Page 103 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
Chapter
Thirty-One
EVIE
“You figured it out.” Zandyr’s smile turned triumphant. His hands rounded my shoulders, as if getting ready to hug me. “How?”
“When we were talking about the razorback smugglers, you peppered clues.”
The gold.
The blending in.
The high ranks.
Zandyr sucked in air between his teeth as he watched me with hooded eyes. “I did.”
“You could have made it less difficult,” I grumbled.
He’d mentioned whoever he’d suspected wasn’t fromaround here. The list was long.
Serpents.
Whoever had attacked my wedding.
Every other Clan.
But the advisors controlled the guards, who were spreading rumors.
The razorback snake had appeared in my house after a guard had brought in the fruit box.
I figured the advisors simply disliked the very idea of me and wanted to make my life in Phoenix Peak as difficult as possible for a Protectorate member.
The leap from Clan animosity to attempted murder was big.
Even now, after all the puzzle pieces had clicked in my mind, I had trouble believing it. Why would the advisors risk Zandyr’s wrath and a Clan war? They’d sworn to protect and dedicate their lives for the Blood Brotherhood.
But the evidence was too obvious.
Kaya dyed her head to blend in.
She said her parents were glad she’d been born here. Valuta mentioned her ancestral runes way up north.
The same north ruled by the Clans who’d attacked the Blood Brotherhood after Zavoya and Eldryan’s marriage.
It all added up too well to be a coincidence.
Now Zandyr had confirmed it.
“Did she order the attack at my wedding?” I asked. I didn’t know how far Valuta’s influence reached. Were my cousins safe from her vengeance? “They shot at you and other Blood Brotherhood Elite members. Is she staging a coup?”
“No. I don’t know who tried to kill us all on Sanctua Sirena, but it was not Valuta. Trust me, sheandBanu want me very much alive. And you–”
Zandyr’s face turned ashen. He groaned as he hunched into me. I swayed under his weight, barely managing to balance him.
“Hey, hey.” I shook his shoulders. “What–”
“Bed,” he whispered faintly.
