Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3)(80)

Well, at least the boy was honest. So I asked a different, better question. “Do you want to live? More importantly, do you want Lyra to live?”

He threw his hands up in frustration and confusion. “Of course I want Lyra to live.” He eyed me, and his frown slowly deepened. “Wait. Why are you smiling like that?”

My smile stretched a little wider across my face. “Listen to me very carefully. Here’s what we’re going to do.”





Chapter Eighteen


I had barely finished telling Leonidas my plan when people started rushing into my tent.

Auster, Serilda, and Cho had their swords drawn, ready to battle any assassins, while Paloma clutched her mace, eager to do the same. Sullivan’s blue lightning crackled on his fingertips. Even Calandre and her two sisters hurried inside, brandishing scissors to cut down anyone who was threatening me.

They all jerked to a stop at the sight of me calmly searching Jerome’s pockets. I’d already patted down the other two geldjagers while I was talking to Leonidas, but they hadn’t been carrying anything noteworthy. And none of them, Jerome included, was wearing a gold coined-woman pendant that would have marked them as working for the Mint. Driscol had corrected that mistake, at least.

“Oh,” Paloma said, lowering her mace. “You killed them already.”

“You sound disappointed.”

She shrugged. “I could have used some practice for the tournament tomorrow.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course she would say that. I finished searching Jerome’s pockets and got to my feet.

“What happened?” Auster asked, his brown eyes fixed on Leonidas and Lyra, who were still sitting on the ground in the center of the tent. “And why is the Morricone boy here?”

“Yes, highness,” Sullivan murmured, also staring at Leonidas, his magic still crackling on his fingertips. “What is the Morricone boy doing here? And why is that strix out of its cage?”

“Her name is Lyra. And she saved me, along with Leonidas.”

My friends all gave me incredulous looks, but I told them what had happened. When I finished, Captain Auster summoned some guards to remove the assassins’ bodies. Unfortunately, there was no platform or scaffolding on which to display them, like I’d done with the geldjagers in Svalin, so I told Auster to bury the bodies and be done with them. The captain left the tent, along with the guards.

Calandre and her sisters fluttered about, straightening up the mess left behind by the battle. They also found several long slits in one of the canvas walls from where the assassins had snuck into the tent, and they sewed up the holes.

While they worked, I answered question after question from Paloma, Sullivan, Serilda, and Cho about the attack.

Finally, I held up my hands, calling for quiet. “You’re asking the wrong questions and thinking about the wrong things. It doesn’t matter that Leonidas tried to kill me or that the geldjagers wanted to kidnap me.”

“Then what does matter?” Cho gave me a curious look.

“How I react. And especially how we use it against Maximus and Maeven.”

“So that’s why you’re keeping the boy alive,” Serilda said.

She glanced over at Leonidas, who was still sitting with Lyra. The boy kept sliding his fingers down the strix’s purple feathers in a quick, nervous rhythm. I could smell his worry, but I hadn’t lied to him earlier. He was going to live, and so was Lyra.

I was going to protect them, but I was also going to use the boy to further my own goals. A good queen took advantage of every tool at her disposal, and Leonidas was going to help me undercut Maximus in a number of ways.

I smiled. “Oh, yes. I have something special in mind for the boy.”

Paloma stared at me. “You know, Evie, I never thought that you looked or sounded particularly sinister until this very moment.”

My smile slowly widened.

*

I left the Bellonan camp early the next morning.

Sullivan, Paloma, Serilda, Cho, Captain Auster, and several guards flanked me as I walked down the steps and headed toward the Perseverance Bridge. The only one missing was Xenia, who had spent the night on one of the Ungerian ships with Zariza. But there was a new addition to our troupe.

Leonidas.

The boy had spent the night in a tent with Lyra under a heavy guard. But other than the dread filling his face, he looked no worse for the wear.

I couldn’t do anything about his dread, but I had kept my promise, and he and Lyra had not been harmed. The boy had been given a bath and fresh clothes, along with plenty of food and water, and Lyra had been offered several cuts of meat, which she had gobbled down.

The strix was now back in their tent, where Leonidas had told her to stay until he returned, and she had seemed content enough to hunker down inside her cage, although the boy had left the door open so she could hop around the tent if she liked. I’d told the guards not to bother the strix or try to stop her if she decided to leave camp.

My friends and I quickly reached the bridge and crossed it, heading back to Fortuna for day two of the Regalia. It was a lovely morning, cold, crisp, and sunny, and throngs of people were already streaming over to the island. The Tournament of Champions would kick off this morning, and everyone wanted to get to the arena early to get the best possible seat.

Despite the crowds, it didn’t take us long to walk over to the island and climb the steps to the arena. I stopped at the edge of the main plaza, drinking in the sights, sounds, and especially the smells.