Page 76 of The Twisted Throne

She blew out an angry breath. “Because of my grandmother. If you ever have cause to meet her, you’ll understand.”

This was the second time she’d spoken about her life in Ithicana, and James had not forgotten that the first time ended with him kissing her. Yet his curiosity to know more about her life refused to be denied. “You mentioned she was a healer of some renown.”

“Yes. But she’s a real bitch, if I’m being honest, which is probably the only thing Lara and I can agree on. Everything had to be perfect. I had to be perfect, no matter how hard I had to work to achieve it. Aren’s shadow, my life dedicated to supporting him, which half the time meant doing all the things he was supposed to be doing.”

God help him, but James knew what that felt like.

“I never begrudged my brother that,” she said. “I’m not complaining. Only explaining why I am the way that I am.”

“I understand.” He hesitated. “Are you close with your brother?”

“I used to be.” Her jaw worked from side to side. “We don’t see eye-to-eye on much anymore.”

Sensing he shouldn’t press the issue, James let silence reign as they circled higher and higher up the spiral, it broken only when Ahnna said, “I met Lestara.”

James tensed, his mind immediately leaping in a thousand different directions, all spelling disaster.

“Your sister’s ladies are incredibly cruel to her. They treat her like a dog. No…worse,because those women treat their dogs like children.”

“Lestara is a convicted traitor,” he responded mechanically. “Her decision to betray Maridrina to Petra Anaphora resulted in many deaths, and she is fortunate that Keris Veliant chose exile over execution.”

“That was no mercy.” Ahnna sucked in a breath. “Keris knew exactly how she’d be treated. Knew it would be far worse than a quick death because her mistreatment would slowly eat at her mind until she found a way to end it herself. In his own way, he’s every bit as ruthless as Silas ever was.”

“You don’t think she deserves it?” James asked the question despite knowing that he should steer the conversation away from anything to do with Cardiff. Ithicanians were notoriously ruthless, taking no prisoners, and often known for dumping the heads of those who attacked them on beaches as a message for any who might consider doing the same. Mercy was unexpected.

“No, I don’t,” she said. “I’m a firm believer in clean executions.”

A practical sense of mercy. “Virginia and her ladies may have been harsher on Lestara for your benefit, given your ties with Maridrina. They might have thought you’d appreciate them taking her punishment seriously.”

Her voice was acidic as she said, “I highly doubt it was for my benefit, given they don’t care about what she did. They treat her as they do because she is a princess of Cardiff, not as punishment for her crimes.”

Change the subject,prudence screamed from inside his head, but James said, “That troubles you?”

Her head snapped around, hazel eyes locking on his. “Doesn’t it troubleyou?”

James looked at the smooth stone beneath his feet. “Why should it?”

Silence stretched between them, broken only by the howl of the wind in the spiral, and then Ahnna said, “Because you’re half Cardiffian.”

“I was born in Verwyrd and raised Harendellian.”

“But your mother was Cardiffian. Doesn’t it bother you that Harendellians treat Cardiffians as if they are less than human? I find astromancy as peculiar as the next person, but it seems a weak reason to burn women at the stake. Amarid is the nation that causes Harendell grief, but Cardiff bears the animosity? How is that warranted?”

It isn’t.

He desperately wanted to tell her how much he hated the way Harendell viewed Cardiff. That his greatest wish was to change the nature of the relationship between the two nations that had given him his blood. That he wanted to make Cardiff and Harendell allies in every possible way. Except his dreams came at a cost to Ithicana, and if she were to learn what he was trying to achieve, loyalty to her homeland would cause her to do everything possible to destroy what he was working for. Which meant he couldn’t risk it. “My preference is that my people behave with civility, but my desires carry little weight.”

Ahnna huffed with disgust. “Does your father know how they treat Lestara? Is he content with it?”

“Nothing goes on in the Sky Palace that he doesn’t know about.” This conversation needed to end. “He has set rules, and Virginia will follow them.”

“But don’t their prejudices trouble him?” she demanded. “Obviously, he’s not like-minded, or you wouldn’t exist. Or did he not know your mother was Cardiffian until later?”

Bloody hell.“He knew.” No point lying, given that the truth was well known.

“So is it the case that he doesn’t hold the same prejudices as most Harendellians, or was he just willing to overlook your mother’s beliefs because he loved her?”

A question James had asked many times, and one to which he didn’t have a certain answer. He did not know how much of his father’s motivations were a desire to make change for the better and how much of it he was doing because it had been what James’s mother had wanted. “According to Alexandra, my mother cast a spell on my father, so perhaps that is the answer.”

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