The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom #1)(107)

Aren’s shoulders bowed. “Even if I agree with you, Lara, I’ll never get the council to go along with it. They believe we’ve bought peace with Maridrina—that we gave your father what he wanted, so he has no reason to attack us. They won’t jeopardize the Valcottan revenue based on the supposition that your father might want more.”

“Then maybe it’s time you told them the truth about me. Maybe that will be enough to prove to them the gravity of our situation.”

Aren felt the blood drain from his face. “I can’t.”

“Aren—”

“I can’t, Lara. Ithicana’s reputation for cruelty isn’t entirely undeserved. If they discover you were a spy . . .” His mouth felt dry as sand. “It wouldn’t be a merciful execution.”

“So be it.”

“No.” He crossed the space between them in three strides, pulling her into his arms, his lips pressing against her hair. “No. I refuse to turn you over to be slaughtered. I’ll damn well let them feed me to the sea before I ever agree to that. I love you too much.”

And because Aren knew she was brave enough to sacrifice herself whether he willed it or not, he added, “If they learned the truth about you, the last thing they’d do is help your people. They’ll force me to ally formally with Valcotta, and what would happen . . . I’m not sure Maridrina would survive it.”

Her shoulders started to shake, and then sobs tore from her throat. “It’s impossible. Impossible to save both. It always has been.”

“Maybe not.” Aren pushed her toward the bed. “I need you to stay here and keep up your performance.”

Lara wiped a hand across her cheek. “What are you going to do?”

Stopping with his hand on the door, Aren turned to look at his wife. “Your father sent you to Ithicana for a purpose. He failed. But I also brought you here for a reason, Lara. And I think it’s time to see if my gambit worked.”

She didn’t stop Aren as he exited, his long strides eating up the corridors of the palace as he formed the words. A speech he’d used countless times, but now turned to a different purpose. Reaching the council chambers, Aren extracted his key, unlocked the door, and entered.

Conversation froze, then Ahnna said, “Nana sent word. Storm season is over. War Tides has begun.”

There was a shifting and gathering in the room, every one of the commanders and seconds present now keen to return to their watch. To prepare to repel their enemies, whoever they might be. To be through with this meeting.

But Aren wasn’t through with them.

“There’s one more matter we need to discuss,” he said, the tone of his voice causing all heads to turn. “Or rather, finish discussing. And that is the matter of the plight of the Maridrinian people.”

“What’s there to say?” Aster said, exchanging a chuckle with Mara. “They made their bed.”

“As did we.”

The smile fell away from Aster’s face.

“Sixteen years ago, Ithicana signed a treaty of peace with Maridrina and Harendell. A treaty that both of those kingdoms have held to, neither of them attacking our borders in the intervening period. Our terms with Maridrina have all been met. They provided me with my lovely wife, and we have eased the costs of using the bridge.”

“I assume you’re driving to a point, Your Grace,” Mara said.

“The terms have been met,” Aren interrupted, “but the question of the nature of the agreement between our two nations remains unanswered. Is it, as Commander Mara so eloquently described, a business contract, where Ithicana has paid Maridrina for peace? Or is it an alliance, where our two kingdoms use the terms of the treaty to foster a relationship beyond the exchange of services and products and coins?”

No one spoke.

“The people of Maridrina are starving. Little of their land is suited to produce, and of that which is suited, more than half rests fallow for lack of hands to work it. The wealthy are still able to import, but the rest? Hungry. Desperate. All while we, their so-called allies, do business with their enemy, filling Valcottan holds with the goods Maridrina desperately needs because the Valcottans pay the most. Sitting idly by while Valcottan ships deny Maridrina the steel they’ve rightfully paid for. No wonder they call this treaty a farce.”

“What’s happening in Maridrina is Silas’s doing,” Ahnna said. “Not ours.”

“It is Silas’s doing. But are we any better for sitting back and watching while innocent children go to their graves when we have the power to save them? Silas is no more the sum of his kingdom than I am the sum of ours, and neither of us is immortal. There is a larger picture.”

“Just what are you suggesting, Aren?” Ahnna asked, her voice toneless.

“I’m suggesting Ithicana demand Valcotta drop its blockade. And should they refuse, that they be denied port at Southwatch. That we prove ourselves allies to Maridrina.”

The room broke into a flurry of voices, Aster’s the loudest of all. “These sound like your wife’s words, Your Grace.”

“Do they really?” Aren leveled the man with a glare. “How long have I been pushing for us to form unions with other kingdoms so that our people have opportunities beyond war? For us to turn Ithicana into something more than just an army viciously guarding its bridge? How long did my mother push for it before me? These are not Lara’s words.”