Page 66 of Return of the Vengeful Quee

“Why would they want you around?” Holland looked baffled.

“Because we’re useful,” Ferris snapped. “You might try it sometime.”

Holland waved the bedpost menacingly. “I volunteer to be of use right now. Your Majesty, permission to remove the pestilence from this room.”

“Permission denied.” Charis faced Ferris, whose cheeks had turned an unbecoming shade of pink. Tal moved around Holland to stand at Charis’s side, his fire poker held like a sword.

Ferris’s eyes widened. “Are you really going to let them treat me like a threat?” His voice rose. “My family came to the palace the morning after the invasion to find Queen Letha, King Edias, and you. Instead, we were greeted by monsters who assumed we were there to fight them for the throne. If Father and I hadn’t managed to convince them we had the connections to act as a go-between for their negotiations with Montevallo, we’d be dead.”

“I’m grateful you’re still alive,” Charis said calmly.

“But why did you come back?” Ferris sounded agitated. “You should’ve just kept running as far and as fast as you could.”

Charis frowned. “We didn’t return of our own accord. The Rakuuna hunted us down and captured us.”

His shoulders slumped. “I was afraid of that.”

“And I wasn’t running, Ferris. I was getting help for our kingdom.”

His eyes widened. “You have help for us?”

Perhaps the incredulity in his voice could be attributed to the horrors he’d witnessed in her absence. Or perhaps he’d never had enough faith in her from the start.

“I do.” She just had to get a message to the rebellion so Nalani and the retired admiral who’d agreed to help Calera could coordinate with the admirals of Solvang, Thallis, and Verace in planning an attack on the Rakuuna.

“Father is going to want to hear all the details.” Ferris glanced over his shoulder as the door opened to admit the redheaded maid from the night before carrying a tray with bowls of pumpkin porridge and a plate of spiced brandyberry muffins. “He’s busy getting Mother’s medicine, but he’ll return soon. You can’t imagine the lengths we have to go to now just to get medical supplies that used to be readily available.”

“The Rakuuna allow your father to leave the palace?” Tal asked.

Ferris barely spared him a glance. “Don’t be daft. We have a contact who knows how to get in and out of the palace without getting caught. Father is meeting him in the servants’ quarters. Father and I would be missed if Queen Bai’elsha decides she needs us for something, but she doesn’t even know he exists.”

The maid carried the food past Charis, and her stomach pitched uneasily at the smell.

Holland snatched a muffin from the tray, and Ferris said something derogatory, prompting another argument.

Leaning close, Tal said softly, “Why did the Rakuuna need to negotiate anything with Father? Vahn already offered to pay whatever jewels the Rakuuna required. Father wanted port access and dignity for our people, which you gave him through the betrothal treaty. He should have willingly paid whatever price was needed to get the Rakuuna to leave.”

“If he’d been willing to pay, then why would the Rakuuna have felt they needed you as a prisoner in the first place?” Charis whispered back.

“I don’t know,” Tal admitted as Holland offered to stuff Ferris’s mouth full of porridge just to shut him up while Ferris swore that his father was going to hear about this.

“Maybe they asked for more than he has?” Charis caught the maid’s eye and motioned her close while the boys continued to bicker over their breakfast.

“We’ve been without port access for nearly two decades, which means we’ve been without robust trade with other kingdoms.” Tal caught the muffin Holland tossed his way. “Trust me, Father has more stockpiles of jewels mined from our mountains than he knows what to do with.”

“What’s your name?” Charis asked the maid as she curtsied. Tal handed Reuben the muffin and raised his hand to catch the next one Holland tossed.

“Lannibelle, Your Majesty, but most just call me Lanni.” She shot a look over her shoulder at the door leading to the corridor beyond. “I can’t stay. The guards expect me to keep delivering trays.”

“Then I’ll make this quick.” Charis met the woman’s eyes. “Where do your loyalties lie?”

A direct question, coming at an unexpected moment, always revealed the truth. Those with nothing to hide answered freely. Those with secrets fumbled or paused, even for an instant, as they chose their words with care.

“With you, Your Majesty.” Lanni’s eyes sparked with fervor, and she curtsied again. “As do those of many Calerans.”

“Many?”

The maid’s cheeks grew flushed, and her voice lowered until Charis had to lean forward to hear her. “There are . . . rumors that we would be better off without you because the Willowthorns caused the invasion.”

---