The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom #1)(105)

“I was on Aela Island doing an inspection of the outpost, Commander. We noticed the vessel anchored on the east side out of the wind, the crew making a show of doing some repairs.”

“And?”

“And I noticed it was sitting high in the water. Which, given she’d come in from the north, seemed odd. So we boarded her to see what was what.”

“You boarded an Amaridian ship?”

“Peacefully boarded. Hold was empty, and when I inquired their business, the captain told me they were transporting a wealthy noblewoman.”

“Such an exciting tale this is,” Aster said dryly, but Aren waved him silent, which was well timed, as Lara was considering ways to poison the man’s drink to get him to shut up. “Did you see the woman?”

“Yes, Commander. A very beautiful woman with golden hair. She had a maid with her, along with some military types for escort.”

“Did you speak to them?”

Emra shook her head. “No. But I noticed her dress was the same style as those Her Majesty sometimes wears.”

“She was Maridrinian?”

Emra shrugged, her cheeks reddening. “I’ve not enough experience to say. Her Majesty is the only Maridrinian I’ve ever met.”

“Perhaps you ought to have consulted your mother, Commander,” Mara interjected. “She, after all, fought in the war against Maridrina and is thus well aware of what they look and sound like. Either way, it matters little. Maridrinians who can’t afford bridge passage often risk the voyage on Amaridian vessels. They’re cheap.”

“And I wouldn’t have thought much more of it, Commander,” Emra replied, “except we passed through Midwatch territory on our way to Eranahl, and we spotted the same vessel. And a merchant tub like that wouldn’t make it to Maridrina and back to Midwatch in less than two days.”

Lara’s skin pricked with goosebumps as though she were being watched, despite there being no windows in the room. Her father didn’t use women in battle or as spies, the only exception being Lara and her sisters. And she’d paid for her sisters’ freedom in blood.

“Anyone else notice the same?” Aren asked.

Heads shook, but the commander of the garrison north of Midwatch said, “Our scouts caught sight of an Amaridian merchant vessel heading south and east, past Serrith and Gamire Islands, but it looked to be sailing ahead of a squall forming in the west.”

“Is there something we should know about?” Mara asked.

The something was that Lara’s father was hunting for her. Lara knew it and, judging from the tension she felt radiating from Aren, he suspected it as well. But neither of them could say so without raising the question of why Silas was so interested in tracking down his wayward daughter.

Aren shook his head. “Carry on.”

It was Ahnna’s turn at Southwatch.

The princess rubbed her chin, then reached to touch the replica of the island she guarded so fiercely. “All of Southwatch’s defenses are in good order. What damage was inflicted during the storm season we were able to repair during the breaks.” Referring to the page in her hand, Ahnna detailed the numbers of soldiers stationed, the weapons cache, the food and water supplies.

“You all know”—she set the papers down—“that Valcotta was able to maintain a partial blockade of Maridrina’s access to Southwatch, despite the toll it took on their fleet. We’d expected to take a hit to our profits, but the Valcottan Empress is too savvy to give us a reason to complain. We had Valcottan merchant ships lined up ten deep during every storm break, and they bought everything, often at a premium. When the Maridrinian vessels did have the chance to make port, there was little for them to buy. Though, to his credit, King Silas has them prioritizing food, not his precious steel and weapons.”

“It’s all still at Southwatch?” Aren asked.

“We’ve a whole warehouse full of weapons,” Ahnna replied. “It’s all going to turn to rust by the time he ever sees them at the rate things are going. And yet they keep arriving.”

“His buyers take all the steel and weaponry the Harendellians offer at Northwatch,” Mara said. “And the Valcottan buyers know that.”

Ahnna nodded. “But he doesn’t dare use his resources to retrieve it. Not with his people rioting in the streets. They’re starving. And they’re desperate. And they blame Ithicana for all of it.”

Lara’s heart seemed to come to a standstill as a sudden understanding took hold of her. She’d been a fool, imagining it might be over. Had believed, with delusional hope, that without the efforts of her spying, her father would have no way of infiltrating Ithicana’s defenses.

Her father had waited fifteen years, invested a fortune and the lives of twenty of his daughters in his bid for the bridge. He’d lied and manipulated and murdered to keep it all a secret. There was no chance that he’d ever let it go.

No matter what it cost Maridrina.

She needed to speak with Aren alone. Needed to warn him that Ithicana was in as much danger as it ever had been. Needed to do it before this meeting ended, so that these individuals who protected Ithicana’s shores would go back to their watch prepared to fight.

But she couldn’t very well ask to speak to him privately without everyone questioning what she and Aren were keeping from the council.