Page 110 of The Twisted Throne

“I couldn’t live with doing nothing, so I…I’ve been working to change the laws. To at least give people a fair trial in a court to spare them vigilante justice for a crime they may not have committed. But for me to have any hope of making Harendell safe for Cardiffians, I need to keep my position in my father’s court. And in my brother’s.”

She’d thought the worst he risked was a slap on the wrist. Maybe being sent back to the Lowlands to fight. Had been so certain that the stakes were high only for her. How incredibly wrong she’d been, and her selfishness made her feel sick. “I’m sorry.”

James stopped in his tracks, eyes snapping to her. Then he was on his knees before her, pulling Ahnna into his lap. “Don’t,” he said. “Don’t be sorry. You have no reason to be. This is…this is my fault. I took advantage of you.”

Her face was buried in his throat, and she laughed only because the alternative was to cry. “James, I’m six feet of solid muscle and have been killing grown men in battle since before my first kiss. No one takes advantage of me. And if you are worried that I was a maid, you can go ahead and banish that thought. I’m fine.”

Silence stretched, the only sound the steady thud of his heart, until James said, “Then why are you crying, Ahnna?”

Ahnna twitched, only then realizing that tears were running down her cheeks, her breath catching with little hiccups, her heart aching worse than any wound she’d ever suffered. “Because I don’twant to marry William. I don’t want to be queen of Harendell. I…” She trailed off, not willing to admit that what she really wanted was to ride away from all of it with him at her side. To make a life away from politics and obligations where no one would pull them apart. No one would judge them. And part of her wanted to break down entirely because she finally understood why her brother had wanted to run away with Lara. Why he’d been willing to abandon everything for her.

Finally understood the price he and Lara had paid to remain in Ithicana and do their duty.

“What is the reason you won’t return to Ithicana?” James asked, catching hold of her chin and lifting her face so that she was forced to look at him. “The real reason.”

She drew in a deep breath, then asked, “Can I trust you?”

He should have said no.

Because it would have been better not to know.

Instead, James said, “I swear it.”

Sitting upright in his lap, Ahnna drew in a ragged breath. “Ithicana’s coffers are empty.”

He didn’t answer, because he’d already gathered as much, and while Virginia hadn’t gotten the story entirely right, his sister had been goddamned close.

“I know that other nations believe Ithicana is rich beyond sin,” she said. “But that’s never been even close to the truth. The truth is that to live off the land in the middle of the Tempest Seas requires ceaseless toil. Day in and day out, my people go to war against land and storm to bring home enough to feed their families, so for as long as living memory, the crown has used the bridge’s revenue to buy food and supplies from other nations, all of which is dispensed to the people in exchange for years of service. Everyone serves, in some capacity, and in exchange, they are given what they need to live a life worth living.”

The weight of her words sank down upon him, but James said nothing.

“When the Maridrinians invaded, they either took what they found back to Vencia or destroyed it,” Ahnna continued. “Homes reduced to rubble, vegetable plots sowed with salt, and fishing boats put to the torch. And that doesn’t begin to touch upon the harm done to the people. So many were hurt in ways one can never recover from, and they no longer have the means to toil day after day. So the bridge must provide.”

He didn’t want to hear this, but James forced himself to listen.

“Aren has drained the coffers dry,” she said softly. “Sold off nearly everything of value, including all of Lara’s jewelry except what she was wearing and what she sent with me. Sarhina is in no position to help, because Maridrina’s situation is even worse, and Zarrah is struggling to support them, for many Valcottans refuse to let old animosities go. But Harendell…Harendell is rich and strong and our oldest ally. The only nation capable of moving enough trade through the bridge to keep our people alive while they rebuild.”

It hurt to breathe.

James had known his and Ahnna’s goals were at odds, that Ithicana needed Harendell’s gold. What he hadn’t known was that her people risked starvation if they didn’t get it.

“Yet despite how badly Ithicana needs me here, Aren came to Verwyrd to try to make me come home when he heard about the wraithroot. That’s what we were arguing about.”

James winced, realizing how badly he’d misread the king’s intentions. How badly everyone had misread Aren Kertell’s sentiment toward his sister.

She wiped her face with her sleeve. “But I can’t go back. Not without your father demanding concessions from Aren that he can’t afford to make. So not only must I remain, but I mustencourage Harendell to exportmore.To paymore.Because if I don’t, I’ll have failed my people again.”

“Again?” he made himself ask, needing to know the whole truth even though what he’d already heard made him feel sick to his stomach.

Ahnna was crying harder now, her sobs so fierce that she shook against him, instinct demanding that he pull her closer even though he had no right to touch her.

“The success of Silas’s attack was my fault,” she choked out. “I’m the one to blame.”

“No—” James started to argue, but Ahnna cut him off.

“Yes. I suspected Lara from the beginning,” she said between sobs. “She wasn’t anything like other Maridrinian noblewomen. She was head-to-toe muscle, her knuckles had scars from fighting, and she walked like a predator. Every instinct in me told me that she was dangerous, but I allowed myself to be convinced otherwise. After I almost got her killed, Aren would barely speak to me. I was so worried I’d turned him against me that I held my tongue and gave her my support when I should have stood my ground. My duty was to my people, and if I’d only trusted my instincts and dug deeper, we might have stopped the invasion. Instead, I only thought of myself.”

She was on the verge of hyperventilating, cheeks ghastly pale in the sunlight.

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