Page 62 of The Twisted Throne

Ahnna sat up straight. “You will do no such thing! Have you lost your head, Taryn? Do you have any idea the consequences that would fall upon Ithicana if you were caught assassinating Harendell’s queen? It would make what the Maridrinians did seem like child’s play.”

The moment the words exited her lips, she regretted them, because Taryn’s face crumpled. Sitting on the edge of the bed, her cousin whispered, “I can’t do this. I can’t live on the edge like this,fearing attack from every corner. I can’t sleep. Can’t get my heart to stop racing.” She pressed her hands to her face. “I wish I’d died on Gamire, because I don’t know how to be myself anymore.”

“Don’t say that, Taryn.” Bronwyn wrapped an arm around her, but Taryn only pushed it away and rose.

“I’m going to get some rest,” she said. “I’m no good to any of you.”

“I’ll—”

“Stay,” Taryn interrupted. “God knows you have the skill set Ahnna needs.”

As her cousin left the room, she picked up one of the bottles of liquor on the sideboard. Given that her own room would have been stocked, Ahnna suspected her cousin had been drowning her anxiety the entire time.

“Where were you when Ahnna was attacked?” Jor abruptly asked, his eyes fixed on Bronwyn. “Because you told me you’d keep an ear on her, yet I heard she was strolling the Sky Palace for hours before that attack, with no sign of you.”

“I thought she was asleep.” Bronwyn looked away. “Hazel said she’d put her to bed.”

“Answer the question, girl.”

Ahnna’s jaw tightened, not upset that Bronwyn hadn’t been outside her door but furious at what she suspected the other woman had been doing.

Bronwyn’s jaw tightened, her hand drifting to the weapon at her belt. “Mind your words, Jor. You forget who I am.”

“Nah, I haven’t.” Jor coughed into his sleeve. “There’s only one Veliant I take orders from, and that’s Ithicana’s queen. Now where the fuck were you while Taryn was passed out drunk?”

“Hunting Lestara,” Ahnna said, unable to keep the sourness from her tone. “Bronwyn, you promised.”

“I wasn’t going to kill her! Only…” She gave her head a violentshake. “It seems like you don’t care about the hurt that creature caused, Ahnna. Athena wrote me. Told me that there were so many civilians dead, they had to bury them in mass graves outside the city. I hate that Keris didn’t kill her. I hate that he let that monster live, and I’ll never forgive my brother for it.”

“So you’ll take justice into your own hands, no matter the cost?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“No,” Ahnna answered. “Which you know, because Lara still lives.” She pointed at Taryn’s door. “Stay with her. Perhaps you two can manage to keep each other from destroying everything.”

Bronwyn swayed on her feet, like she was debating what to do. Then she said, “I’m a trained killer, not a bodyguard. James has Georgie gathering a selection of guards for me to choose from. I think they’ll serve you better than I ever will.” Then she left the room.

Jor chose that moment to have a fit of coughing, the sound wet and thick, and Nana’s training told Ahnna that his illness wouldn’t get better without far more rest.

“Maybe it’s best you go back to Ithicana,” he said after the fit subsided. “Aren isn’t going to hold it against you. I don’t see howEdwardcan hold it against you, given all that has happened.”

I’ll hold it against me.

“The Harendellians have capable men among them,” she said. “If what I need is more bodyguards, I’ll accept that. But I’m not leaving, Jor.”

The same could not be said for her companions, who all needed to be places that were not Verwyrd. Whether they wanted to be or not.

The door to the room opened, and Hazel stepped inside. “The king is here to see you, my lady. He asked me to ensure you were decent.”

“Am I ever decent, Hazel?” Ahnna asked, then gave her maid awink because the girl looked ready to cry, as she had all morning. “It’s fine. Jor, wait outside.”

Edward exploded into the room a moment later. Footmen followed at his heels carrying large vases of flowers, which they deposited on various tables throughout her room before bowing and departing. When Ahnna moved to get up, Edward waved a hand at her. “My dearest girl, please don’t move a muscle. I once had an encounter with wraithroot, and it takes days for the noxious plant to clear the system. You must rest.”

Nodding, she leaned back against the pillows, wishing the first opportunity that she had to speak to him alone wasn’t with her prone on her back like an invalid.

Edward sat in the chair where James had been sitting when she awoke. To her shock, he reached over to take her hand, patting the back of it. His hands were callused, which she hadn’t expected despite knowing he was a fighter of some skill.

“I am so sorry this has happened, Ahnna,” he said. “I know it is some small consolation, but we are taking steps to increase the security of the Sky Palace, none the least evicting all the hangers-on who had no business being here in the first place. James is handling the situation, and given how personally he appears to be taking the attack, I anticipate we’ll all be locked up tight as a prison before the day is done.” Edward laughed. “He’s something of a perfectionist, my son. Likes things to be a certain way, and the Sky Palace’s security is not to his standards. My fault, but he’ll put us to rights.”

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