Warrior Queen (Skeleton Key) by Shona Husk, Skeleton Key Page B

Nadri wasn’t a prisoner. She was talking to the man next to her. He put his hand on her. He was the man who had tried to take over by becoming king. Who had then demanded her daughter as a peace offering, claiming that Keleti had broken their engagement. She pressed her lips together. Engagement. There had been no promise, only negotiations. That he’d revealed his hand so early had been a blessing.
    No one in the city would have accepted a Southerner as anything but consort, no man could be anything but a consort, and he had no right to rule. No divine blood moved through his veins.
    And yet her cousin stood with him. Touching him.
    Betrayal made Keleti’s mouth sour.
    Below, messengers spoke. Theirs and hers. She’d be getting called. They’d be wanting to talk. What offer would they make this time? What demands did they have? Or would this be a formal notice of war?
    As if she needed it when she could see what they had planned. They hadn’t come all this way for peace.
    She turned away and went down the winding staircase so she could get ready to face her cousin. Maybe she should have taken the invader as consort, then made sure that he had no power. But she didn’t want to live with a man who thought women couldn’t rule. Her cousin had obviously decided she could.
    Keleti drew in a breath and paused.
    Nadri must think letting him become king was her way to the throne. Keleti hadn’t realized that Nadri wanted to rule so badly. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
    She wouldn’t underestimate either of her enemies again.
    A man ran up to her, his skirt in his fist—which he promptly dropped when he saw her—then slowed to a walk. “Heavenly, the invader and your cousin wish to speak with you.” His eyes were wide as if he were horrified at the betrayal.
    Keleti couldn’t let that sting show. She had to be calm and present a firm hold. “Fetch the Ambassador from Australia.”
    It would be interesting to see how he responded. To see if the invaders responded to his presence.
    Perhaps the invaders would back off when they saw that she had other allies. It was a bluff, but no one knew that. When people asked where he had come, from she could honestly answer that he had a great magic to travel vast distances.
    The lie only had to last until reinforcements arrived.
    Without waiting, she strode out onto the walkway along the top of the wall and looked down on the soldiers and her cousin. She let them stand, then twitch with anticipation. Their eyes darted around. Even Nadri seemed unsure. Keleti pressed her lips together. She hoped the gods saw the betrayal and would see her cousin punished. The invaders’ messenger approached the gates again. Hers would say that she had been summoned.
    That message was relayed back to the invaders, who looked disgruntled at being forced to wait. They had turned up at her front door and they had no right to make demands. Hospitality was a choice, one she had extended once before, but would never again extend to them.
    Never again to her cousin.
    She would let that betrayal be known, and Nadri would find no home among her own people. For all that the magic blood was rare, they didn’t need anyone who would sell their people to invaders for personal power.
    Keleti heard Bryce approach. Without looking back, she marched to a position above the gate. Archers stood by; their arrows notched and ready should this be a trap of some kind, but she saw no Southern archers lurking with the intent to kill her.
    “I am here only to check on the welfare of my cousin.” She certainly wasn’t going to let the soldier think it was for him. Her voice was loud and clear.
    “She is well. She saw reason where you did not.” The man’s words reached her.
    “Then let her speak.” Or did the soldier forbid it? Was Nadri really willing to give up her freedom and obey a Southerner?
    There was a quiet conversation that she couldn’t hear, but she could see their lips moving. No one else on