Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(29)

“No,” she says. “It was a ridiculous plan before and this business with Pavlos only confirmed that. They can’t be trusted. Anders, give the order.”

The order to kill them. I glance at S?ren, who doesn’t understand any of this but would protest if he could.

“That wasn’t the agreement,” I say, looking back at Dragonsbane. “They made a deal for their lives.”

“A deal is only as honorable as the people who make it,” Dragonsbane says. “And we all know that the Kalovaxians have no honor.”

“I’m going to need to pick up Astrean very quickly,” S?ren mutters to himself.

I ignore him. “Do you have honor?” I ask Dragonsbane.

She bares her teeth in what might pass as a smile but isn’t. “No,” she tells me. “That’s why I’ve stayed alive as long as I have. The men aren’t worth the risk and so they’ll die. That’s why the Prinkiti is going to be returned to the brig, no matter how useful you think he might be.”

I glance at S?ren. I did not drag him out here and make him watch his own people be slaughtered just so he can be put back into chains. Artemisia’s words echo in my mind.

“By not agreeing to an arranged marriage yet, you have something my mother wants and so you have some measure of control.” I feel sick, but I know what I have to do.

“S?ren isn’t going back to the brig,” I tell Dragonsbane, swallowing down my doubts and meeting her surprised gaze. “I don’t know much about the world outside of Astrea, and I will need S?ren’s assistance in selecting the most suitable husband when we reach Sta’Crivero.”

Dragonsbane stares at me in shock. “You have me for that, Theo, and Anders. There is no need to trust a traitor Prinz.”

“I trust S?ren,” I insist. “If you want me to go through with this plot of yours, I want him out of the brig and treated as my advisor.”

She considers my words, her lips pursing. “Very well,” she says after a moment, her voice dangerously low. “I suppose he has proven some measure of loyalty today, though I’ve always found the loyalty of men to be a fickle thing. He is your responsibility, Theo, and at the first sign of treason, his life is forfeit, am I understood?”

“At the first sign of treason, I will kill him myself,” I say.

Dragonsbane’s expression is sour, but she nods.

“Was there any other information?” I ask Anders.

He clears his throat, looking like he would rather step on rusted nails than intrude on our conversation. “There was only one other thing we could verify,” he admits. “About the Kaiser.”

Even the thought of the Kaiser makes my whole body seize up, though I try to keep my expression level and distant. I’m an ocean away, I remind myself. He can’t touch me, not even for five million gold pieces.

It’s another rare word that S?ren recognizes and he stiffens beside me, glancing back and forth between Anders and me with a guarded expression.

“He took a wife after you fled—a rushed marriage that’s been plagued by some unkind rumors.”

For a second, my breath leaves me.

“Who?” I finally manage to ask.

“The Theyn’s daughter,” Anders says. “Lady Crescentia.”





S?REN IS SILENT AT MY side as we walk down the hallway that leads to my cabin. I barely notice him. My mind is a whirlpool, spiraling my thoughts until they’re jumbled and senseless.

“He said Crescentia,” S?ren says finally, when we’re close to my room. “And the color drained from your face. Is she…” He trails off.

“She’s not dead,” I tell him, and his face relaxes. I don’t tell him that I think death would be a preferable fate.

“I’m glad,” he says. “When I got back to court, my father had laid my whole life out for me, including Crescentia. I resented her for that, but it was never about her. You truly care about her, don’t you?”

I think of Cress as I last saw her on the other side of my cell bars, wild-eyed and brittle, with singed skin and white hair and a touch that turned the cell bars scalding hot. My friend, once, my heart’s sister. But not anymore.

“One day, when I am Kaiserin, I will have your country and all the people in it burned to the ground,” she said to me in her raw, pained voice. Now she is Kaiserin, and there is nothing to stop her from fulfilling that vow.

“I don’t know her,” I tell S?ren. “And she doesn’t know me.”

I open the door to my cabin only to find Blaise, Heron, and Artemisia already waiting for me. As soon as they see me, Blaise jumps up from where he’s sitting on my bed.

“Are you all right?” he asks in Astrean. “We were belowdecks handling other interviews, but we heard that a hostage attacked—”

“We’re fine,” I assure him, switching to Kalovaxian so that S?ren can understand as well. “He killed Pavlos and tried to kill Dragonsbane, but S?ren stopped him.”

All three sets of eyes go to S?ren, who is standing just behind my shoulder. None of them speaks, but I can hear a dozen unspoken questions.

“He saved Dragonsbane’s life and proved his loyalty to us,” I say.

Artemisia isn’t fooled. Her eyes narrow, making her look frighteningly like her mother. “And?” she prompts.