Page 45 of The Twisted Throne

“We heard,” Taryn said, pushing into the room, where she immediately began to examine everything from top to bottom. Her cousin had served as one of Aren’s bodyguards for years, so she knew her business.

Bronwyn went to the sideboard holding decanters of water, wine, and a darker spirit. She sniffed the contents of all three. Then, before Ahnna could stop her, she took a large mouthful of the wine.

“No!” Ahnna yanked the decanter from the woman’s hand, splashing wine over her wrist. “Are you mad? They could be full of poison!”

“My sisters often question my sanity.” Bronwyn shrugged. “Truthfully, I doubt anyone would be so obvious as to poison the wine in your room. It’s more likely to be in your gloves, on the hilt of a weapon, or on something you’ll touch in passing. Harendell’s poison craft is rivaled only by Amarid, and Serin made us study their delivery methods at length. That’s the real art, you know. Not the toxin itself, but methods of deploying it that don’t fall back on the poisoner. That’s the reason my father made such a fortress out of the inner sanctum in the Vencia palace—to control everything that went on around him, which we cannot do. If anyone in the Sky Palace wants you dead, there isn’t much we can do to prevent it other than to leave.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“I know.” Bronwyn flung herself down on a chair, tucking her long legs beneath her. “What did you make of Princess Virginia warning you about her mother?”

Ahnna sat on the same chair as she had before, but this time,she leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. “Keris warned me that Alexandra was against my betrothal to William when he was in Eranahl, so it wasn’t a shock.”

“You never told me that,” Taryn grumbled, straightening from where she’d been looking under the bed.

She hadn’t told anyone. Hadn’t wanted to give Aren or Lara more leverage in trying to dissuade her from coming to Harendell, but now she wondered how much they’d known and hadn’t toldher.

Bronwyn exhaled slowly. “Well, that’s concerning. Keris certainly knows all the gossip, but he’s not one to trade in anything he doesn’t believe is factual. If the information came from him, it’s good.”

“We should leave,” Taryn said. “Aren wouldn’t want you here if he knew your life was at risk from Alexandra.”

“I’m not leaving.” Ahnna sat upright, resting her elbows on her knees. “You know as well as I do how dire the situation is in Ithicana. We’rebroke,Taryn. The people are hungry and homeless, and the only nation with the power to make an immediate difference is Harendell. We need their trade. Need their navy. Need their alliance, and if I run home with my tail between my legs, we’ll have none of those things. Especially if they do have plans that will reduce their dependence on the bridge.”

“At least you’ll be alive.”

Alive,but the thought of returning to Ithicana having failed her people yet again made it a worse proposition than dying in the attempt to make a difference. “I’m not leaving.”

“At least write to Aren and explain the situation,” Taryn finally said. “Put it in code, and Jor or I will track down one of our own spies to deliver it. Aren should know everything we’ve learned.”

Part of Ahnna worried that Aren would bodily drag her back to Ithicana if he knew the risks, but keeping the information fromhim was reckless, so Ahnna shrugged. “Fine. You write it and I’ll sign it. But if you’d both excuse me, I need to get ready for this banquet.”

Taryn gave her a long look that said,You’re an idiot,but abandoned the room for her own, Bronwyn following on her heels. A moment later, Hazel entered with an armload of folded fabric. Beyond, Ahnna could hear Jor coughing in the hallway, the ferocity of it making her frown. Stepping through the door, she looked at the old man. “You all right?”

“Fine,” he growled. “It’s their terrible weather. I’ll be right in a day or two once I adjust.”

He shouldn’t be here,Ahnna thought, but this wasn’t the time to argue with him. “Can you hear anything through the door? Taryn checked the rest of the room.”

“Nah, you’re good,” he said, leaning against the wall. “Place is solid stone and oak, but still, take care in other rooms. They drill holes behind artwork and that sort of nonsense.”

Of course they did.

Giving him a tight nod, Ahnna retreated into the room, only for three young men carrying steaming buckets to come up the hallway and enter behind her. They all bowed, murmuring, “My lady,” then proceeded into an antechamber. Water splashed, and then the trio exited, shutting the door behind them.

Curious, Ahnna entered the room to find Hazel arranging soaps and sponges next to a large copper tub before a blazing fire. Ahnna allowed Hazel to undress her, then stepped into the bath, wincing at the temperature as she lowered herself into the water. “Do they need to heat water for every bath in the palace?”

“Yes, my lady. We have vast kettles in the kitchens dedicated to the heating of bathing water brought up from the river.”

Ithicana was rife with natural hot springs, so the thought ofgoing through so much effort for a warm bath was entirely unfamiliar to her. “The price of living in the sky, I suppose.”

“Yes, my lady. In Harendell, inconvenience is a marker of privilege.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Ahnna saw Hazel bite her lip, obviously regretting her words, and she gave the girl a wink. “If they had to draw their own water for a day, they might make better choices of where they build their palaces.”

A ghost of a smile appeared on the young woman’s lips. “Even so, my lady.”

Hazel unraveled Ahnna’s braids, then poured warm water over the curls and set to scrubbing.

“What should I expect tonight?” Ahnna asked. “The king mentioned that this was a dinner for close friends and family.”

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