Page 131 of The Endless War

“Fucking the next in line to the throne?” He gave her a smile that was all teeth. “Come with me. We have a great deal to catch up on. You as well, brother.”

Offering Lestara his arm, he escorted her out of the tent, Royce following at their heels. There were perhaps two dozen civilians in proximity, mostly women. Their heads turned, a commotion rising as he was recognized, and Keris called out, “You’ll all be wanting an explanation for why Vencia was left undefended, why Petra was able to raze it so easily. I have answers, if you care to listen.”

“Are you mad?” Lestara demanded, eyes wide. “They blame you, Keris. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

A wild laugh tore from his lips, and he looked back over his shoulder at the women who followed, fury in their eyes. “You have every right to be angry. Every right to demand answers for why this was allowed to happen. But if you stab me in the back, the truth of who betrayed us all dies with me.”

Eyes narrowed, but behind the rage, he saw curiosity bloom. A few women splintered away from the rest, racing into the camp, and he heard shouts. “The King is here! He says there is a traitor! He’s going to give a speech!”

The crowd behind them grew.

“Keris, this is insanity.” Lestara kept glancing over her shoulder to the mob of women, some holding the hands of their children, others carrying babies, all with anger in their eyes. All wanting answers for why their homes had been allowed to burn. “Let us take a carriage, at least.”

“I find myself relishing a walk,” he answered, then placed his free hand on the arm linked with his, tightening his grip as Athena approached, papers in her hands. She gave him a nod of confirmation, then fell in with Sarhina, who walked silently next to Royce.

Lestara’s breath caught, the sound betraying her unease. “Where are we going?”

“There’s something I’d like to show you.”

Her steps grew halting as they walked down the road to Vencia, the stench of smoke and rot growing stronger as the city came into view. But before they reached the gate where traitors’ heads were typically spiked, Keris cut inland to where the mass graves were being filled by the unfortunate dead.

The mob kept growing, the tread of their feet a thunder of judgement, but as Keris stopped in front of the largest hole and held up a hand, they fell silent.

“Why are we here, Your Grace?” Lestara demanded, looking anywhere but at the bodies. “There are flies everywhere. Flies spread disease.”

“Because I want you to look at their faces.”

“No.”

“Why?” he said loud enough for the nearest women to hear. “Does looking at the corpses of your victims make you uncomfortable?”

Lestara’s whole body stiffened; then she jerked away from him. “What are you talking about? I was the one who brought warning to Vencia about the attack. That they chose not to listen doesn’t make their deaths my fault.”

“It’s true,” a woman shouted. “It’s because of Lestara that all of us yet live! She is the Savior of Maridrina, whereas you are its curse!”

“It was by your order that we were left undefended!” another woman shouted. “They are your victims!”

Keris held out a hand to Athena, and she handed him two documents. One was on heavy paper and bore a wax seal, the other on cheap scrap. One glance at them confirmed everything that he’d come to believe, but it was the one with the seal that he held up. “This order?”

In his looping, familiar script, the letter claimed that Ithicanian intelligence had learned of Petra’s plans to attack the coast south of Vencia and that the city guard needed to travel with haste to bolster the patrols. A single letter that had been the damnation of an entire city, and had thus become his own damnation. It was a fair forgery in both style and content, but there was a fatal flaw.

“Did you know,” he said, letting go of Lestara’s arm to face Royce, “that each signet ring gifted to a Maridrinian prince upon his coming of age is made of the melted-down gold of those of his ancestors?”

“This hardly seems the time to share scraps of your useless knowledge,” his brother hissed, eyeing the mob. “You’re going to get us all killed.”

Keris smiled at him, feeling strangely calm despite being as close to death as he’d ever been. “Did you know each of them is slightly different?”

His brother blinked at him, then down at the gold signet ring on his hand. Much like the one currently in Ahnna’s possession, it was a circle with a V at the center, a pattern of indentations in the gold around the perimeter of the circle. “They are?”

“Yes, one of the benefits of hiding in a library is that I learn things,” Keris said. “The pattern of the indentations is a code that represents your birthdate and time, rendering each ring unique.” He lifted the order, which bore a red wax seal beneath his signature. “This seal was not made with my ring. This is a forgery.”

Before the crowd could react, Athena kicked Royce in the back of the knees, then was on him in a flash, pulling off his ring. “It wasn’t me,” Royce shrieked. “I swear it, Keris! I’ve done nothing!”

Keris ignored his brother, holding up the ring to compare it to the wax impression. It was a perfect match. He handed both to Sarhina, who nodded in confirmation. “This was the ring that sealed the forged letter ordering the city guard out of Vencia,” she shouted. “Not the ring of your king! We have been betrayed!”

The mob of women stirred, the rising tension rendering the air unbreathable, a single word echoing through the masses.Traitor.

Lestara had a hand pressed to her mouth. “I didn’t know,” shesaid. “I knew he hated you, but not in my darkest nightmares did I believe he’d betray Maridrina.”

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