Page 42 of Rise of the Vicious Princess

“Your Highness.” Both visitors bowed.

“Welcome, Lady Channing. Ambassador Shyrn, this is an unexpected honor.” Charis shot a look at Lady Channing. It was unlike her to forget to mention something as important as an ambassador in her request for an audience. Charis would have received them in a far more formal setting had she known.

“Thank you for making the time to see me,” Lady Channing said. “I was unaware that Ambassador Shyrn would be joining me. He arrived after I’d already sent word to you.” She sounded mildly displeased.

“I felt it best to present my kingdom’s interests to Your Highness personally,” Ambassador Shyrn said, bowing once more.

“I can grant you both no more than a few minutes.” Charis remained standing, forcing the other two to stay on their feet as well.

“Thank you, Your Highness. I’ll make this brief.” Lady Channing folded her hands in front of her waist and spoke with the measured calm that always marked her words. “Rullenvor is allied with a kingdom far to the north, and as such has access to a formidable army capable of helping us protect our interests at sea. With those interests protected, Rullenvor would be prepared to join with our army to push Montevallo back into the mountains for good. Ambassador Shyrn can answer any questions you may have.”

The silence that followed her words was ripe with tension. Charis’s thoughts raced. Who was the kingdom to the north? Certainly not Embre, the farthest northern kingdom on Calera’s map of the sea. They were an insular people who rarely dealt with outsiders. And why would this other kingdom be willing to help either Rullenvor or Calera protect their trade vessels at sea?

“Ambassador, which kingdom are you referring to?” Charis met his gaze.

“Te’ash.”

Charis blinked, scouring her memories for Brannigan’s thorough lessons on the peoples and creatures who populated the outer reaches of the sea. Te’ash was the kingdom of the Rakuuna—humanlike sea creatures who generally had nothing to do with people. Why would they change their minds now?

Finally, she spoke. “The kingdom of the Rakuuna? I thought they never came ashore or had dealings with humans.”

“Just so, Your Highness.” Ambassador Shyrn adjusted his collar. “However, they have recently decided to align their interests with ours, and as we are aligned with you, this is an opportunity to create the kind of kinship that no one could stand against, least of all King Alaric Penbyrn, despite his apparently having some help at sea.”

A chill crawled across Charis’s skin. “King Alaric has help at sea?”

Ambassador Shyrn spread his hands wide. “What else could explain key merchant vessels sinking on their way to Calera? I thought long and hard after our discussion at the luncheon, and this is the only conclusion that makes sense. Alaric must be using an ally to attack ships bound to and from Calera. It’s troublesome, especially as two of those vessels belonged to Rullenvor citizens. Our people demand protection. Your people need trade. Montevallo must be put in their place. With the Rakuuna’s assistance on the open waters, that can be accomplished. I’ve already sent a palloren and received confirmation that they are willing to assist.”

“And what is the price of this assistance?” No one did anything for free, and Charis couldn’t see how the Rakuuna, isolated for so long in their distant underwater kingdom of Te’ash, could possibly gain anything from interfering with the affairs of Rullenvor or Calera. Plus, it would take weeks to send a palloren bird to Rullenvor and receive a response, so either Ambassador Shyrn had negotiated this deal with Te’ash as soon as the Rullenvor ships sank, or he was lying about gaining their full cooperation in hopes that looking like Calera’s hero would benefit him here.

Though if either of those were true, why hadn’t he discussed it at the luncheon when she’d brought it up? Too many eavesdroppers? Or perhaps there was a third option. Perhaps a representative from Te’ash was in palloren distance out on the open sea, and the ambassador had simply done his job.

“That’s the best part of the offer, Your Highness,” Ambassador Shyrn said smoothly. “What they want are Montevallo’s mountains full of jewels. It costs you nothing but an agreement to give their allies unfettered access to Montevallo for as long as it takes to mine the jewels they need.”

Charis held his gaze, her mind racing. Everything had a price. If the Rakuuna were offering help for free, then they simply hadn’t been honest about what they truly wanted of Calera.

“What exactly does unfettered access mean?” Charis asked. “And how did they hear about our situation or about the jewels in the Montevallo mines? Montevallo hasn’t had access to sea trade since the war began, and the Rakuuna don’t travel this far south.”

In fact, Charis was straining to remember what they looked like. Surely there had been an illustration in one of Brannigan’s textbooks. Something . . . slightly taller and skinnier than a human, with unnaturally long legs and arms? Maybe with gills or fins? If she remembered correctly, the Rakuuna could breathe out of water for short periods of time, but it was dangerous for them to remain on land for long, so they kept to the sea. It had been at least two years since her test on the reclusive, rarely spotted sea creatures, but she was nearly certain the Rakuuna hadn’t surfaced near any of the kingdoms on Calera’s map for over one hundred years. Not since they’d once had dealings with Embre, though details on that relationship were sketchy at best.

“We discussed the Calera–Montevallo war with them when we became aware of their need for jewels.” Ambassador Shyrn straightened his coat, his fingers worrying with the buttons for a moment before he noticed Charis watching him closely. “We live far to the east of you, Your Highness. It’s a different world over there. Forging alliances with species you never see down here is a matter of some priority.”

“We have our own alliances with nonhuman species.” She thought of the mild-mannered Kirthin who farmed Calera’s swamps, and admitted that a friendly agreement with nonlethal creatures who thrived on moss and mud was a far cry from understanding the need to build a relationship with a kingdom as dangerously violent as the Rakuuna were rumored to be.

“I still don’t understand their motivation for this offer. What underwater kingdom needs jewels?” Charis frowned. “Kingdoms need food, medicine, weaponry, cloth, and building supplies. Unless they need jewels to pay for those things, this doesn’t make sense. And why would they need jewels now when they’ve apparently been doing well without them for years?”

Lady Channing spread her hands out as if to show that she was holding nothing back. “I cannot answer for their needs. I’m sure they’re as discreet about their true situation as we are. But we have an opportunity here to end the war.”

“By giving warlike strangers access to our ports, our roads, our cities, and our people for an unspecified amount of time.” Charis’s voice was flat.

“No, Your Highness.” Ambassador Shyrn bowed his head deferentially when her gaze landed on him. “They do not come ashore. Rullenvor would mine the jewels for them. You would simply need to grant us safe passage from your ports to the conquered mountains of Montevallo and back again.”

“And what do you get out of the deal?”

“A portion of the jewels and the continued goodwill of a fierce and formidable ally.”

“We can negotiate boundaries.” Lady Channing remained as unflappable as ever. “But this gives us protection at sea and additional soldiers and weapons from Rullenvor on land to take the fight to Montevallo and finish this.”

“How do we know they would honor their agreement?” Charis looked from Lady Channing to Ambassador Shyrn.

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