flicked to Maeven for a moment before she focused on the king again. “But you shouldn’t have included my family, my blood, in your plans. That was a mistake, and it’s going to cost you dearly.”
Maximus opened his mouth, probably to deliver some threat, but Zariza cut him off.
“From this day forward, Unger will align itself with Bellona and Andvari,” she said in a loud voice that boomed through the ballroom. “An attack on one of us is an attack on all. Until the mountains crumble to ash!”
“Until the mountains crumble to ash!” Every single Unger in the ballroom repeated the traditional phrase, their voices ringing out just as loudly as hers had.
Zariza smirked at Maximus again, then scanned the ballroom. At first I wasn’t sure who she was searching for, but her gaze settled on Heinrich, who was still standing near the buffet tables, holding a glass of champagne.
“Well, Heinrich?” Zariza called out. “How do you feel about our new alliance?”
All eyes turned to Heinrich, who stepped forward. The Andvarian king looked at Zariza, then Maximus, and finally me. A wide grin split his face, and he pressed his fist to his heart and bowed low to first Zariza and then to me before straightening.
“Until the mountains crumble to ash,” he said, toasting us both with his glass. “And our enemies are dead and buried.”
More murmurs rippled through the crowd, although silence quickly fell over the ballroom again.