Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs, Book One) by Susan Kaye Quinn Page A

surprised the Queen already knew.
    Her mother looked up. “To determine if Prince Malik is telling the truth about this Jungali flying machine.”
    Aniri nodded. “And what does he say?”
    “The prince claims no such weapon exists. However, the young prince has a tentative hold on power, and even if he’s telling the truth, I’m not sure I can trust him.”
    “Have your scouts found the flying machine?”
    “No, but there are too many reports of workers moving to the far northern provinces for a short time, then returning south. Migrant work isn’t the norm in the mountains, but my scouts are having a hard time getting the locals to talk about it.” The Queen leveled a stare at her. “They are doing something up there, and I would like very much to know what it is.”
    “And if there is a flying weapon?” Aniri feared the answer: she would be all but obligated to marry the prince in order to broker peace.
    “Then we need to destroy it,” the Queen said. “It would be intolerable for the Jungali to have that kind of superior weaponry at their disposal.”
    “So you would go to war?” Aniri’s eyes widened. Dharia hadn’t been at war in a hundred years.
    “I doubt our traditional weapons and armory would be effective in their mountainous terrain,” the Queen said. “An open, armored assault on the mountains certainly wouldn’t hold much element of surprise. But if we can discover the location of the weapon by stealth and then sabotage it before it can be deployed, we can avoid a costly war, in both people and expense.”
    “Can your spies in the Jungali provinces do this?” Aniri was still reeling that her mother was sharing this information with her, as if she had suddenly taken Nahali’s place as First Daughter.
    The Queen grimaced. “The Jungali clans are fiercely loyal and very tightknit, based on a kinship system not unlike our own. Their secrecy and security is impressive. And it is proving nearly impossible to determine if the weapon exists at all, much less where it might be hidden.”
    Her mother set the sheet of paper down and came around the desk again, taking Aniri’s hands in hers. “You, on the other hand, would have access to the heart of their government.”
    Aniri’s eyebrows hiked up. “You want me to spy on them?”
    The Queen gave her a tight smile. “The marriage would be a pretext for you to get inside the prince’s compound where our spies cannot currently reach. If you can find the weapon, you can send us information on how to destroy it. If you discover there is no weapon, that it’s mere saber-rattling, then there is no threat at all. Either way, once you accomplish your mission, you could cancel the wedding and return home.”
    Aniri’s heart pounded. There was normally a month-long courtship period before the actual ceremony. It would give her time. “What if I can’t find it?”
    “Then your intelligence will tell us whether a peace-brokering marriage is our only true way to secure the threat they pose.”
    It was risky. Aniri would be spying on an unstable enemy nation she knew nothing about. But if she could find this secret weapon, or prove it didn’t exist, she wouldn’t have to go through with the marriage. She would be truly
free
. And she would have served her country in the process.
    She found herself nodding vigorously, not wanting to put all those thoughts into words, lest her chance, her way out, evaporate like Devesh in her dream.
    “It’s dangerous, Aniri.” The Queen gently touched Aniri’s cheek, like she did when she was a child, stilling her frantic agreement. “I wouldn’t even propose this if the potential threat weren’t so grave to Dharia. A flying ship... it could tip the balance of power. I don’t want to see it in any hand but Dharia’s, much less the barbarians’.”
    “Because they’re unstable—”
    “They’re fractious and war-loving. They kill their own as easily as you and I take a trip to market. If they could