Palace of Silver (The Nissera Chronicles #3) - Hannah West Page 0,51

life from you.”

My tone was biting and indignant. I had forgotten for a moment that compliance might be my sole means of escape.

The elicromancer shifted to cross his legs. The movement made the specks of gold within his clear elicrin stone twinkle, but not as brightly as the cunning in his oceanic eyes. “So, we can agree that the Realm Alliance made a poor decision?”

I did not like the idea of agreeing with Mathis Lorenthi. For as long as he had been a prominent political player in Nissera—since the death of Glisette’s parents—Mathis had been manipulative. While defending himself at trial, he had somehow succeeded in making us all feel like clueless children who had bested the Moth King through sheer luck and reckless bravery.

I smoothed the ragged edge from my voice. “I’m not going to agree with every decision the group makes. That’s how it works when you value differing opinions instead of hibernating in comfort and gorging yourself on riches you didn’t earn.”

There my composure went again. Thankfully, neither man seemed to care.

“But you did not voice your differing opinion,” Mathis said. “Isn’t that the purpose of the Realm Alliance?”

I shut my mouth. I would say nothing of the reason I’d kept quiet: the Realm Alliance had pardoned Rayed for the betrayal he was forced to commit.

Forced to commit? Inwardly, I recoiled from my own hypocrisy. I had just called Falima a coward for claiming she had no choice.

I glanced back at Lord Orturio. Arms crossed over his tree trunk of a chest, almond-shaped brown eyes calm, he watched me. “Come, sit. This doesn’t have to be so unfriendly,” he said in Perispi. He stepped around me to approach a shelf holding an oak cask with a spigot. I hadn’t noticed until now that the wall behind Mathis had a marble shrine depicting the Holies.

Orturio opened the cask spout and filled a goblet with wine. “Casiani was my mother’s family name. Trescara is the grape. Casiani Trescara is”—he held the jeweled red wine to the light—“liquid riches.”

As though offering a vessel containing a piece of his soul, Orturio placed the goblet at the empty place across from Mathis. When I didn’t accept it, Orturio threw his head back and released a booming laugh. “Oh, for Holies’ sakes!” He took a swig and replaced it. “I would never poison wine. Making it requires too much sweat and fervent prayer.”

I pulled out the chair opposite Mathis and perched on its edge. Orturio filled another goblet for himself and settled down to the tune of creaking wood.

“Why am I here?” I asked again. I looked at Mathis. “Why are you here?”

“Let’s start with me. I traveled abroad to find allies who would help me undermine the Realm Alliance.” He finished his wine and stood to help himself to more. No doubt, he was an expensive houseguest. “Orturio and I found each other. Together, we campaigned to convince the king of Erdem that your group’s authority is null. It was not a difficult task, considering your husband is the only ruler in Nissera with a legitimate claim to his throne. As a woman, Glisette’s claim is no more legitimate than mine was as regent. And Valory Braiosa is the ‘queen of widows,’ who seized leadership of Calgoran by murdering half the men in her family.”

“You snake.” His words echoed Rayed’s letter almost exactly. King Agmur wouldn’t have cared about obsolete Volarian laws until Mathis pointed them out and told him he should care. And yes, Valory had not tried the traitors in her family before executing them, but trials would inevitably have led to the same result.

“That statute is antiquated nonsense,” I said. “It’s a thin excuse for a foreign ally to withdraw support for Glisette. As for Valory, her claim is legitimate. King Tiernan made her his heir apparent while those traitors were torturing and killing him.”

“That is what she and her odd little cousin Melkior claim,” Mathis sneered. “They were the only witnesses to such a historic transfer of power.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Undermining our influence will help you claim the throne of Volarre. I understand that part. But why does this involve me?”

“King Agmur instructed Falima to seek damaging information about the Realm Alliance, which could further cast its competency into doubt,” Mathis explained. “But when he learned that you, a mortal, possessed an elicrin stone, he went rogue. His fear of Valory Braiosa turned to ambition. He hoped you would be able to persuade her to