A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,117
were cold, and then, as if recounting something as dull as the weather, she said, That is enough of you worrying about Lei. He was a liar and a fool I never should have welcomed into my bed.
Isa had been disbelieving when her mother went on to explain that Lei was khimaer, and he’d been hiding it from them for decades.
They are a scheming, base race. That is why you must strike against Eva first.
With a mingling of dread and anticipation, Isa listened to her mother’s simple plan to draw Eva away from the ball the next night. It would be over soon and the worst thing she would ever have to do would be behind her.
When she tried to imagine actually dealing the killing blow, she could never conjure it. But she knew how she would do it—ensnaring Eva’s mind and taking her pain away before she ended it—and her mother’s revelation made her all the more certain she was doing the right thing.
Eva was a liar. She’d pretended to love Isa and left her without ever looking back.
Or so Isa had believed. She couldn’t deny that Eva had been as shocked as she was when she learned the truth about Lei.
Isa sat across from her mother now, watching as she plotted over maps of the A’Nir Mountains and Sher n’Cai. Small enamel figurines that reminded her of Lei were scattered across the table. It occurred to her that these maps, and everything else in Lilith’s makeshift war room had belonged to her father.
“How long did you know Eva and Lei were khimaer before you told me?” Isa asked quietly.
The question must have shocked Lilith, by the muscle feathering in her jaw, though the rest of her face was placid. For a long moment, Isa thought Lilith was not going to answer, but finally she said, “A few months. Do you think I would have let a khimaer remain King for long if I knew?”
The words echoed in Isa’s ears like a warning bell. She thought back to the question Eva had repeatedly asked her those first weeks of Isa’s captivity.
Isa barely listened as her mother told her they would be marching north at dawn. “I hope to make it to the Enclosure in a few weeks. I brought all your winter clothes. Pack what you need and prepare yourself. It’s time you finally faced your responsibilities and did away with your sister.”
So much for keeping her promise to Eva. Leaving with Throllo was supposed to give them months. Months where Isa could decide, without her mother’s or her sister’s influence, whether she still wanted the throne. But she had never been able to stand up to her mother, so Isa stood and left the room.
Chapter 30
Eva
A white-capped crow winged through my window to deliver a message the same morning I was set to meet with the Elderi for my trials.
I was deciding whether I needed to arm myself, when the creature alighted on the vanity in front of me. I nearly jumped out of my skin as it peered up at me, unblinking and unafraid. Clearly the creature had been magicked.
I pulled the tube from around its leg and pulled out the roll of paper inside. The note was short.
Evalina,
We march on the Enclosure. If you turn yourself over to fight your sister, I will forgive the people of Sher n’Cai for their participation in your little rebellion. Fail to present yourself and they will die. It’s time to be done with this once and for all. We arrive in a week.
There was no signature, but I knew my mother’s florid hand.
The crow gave a shake of its wings and took off.
Had Isa chosen this? I prayed Mother made this decision without her, but there was no way to know.
I finished dressing, even though my thundering pulse begged for me to sound every alarm there was, and considered canceling the trials. We could prepare for a siege. The glass atop the Enclosure wall would deter any hoping to climb it, and I doubted they could bring trebuchets through the mountains.
Or I could do as my mother requested. Face the battle between me and Isa that our every step had been leading to since I was born.
I crumpled the note in my hand and left my room.
* * *
I’d expected a private meeting with the Elderi, but it seemed word had gotten out. The entire receiving hall was full.