Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns #4) - Kendare Blake Page 0,70
to.” She takes a deep breath as they blink at her. Renata, Paola, Bree, and Lucian seem afraid. Genevieve and Antonin wearily apprehensive. Of all the people in the room, the only one who conveys any sympathy is Mirabella. Mirabella, who caused this, in a way.
“Did you know,” Katharine asks, turning to her sister, “that Arsinoe was capable of this? I thought you said she was good-hearted? I thought you said she was not devious.”
“I never said she was not devious,” Mirabella says, and Katharine does not know whether to listen or throttle her. “Though I doubt that she or anyone would have tried something like this had you not taken Billy captive. And even so, it does not seem like her. It seems too . . .”
“Tactical,” says Rho. “She has at once tied your hands and brought you to the bargaining table. This was not the idea of the upstart naturalist. This was the war gift. This was the plan of the Legion Queen.”
“The war gift,” Katharine whispers. “I want the army mustered. Now.”
“How many soldiers?” Antonin asks.
“All of them. I want my army ready to march.”
No one moves to obey. They glance between each other.
“The journey around the mountain would take us several weeks,” Rho says. “Perhaps longer, in the deep snow of the northern valleys. By the time we reached them, we would be fatigued and cold. Frostbitten and low on supplies where they will be dug in and fortified. We lack the ships to transport that number of soldiers by water, and no one will dare the seas and the mist, anyway.” She gestures to Mirabella. “Not even if we were to strap her to one of the hulls.”
“And remember,” Genevieve leans forward. “The rebellion will not hurt him. Not as long as we have the suitor. What feels like a loss is actually a stalemate.”
Katharine grits her teeth.
“We do not march on Sunpool.”
“Then,” Luca asks. “Where?”
“We march on Bastian City.” Katharine shoves her chair back and stands. “On the city of the warriors. We march on them now. So speaks the Queen Crowned!” she shouts, furious that she must add it.
“Yes, Queen Katharine,” Antonin says.
“Get out, all of you.” She waves her hand. “Leave me alone with my commander.”
One by one they rise and hurry from the chamber. Mirabella is the last to go, and when she does, she crosses quietly behind.
“She will not hurt him,” she says quietly. “I am sure of it, Kat.”
Katharine closes her eyes. She almost reaches back and squeezes her sister’s hand. Instead, she growls low in her throat.
“You had better be right.”
After Mirabella is gone, Rho rises and comes to Katharine’s side. She does not need to be told what is to happen. She accepts the gift of dead queens as if accepting a kiss.
Katharine allows more of them to flow out of her than she did before. Yet once inside of Rho, they bleed out of her less. They darken her eyes and add bulk to her shoulders. But except for a slight mottling of black veins in her neck, Rho still looks like Rho.
Until she smiles.
“You are growing used to this,” Katharine says.
“Yes.”
“Good. Then take my army. Go to Bastian City and raze it to the ground.”
When Rho walks out of the Black Council chamber, Luca is waiting for her in the hall.
“She has ordered you to go, and so you must,” Luca says, falling in beside her old friend. “But take care. The warriors may have fewer numbers, but no one knows what the war gift is capable of better than you.”
“Do not worry, Luca. All will be well.”
Luca peers at the tall priestess from the corner of her eye. The war gift is upon her already. It changes her stride and the heft of her shoulders. It makes her voice lower and rough. When she tries to look closer, Rho jerks away.
“Stop and face me,” Luca says. “That is not a request.”
Reluctantly, Rho obeys and turns toward the High Priestess. What Luca sees in the warrior’s eyes fills her with horror. But she will not show it.
“This rebellion has brought out another side of you, Rho. You flourish in it. No queen in the island’s history has ever had a finer commander.”
“Thank you, Luca.”
The High Priestess nods.
“You have climbed far higher in the Queen Crowned’s esteem than anyone could have guessed. And the silver armor does not look as out of place atop your priestess robes as I would have thought.”