The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles 2)

I sat at the head of the table next to the Komizar. Several of the governors whispered among themselves. They had noticed my new position but said nothing openly. When he walked in with Calantha, Rafe noticed too, pausing for an extra beat as he pulled out his chair. The hall was full tonight, not just the usual Council and soldiers, but elders of the clans too. The Meurasi outnumbered them all, sitting at extra tables that had been brought in. I saw Effiera among them watching me. She tilted her head approvingly at my purple dress of scraps. There were also the quarterlords—the ones I had seen leaving the hidden chamber. Their glances cut not with approval but with stinging victory.

I looked away from Rafe, whose gaze still rested on me. Don’t make a mistake, Lia, not like— I saw my brother’s sightless eyes, the scattered pieces of body in the valley floor, the head of the butcher rolling to the ground. What had made me think I could ever outmaneuver someone like the Komizar? My head still spun with this turn I hadn’t seen coming.

While the Komizar was occupied with the chievdar to his left, I asked Calantha if she would deliver the acknowledgment of sacrifice tonight. My tongue felt like sand. My head throbbed. I wasn’t even sure I could conjure the words from my memory.

“No. It’s left to you, Princess,” she said. “You will do this.”

There was a strange urgency in her tone that made me stop and look more closely at her face. Her pale eye glistened, pinning me to my chair. Insistent.

The platter of bones was set in front of me, and I simply stared at it.

The room grew quiet, hungry, waiting. The Komizar kicked my foot beneath the table.

I stood and lifted the plate of bones and said the blessing in two languages as Kaden had done for me.

E cristav unter quiannad.

A sacrifice ever remembered.

Meunter ijotande.

Never forgotten.

Yaveen hal an ziadre.

Another day we live.

I paused, the platter trembling in my hands. There was stirring, waiting for me to finish, but I added more.

E cristav ba ena. Mias ba ena.

A sacrifice for you. Only for you.

And so shall it be,

For evermore.

Paviamma.

A rumble of paviammas returned to me.

The hunger of the Council and guests quickly overtook any notice of the added words, but I knew Rafe had noted it. He was the last to echo back paviamma to me as he looked down at the table.

The meal seemed to rush past. I had hardly taken a bite when the Komizar pushed back his seat, satisfied. “I have some news to share with you, Emissary.”

The clatter of the meal stopped. Everyone wanted to hear the news. My stomach churned with the small morsel I had eaten. But it wasn’t the news any of us expected.

“Riders from Dalbreck arrived today,” he announced.

“So soon?” Rafe asked, casually wiping grease from the corner of his mouth.

“Not the riders I sent. These were Rahtan who had already been in Dalbreck.”

Rahtan with news. My hand slid to my side, inching down for Natiya’s knife in my boot before I remembered it was gone. I eyed the dagger sheathed at Calantha’s side.

“It seems there may be some truth in your story. They brought news of the queen’s death of a widespread fever, and the king hasn’t been seen in weeks, either in mourning or on his deathbed as well. I’ll assume the latter until I hear more.”

I sat back and stared at Rafe. The queen. His mother.