The guard opens it with a bow.
Annika sweeps in, her lengthy blond curls tied at her nape. “You summoned me?” She poorly hides her contempt for me beneath a shining veneer.
“Yes.” I wave a dismissive hand at the others. “Leave us.”
Only when the door closes behind Adley’s back do I allow a breath of relief.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like the feel of his slippery tongue sliding in and out of your ear?” she mocks. “I’m sure his daughter’s will be so much more pleasant.”
Annika has not been shy with her opinion of my betrothal since I announced it. I can’t tell if she’s so vehemently opposed to it on principle, or if her ego can’t bear the idea of bowing to Saoirse. “I’m trying to save Islor.”
“You think uniting with Kettling will save Islor?” She laughs, but it is without mirth. “That will only tear it apart faster.”
“That alone won’t save Islor, you are right.” I hesitate because I know she will hate this even more than she hates her future sister-in-law. “Which is why I’ve decided you will marry Tyree.”
Her face drains of color. “Are you insane?” she hisses.
“No. Actually, I am quite sane, unlike the last king.”
“I can’t marry him. His blood is toxic!”
“Then don’t feed off him. I know that’ll be challenging for you, but you can resist.”
She swallows, searching for an angle out of this. “What about the prince from Skatrana? I’m betrothed to him.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “The human? For one, you can’t get to Skatrana to marry him, and that marriage is no longer advantageous to Islor. What we need is an open path to Ybaris.” Now more than ever.
“Neilina will never agree to this.”
“You let me worry about what Neilina will allow.” She’s lost both children and her husband—though I doubt she cares about the latter, seeing as it was her order, and possibly her hand, that drove the merth blade through his heart.
“Marry him, and then what? You cannot be foolish enough to release him from his cell.”
“It will be a long time before he walks freely,” I admit.
“And do not dare suggest I consummate this farce,” she scoffs.
“He is not that bad, is he? I’ve even heard some call him handsome.”
Her face twists with disgust.
“We are all required to do things that are not necessarily pleasant in the name of Islor.” The thought of my lips touching Saoirse’s—let alone other parts of her—makes me shudder.
Another knock sounds.
It’s never ending. “Enter.”
Boaz strolls in.
“And if I do not agree with this, will you have your henchman kill me as he tried to kill our brother?” Annika scowls at the captain of the king’s guard.
I sigh. When I discovered Boaz had given the order to fire arrows at a boat carrying Zander, I nearly executed him on the spot. But I need people around me I can trust, and they are too far and too few at the moment. “What is it, Boaz?”
“I apologize for the interruption, but this arrived, and I thought you should see it right away.” He hands me a letter.
I frown at the seal—black with silver speckles. “I don’t recognize this name … Ulysede. Where is that? Near Udrel?”
“I have never heard of this place before, Your Highness, which is why I brought it straight here.”
I tear open the seal.